Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock, you probably know this is that time of the year were everyone feels obligated to provide advice about what’s good, what’s not and what’s just plain stupid.
So lately I've been debating with myself about whether or not I should write an article about Web Design Advice and Tips, mainly because:
- I think there's one too many "Super Ultimate Definitive Guide to XYZ"super ultimate definitive knowledge on anything, (well except for matching socks, I sure know how to pick'em) and... already, plus I don't have a
- You know what they say about advice being just a form of nostalgia, so the last thing I would've wanted is to sound like a war veteran
Then yesterday, while catching up with my RSS feeds, I found a great (and sadly true) post from Greg about how hard is it to find good talent in today's industry.
As an employer of a growing number of full-time and freelance workers I can tell you that it's becoming increasingly difficult to find good people. I have had several conversations with persons of top stature in the web design business who are of the same opinion. Their own businesses' have been slightly crippled this year due to work demand vs. human supply.
I don't see there being a quick turn-around for this problem but it will escalate if we don't spend time and resources to proactively help improve the situation
After reading Greg's post (and experience it several times myself), I decided to help, to be more proactive and write an useful list of resources that could simplify what I learned over the last 11 years in Web Design. Who knows, that old Spanish Proverb might be right after all:
The Devil is wiser because he's old, not because he's the Devil
Below there's a set of 25 links I gathered from my bookmarks. On this links you'll find not only very useful tools, but also real mind opener tips and information about Web Design, ranging from Typography, Creative Tactics, Design Principles, Tutorials, and great inspirational examples.
From Good to Great, One link at a time
Smashing Magazine's
40+ Excellent Free Fonts For Professional Design
"The importance of typography in design can’t be overestimated. The accuracy, precision and balance of geometric forms can give letters the elegance and sharpness they deserve"
PSDTUTS's
9 Essential Principles for Good Web Design
"Web design can be deceptively difficult. Getting a design that is both usable and pleasing, delivers information and builds brand, is technically sound and visually coherent..."
A List Apart's
Whitespace
"My first design job was with a small print design agency in Manchester that produced work in varying media: packaging, publications, and marketing support materials, and… direct mail"
PSDTUTS's
Elements of Great Web design: The Polish
"When I put together designs I usually do so in two phases - Layout and Polish. During the layout phase I place the main objects on the page usually finishing with something that looks relatively complete."
Smashing Magazine's
35 Designers x 5 Questions
"35 designers. 5 questions. 5 precise answers. Result: 175 professional suggestions, tips and ideas from some of the best web-developers all around the world."
FreelanceSwitch's
34 Places to Get Design Inspiration (On and Off)
"Everyone who hasn’t encountered designer’s block, raise your hand. Just as I thought. Well then, chances are you could use some places to get inspiration for those days when the pixels aren’t aligned and your mouse finger isn’t clicking like it should"
SEOmoz's
8 Web Design Tactics to Help You When You're Stuck
"Web design can be incredibly frustrating. You'd think that with the infinite possibilities of what-goes-where it'd be pretty easy to land a design that works, yet somehow we've all been stuck before."
Smashing Magazine's
42 Design/Tech Magazines To Read
"Regardless of what it is that you’re selling, in order to remain competitive, you have to know exactly, what’s going on in the field you’re working in. More than that - actually, you have to know what happens next, which trends are coming up and which technologies will become big in the future."
The Photoshop Roadmap's
100 Awesome High Resolutions Photoshop Brushes
"Let’s dive today into a sea of brushes. Hundreds of thousands of sets are lying undiscovered like pirate treasures all over the web. "
Smashing Magazine's
30 More Excellent Blog Designs
"It’s not hard to design a weblog, but it’s getting harder when you try to achieve a unique weblog design. It doesn’t matter what weblog-engine you are using — frequently used themes tend to become boring over time, and they also don’t necessarily reflect the unique identity of the blogger. "
WebSiteOptimization's
Web Page Analyzer
"Free web site speed test to improve website performance. Enter a URL below to calculate page size, composition, and download time. The script calculates the size of individual elements and sums up each type of web page component."
Hell Yeah Dude's
Starting a design blog from the ground up
"So you want to start discussing the theories on your mind? But you have no where to do it? No problem, don’t fall into the free blogging platforms that display all their ads on your blog!"
Smashing Magazine's
Best Practices for Bulletproof E-Mail Delivery
"Have your e-mails already been flagged as spam, although you’ve sent a seemingly legitimate proposal to your client? Have you ever wondered why the efficiency of your newsletter campaigns suddenly dropped down? In both cases you deal with a problem which is harder to get done with than you think it is: bulletproof e-mail delivery."
Vitamin's
7 Surefire Styles that Work
"Glossy buttons, ornamental backgrounds, futuristic interfaces. We’ve all been guilty at one time or another of committing the 7 design-isms in this article from Larissa Meek. But that’s okay, she tells us, they’re classics for a reason."
Tutorial Blog's
20 of the Best E-Commerce Websites
"These are a tricky site to get right and design can give way to conversions, which is after all, the reason they are there - to make money."
Campaign Monitor's
Plain text templates and formatting tips
"Not everybody has an email client that can show HTML, and some people just prefer plain text. We got permission from the creators of three really well designed plain text newsletters to share modified forms of their format with you..."
Smashing Magazine's
Time Savers: Code Beautifier And Formatter
"Well-documented and readable source code is essential for every collaborative project. Logically structured, well organized and nicely formatted, the code can speed up the bug hunting... "
Clear Function's
Applying progressive enhancements to your website
"A particular strategy of Web design that emphasizes accessibility, semantic markup, and external stylesheet and scripting technologies...."
Smashing Magazine's
Exploring Design: Outstanding Start Pages
"Designers have only a fraction of a second to attract users’ eye and win over their loyalty. Clear visual structure, thought-out typography and moderate use of images are extremely important..."
Very useful tool when your client doesn't know...
Who is hosting this
"Who Is Hosting This is a tool that enables you to find out who is hosting any web site. Simply type in any domain name, and you'll get a link to the company that's hosting this particular domain. It's that simple! "
A List Apart's
Human-to-Human Design
"My first design job was with a small print design agency in Manchester that produced work in varying media: packaging, publications, and marketing support materials, and… direct mail"
Smashing Magazine's
60 Elegant And Visually Appealing Designs
"It’s quite easy to get stuck in creativity blocks, but it’s damn hard to get out of them. Particularly if you are out of time and don’t want to compromise your professional principles..."
Liquidicity's
50 Ways to Become a Better Designer
"Being a successful creative has a lot to do with the way you work. Sure, you can’t teach good design, but it never hurts to learn a few new tricks, or simply make the most of your talents."
How does "affordable stock images" sounds for a change
iStockphoto
"iStockphoto is the world's preeminent collection of member-generated royalty-free images, at the world's best prices. There are no subscription fees or extra costs. Just the best Stock Photography, Vector illustrations, Flash Files, and Videos, at prices for everyone"
Smashing Magazine's
11 Almost Perfect Business Layout
"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.
Yay for SUM Agency appearing #1 on the list!
While this probably not the Ultimate and Definitive way to do it, If you go through each and one of them, you WILL take your talent to a different level.
Enjoy and good luck!
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