Review | Webdesigner Depot

9 Feb
The West End Show by Radim Malinic
Exhibitions, Illustrations, Review
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For the past few years, we’ve been admiring Radim Malinic’s work, and his bold stunning illustrations have been gracing our website since its very beginnings.
Malinic is a leading London graphic designer and illustrator. In his latest project, The West End Show, he explores the magical and bustling part of the capital in a series of elaborately illustrated poster designs, bringing together classic old century design with the dazzling neon future of the 22nd century.
Through a combination of bold typography, illustration and poetry, each piece tells the delicate story of classic design over-shadowed by the limitless offerings of this exciting city.
Malinic interprets his love for London by exploring the true characters of the real life musical that is London’s West End. ‘The West End Show’ offers an inspiring touch of nostalgia for the frenetic capital resident.
The show is now open to public at Nancy Victor Gallery, London, admission is free until March 2. Check out the promo video and the posters after the jump… Read more
21 Jun
Email marketing services reviewed
Marketing, Opinion, Review
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Selecting an email marketing service can be daunting. There are dozens of solutions to choose from, all with extremely varied options, features and pricing.
Even more perplexing is that many reviewers rate these solutions in an effort to identify the “best” option.
There is no single best option, but rather a lot of great options. You just have to find the one that matches your needs.
Unlike the exhaustive round-ups that cover every option available, I have narrowed the field to what I consider four of the best. All of these are terrific solutions that address a variety of needs.
I won’t mention every last feature of these services. Because they all have the same basic functionality, I will focus on what makes each distinct and what to expect from using them. Read more
26 May
Book review: the Smashing Book 2
Books, Opinion, Review
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In February, Smashing Magazine officially released their latest print book project, The Smashing Book 2, and they were kind enough to send me a review copy at no charge.
This review is not a paid review, nor is it influenced in any way by Webdesigner Depot or Smashing Magazine.
Although this review does give the book some valuable exposure, this is primarily going to be a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the book.
Thus, I won’t be reviewing the contents or discussing the improvements from the previous Smashing Book. You can get those details on the book’s product page, or on Smashing Magazine’s own article that formally announced the book. Read more
19 May
BundleHunt returns with more design awesomeness
Apps, Review, Software
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The folks at BundleHunt have done it again and are back with another great bundle full of all the hottest apps for Mac OS X along with a nice selection of design goodies.
This time around, there are 13 items inside the bundle which are worth a whopping $780.
But fear not, the bundle sells for a mere $49.99 which translates to a whopping 93% discount!

This is a truly great bundle and probably one of their best so far with some really amazing design gems in an affordable package.
I think this is a great collection and an amazing value for any designer, and wait till you see what’s inside… Read more
21 Apr
5 incredible hosted CMS’ reviewed
CMS, Opinion, Review
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Selecting a content management system on which to run a business website is an important decision. Businesses have needs that are more targeted than individuals, and many of the hosted options available don’t quite fit the bill. Fortunately, there is a range of hosted content management systems that are packed with powerful features. Even better, these hosed platforms tend to be extremely easy to use and quick to develop on.
Before selecting a hosted platform, carefully asses your client’s needs. From there, you can narrow the field until you find a platform that suits the client perfectly. Given the broad range of options available, I have selected five top-tier options to review here.
Hosted CMS’ tend to be targeted to audiences that are keenly interested in simplicity. By contrast, most business-oriented hosted platforms offer a wide range of features. They essentially attempt to cover all of the basic features that a typical website owner might want. Because of this, you will find that many hosted platforms offer tremendous value and savings for your clients.
The hosted platforms covered below represent some of the most powerful content management systems available today. It is truly mind boggling how easy it can be to build a robust and beautiful website. Let’s dig in and see what these platforms have in store for us. Read more
8 Feb
The Hunting Continues! Meet BundleHunt 3
Review, Software
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After creating two successful bundles for creatives, our friends at Bundle Hunt are back with their latest installment of popular design resources and applications packaged into one neat and powerful bundle.
