2009 December | Webdesigner Depot

31 Dec
Happy New Year!!!
Design, Web Design
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On behalf of myself and the entire WDD team, we’d like to wish you a very happy, healthy and successful 2010!!!
Thanks for your support in 2009; we hope you learned a few good things here while having fun and getting inspired at the same time.
The next year will be also full of great content and inspirational posts, and we’ll cover a bit more of the technical side of design as well.
And there’s ‘one more thing’… we’ll be launching another website in early 2010… stay tuned to our RSS feed and follow our tweets @DesignerDepot to be the first to know.
We wish you much success in your design career in the year ahead and all the best to you and your loved ones… Here’s to an awesome 2010…
30 Dec
The Most Popular Posts of 2009
Best Of, Compilation, Review
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As 2009 draws to an end, we’re taking a look back at some of the most popular posts that we published this year on WDD.
This collection is made up of the 50 most popular posts, with the most popular being at the top.
Please let us know which ones you liked best and we’d also like to know what type of articles you’d like to see more of in 2010.
Finally, a BIG thank you to all of our readers for an amazing first year of WDD and for your ongoing support.
Now, check out some of the posts that you may have missed, or enjoy reviewing your all time favorites once again… Read more
29 Dec
Non-Trashy Recycled and Trash Art
Art, Compilation, Inspiration
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Artists are usually ahead of the curve when it comes to being green.
The artists featured here exclusively use recycled and/or trash to make pieces of contemporary art. These artists practice the art of “upcycling”, or literally turning everyday trash into creative treasures.
While Andy Warhol may have made the idea popular with his famous Campbell’s soup can exhibit, today’s trash artists bring more of an eco street cred to their art.
Some create compositions from recycled plastic bag or themed works for art galleries, while others create entire theme parks with trash, and even furniture from recycled materials.
There seems to be no end to what kind of art you can create with the most cost-effective medium available; trash. Here are some stunning examples of trash art… Read more
28 Dec
How to Find Anything Online: Become an Internet Research Expert
How to, Information, Internet
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Einstein once said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”
The same could be said of intelligence. What they don’t tell you is that the “smart” people of the world are, in most cases, just better at researching and learning things than everyone else.
But researching is a learned skill, not something you’re born with.
And while some people might be predisposed to learn things more easily than others, it’s generally not enough to make a measurable difference.
By learning how to research, you can quickly and fairly easily become knowledgeable about just about anything. And with the Internet, almost anything you could ever want to know is at your fingertips. You just have to learn how to access it.
It’s all there, online, for free. Here are the techniques I’ve used to find pretty much anything online. Read more
27 Dec
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Dec 20-Dec 26, 2009
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
26 Dec
Comics of the Week #5
Comics, Funny, Illustrations
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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
23 Dec
More Exclusive Icons for the Holidays:
“Xmas Festives”
Freebies, Icons
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If you enjoyed our “Xmas Stickers” last week, you’re in luck, as today we’re bringing you another great set of icons for the Holidays.
We call this one “Xmas Festives” and it’s also an exclusive set, just for WDD.
Feel free to use them to decorate your websites and blogs and bring the holiday spirit to the web.
The icons are free for personal and commercial purposes and are released exclusively to all WDD readers.
The set is available in three different sizes: 64×64, 128×128 and 256×256 as well as a vector file for easy resizing. The full preview and download link are located after the jump.
Enjoy the free icons and Happy Holidays from Webdesigner Depot! Read more
22 Dec
Winners of Grafpedia Premium Accounts
Contest
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Thanks to all of you who participated in the fantastic contest held by Grafpedia last week.
We have selected the winners at random and the results are here!
With 511 comments, this was another great contest for WDD and a really great giveaway of goodies that will fit perfectly into every designer’s collection.
The 10 winners have each won a premium account with access to ALL of Grafpedia’s content for a period of three months. This includes thousands of Photoshop brushes, vector shapes and patterns, and much much more.
All winners will be contacted via email for details as to how to receive their prizes.
Check out to see if you won and view the winners’ names after the jump. Read more
21 Dec
How to Get a Professional Look With Color
Color, Design, Web Design
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What makes a design look coordinated, planned and professional? The answer is: ‘color’.
Not every project needs bland corporate blue to look professional. Planning color means creating a framework that describes which colors to use and how to use them.
Color is the slipperiest design element. “Good” color is so closely tied to elusive things like personal taste and intuition, as well as technical considerations such as contrast and monitor calibration.
But color is vital to content. If you consider a website important enough to spend time refining, then readers will likely consider it important enough to spend time reading. Good color choices make that happen.
