Sunday, July 25, 2010

Writing for the Web: Improve Your Skills in 9 Easy Steps

Suitable

They say that the pen is mightier that the sword. This is especially true when writing for the web, as we don’t usually see each other face to face. By Aidan

How to Improve Your Website With A/B Testing

In recent years, competition on the Internet has grown fiercer, and many businesses are looking for anything that gives them that competitive edge...a/b testing can help. By Kean Richmond

4 Dangerous Mistakes Web Designers Make When Presenting Content

Everybody these days knows that content is king. No website ever sold anything without content to persuade its readers to buy. And it’s the job of the web designer to present that content as effectively as possible. By D. Bnonn Tennant

Texture Used in Web Design: Examples, Best Practices, and How-To

Agami

We're beginning to see these minimalistic and well-laid out designs come in not so plain ways. Modern designs are beginning to use more texture than before, but still using texture in an intelligent way to keep web spaces clean, organized, but just much more aesthetically pleasing. By Kayla Knight

50 unique and inspiring website designs

Unique and Inspiring Website Designs

This collection is comprised of websites offering many different services/merchandise. They're colorful, funny, artistic and more. What they all have in common is the fact that they do stand out a bit. By Hilde Torbjornsen

Planning and designing a custom web app

Ideas

So you've got a great idea for a new online tool, and you seemingly have many of the skills to create it. By Kayla Knight

Concrete5

Concrete5 is an extremely user friendly content management system. Content management systems (CMS) make life easier for the not so technical website owner. By Brant Wilson

Examples of Solid Colors in Web Design



With today’s trends in web design, it is hard to find websites that don’t incorporate gradients as their focal point. While gradients add detail, you can still achieve a good look with a less is more approach using solid colors. By Matthew Heidenreich

Anatomy of JavaScript Puzzle

What do we mean by JavaScript puzzle and what unique features does it have? JavaScript puzzle uses some simple features. To show the individual pieces of a picture it uses the concept of DHTML. Hence it gets rid from using multiple graphic files for various purposes. By Denbagus.net

25 Great Navigation Website Designs

two24studios

Navigation is very important to a design. It’s one of the first things a user looks at. Take a look at these designs and see how different some are and also, the various styles that each designer makes. By Julio A. Rivera

Cloud Computing, 10 Web Operating Systems



A Web Operating System is a Web platform which allows the user to use a virtual Desktop through a web browser rather than using any particular local operating system. By Teylor Feliz

40 Website Design Layout Tutorials that Yield Professional Results



When designing and developing a new website, it’s important to understand the fundamental techniques involved in web design, as well as targeted techniques for a given style. By Eric Shafer

Ultimate Guide to HTML Emails – Basics, Tips, Tutorials and Resources

Design-best-practices-resources-beginners-html-email-tips

HTML emails is a great marketing tool, and if built good, they work great. In 2009 HTML email ROI was $43.52 for every dollar spent on it. If you are a freelancer be aware that sooner or later your clients will start asking for you to build HTML emails. By Daniels Mekss

Beginner's guide to content strategy



Consistently publishing content requires that we deal with a foe known as content management. Content management is just what it sounds like: a way to manage the creation and dissemination of content. By Andrew Maier

What CSS3 Can Do For You: CSS3 Generators and Other Helpful Tools

Here are some useful tools to help you in learning and manipulating CSS3. By Aext.net

Layersapp: Capture anything on your screen as a PSD layered image

layers-diagram-psd1

Wuonm, the guys behind Layersapp, are located in beautiful city of Madrid, Spain. It is privately funded Spanish company founded in the year 2006. With a lot of concentration on the Mac and iPhone platforms, Wuonm is formed by knowledgeable and skilled people who are devoted to programming and have enthusiasm to produce innovative and distinctive applications. By App Sheriff

Building Rich Internet Applications with Frameworks

Building Rich Internet Applications with Frameworks

JavaScript libraries, ICEfaces, Adobe Flash 4, Microsoft Silverlight, and now, HTML5 have been competing for web dominance as the world wide web is thrown into a new era — an era dominated by rich internet applications (RIA for short). By Eric Rowell

