What about a website that offers tons of graphic related resources? ShareCG is one of them, with thousands of resources in categories like tutorials, 3d models, materials, textures, animations, software, plugins, photography, poser stuff among others. All these resources for absolutely free and uploaded by their authors.

You must register to be able to download, but it’s worth the extra time registering if you can put your hands on so many wonderful resources.

When it comes to free resources is very difficult to find something of high quality, not impossible, but hard to find. FreePSDFiles.net is one of those resources that when found you’ll be visiting over and over again. Why? Because they offer free PSD files that will make you happy. FreePSDFiles.net carries lot of graphics, all of them available for free (no registration required, thank you) and the best of all is that any file is in native PSD Photoshop format.

Categories are, among others, 3D renders, backgrounds, buttons, icons, illustrations, objects, site templates, textures, web elements and many others.

A very clean and friendly web design makes this site a pleasure to browse. Each image includes a short description and vital file info like resolution, file format, file size, item in the set, author and the obvious download button.

Very recommended resource for designers and graphic artists.

Design: The Most Important Element for Websites

Design is the big thing these days, both on the web and in multi-media. Of course, down through the ages, design has always been important, whether one is speaking of the Sistine Chapel or Ford’s Model T or even film posters.

In today’s world, we are inundated with good and bad design through many different avenues, including the aforementioned movie posters, billboards, television and most recently, the Internet. Most of it we take for granted, yet design is a key factor in the making or breaking of any product or event.

For a professional and attractive web presence, excellent design is crucial. If you want your website to be taken seriously then good design is the key element on which to concentrate your efforts. So, whether you are a professional designer or an amateur developing your own website, there some great resources in the Internet world, that you definitely should become acquainted with.

Design Resources

When the Internet was younger, quality design tools were not only mind-blowing, they were also pretty expensive. Many of the staples of design are still at our fingertips and although they have been around a while, they have stood the test of time and are certainly great products. Obviously, one of the most well-known and useful tools for design is Photoshop. This incredible and popular design tool is famous for great image editing capabilities. Of course, Adobe Illustrator is always a fantastic design tool and is especially useful when using or creating vector illustrations.

Free Resources

Nowadays, one can still buy these renowned design tools but luckily there are also some open source alternatives that are free, And if you are willing to work through any free alternative’s digital process, which can sometimes be a little less user friendly, they may be just what you are looking for. One popular free program, similar to Photoshop, is Gimp. Inkscape is a program that is similar to Adobe Illustrator and is also a free alternative that is excellent for creating vector illustrations.

Speaking of vector illustrations, Dezignus is another resource for free (that’s right FREE) vector illustrations. The site has an incredibly large selection available for downloads and is continually increasing its available inventory.

You Want Color? You Got Color!

If you are looking for great color, and support in making your site’s colors work, then the best choice is Colourlovers.com. This site will provide the help you need to make your site color scheme attractive. Another superb source for design tools to complement the color is deviantART.

Don’t Forget the Fonts

And of course, the use of typography and the various fonts should be your No. one concern when planning your website, so do not neglect this important aspect of design. Dafont.com is a font resource website that has an incredible array of free and easily accessible fonts. This site is a must for all designers.

So, there is your list of some great design resources on the net. Now you have no excuse to not create a fabulous site!

Sonia Mansfield is the content editor for PsPrint and editor of PsPrint Blog

Christmas is just around the corner, so get your holiday design juices flowing with some inspirational resources. The collection below contains everything from Photoshop brush sets to stock photos to fonts and images. If you are looking to decorate or design for this winter holiday, then you must check out these downloads; most of them are free!

Free Christmas Fonts

Check out FontSpace for some impressive fonts perfect for Christmas designs.

Free Vector Christmas Icons

These beautifully done free Christmas icons are exactly what you need to decorate your website or desktop.

Christmas Clip Art

Here you will find many links to Christmas clip art, animation, graphics, wallpapers, and more.

Seamless Christmas Patterns

Find over 100 downloadable Photoshop patterns with a Christmas theme on this amazing site.

FreeVectors.net

Need images that can be used on a variety of projects? Find some cool Christmas themed vector graphics, backgrounds, banners, greeting cards, and more. Make sure to check out all 9 pages to see more vectors than you could ever use for this holiday.

36 Holly Jolly Textures

This collection of 100×100 textures for Photoshop will easily add some holiday fun to your designs.

Free Christmas Animations

Any piece from this stunning collection of animations from Seven Oaks Art would be perfect for adding holiday spirit to a website or email newsletter.

Sparkle Christmas Images

Check out these gorgeous Christmas graphics with extra “bling” on Can Stock Photo. There are sparkling Christmas images and cards, all royalty-free and downloadable for a small fee.

Free Social Networking and RSS Feed Icons

Take advantage of one of these 6 free Christmas icon sets for your RSS feed or social networking account. All are high quality and quite stunning.

35 Beautiful Christmas Icon Sets

Find amazing Christmas icon sets on this site. From social networking icons to file folder icons to graphics perfect for adding to your holiday scene for greeting cards.

Free Transparent PNG or Paint Shop Pro tubes

View this collection of generously donated Christmas images for use with Paint Shop Pro or as transparent PNG files.

23 Photoshop Greeting Card Tutorials

Learn how to create Christmas cards using Photoshop with one of these helpful tutorials. Then use your newly learned skills to design your own custom greeting card for the holidays.

15 Christmas WordPress Themes

This nice list of free Christmas themes for WordPress will really get your blog readers in a festive spirit this year.

45 Illustrator and Photoshop Tutorials

Find Christmas tutorials for Photoshop and Illustrator in this incredible collection. Whether you need to design wallpaper, greeting cards, illustrations, or backgrounds, you can find it here.

Exclusive Free Photoshop Brushes

This thorough list of brushes includes snowflakes, ornaments, frosted snowflakes, Christmas trees, holiday stars, swirls, and fireworks.

Spice up your Christmas designs with some of items in the resources above. Or simply enjoy some holiday design inspiration to get you in a festive mood. Happy Holidays!

As a graphic designer, you are always searching for new ways to make your designs stand out from the crowd.. As cutting edge as your designs may be, however, they are nothing without equally as wonderful fonts to complement them.

Thankfully, you don’t have to spend a fortune to begin building up a font reserve. In fact, many top-notch font developers are generous enough to share their creations for free. The following are the 9 best resources to get free fonts online to help you begin developing a font arsenal.

1. DaFont

The DaFont website is organized by font category and popularity. One perk of DaFont is you can preview your text in a specific font without downloading it.

2. Font Squirrel

FontSquirrel is a well-organized website with a wonderful selection of fonts allowed for commercial use. The fonts on FontSquirrel are neatly organized, and most are downloadable directly through the FontSquirrel website.

3. 901 Free Fonts

Similar to DaFont, 901 Free Fonts offers a wide range of free fonts if you have time to sift through the various categories. The licensing terms vary between the fonts so check the terms of any you are considering using.

4. Fawnt

The main perk of using Fawnt is you don’t have to sort through thousands of fonts to find one worth downloading. Rather, Fawnt features about 50 high-quality free fonts that are worthwhile for high-quality designers like you.

5. TypeNow

TypeNow is a little more tedious to sift through when searching for free fonts but is a worthwhile outlet that provides some high -quality options. Check out the website’s themed section to download great free fonts based on the typefaces of popular movies, products, and more.

6. FontSpace

FontSpace includes more than 14,000 fonts so you will need some extra time to sort through them all. However, many of the fonts are high quality and are easy to download, which makes this a worthwhile resource.

7. UrbanFonts

The UrbanFonts website includes a wide range of free font options and is fairly straightforward to use. The website’s homepage includes a listing of featured fonts to avoid sorting through the various categories.

8. YourFonts

YourFonts takes a unique spin on the idea of free fonts and allows you to make a typeface out of your handwriting. Even if you don’t intend to use the handwriting font in your designs, it can still be a good time waster.

9. FontStruct

Of course, not everyone has naturally beautiful handwriting that would make a perfect font. If this sounds like your handwriting, then FontStruct is a better option that allows you to digitally construct a typeface.

While there are many free font resources online, these are the top 9 proven best options. Hopefully by using the above resources, you will find a variety of fonts to incorporate into your designs and make them better than ever.

