IdentyMe is a new service that lets you create and share your own customizable virtual business cards. These cards can contain more than just your contact info, you can add portfolios, resumes your social profiles and lots more.

Creating a card

The registration and setup process is really simple it literally takes a minute to fill in all your contact details and create your card. You are then guided to fill in the rest of your details step by step.

Customization

There are some great looking themes to chose from so you can quickly add some personality to your business card. An html editor is on the way soon so you will be able to take full control of the design.

Portfolios

One of the coolest things about Identyme is the ability to upload a portfolio of your work which you can separate into albums allowing you to easily showcase different projects. To accompany your portfolio you can if you wish also add a resume to your Business Card, fill in the predefined questions and/or upload a pdf or word document of your full resume.

Social profiles and contacts

Easily collect all (and I really mean all, Identyme is compatible with 150 social networks) your social profiles and contacts into one place. Indentyme allows you to upload and search all your contacts in one place.

Conclusion

In summary Identyme is a handy tool for easily sharing examples of your work and collecting all your contacts together. The portfolio feature is specially useful and the collection of customizable themes are genuinely novel and well designed. The service is available to try out for free but there are a number of paid upgrade options available.

Do you know of any similar services to Identyme? or have you had any good or bad experiences with this app? Please let us know in the comments!

It’s that time of year again. It’s time to start thinking about what gifts to pick up for your family and friends (and maybe even yourself) for the holidays. And if you happen to be buying for a web designer this year, we happen to have 10 awesome holiday gift ideas that web designers will cherish.

1. Adobe Photoshop CS5

Adobe Photoshop CS5

You all knew this was coming first, right? What’s a top 10 list without Adobe Photoshop? With the release of Creative Suite 5, Adobe has boosted Photoshop’s features and delivered more flexibility and design options. And web designers know that a powerful graphic and image editor is essential to be effective at work. With holiday season discounts from Adobe, you can snag a copy of Photoshop CS5 starting around just $600.

2. Apple iPad

Apple iPad

Not only are Apple iPad’s the hottest item since sliced bread, but they’re less than half the cost of a quality laptop. They’re essential to have around if you’re designing for mobile devices, applications and varied device resolutions, and not to mention (we drool over how cool they are). If you really want to make a web designer happy this season, surprise them with an iPad (starting at just $499).

3. SanDisk Ultra® Backup 16GB USB Flash Drive

SanDisk Ultra Backup 16GB USB Flash Drive

SanDisk has introduced the SanDisk Ultra® Backup USB Flash Drive which is the first USB flash drive with a backup button. With three models available: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, web designers can store lots of files, images, drafts, proposals and more. Buy online from Staples.com starting at $89.99!

4. CSS3 For Web Designers

CSS3 For Web Designers

A Book Apart continues its web design book series ‘…for people who make websites’ with Dan Cederholm’s masterfully written “CSS3 For Web Designers”. With the emergence of new methodologies like HTML5 and CSS3, it’s always important for us designers to study up on the semantics so we can stay ahead of the game. Purchase “CSS3 For Web Designers” as paperback, ebook or a bundle of both.

5. Basecamp

Basecamp | 37Signals.com

Basecamp is a robust project management software solution for managing almost any type of web project. Millions of people already use Basecamp, and it’s the preferred project management tool of several multi-million dollar brands. Don’t have a large organization? That’s okay too. Basecamp starts with a “Small Group” plan that costs only $49/month.

6. Apple Magic Mouse

Apple Magic Mouse

The Apple Magic Mouse is a must-have for Mac-lovers. It’s a wireless, bluetooth-dependent multi-touch mouse that allows for seamless operation. Make sure you have the required hardware and software before buying the Magic Mouse. Details can be found on the Apple website or by clicking the link above.

7. Typekit Portfolio Plan

Typekit Portfolio Plan

Typekit is a really cool web service that allows web designers to use a large library of stylish fonts that were previously unavailable for use on websites. For web designers who have started using CSS3 on a regular basis know that in order to use a large variety of fonts on their projects, they must adhere to license agreements for font usage on the web. Typekit makes the “licensing agreements” a non-issue, allowing designers to stick to what they do best — using great typography. Purchase a “Portfolio” plan for a friend and spend only $49.99/year.

