Book review: the Smashing Book 2

In February, Smashing Magazine officially released their latest print book project, The Smashing Book 2. Here's a review by Webdesigner Depot

Mind blowing examples of experimental typography

Typography is often thought of in its practical form, as text on a web page or printed material.
A designer may look at typography in the way that it will impact their design, considering aspects such as spacing, leading, weight and size. By Webdesigner Depot

10 Important UI Design Considerations for Web Apps

The blank state is how your app will look and function when the user hasn’t entered any data yet (except perhaps their email address after signing up for an account). This is the first interaction and scenario that your user will encounter with your app and it can make or break their first experience and impression. By Marc Gayle

Ten Oddities And Secrets About JavaScript

JavaScript. At once bizarre and yet beautiful, it is surely the programming language that Pablo Picasso would have invented. Null is apparently an object, an empty array is apparently equal to false, and functions are bandied around as though they were tennis balls. By Andy Croxall

The Process of Planning a Perfect Website

Although it’s bold to pop open Adobe Photoshop and get right into designing, there are many steps which can enhance a website when taken into consideration. The planning process, although not seemingly too long, is an almost essential aspect of what it lends to the creative process. By Jake Rocheleau

Freelance Personal Finances: Your Guide

Managing your finances as a freelance designer can lead to a multitude of cluster headaches and obscure nosebleeds. Luckily there are many tools, tips and software designed to ease the money burden, allowing you to spend more time on your work than time on the figures. By Matt Polo

Designing an SEO Friendly Website

SEO has become a valuable online marketing tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes, but for an SEO campaign to be successful, solid foundations need to be in place. Doing things right from the offset can really reap the benefits, save time and money. By Dave Cain

Adding Constraints May Boost Your Creativity

Constraints, restrictions, guidelines, whatever you call them – they tend to get a bad wrap; they’re always associated with negativity. It doesn’t have to be that way! By Nathan Weller

7 Ways Designers & Developers Can Optimize Sites for Search Engines

Web designers and developers have many responsibilities when it comes to building websites. From creating a solid layout for the front-end, to writing clean code so that the site runs bug free – there’s a lot involved. By Tommy Swanson

Minimal Web Icons

Here are some minimal icons are useful for a lot of web design projects. This set includes 42 icons for basic website usage. By Henry Jones

21 Examples of Parallax Scrolling in Web Design

The Parallax effect or parallax scrolling in web design is the technique that features layered images that move around the website in different speeds/perspectives creating a nice and interesting 3D illusion. By Gisele Muller

30 Inspiring “About Me” Pages

"About me" pages have the ability to engage and inform your site visitors in a personal and friendly way. For web professionals, our "About me" page can be critical in establishing a true connection with potential clients, and it can set us apart from a sea of other designers and developers. By Stephanie Hamilton

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Becoming a Freelancer

The web is an ocean of information, advertising and communication that is attracting more and more professionals. The web as an industry is versatile and full of interesting fields that would satisfy people of all professional backgrounds. By Maria Malidaki

Soft UI Kit: Free PSD for Mocking Up Web Designs

Soft UI Kit is a free PSD that includes most common web elements and is perfect for mocking up designs. By Adrian Pelletier

Explaining The Dreaded DNS Delay

Imagine that your biggest client calls because they are having trouble retrieving their email. Or they want to know what their best-selling item is right now. Or their most popular blog post. Perhaps their website has suddenly gone down. You can hardly reply, “No problem, I’ll get back to you in 24 to 48 hours.” By Paul Tero

Getting Started With Defensive Web Design

Nothing ruins a great website UI like people using it. At least, it often feels that way. You put in days or weeks building the interface, only to find that a vast majority of visitors abandon it partway through the process that it supports. By Ian Lurie

35 Useful Free Fonts for Graphic Designers

There are more free fonts around than ever before. High-quality, attractive and elegant fonts that you don’t have to pay a cent for are everywhere. By Crazyleaf

Jessica Hische

Jessica Hische - An Evening With: Jessica Hische from Build on Vimeo.

Human Behavior Theories That Can be Applied to Web Design

Humans are logical creatures, and as surprising as this might be, when we visit a website our minds make a series of decisions that affect the actions we take. By Alexander Dawson

App Sketcher

App Sketcher is a lightweight prototyping tool for developing interactive HTML prototypes or wireframes. By Wireframes