For all of us who blog whether on our own site or as a guest blogger, we put in the research and start planning the pre-writing phase then once we have everything we need we write it up and it gets published, our thoughts, ideas and tips to share with the world.

But who is going to see it? If you don’t circulate your article and draw new readers in, effectively your article isn’t getting the attention it truly deserves.

Are a number of methods for drawing traffic to your new articles, but today I’m going to cover designer social bookmarking resources.

A number of these sites also offer external voting buttons which you can use on your own site or blog.

Design Float

Design Bump

The Web Blend

Design Poke

DZone

Cypher Box

Joyoge

Karma Codes

Designgizer

ZaBox

Pixel Groovy!

Faq Pal

WPScoop

Graphic Design Links

Design Shovel

Web Mee

DesignVote

Fav Share

Developers Niche

Inspired News

And although strictly they are not for design articles only, the following sites have a good following and have excellent design sections:

Mixx Design

Digg Design

Blog Engage

Wallpapers have always been and inspirational source for designers. With every new release of Windows operating system, we see some really cool default wallpapers based on windows version. Beside default wallpapers, we are showcasing here some really cool 20 Free Windows 7 Wallpapers for your desktop.

Click on image wallpaper and it will take you to the source/download page.

Windows 7 Blue Wallpaper

JurgenDoe just played a little bit in Photoshop to create this beautiful Windows 7 Wallpaper.

Windows Leopard Hackintosh 7

FateZoom have done good job with this wallpaper. The background looks great and its interesting what he did with the Apple logo

Windows Seven Glow Wallpaper

Another Windows Seven Wallpaper from dj-corny. It is available in different resolutions for wide and normal screens:

Windows 7 Wallpaper Concept

A minimal and clean background by JurgenDoe

Windows 7

I like the green color in this wallpaper designed byLfcmaniac

Windows 7 Ultimate II

Super wallpaper designed byRfSouza.

Windows 7 Cold Light

Very detailed artwork with nice contrast colors by frezorer. The glowing effect is awesome.

Unofficial Windows 7 Wallpaper

JurgenDoe designed this Wallpaper to be used for Windows 7 but now it is called “Unofficial Windows 7 Wallpaper”.

Windows Wallpaper HD Green

Windows logo placed on grass. Very simple and clean styled wallpaper by CezarisLT.

Windows 7 Revolutions

Great idea shown here with Matrix effect by potasiyam.

Windows SEVEN

Windows Seven Wallpaper inspiration by havocki. This also include some color variation.

Windows Se7en Midnight

This minimalistic, dark, midnight blue wallpaper was named “energize” before and changed to “midnight” later.

Windows Wallpaper HD No Color

Nice and simple styled wallpaper by CezarisLT. Available in the following resolutions for wide screen: 1920 x 1200, 1680 x 1050 and 1400 x 900

New experience – Windows 7

This is custom made Hi-Res Wallpeper by russanov.

Minimal Windows 7

Elegant and simple looking wallpaper with nice textured background by surag.

Windows 7 Blue Wallpaper

Blue color in this wallpaper looks really bright. The designer killer7ben has used some 2 other wallpapers to create this one.

Windows 7 Ultimate wallpaper

A bright Windows 7 Ultimate wallpaper by darpan-aero. Available in following resolutions: 2560 x 1600, 1440 x 900 and 1600 x 1200

Win7 BoxArt Wallpaper- Preview

Nice work by lordalpha1.

xAlta Wallpaper Pack

This wallpaper pack available in different resolutions design by musicislife1995.

Windows 7 Simple Wood – EN

Simplicity. A basic wallpaper with the logo of Windows 7

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HTML is the simple markup language of the World Wide Web used to create hypertext documents and CSS is a stylesheet language which is used to format these hypertext documents.

HTML5 and CSS3 are the next big improvements which are still under development. Many designers and developers have already implemented new features from HTML5 and CSS3, which are supported in most browsers, on their websites and many are still experimenting with them.

In this “Ultimate Collection of HTML5 and CSS3 Resources“, you will find articles and tutorials covered on different websites. Demos and examples are also included in this list. I tried my best to collect all useful and related information to put at one place. Still if you find something missing, kindly share it in the comments below.

Articles

HTML5 Basics

The next iteration of HTML has been met with excitement by some, loathing by others and confusion/fear by everyone else. Love it or hate it, HTML 5 will soon define how you build websites.

Get Ready For HTML 5

With support in Chrome, Firefox 3.5, Opera, and Safari, HTML 5 is coming at you like a runaway train. Here are some suggestions to help you prepare to get on board rather than be left at the platform or tied to the tracks.

Structural Tags In HTML5

The HTML5 specification has added quite a few interesting and useful tags for structuring your markup. For a majority of everyday uses, these tags will replace many of our typical div entries from our code. So let’s dig in.

Power Of HTML5 And CSS3

Web designers can do some pretty cool stuff with HTML 4 and CSS 2.1. We can structure our documents logically and create information-rich sites without relying on archaic, table-based layouts. As we continue to push the boundaries of existing languages, HTML 5 and CSS 3 are quickly gaining popularity, revealing their collective power with some exciting new design possibilities.

My Top 5 HTML Coding Preferences

Every coder has his/her own coding style based on personal preferences. Not all of us markup the document in a same way. Some decide to choose one element while other coders prefer some other solution.

Semantics In HTML 5

HTML 5, the W3C’s recently redoubled effort to shape the next generation of HTML, has, over the last year or so, taken on considerable momentum. It is an enormous project, covering not simply the structure of HTML, but also parsing models, error-handling models, the DOM, algorithms for resource fetching, media content, 2D drawing, data templating, security models, page loading models, client-side data storage, and more.

The Future Of HTML5

The HTML 5 spec was originally called “Web Applications 1.0″. Most of the attention has been on the new markup elements, but in his talk he takes a further look at the applications side of the spec …

Yes, You Can Use HTML 5 Today!

There have been many changes to the HTML 5 landscape since my colleague, Lachlan Hunt’s 2007 article on A List Apart, A Preview of HTML 5. Let’s see what’s happening in the world of HTML 5.

Preparing for HTML5 With Semantic Class Names

This is a brief introduction to the new structural elements in the HTML 5 Working Draft, and how to use semantic class names in HTML 4.01 or XHTML 1.0 markup that correspond to the names of those structural elements. By doing so, you’ll get a head start in understanding how to use the new elements and also go some way towards using plain old semantic HTML if you’re not already.

When Can I Use

Compatibility tables for features in HTML5, CSS3, SVG and other upcoming web technologies. Several features have not yet been fully defined, and thus have only experimental support.

HTML5 Again

If you’re a front-end developer, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to pick a project and mark it up in HTML5. I’m not going to ask you to code a game experience inside the canvas element or replicate a YouTube video player or do anything really, except challenge you to declare semantic information about your content blocks.

Designing A Blog With HTML5

Much of HTML 5′s feature set involves JavaScript APIs that make it easier to develop interactive web pages but there are a slew of new elements that allow you extra semantics in your conventional Web 1.0 pages. In order to investigate these, let’s look at marking up a blog.

5 Techniques To Acquaint You With CSS 3

CSS is a well-known, widely used language to style websites. With version three in the works, many time-saving features will be implemented. Although only the most modern browsers currently support these effects, it’s still fun to see what’s around the corner! In this tutorial I’ll show you five techniques.

Web Designer’s Checklist

Very useful checklist of CSS3 Properties, CSS3 Selectors, HTML5 Web Applications, HTML5 Embedded Content and HTML5 Web Forms

CSS Code Structure For HTML 5: Some Useful Guidelines

In this post I want to illustrate some useful guidelines about how to implement a well organized CSS code structure in view of introduction of HTML 5 markup language. They are not general rules but simple suggestions you can follow in order to improve the readability, manageability, and general organization of CSS code.

How To Get HTML5 Working In IE And Firefox 2

HTML 5 may be the latest and greatest technology, but some browsers don’t have native support for the new semantic elements. Let’s momentarily forget about the really sexy functionality, like full control over the <video> element, and just focus on getting the elements rendered.

Building Web Pages With HTML 5

Depending on who you ask, HTML 5 is either the next important step toward creating a more semantic web or a disaster that’s going to trap the web in yet another set of incomplete tags and markup soup.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About HTML5

So CSS3 lets you have rounded corners, and HTML5 gives you <header> and <footer> elements. Big whoop. Sometimes it can be hard to get excited about what’s being added to the core web technologies, but Ernest Delgado is here to change that.