This time, the bundle includes 20 great design items valued at over $1,200 and is now on sale for only $49.
The new bundle includes fantastic products such as the Pictos Icon Set, GoMedia Arsenal Ultimate Vector & Font Collections, WordPress themes from Press75, the newest Smashing Magazine eBook and a 3 month MultiSitePlan from WPEngine.
BundleHunt 3 was released yesterday and will be available for 14 days for $49 (regular price is $1,287). Read more
3 Dec
Book Review — HTML5: Up and Running
Books, HTML 5, Review
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As far as web design literature goes, I think it’s safe to say that 2010 has been the year of HTML5 books.
While a number of titles have been incorporating CSS3 into their content since before 2010, this year has seen major book releases that are focused primarily on HTML5.
So I was pretty excited when Mark Pilgrim sent out a tweet offering free review copies of his new HTML5 book HTML5: Up and Running, courtesy of O’Reilly Media. He responded to my email the same day, and the book arrived shortly thereafter.
Overall, I can say that I was relieved that I really enjoyed the book, and can see myself using it regularly to reference a number of HTML5-related topics — especially some of those that I wasn’t already familiar with.
If this was a paid review, I would have felt more pressure to stay away from the book’s weak spots, but I can honestly say that won’t matter because the book is definitely worth purchasing, and is an excellent source for developers making the transition from HTML4/XHTML to HTML5 and its related technologies. Read more
19 Nov
A Close Look at Adobe CS Review
Adobe, Review
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Adobe’s CS Live online service includes a ton of useful tools for designers and their clients.
Adobe CS Review is just one such tool, but arguably might be one of the most useful for many designers.
CS Review is a free (for the first year, at least) service that allows you to share documents from any CS5 program with clients or other team members for review, even if they don’t have CS5.
You can also use it to upload projects within your web browser, for those who might not have CS5, or if you need to post something for review from outside CS5. Read more
18 Oct
Meet our new Family Member: MightyDeals.com
Review, Web Designers
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If you’re like most designers out there, the economy has affected your life in some shape or form and buying design products at high prices is either no longer an option or has been greatly impacted.
But don’t despair! Today we have some amazing news for all of you….as we take “one small step for WDD but one ‘mighty’ leap for designers”.
Meet our new family member: MightyDeals.com Early next month, we’ll be launching this new website which will be offering incredible and hard to believe discounts on the best products and services for creative professionals. And we mean cheap… dirty cheap!
We will have a maximum of one awesome deal for every 24 or 48 hour period. There are no fees to become a member or anything like that and no registration required either. Just one quick and easy way to get the best products at the best possible prices, instantly! Read more
15 Oct
Review of The Web Designer’s Idea Book II
Books, Review
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I have to admit, the idea of a book that aims to inspire web designers with example websites seemed a little repetitive to me when I first thought about it.
After all, there are dozens of excellent galleries out there online that we can access for free, that are updated on a daily or at least weekly basis.
Could a book compete with that? Or would it just be filled with the same sites we’ve all seen in every gallery and design roundup out there.
As someone who studies design galleries and roundups on an almost daily basis, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the majority of the designs included in The Web Designer’s Idea Book, Volume 2, by Patrick McNeil (who writes a monthly column for .net magazine and runs Design Meltdown), were not ones I remember seeing previously.
In fact, most of the designs in the book are fresh and new, and haven’t made the usual rounds of galleries and showcases. Read more
8 Oct
Photoshop Elements 9 Reviewed
Adobe, Photoshop Elements, Review
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It can be tempting for a lot of designers to consider buying Photoshop Elements rather than regular Photoshop CS5.
After all, Elements will cost you less than $100, whereas Photoshop could cost you ten times that amount. And not everyone is clear on what the differences are between the two.
Elements 9, the newest version, adds some functionality that brings it closer to the full version of Photoshop. But is it really suitable for a professional designer? Probably not.
