As part of a revamp to our magazine content within Web Designer, we are looking to offer a forum for the design community and step up our efforts to bring professional advice and anecdotal tales from the trade to our readership.

Within this we intend to give real freelance designers, web agency staff, and web design employers the opportunity to share opinions and experiences via a revolving column. As our featured columnist you will have a rare chance to not only spread your name around the Industry but also impart valuable career observations and lessons to those who hope to follow in your footsteps.

So if you want to become an isnpiration to your peers an fancy yourself as a Web Designer contributer, get on the case and let us know! webdesigner(at)imagine-publishing(dot)co(dot)uk

Typical columns will be roughly 750 words long, plus we will require a mugshot photo for every submission.

We look forward to reading your stories!

The iPad, iPhone 4 and Google Android boast an impressive selection of apps. But, surely apps are nothing more than a neatly packaged web presence?

Web Designer wants to hear your thoughts on this intriguing, thought-provoking, and at least two-sided issue.

Add your comments via this post or email us your thoughts.

Name: Rich Clark
Head of Interactive, KMP Digitata
URL: http://richclarkdesign.com

“If we’re talking about the buzzword ‘HTML5′ which I’d class as ‘HTML5 & related technologies’ or ‘open web standards’ then the answer is resolutely yes. But perhaps not for a good few years. Some of the perceived decline in Flash is down to Apple’s stern refusal to implement it for iPhone or iPad but also down to clients being more savvy with regard to accessibility and SEO. The web is now a fundamental part of our daily lives and therefore we need open, accessible standards, not proprietary technology that requires plug-ins.
Having said that, Flash’s penetration on the desktop is going to keep it around for a while. For example, IE9 is going to implement HTML5 <video> but as developers we’re still offering some level of support for IE6, a browser that is 10 years old meaning that we’re going to keep falling back to Flash in order to keep supporting IE6, 7 & 8 for a while longer. Other advantages that Flash has over HTML5 is how it’s so easy to access devices like a webcam or microphone. Yes, HTML5 has the <device> element but it’s a long way from being implemented cross browser. Flash developers shouldn’t think that there skills are wasted though, a lot of ActionScript code can be ported to JavaScript without much difficulty, allowing them to experiment with HTML5 <canvas>. In theory (and I’m sure it’s in the works) Adobe could clean up by creating a great authoring tool (like Flash) for canvas, SVG and other open standards.
Conversely, the beauty of open standards is the shallow learning curve and all you need to get started is a text editor and a browser. Add some of the exciting HTML5 API’s to the mix and HTML5 can deliver rich interactive experiences across a range of devices. With browser vendors now working together to develop standards, issues with interoperability are on a downturn. There’s no reason for you not to start using it now, in the long term open standards will win out over Flash”

You can get more info on HTML5 and more opinions from the industry in our next big cover feature within issue 173, which is available on sale July 29th…

Rosie Tanner, Editor of Digital Photographer, is brimming with expectation for DPOTY ’10: “The DPOTY awards offer digital photographers a fantastic platform to showcase their work across a wide range of categories. It’s an amazing opportunity for fresh talent to emerge and we can’t wait to celebrate new and undiscovered digital photographers. The fact that such a prestigious camera company like Samsung is supporting the awards is a huge compliment. Its support means the competition and prizes will be better than ever before.”

Since its launch back in 2007, the DPOTY awards has seen year-on-year success and is now widely recognised by the photography industry as one of the top photographic competitions of its kind. The judging panel for the 2010 awards features some of the country’s top photographic professionals including big names such as Guardian Picture Editor, Eamonn McCabe and pro photographer, William Cheung FRPS.

In contrast to previous years, the format of the awards for 2010 will see a brand new competition category launched in each issue of the magazine. There will be six photographic categories in total – each designed to push the creativity of photographers. The categories are:

The Big Picture – Landscapes

Strike a Pose – Portraits

Wild at Heart – Wildlife/nature

Location, Location – Travel

Capture the Action – Motion/action

Get Creative – Creative/image editing/HDR

Rosie Tanner added, “The categories we’ve picked this year are reflective of the creative capabilities of Samsung’s fantastic NX10 and EX1 cameras. There is definitely a category to suit every photographic taste, so we look forward to seeing a broad range of subject matter.”

Steve Mitchell, General Manager Marketing, Samsung Digital Imaging said: “Samsung is proud to be part of Digital Photographer of the Year 2010. We have a longstanding relationship with Digital Photographer magazine and we are particularly pleased to have been chosen by the team to be the main sponsor of DPOTY.

The Digital Photographer of the Year competition showcases some of the most exciting photographs every year and with the creative possibilities offered by the Samsung camera range it is a perfect partnership which will inspire any photographer. We are looking forward to judging and awarding the very best photography in this year’s competition.”

For all the details on how to enter head online to www.DPhotographer.co.uk.

Fancy a chance to WIN £100 M&S vouchers?  Fasthosts, www.fasthosts.co.uk, are conducting a worthy poll of UK web designers, to explore your experiences of working with clients during the tough economic climate. The multi-choice qu’s take literally 2mins to complete, and look at how your clients’ needs may have changed in recent years, as well as what aspects of your client-service you are most proud of.  It’s confidential and overall results will be shared with the media.  Simply add your email address for a chance to win, (email addresses will not be used for any other purpose).

