In Tips Mar 17, 20100
Questions That Help Assess Website Usability
The level of usability on your website takes on a vital role when we’re designing for the end-user. If your web application isn’t easy to use and interact with, then chances are the services and information you offer will be valuable to a rare few. Usability aims to relieve some of the things that can make your website complicated to use and simplifies the interface so that the users overall experience is a pleasurable one. (more…)
Read moreIn Tips Mar 10, 201012
How to Choose Right CSS Frameworks
CSS Frameworks allow you to rapidly improve and speed up your development time when used correctly, and provide a powerful way to style our websites and applications with flexibility and effectiveness. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Mar 5, 20108
Wordpress Solutions on Answers
Wordpress is by far and away the most popular tag on Design Reviver Answers, which is not really a huge surprise considering how popular the CMS is. Below we have published some of the recent Wordpress questions that our readers have posted along with the always helpful answers.
In Tips Feb 24, 201029
14 Questions To Ask Your Clients Before and After a Project
Getting to know your client is an important part of determining if you’re a right fit for the project. Not only that, but you should always ask questions before-hand to compile information that you will later use to accurately design a website or logo for them. If you quote a client for a project without knowing what it truly entails, then you’re setting yourself up for the possibility of loosing valuable time and money. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Feb 17, 201010
4 Awesome Recently Released jQuery Plugins
Where would web design be without the wonderful jQuery and its marvelous library of free plugins? Of course there are other Javascript libraries, but none of them have had such a dramatic impact on modern web design as jQuery. It really is indispensable. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Feb 10, 201022
Choosing the Right Content Management System for Your Project
With the increase in developers producing mass quantities of Content Management Systems, in terms of functionality and overall quality we must learn what to look for in the one that’s just right for our projects and satisfies our needs. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Feb 3, 201014
5 Practical Ways for Using Ajax
Over the past few years we’ve seen an increase in awareness and interactive use for AJAX, it’s becoming more and more popular and it has empowered web apps with the functionality of desktop applications. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Jan 28, 20105
5 Interactive and Creative Uses for PHP
PHP is a powerful and widely recognized scripting language that enables you to build interactive applications and websites. If you’re new to using PHP, then you’ll most likely benefit from know how you can use it to make your website or applications more interactive and aesthetically pleasing. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Jan 25, 20106
Fresh CSS Tips, Techniques and Tools
There is seemingly no end to the conyer belt that is CSS development. Every day there are new tips and techniques being published with fresh ideas and new solutions to age old problems. keeping up with it all is not easy.
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In Tips Dec 23, 200924
30 Best CSS Techniques for a Unique Navigation
CSS is a very important element of what we call a “structurally sound” web design. CSS turns strips of code and interactive features into a working design. This is especially true for CSS based menus. Giving your users a creative way to interact with pages, categories, and other aspects of your site is a great way to keep them coming back. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Dec 16, 200914
Vital Tips for Effective eCommerce Website Design
Developing an e-commerce website means you have to think about several elements and how well your customers will interact with them. The most overlooked aspect of creating a pleasantful experience for users starts by designing and enhancing the appearance of your online store. Of course looks aren’t everything, but they do play an important role on how to engage a user and help them transition from being a prospect to becoming a customer.
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In Articles, General, Tips, Tutorials Dec 4, 200950
Better Drop Shadows in Photoshop
Most real sheets of paper and card are not completely flat, but a standard Photoshop drop shadow can make an object look like its floating in mid air a lot of the time. However, a slightly curved or rolled page, a folded corner or a small crease is enough to go from looking too ‘Photoshop’ to looking quite natural. Read the rest of this entry »
In Articles, Tips Dec 2, 20098
Creative Block: Getting Your Hands Dirty with Creativity
Many designers (especially the newer generation) think of themselves as amssadors to creative thinking, effective design process, and ingenious results. And when your mind is running fresh on inspiration, and uncluttered, well lets face it, creativity just keeps flowing out. Read the rest of this entry »
In Articles, Tips Nov 27, 20096
Case Study: Fortune 500 Companies & Their Shopping Carts
Fortune 500 companies are placed in a list compiled and published by Fortune magazine. These companies are ranked within the top 500 U.S. corporations by their gross revenue. The first Fortune 500 list was published in 1955. And since then, it has been the dream of most start-ups and established companies to be featured within this list.