In this article we’ll review some techniques to achieve beautiful color palletes for your web designs. Read more
20 Dec
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Dec 13-Dec 19, 2009
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
19 Dec
Comics of the Week #4
Comics, Funny, Illustrations
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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 and this week we focus on Christmas.
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
18 Dec
24 Clever Website Designs That Combine jQuery and Illustration
Illustrations, Web Design, jQuery
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Thanks to the might of JavaScript, the words “dynamic” and “illustration” no longer apply exclusively to Flash-based websites.
Now that dynamic HTML is a reality in most commonly used browsers and that a lot of fancy JavaScript libraries exist to make using it easy, CSS websites can take back some of the street cred held so tightly by Flash.
Of these new JavaScript libraries, jQuery has become one of the most widely adopted because of its ease of use, breadth of features and initial focus on visual uniqueness.
Here are 24 clever examples of website designs using jQuery and Illustration. Read more
17 Dec
Exclusive Icons for the Holidays:
“Xmas Stickers”
Freebies, Icons
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Just in time for the holidays, “Xmas Stickers” is an exclusive set of icons for WDD readers.
Feel free to use them to decorate your websites and blogs and bring the holiday spirit to the web.
The icons are free for personal and commercial purposes and are released exclusively to all WDD readers.
The set is available in three different sizes: 64×64, 128×128 and 256×256 as well as a vector file for easy resizing.
The full preview and download link are located after the jump.
Enjoy the free icons and Happy Holidays from Webdesigner Depot! Read more
16 Dec
Incredible Examples of Snowflake Photography
Compilation, Inspiration, Photography
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Although the web is a great place to look for quick inspiration for a project, nothing can beat going on a long walk in nature.
The summer brings us sunny days, fields full of crops and plenty of insects and wildlife, whereas the winter brings us rain, icy roads and snow.
When Christmas comes around we often find people looking at plastic tree decorations saying “snowflakes don’t look like that!”. That, of course, is where they are all wrong.
With a decent camera and zoom or macro lens, things we wouldn’t normally pay too much attention to become a complete world in themselves, making them a magnificent source of inspiration for artists and designers all over the world.
Below we have collected some incredible close-up/macro shots of snowflakes to really get the arty-side of you in full flow this Christmas season. Read more
15 Dec
Win 10 Premium Accounts at Grafpedia
Contests
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We love to bring great contests to all our loyal readers and today we have another great one lined up for you.
We’ve partnered with Grafpedia a great provider of Photoshop gradients, brushes and vectors to bring another great giveaway to some lucky WDD readers.
We’re giving away a total of 10 premium accounts with access to ALL of Grafpedia’s content for 3 months. That is thousands of Photoshop brushes, vector shapes and patterns, and much much more.
The contest runs for one week and we will announce the results on December 22nd.
For a chance to win, please follow the participation guidelines after the jump. Read more
14 Dec
Solutions to 5 Common Ajax Problems
Ajax, Programming, Web Development
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The modern web developer who does not consider Ajax when planning or building their websites is potentially missing out on a powerful tool to enhance usability.
There are however, challenges in implementing Ajax functionality on a web page.
In this article we’ll discuss solutions to five of the most common challenges that a developer faces when using Ajax to enhance the content on their website.
Although there is a lot more to discuss and research on all five topics, this post should give beginners and intermediate Ajax developers some solid tips on implementing Ajax functionality in a more user-friendly and accessible manner.
Read more
13 Dec
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Dec 6-Dec 12, 2009
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
12 Dec
Comics of the Week #3
Comics, Funny, Illustrations
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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
11 Dec
The Colorful Psychedelic Art of Levi Boree
Art, Compilation, Inspiration
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Levi Boree’s LinkedIn summary states “I just want to be remembered, when I am gone”.
The 26-year-old abstract artist from Jacksonville, Florida grew up with dyslexia, making it difficult for him to communicate with words; instead he developed a great love for creating art.
He says, “I can visualize things in my mind that I could never explain in words”. Most remarkable is the fact that Boree is entirely self-taught, with no formal art training.
Boree creates mind-blowing abstract visual and digital art. He is prolific, having produced hundreds of psychedelic and color-rich creations from his highly visual imagination.
Some are juxtapositions of photographs on psychedelic backgrounds, while others are entirely abstract creations. Boree’s art blends graffiti, ocean waves, and connective patterns with an expert use of color. Here are some of his outstanding works…
Read more
10 Dec
How to Deal with Feature Creep
Business, Clients, How to
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If any assumption is safe, it’s that six months after launching a website (or sooner?), its owners will have a list of things they want to change, from minor typos to entirely new functionality.
Is it possible to accept feature creep as a natural (or at least inevitable) process?
Many websites begin to fail when their goals change or their scope expands.
Feature creep sets in when a client asks for one tiny adjustment that takes only a minute… and then never stops making requests.