8. The Smashing Book

The Smashing Book

The Smashing Book is a byproduct of Smashing Magazine which is an awesome read for designers. It’s a printed book that covers best practices in modern web design. And as a treat, The Smashing Book also shares some exclusive information about the background of Smashing Magazine. This is a must-have gift for web designers!

9. Custom Laptop Skins

Laptop Skins

Surprise someone with a custom or pre-made laptop skin from Schtickers.com. Schtickers gives you total flexibility; allowing you to add custom graphics, text and backgrounds to their removable and reusable laptop skins. Create a custom laptop skin to fit the dimensions of your specific laptop! Very affordable, thoughtful gift for a web designer.

10. Quality Headphones

Headphones

Last but not least of the great gifts for web designers are a set of quality headphones. Lots of web designers enjoy listening to music while working. However, a set of half-broken headphones that barely work anymore aren’t going to get the job done. Do someone a favor and get them a quality pair of headphones that will last the test of time. The Amazon.com Headphone Department has a great selection. Get shopping!

There are plenty more great gifts for web designers that could have been included in this entry, but I decided to narrow the list down to the top 10. Any web designer would be lucky to receive any of the above. I know I would be. Happy holidays and happy shopping!

A really interesting question was asked recently on Answers, discussing the importance and relevance of CSS validation. It would be interesting to discover how much stock developers actually do put in to it, or, is it more important to focus on the actual page being able to function? We would love to hear from you.

You can leave your thoughts, tips and insights in the comment section below, or you can leave your answer on the original question on Answers here: CSS validation, How Important Is It

This question was originally asked by Ben G.

Here is the best answer, as voted by our users, so far:

So, what do you think, how important is CSS validation?

Thanks to everyone who asked a question, but most importantly thanks to everyone that took the time and effort to offer helpful and useful answers.

CSS Frameworks are those marvelous and innovative tools that will speed up your web development process by taking care of the multitude of repetitive processes you would have to cover for every project, and on top of that, they (mostly) take care of any cross-browser compatibility issues. They have also never been as popular, with new frameworks cropping out from week-to-week. As such, in this design news round-up we have selected our favorites from recent months.

The Square Grid

The Square Grid is a simple CSS framework for designers and developers, based on 35 equal-width columns. The grid is equiped with a 28px baseline-grid for a smooth vertical rhythm with each block (DIV) defined with a margin of 1 square (28px) from the next block.
The Square Grid

FEM CSS Framework

The FEM CSS Framework is a 960px width 12 column grid system. It is based on the 960 Grid System, but with a twist in its philosophy, making it more flexible and faster to play with boxes.
FEM CSS Framework

Formalize CSS

Formalize CSS is a useful framework for giving your forms a cross-browser uniformity.
Formalize CSS

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

In today’s news round-up we feature four powerful and new jQuery plugins that will add plenty of cool functionalties to your sites or applications.

Phono – jQuery Phone Plugin

Phono is a simple JQuery plugin and JavaScript library that turns any web browser into a phone; capable of making phone calls and sending instant messages. You can even connect to SIP clients; all with a simple unified API.
Phono – jQuery Phone Plugin

Wijmo – jQuery UI Widgets

Wijmo is a complete kit of over 30 jQuery UI Widgets. It is an extremely dangerous mixture of jQuery, CSS3, SVG, and HTML5 that when combined become an unstoppable force on the web.
Wijmo – jQuery UI Widgets

SlideNote – A jQuery Plugin For Sliding Notifications

SlideNote is a customizable, flexible jQuery plugin that makes it easy to display sliding notifications on your website or in your web application.
SlideNote – A jQuery Plugin For Sliding Notifications

IMGr – jQuery Image Rounder

IMGr is a jQuery plugin for rounding image corners. The script utilizes CSS3 in modern web browsers, and VML in Internet Explorer 8 and below.
IMGr – jQuery Image Rounder

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

As you may have noticed, from time-to-time we like to highlight to our readers some of the best freely available and freshest possible icon-sets. We really do love them, and we are sure you will love the selection we have for you today. You will find a mixed bag of social icons, an almost complete e-commerce set, and, finally, a flag icon-set that consists of a monumentally huge 2400 icons.