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In Tips, Tutorials Nov 25, 20098
Logo Design Tips: Letterspacing & Typefaces
Letter spacing is essential in commercial graphic design – if you want to look professional. This article will demonstrate some common letter spacing techniques in the context of logo design and branding. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Nov 20, 200914
How To: Designing A Mobile Website
Over 2 billion mobile phone users have access to the web on a global scale. About 700 million of these users have or continue to use their mobile browsers to search the web on a consistent basis. As these numbers increase, the need for crisp, clean, and usable mobile websites are in high demand. Read the rest of this entry »
In Articles, Tips Nov 18, 20097
Size Really Does Matter
Whether you’re talking about weight, height, or the code for a website, the truth is that size really does matter. It isn’t a question of whether or not size matters — in one way or another, our experiences have shown that it does. The real question is how much does size matter? And how much does it matter when it comes to your code?
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In Tips, Tutorials Nov 16, 200916
25 Places to Become A Photoshop Expert
The Internet is the perfect place to learn pretty much anything, Photoshop is no exception. The popular image-editing software gets quite a few evangelists ready to spend their time to teach their techniques. In this collection you’ll find some of the best websites to become a Photoshop expert.
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In Tips Nov 13, 200919
10 Ways for Designers to Boost Productivity
All designers who wish to succeed at one point or another aim for ways to boost their productivity levels. Many of us spend a great deal of time searching for the right tools, and a lot of these end up setting you back one way or another. Part of being a designer also means you’ll have to deal with criticism. And as you begin to gain more experience you’ll soon realize that you’re your best critic. In order to boost your level of production you’ll need to asses the areas in which you need to improve on.
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In General, Tips Nov 12, 20093
Essential Firefox Extensions, Addons and Hacks
Firefox is a very popular browser, especially with designers and developers. It is not only compliance with CSS, that makes it great, it is also because of its versatility and customization options. With the proper addons, extensions and hacks you can create your own unique browser tailored to your every requirement.
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In Tips Nov 9, 20093
A Collection of Little Known Coding For UNIX
The popular UNIX® operating system is almost like a huge, uncharted desert. When you traverse the area, you can pick up tools that will help you. These tools help in making full use of the powerful command line interface of UNIX. Read the rest of this entry »
In Articles, Tips Nov 6, 200924
13 Really Useful Online CSS Tools to Streamline Development
CSS is nearly used on every modern website design. However, having to write and structure CSS code from scratch every time you have a project is extremely time consuming. Below, we present you with 13 amazingly useful CSS tools for hacking on writing time consuming code. We tried to place emphasis on unknown tools that every developer should have a looksy at, however don’t be surprised if we included a few known sources.
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In Articles, Tips Nov 4, 200910
Investing in the Grid
Print designers have successfully utilized the grid to create effective design layouts long before the world wide web was even conceived, but the truth is that grids can be just as effective for web page design and ought to be employed by every web designer.
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In Articles, Tips Oct 30, 200916
Using Wireframes to Bring Your Site Together
Wireframes are the blue prints that define and allocate a Web sites content and behavior. They are not bound by colors, fonts, and anything that may surface on the site as part of any content. Wireframing compliments good web development and offers a visual of where the content will be laid out within the sites design. Read the rest of this entry »
In General, Tips Oct 27, 20093
Photoshop Productivity and Learning Resources
Photoshop is the number one choice for graphic designers, it is powerful and it has an infinite amount of design possibilities. No one can possibly know Photoshop inside and out, that would be impossible. Everyone, including seasoned pros, can learn, and should learn something from todays news round-up. We have collected the best recent resources to help you improve your Photoshop work-flow, learn some new techniques and even how to set up PS for iPhone development.
