Webdesigner Depot - Archives (octobre 2013)

The old saying is that the optimist sees the glass as half full, while the pessimist sees the glass as half empty. It is, however, the opportunist who drinks the water while the other two argue about the amount of liquid in the glass. The term, “negative space” is akin to that old saying because […]

Let me start by saying this, I will not be including any point-and-click design tools in this list (think Adobe Edge Reflow). The reason is simple enough, I believe that they’re bad for everyone; designers, clients, coders… everyone suffers. It’s not a question of the quality of code output by these programs. It’s not because […]

An absolute must-have for any typography buff, these wood type alphabets, available as a Flickr photoset from Patricia M, make up one of the most visually stunning collections of wood type currently available. Each of these 84 unique alphabets has been scanned in by hand and is available as a high-resolution image under a Creative Commons […]

Web Designers are typically thought to only solve design problems and create trendy sites. Little credit is given to the subtler role we play in commercial sites. Viewers’ focus and time are an increasingly rare commodity that pays for the vast majority of free content online — through ads, sponsors, product placements, and other means. […]

Name That Blue is a deceptively simple online game that asks you to identify which household name brands go with which shade of blue. Is that IBM or Nokia? Twitter or Skype? Just click on the brand name for instant feedback and feel the pressure rise along with your score. Think you’re up for the […]

The Web is constantly growing and its easy to forget that all of those pixels sit on top of hardware. That tech is only going to become more and more important with the rise of the mobile web and the impending wearable-tech revolution. Any web designer worth their salt knows that to stay on top […]

Great content connects. It speaks to visitors, makes them want to share it, and motivates them to buy. In a world that spews unending streams of promotional diarrhea, these often overlooked pillars are essential to build relevant and valued content that establishes trust, credibility and authority in any industry. 1. Answer the right questions If your […]

The goal of responsive web design is to seamlessly adapt the look and UX of a website to different platforms. The technique is still very young and in many areas outstrips the available technology. Trilibis has announced the launch of SNOW — Software eNabling One Web — that aims to improve our ability to deliver […]

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of […]

Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world […]

We know from both our educations and our personal experiences that color has a huge impact on how a design or piece is perceived and received by those who cross its path. Across the Web we see the color spectrum being put to work in numerous ways. From large involved colorful creations, to the more [...]

Sometimes being flat is what a design calls for, at other times we get the chance to really let fly in Photoshop and create photo-realistic textures for our user interfaces. Of course, not everyone is an expert illustrator, and even for those who are the painstaking process of rendering realistic textures — like marble, metal [...]

Take a look at this incredible Pen, it’s an homage to how radically the Apple mouse has evolved over the years. Using a clever blend of CSS drawing and transitions, Josh Bader illustrates the beautiful simplicity of a device that — without giving a second glance — we use every single day. Clicking through the [...]

Do you revel in experimenting with leading-edge web design but feel conflicted by the formal technical specifications set forth by the W3C? Have doubts about applying your avant-garde ideas while achieving cross browser support and meeting standards? Well the Adobe Web Platform Team is ready to convince you otherwise… If you’ve been following their recent [...]

Anyone working in web design and development knows that the working day passes a lot easier if you’ve got a regular supply of fresh resources, online tools and downloadable freebies. So, every month we’ll bring you a selection of our favorite tools, designed to make your job a little simpler. This month we have 50 [...]

Love it or hate it, it’s getting difficult to deny generative typography’s steadily increasing importance in the world of graphic design, and according to a new short film, On Generative Typography, that influence will only continue to grow. New York brand and experience design firm Collins produced the film to promote the Type Directors Club’s [...]

When Google and other search engines index websites, they don’t execute JavaScript. This seems to put single page sites — many of which rely on JavaScript — at a tremendous disadvantage compared to a traditional website. Not being on Google, could easily mean the death of a business, and this daunting pitfall could tempt the [...]

Since the beta release, there have been countless complaints about the look and feel of iOS7. The community at large has been perplexed as to how Jony Ive — Apple’s senior vice president of design, who was previously known for such sophistication and constraint when designing hardware — managed to produce such an ugly user [...]

Modern browsers can support rich animation and interactive content without requiring use of plugins such as Flash. Instead, using a combination of JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3 it’s possible to create quality animated, interactive content that works on desktop browsers and on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. While there are a number of JavaScript [...]

At WebdesignerDepot, we love discovering the best new resources for web designers; and when we discover them, we let you know about them too. Once in a while, we gather up these resources in a single download, and for a limited time our sister-site, zerobundle.com, offers them all for download, absolutely free of charge. That’s [...]

