No more messing about with hand coding hack for fixing PNG alpha transparency in Internet Explorer 6 or less.  Just bung this jQuery plugin into the head with a small bit of script and it fixes it all

jquery.pngFix.js - PNG transparency for Windows IE 5.5 & 6 (IE PNG Fix)

I came across this quote at uni, but only just saw it in connection with interfaces and gadgets:

Introspective psychology and analytical philosophy of the self, of perception and of will, do not seem to take into account that in any well-made machine one is ignorant of the working of most of the parts - the better they work, the less are we conscious of them. Thus it is very unlikely that introspection will reveal those intermediate processes which are most important

Kenneth Craik, The Nature Of Explanation (1943)

The best designs are ones that we don’t even notice. The best interfaces are the ones that seem to have us hovering over the link we need without us even realising we are doing it. I think this is why people get so frustrated with computers, because they are supposed to be a tool, a means to an end, but often fail utterly to help us achieve our ends and it becomes apparent how much there is to go wrong.

Good use of AJAX and jQuery can help make interfaces invisible, especially when they are loading things ahead of time so when you click that link, it is there instantly for you. I am going to aim for invisibility in my web interfaces, and see if other people find them invisible too.

Vauxmoore , the Nottingham Vauxhall specialists, have just had a new site from FCS Websites . The new site uses some jQuery trickery for the internal tab navigation, and Jamie’s awesome FormLord jQuery plugin for the contact form

Click the image to visit their new website.

When designing websites for clients, there is often a tug of war between what I think looks good, what the client thinks and what the projected users will think. There is no right and wrong to what makes a site appeal to certain people, but recent research suggests there might be gender differences.

Press Releases - Key Website Research Highlights Gender Bias

The article states that “websites which might appeal greatly to one sex are a total no-no with the other.” This is an interesting finding, but is gender too blunt a distinction? This is likely to touch on individual colour preferences (Maybe by season, as with House of Colour… ), introversion/extraversion and many other personal characteristics. While this research is good ammo for making a point with the less objective clients, I can’t help feeling that it is more subtle than male/female.

I have taken to looking at what my clients are wearing - this can give an insight into their colour preferences. It is important to stress to them that they are not making a site for themselves, they are making it to appeal to their customers. Therefore I need to know who the site is aimed at and what their preferences might be.

There is a lot of overlap between web design and psychology, providing the scene for a lot of crossover research. However, Psychology is still struggling with modernist concepts and Aristotelian yes/no distinctions. Post-modern and constructionist ideas will have much to say about web design and user interface creation.

FCS websites have been working on www.wilsonfieldmarketing.co.uk recently, for a company that help people reclaim their Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) premiums on loans etc if they were mis-sold the policy.

It is a budget site, but still has an attractive graphic design and a spam protected contact form. Good coding practices mean that it is already ready for search engine optimisation and works on all major web browsers. We also took care of creating print ready artwork for a PPI refund flier and turned the whole thing around in a short time frame to fit in with the shop opening deadline