In Articles, Tips Oct 23, 200920
10 Ways to Analyze and Optimize a Site’s Performance
Performance is one of its most important aspects of a website but it is often overlooked by both the designers and the developers. If a site takes too long to load the user will leave without giving other aspects of the site a chance. Every segment of code and every piece of the design should be created with performance in mind.
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In General, Tips Oct 22, 200914
Internet Explorer Resources for Web Developers
For web developers and designers viewing a site through Internet Explorers eyes is worst than catching a glimpse of the four horsemen of the apocalypse! With IE8, things are getting better, yet there are still users that persist on using IE6 and IE7. UPGRADE!!!! Upgrade now, please.
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In Articles, Tips Oct 20, 20099
Website Accessibility and Usability: Ten Tips On How To Make Your Website More Viewer-friendly!
Most websites are developed with the sole purpose of spreading information about a product or service in mind. However the different viewer scenarios are not normally envisioned and it is assumed that all the site’s visitors have perfect physical or cognitive ability and fast computers with broadband connections to the internet. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips Oct 2, 200923
Crucial Rules to Follow When Designing a Logo
Taking on the responsibility of designing a logo, is an important aspect of an entities ability to stand out. This skill shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially if the logo will define a company’s representation. Conceiving a logo design calls for great amounts of practice and hard earned experience. Once you find out how to bring your concept to life, everything will fall into place.
Along with much needed practice, there are a few crucial rules to take into account when aiming towards a design that will effectively portray your clients identity while structuring their brand(s). Below you’ll find yourself glaring at a few crucial rules to follow when designing an effective logo that will set your client’s business apart from the rest.
In Articles, Tips Sep 25, 20099
Essential Tips to Help You Become A Proficient Debugger
Generally when dealing with programming of any sort (especially on the web) debugging is certainly one of the top skills a programmer should build on. Throughout the development of a website, a great deal of the developers time is spent on testing the environment and searching for bugs. If you’re able to effectively learn how to search and fix bugs you’ll end up with fewer errors from the first attempt to write new code.
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In Tips Sep 21, 20099
10 Tools for Quick & Effective Code Development
Developing websites and recognizing the level of technical proficiency behind the effort isn’t an easy task now-a-days. Especially with the conceptualization of multiple WYSIWYG tools that although allow you to save time they also manage to take most of the hard coding behind the process. Coding a site by hand with the use of tools that simplify the coding process can be rewarding, as you enhance your skills and further your knowledge base.
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In Tips Sep 17, 20094
Great Tips for Creating Your Own Personal Creative Portfolio
Every creative designer needs somewhere to showcase there work online. There are many options to accomplish this, without putting a dent in your wallet. You could use an online portfolio service, many sites offer free and professional layouts, or you could, for that personal touch, design your own.
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In Articles, Tips Sep 16, 200915
Valuable Tips for Locking Down Your WordPress Website
There are a variety of Content Management Systems (CMS) that can fulfill many of your sites needs, however, WordPress is usually recommended as the leading publishing platform. With popularity comes vulnerability and WordPress sites are usually open to all sorts of potential attacks from hackers, spammers, and other mal-intentioned Internet users trying to compromise the security of your WordPress environment.
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In Inspiration, Tips Sep 10, 20093
Great Tips for Web Design, Photography and Google Apps
In todays news post we have three great and useful resources we would like to share with our readers. The first is an essential checklist of often forgotten aspects of blog design, the second is a look behind the scenes of some cool photography techniques and, finally, there is 7 great tips to help you integrate your Google Apps.
In General, Tips Sep 8, 20095
A Round-Up of Super Javascript and jQuery Plugins
jQuery has been flying the flag for Javascript for quite a while now, and rightly so, it is amazing. And, with its huge popularity, the volume of free plugins and tutorials has not only greatly increased, but also the quality and power of each plugin are continually pushing jQuery to its limits. Does it even have limits?
