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My latest post:

Trend alert: isometric banners

Note: this post is a “trend alert” i.e. a quick roundup of something new emerging in webdesign. Isometric banners is the best way I have found so far to describe this new trend I’ve observed in web design for the past months. More and more websites seem to wear these modern bass relief decorations, usually to [...]

Published May 16, 2009
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My recent posts:

Mainstream Twitter

The very first time I heard about Twitter was on Al3x Payne's blog around 2 years ago and I considered it as a nerdy realtime platform for sharing what you're doing with your geek friends, yeah geek friends since normal civilized people use the phone for this kind of things. I was convinced I would definitely not use it nor follow anyone on it. But time has passed and Twitter's traffic stats - hereabove snapshoted from compete.com - speak by themselves: Twitter is going mainstream. And although I'm still not converted to twittering, I have to admit it is fascinating to witness how a new platform is progressively becoming a mainstream tool.

Contest results: get to know the 4 winners

The contest ended last Friday, January 30th at midnight. A big thanks to all of you for having participated! It’s been a real pleasure for me to organize and promote this contest.

Contest: win 1000 free business cards

Happy new year 2009 to all my fellow readers! To celebrate this coming year, nemetral.net has tweaked its CSS file and offers you this fresh redesign focused on asthetics and readability. Plus 1000 free business cards.

My five resolutions for 2009

Nemetral.net has been around in the web sphere for almost a year with a relative success so far; it is now time to review the guidelines for 2009.. and after.

10 more inspiring admin interfaces

A few weeks ago, my post 10 inspiring admin interfaces met a real success in the design community and I was particularly glad that people acknowledged and agreed on the importance of backend design on top of frontend design: UX goes beyond frontend. Following this first post, here are 10 more inspiring admin interfaces that will surely inspire your next design! Please feel free to suggest in the comments every other beautiful admin design you have recently stumbled upon. I believe there are tons of jowels hidden out there behind secured login panels..

MVC dilemma

The most interesting questions often arise after theory has been explained, when getting hands dirty trying to write some code, organize and design a software architecture or start compiling existing snippets into a comprehensive framework. Following my posts on MVC (see and digg the "A gentle introduction to MVC" series: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3), a reader recently asked me a couple of questions related to common MVC implementation issues.

15 must-have features for modern design blogs (part 3)

Last week we saw how modern design blogs usually manage to gather a wide audience using Presentation techniques and special Features (see part 1 and part 2). Today, part 3 of this series will examine which types of Content modern design blog usually publish and why this content makes them reach fame and success.

15 must-have features for modern design blogs (part 2)

In part 1 we saw how modern design blogs usually manage to gather a wide audience using Presentation techniques and special Features. In part 2, we will finish the roundup of features every design blog must have. Next post, part 3, will dive into the different types of content modern design blogs usually fancy publishing.

15 must-have features for modern design blogs

Design blogs are popping up all around the web these times, the newest ones trying to reach a wide audience through long compilation-style posts on all possible subjects related to web design, while already established names hire guest writers to renew their content at a breathtaking pace. Most of these blogs, though, tend to converge towards a similar model featuring (at least) 15 must-have features. Here is an exclusive roundup of what makes a design blog reach the fame.