Articles - Page 232

Browse hundreds of articles, tips, and inspiring design collections. Find helpful design advice, or the perfect resource for your next project.

CSS / 4 Dec 2009

18 CSS Compression Tools and Techniques

Learning to write clean, optimized CSS requires lots of practice and an unstoppable compulsive desire for neatness. Keeping your CSS trim and tidy isn’t all about feeding your crazy psychological need for cleanliness though, in the case of particularly large websites, the payoff is faster loading pages. Faster loading times equals increased usability and higher user satisfaction.

This post will examine several techniques you can use to optimize your CSS as well as several online tools that can automatically compress your code.

Reviews / 2 Dec 2009

20 Mac & Windows Apps for Desktop Blogging

Every blogging platform has a built-in blog editor, some better than others. However, you’ll be hard pressed to find an online editor that can offer the richness found in many desktop applications. Features like offline editing and posting to multiple blogs at once make desktop solutions a must have for professional many bloggers.

Here’s a list of 20 applications that allow you to create blog posts from the comfort of your operating system environment, no internet connection required.

Inspiration / 28 Nov 2009

10 Expert Tips for Designing a One Page Portfolio

Once upon a time, designers would lug unwieldy physical portfolios from interview to interview to showcase their work. This tactic is steadily being replaced with sending out emails containing links to an online portfolio. A portfolio website is becoming an essential marketing tool for every designer and can be the single biggest impression upon which you will be judged and hopefully, hired.

This article contains several tips and examples to help you create an amazing single page portfolio.

30 Beautifully Designed Tumblr Themes

Tumblr Themes / 24 Nov 2009

30 Beautifully Designed Tumblr Themes

Tumblr is an easy to use, fast-growing blogging platform with a strong emphasis on simple, no hassle content sharing. I would describe Tumblr as much more attractive and streamlined than Blogger and a lot simpler than WordPress (though not as powerful).

Like other blogging platforms, Tumblr makes it really easy to change themes on the fly without messing up previously posted content, and with over 275 themes to choose from, you get a lot of variety. However, sorting through hundreds of mediocre themes to find those few golden nuggets of design goodness can be quite the mundane task. That’s why we’ve done the work for you and created this collection of 30 beautifully designed Tumblr themes.

CSS / 20 Nov 2009

Create a Beautiful CSS Menu

Today we’re going to create a working horizontal CSS menu from scratch. We’ll be using transparent PNGs (sorry outdated browser users) to create a glossy horizontal bar, the color of which can easily be changed using only CSS. Before we get started, check out what we’ll be building in the live demo.

Accessibility / 18 Nov 2009

12 Accessibility Pitfalls to Avoid

Usability isn’t an exact science. What one visitor considers helpful another considers annoying. Despite this uncertainty and complexity, you should always strive to make your site as accessible as possible to the people you’re trying to reach. You’ll find that a little bit of catering to the special needs of a minority of users can drastically improve the function of your site for all users. Here’s our list of twelve accessibility pitfalls to avoid along with some examples showcasing sites that either excel or fail miserably in these areas.

Graphics / 16 Nov 2009

25 Awesome Tools for Choosing a Website Color Scheme

As a designer, color management should be an integral part of your workflow. A website’s color scheme helps shape its identity and therefore should not be carelessly thrown together. Here are 25 online, desktop and iPhone applications to help you live and breathe color management no matter where you are.

CSS / 12 Nov 2009

CSS Frameworks: Pros and Cons

A prefab CSS framework can be a great help or serious hindrance. This article will give proper coverage to both sides of the fence by looking at common arguments for and against using a CSS framework.

HTML / 10 Nov 2009

Four Quick and Easy Ways to Embed MP3 Files Into Your Site

Once upon a time I was in a rock band. When I was building our website, I naturally wanted to put some music up so visitors could listen before purchasing our songs on iTunes. After a bit of research I found out that there are a million ways you could go about it, some better than others. Sadly, after two albums and lots of good times, my band The Van Buren Regulars no longer exists. Fortunately, what I learned about embedding music lives on and is easy enough to pass along.

Today we’re going to look at four easy ways to embed MP3 files into your website. All of these methods are free and take mere minutes to implement. Let’s check them out!

Business / 3 Nov 2009

The Ultimate Guide to CSS Gallery Inclusion

Design Shack started out as a simple CSS gallery, featuring well designed websites that caught my eye. Tens of thousands of designs have been submitted over the past few years, and each one has been considered carefully for inclusion. The sad fact is that only around 5% of submissions stand out from the crowd.

This could be due to any number of factors; the site didn’t get the basics right, didn’t have anything remarkable to show, or (occasionally) was let down by content. This guide will walk you through how to make sure you stand a great chance of inclusion, avoiding all the pitfalls so commonly stumbled into by designers. At each stage, we’ll take a look at one great example, and one that’s not so good.