In General, Tips Sep 5, 200910
A Collection of Wordpress Tutorials, Tips and Themes
As far as CMSs go, WordPress is a phenomenon. And rightly so. It is a very powerful blogging and CMS tool that can be used to create almost any possible type of web site that you could possibly dream of. Still as with everything involved with web design and development, you need to learn and understand WP to fully unleash its power.
In this news edition we have collected the best WP tutorials, tips and themes, to help you with Wordpress development.
In Tips Sep 2, 200913
The newbie freelancer’s guide: 10 tips to start out as a freelancer
Starting out as a freelancer can be quite tough, especially in these rough economic times. If you are going to take your chance anyway, you should take a look at the following advice.
1. Build yourself a solid portfolio
You are not going to convince anyone to work with you if your prospects can’t see what you are capable of. Of course if you are starting out right after design school you may not have so much real-life work to show, in that case don’t be afraid to put your school and personal projects in the portfolio. Also don’t forget that the portfolio design itself can be what convinces the client to work with you.
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In Articles, Tips Aug 28, 200911
Top Validation Errors When Using XHTML
As a developer being able to write valid XHTML code is one of the most sought out requirements. Valid XHTML can be a daunting obstacle to overcome if the developer is either in-experienced or has little or no knowledge dealing with code. Improperly placed elements, and incorrectly nested characters can prolong the inevitable work of coding a website.
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In Tips Aug 25, 20093
Two New Web Sites For Designers
Recently, there have been two great new web site launches for the design community. First of all there is Typedia, a community web site dedicated to collecting and classifying type. And then there is Color Scheme Designer, a veteran app that just got better, with a brand new design and super fast engine.
In General, Tips Aug 18, 20097
Amazing Basic and Advanced CSS Tips, Tutorials and Guides
CSS is by far and away the most important language any web designer or developer should learn, it pushes HTML, marginally, into second place. And in todays news we have some amazing resources covering every possible aspect of CSS development, there are tips, tutorials, guides and some resources covering more specific areas of CSS, namely CSS selectors and Typography.
In General, Tips Aug 13, 20098
Enhancing your Web Design with Sliders and Scrollers
A few years back, the only way a web designer could enhance a web design with the kind of cool effects, similar to sliders and scrollers, was by using Flash. Even if you loved it or loathed it, Flash certainly filled the creativity gap that was created by the limitations of HTML, CSS and Javascript. Lately, though, with the advancement and popularity of the javascript libraries (especially with jQuery), those cool effects can be created with a lot less code, a lot less frustration and the file size is a damn sight smaller than using a Flash movie.
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In Articles, Tips Aug 5, 200927
Colors on The Web: Color Theory for Designers
Art and science often coincide. When we approach the former using the latter, this is especially true. And in science, we disassemble the object we are studying and analyze each element as close as we may. Part of the art of web design, is color. So if we approach this element with a view toward science, we may discover ways to enhance our art for better appreciation and achievement of intent.
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In Articles, Inspiration, Tips Aug 4, 20092
In the news today: Twitter as a Business Tool, PC Mags Top 100 and some Artistic Chairs
In todays news we have a great article about how to take your Twitter profile to the next level, with “62 Ways to use Twitter for Business”, we also have PC Mags annual Top 100 Web Sites and lastly we have some really cool and funky artistic chairs.
In General, Tips Jul 20, 20095
The Best Free Social Media Gadgets for the Vista Sidebar
Mini programs, gadgets or widgets, are simple time saving apps that provide you with easy and quick access to the information or tool that you frequently use. With Vista they are called gadgets, and they are organised and displayed from the sidebar.
With the gadgets below you will be able to access the information, perform tasks, and interact with your favourite social media platform. You will find gadgets for Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Flickr, Wordpress…and much more. You can now have all the info you need at your fingertips.
In General, Tips Jul 13, 20097
20 Essential Social Media Widgets for your Mac Dashboard
We all need a personal assistant to stay on top of all our social media commitments, it can be difficult and time consuming. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace … Digg, Delicious … and not to mention kepping your personal blog up to date. We need help.