Accepting feature creep as a natural process requires an ability to distinguish between a genuine need and a run-away imagination or “Wouldn’t it be great if…” Read more
9 Dec
When Minimalism Backfires: When Too Little Is Not Enough
Creativity, Design, Web Design
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As seen in our previous article on the subject and examples around the web, minimalism is quite the trend.
When the theory behind it is well implemented, it makes for some beautiful, simple and yet modern designs.
Because it is a trend, everyone wants to follow it. But can it be taken too far? And is it right for all types of websites?
This article explores some of the potentially negative side-effects of minimalist designs and the consequences of implementing one incorrectly.
Unlike our previous post, we’ll look at when minimalism is a bad idea, however inspiring it is supposed to be. Read more
8 Dec
Vintage Magazine Covers with a “Wow Factor”
Art, Compilation, Magazines
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Back in the day, it was considered to be very prestigious to have your artwork or photograph featured on a magazine cover, and some of the greatest artists of our time designed magazine covers.
While we have by no means even begun to scratch the surface of what is available with this collection, you will see the work of Jean Cocteau, Dr. Seuss, and various international contemporary artists displayed in a collection that spans from the beginning of the twentieth century to the eighties.
Some were chosen for their vintage value, some for their artistic excellence, and some because of their humour.
Here are over 40 great examples of vintage magazine covers with a ‘wow’ factor.
Read more
7 Dec
Wikipedia Redesign: What’s in Store?
Design, Usability, Web Design
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Wikipedia is currently undergoing a much needed redesign to improve the user experience.
Anyone can preview this redesign by creating an account, logging in and then clicking the “Try Beta” link at the top right of any page.
The “Wikipedia Usability Initiative” has been divided into two phases. Phase 1 was the prototype phase, and it ended in the summer of 2009.
The project team is currently in the second phase, which is the development and testing phase.
The project has also been separated into four releases; as of the writing of this article, the second release (Babaco) is currently in development.
In this article, we’ll discuss Wikipedia’s design changes and the reasons behind them.
Read more
6 Dec
Our Favorite Tweets of the Week
Nov 29-Dec 5, 2009
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
5 Dec
Comics of the Week #2
Comics, Funny, Illustrations
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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
4 Dec
25 Funny T-Shirts for Designers and Developers
Compilation, Humor, Web Design
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Everyone loves an original and unique t-shirt.
Fashion statements aside, they do give a slight insight into your personality, your current mood and sets you apart from the crowd.
This article is not a collection of the best designed t-shirts by the best designers, this is a collection of t-shirts especially for designers and developers.
Those poor suffering souls that have to endure the pain and distress of the questions from everyday Joe’s (“you work with a computer, do you? Will you fix mine?”) and have to work with the many pitfalls and perils that the web offers (IE6 and Flash intros).
Yes, this collection is for you!
Read more
3 Dec
Minimalist Web Design: When Less is More
Creativity, Design, Web Design
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As designers, we all know that a minimalist design can achieve beautiful results.
Still, many designers have trouble creating one; either they have a hard time making a page with so few elements look good or the final result just doesn’t look “complete.”
There are many articles on the Web about minimalism and this article aims to help you achieve a minimalist design that is beautiful but not bare.
To top it off, we’ll present a small showcase of minimalist designs, so that you can analyze why some designs work and others don’t. Read more
2 Dec
The Mesmerizing Art of Jordan S. Dill
Art, Compilation, Inspiration
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Jordan S. Dill is a visual artist and editor of the Native American Village.
Jordan is a mixed-blood, non-enrolled Tsalagi (Cherokee) of Irish, English and Tsalagi heritage, living on Mt. Hunger in Vermont.
His art, fanciful and mesmerizing, is an ongoing narrative about the woods surrounding Mt. Hunger in Vermont, or what he calls the “Court of Leaves”.
On his website he documents the characters of the Court in each piece, describing them with a poem or with his own impressions.
We’ve collected a few pieces of his extraordinary art for this post that really take the viewer through an experience much like Alice in Wonderland.
Read more
1 Dec
Winners of ‘Fancy Form Design’
Books, Contests
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The results are in! Today we’re pleased to announce the winners of the SitePoint book giveaway.
All winners will be contacted via email for details as to how to receive their prizes.
Check out to see if you won and view the winners’ names after the jump.
For those that didn’t win this time, you can buy the PDF version for only $14.95 until December 5th via this link OR get $5.00 off the print book, published in full color, shipped to your door anywhere in the world by following this link. Worldwide shipping is free when you add a 2nd book to your order.
Thanks to the almost 1000 of you that participated and thanks to SitePoint for sponsoring this great contest for the WDD community. Read more