We survived SXSWi and live to tell the tale!

This week's Missing Links features a few of our take homes from our intense week at South by Southwest Interactive. For a more indepth report on the event, keep on eye out on our blog, we'll soon be recapping a few of our favorite panels. Oh and another little thing...

We're giving away VIP passes, check out how to Win 2 Passes to party with Monkee-Boy this week at SXSW! We're sponsoring Texas Music Magazines's SXSW Party and want you to have a chance to join!

Mobile First Design: Why It’s Great and Why
It Sucks »

Historically, most web designers and their clients have approached the desktop side of any project first. Even with the rise of responsive design, many of us begin with the “full size” site and work our way down to a mobile solution. However, there’s a growing trend in the industry to begin with mobile considerations first and then work up to a larger desktop version.

Thinking Async »

Inserting script tags, especially for third-party hosted scripts, can slow your page loads down. Chris Coyier describes the methods to load scripts asynchronously, including ways to trigger callbacks once the scripts are loaded, which makes for more optimal performance.

SXSW Recap: Brands As Entertainers »

A large theme at SXSW this year was regarding social marketing and how promotional content is not enough to get noticed in feed-based systems anymore. Along with providing a visible and interactive community, brands need to start creating content with the user in mind. In effect, brands need to entertain users to stand out. This recap highlights three great panels all pertaining to brands and social media.

Impressions From SXSWi: Q&A With SearchEngineLand’s Danny Sullivan »

Not only a good missing link, this is also a missing panel from SXSW. Search and social are colliding, and while the event focused more on marketing, the IBM lounge took full advantage of sitting down Danny Sullivan for a Q/A regarding google, panda and all things search.

4 Ways To Make Your Ecommerce Site More Visually Appealing »

While traditionally, e-commerce sites like Amazon and Ebay haven't had to concern themselves too much with design, trending e-commerce sites like Fab.com are raising the astehtic bar for selling your garb online. Here are four direct ways you can improve your e-commerce site visually in order to thrive among the masses.