Smoke Photoshop Brushes
Date: 3 Jul 2008 | 5:50 pm
These are 4 .abr High Quality smoke brushes for Photoshop, inside there are actually 10 brushes.
Format: .abr
Size: 11 MB
Download here - rapidshare
Experiment in Making an Article Sidebar More Readable and Visually Appealing
Date: 3 Jul 2008 | 6:41 am
I recently read a great article on Boxes and Arrows about the myth of the fold.
Turning to the sidebar to learn more about the author, I was struck by some of the design decisions that had been made regarding this part of the page, most notably the choice to right-align all the sidebar content.
As I looked a little deeper I began to wonder how much more readable the content would be if it was left-aligned and paragraphs were used. How might the visual design be improved if more differentiation was made between the sections? What if the text was a little smaller to better separate it from the article? And so on.
I couldn't resist firing up the 'Edit HTML' feature of the Web Developer toolbar to find out. Here are the results of 20 minutes or so of tweaking:
The original Boxes and Arrows article sidebar is on the left and my version is on the right
Note: I edited down the long bio text in both examples for the sake of this experiment.
Clearly, the left-aligned content is easier to read. I also find that the smaller text is still very readable because of the use of paragraphs and that the whole sidebar is more scannable because it takes up less vertical space.
I like the way the revised sidebar is more distinct from and subordinate to the article content. Given more time I would likely experiment more here, perhaps through the use of different font styles (capitals or italics) and colors (other shades of gray).
I find the 'most commented stories' section, in particular, to be much easier to scan in my version. It really doesn't work in the original.
I also 'fixed' some odd design choices. In the original example, the 'Blasting the Myth of the Fold' link is not colored orange like the rest of the links. However, the '136 Reputation points' text is colored orange but is not a link.
So, what do you think of the revised version — better or worse?
It’s officially a new world record
Date: 3 Jul 2008 | 12:26 am
Firefox 3 download day has officially become the most downloaded software in 24 hours and they are now in the Guinness World Record Book thanks to all of us who downloaded Firefox 3 over 8,002,530 (that’s 8 million, wow).
You can get your own certificate from here so you can flaunt it.
Requesting reconsideration using Google Webmaster Tools
Date: 2 Jul 2008 | 7:49 pm
Posted by Mariya Moeva, Search Quality Team
Websites you shouldn’t have missed in JUNE 2008
Date: 1 Jul 2008 | 4:59 pm
June was a busy month, we have been watching great news, articles, tutorials, scripts, tips and lot of inspiration for web designers popping up everyday so we thought it would be a great idea to wrap all those resources in one package where you can check to fuel your energy for creativity.
Today we have a round up of useful CSS, Ajax, Tutorials, tools, Graphics, WordPress and articles we’ve found in June that is worth your time.
Photoshop and Illustrator Tutorials
1- Add a Fresh Splash to your Design
In this tutorial, you will learn several techniques for enhancing a basic banner design for a product or service. These techniques can be employed to add a fresh splash to many of your designs! Checkout the Tutorial
2- 10 Great Sites for GIMP Tutorials and Guides
A list of 10 fantastic sites for learning and using the popular image editing software program “GIMP”. Checkout this post
3- Trendy Geometric Lines Design Tutorial
Starting with the design application of Adobe Illustrator create a group of vector based geometric lines at dynamic 45 degree angles, then follow the walkthrough to rough them up with brush textures in Adobe Photoshop resulting in a cool and trendy design style. Checkout this Tutorial
4- How To Make An Awesome Grungy Paper Texture From Scratch
Free High-Res Grungy Paper Textures tutorial. Checkout this tutorial.
5- Photoshop: Hand Drawn Design
Here is a quick tutorial to show you how to create a hand drawn design in Photoshop using the blending mode and alpha channel. Checkout this tutorial.
This tutorial will show you guys how to make a very interesting and sleek Phone Advertising wallpaper. Checkout this tutorial.