One solution for the MAC user are widgets, those small indispensible apps that run on the dashboard. Below you will find a selection of the best social media widgets for your MAC Dashboard, I hope they help.
In Tips Jul 1, 200916
PHP Security: Guidelines to Lock Down Your Website
Security has always been a concern of web developers. No site is safe from hacking attempts. Developers need to take precautions when building their applications so that they don’t become the victim of a hacking attempt. There are a number of things PHP programmers can do to prevent these kinds of attacks.
In Tips Jun 25, 200913
23 Indispensible Ajax and Javascript Cheat Sheets
JavaScript has always been one of the most popular programming languages on the web, and with the arrival of AJAX it quickly became the number one choice for pro web developers.
With the rapid rise of Javascript and Ajax many frameworks and libraries have been created by developers, namely MooTools, Scriptaculous, Prototype, and, of course the ever more popular and versatile jQuery.
In Tips Jun 23, 200918
Essential Practices for Styling Your CSS
Writing CSS leaves an immense amount of time in the hands of the coder. When it comes to CSS, each and every designer has his or her very own special method to coding. With Cascading Style-Sheets you can virtually do anything you want, which is mostly valuable, however, if you are inexperienced, it can most certainly hurt you in the long run. Most of the designers and developers only accomplish to scratch the surface of the amazing abilities of CSS.
In Tips Jun 16, 200914
Trick Out Your CSS With Server Side Code
CSS is a great tool for styling web pages and keeping the style code in it’s own place, instead of mucking up the HTML. Unfortunately, CSS is not a programming language, and does not have the tools that come with a server side language like PHP. However, we can use Server-side languages to generate style sheets, and get the best of both worlds!
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In Tips Jun 10, 200929
10 Tips for Incredible Web Forms!
What I’ll be showing you is how to have perfect working web forms with stunning visuals to produce the desired form for you every time!
I’ll be taking you through the core principles, and making your web forms stand out from the rest! At the end of it all you can see many examples of stunning web forms across the net. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips May 27, 200915
Targeting Advanced Elements in jQuery
CSS was built on the idea of separating display from structure in an HTML document. jQuery was built on similar principals, with the idea of separating behavior from structure. If you are familiar with jQuery, then you probably know about selecting elements by class or ID. jQuery contains a wealth of other ways to select elements when using just classes and Ids won’t cut it. Using these selectors are great when you are working with many HTML elements, and allows you to do very impressive things with very small amounts of code. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips, Tutorials Apr 28, 200969
13 Tutorials & Resources for a Perfect Twitter Background
Twitter is probably the most hyped social network out there, all the mainstream medias are talking about it and a lot of celebrities are using the service. The popularity of the website means that you get to connect with tons of other users, but it also means that you’ll have to stand out to do so. For that, having a great Twitter background is recommended to make a great first impression. Learn how to do this with the following collection of tutorials. Read the rest of this entry »
In General, Tips, Tutorials Mar 25, 200920
CSS Image Map Techniques and Tutorials
A CSS Image Map by definition is using a single image with defining multiple clickable hotspots, whether to show information or as navigation. There are a multitude of solutions, below we have listed and demonstrated by far the best and the most helpful techniques and tutorials.
In General, Inspiration, Tips Mar 19, 2009125
25 of the Best Designed Twitter Homepages
You are limited to how far you can modify your Twitter homepage, pretty much changing the background color or image and the color of the links is all you can actually do. So, it is no surprise that the best designed homepages (mainly) come from graphic designers, who with a blank canvas can create something amazing out of nothing.
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In General, Tips Mar 17, 200930
7 Common Web Usability Problems
However great you may think your site looks, If it’s difficult to use people won’t come back. If you want to have a successful website, then you have to make sure it’s designed around the requirements of your users. As designers and developers we are sometimes just too close to our sites to see their problems. In this article we have showcased 7 common usability issues that are often overlooked or simply ignored.