Cheat Sheets

HTML 5 Cheat Sheet (PDF)

In the spirit of the upcoming change, Smashing Magazine decided to release a handy printable HTML 5 Cheat Sheet that lists all currently supported tags, their descriptions, their attributes and their support in HTML 4. The cheat sheet was created by Veign.com and released exclusively for the readers of Smashing Magazine.

HTML5 Visual Cheat Sheet

This new HTML5 Visual Cheat Sheet is an update of HTML 5 Visual Cheat Sheet that was published for the first time some months ago on old blog (http://woork.blogspot.com).

HTML5 Id/Class Name Cheat Sheet

Drawn from the fine work of Andy Clarke (Marlarkey) and Jon Tan(gerine), esq.

Tutorials

Introduction to HTML5

Are you interested in HTML 5 and what’s coming down the pipeline but haven’t had time to read any articles yet? I’ve put together an educational “Introduction to HTML 5” video that goes over many of the major aspects of this new standard,

Google’s HTML 5 Work: What’s Next?

Learn about new features in HTML 5 that enhance and enrich the web experience. Learn about new features in HTML 5, how they’ll be supported in Chrome, and our latest plans for new functionality. The web browser is quickly evolving into a rich platform with access to all the capabilities that your computer has to offer.

Features You Want Desperately But Still Can’t Use

As the HTML5 effort reaches its first big milestone — feature completeness — browsers are starting to implement it. It will be years before you can rely on HTML5 support when writing Web pages and applications, but you can start to experiment today to get a feel of what the new standard offers. This talk will explore some of the most recent implementations of HTML5 features.

HTML5 + CSS3 = Awesome

HTML5 is the next version of the web markup standard. New features include new tags, offline dbs, and geolation aware browsers. CSS3 is the next generation styling language. Together, they make will make the web a great experience.

Create Windows 7 Start Menu Using CSS3 Only

Janco is fascinated with how much you can do with so little using CSS3. Many user interface elements that require images in order to have appropriate visual appearance now can be styled only with CSS3. In order to prove that Janco assigned himself a task to create Windows 7 start menu only with CSS3 (and some icons).

HTML 5 and CSS 3: The Techniques You’ll Soon Be Using

HTML 5 is the next major version of HTML. It introduces a bunch of new elements that will make our pages more semantic. This will make it a lot easier for search engines and screenreaders to navigate our pages, and improve the web experience for everyone

Coding a CSS3 & HTML5 One-Page Website Template

Changes do not come from nowhere. The early adopters are already using what we are going to use day-to-day a few years from now. One of these technologies is HTML5 – the new version of the fundamental language of the web.

Coding A HTML 5 Layout From Scratch

While it is true HTML5 and CSS3 are both a work in progress and is going to stay that way for some time, there’s no reason not to start using it right now.

CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials

With version three of CSS, many exciting features will be implemented. CSS3 leads to greater flexibility and makes it much easier to recreate previously complex effects. Many time-saving rules are being thought up for CSS3: text-shadow, box-sizing, opacity, multiple backgrounds, border-radius, border-image ,multi-column layout, etc…

Quick Tip: Learning About HTML5 Local Storage

In this video quick tip, we’re going to build a working, though very basic, to-do list in just a minute or two. Thanks to HTML5′s local storage, we can make advanced browsers “remember” what we type, even after the browser is closed or is refreshed.

Have a Field Day with HTML5 Forms

Here we’re going to take a look at how to style a beautiful HTML5 form using some advanced CSS and latest CSS3 techniques. I promise you will want to style your own forms after you’ve read this article.

Touch The Future: Create An Elegant Website With HMTL 5 And CSS3

Five macro-steps to build an effective website using brain, pencil, paper, Photoshop, HTML and CSS. But technology doesn’t stop, luckily, and we have other two great allies for the future to design better website: HTML 5 and CSS3.

Design & Code a Cool iPhone App Website in HTML5

HTML5 is definitely the flavor of the month, with everyone in the design community getting excited about its release. In this tutorial we’ll get a taste of what’s to come by building a cool iPhone app website using a HTML5 structure, and visual styling with some CSS3 effects.

CSS3 Gradient Buttons

In this tutorial, nickla show you how to put the CSS gradient feature in a good practical use. The buttons are scalable based on the font-size. The button size can be easily adjusted by changing the padding and font-size values. The best part about this method is it can be applied to any HTML element such as div, span, p, a, button, input, etc.

12 Excellent CSS3 Button And Menu Techniques

HTML5 and CSS3 Demos & Exampels

HTML5 Canvas

HTML5 and CSS3 Experiments

HTML5 Readiness

CSS3 Previews

HTML5 and CSS3 Templates

HTML5 Video Player

Sublime Video – HTML5 Video Player

Projekktor – HTML5 WebTV and Video Player

Video For Everybody

HTML5 Video & Media Javascript Library

HTML5 Media

Tools

• CSS3 Generator
• CSS3 Please
• CSS3 Gradient Generator
• Border Radius
• Cool Tools & Toys For Web Developers
• Widget Pad

Useful Information & Other Resources

• Dev W3C
• The WhatWG Blog
• Wikipedia – HTML5
• HTML5 Gallery
• Less Framework
• HTML5 Sites
• HTML5 Video
• 52 Framework
• 101 Best HTML5 Sites
• Dive Into HTML5
• HTML5 Doctor
• Simon Pieters
• 52 Framework
• Introducing HTML5
• HTML5 Pocketbook
• HTML5 Tutorial

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Tumblr is increasingly growing in popularity, and as it does so too does the number of designers creating and sharing cool new tumblr themes. This post brings together 20 examples of the best themes available, perfect examples of the class and style that can be brought to a Tumblr account. Many of the themes below come ready-made to be both visually beautiful and totally functional, but can also be customised to meet users’ requirements and taste.

1. Nigredo

Nigredo is a simply stylish theme designed by Redfield. White text on a black background with a left-aligned sidebar offers an elegant blogging platform. The theme is customisable, with the option of switching to black text on a white ground.

2. Fluid

Fluid is currently one of the most popular Tumblr themes around. It’s easy to see why it has so much appeal, with the sparkling soft focus light touches, nice coloration and great use of transparency achieving just the right contrast between text and background.

3. Mac Envy

Mac Envy takes its design inspiration straight from the iPhone interface, a perfect Tumblr theme for Mac fanatics.

4. Vertigo

Saul Bass was one of the most important American graphic designers of the 20th Century, famed for his work on film titles and movie posters. This theme is based around the stunning title sequence from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, with typography and graphical touches inspired by Bass’s iconic animation work.

5. Terminal Flashback

This theme employs the cool retro chic of late 1980s and early 1990s computer terminal interfaces, with single-column acid green text on a black background.

6. Futura

This theme focuses on Paul Renner’s Futura typeface; the crisp design has a modern, airy aesthetic.

7. Munich

The Munich theme is reminiscent of the German Modernist design of the early 20th Century, with attractively balanced typography, composition, and colour scheme against a dark page.

8. Penguin Classics Recycled

In 1935, publisher Allen Lane was at Exeter railway station with nothing to read during his journey to London. The collection of paperbacks the station shop had on offer proved such a severe disappointment that Lane resolved to start his own series of quality titles with distinctive covers, and Penguin Books was born. This theme is styled on the classic paperback books, adhering to Lanes mantra that ‘good design is no more expensive than bad‘.

9. Strict

Strict is a light minimalist theme with clean typographical design.

10. Paper Walls

This theme has a refined vintage feel with subtly striped background, torn paper page layout and ink drawing detailing creating an old-fashioned intimacy.

11. Dark Lights

This is a dark theme with great use of light grey text on a muted background, the typography offering a cool contemporary aesthetic.

12. Transparent Theme

A sense of depth, blurred dark colours and measured use of transparency make this a particularly good-looking theme.

13. I Am Sofa King

I Am Sofa King has very strongly designed layout with content laid out in a single column. The default setting is simple but effective with white text, black boxes and white background, but the colours are customisable, as is the coding.

14. Ultralite

Sharp minimalist typographical design makes Ultralite a perfect theme for personal text and photo blogs.

15. Esquire Theme

This theme is styled around the design and art direction of the US edition of Esquire magazine.