10 Interesting CSS3 Experiments and Demos

Animated Polaroids

You’ve heard it plenty of times before: We’re at the precipice of a transition in the way we, as developers, do things. By Jacob Gube

10 Stunning Email Newsletter Design

50 Stunning Email Newsletter Design

Email Newsletter is one of the most powerful internet marketing tools and it has various useful functions. It keeps your loyal clients. It invites potential clients to receive updates about you. It helps you to build a unique relationship with them. By Dzineblog

UI Design Framework for Web Designers



Vincent (no last name given) has designed a beautiful, extremely useful, feature-rich interface design framework for web designers who create their initial design mock-ups in Adobe Illustrator. And it’s free for personal or commercial use (credit link required). By Jeffrey Zeldman

Friday, July 23, 2010

10 tips for designing mobile websites

Here are some great tips to follow when designing for mobile websites. By Keegan Street

How to prototype interactive iPad applications using Apple Keynote

How long does it take to go from idea to prototype that you can test with users? A month? A week? Few days? How about 30 minutes?

User Interface Design Framework


An awesome Adobe Illustrator library has just been released for designing user interfaces. The set contains hundreds of vector shapes for GUI form elements, 260 vector based interface icons, and 200 graphic styles. Best of all, it’s available to use for commercial projects. By Vincent Le Moign

10 Fresh Galleries for Web Design Inspiration

HTML5 Gallery

Creativity needs a jumpstart at times. When you’re feeling creatively low, one o f the best ways to get inspired is to admire and look at exceptional web designs. By Jacob Gube

10 Android Apps Every Web Designer Should Know About

AndFTP (free)

With the dominance of Apple’s iPhone in the recent years, Google’s Android OS seems to have been left in its shadows. However, this is only because the iPhone was released long before any Android device. Nevertheless, as the popularity of Android grows (and its growth is staggering) so does its range of apps. By Rob Thomas

5 Web Files That Will Improve Your Website

5 Web Files That Will Improve Your Website

The amount of code that developers encounter regularly is staggering. At any one time, a single site can make use of over five different web languages (i.e. MySQL, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML). By Alexander Dawson

10 SEO Tips to Remember When Building Your Site

10 SEO Tips to Remember When Building Your Site

Let us assume that, just like everyone else, you are building a website–after all, the Web is where it is all happening now. By Mark Cronin

The Only HTML5 Resources You Need for Getting Up to Speed

WTF is HTML5

There’s a lot of buzz going around about HTML5. Big companies such as Apple are predicting that it’s the technology that will sign the death warrant of the popular Flash platform that powers a lot of rich internet apps and complex dynamic web components. By Jacob Gube

10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Be a Designer

You Hate Not Being Physically Active on the Job

Did you know that becoming a designer is relatively easy? You go to school (some people even skip that part), you interview for a job or start your own freelancing business, and then you start getting paid in exchange for making stuff look cool.

That’s about it. Or is it? By Chris MConnell

Search Analysis with Google Analytics

External Search Reports in Google Analytics

Tracking and studying searches on your site is a valuable part of site analytics, but many site owners underestimate the benefit of it. By Dave Sparks

A Guide on Layout Types in Web Design

Absolute Layouts

One of the most variable aspects of web design is the way in which we approach width and height in terms of measurements and flexibility. By Alexander Dawson

Drawing the Line: 6 Things You Shouldn’t Tolerate in Projects

Drawing the Line: 6 Things You Shouldn't Tolerate in Projects

Some very good tips to read. By Sacha Greif

Web Designer as The Artist, Scientist And Philosopher

SM-04-example in Web Designer as The Artist, Scientist And Philosopher

Web professionals have to be both flexible and creative to meet the needs of each client — and these characteristics often transcend the design and development process. By Alexander Dawson

What Is The Last Thing You Do Before You Launch A Website?