Discons

The Discons icon set, designed by Dave McNally, consists of 95 icons and all are 24px circles. Each icon has one unified shape – the glyph was combined with the background and knocked out of the shape. This means it’s easier for you to alter colours as there’s only one shape for each icon.
Discons

Glossy E-Commerce Icon Set

Ecommerce Glossy has been created by the folks at Iconshock for Hongkiat readers. It consists of 21 different e-commerce related icons in total and comes in these formats: AI, PSD and PNG.
Glossy E-Commerce Icon Set

2400 Flag Icon Set

Liquidcity has created a flag icon for every major country in the world, plus a few more. They've created them in several sizes so they'll look great no matter where you use them – 16×16, 24×24, 32×32, 48×48, and 64×64. They also come in 2 variants – as flat and standard, and the other with a lovely glossy finish.
2400 Flag Icon Set

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

The most difficult task any budding web designer will experience is finding that first break-through job with a web design company or agency. But, how would you describe who you are and what you can do in a professional manner? On the flip-side to that, how would a web design agency describe what they are looking for any new designer?
This is a questions that was recently asked on Answers, and we would like to open it up to our readers for some advice and tips.

You can leave your thoughts and tips in the comment section below, or you can leave your answer on the original question on Answers here: What should a basic job description look like for a Web Designer?

This question was originally asked by Ben G.

Here is the best answer, as voted by our users, so far:

Here is the second best answer, as voted by our users, from Devone:

So, what are your thoughts or tips for a web designers basic job description?

Thanks to everyone who asked a question, but most importantly thanks to everyone that took the time and effort to offer helpful and useful answers.

It is always surprising how many fresh, innovative and always useful tools and resources appear from week-to-week from within the web design community. In this weeks design news round-up we take a look at four more cool and free new apps that may help you with your next web project.

The Square Grid

The Square Grid is a simple CSS framework for designers and developers, based on 35 equal-width columns. The grid is equiped with a 28px baseline-grid for a smooth vertical rhythm. Each block (DIV) is defined with a margin of 1 square (28px) from the next block. It aims to cut down on development time and help you create beautiful-structured websites.
The Square Grid ?

Jo – HTML5 Mobile App Framework

Jo is a new and lightweight JavaScript framework designed for HTML5 apps.
Jo – HTML5 Mobile App Framework ?

Frame Box – Lightweight Tool for Creating Mockups

Frame Box – Lightweight Tool for Creating Mockups ?

Ultimate CSS Gradient Generator

HTML5 introduced many exciting features for Web developers. One of the features is the ability to specify gradients using pure CSS3, without having to create any images and use them as repeating backgrounds for gradient effects. This easy to use copy-and-paste tool gives you complete control when creating your CSS3 gradient.
Ultimate CSS Gradient Generator ?

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

It has been a while since we last compiled a good and inspiring collection of professional photography, making this round-up well and truly overdue. We have selected a varied batch of inspirational photography articles featuring high speed images, macro shots, documentary photographs, underwater snaps and much more.

Autumn Colours in Photography

Autumn Colours in Photography →

Brilliant Bokeh Photography

Brilliant Bokeh Photography →

35 Jaw-Dropping Examples of High Speed Photography

35 Jaw-Dropping Examples of High Speed Photography →

75 Beautiful Examples Of Documentary Photography

75 Beautiful Examples Of Documentary Photography →

Mindblowing Macro Photography

Mindblowing Macro Photography →

Collection of Expressive Photography

Collection of Expressive Photography →

Unbelievable Underwater Photography

Unbelievable Underwater Photography →

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

In today’s news round-up we have a small, yet cool, selection of useful tools, apps and resources for web designers. First up, we have a wonderfully useful jQuery plugin Quovolver) for displaying quotes in a stylish way, next up we have a small, yet very handy app for generating a grid (Gridulator) and finally a fun time-killing bookmarklet that can destroy everything on a web page.

Quovolver – a simple jQuery plugin for revolving quotes

Quovolver is a simple extension for jQuery that takes a group of quotes and displays them on your page in an elegant way.
Quovolver – a simple jQuery plugin for revolving quotes

Gridulator – Make pixel grids, lickety-split

Tell Gridulator your layout width and the number of columns you want, and it’ll spit back all the possible grids that have nice, round integers. Just the thing for pixel-based design folk. There are inline previews, courtesy of the canvas element, and when you’re all set Gridulator can crank out full-size PNGs for you, ready for use in your CSS, Photoshop docs, or what have you.
Gridulator – Make pixel grids, lickety-split

Hello, want to kill some time?

Hello, want to kill some time?

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).