7- Create an Energy Drink Ad Design
In this tutorial, you’ll look at a flexible design solution that you can use to create one for an energy drink. It relies on a combination of the Difference Blending Mode and the Radial Blur Filter to achieve unique colors, contrast, and lighting. Checkout this tutorial.
8- Illustrate a Fun Magnify Zoom Icon
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a unique Magnifying Glass shown enlarging a selection of text. Checkout this tutorial.
9- 15 Great Tutorials on Grunge Design Styles!
In this post you will find step by step great photoshop tutorials to create your own unique grunge design. You will also find resources on how to create your very own unique grunge brushes, for going really wild on your page design. Checkout this post.
Ajax and Javascript
Spyjax is taking information from the user’s computer for your own use — specifically, their browsing habits. By using CSS and javascript, you can inject anchor links into the page and tell whether you’ve been to the link’s URL. Checkout the Tutorial
11- Fading JavaScript Tooltips 2kb
This animated JavaScript tooltip script is very easy to use and lightweight at only 2kb. It is tested working in IE6+, Firefox, Opera and Safari. Click here for the demo.
12- Creating a Floating HTML Menu Using jQuery and CSS
For all of us who deal with long web pages and need to scroll to the top for the menu, here’s a nice alternative: floating menus that move as you scroll a page. This is done using HTML, CSS and jQuery, and it’s fully W3C-compliant. Checkout this post.
13- Learning MooTools: 20 MooTools Tutorials and Examples
To help you get on your way to developing highly-interactive web applications using MooTools, here’s 20 tutorials and working examples that’s worth a read. Checkout this post.
14- Load Content While Scrolling With jQuery
If you love the dZone’s Ajax content loading while scrolling feature, Webresourcesdepot created a similar one using jQuery. Check the demo - scroll down to see new content in the demo.
15- Performing GET and POST requests using Ajax
Ajax basically describes two things once you strip away all the fluff: performing “GET” and “POST” requests asynchronously. Instead of using a FORM and requiring the user to explicitly submit it to transmit information back to the server, Ajax lets you perform such requests seamlessly at any time, using data that don’t necessarily come from form elements, then get the result back without refreshing the page. Checkout it out
CSS and XHTML
There are two popular approaches to positioning with CSS: float and absolute positioning. This post introduces a new positioning approach that gives us the best of both worlds. Its called “faux absolute positioning”. Checkout this post.
17- Flexible Layouts: Challenge For The Future
This article is supposed to initiate the discussion about the need for more flexible layouts in modern web design and explain why flexible designs are still important — even despite the Full Page Zoom-functionality implemented in most modern browsers. Checkout this post.
18- CSS support in email clients
Designing an HTML email that renders consistently across the major email clients can be very time consuming. This CSS support in email clients guide to save you the time and trouble of figuring it out for yourself. Checkout this post.
19- Nice CSS menu with feed reader icons list
This tutorial illustrates how to design a nice CSS menu with a list of feed reader icons. Checkout this tutorial.
20- All About Floats
Chris Coyer won’t stop teaching us how CSS works, in this post he talks about floats and show us some examples on how and when to use it. Checkout this post.
An interestig post that makes you stop and wonder Why are people using Transitional DOCTYPES for new projects. Checkout this post.
22- CSS do’s and dont’s Part 2- Markup
If you truly get into web standards you’ll soon find out that the most important thing is - markup. Alen Grakalic shares tips for markup structure. Checkout it out
SenCSS is a sensible standards CSS Framework. This means that SenCSS tries to supply standard styling for all repetitive parts of your CSS, allowing you to focus on the fun parts. In that sense, senCSS is a bit like a large CSS Reset. Checkout it out
Design
Here is a list of 82 sites picked from Best Web Gallery that show the current design trends. Pencil sketches, handwritten notes, card stocks, watercolor effects, collage art, script fonts, grungy and splatter ink backgrounds (glossy gradients are not “in” this year). Checkout this post.
25- Want to know how to design? Learn The Basics.
