Articles - Page 225

PHP / 29 Jul 2011

Adding an About the Author Box to Your WordPress Posts

Digital magazines have become a popular commodity for today’s web users. With WordPress powering millions of blogs on the web today, it’s fair to assume they run a stable piece of software. Some of the best features are all internal as the WP team publishes live, updated documentation with each release.

Not only is the software very powerful but the underlying classes and functions give developers an all-access pass. It is extremely simple to develop apps and modules within WordPress. Today we’ll be looking into author meta data functions for building an “About the Author” box.

Freebies / 29 Jul 2011

Weekly Freebies: 20 Awesome Cheatsheets for Designers and Developers

You simply can’t beat the usefulness of a good cheatsheet. Having all the information you need in one convenient spot will help you make that transition from newbie to ninja in no time.

Today we have a collection of the best free cheatsheets from around the web. You’ll find some old favorites like the jQuery Visual Cheatsheet and some new entrants like the Manual Photography Cheatsheet. No matter what you’re into, there’s probably a cheatsheet for it!

Graphics / 28 Jul 2011

Three Quick Design Tricks: Sliced Text, Metal Knobs and Curled Stickers

Today we have a small collection of completely random but very useful design tricks that you should keep in the back of your mind the next time you need a new idea.

We’ll be showing you how to slice up some text in Illustrator to give it an edgy feel and how to build a metal slider and a curled sticker in Photoshop.

HTML / 27 Jul 2011

Embedding Google Maps Into a Web Page: A Beginner’s Guide

Google Maps is one of the best utilities to ever hit the web. It has become the standard way for people to get directions online, view satellite and terrain imagery and perform any other map-related task.

There are a number of reasons that you would want to embed a Google Map into your web page, whether it be for functional purposes, such as guiding users to your physical location, or aesthetic purposes, such as using map for a background graphic. Today we’re going to look at two ways you can go about this task: the quick and easy way and the powerful, flexible API route.

Competitions / 26 Jul 2011

Win a Dell XPS 15z for Designing on the Road!

Update: We’ve chosen a winner, and congratulations are in order to Dawn Costen. We’ll be in touch soon to arrange where to send your prize. Thank you to everyone who took part, and be sure to follow us on Twitter to find out when we launch our next competition!

I’m excited to let you know that we’re launching another great competition today for our UK readers, giving you the chance to get your hands on a brand new laptop from Dell. The XPS 15z is their thinnest ever notebook – perfect for getting on with some design or development work on the road. Read on to find out how to take part – entering only takes a few seconds!

CSS / 25 Jul 2011

Achieving Multi-Step Animations With CSS Transitions

Multi-step CSS animations are easy with keyframes, but what if we want to use plain old transitions to achieve a similar effect? Further, how do we take a single hover event and translate that into multiple animations on different elements?

The answer lies in using buried hovers, a simple and effective trick you should definitely try out.

Freebies / 25 Jul 2011

Weekly Freebies: 25 Gorgeous Media Player PSDs

Need a quick video or music player mockup? Well you’re in luck because today we have twenty-five awesome, layered PSDs files containing music and video player interfaces.

You’ll be stunned at how beautiful some of these files are given that their creators are distributing them freely. Take a look and download at will!

Critique / 23 Jul 2011

Web Design Critique #59: Custom Bags HQ

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 Custom Bags HQ.

CSS / 22 Jul 2011

How to Implement Some Slick Icons Using a Font and CSS

Using an image-based font can be a fun and quick way to implement icons across your site. It’s a super easy process that gives you complete freedom to go back and re-size your icons at any time.

Today we’ll use the excellent Pictos font to build a simple web page so you can get a feel for the process.

Business / 21 Jul 2011

Creating Environments That Optimize Creativity and Inspiration

Today’s article takes a look at how to help maximize creative thought by carefully structuring the environment around you. Everything from the design of your office to the specific hours of the day that you choose to work can play a key role in how effective you are when it comes time to actually get things done.

Layouts / 20 Jul 2011

Ditching the Grid: Alternative Layout Strategies and Tips

Are you tired of creating building websites using the same old grid-based layouts for every project? Have you been itching to break away from the norm and attempt something a little more organic?

Today we’ll take a look at a few sites that have done just that to see what we can learn about alternative layout methods and how they can be successfully implemented.

Business / 18 Jul 2011

Are Print Designers Doomed? an Important Look at the Facts

We constantly hear blanket statements about how print is in decline and the future of design is digital. Meanwhile, many print-only designers wonder if they should be taking steps to begin the overwhelming journey of learning a new career.

Today we’ll put rumors and speculation aside for a moment and take a look at some real data to see the actual projections for the print design industry and what actions, if any, print designers should be taking as a result.