Elements focuses on home and hobby users who are more interested in photo editing and manipulation, rather than designing from scratch.
Of course, if you’re looking for an inexpensive program that’s great at retouching photos, then Elements might be just what you’re looking for. Read more
4 Oct
The New Bundle Hunt is Out!
Review, Software
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A few weeks ago we gave away some copies of Bundle Hunt to some of our readers. As you probably know by now, Bundle Hunt compiles awesome applications, products and services and slash the price really low to make it as affordable as possible.
Today, the Bundle Team has announce a brand new Bundle, called simply Bundle Hunt 2. I’m personally excited to see some great Mac apps, attractive icons and some professional fonts bundled all together in a really high quality package.
The new bundle is packed with even more applications at much higher discounts than before. As usual, Bundle Hunt delivers a high quality collection of goodies, including many Mac apps, fonts, WP themes and much more.
And there’s even a daily lucky draw for Twitter followers! Read more
24 Sep
Best Practices for Designing Usable Websites for Kids
Review, Usability
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Designing for young kids is something not a lot of designers think about until approached by a client who wants to target that age group.
But the truth is that kids in the 3-12 age group are using the Internet in surprising numbers. Ten years ago, it was rare for a child who hadn’t even yet reached school-age to use a computer. Now, there are a surprising number of websites specifically catering to them. And that number is growing all the time.
The Nielsen Norman Group, long known for their usability studies, has recently completed a study on the Internet habits and related usability issues often encountered by kids in the 3-12 age group.
The report is based on actual user studies, rather than just surveys asking kids what their internet habits and experiences are, and provide invaluable insight into the real usability issues confronting kids, and what users can do about it.
Below is just a brief sampling of some of the topics covered in the report and the study. The report can be purchased and downloaded from the NN/G website. Read more
17 Sep
Fully Understanding Contrast in Design
Design, How to, Review
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Usually the subject of contrast is reserved for beginners. Books will say “black and white have contrast, red and orange do not” – but there’s so much more to it.
Beginners books usually only touch on color contrast, but what about size and shape contrast? Often the easiest way to tell an amateur designer from a professional one is to look at their use of contrast.
Creating a structure of importance using size, shape and color is what gives a page impact and legibility to the reader.
In this post, we’re going to look at contrast in detail, examining big typography, funky shapes, clear divides, imagery, and how they properly fit together using contrast for a good user experience.
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27 Aug
How to Stay Simple with your Product
Design, How to, Review
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Let’s face it, we designers love to start from scratch. For example: How may times do we revamp our own portfolios? Staying simple is crucial when starting from scratch.
We hear this “staying simple” phrase a lot these days. Is it just a bunch of jargon or is there something to it? We found one approach that you probably haven’t considered.
We all know that we need to focus the website visitor’s attention on a few core features which bring value to the visitors. The minute you start adding too many features to please every visitor, you bargain for too much attention.
The result is that visitors get overwhelmed and confused without understanding the value. You’ve got to show the value to the user right away. You can’t waste too much of their time.
So the question becomes: what do you do when you have a crucial core feature that you want to add to a web product but you fear it might push the product too far from its core and overwhelm your visitors without showing value? The answer is: you build a new product. This is not just a theory. We tried it, and it worked like a charm. Read more
26 Jul
Exploring Photoshop’s Angle Gradient Tool
How to, Photoshop, Review
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The angle gradient tool is an overlooked gem tucked away in Photoshop’s toolbar.
Often passed over for its more popular sibling, the linear gradient tool, angle gradients create clockwise blends of color around the point a user clicks.
The angle gradients create clockwise blends of color around the point a user clicks.
Most people stop there. But when combined with other techniques and some creativity, the angled gradient has some surprising uses.
Have you overlooked it? Look again… Read more
23 Jul
Book Review: From Photoshop to HTML
Books, Review, Web Development
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If you’re new to creating website designs using Photoshop, learning to transform those .PSD files into semantic, standards-compliant CSS and HTML files can be a bit intimidating.
