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Design Resources Online

Articles on Design

  • Back to the User: Creating User-Focused Websites - This article at WDVL covers how to think like users with your site design. Learn how to integrate web design, content, and navigation with branding and marketing as well.
  • Cross Browser and Cross Platform Issues - This article outlines what to keep in mind with your website design and development. Covers differences in gamma, default character width size, liquid pages, screen variations, cross-browser differences, browser support for various graphics formats, and accessibility.
  • Design Choices Can Cripple a Website - ”...just pause for a moment and think of all the design choices you have made over the last year, and the reasons why you made them. And think about the huge impact those choices might have had on the performance of the sites you worked on.
  • Home Page Goals - ”...home pages are anxiety-inducing for companies. The home page is your first impression. And like the old saying goes, you only get one chance. So home pages themselves have a unique set of design goals.”
  • Web Standards... it's not easy... but it's worth it - Good insight about the advantages and disadvantages of web standards, including what it all means, why it matters, a section on tables vs. CSS-p, Netscape 4 issues.
  • Wireframe your site - Wireframing reduces the chance of problems arising later in the development process. A wireframe is a simple, non-graphical view of the space allocation and navigation structure of a site.
  • The Principles of Design - This article By Joshua David McClurg-Genevese provides good insight on general design principles including Gestalt theory.

Books on Design

  • Deliver First Class Websites: 101 Essential Checklists, by Shirley Kaiser. While the entire book is packed with helpful checklists and explanations, examples, and references to help with designing web sites, several chapters are specifically devoted to various aspects of design for websites.
  • Designing Web Graphics, by Lynda Weinman. This glossy, color book is loaded with tips on preparing graphics for the web. Learn how to create great web graphics the easy way.
  • Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Websites, Second Edition, by Patrick J. Lynch, Sarah Horton. This best-selling books contains easy-to-understand theory and philosophy on designing, building, and implementing a website, along with helpful illustrations and resources. Some of the categories are Interface Design, Site Design, Page Design, web Graphics, web Multimedia and Animation, more.

Design Basics

  • Web Design Best Practice Checklist - This checklists provides a list of evaluation criteria to verify effective design including page layout, browser compatibility, navigation, color/graphics, multimedia, content presentation, and functionality.
  • Gestalt Design and Composition - Gestalt is a general description for the concepts that make unity and variety possible in design. It is a German word that roughly translates as "whole" or "form."
  • Legal Aspects of Web Design - Provides an introduction to legal issues surrounding web design, such as copyrights, trademarks, photo usage, etc.
  • Wireframe your Site - Describes how by creating a simple wireframe of your site even before any graphics are create, you can save a lot of time and frustration.
  • Web Design From Scratch - This online course covers essential skills of designing for the web, published by the "Web Doctor". There are about 60 tutorials and topics, covering all kinds of subjects from layout and navigation to writing and color, plus case studies that show the concepts in practice.
  • Web Design Tutorials - Everything from website design tips and ideas to CSS Styles, Fireworks and Dreamweaver is available here.
  • Web Designers Bookmarks - High quality links collection for web designers .

Images

  • GIF vs. JPEG? - Outlines the basic rules about what is the appropriate format for specific image types.

Design Inspiration

  • Cool Home Pages - this site provides links to homepages that may provide you with some inspiration. Divided by category.

Page Layout

  • What is Liquid Design? - This article will introduce you to the basic concepts of creating a fluid web page layout with CSS, and without tables.

Websites Devoted to Design

  • A List Apart
    Exceptional site for high quality articles, tutorials, and a forum all related to web design and development. By Jeffrey Zeldman.
  • Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability
    Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox with bi-weekly articles on usability for websites. Highly popular articles and well-known usability expert. His articles and opinions are mostly respected, some controversial, but always a good read. [Articles by Jakob Nielsen, Useit.com.]
  • Digital Web Magazine
    Fantastic site for high quality articles, tutorials, reviews, interviews, classifieds, daily news, and more about web design and development. Created and produced by Nick Finck and staff. Exceptional.
  • evolt.org
    One of the best sites around the web for articles and tips related to design, development, programming, and related for beginners through advanced. Also home of the well known, popular discussion list, thelist. Well organized site with excellent resources.
  • New Architect (formerly Web Techniques)
    You can find archives of all the Web Techniques articles and tutorials here, which was a highly regarded, well respected magazine, packed with articles, tutorials, tips, and charts, and for beginners through advanced.
  • SitePoint
    Another highly regarded and well respected website, covering website design and development. There are articles, tutorials, tips, newsletters, daily blogs, online forums, and well-written books on various aspects of web design, too.
  • Web Design Practices
    Fantastic website with case studies done on a range of web design practices, such as a variety of navigation approaches, e-commerce functions, and page layout. Fascinating information, and well done.
  • Web Developers Virtual Library
    The Original Encyclopedia of Web Technology. Encyclopedia of web design, tutorials and discussion. Extensive resource for web developers and designers, including tutorials on a variety of topics -- authoring, design, graphics, software listings and reviews, resources, several discussion lists, newsletter, much more.
  • Web Page Design For Designers
    A valuable resource of information for web designers by Joe Gillespie. This site gives ideas, tips and tricks for graphics and palettes, web pages, navigation, web design, includes many helpful link sites. Great site
  • WebDeveloper.com: Design
    Another extensive resource for website designers and developers. Tutorials, links, helpful tips, latest news. Excellent site.
  • Webmaster T's World of Design
    Tutorials, references and resources for HTML, marketing and website promotion, search engine placement and info, more, including an E-zine. Great resource.
  • Web Monkey
    Filled to the brim with articles, tips, and tutorials by leading industry experts, Web monkey is one of the main sources for web design and development information for beginners through advanced.
  • WebReference.com
    Many excellent tutorials here on graphics, design, e-commerce, Javascript, including Dmitry's Lab. Another great resource, and links to even more. webReference.com has been one of the main sites for web design and development information for beginners through advanced.