16. iBlack

iBlack is a sleek theme taking its inspiration directly from Apple’s characteristic branding and applications.

17. Cheerful Girl!!

Cheerful Girl!! Is a crisp theme with a refreshingly juicy pink and white colour scheme.

18. PhotoBoard

PhotoBoard is a theme that offers a beautiful way of presenting photographs. The images can be arranged with two or four per row, and the design creates the effect of pictures attached to a cork pin board. The images’ information is revealed with mouse rollovers.

19. Helvetica

This is another theme designed around a classic font, in this case Helvetica, the beautiful typeface created by Swiss designer Max Miedinger in 1957. It’s a nice and bright design with the focus on readability and accessibility.

20. Adaptation

This theme has a strikingly bold design with great text layout in black and white, against a truly eye-catching deep red background. Adaptation is a great choice for users who want a bright, modernist blogging platform that oozes confidence and style.

If you want to make your career in web graphics then testking a+ web designing course is best solution though. Download HP0-D06 tutorials and HP0-J26 study guide to learn how to create WP themes for your personal web page.

Definitely a blogger wants to post articles in his blog then and now as a reader needs daily consumption.  But the ground reality is that it is quite hard to blog daily and post articles in the site. It is a common known fact that, it is hard to earn from a single blog. Obviously this situation pushes a blogger to run multiple blogs but maintain them is the biggest task in front. Hiring a worker is too costly but on the other hand there is plugin which can do this job for a blogger. It is nothing but auto blogging plugin which can do the job easily for a blogger. Though there are many plugins available online, following can give you an idea about the best and top 5 auto blogging wordpress plugins that can make a blogger’s life easy.

But before going in to the analysis it is better to know an overview of this kind of plugins. These plugins post articles based on the keyword and niche the blogger configures. It also increases the traffic indirectly there by increasing the revenue.

WPRobot

This is one of the best autoblogging plugin available. You can add fresh content daily based on the topic and keyword that you give as input. WPRobot plugin posts contents to blog at regular intervals of time. There is an added feature in the plugin which converts an article into different languages before posting it. This gives you a 100% unique article which Google’s search engine loves.

You can also add affiliates like amazon, ebay, clickbank ads, and yahoo answers and much more in your post. All these happen with your full control.

AutoBlogged

Autoblogged is the next best plugin for sites using wordpress. It is the best tool to build your automated blog network and make money from those in no time. All that you need to do is to type keyword and resource in the admin panel after which you get your blog in minutes. Source here means Google blog search, Yahoo, MSN and much more from which articles will be extracted.

AutoBlogged provides support for image and video. You can even build a video blog using this plugin. it is worth spending few dollars to make this plugin yours which can earn you hundred times more than its price.

ZipPoster

ZipPoster helps to avoid duplicate contents which a blogger and Google hates. You can rewrite PLR contents and publish them in the blog by setting up a timestamp. You can schedule the post even for a year.

One best thing about this ZipPoster is that, you can use this plugin for multiple blogs but pay only once.

PLR to WordPress

This is one of the best autoblogging plugin which can help you to import your PLR articles into wordpress and publish the same. This is a plug-in which suits a blogger who really doesn’t care of the uniqueness of the article. If you are one among them then this is the best plugin for you.

Datafeedr

Datafeedr is a simple plug-in which doesn’t need any coding knowledge or a programmer to configure it. You can easily do it by yourself. This is a best plug-in to create an affiliate shop in the wordpress. It embeds an affiliate shop which helps you to get more traffic flow.

Datafeedr is the best companion for all kind of people who really want to shine up in affiliate marketing.  You need not touch any datafeed files like other plugins to setup the store. A beginner can even make up a blog by which he/she can improve the revenue.

There is no doubt that this plugin can save your TIME a lot while providing increase in traffic and revenue.

Your Turn

What do you think of autoblogging? If you find something missing here, kindly share it in the comments below.

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I felt somewhat hesitant to write this blog post for smashingshare,  simply  because I am still in the process of rebranding our own brand, often we give and implement our advice on our clients and not ourselves. So without any further delays let’s get stuck in…

1. Vehicle Branding

Image Credit: unkown

When you think of paid advertising, this option is probably one of the best once off thing you can do for your brand. It must be done well of course and not cheaply, but the result is: you are a moving sign board that sells, when you are stuck in traffic, parked your car at the mall or going on holiday. Every time you are on the road you are advertising. Try adding social media to your car like “Follow us on Facebook” and you will be sure to see heads turn.

2. Brand All Materials

Image Credit: dr3am-arts

Often this mistake is made in the correspondence with potential customers, loyal customers and new customers. We send email, give a business card, send an invoice or submit a proposal that is not branded properly. All electronic and printed materials coming from your business must include all contact details, and now also social media to ensure maximum chance of contact. Evaluate what leaves your office. Is it properly branded? If not you may be missing out on valuable opportunities for new, referral and repeated business.

3. Join Freelance Websites

Image Credit: Custom

I am not going to cover this topic too much in depth because Waheed Akhtar has already written a lovely post covering this area ” 30+ Freelance Work Websites and Resources You Should Know “, but this is another great way to put yourself out there and bid for jobs. I suggest you join all 30 you can never be in too many places on the web. Often freelances sites allow you to put down your rates, show your portfolio (the real seller) and fill in all details, more exposure for you.

4. Write Guest Posts

Image Credit: tasteofomi

Another great way of getting exposure is to write as a guest post for high ranking blogs. You may feel a bit inadequate and perhaps in writing. But don’t discount your experience in life and what you have to offer. Guest posts on high ranking blogs in your industry gives you a new platform to air your views, generate more interest in your brand and you will probably learn a thing or two from the comments submitted about your article. So don’t be shy, next time you’re on a major Blog – look for invitations to write for them.

5. Optimize Your Website

Image Credit: pushok-12

One of the greatest tools you have in your toolbox for marketing is your website. Even if you are not a search engine optimization fundi. Check to see that the basic requirements are met on your website. To get found will go a long way in getting more queries. Too many websites are designed for looks and not for find-ability, both are equally important. Head over to Pear analytics for a Free SEO Analysis , the results will probably surprise you.

6. Social Media

Image Credit: ben_jo_min

This is of course an obvious one, but still surprisingly misused. Yes the major ones are your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin etc…, but do you have a plan on how to use them effectively? Putting all potential customers, loyal customers and new customers is a good start for customer retention. Having a schedule updating plan is another. Thirdly, making sure all profiles are properly filled out and connected to each other as well as your blog and website is also important. It is also important to use the right social networks that best suit your brand.

7. Free Content

Image Credit: Not-A-Prodigy

I have run into some really inexperienced and not really value for money brands that have done this quite effectively. The rules for doing this are really one giant one “make sure it’s of value“, it may be an eBook, a program, a sample etc.., think about something that takes effort and your potential customer will like, not something that takes no effort from you. Remember the more you put into this idea the more you will get out and it’s great for making your brand more viral.

8. Referral Programme

Image Credit: animatedpunk

The reason why people don’t always get referred is not because they don’t do a good job, they “simply don’t ask“. Now if you were to ask and give a bit of an incentive, it goes a little further, for example 10% of the value of the next client you refer to us; add the program to your website.  Ask your loyal customers and new customers while you’re fresh in their mind. You can even ask your potential customers. At times they may not be interested, but are willing to point you to someone who needs your service. And if they get something out of it, well – why not?

9. Run A Competition

Image Credit: AndroniX

Like the freebie idea, this one also operates on value, which means a bit more effort from your side, but yields a great return in the end. Social media is a great way to gain more attention to your brand, for example “If you are one of the first 100 people to tweet this promotion you could win….” Be creative. Come up with your own unique idea and you will get more people interested and talking about your brand. Exposure is the key!

10. Answer Questions

Image Credit: todo-el-mundo

We live in the information age. If you have answers to questions that people ask, you can be a great resource and since you’re the expert, they will probably approach you for the work. Building up a reputation online is a powerful way to get your brand noticed. Join websites like Yahoo Answers and Blellow, another great place to answer questions is on LinkedIn Answers. These are a great place to find new customers. Always be polite. Give reliable resources and you will soon be on your way to being the “go to individual” for your industry.