One thing that can be said about human beings is that we are, by and large, creatures of habit. We establish routines, consciously and subconsciously, that help us accomplish tasks or move us more quickly or comfortably through our day. By Robert Bowen

Seven Must-See Videos and Presentations for Web App Developers

These presentations are a little technically heavy, but they’re worth every minute. Check them out. By Louis Lazzaris

How To Use CSS3 Media Queries To Create a Mobile Version of Your Website

Dconstruct-iphone in How To Use CSS3 Media Queries To Create a Mobile Version of Your Website

CSS3 continues to both excite and frustrate web designers and developers. By Rachel Andrew

Designing Style Guidelines For Brands And Websites

Chris Doyle in Designing Style Guidelines For Brands And Websites

A website is never done. Everyone has worked on a project that changed so much after it launched that they no longer wanted it in their portfolio. One way to help those who take over your projects is to produce a style guide. By Kat Neville

SVG with a little help from Raphaƫl

Raphaƫl is a light-weight JavaScript library that renders dynamic SVG graphics including charts, graphs, vector-based animations, and GUI components right into your web pages. By Brian Suda

Friday, July 09, 2010

25 Excellent jQuery Slider Tutorials and Plugins

A Beautiful Apple-Style Slideshow Gallery with CSS & jQuery

jQuery sliders and image galleries have continued to grow in popularity for use on homepages or on portfolio pages. By Vandelay Design

iPAD VS. iPHONE: A user experience study

An article covering the various aspects of user experience for the iPad and iPhone. By Nate Bolt

What's next for the online experience?

New technologies begin by imitating older technologies before evolving to their true forms. By Moira Dorsey

5 Good Habits That Will Make You a Better Coder

5 Good Habits That Will Make You a Better Coder

We all want to grow in the things we do, and in the field of web development, one of the main areas that we spend a lot of time on is our code. By Matt Ward

50 Examples of Drop-Down Navigation Menus in Web Designs

Porsche

Having a clean and well-structured website navigation is key in designing an effective user interface. By Andy Johnson

Leading By Example: Redesign Of The BBC Website

BBC4

The BBC completed a major redesign of its web site. Steve Herrmann, editor of the BBC News website said “We have focused on design and navigation, looking to see how we can make all the existing content we produce each day easier for you to find, use and share”. By Jennifer Farley

Thoughts on Creativity and Design Process

The creative process is something unique because it’s personal, we cannot teach someone how to come up with ideas but we can learn how to organize our thoughts in order to make our ideas easier to achieve in the form of a good design. By Abduzeedo Blog

30 Useful Frameworks for Designers

Some designers view frameworks as constricting and limiting in their creative efforts. They look at a framework as something they have to bend their work to fit. By Cameron Chapman

Occam’s Razor: A Great Principle for Designers


Lex parsimoniae is the Latin expression of what is known in English as Occam’s Razor, a philosophical rule of thumb that has guided some of the world’s best and brightest minds (including Isaac Newton). By Chris McConnell

Showcase Of Web Design In Poland

Chopin in Showcase Of Web Design In Poland

Vodka, pickled cucumbers and Pope John Paul II might spring to mind when someone mentions Poland. Obviously there’s more to Poland than that. On the world map of design, Poland is marked by creative agencies that produce high-level design and employ some of the best programmers in the world. By Przemek Matylla

Renegotiating The Contract (And Other Tales Of Horror)

You’ve met with the client, done the creative brief and gotten some kind of written agreement or contract. Work has been creative and progressing nicely. The joy and hope for life slowly return as the scent of money looms. By Speider Schneider

Web Designer as The Artist, Scientist And Philosopher

Web professionals have to be both flexible and creative to meet the needs of each client — and these characteristics often transcend the design and development process. By Alexander Dawson

E-commerce: Fundamentals of a Successful Re-Design

Proflowers1-e1275793504254 in E-commerce: Fundamentals of a Successful Re-Design

E-commerce re-designs can double your sales over night…permanently, but they can also cut them in half. By Peter Crawfurd and Michael Yang