Design and development community, Forrst, has announced a completely new and improved website experience. Originally created by Kyle Bragger, the site was acquired by Zurb at the beginning of this year and the company has wasted no time building on and improving Forrst’s unique social feedback systems. Forrst is similar to sites like Dribbble, which [...]

As you know, there is a lot more to building responsive websites than width. You need sensors that give you feedback to adjust sites based on other factors. The best way to improve our feedback from your user’s sensor, or browser, is by using a JavaScript library called Modernizr. In this article I’ll explain why, when [...]

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]

Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]

TeslaThemes produce some of the most attractive, and feature-rich WordPress themes available on the Web. Now, thanks to our sister-site, MightyDeals.com, you can bag 14 of their best themes for the tiny price of $19. The 14 distinct themes cover the full range of WordPress style sites, from photo journal to corporate website, from personal [...]

There are more than 71 million WordPress sites on the internet and new sites are going live every single day. One of the best ways to get up and running quickly — especially if you don’t have much design or development experience — is to use a theme. And some of the very best themes [...]

If Angel funded Mainframe2 has their way with the cloud, what they reveal this week at Demo Fall 2013, will make Adobe’s Creative Cloud feel more like a light mist, whilst simultaneously driving the final nail into the coffin of desktop computing. What Mainframe2 is attempting is to empower users of the multi-billion dollar software [...]

A great way to sell a concept to a client is with a good mock-up. Mock-ups are the closest you can get to a finished product without inventing some kind of time machine, and will definitely increase the number of jobs you win. That’s why we’re delighted to be able to give you these great [...]

Ask the average person who’s ever heard about these new fangled “computer” things which kind of computer is best for design, and you’ll probably get an answer like this: “Well, my cousin does Photoshop, and he says that Macs are the best.” The Apple brand has become almost synonymous with design, and with good reason. [...]

It’s been a fantastic couple of years for HTML5 games, for both consumers and developers. In fact, HTML5 is turning into a great game development platform, rapidly catching up to the ubiquity of Flash-based browser gaming. HTML5 comes with some huge advantages that allow users to build apps, accelerated graphics in games, stream HD video [...]

Placing a video in HTML5 markup is simple, no more complex for any given browser than placing an image. In this article we’ll take full advantage of the built-in browser support to build the simplest possible video player. We’ll lay the application’s basic framework and then use the <video> element to add a video to [...]

Following months of anticipation the first public release of the Ghost blogging platform is finally live. Released three weeks ago to the 6000 smart Kickstarters who backed the project, Ghost 0.3.2 is now available to everyone. For anyone not following the saga, Ghost was first dreamt up a year ago by John O’Nolan, a WordPress [...]

The October edition of what’s new for web designers and developers includes new web apps, app creators, coding resources, productivity tools, testing tools, and some really great new fonts. Many of the resources below are free or very low cost, and are sure to be useful to a lot of designers and developers out there. [...]

Introducing Shumway, Mozilla’s open source, JavaScript-based SWF renderer. That’s right: Mozilla is making good on its promise (or threat) to create a native Web technology that will do everything the Flash player does. Mozilla intends to completely eradicate the need for any browser plugins and “advance the open web platform to securely process rich media [...]

The jQuery UI effects framework is modularized, just like the widget framework, allowing you to choose which parts of the package you want to use and reduce the code requirements. You can create a custom download for yourself, which takes into account dependencies between the modules. Before looking at how to create a new effect, [...]

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]

Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]

Just weeks after the successful launches of the first Firefox OS smartphones to Spain, Colombia, Venezuela and Poland, Mozilla has announced that new launches of Firefox OS smartphones will begin soon with more devices and in more markets around the world. App designers may already know this is not “yet another platform” to factor for [...]

All creatives have great ideas, it’s what we live for; that moment of inspiration at 4am that sees you leaping from bed and rushing to your desk is the excitement that makes life worthwhile. Sadly, by the cold light of day, the idea that seemed so revolutionary in the early hours, rarely holds the same [...]

Lunchbox is a beautifully designed typeface that brings a sense of hand-crafted goodness to your projects. In a world where companies are perceived as distant, it’s great to see a typeface that can invest a personal touch in your brand. Ideal for any project that needs to emphasize wholesomeness, friendliness and a little fun; Lunchbox [...]

Google have announced that all their searches are now encrypted. All of them. Every single one. This means no more keyword data will be passed back to site owners. Anyone watching keyword search activity to their site will already have noted that the ratio of “[not provided]” keywords has been steadily rising for years. With this [...]

Summer is just past, and sadly this means that I’ll no longer be able to look up from my keyboard and out the window, only to come face to face with one of the season’s prettiest offerings — the butterfly. While I might be tempted to argue that I find such beauty in these winged [...]

