Checklist: Before you start a web design project

Martin Hardee provides some insightful information on having a good checklist at hand before starting a web design project.

60 Elegant and Visually Appealing Designs

Another great list from SmashingMagazine where you ’ll find 60 fresh, elegant, professional and visually appealling designs, which pay close attention to details and manage to remain simple, user-friendly and nice-looking.

Creating bulletproof graphic link buttons with CSS

A very useful technique that uses an image-based button to expand and contract based on the amount of text it contains.

Five Techniques for Getting Buy-In for Usability Testing

Christine Perfetti outlines the 5 best techniques for convincing management and key stakeholders of the benefits of incorporating usability testing into the formal design process. It's easier than you think.

Here's another helpful tip on web usability testing.

Coding for Content

Most of us have read countless articles and books about (X)HTML and CSS, but, especially early on in our careers, we wonder what goes on in the mind of someone adept at markup and code. What exactly is the thought process? Is it the same every time, or does one start by focusing on a specific challenge in a design? Veteran front-end developer and designer—and regular Digital Web columnist—Garrett Dimon shares his thoughts as he takes on the markup challenges behind his latest personal blog redesign. Read more

Observing SEO Best Practices When Designing Your Website

Often we get asked to do search engine optimization for various clients who have existing websites. We will review the websites, and we are amazed at the blatant mistakes made by the previous webmasters.

Part 2 here

Weebly challenges TypePad, WordPress

Weebly got its start as an easy to use web publishing tool, targeting individuals and small business owners. Its drag-and-drop offering was dead simple and has helped the company attract over 25,000 users.

Strategy With Design

From BusinessWeek to Davos, design is being heralded as an essential contribution to successful corporate strategy and innovation. But it wasn’t that long ago that many corporations only thought of design as a way to “make things pretty”.

Understanding Your Web Audience

Although there are lots of elements to consider when designing compelling Web experiences (writing style, look and feel, information organization -to name just a few), there is one "knowable" element that can be used to appraise the rest: audience.

11th Annual Webby Awards

Webby Honorees, Nominees and Winners truly represent the best of the Web. They are but a small percentage of total entries and have been chosen by members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences based on a number of creative and functional criteria. See them all here.

The New Google Analytics

Avinash Kaushik writes a very detailed post about the new-look Google Analytics that is rolling out across accounts right now.

Now, more than ever web analytics are essential. In my experience, web analytics at museums have been the last thing on people’s busy timetables. Most organisations report the most basic level of statistics to their funding bodies and leave it at that, yet they offer the best and most immediate opportunity to see exactly what users are doing on your site and how they are using it.

Redesigning the ExpressionEngine website

Observing design process is always interesting, particularly if the results is both functional and beautiful. Review the site here: ExpressionEngine.com.

Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain talks about about the redesign in this article.

Design View/Any Rutledge-Web Standards: It's about quality, not compliance.

The Web standards movement faces widespread resistance and apathy, in part, for the most ridiculous of reasons. These reasons are unnecessarily supported by poorly chosen terminology and how the message is being communicated.

Web-Typography

Graphic designers know that layouts with a consistent baseline will look much better than inconsistent ones. Even if you are not a graphic designer, this is an easy way to make your text look tidy. Check out Baseline Rhythm Calculator, and see how it can be used to generate a basic stylesheet with the proper calculations. The unwritten rule in web-typography says that the perfect proportion lies somewhere between 1:1.5 and 1:1.7.

11 Almost Perfect Business Layouts

Business companies tend to impress visitors with solid site structures, precise navigation and the credibility of presented content. Therefore business layouts are usually quite unspectacular, mostly informative, but not attractive. It’s an appropriate approach if you want to inform your visitors, but what should you do if you want to attract users’ attention? How to combine serious tone with attractive design? Smashing Magazine decided to figure it out and selected 11 almost perfect business designs / layouts used by companies from different countries of the world.

70 Expert Ideas for Better CSS Coding

Smashing Magazine does it again with a superb list of little CSS tips & tricks to increase your productivity.

