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Joshua Johnson

Joshua Johnson

Equal parts editor, writer, designer, and photographer. Hit me up on Twitter, or check out my photos.

Web Design Critique #94: HealthyHearing

Critique / 14 Dec 2012

Web Design Critique #94: HealthyHearing

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is HealthyHearing, a source for hearing health and hearing aid information. Let’s jump in and see what we think!

Quote Robot 2: Creating Impressive Client Proposals Just Got Even Easier

Business / 13 Dec 2012

Quote Robot 2: Creating Impressive Client Proposals Just Got Even Easier

As a designer or developer, paperwork is probably a necessary evil, not something that you particularly enjoy. Tasks like creating and managing client quotes and sending invoices can be annoying or even intimidating.

Fortunately, QuoteRobot is here to streamline the process for you. We took a look at this great app when it first launched, but now it’s been completely overhauled for version two, so it’s high time we had another peek!

Review: The Mobile Book by Smashing Magazine

Mobile / 12 Dec 2012

Review: The Mobile Book by Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine, one of the most significant forces on the web for all things design and development related, is hitting us with another tome of practical and insightful industry knowledge. The Mobile Book is the latest product of Smashing’s foray into publishing, and it just might be the best one yet.

Read on to see what The Mobile Book is, who it’s for, and why there should be a copy sitting on your shelf as soon as possible.

Divshot: An Awesome Way to Design and Build Bootstrap Pages

CSS / 11 Dec 2012

Divshot: An Awesome Way to Design and Build Bootstrap Pages

Recently, we took a close look at Easel, a web-based site builder that leverages Twitter Bootstrap. Today we’re following that up with a tour of a very similar tool: Divshot.

With Divshot, you can quickly and easily build clean, responsive web page layouts using a combination of visual tools and hand coding. It’s a really slick tool and I think you’re going to enjoy using it.

20 Fantastic jQuery Web Type Plugins

JavaScript / 10 Dec 2012

20 Fantastic jQuery Web Type Plugins

In recent years, web typography has gone from an embarrassment to a point of pride. From CSS to JavaScript, we’re gaining great tools almost daily that help us implement awesome type.

Today we’re going to look at the best jQuery plugins around that are specially built to make web type more awesome. Download a few and take your type further.

Build an Adaptive CSS Modal Window

CSS / 5 Dec 2012

Build an Adaptive CSS Modal Window

This tutorial is yet another fun CSS project that helps you build something that you may have thought was only possible with JavaScript. We’re going to create a modal window that can be shown and hidden with a click that’s powered by a CSS checkbox.

To sweeten the deal, we’re also going to use a media query to ensure that the modal screen adapts well to smaller screen sizes. Let’s jump in and see how it all works!

Winners Announced: Win One of Three Copies of the Truth About HTML5

Competitions / 3 Dec 2012

Winners Announced: Win One of Three Copies of the Truth About HTML5

Recently, author Luke Stevens published an awesome article on Design Shack titled, “HTML5: Hype, Substance and Scrutiny“, which took a fascinating look at what HTML5 really is and isn’t and even strayed from the typical rhetoric by offering up some serious critiques.

Today we’re following that up with a giveaway of Luke’s amazing book, “The Truth About HTML5.” Read on to learn more about the book and see how you can win!

Web Design Critique #93: Surfcamp Portugal

Critique / 30 Nov 2012

Web Design Critique #93: Surfcamp Portugal

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is Surfcamp Portugal, a site from Rapture Camps. Let’s jump in and see what we think!

Swap Your Page’s Background Image on Navigation Hover

CSS / 29 Nov 2012

Swap Your Page’s Background Image on Navigation Hover

I love the challenge of building something with CSS that uses one item to trigger another. It can get pretty tricky to wrap your mind around all of the pieces involved and come up with a way to flow your HTML in a way that is easily controlled in your CSS.

Today we’re going to embark on just such a challenge. We’ll build a basic home page that swaps out background images based on the link that you’re hovering over in the navigation. Along the way, you’ll learn all about the idea of remote hovers and how to wield them in your projects.

7 Great Tools to Help You Build Your Own HTML5 Forms

HTML / 27 Nov 2012

7 Great Tools to Help You Build Your Own HTML5 Forms

Forms can be one of the most complex aspects of your front-end development work. They’re far more complicated than most of the items that you’ll work with from both an HTML and CSS perspective.

If you’ve been frustrated with forms in the past, don’t worry, there is hope! Today we’re going to go over some tools and frameworks that help you get the job done without the headaches.

30 Amazing Resources for Sass Lovers

CSS / 26 Nov 2012

30 Amazing Resources for Sass Lovers

Despite the predictions of countless skeptics, Sass hasn’t proved to be a fad at all, but rather a remarkably robust set of tools that genuinely improve CSS authoring.

I’m a huge Sass fan and I know many of you are too, so I’ve compiled this list of thirty amazing resources for Sass lovers. In it you’ll find all kinds of goodies built on and for Sass: frameworks, plugins, apps and a lot more.

Web Design Critique #92: Oomph

Critique / 23 Nov 2012

Web Design Critique #92: Oomph

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is Oomph. Let’s jump in and see what we think!