FAQ Pages: Best Practices and Examples

Applemodalwindow in FAQ Pages: Best Practices and Examples

FAQ pages are a vital part of many websites. While not every site needs one, if you’re selling something, providing a service, or giving information about a complex subject, an FAQ can make life much easier for your visitors. By Noupe

Get More Done: 10 Tips for a More Productive Web Design Process

Most web designers would love to get more done in a given day. Those that don’t probably wish they could get the work they do have done faster, giving them more free time. The good news is that you can do both: shorten your work day and get more done. By Cameron Chapman

When Designers And Developers Work Together

Even in today’s fluctuating job market, one rule that still remains constant and true is to always play to your strengths. By Robert Bowen

Cross-Cultural Web Design

coke_china

As soon as you publish a website, it’s instantly available all over the world. But just because it can be viewed globally, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be well-received in other parts of the world. To achieve true global reach for your websites you need to be aware of cross-cultural differences and make sure you design accordingly. By Christian Arno

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

250 Quick Web Design Tips (Part 2)

250 Quick Web Design Tips (Part 2)


This is the second part of a 2-part series. In this second part, we will cover development and marketing tips. By Alexander Dawson

Create a CSS3 Call to Action Button

Create a CSS3 Call to Action Button

Andrew Roberts shares methods for making a slick call to action button using only CSS.

Getting Started with the iPhone SDK

Getting Started with the iPhone SDK

This article is a general overview of making iPhone apps using the iPhone software development kit (SDK). By Amber Weinberg

Supersize that Background, Please!

With an advertising world keen to use every inch of a medium for brand or product experience, it is becoming increasingly popular to design websites with full-browser backgrounds. By Bobby Van Der Sluis

Yahoo! Style Guide

The Yahoo! Style Guide Writing, editing and creating content for the digital world

Check out Yahoo! Style Guide website for some great tips on writing for the web.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Banner Ads: Excellent Examples for Inspiration

CSS Remix

Advertising is everywhere, especially on the Web. Most websites have some sort of web banner advertisements on them. For some websites, such as big design blogs, advertising is the main source of income. By Andy Johnson

10 iPhone Apps Every Web Designer Should Know About

FTP On The Go

With the huge development in mobile device technology in the past few years coupled with the ever-increasing media business sector, it time web designers started taking advantage of some of the fantastic mobile applications to make our job a bit easier? By Rob Thomas

Paper browser

Mock-up and Design

Try Paper Browser for templates to draw on.

Planning your E-Commerce Website

Shoe Guru

Whether theming an e-commerce website or doing a full-scale build, one of the most important parts in the whole process is the planning. By Kyle Prior

Top 10 Flash Content Management Systems

Top 10 Flash Content Management Systems

When it comes to Flash, there are some conflicting views. There is a misconception that that Flash web pages are not seen by search engines and can’t be indexed at all. Others reckon that Flash sites are not user-friendly and load for ages. By Tatiana Titkova

The Web Strategy Pyramid: A Well-balanced Web Strategy

The Web Strategy Pyramid

In these days of Twitter, Facebook, forums, blogs and more, it can be tempting to skip over the basics and dive headfirst into an oh-so-tempting dish of social media or SEO "tricks." By Jason Schubring

250 Quick Web Design Tips

250 Quick Web Design Tips (Part 1)

As web professionals, we’re always looking for ways to improve our knowledge and skills. Tips, tricks and checklists are often one of the most underused yet potentially useful models of providing great, quick and easy to follow pieces of useful information. By Alexander Dawson

PSD/HTML Conversion: Code a Clean Business Website Design

PSD/HTML Conversion: Code a Clean Business Website Design
In this PSD/HTML conversion tutorial, Chris Creed will take a PSD web design template that he showed how to construct in a previous tutorial and turn it into a functional HTML/CSS template.

Stop Forking with CSS3

Stop Forking Around with CSS3

It seems like virtually every day there’s a fantastic new example of something amazing you can do with CSS3. By Aaron Gustafson