11. Start A Blog

Image Credit: Kristina B

I have heard many a client grumble and say I don’t have time to write or I can’t write, which is probably a way to get out of the first excuse. A little bit of practice and viewing great blogs will help you out, take interest and will get you interested. Eventually when you have built up a bit of readership on your blog, invite other people to write for you. Blogging will do so much for your website ranking; attract more viewers and ultimately more queries for business. Quality is the name of the game, of course if you don’t want to put in the effort you can always go back to cold calling. Blaaah! No way!

12. Take Up Speaking

Image Credit: Syokkahwin.com

This last one takes a bit of courage but it pays off – believe me! I was an introvert before I gave my first couple of seminars on social media. But having the ability to talk in public opens doors, Trust me – I know. You have to remember that most of the time the subject you will be sharing is to people who want to learn from you, so they are not judging you as you perceive. So, join a speaking club, brush up on this skill, give a free talk and leave your business card. I find it a great way to get your point across without getting interrupted and massive exposure instead of one on one.

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Every blogger wants to see hundred thousands of numbers against their blog whether it’s about their daily blog traffic, Fans list on Facebook page, Twitter followers or subscribers to their blogs. In today’s post, I’m going to discuss some techniques blogger can use to increase the number of subscribers multiple times to their blogs.

1. RSS Icons On Prominent Positions

The biggest mistake lots of bloggers make is that they don’t show RSS icons on prominent positions on their blogs. You should aim at showing your RSS icon and email subscription form above the fold on your blog or even in your blog header section. Make sure RSS Subscription facility should be available on all of your blog pages and RSS icons should be professional looking.

2. Subscription Process Should Be Small

You should keep the subscription process as small as you can and should ask readers to fill minimum fields. No one loves to follow long process and filling too many fields when subscribing to a blog.

3. Regular Content Coming

You should make sure that you blog publish new content on daily basis and if possible 2-3 posts per day. Readers on your blog always love new content coming on the topics of their interest.

4. While Commenting On Other Blogs

Lots of bloggers comments on the blogs of their interest to build traffic, for backlinkng and for building brand for their blogs. You can think of using your RSS Feed URL in place of your website URL to send additional traffic to your RSS feed so that additional number of people can subscribe to your blog RSS feed.

5. Offer eBooks As Gift Of Subscription

Lots of bloggers write an ebook around the topics their blog reader’s interest and offer it as a gift when their blog readers subscribe blog RSS Feeds. You can get hundreds and even thousands of subscribers to your blog by creating an ebook for your blog readers and offers it for free to your blog readers as a freebie when they subscribe to your blog RSS.

6. Providing Quality Content

Most importantly, you should aim at proving quality content on your blog. You should focus on adding content related to your blog niche and don’t publish off topic content on your blog as in that case you are taking risk of losing some of your existing subscribers.

7. Showing Your Current RSS Subscribers Count

You can think of showing your RSS Feed Subscribers count on your blog if you have decent number of subscribers to your blog right now. Higher number of subscribers on your blog will motivate others to subscribe to your blog. But there is no use of showing RSS Feed Counter if there are very few subscribers to you blog right now. You can show your current RSS subscribers counter using FeedBurner services.

8. Using Guest Blogging

People use guest blogging for driving additional traffic and for their brand recognition in the blogosphere. So while submitting your guest post to other bloggers in your niche, make sure you provide the best of your work so that your guest post get accepted and people actually click on your website links after it gets live. You can even think of adding a link to your RSS Feed as part of your Author Bio in the guest post.

9. Blogging Communities

Add your blog to some of popular blogging communities created in your niche and be active in the discussions going on those communities. Lots of users in these communities will be interested in visiting your blog and some will even subscribe to your blog RSS.

10 Be Active On Discussion Forums

If you have a blog created around seo, blogging, money making or related topics, go and find out some discussion forums created around these topics and actively participate in the ongoing discussions there. Most of discussion forums will allow you to place a link to your website or even your RSS Feed in the signature section. So your links will be available on all threads you reply to or you start.

11. Including A Tag Line With Each Post

You can think of including a tag line at the end of each post on your blog. This will serve as a reminder to those people who read any of your blog posts. From there, they will be able to subscribe to your blog RSS or can follow you on Twitter without searching for your website header, sidebars etc for subscription links and icons.

12. Hold A Contest On Your Blog

Offering freebies or contests will going to remain popular in the blogosphere to get some targeted action from your blog readers. So if you have a high traffic blog, running a blog contest where you are supposed to give some prizes to the winner of contest will help you increase your website subscriber’s by even thousands overnight.

Do you have any other technique that you have been successfully using on your blog for getting additional number of subscribers to your blog? Please share in the comments section. Also don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feeds

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Nowadays, China has been established themselves as one of the biggest economic power in this world. That’s only one of their significances which is currently shown to us. China has so many cultural inheritance that exist until now. One of their cultural inheritance is their typical building. Almost people can easily recognize Chinese typical building by just looking for a few second, because of their unique style.

In this post, I’m going to share 30 Beautiful Chinese Landscape Wallpapers. These wallpapers are definitely retouched with Adobe Photoshop, making them looks more beautiful because of some effects applied on them. Each wallpaper is available in high resolution (1920 x 1200 pixels). You can download these wallpapers by clicking them.

Image Credits

• Koleksifoto.com

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Redesigning a website can be very satisfying and very stimulating for a web designer. A redesign consists of objectively improving the aesthetics or the structure of a website and, with the use of new elements or content, giving a new form or a new identity to the site.

Getting our hands on an out-of-date and roughly-done website, with the complete freedom to modify, add to, subtract from, and overhaul what we please, is extremely exciting. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm can often result in an incorrect work process, with a negative impact on the end result and on the eventual success of the redesign.

Before we open Photoshop and start racking our brains for the new connotations our website should have, let’s clear up some key points.

Redesigner Or Realigner?

It would be impossible not to cite Cameron Moll’s article “Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign” for A List Apart, from the distant past of 2005 (yet the article content remains quite pertinent): Cameron brilliantly divided webdesigners into “redesigners” and “realigners”.

Redesigners work on the aesthetics of redesign and justify its necessity with phrases like “the website’s old, it’s been online for two years”. This approach is obviously quite superficial, since, as we’ll later examine in detail, it’s always recommended to look at the over-all functionality of a website, without limiting oneself to design or aesthetic efficiency.

Realigners, on the other hand, strategically plan the goals to be reached, the target audience, the client’s desires and many other factors to be considered before touching the actual website.

In synthesis: the redesigner focuses on the site’s aesthetic, while the realigner focuses on its purpose.

Now that we’ve looked at the difference between the two, let’s get into the details.

How To Plan And Design A Good Website Redesign?

The first questions to ask are: what changes need to be made to the website in consideration? What improvements does the client expect from me? What short and long-term goals do I need to consider?

Content Structure

Too much information and poorly arranged. Filling a website’s pages with content, placing text elements, images and links everywhere with no logical sense, assures one result: the redundancy of data eliminates any useful information present and disorients the user, who will prefer looking elsewhere rather than trying to figure out if what he needs is hidden somewhere on the page.

Tip: Let’s start by thinning out the content. A website’s information must be immediately available, clear, and as simple as possible. The user isn’t flipping through an encyclopedia, but rather is looking for a quick solution to his problem. Long text passages aren’t enticing, especially if they’re not visually “lightened-up” with graphic elements. Write a summary of the inserted text, then when you’ve finished, write a summary of the summary. Make sure that the resulting text is neither verbose nor exhausting for the reader, and that it communicates the essential.

It’s important to plan the website’s structure in detail:

• How many pages does it contain?
• What are the main pages and what are the internal pages?
• How to link the pages together to facilitate site navigation? (anchors, action buttons, banners, etc…)

The content redesign must also include good copy-writing and, from an aesthetic point of view, a good eye for the typeset. It’s useless to improve the graphics if the text is poorly spaced and illegible due to a miniscule font size. This article isn’t about typeset, so I’ll limit myself to suggesting this exceptional article by Robert Bowen of PelFusion, if you’d like to read more on the subject.

Element Organization

I’ve noticed that many websites have a serious defect: a lack of communicative coherence. Irrelevant images, elements that appear placed by chance or that change from page to page and disorient the user.

A small example? I gave up on navigating a blog I was interested in because I couldn’t locate the search field. It was only on my second visit to the blog (I’m a bit stubborn) that I discovered how to search the blog: I had to go to the bottom of the page and in the footer click on a microscopically small lens icon, which opened a panel with a search form.