Want to know how to design? Then you should learn the basics of design. The basic elements of design include colour, line, shape, scale, space, texture and value and these are the fundamental pieces that make up any piece of work. Read this post to learn the basics. Checkout this post.
26- Patterns for Designing a Reputation System
A nice easy to understand, read executive summary, of reputation based systems.Checkout this post.
27- 12 Steps to a Super Graphic Design Portfolio
Your graphic design portfolio is a representation of yourself and of your skills as a graphic designer and it will become an essential part of landing your graphic design dream job! This guide will help you fine tune your portfolio to make sure its in top shape for your upcoming interviews! Checkout this post.
Freebies
28- BB Free Font: Fusty Saddle
An awesome font created by bittox, A through Z and 0 through 9. Checkout this font.
29- Vector Art Free Download - Envelope Icon Set
You the Designer Exclusive! Vector Art Free Download - Envelope Icon Set.Checkout it out.
30- Tags Brushes 6
31- Free Vector Pack - Safari and Zoo Animals
A free collection of vector animal silhouettes, featuring a range of land based mammals alongside some aquatic life. Checkout it out
32- Vortex Waves
Freelance
33- 11 Places to Sell Your Graphic Art
For graphic designers who are looking for some variety rather than just client work, stock photography sites can provide an opportunity. In this post you’ll take a look at some of the leading stock photo sites that also sell illustrations from graphic artists. Checkout the post
34- 20 Must-Read Blogs For Freelance Writers
Reading well-written articles and blogs is a very good start for Freelance writing career! This post can help you write innovative and appealing content. Checkout the post
35- How much to charge for graphic design work?
How much should I charge for design? It is one of the commonest questions asked by freelance graphic designers. It is also one of the most difficult to answer. You might find some answers in this post. Checkout the post
WordPress
36- Hack Together a User Contributed Link Feed with WordPress Comments
How to hack a method using WordPress’ comments to allow users submit links and to create a public link feed out of it. Checkout this post.
37- Amaizing WordPress hacks part 1
Amazingly cool WordPress hacks which are probably not often used but very inspiring and original. Checkout the Hacks
Inspiration
38- The Most Fantastic 3D Landscapes
A list of awesome 3D digital landscapes created by amateur and professional 3D artists. Checkout the post
39- 37 Business Cards - Best of June 2008
If a photo is worth a thousand words, then some graphic design work should be worth five thousand words. Here are 10 creative designer portfolios. Checkout the post
40- D From Abduzeedos (Pool).
41- Frilly Bits Ornament Wallpaper
43- 10 great looking Image Based sites
It is now a common trend to base the site around a backdrop image. In this collection you will see a list of 10 of the best Image Based sites. Checkout this post
44- Discard / Reuse by James White.
New Launches
This calculator is an invaluable (and attractively-presented) utility for crafting aesthetically-pleasing ratios for content. Checkout this post.
46- Vector Tuts
Resources
47- 19 Websites to Promote your Design News
For any blogger, promoting your design News around the web should be the first step. This post has 19 links to websites you can submit your design news to. Noupe has made it to the list, you can submit your design news here at Noupe by using this link. Checkout this post.
48- 71 Gradient Resources for Web Design
For web designers and graphic designers, gradients provide almost unlimited options for creating the perfect look. This list is a collection of excellent tutorials and resources for effectively using gradients. Checkout this post.
Textures and Brushes
49- 300+ Vintage Style Textures and Photoshop Brushes
Vintage design, when done well, can make a user feel like they have been transported back in time. Here is a big roundup of textures and Photoshop brushes, all found at deviantArt. Checkout this post.
50- 99 Free Canvas, Paper, Paint, and Metal Textures
99 perfect stock textures that others have freely contributed to the design community. Checkout this post.
51- 75 Insane High Res Photoshop Brushes
75 insane high resolution Photoshop brushes that will be perfect for any project you may happen to be working on. Enjoy! Checkout this post.
Interviews
52- Interview with Collis Ta’eed
An interesting interview with Collis Ta’eed sharing his art and design background.Checkout the interview.