What’s new for web designers – May 2011

New apps and websites appear on an almost daily basis, but trying to find the good ones among them can be tough, especially considering how many are not that great.

That’s why every month we research and showcase some of the best and latest resources available for web designers.

In this May installment we’ve rounded up about thirty great apps, fonts, and other resources for web designers and developers.

As always, if we’ve missed something, let us know in the comments. And if you know of an app you’d like included in the next roundup, please tweet it to @cameron_chapman.

iPad Self Publishing from iBuildApp

Create digital magazine apps for the iPad, for free. You can publish and sell your apps, which can include video and high quality graphics and can be built on a variety of existing templates.

Webpop

Webpop is a cloud-based CMS created for designers. It gives full HTML & CSS control, is easy for your clients to use, and has integrated SEO tools.

i2symbol

Insert special characters into your SMS, email, and other online communications with i2symbol. It’s available both as a Firefox Add-On and a Chrome Extension.

Fontself

Fontself is a tool for creating your own typefaces that you can then use online. Your fonts are only usable by you.

Pixel Proliferation

Punchcut has released this set of UI design tools for creating applications and sites that work across a variety of screen sizes and device types. They take into account not just pixel size, but also pixel density and aspect ratio. The tools were created for use with Photoshop CS5.

Currentpage

Currentpage is a simple jQuery plugin that highlights the current page in your site’s navigation menu.

Laker

Laker is a set of tools for creating digital publications using HTML5. It includes the Baker Ebook Framework, Less Framework, jQuery, and more.

Aviary Effects API

Aviary has released a new effects API for using Feather image editing behind the scenes on your site.

Freebie Pixels

Freebie Pixels lets you share graphics files with other users for free. They differ from many sites, though, in that they offer those who upload graphics “Pixel Points” that they can accumulate and use for advertising on the site.

Acorn 3

The newest version of Acorn brings a lot of features that make it more competitive with professional image editing programs like Photoshop. Features like filters, layer masks, custom brushes, vector tools and more are included.

SideFolders

SideFolders displays your files on the left or right of your desktop, making them easy to access. It also includes tools to organize your files, regardless of their physical location on your harddrive.

Fresh Feed

Fresh Feed is an RSS feed reader that integrates into your Mac status bar, giving you quick and easy access to your feeds.

Blotter

Blotter moves your iCal calendar onto your desktop.

FaceTab

FaceTab is a Facebook app for your Mac status bar. It uses the Facebook Touch interface for streamlined viewing.

MailTab for Gmail

MailTab for Gmail puts a Gmail app right into your Mac status bar.

ColorSnapper

ColorSnapper is a color picker for Mac OS X. It saves recent colors you’ve used, and you can set the format for the color codes it generates.

BetterSnapTool

BetterSnapTool is a Mac OS X app for managing window positions and sizes.

Imagerie 1.2

Imagerie 1.2 is a photo editing app that includes a variety of tools for both amateur and pro photographers. Features include RAW image support, layer and composition management tools, vector tools, and more.

PSDVoid

PSDVoid is a tool for collaborating on and sharing PSD files online. It serves as a kind of version control system for collabroting on PSD files.

Scadaplan

Scadaplan is a project management app that aims to streamline project management for small and medium size teams.

Summify

Summify creates a periodic summary of relevant news stories from your social networks. It then delivers these summaries to you via email and on the web.

iStudiez

iStudiez is a student planner app for Mac OS X, iPhone, and iPad, that helps you track classes, homework assignments, and more.

Clips

Clips is a clipboard management system for Mac OS X. It includes live search, smart clipboards, shortcuts, and more.

StyleGuides: A Free Icon Set for Writers

StyleGuides is a set of icons based on five popular writing style guides (including the MLA Handbook, The Elements of Style, and The Chicago Manual of Style).

Loads.in

Loads.in tests the loading speed for your website in a variety of browsers in different locations. It also shows screenshots of what the page looks like at various intervals.

Subtle Patterns

Subtle Patterns is a collection of high-quality, tiling PSD files for your design projects.

Spine

Spine is a lightweight JavaScript framework for building web applications. The entire library is about 500 lines of JavaScript (around 2K minified and compressed).

Cascader

Cascader helps separate inline CSS from HTML files. Just entre your HTML in the textbox and Cascader does the rest.

Ffffallback

Ffffallback is a bookmarklet that lets you test fallback fonts for your site, so your designs degrade gracefully.

MIN

MIN is a bookmarklet that strips away the decoration on a site, including the colors, borders, and backgrounds, so you can see the underlying layout and typography.

New Typefaces

Elega (free)

Elega is a contemporary and elegant sans-serif typeface that combines both modern and traditional elements.

Gold Diggin ($16)

Gold Diggin is a hand-drawn, old-style typeface with shading and outlining features. It’s avilable as a web font.

Bookeyed Suzanne ($30)

Bookeyed Suzanne is a vintage-style script typeface with modern touches. It includes a number of glyphs and ligatures for a custom appearance, and is available as a web font.

Liam ($29)

Liam is a hand-lettered font with lots of ornaments and contextual alternates. It’s available as a web font.

Granby Elephant Pro ($60)

Granby Elephant Pro is based on the Granby family of typefaces first designed in 1930 by Stephenson Blake.

Minaeff Ect (free)

Minaeff Ect is a contemporary serif typeface that can be used free for any purpose, including templates, themes, and software.

Hanging By a Thread (free for personal use)

Hanging By a Thread is a free, hand-lettered typeface from Kimberly Geswein. It’s free for personal use, though a commercial license is available for a donation.

Never Say Never (free for personal use)

Never Say Never is another hand-lettered typeface from Kimberly Geswein. The typeface includes accent characters, and is free for personal use (a commercial license is available for a donation).

Parka 1 OT ($180)

Parka 1 OT includes six sans-serif typefaces. It was designed by Daniel Perraudin of Font Bureau.

Pollen OT ($169)

Pollen OT is a set of three unique serif typefaces, best-suited for display uses. It was designed by Eduardo Berliner of TypeTogether.

FF Spinoza OT 1 ($179)

FF Spinoza was designed by Max Phillips over a period of eleven years. Readability was his primary goal, hence the name (Baruch Spinoza was a 17th century lens grinder, whose job it was to help people see clearly).

Quattrocento Sans (free)

Quattrocento Sans is a sans-serif typeface in the same family as the serif Quattrocento. It’s suitable for text, and was designed by Pablo Impallari.

News Cycle (free)

News Cycle is a slightly condensed sans serif typeface. It was designed by Nathan Willis and is suitable for use in text as well as for display.

Special Elite (free)

Special Elite is a distressed typewriter font designed by Astigmatic Fonts.

Pepito ($13)

Pepito is a non-connected version of Peptita Script that includes a set of ornaments, stylistic and contextural alternates, and swashes.

Written exclusively for WDD by Cameron Chapman.

if you know of an app you’d like included in the next roundup, please tweet it to @cameron_chapman

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