Articles
The world that surrounds the topic of Web Design is home to many debates and opinions on best practices or generally how things should and shouldn’t be done. While many of these opinions are accepted and taken on board by everyone, there are some that end up being split into two opposing camps. One camp will provide an expert opinion for one side of the argument, while the other contradicts with an equally valid argument. Let’s take a look at the five most popular debates; the ones that often end up developing into digital riots with opinions flying like arrows across the vast no-man’s land known as the comments section.
We all know how important typography is. Choosing the right typeface(s), colors and, if necessary, applying the right type treatment can help tremendously in conveying your message to your audience. Most of the websites showcased today use large typography mostly in their headers, but also in other places such as sub-headings and other elements to draw attention to areas of importance. Let’s take a look at some of the best examples.
Designers have began to inject increasing levels of creativity into their blog posts and articles, throwing out the traditional and generic style of blog posts in favour of a much more attractive layout that’s themed specifically to the content. Let’s take a look at some of the best examples, and see what makes them work so well.
Just like the iPhone and other Apple products, there’s no doubt the new iPad will begin to appear in a range of website designs in the near future. I’ve been busy working on an iPad style icon pack for you to download for free use in your upcoming website or application designs, or to simply save in in your resources folder until the opportunity comes around! The pack includes the full size graphic, as well as 256px, 128px and 64px icons sizes.
Jon Phillips is a freelance web designer and is a well known figure in the online community as the guy behind top design related sites Spyre Studios, Freelance Folder and Design Newz. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jon on a couple of his personal and client related projects in the past, so I invited him to chat about his background, share some of his experiences of running multiple blogs and give some insights into his upcoming projects.
The everyday doodle is often left hiding away in a designer’s sketchbook, never being fufilled in life as a complete design, but every now and again doodles get their chance of being part of the big picture. In web design, designers often strive to inject creativity into their interfaces and layouts. The good old pencil can be a highly useful tool that can easily add personality to a design, giving that feel of originality that you just don’t get with crisp, smooth digital effects. This showcase of creative doodles in web design provides a wealth of inspiration and shows how hand-drawn elements can add add that tactile and low-fi feel to a website design.
Sam Brown is a freelance Interface Designer from Scotland, who under the business name of Massive Blue creates a range of high quality websites, combining detailed design and top class code. Sam is also the guy behind such sites as Posh CSS, and the upcoming Remindness. I invited Sam to chat about his design life and offer some advice to new-comer designers.
There’s a growing number of design blogs scattered around the web, each focusing on various aspects of design. This collection of 30 design blogs all have a primary focus on Web Design, and each one consistently pumps out great content, whether it’s in the form of inspiration, discussion, theory or tutorials. If you’re looking for some scrumtious goodies to feed your creative inner geek, look no further than this feast!
Over time certain conventions and best practices have been developed to help improve the general usability of websites during their design and build. This roundup of ten usability crimes highlights some of the most common mistakes or overlooked areas in web design and provides an alternative solution to help enhance the usability of your website.
HTML5 this, HTML5 that! There’s been plenty of HTML5 talk around the blogging world recently. It’s no longer a tiny spec on the horizon, it’s due to arrive soon! Some have already embraced it and are using it on their latest sites. Want to join in on all the fun? Check out this collection of some of the best resources from various blogs and websites in the industry. Each one gives an interesting insight into what’s in store with detailed write-ups, tutorials and handy cheat sheets to help you along your way.