We at Web Designer also have an interest in the results of this one folks, so please do take the necessary few moments to complete the survey and also recommend it to your fiends and colleagues!

The survey can be found here:

http://is-nri.com/take?i=162095&h=La4ANMxPHx7DK3hqw3L5PA

Apple under attack from disappointed customers having trouble with iOS 4.0 and the new iPhone itself

It seems the hotly anticipated launch of Apple’s new smartphone isn’t running as smoothly as Jobs and Co would have wished. Users are complaining about signal reception and dropped calls due seemingly to the way they are grasping the handset. Lefthanded users are obstructing the antenna strips located around the metal edge of the device casing, prompting Apple to suggest that the phone should be held differently or encased within Apple’s own £29 ‘bumper’ case to avoid such troubles. It has been suggested that this week might prompt an updated version of the recently released iOS4, which itself has been met with mixed reactions from disgruntled upgraders. While some have rported improvements in performance across 3GS model iPhones, those still shackled to the older 3G devices are experiencing the kind of slowdown many might have expected from such dated hardware.

However, horror stories of crashing apps, loss of wi-fi connectivity, vanishing data and even phones being ‘bricked’ during the update process are rife on web forums and will hopefully be alleviated over the coming months.

Meanwhile – have you had a bad experience with iPhone 4 or iOS4? Or have you upgraded and been really impressed with what Apple have done? Leave us your comments below…

If, like the rest of the Apple loving world, you spend the entire WWDC announcement flicking through web feeds frantically trying to get all the information as it happens and would rather take things easy this year, why not tune into the iCreate Mac loft live video feed and let them do the hard work for you? They’ll have all the news on the new iPhone from all the feeds as the keynote happens, as well as lots of other cool coverage from the Mac world. Not only that, but you’ll also get their expert opinion on the events as they unfold.
What do you need to do to see this fantastic coverage? Just visit the iCreate blog (www.icreatemagazine.com) at the time of the announcement and click the link. Its that simple. During the event, the team will be using the twitter tag #macloft so feel free to get in touch and your tweets will be posted up on the screen as they are sent.
If you have any point for discussion that you’d like the team to cover or any questions for the hosts, feel free to tweet them using the hashtag or to leave them in the comments on the iCreate blog.

Pit the skills of the world’s best web designers with this set of fabulous “Top Trumps” style playing cards

If you’ve ever wanted tostage battle between such creative heavyweights as Mark Boulton, Shaun Inman, Jeffrey Zeldman, Eric Meyer, Nick La, Mike Kus and Dan Cederholm then your somewhat twisted prayers have been answered! This pack of “Top Trump” style art cardshas been produced by Typefaces, a project by Fabriicate, and is available to buy for just $15!

You can pick up your pack by visiting http://thetypefac.es/

Similarly, we have our own comicbook-style trading card offer happening in issue 172, out July 1st. We’re giving away a superb digital set of cards produced by agency Digital Marmalade to go alongside an exclusive Q&A, so be sure to watch out for those next month…

iCreate Magazine presents iPad Week! For all new iPad owners

To celebrate the landing of thousands upon thousands of iPads in the UK, Europe and Canada from today onwards, iCreateMagazine.com will be posting some essential tutorials to get you up and running with your new device. They will be tweeting about the posts using #iPadWeek, so feel free to tweet your own tips and tricks for the device using the same tag. The iCreate team will pick the best iPad tip this week and send the winner an iPad case!
If you didn’t pre-order an iPad and are planning to get one from an Apple Store in the UK this weekend, you’ll have to be quick. iCreate has heard on the grapevine that each store will only be holding 70 iPads, and that not all resellers will stock them. So, be quick or be sorry. The first tutorial will be out shortly on iCreateMagazine.com

After almost a year in the making, working with the world famous artist Jon Burgerman and after numerous man hours dedicated to fine tuning the application with blood, sweat and tears split – ustwo™ finally announces the launch of the already infamous Inkstrumental™. The app lets you make and share crazy music with your friends. You can choose from a vast array of characters, each with their own weird sound that when tapped, is automatically played, recorded and added to the wonky, hypnotic, rolling beats. By combining all the characters and sounds on offer you can create and record a mash-up of noise and mayhem. A sure fire way to delight and annoy in equal measure.

By hitting the YouTube icon you can share your music video with all friends and the rest of the world (who have access to the internet and YouTube).

Now users can select the stars of the show, lay down the beats, mix the sounds, take the performance to the stage, film the music video then show it to the world and become famous all on an iPhone or iPod Touch.

mills, creative director at ustwo™ says:  “Inkstrumental™ is like a refinement of our collective studio brain, showing yet again that the studio of dreams is a creator intent on releasing app originality over and over again.  Inkstrumental™ is an app experience most companies wouldn’t dare to have attempted to make.  Inkstrumental™ is a hit no matter how well it does.”

Inkstrumental™ is available to download here http://link.ustwo.co.uk/inkstrumental_appstore.
For more info check www.inkstrumental.com
Video here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RboffwotQo

You can also hear more from ustwo and the work they do in issue 171 of Web Designer, on sale June 3rd