Design Resources
Must-Reads | Tutorials | Design Guides | Graphics & Fonts | Color
These links will help you stay atop current trends and discover design ideas — try the Content Resources for help researching topics and working with sources.
Must-Reads
To keep up on current trends and knowledge:
InfoDesign, Alertbox, Stanford Web Credibility, W3C HTML Home Page, Webby Awards
For quick tech-reference:
CSS 2.0, Browser-Safe Fonts, RGB Color Charts, Other RGB Chart
For design models and inspiration:
PBS, Coolhomepages Very Clean, Stylegala Gallery
Tutorials:
W3Schools
Best place to learn HTML,
CSS,
DHTML, etc. Examples
sections in each tutorial let you experiment and see results.
Get
It
Diverse tutorials from the Writing Program: SSH, Dreamweaver, Photoshop,
GoLive,
etc.
Stylegala
Check their CSS Layout, Tutorials, and Hacks too.
WP Plagiarism Guidelines
Don't take any chances!
Mezzoblue
Contemporary design and typography resources, including CSS Zen Garden.
WebMonkey
Smartassy tutorials and articles like Future
of Web Design. More fun and philosophical than W3Schools but
slower going too.
Web Design Tips and Tricks
Good tips on scattered topics from Ampsoft.
About Photoshop
Excellent range of tutorials, espcially the easy-to-use, detailed Photoshop intro covering basics and Type
and other essentials. Mostly aimed at Photoshop 5 and 6, but works fine
for version 7+ too.
InformIT Guides
Professional advice on a range of topics, especially good on Photoshop.
HTML
Goodies
Decent tutorials, plus scripts and other goodies. Some people love
this site, but others find it amateurish.
Glossaries:
Webopedia, UsabilityFirst
back to top
Design Guides:
Stylegala
Online web design zine with contemporary takes and cutting edge resources.
Web
Style Guide
Standard intro to basic web-design.
SitePoint
Articles and tutorials on design and coding.
Web Pages That Suck
"Learn usability and good Web design by looking at bad Web design."
Dmitri's
Design Lab by WebReference
A series of sophisticated articles organized sequentially about advanced
design principles. Dmitri's site is particularly useful for logo design.
WebMonkey
Information Architecture
This is a well-organized and easy-to-follow series of short lessons
about all of the basic aspects of Web page design.
Sevloid
Guide to Web Design
A collection of tips and techniques on every aspect of Web Design. This
guide organizes its entries by category, such as " Content,"
Navigation," and "Graphics" which makes it ideal for
quick reference or if you are interested only in information about specific
topics.
Colin
MacKenzie's Web Design Tips
This site is a small collection of cutting-edge style advice from a
top designer. Mackenzie's web design tips are brief and simple, which
makes for a quick lesson on Web elegance and simplicity.
Web Page
Design for Designers
An expansive resource for designers, this page offers both a collection
of tips on design and reviews of new software. WPDFD also offers a searchable
database of design links.
back to top
Graphics & Fonts:
MediaBuilder
An image supersite that includes a large image library of fonts,
icons, lines, backgrounds, clipart, and animated gifs. It also includes
free image tools such as 3D text maker, banner maker, and GIFworks.
Adobe
Type Library
Adobe's official site is an excellent resource for fonts.
Usable Type
Articles and pointers on CSS-oriented typography.
Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Images
Comprehensive discussion from UTexas.
Photoshop tutorials:
About, InformIT, GetIT
Image sources:
Free Digital Photos, Creative Commons Images, Gratis Images, PhotoshopSupport
Clip-art sources:
Discovery, MS Clip Art and Media
back to top
Color:
ColorPicker
Allows the user to test color schemes.
Color
by the Web Developer's Virtual Library
Explains the hexadecimal color system in detail.
Color Theory & Mixing
"Sixteen lessons in Color Theory"
Color Matters
Not oriented toward Web design, but an excellent overall guide to most of what you'd want to know about color.
Color (Stanford Encyclopedia)
Comprehensive discussion.
back to top
|