Unlocking the mysteries of Webspeak

Maybe it's because the Internet is a social haunt of the young, or maybe it's because network technology is a science that requires specific terminology, but the Web has always had a jargon all its own.

Personas and Storytelling

"Personas work because they tell stories. Stories are part of every community. They communicate culture, organize and transmit information. Most importantly, they spark the imagination as you explore new ideas. They can ignite action." - courtesy of craig marion

19 Things NOT to Do When Building a Website

Here's a list of some basic and fundamental rules that all webmasters must learn when developing a website that needs to make actual money.

Why Simplicity is Essential to Web Design

A simple website charges you less time. A complex website charges you more time. Time is your most precious resource.

Creating User Friendly 404 Pages

We understand what 404 means: Page Not Found. But the average internet user has no idea what 404 means or what to do about it. To them, it's yet another unintelligible error message from the computer.

Read more.

Joomla

Joomla! is one of the most powerful Open Source Content Management Systems on the planet. It is used all over the world for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications. Joomla! is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable.

Free! Icons for your website or application

List of some amazing icons by various artists who have made their work available to the general public for a variety of uses. These icons are all free. - By Kirk Montgomery

Top 5 annoying buzzwords clients give you

The Top 5 buzzwords clients use to describe how they want their site to look.

Is Less Really More?

In terms of design and development, is less really more?

Weekly Design Resources

Some links to web design resources.

Internet Spider Bot is More Popular than Spider Man

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a systematic, inexpensive, thought-intensive procedure that helps a website get a higher ranking in search engines. In simple words, effective SEO makes sure that your page appears within the top results. Read the article.

Cascading Style Sheets

CSS 3 is a great site covering various CSS properties such as font-variant, lists, classification,...

CSS Vault

Great website where you're shown great sites that use CSS so that others can be inspired to use the technology.

XHTML in Layman's Terms

Everything that goes up must come...

Web Site of the week: CBT

Sites for architectural studios are the most consistently visually satisfying. Like any self-promotional vehicle, they serve a very specific purpose: to garner new projects and to recruit employees.

SEO and Your Web Site

We all know the importance of having a Web site rank well in search engine results for searches on specific keywords/phrases. If your Web site doesn’t have a page appearing in the top 10 search engine result positions (SERPs) the chances of someone clicking on your listing, and actually visiting your site, drop dramatically. If you’re not in the top 20 you have almost no chance that someone will scan through the SERPs that far to find your page.

Packaging Design for Web-based Products

Rip. Crinkle. Pop. The sounds of unpacking that eagerly anticipated product you just brought home from the store are music to the ears. Each successive layer of packaging reveals new information or reiterates the reasons you put down your hard-earned money for the consumer goodness now in your hands.

What is Deep Link Ratio?

Answer: Deep link percentage is the % of all your backlinks (or inbound links) that point at pages other than your home page. Read the article here.

Design Questions Every Website Should Address for Success

Views and news on the holistic approach to usability, seo/sem, accessibility and organic, people on purpose web design.

10 Things to keep in mind when changing a site design

When you create a new site design, you should always remember a few key points. If you don’t, not only is it bad for search engines, but also visitors.

Internet Marketing Best [Blog] Posts of 2006: The Year in Review

Various links that reflect on some of the best blog posts and books regarding Internet Marketing.

Screenalcio.us

Screenalicio.us is the web's new premier source for showcasing excellent websites and inspire artists all alike to create spectacular work of their own.

They have the largest collection of websites you will ever lay your eyes on, and it keeps on growing every day.

All you got to do is start browsing. Go on. Get inspired!

A Digital Magazine Awarding Super Hot Websites

Here's a great web site that was established in 2005 to promote and award websites that exhibit outstanding design qualites...Website Design Awards.

Websites of the Week

24-7media.de


annielennox.co.uk

Retro Style

Revised versions of past styles is a common and very popular technique. It is found in advertising, cd design, fashion, and of course, website design. It is done for a variety of reasons, sometimes driven by the content of the site and at other times by the desire to associate the site with some element of the past.

