Web Design Blog - Webdesigner Depot

22 Feb
Designing for search engine optimization
Design, SEO, Web Design
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When it comes to designing a new web site, most beginning and unaware designers only care about how amazing the site will be.
Often times as designers, we can take off with a crazy idea for a site design and it ends up jam packed with design on top of design on top of design. Unfortunately, some of us don’t always consider one of the most important purposes of the site: to be found so that it can deliver content.
I mean, let’s be honest. How many people are putting up web sites just for the sake of putting up web sites? Not many.
And aside from having some great promotional strategy, the best way to get your web site discovered is through optimizing that site for the big search engines like Yahoo! or Google. Read more
21 Feb
Setting up a local server for WordPress development
Development, Tutorials, WordPress
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Today I’m going to talk to you about setting up a local server to use with WordPress. Using a local server is important for many reasons, if only to keep you from having to upload and download your files all the time. Anytime we need to make changes, we can use the local server.
To keep your website live without putting it in maintenance mode for a very long time, we can use the local server.
Downtime is an enormous fear of many website owners and this alone keeps them from making big changes or upgrades, because after all, downtime can cause your website to miss out on sales, affiliate income, new visitors or it may even cause some search engines to drop a few pages from their indexes. With a local or testing server, this no longer has to be a concern.
So now that we know a few good reasons to set up a local server, let’s go ahead and find out how we can do this. Read more
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20 Feb
Go VIRAL! The key to great exposure
Freelancing, Inspiration, Marketing
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A friend of mine (xomiele, as he’s known on his personal blog), who represents photographers and illustrators, was amazed at the number of hits a piece he created for fun was getting on the internet. He took a few Smurf figures and some household props and made a tribute to “The Last Supper.” To his delight, it was selected by Bit Rebels as “One Of The Best Parody Illustrations of The Last Supper.”
A very cool “15 minutes of fame” on the web. I’ve done a few myself, usually by accident, due to posting them on my Flickr or Photobucket account with public access.
The coolest thing is, if it contains a link, watermark, or tag so people know it’s your creation, you are getting great, free marketing. Some people make a practice of this. For designers, that seems easy, or at least it should be! A good viral image can make you famous, or infamous. It’s the new street graffiti.
It’s artistic terrorism. It’s meaningful messages and fun! Before you know it, you’re the new Banksy and people will be stealing your image and/or claiming it as their own!
Read more
19 Feb
Our favorite tweets of the week
Feb 13-Feb 19, 2012
Best Of, Compilation, Twitter
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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 the best tweets that we sent out this past week.
Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.
To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot Read more
18 Feb
Comics of the week #117
Comics, Funny, Humor
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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 today.
So for a few moments, take a break from your daily routine, have a laugh and enjoy these funny cartoons.
Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below as well as any related stories of your own… Read more
17 Feb
Free download: Grunge Concrete Textures
Freebies, Resources, Textures
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Today we have some an awesome set of Grunge Concrete Textures from Vandelay Premier where you can get awesome resources for designers for a very low cost.
This texture set is normally for sale only, but you can download it today absolutely free!
These textures were designed by Caleb Kimbrough and can be used for both personal and commercial projects, including theme and template designs. Please see the full license here.
Note that the download requires subscription to WDD and MightyDeals.com (no spam).
You can see the preview after the jump. Enjoy! Read more
16 Feb
eBook: Cross browser solutions and considerations
CSS, eBooks, limited time offers
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Cross-Browser CSS3: Solutions and Considerations, by Louis Lazaris, is a compact and practical reference for dealing with browser inconsistencies in CSS3-based designs.
When designing and developing CSS3-based websites, it’s common place to run into cross-browser challenges, especially when dealing with markets and niches whose audiences are still using older versions of Internet Explorer.
In this eBook, Louis Lazaris discusses the factors that need to be considered before attempting to use, or mimic, a CSS3 feature in all non-supporting browsers.
This eBook provides readers with long-term principles that should guide their development, and provides numerous sources (including CSS3-based JavaScript libraries and plugins) to help developers make informed decisions on what’s available. Read more