Unfortunately (for the blog’s author) users are accustomed to finding the search field at the top of the page, and if possible on the right side. The author’s subversive choice will definitely cause them to loose potential readers. These kinds of errors even happen with elements vital to a website’s success, like the navigation bar or the contact form.

Tip: once the website’s structure has been determined (how many pages and which ones to include, etc.), it’s time to decide where to position the various graphic elements. A vertical or a horizontal navigation bar? The logo on the right or left side? Is it better to put the contact form on the home page or is the classic “contact” page sufficient? These choices aren’t just the client’s or designer’s aesthetic preferences, but rather are based on the need to provide usability and structural efficacy of the website.

Design And Aesthetic

The most exciting part of a redesign (in my opinion, as it’s the graphic part) is creating the new design of the layout. Choosing the style, the colors, the images, the graphic embellishments (paintbrushes, textures, patterns, etc.) and giving a dated and – let’s just say it – ugly website a new look, a new life, is of great satisfaction to every designer. Even in this case, before we jump head over heels into Photoshop, it’s necessary to analyze a few details.

• Colors: Should the colors used on the old website be considered “institutional colors” and therefore should they be kept in the new design?
• Style: We all know that the style to adopt depends on the target audience, the client’s desires and the type of business. Nonetheless, even if the business were flexible enough to handle a drastic switch from a minimalist style to an all-black grunge layout, such a radical change of the client’s web-based appearance could turn out the be a double-edged sword.

Tip: Whether we’re dealing with the design of a new website or the redesign of an existing one, it’s necessary to create a good brief before designing the layout in Photoshop.

In synthesis: what kind of users will navigate the website and, therefore, what could be the most effective style for this target? What is the image that the client wants to project, and consequently what are the most appropriate colors and images to use? Conceptual images? Photos of the company and their products? In this phase it’s important to not work “blind”, at the mercy of creativity and imagination, without guidelines to follow. The risk is to create a product that not only doesn’t effectively represent your client, but can actually damage their established image.

What Should Be Left As-Is And Why?

There are some elements, not necessarily present in all websites, which during the redesign phase should be considered “untouchable”.

• The logo: even if it’s a real eyesore and looks terrible in the new layout, modifying this distinctive element is recommended only after having completed a careful analysis and having taken all necessary steps. In the event of modifications to the company’s branding – especially if they’re extremely evident changes – the end client could have difficulty associating the product they already know with the new brand.
  Before suggesting a logo restyling based simply on our aesthetic desires (but it’s so ugly! it ruins the new design!), think of all the work behind it and of the probable consequences that will result from such a radical change. And, as long as this is neither your job nor your task, my sincere suggestion is: leave it alone.
• Institutional colors: if they’re part of the company’s identity, before changing them it’s necessary to evaluate the risk of confusing users that are accustomed to associating the company with the color blue (for example) and, seeing a green layout instead, end up disoriented.
• Useful and functional elements: The search field (as mentioned in the example above), the contact form, the navigation bar…sometimes it’s better to not completely overhaul the layout by avoiding position changes of the most frequently used elements. This is the main reason for which, even after numerous redesigns and various updates, most websites of large companies (for example, banks) always maintain a minimum of continuity and, especially on the home page, leave the main sections intact and visible. The user should notice the aesthetic improvements yet still feel “at home”.

Practical Examples: Let’s Redesign

After numerous theoretical concepts, now it’s time for a practical example. We’ll use this entertaining (and terrifying) collection from Noupe to help us with our project.  We’ll randomly choose a government website:  India, a country that has always fascinated me.

It’s clear that the website of the Indian government needs a good redesign: the graphics are practically in-existent and, most importantly, the information is presented in a chaotic and confused manner. The resulting website is difficult to use and, aesthetically speaking, definitely has room for improvement.

The challenge consists in creating a new layout that’s aesthetically pleasing, with a clearer and more consistent content structure, without completely redoing the current design.

To understand how the present content is subdivided and visualized, let’s start by creating a sort of “mental map” of the original website. In this manner we can discover how best to re-elaborate the content.

The top portion of the layout has red shading and the logo is on the left side, next to the phrase “the National portal of India”.

In our redesign, the header color remains reddish-orange. The logo remains unmodified and present on the left side, next to the same phrase used on the current on-line website. The new typeface is already more interesting and catches the user’s attention.

In the actual website, the search field and the LOGIN are on the right side. To avoid disorienting users, we’ll leave these two sections at the top right in the new layout as well.

In the actual site, the login and search field aren’t very noticeable and can easily pass unnoticed. In the new design, we’ve highlighted these two sections with color. The “contact us” link has also been made more visible.

The main content of the actual home page is subdivided in three sections.

We’ll recall this division by creating graphic containers that will enhance the aesthetic of the page and, at the same time, will give a clear and organized sense to the content. We’ll use the grid to help organize the spaces evenly and harmoniously:

Even though this redesign is created without a brief, and the end result could be more or less appreciated (I’m not here to dictate rules, and tastes are personal) the content is much more legible. The three sections are intuitive; the text is simpler to understand and is better organized. Sometimes providing too much information contemporarily can be a poor choice and can confuse the user.

Other elements of the page, like the (graphically terrible) links inserted in the menu at the bottom right and the banners that link to other content, don’t attract the user’s attention

In the redesign, the links have been inserted at the top, together with the other elements of the navigation bar (it’s useless to scatter links around the entire homepage: navigating a website shouldn’t turn into a treasure hunt!) and the banners have been redesigned as call-to-action buttons with colors, shapes, and typeface more appropriate to the layout.

Now that the content has been reworked in a more organized manner, there’s a bit more space to insert a link to a possible photo gallery “visit India”. This new graphic element adds vitality to the design and is a way to attract the user’s attention toward tourism in India. I’ll bet there would be a drastic increase in the number of visits to the “visit India” page.

Ok, after this long-winded article you must be tired, so let’s take a final look at our completed layout:

Now the site, in addition to its simplified content exposition, has a better design and a few key modifications have greatly improved its visibility and usability. All of this has been made possible by a specific redesign, not only by its new aesthetic (which still serves to give an identity to the site), but above all else by the strategic restructuring of its content.

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The countdown for Adobe Creative Suite 5 has already begun. There’s a lot of tweets and buzz in last few days about CS5 launch in April 2010. In this article, We will cover only Photoshop CS5 new features. We will quickly go through the sneak peek videos and see what new features will be available in the upcoming Photoshop CS5.

Photoshop CS5 – Content-Aware Fill Sneak Peek

Photoshop CS5 – Painting Sneak Peek

Photoshop CS5 – PatchMatch

Photoshop CS5 – Intelligent Spot Healing

Photoshop CS5 – Better Edge Detection And Masking Results In Less Time

Photoshop CS5 – “Just Do It” Sneak Peek

Photoshop CS5 – Layer Styles And Preferences Sneak Peek

Sneak Peek Of New Adobe Photoshop CS5 Technologies

Anything Missing?

So this is what we found till now about new features of Photoshop CS5. Adobe will continue with more teasers until their launch and we will keep updating this page with the updates. If you find something missing or related, please share with us in the comments below!

Related Resources:

• http://cs5launch.adobe.com/
• http://cs5.org/

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A blog is a blog. But without a call to action, you risk losing readers. Or worse, if your goal is to activate or mobilize, you risk missing your goal.

A call to action is anything that encourages visitors to act. Whether signing up for email updates, following your twitter feed, or forwarding to a friend, calls to action are key. Calls to action span into the political and non-profit world as well. Succesful websites with purpose also ask for donations, letters to the editor, or general registration.

Here are some of the most effective methods, and associated tips for calling your visitors to action.

1. Social Media

Email Updates

Remember to place the signup form prominently, above the fold. Also, the simpler the better when it comes to signing up. When calling visitors to action, don’t ask for their life story; a simple name and email address form is ideal.

Twitter

Don’t over-do the Twitter thing. If people want to follow you on Twitter, they know how to find your information. Consider placing above the fold, but it doesn’t need to be huge.

RSS

Most modern browsers offer a way to identify sites with RSS feeds, but it doesn’t hurt to offer an easy-to-find image linking to your feed. It can be handy to offer multiple feeds based on categories or tags. I am certainly more inclined to subscribe if I can compartmentalze and choose specific areas.