Web Page Development: Best Practices

Apple's Developer Connection web site offers some very good information on best practices for building web sites. The article offers some practical hints on how to create standards-conforming websites, and to work around some issues that will arise on Explorer's browser.

Ten questions for Patrick Griffiths

Patrick Griffiths (or PTG) is a London-based freelance webmaker. He is most widely known for his site HTML Dog, an HTML and CSS resource for beginners and experts alike. The 10 questions.

Articles & Tutorials on Good Web Practices

Check out this site for helpful information on good web practices when building your web site.

Batch Processing Images

Here's a great tutorial using Photoshop to turn a bunch of digital photos into thumbnails, and then format them on a web page with Dreamweaver.

Design Melt Down

A great site that covers design elements, trends, and problems in web design.

Looking for some good text tricks?

Mandarin Design offers some very good methods by which to add in some unique text tricks to your web site.

eHub

Emily Chang has jumped into the middle of what everyone seems to be whispering about these days. She’s part of the Web2.0 Work group, a member of TheCorantNetwork, has been involved in the creation of eighty plus websites.

eHub is a constantly updated list of web applications, services, resources, blogs or sites with a focus on next generation web (web 2.0), social software, blogging, Ajax, Ruby on Rails, location mapping, open source, folksonomy, design and digital media sharing.

CSS Help Pile

There are some amazing resources available for creating powerful standards-based websites (a quick look at this site's inspiration proves that). Unfortunately, often these resources aren't centralized and searching for specific information can often lead to getting lost in a maze of links -- this is an especially daunting task when you're not exactly sure what you're searching for. The css help pile is an attempt to centralize linkage to those resources and tips in a collected and organized manner. The css help pile doesn't intend to compete with these resources, but rather, to promote access and discussion to many of the resources that are out there. CSS Help Pile

Web Developer's Handbook

Check out Vitaly Friedman's web site titled Web Developer's Handbook. It had information stemming from CSS layouts, color tools, typography, and more.

Did you take your Vitamin today?

The web has undoubtedly entered a new and exciting phase. Designers, developers and entrepreneurs are energized, refueled and producing some mind-blowing projects. The buzz is most definitely back! Vitamin is a brand new online magazine dedicated to that new web industry.

Vitamin will inspire you, teach you, advise you and sometimes test you with its in-depth features, audio interviews, training sessions and reviews.

It’s updated every week, and it’s free! So whether you just want to get dirty with the code or plan to topple Google with your next cunning web app idea, Vitamin is your new best friend.

Check out Luke Wroblewski's blog site about Interface Design

Functioning Form is a blog about interface design. That is to say, it is where art and technology emerge as experience, where message and medium meld, and where interactions are useful, usable, and enjoyable.

Web 2.0 Has Corporate America Spinning

What every CEO needs to know about the array of new tools that foster online collaboration -- and could revolutionize business.

Web Standards

What are web standards and why should I care about them? Read on and find out why.

GOOGLE LOOKS TO SPIFF UP ITS DESIGN

Don't look now, but Douglas Bowman is joining Google as ``visual design lead.''

Bowman's work includes a redesign of the Wired News site a few years ago. More recently, he punched up some of the templates for Blogger, and apparently helped with Google Calendar.

It'll be interesting to see what influence Bowman has over Google products. It's a company that's never really been known for its design sensibility -- fairly or not.

Bowman notes on his blog a very cool Google Calendar feature that lets you get a daily agenda of your appointments via SMS whenever you need it. Very nice.

Bowman said he would be helping Google establish a ``common visual language'' across all its products including Gmail, Writely, Page Creator and other projects in the pipeline.

See and read some of Bowman's work and interviews.

[courtesy of the San Jose Mercury News]

Preparing for Widescreen

The metrics of screen width are already beginning to change. A quick glance at the Web sites for Dell, HP/Compaq and Gateway shows that at least 75% of laptops are now offered with widescreens.

What Is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 generally refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online.

Internet Glossary

If you're looking for the meaning of various web terms, take a look at Motive.