So, you think you’re a good designer? You went to a good school? You’ve got a portfolio filled to the brim with cutting-edge design? Well, think again. Because buddy, you ain’t got the chops if you can’t beat a kitten. And no, obviously I don’t mean literally beat a kitten. I mean put your work [...]

“Let there be light” could very well be the mantra for a very talented artistic trio known as (fos). Eleni Karpatsi, Susana Piquer and Julio Calvo make up this multidisciplinary team with interest in architecture, interior design, art direction and graphic design. Their first ephemeral installation by the same name, (fos), is “a visual game [...]

When I was younger and I had to make Powerpoint presentations, I never really liked to do them. I couldn’t figure out why other than they just didn’t do what I wanted them to do. They were often unappealing, tacky and most were just eyesores. That’s back when Powerpoint was hard to use and wasn’t [...]

After going through a successful weight-loss experience, Riyadh-based designer Adelbanfeel decided to add a few extra pixels to some of the most well known fast food logos in the world, all in order to help him avoid eating in those places again. The series was more than appropriately entitled “That’s How I See It”, and [...]

Sticker Mule is a kick ass service that lets you design and have printed premium quality stickers for business, promotions or just plain ole fun. All kinds of shapes and sizes are on offer; you can buy bumper stickers, iPhone decals or just custom die-cut stickers to stick where ever you choose.As well as stickers, [...]

One of the hardest parts of starting your business or freelancing is trying to figure out what you should charge. Years ago after accepting pennies on the dollar for work, I decided I wanted to get really serious about freelancing. I wanted to dive in headfirst and never look back. But I didn’t know what [...]

At its very heart typography is about two things: legibility, which is concerned with how distinguishable letters, words and phrases are; and readability which deals with how easy it is for the brain to convert those elements into a coherent message. Have you ever found yourself reading a single line of text twice, as if [...]

With web users bombarded with so much information, web designers are constantly exploring new ways to deliver content. One-page websites are now being widely adopted with some of the biggest brands in the world using them to provide users with a fast, clean and simple experience that is simultaneously effective and beautiful. Over the past [...]

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers. The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of [...]

Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD. The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers. These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world [...]

For the last few years millions of Americans have been asking her questions ranging from the intellectual, to the ridiculous; now thanks to CNN, we finally know the face behind the voice of Siri, the iPhone’s virtual assistant. Her name is Susan Bennett and she’s from Atlanta, Georgia. There’s been no word from Apple confirming [...]

If you’re not in the position to photograph your work, product mockups can be a great alternative to showcase your designs. They’re inexpensive, easy to use and relatively hassle-free. The only problem is that finding quality resources takes time. Luckily for you guys, we’ve decided to do the hard work for you and put together [...]

Designing websites can be a fun, engaging and rewarding career. What isn’t so fun is coding sites; we’re constantly hearing how a great design concept is hampered by the complexity of coding it. From CSS layout to HTML5 browser inconsistencies, there’s no escaping the fact that coding can be both hard and time consuming. If [...]

Here at Webdesigner Depot, we love bringing you the amazing deals our sister-site, MightyDeals.com manages to put together. This week, we’re going to come right out and say it from the top: this deal will save you nearly $1000! It’s a huge 96% discount off some incredible resources and we’re really excited about it! This [...]

As designers, we each develop distinct styles, and usually gravitate towards different kinds of projects when we have a choice in the matter. For me, it’s content-driven websites and nothing is more content-driven than the good old-fashioned blog. There is something that simply feels right about putting a whole bunch of meaningful, interesting text, pictures, [...]

Designer Ben Barrett-Forrest has created a delightful and informative stop motion animation about the history of fonts and typography. The History of Typography, which is just over 5 minutes long, covers everything from Blackletter to Caslon, Pixel Type and the way technology has evolved to allow anyone to create their own typeface. To create the animation, [...]

It was once all about gradients. It was once all about the watercolor effect. I even remember a time when it was all about the fun strokes and swooshes in logos. We have gone through so many different trends for logo design that it’s hard to keep up with what’s relevant and what is not. [...]

You might create spectacular websites, but your efforts can be wasted if your client’s sales pitch doesn’t feature a unique value proposition. What’s that? It’s a promise that clearly demonstrates why prospects should buy your client’s products or services. It helps them sell more, which benefits their business, and yours. If the value proposition is [...]

Yesterday Google released the beta version of its newest project: Web Designer. Announced earlier this year, Web Designer is a visual tool for building HTML5 adverts; although one suspects Google’s ambitions for the application are much wider, given that it’s not named ‘Google Ad Builder’. Web Designer is, at first glance, a promising piece of [...]

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