Related Content, Popular Posts, Most Commented, Etc.

I call these types of tactics “Content Wrap-rounds” because they link readers to another part of your site, thereby increasing time on the site, demonstrating the diversity of content, and increasing the likelihood of retention.

2. Social Bookmarking

Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Technorati, etc.

These sites are pivotal to spreading the word. Of course, no site is successful without quality content. Nor are any successful that aren’t read. See how these relate?

3. Mobilize, Activate

General Registration

This is a rarely utilized but powerful tactic for engaging and retaining visitors. Signing them up as “members” or whatever you may call it will allow you to provide access to various engagement techniques such as following you on Twitter, promoting your site to friends, even writing letters or making phone calls for your cause.

Another tactic used by membership sites is sending sporadic emails encouraging users who haven’t visited in a while to visit again.

Contribute, Donate

Donate and contribute buttons are often utilized by political websites, and under-utilized by non-profits. Whether a simple Paypal donate button, or a complex payment gateway, donation buttons should be the most prominent button on your site. Unless, of course, you don’t need any money.

More about design techniques below, but your donate button needs to have contrast, and to pop from the page.

Engage

Giving finite engagement requests like writing letters, making phone calls, donating, signup up for updates, etc., on the front page is key. Don’t rely on inside pages to engage people. If it’s important, put it right on front.

Schedule

What’s going on in your world? Is your candidate or cause going to be in my area? Utilize calendar widgets and other boxes to tell people about what’s happening right now. Don’t delay or rely on emails to your list.

4. Design Tactics

Utilize Negative Space

Negative space is not necessarily white, but rather a space created by the absence of design elements. Use this space to your advantage. Placing calls to action within these spaces alone will encourage action.

Contrast Colors

Each quality website design has a color scheme. Choose a contrasting but thematic color from the scheme and use it to draw attention to various calls to action. If none of the colors in your scheme contrast signficantly from the rest, choose a new one that “goes” but easily draws attention.

Utilize Size

Larger elements attract the eye first, regardless of the reader’s intention. Pay attention to the size of your call to action and tweak as necessary. Some people say there is a ceiling in terms of size, I disagree. The size of your buttons should scale with the importance of the element.

Typography Matters

Choose typography carefully. This tool can be very helpful. As web browsers evolve, more fonts become “Web-friendly” and usable across platforms.

Follow the Eye

Consider where the eye will move naturally, and take advantage of this. Research shows people naturally read left-to-right, top-to-bottom. Also, the mouse pointer often starts at the top right of the screen. This political season, look for the most important button: the donate link. It will most often be located in the upper right area of the site.

Dimension

Dimension is very Web 2.0. Use things like dropshadows and overlaps to give dimension to elements. This brings focus to the particular element by giving the impression that it sits out from the page.

Wrap-Up

These points outline why and how a good website calls visitors to action. Every website should be doing it on some level, some more than most. Follow these guidelines and you’ll see increased conversions and effectiveness.

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Apple iPad, the device which looks like a larger version of Apple’s iPod Touch will be available in April 2010. Before its availability, we would like to share some funny pictures for iPad. A lot of people disappointed after iPad introduced and created some funny pictures and illustrations about it. If you find something similar about iPad on the web which are not listed here, kindly share it with us in the comments below.

iGotaBigAssPocket Concept

A Comparative Chart Between Two Tablets

Apple iPad Advertising: 35% Superlative Garbage

iPad Future

iLame

iPad Nano

iPad Vs. Blu-Tack

iPhad

iPad With Wings

iPad Tampon

iPad Always

iPad – Expensive Bulky iPhone

iPad – iSpade

Multitasking iPad

The Real iPad

The New iPad

iPod Touch 2G + Mushroom = iPad

iMaxi

Get Used

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LusterForever.com – Cool silver charms and leather bracelets design! Totally awesome sterling silver bracelets

There are certain design elements that all blogs should have to keep readers happy and engaged in your content. With the evolution of blogs and social media sites, the expectations for a blog are much higher. Readers expect to be able to read a post and have the ability to quickly comment and share by using the Twitter or Facebook accounts.

The other aspect is having a clean and consistent layout with your blog content. Users have higher expectations now and expect a blog that will be easy to read, find what they are looking for, and navigate.

If you manage a blog, see if you are taking advantage of these 8 design elements.

1. RSS/E-mail Subscribe

One of the key aspects to building a readership for your blog is to have subscribe options easily accessible. Give users the option of subscribing to your blog by RSS or E-mail. Make it prominent in the sidebar, header, each individual post, footer, and static pages.

2. Custom Header

Make your blog stand out by creating a custom designed header. This is your chance to put a unique spin on your blog and set yourself apart from your competitors.

Things to Include:

• Logo
• Navigation (Categories or Static Pages)
• RSS/Twitter Stats
• Subscribe Options
• Search Functionality
• Social Profile Icons
• Banner Space (optional)

3. Clear Navigation

If your main navigation is unclear, there is a good chance that a reader will not be able to find other topics that they may be interested in reading about. Use a clear and concise navigation, with no more than 7-10 categories. Once you go past 10, if gives the reader too many options to choose from and can get confusing.

4. Comments

Part of the reason that blogs are so popular, is the ability to provide your own comments on a post. So making it as easy as possible to submit comments is essential. Give the user multiple ways to either comment as a guest, sign-in, or login to one of their social media accounts. Disqus Comments is a fantastic plugin that allows users to easily leave comments by simply signing in to one of the social profiles.

5. Social Sharing Icons

Your content is only as good as the people that see it. If your content is not easily made to share, it will be much harder to build a readership to your blog. Using social media icons throughout the homepage, individual posts, and RSS feed, allows for readers to easily share content with friends and social community members.

6. Standard Graphic Sizes

Depending on the layout of your blog and content space, you will only be able to make your images a certain max width. Try to keep your images consistent. So if your max width is 600px, try to make your images 550px. This will help keep your content consistent and make your post more engaging. For images that have a white background, try adding a thin border to help keep that size consistency.

7. Sponsored Sidebar

I would assume that at some point everyone would like to monetize their blog, by adding banner/sponsorship ad space. As a best practice, the majority of blogs put 4-8 ad spaces in the sidebar because it is prominent real estate.

8. Custom Footer

Even though your footer is at the bottom of your blog, it is still an opportunity to keep users engaged in your content. You would be surprised how many people actually scroll to the bottom to look for “site map” styled links to easily navigate a site. This can also be a great way to do some deep linking in your blog to key pages and posts.

Things to Include:

• Recent Posts
• Popular Posts
• Category Links
• Links to Offers, Promos, Premium Content
• Banner Ads
• RSS and Share Icons
• Contact Info
• Write to Us Link
  

Image Credits:

• Smashing Magazine
• Web Designer Depot
• Stay On Search
• Specky Boy

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I was going to use the adjective essential in the title rather than useful but no one book is essential when it comes to learning web design. There are thousands of online tutorials to help you master the profession and there are dozens if not hundreds of books on all aspects of web-based creativity. Not having access to any one book will stop you from learning your desired skill but some books will greatly assist you in the process. 10 of these such books are below.

1. CSS Web Site Design by Eric A. Meyer

Eric has been involved in online activity since the early 90s and has managed to carve a position for himself as one of the main authorities on CSS – he’s so important to web design that he even has his own Wikipedia entry! (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Meyer)

CSS Web Site Design is part of the Lynda.com Hands-on training series and was first published in 2007.

If you are looking for a resource on learning CSS then Meyer’s Lynda.com publication will guide you through all the main rules of CSS 2.1 including typography, layout, margin and borders and styling for print. The book also comes with a CD-ROM that contains 10 video tutorials and all the exercise files.

Other books by Meyer include Smashing CSS, CSS: The Definitive Guide and the CSS Pocket Reference.

2. High Performance Web Sites: Essential Knowledge for Frontend Developers by Steve Souders

Steve Souders is probably the world’s authority on the burgeoning discipline of frontend engineering. He really gained this reputation while being Yahoo! Chief Performance officer and has since then spoken at major conferences such as Web 2.0 Expo and OSCON as well as lecturing at Stanford University on this subject.

If you are serious about providing faster page load times on your sites – and you should be as Google now considers this essential – then High Performance Web Sites is a book that you have to read.