Font Savvy

If you're in need for some new fonts, try Font Savvy.

Web Sites of The Week

ContourCase
It's all we can hope for - clean, clear, I know what it's about and how to use it, plus fantastic and fresh design!



Rescuing Da Vinci
A different take: this time intricately woven interface with a purpose - unraveling the world of how Da Vinci's art was stolen by Hitler and recovered. Darker tones set the feeling well for this graphical story. Nice work.



JasonLimon
Best looking portfolio site of the week I'd say... nothing earth shattering, but solid, clean attractive design... tell me it's not becoming a lost art!

How to conduct a Web site competitive analysis

Conducting a competitive analysis is an important part of the job if you're a usability engineer or information architect. A good competitive analysis not only produces usability metrics but also aids decision makers in their strategic goal-setting and planning.

Zen Garden

A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design.

What Are HTML Meta Tags? (Meta Tag Tutorial)

Meta tags are hidden html tags of an html document that are not displayed in a browser but provide a browser or search engine robot with useful information.

Teacher John

Here's a great web site from Teacher John [ John Govsky ] covering web graphics, CSS, HTML, and tons of resources.

Seven Accessibility Mistakes (Part 1 & 2)

Everyone makes mistakes. Avoid fatal flaws by learning about the top seven ways designers and clients contribute to inaccessible Web sites. In the first part of a two-part series, you’ll find out how taking too much responsibility and planning for only the direst of circumstances can undermine your accessibility project.
Part 1 Part 2

Web Sites of The Week: General

JasonLimon

Best looking portfolio site of the week I'd say... nothing earth shattering, but solid, clean attractive design... tell me it's not becoming a lost art!

Gulyas Jozsef

Love the photo transitions and the mood of the photos. This is an elegant personal portfolio site with a fantastic infectious feel. Once again, simplicity with ELEGANCE takes the day! Ok, the site is in Hungarian, but you'll like it just the same.

StratoCucine

Italian kitchens... wow.. what a nicely done design and site. Clean, slick, clean, slick, clean slick! Nice layouts, transitions, colors, photos. All cohesive and makes me want that high end hardware man!

Web Design rom Scratch

'Web Design from Scratch' aims to be a complete guide to web design for eveyone interested in creating effective web pages.

Wufoo

If you can submit it, we can build it. Making forms easy+fast+fun.

Live by the Mockup, Die by the Mockup

Luke Wroblewski talks about the Mockup. The term itself brings to mind the duality inherent in this omnipresent design artifact. It’s both a direct...

htmldog.com

HTML Dog is a guide and resource, for beginners and experts alike, to the most commonly used technologies in making web pages - HTML and CSS.

Looking for web books?

Looking for web books? Check out Peachpit.

CSS Sprites: Image Slicing's Kiss of Death

Say goodbye to old-school slicing and dicing when creating image maps, buttons, and navigation menus. Instead, say hello to a deceptively simple yet powerful sprite-based CSS solution.

Web Design Times

Web Design Times is a new daily news and information resource for web designers.

Web Sites of the Week

Chris Garrett is a young designer based in Gloucestershire, UK. He's been working in new media for over 4 years now.
http://chrisgarrettmedia.com

Stylegala is an online resource and inspiration guide for web agencies, designers and developers who take interest in websites that combine the powers of design, web standards and CSS.
http://www.stylegala.com

Yahoo! Developer Network

Do you eat, sleep and breathe JavaScript? This is your source for information for using JavaScript with Yahoo! Web Services APIs.

'Instant' Domain Search

This site is designed to help you find the right domain name for your web site. Just start typing.

Early and Often: How to avoid the design revision death spiral

David Cronin covers the lessons one can learn from client collaboration, and how critical it is success.

Top 5 Firefox Extensions for Web Designers

One of the best features of Firefox is that it can be expanded with a wide range of optional extensions. There are extensions to help with blogging, privacy, working with RSS files, or just having fun. Here’s a list of the 5 extensions most useful when doing web design.