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In General, Tips Mar 13, 2009130
10 Things They Don’t Teach You In Design School
I had a great time in design school, I was constantly learning and surrounded by lots of like minded people. However, after five years of freelancing as a graphic designer, I’ve learned many new things. The following list is the top ten things that I had to learn the hard way.
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In General, Tips Mar 4, 200938
A Decade Of Web Design In Pictures – 1997 to 2009
By reviewing what’s changed and what’s stood the test of time, we can make general assumptions of web design principles that will work going forward. Things have moved on in terms of interface design and graphics, some websites more than others. Looking at the examples below sites such as Amazon, eBay and Craigslist have changed comparatively little (Craigslist has hardly changed at all), a testimony to their forward thinking at the time, whilst others such as the Whitehouse have come a long way.
In Tips, Tutorials Jan 27, 200927
jQuery Color Picker
Gone are the days of having to manually enter in hex codes to specify colors: with jQuery UI’s color picker, you can make your web application pick colors as smoothly as you would in desktop applications like Photoshop. When coupled with the visual appeal and functional benefit of color pickers, the ease of using jQuery UI’s gadget is something that’s hard to pass up.
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In Tips, Tutorials Dec 5, 200870
Premium Wordpress Theme Design – Part 2 – HTML + CSS + Wordpress Theme Files
Hi, I’m Alvaro Guzman and this is the second part of the premium wordpress theme tutorial continued from Part 1. This time you’ll learn how to slice the design and convert it into XHTML + CSS, then I’ll show you how to use the css files to mock-up a Wordpress template. This isn’t a basic tutorial, if you’re a newbie, maybe you should read some basic HTML+CSS tutorials, and undestand the basics of CSS tags and Wordpress features and structure.
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In Inspiration, Tips, Tutorials Nov 10, 2008103
How I Learned To Build Wordpress Themes
Picture your finished custom wordpress theme live on your server, completely unique and fresh. By the time you have finished reading the resources in this post that scenario will be a reality. People love custom themes, they make a blog come to life with a personality of its own. It’s no secret that they’ll reward it you for it through links, subscriptions and bookmarks. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips, Tutorials Nov 3, 200820
How To Make a jQuery Calendar
Whether you’re an airline, task manager, or just have a birthdate field on your registration form, a popup date picker makes selecting dates considerably easier for users, and overall enhances the functionality and feel of the site. jQuery UI provides a datepicker widget that can easily be incorporated into your site. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tips, Tutorials Oct 15, 200870
Icon Design Tutorial – Designing a New Icon In Illustrator
Following our free social icon giveaway, as promised, here is a tutorial explaining how they were made in Adobe Illustrator. We’ll try to cover the basics and give you an idea how things are rendered, how they appear in smaller sizes and the constraints we can find when using Vector (Illustrator) instead of Pixel (Photoshop) based image software.
In Tips, Tutorials Oct 7, 2008101
jQuery & CSS Example – Dropdown Menu
Dropdown menus and menu bars have been heavily used since the early days of graphical user interfaces. Their use has become ubiquitous, and even expected, in desktop applications, and the web has quickly followed suit. This article is intended to describe an extremely basic, yet extremely powerful, technique for adding dropdown menus in your application user interface or website design. Read the rest of this entry »
In Freebies, Tips Sep 23, 200826
22 Firefox 3 Plugins Web Designers Can’t Live Without
Mozilla Firefox has always been considered a “user-friendly” browser, but with all the customizable extensions, it has become probably the most “developer-friendly” browser as well. We have collected the best FFX dev scripts available, and installing them takes just a few clicks. And don’t forget; make sure you have downloaded and installed Firefox 3.0 as well!
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In Tips Sep 11, 200867
13 Training Principles of CSS Everyone Should Know
Your website’s Cascading Style Sheet defines the presentation of the document, but writing your CSS file can sometimes take a bit longer than you originally planned. Take a look at some of the following tips used by the CSS experts to ensure your CSS is being written both effectively and efficiently. Read the rest of this entry »
