Stay classy, Steam Studios

In the textbook Exploring Multimedia for Designers, author Ray Villalobos introduces students to the essential concepts and technologies needed to create dynamic web projects. He covers everything from hardware to software, Flash to photography, and everything in between.

And in the book's "Design" section, our website for wakeboarder Dallas Friday is highlighted as a showcase of effective design principles. The author states that "... the folks at Steam Studios did a great job of establishing an approachable and professional setting through the principles of design." (Having a big purty picture of the website helps drive home the point, too.)

It's amazing to realize that our work will inspire and educate others, as we ourselves were inspired in our design studies. Kinda freaky, too.

Actually, I prefer the phrase "one year young"

It seems like just yesterday when Samson and his wife Vanessa welcomed their son Sebastian into the world. Well, it's actually been over a year. Which brings us to another milestone for their family: Sebastian's first birthday! The little scamp turned one year old on May 22nd. Let's hear it for the boy!

In other news... While attending Sebastian's first birthday party, Steve discovered that he was one of only two people at the soirée who wasn't married and/or didn't have children. Unfazed by societal pressure, he remains blissfully unwed. So quit trying to set him up, Mom! Okay?!?!

Breadcrumbs

Raise your hand if you've ever visited a website, clicked on a few links, and realized with grim horror that you were hopelessly, irrevocably lost.

Whoa! Not everyone at once.

Seems we've all been victims of "poor navigability" at one point or another. "Navigability" is the ease with which a viewer can find his way - navigate! - through a website. For your own website, you want to adhere to a few simple rules to ensure that your viewers find exactly what they're looking for: consistent naming, easy-to-find button bar, uncluttered pages, etc. (Don't worry, we'll go into greater detail in future Design 101s.)

And in some instances, you might want to consider using breadcrumbs. Sort of like the fable of Hansel and Gretel, breadcrumbs are a string of links that allow your viewers to see the path they've taken. In the example below, you can see the path to this wicker furniture set.

However, I may no longer want this particular set, but I still want to browse for patio furniture. I can go up a couple levels in the site hierarchy by clicking on "Patio Furniture" in the breadcrumbs trail, and now I can branch out to other furniture sets - all from a single click. I didn't have to click multiple times, or get through useless, extraneous webpages to keep browsing. And not only do I know where I am within the site as a whole, I can backtrack, branch off, or click on the main navigation bar and go somewhere else entirely. That's a positive navigation experience that will keep viewers coming back to your site.

One caveat: Breadcrumbs work great on complex sites with lots of pages or sections (ecommerce sites, blogs, news sites, etc.), but might not work too well on a 5-page mini-site. Just remember: Breadcrumbs are a useful tool for site navigation, but use them only if your site warrants it. Otherwise, the breadcrumbs themselves become extraneous and unnecessary, thereby becoming part of the site clutter you want to avoid. Ironic, huh?

Who watches the Watchmen?

If you're one of the zillion or so people who saw "The Dark Knight", chances are you saw the trailer for a movie called "Watchmen". Now, this preview may have led the "non-fanboys and girls" among you to think to yourselves, "Great. Another comic book movie."

Oh, you poor, deluded, misinformed souls. "Watchmen" is based on a graphic novel (not a comic book, a graphic novel!) of the same name that destroyed, deconstructed, reimagined then rebuilt the superhero mythos. It is nothing short of mind-blowing! Think we're crazy? It's the only illustrated book to crack Time Magazine's "Top 100" novels, smarty-pants. (It's also appeared on "Greatest" Lists ranging from Entertainment Weekly to Newsweek, but we digress...)

So before the movie comes out next year, do yourself a huge favor and read the graphic novel first. You can thank us later.