It covers all aspects of web page optimisation including how to make fewer HTTP requests, compression, expires headers, reducing DNS lookups, minifying JavaScript and configuring Etags.

3. PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites by Larry Ullman

Ignore the crap title – there is no PHP 6 with 5.3.1 being the latest version – and concentrate on the content written by Larry Ullman who is also responsible for QuickStart guides to C, C++, Adobe Air, Ruby and Ajax. Without doubt this book has assisted thousands of people in their quest to learn PHP as is testified by the four and a half stars out of five as voted for by 61 reviewers on amazon.co.uk.

Many web designers start to become interested in PHP after first mastering CSS and HMTL. Realising that some knowledge of this language is invaluable for creating CMS templates, they then look for helpful tutorials.

It’s best to grab any learning resource at all when it comes to grappling with PHP because if you don’t come from a programming background it’s a steep learning curve.

This covers everything you would expect from such a book: an introduction to MySQL, error handling and debugging, cookies and sessions, security, regular expressions and using forms.

4. Don’t Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

Alright so this book always makes these types of lists but there is good reason for that: it remains, ten years after it was first published, the best introduction to usability in web site design.

That author Krug had already worked in this area for years at major online companies such as Apple, Netscape and AOL, and the book was a way of solidifying his knowledge into a digestible format for all to use.

Not only is the advice spot on but the means of presenting his message by using cartoons lets the reader breeze through the 196 pages in the course of one afternoon.

I bet Steve never thought that Don’t Make Me Think! would have such a massive impact as it has done but lets just state this – web designer, if you haven’t read it then you haven’t lived.

5. JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan

This book has been republished multiple times by O’Reilly Media since 1996 and with good reason as it still remains one of the key texts when it comes to learning the frontend language JavsScript.

Weighing in at a massive 1032 pages David intended this book to be both a learning guide and a reference.

Programmers often look down their nose at JavaScript and disparagingly refer to is as a scripting, rather then a programming language; however, as the author states in the introduction:

“JavaScript is a full-featured programming language, as complex as any and more complex than some. Programmers who attempt to use JavaScript for nontrivial tasks often find the process frustrating if they do not have a solid understanding of the language.”

If you don’t have any knowledge of JavaScript then put it on your Things To Learn In 2010 list as it is becoming essential as understanding CSS or HTML

6. Learning jQuery 1.3 by Jonathan Chaffer and Karl Swedberg

jQuery is a ubiquitous presence across the web and it’s a feature of a wide range of web sites.

Created by John Resig in 2006 it is today the most popular JavaScript library with even Microsoft and Nokia announcing that they plan to bundle jQuery into their platforms.

Much of the reason for jQuery’s success is that it is just so god-damn easy to use as the creator stated in a recent interview: “This simplicity is all throughout jQuery. The API is simple, the good documentation makes it simple to start using it, and the covering up of browser bugs makes it simple to keep using it.” (source: http://www.html.it/articoli/johnresig/index.html

Packt, like O’Reilly and Lynda.com, is a publishing company that specialises in web technology and this book, released in February 2009, is one of eight jQuery guides in their series.

The authors run through selectors, events, DOM manipulation, AJAX, form manipulation, plugins and they finish with various examples of the script in action.

7. Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Hands-On Training by Todd Perkins

I hold my hands up here as I’m recommending a book I haven’t read. My version of Flash hands-on training is for MX 2004 and is written by Rosanna Yeung, but this CS3 edition is by Todd Perkins. However, all lynda.com books are of the highest standard, and written with amazingly loving care by their respective authors. If the guide to CS3 is a good as that for MX 2004 then expect a professional introduction to Adobe’s software.

Although Flash is a niche skill it still remains today the foremost animation web tool and is set to keep that position for the foreseeable future.

As with most hands-on training books it comes with a CD-ROM attached with a series of video tutorials that are easy to follow.

8. Drupal 6 Themes by Ric Shreves

Drupal is a great CMS to use but it can be a real challenge to get to grips with the administration section let alone the actual dynamic code that it is written upon.

As has been noted elsewhere, there are countless quality free Joomla and WordPress themes to download and use across the net, but very few decent Drupal themes.

If you are serious about Drupal then sooner rather then later you will need to create your own theme rather than rely on somebody else’s creation.

Drupal 6 Themes should provide you with most of the information necessary to carry out this task although some basic knowledge of PHP would be of use when tackling this book.

9. Even Faster Web Sites by Steve Souders

This was published in 2009 and was intended as an extension to 2007′s High Performance Web Sites. Again, Souders is the author but chapters are also written by Ben Galbraith of Mozilla, Stoyan Stefonov of Yahoo and Google software engineer Tony Gentilcore.

The most important chapter for everyday web designers is that about how to effectively optimise images which doesn’t just look at the theory but also recommends some valuable tools.

The section on CSS examines how to write efficient code while there are multiple chapters on the correct use of JavaScript in a website.

10. PHP 5 Advanced by Larry Ullman

PHP is an expansive language and one that takes years to thoroughly learn. Once you’ve got past the initial headaches and confusion and you are starting to use it to create actual working forms and applications then Larry Ullman’s guide for advanced users will be useful.

Building on the knowledge he presented in PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites, Ullman looks at more complex database and security concepts and techniques as well as introducing the reader to Object Orientated Programming (OOP).

OOP is not for the faint hearted but if you want to use PHP to its maximum potential you’ll need to tackle this approach rather than just relying on procedural programming.

What books have helped you become a better web designer or developer?

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Distractions are all around us as designers, whether you work at home or in an office away from home. In order to maximize your productivity and work time, you need to cut back on procrastination. The more time you spend procrastinating, the less work you get done, which is bad news in the end. We are all guilty of it, so here are some helpful tips to avoid procrastination and start working smarter.

Minimize Distractions From Family, Pets And Coworkers During Work Hours

Less distractions means less chance to start procrastinating. When working at home, you need some rules to help family members understand that you’re not just playing on the computer, you’re actually working. You could set regular work hours, or you have a signal, like a closed door that means no interruptions. If family members are kept in the loop, they will be more understanding and accepting of your “no distractions” policy. At the office, you may get distractions from coworkers. I used to work with a guy that we’ll call Fred. Fred loved to chat, and just didn’t stop. I like to work quietly, in my own area. We had to set up some boundaries because I wasn’t getting any work done. Don’t be afraid to tell your coworkers that you’d love to be productive and can’t chat while you’re working. Breaks are fine but constant chatter is bound to be a huge distraction and a great reason to start procrastination.

Get Rid Of Clutter In Your Office

Image Source: THE WALTERS FAMILY

Clutter in your office leads to a distracted mind. Keeping your office clean and your desk free of extra junk allows your mind to focus on the important tasks at hand, rather than wandering onto all of the clutter around. Anything that isn’t necessary for your work should go; cups, stacks of paper, mail, trash, and food tend to pile up in a workspace but certainly don’t belong. Even things that are necessary for your work but aren’t being used currently, can be put away for future use. If it’s taking up space on your desk and you don’t use it everyday, put it away and bring it out as needed. This will help keep your space clean and will promote productivity.

Tame Your Phone Calls

Your phone can be a major source of distraction, causing you to procrastinate and put off your real work. Answering your phone is definitely important, especially if clients may be calling, however sometimes it’s best to turn off the ringer and really focus without interruptions. When I have a lot on my plate and don’t want to stop for every little call, turning it off really makes me work more efficiently without the distraction of a ringing phone.

Step Away From Social Media

We all love social media, but sometimes it does more harm than good. If you’re spending more time on twitter than your work, you may need to step away for a while. Social media can be a beneficial tool for networking and promoting yourself as a designer. But it should aid you as a designer, not hinder your productivity. Some days you may find you have more free time, a great chance to spend some more time on social media sites. But days with big deadlines are a different story and turning off social media updates will help.

Turn Off The Noise

A noisy environment can be a big source of procrastination as well. Some people love to listen to the radio during their work day, but that provides a great opportunity to procrastinate. If it helps you focus and doesn’t make your mind wander, then keep it, but if you find yourself stopping your work to listen and pay attention to it, I would ditch it. Visual noise like a television is distracting to the eye as well as the ear. Keep yourself on track and away from these procrastination-prone things by keeping them out of your office space. We have so many ways to procrastinate as designers. It’s important that we don’t lose sight of what’s important and get distracted with everything around us. What’s your best advice for fighting procrastination?

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