Not long ago we had a post that discussed the role that podcasts have been playing in the design field. After which we were asked for a post that focused on more web design and development related podcasts for our readers. Something of a proverbial playlist of shows that are currently helping to shape the fields from the virtual airwaves. So here we are!

We scoured the bountiful podcast offerings that the design and development community have on offer these days, and found some great shows to point our readers towards. Naturally, every one has different tastes, so we tried to assemble a nice mix of styles and show formats so that there is something that every one will find appealing in this list.

Take a look down through all of these shows and see if … Read More »

The iPhone and Android app that helps you find day-of deals on hotels is expanding from a small number of major cities to last-minute vacation destinations. Hotel Tonight, currently in 23 major markets, is announcing 14 new, smaller markets where it will offer its curated day-of deals.

If you’re asking who goes on a vacation at the last minute (as I did), it’s actually aimed at those looking for short-notice weekend getaways, for the time when you just need to get out of town quickly. So the new destinations are concentrated around a couple of major cities: San Francisco, Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C.. The new getaway deals are in Sonoma and Santa Cruz, Calif.; Lake Tahoe, Nev.; Newport, R.I.;  Cape Cod, Mass.; Berkshires, Conn. and Mass.; Virginia Beach, Va. to name a few. As with Hotel Tonight’s … Read More »

Alexander Dawson, one of our top writers here on Six Revisions, has recently finished his book Distinctive Design: A Practical Guide to a Useful, Beautiful Web published by Wiley. To celebrate, we’re giving away five paperback copies of his new book (listed at $39.99), which Wiley will kindly ship anywhere in the world. Read on to see how you can win one of these books.

** Update: Giveaway Period Has Ended **
About Distinctive Design

According to Alex, the book was based on an article he wrote here on Six Revisions called The Art of Distinction in Web Design.

The book is a solid in-depth guide to the world of UX design, exploring design theory, psychology and more to showcase how designers can make their sites work harder and better for their users.

It looks at theoretical subjects (like usability), practical subjects … Read More »

We’ve talked about the rise of mobile app development services, particularly providers of mobile backend infrastructure like StackMob, Parse, Kinvey, Zipline Games and others. But how big is the opportunity they’re addressing?

Well, Kinvey did some digging into iOS and Android apps and found that together, 73 percent of these mobile apps are basically static and don’t connect to a backend. IOS apps fare better with 35 percent of apps connecting to cloud backends while 18 percent of Android apps connect to these services. Kinvey took a statistically representative sample of more than 2,000 apps in both the Apple App Store and Android Market and manually looked for services like data syncing, social network integration, location management and other features.

The research is self-serving, but it helps shed some light on why some apps are more engaging … Read More »

Not long ago we had a post featuring some valuable Twitter tools, and we received requests to do the same kind of post for Facebook. In the interest of giving our readers what they want, and the community content that is useful, this post was born. Today we are presenting a list of tools to enhance your Facebook experience.

Even with Google+ on the virtual horizon, Facebook remains a major social media platform that many users never foresee leaving. So for designers and developers compiling tools for making the most of Facebook will never go out of style. Hopefully in our post today you will find some new tools that will optimize your own Facebook ventures, or those you are preparing for clients.

For the User End

Facebook Tools for WordPress is a WordPress plugin … Read More »