Bene

In the first part of iPhone tools for the webdesigner, I wrote about the tools I use on my iPhone as a webdesigner, tools that you can use for color, html, css, fonts, filesharing and printing from the iPhone. In this second part, I write about tools for social networking, podcasts for webdesigners and some handy utilities.

From september till november 2008, I stayed in hospital and had 3 surgeries from an acute appendicitis. Sickness can never be avoided, but I can tell: it was a long period without my kids, without Tim and without my work. My stay wasn’t catastrophic for Bene, my self running business, thanks to our hospital and income assurance. It was in hospital that Tim bought me this wonderful present: a new iPhone 3G mobile phone. It was - and still is - a fantastic present: I was able to read my mail messages, visit websites, play games, read books, write notes, take pictures and so many more. The long, boring hours in hospital were a lot easier to carry since I got this iPhone. I realized what an amazing tool it really is (without mentioning battery life, of course).
Today, the iPhone is a valuable tool for my work as a webdesigner.
I sum up a few powerful tools for webdesigners for the iPhone.

A closer look into the design method to create large background websites.
I was making a mock-up for a new website and started with an illustration. Sometimes an illustration can take a lot of attention so I decided to use a white body content and use the illustration as a background image. So here is my experience with the design and the xhtml + css design.

It’s no luxury to make a document for every website that you design. A document with a design description. Before starting a webdesign project, a webdesigner collects lots of information. You get a lot of information in your mailbox (clients tend to send you everything by e-mail), you receive a logo, a brochure and text for the webdesign, that’s about it. Over the years, I collected everything nicely in a folder with the name of the client. I still work this way but I add a design brief to every project now. The client receives also a copy of this document. It’s important information, my clients use this document for marketing material that they afterwards (after the launch of their website) need to order.

… or do you want a website that creates additional business for your company. 8 tips for being successful on the web

How to make a transformation of a logo into a favicon in a browser window?
How exactly do you define the area to show in your favicon? And how do you built a quality favicon, and implement the code into your document? I’ll explain in this article. I prefer to use the Photoshop Filter IconBuilder by Iconfactory.

Let me start by wishing you all a very happy 2009!
We have been busy building websites and creating mock-ups for new websites.
I was looking for a way to make adjustable buttons for use in a website and tried to make a few reusable buttons in Illustrator after reading some tips in Computer Arts Magazine. Let me tell you how I made them:

A few weeks ago, we launched our new Bene website. The website was made using Expression Engine as the content management system. We hope to finish the dutch version within a few months, but for now, everything is written in english. Our website has made it in a few showcase galleries. We like to share the list with you.

An (X)HTML/CSS editor is an important piece of software for me. As a webdesigner, I use editing software to build my websites every day. Recently I switched from Adobe Dreamweaver to Panic’s CODA for the Mac.