CSS Curly Quotes

Simon Collison recently explained how to create Swooshy Curly Quotes Without Images using CSS. It’s a nice technique that works cross-browser, but you have to add tags to your markup for it to work. Here is an alternate technique that requires no changes to your markup that will work in modern CSS2 compatible browsers like Firefox.

Five simple steps designing grid systems

Mark Boulton is an award-winning typographic designer based in Cardiff, UK. Specialising in clean functional design. In this article he points out steps in going about designing grid systems.

Web Sites of the Week

1- Well design site for a great architeture firm.
http://www.hillier.com

2- For the sports person inside us all.
http://www.nike.com/

3- Designer site that provides clients with interactive and print design solutions.
http://www.firstbornmultimedia.com/

Sensible Forms: A Form Usability Checklist

Brian Crescimanno, discusses ow often the smallest usability quirks, creat the biggest annoyances for users and forms.

Writing a Web Business Plan

So, you've mastered HTML, CSS and Perl. You have a great sense of intuitive design. Now, can you write a great business plan for your client? Find out by Scott Kramer, what steps to take to make it happen.

Clean, Crisp Web Design: How To Create Clean Looking Designs

Tim Donahue offers some great ideas on how to go about creating a great web design that clean and inviting to the eye.

Web Sites of the Week

1-Bold design, and nice use of Flash to show off stunning photos!
tonygarcia.com

2-Great creative feel to this site. Fun 3-D images.
design-insights

3-Nike has put together a great looking site that is clean and yet provides greats tips for the beginner and expert runners.
nike.com

Cool Web Designs

Here's a great web site I browse to get ideas. Hope you'll like it.

Navigation Systems: A Visual Perspective

Go here to read a Powerpoint presentation by Reshma Kumar and Marina Naito, discussing the the methods by which to structure a web navigation system.

Web Production Tips

Envision Internet Consulting, LLC offers some great tips when it comes to web production.

Understanding You Web Audience

A detailed understanding of your target audience provides you with an effective metric by which to evaluate all your design decisions: structure (content and organization), visual presentation (personality and tone), and interaction (functionality and behavior). Luke Wroblewski expands on this concept. Read more here.

Filling Amazon's Tall Orders

See how the world's largest online retailer ensures that gifts get delivered on one of the busiest shopping -- and shipping -- days of the year.

Style versus Design

Jeffrey Zeldman offers his insights into understanding the difference about style and design, and what it's all about. Check out his PDF.

Some tricks to use in CSS

Trenton Moss offers some of his tips and tricks to using CSS.

Ten Rules for Web Startups

Wanting to start your own web design company. Here are some helpful tips.

Email Design Guidelines for 2006

As 2005 draws to a close, here are some key email design trends and guidelines to pay attention to now and into the new year.

Top 10 Custom JavaScript functions of all time

For those who like usinging javascript, here's a link to see functions to use on your web site.

Tag, your it

Tagging has quickly gained popularity because it allows human beings to bring intuitive organization to what otherwise would be largely anonymous entries in an endless sea of data. Read more about it here.

How To Be a Successful Freelancer, Part 1

Ryan Carson article looks at how following some easy methods, you can set yourself aprt from the masses.

Design Choices Can Cripple a Web site

Good article by Nick Usborne covers how a well designed website will have a dramatic impact on conversion rates, for better or for worse.

Web Design Studio of the Week

Check our our web design studio of the week. Added Sugar Media is a full service graphic design and advertising agency located in historic downtown Boston. Their design and production abilities have expanded far beyond their humble roots as a web site design company. They have been recognized as a multifaceted design house providing their clients with superior identity and branding solutions capable of capturing the essence of their business philosophy.

A Design Process Revealed

For individuals who are neither designers nor artists, it may seem like those who are, use a lot of smoke and mirrors, magically whipping up each stunning creation. Artistic talent and creativity can certainly aid and enhance the final result, but design, in particular, generally follows a process.

Note: This article also exists in French at Pompage.net, translated (with permission) by Stéphane Deschamps: Les coulisses d’un design.