After all, there are plenty of great services out there that can slice up and code your files for you. But there are those cases when you may prefer to slice those designs by yourself.
That’s where From Photoshop to HTML: How to Slice Your Designs Like a Pro by Jeffrey Way, editor of Nettuts+, comes in.
In this 145-page book, the entire process of converting a .PSD file into a working website design is covered, in detail, with code examples. Read more
4 Jun
Review and Giveaway: Radim Malinic’s Book #THREE
Books, Contests, Review
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Book #THREE by Brand Nu is a unique book that serves as the portfolio of Radim Malinic, one of the most prolific and successful commercial illustrators around.
Radim is the illustrator of the awesome graphics that you see in the header and footer of Webdesigner Depot. If you didn’t see our interview with Radim, you can check it out here
It’s filled with designs from the past 18 months, both in detail and in real-world settings.
The list of clients included in this book is extensive, and includes high profile organizations such as the London Film Museum, QV Melbourne, Acer Computers and Haagen-Dazs ice cream.
Read on to know more about #Three and for a chance to win 1 of 5 books that we will be giving away next week… Read more
26 May
HTML5 and CSS3 Books to Watch for in 2010
Books, HTML, Review
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Over the past year, new techniques and tricks involving HTML5 and CSS3 enhancements have been shared on a number of websites, giving developers new possibilities for improving the user experience.
Of course, the plethora of information online is hard to keep up with, and some of it may be out of date, inaccurate, or may fail to promote accessibility, progressive enhancement, or other best practices methods.
To that end, designers and developers today may prefer to have a desktop reference in the form of a good old ink and paper companion.
So in this article, I’ve compiled a list of eleven books that will be released in 2010 that focus on HTML5 and CSS3. Many of the authors listed alongside the titles below will be familiar to us, since some of them have established themselves online as zealous proponents of best practices and standards-based code.
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3 May
It’s here! Say Hello to Techi.com
Review, Technology
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And it’s finally out! Please meet our new site: TECHi.com
It’s a brand new and amazing technology blog that focuses on tech stuff that’s always fresh and never boring.
You may have already come across it, or seen a few of the ads floating around the web. But now, it’s official, TECHi.com is out of beta and ready for prime time.
I’m super proud and excited today to shine the spotlight on the site that we’ve been working on so much for the past few months. And now, I’ll be taking you on a little tour of the new website, discussing the content and design and how it all came together.
As always, your feedback will be greatly appreciated and it will help us make the site even better… Read more
30 Apr
Something New is in the Air…
Resources, Review
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A few months ago, we announced that we’ll be launching a brand new website this year… and that time has finally come!
We’ve kept the new site in ‘beta’ mode for a few weeks now, testing and tweaking things to get it just right and we’re finally ready to roll it out to everyone.
The new website is a really cool and exciting project and while it’s not directly geared towards designers and developers, we’re sure that most WDD readers will enjoy it.
The wait is nearly over! Mark your calendars and come back to WDD to check it out this coming Monday, May 3rd at 9AM PDT.
We’ll be taking you on a tour of the new site, showing you the cool features and how it all came together. Don’t miss it! Read more
16 Apr
Book Review: Digging Into WordPress
Books, Review
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Digging Into WordPress by Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr is one of the most comprehensive looks at WordPress available.
At over 400 pages long, it’s massive, whether you have the PDF version or the print edition.
Whether you’re just getting started with WP or you’ve been using it for years, there’s something for everyone in this book.
In this post, we’ll review the book and talk a bit about its highlights and features.
If you own this book or have read it, please feel free to add your own comments at the end of this post. Read more
12 Apr
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Brings Sexy Back
Adobe, Photoshop, Review
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Adobe will unveil its new Creative Suite 5 on Monday April 12th at 8AM PDT, just a few hours from now.
You can catch the official launch online here, however, if you can’t wait, we’ll be revealing all the juicy details before the official launch… right now!
The Adobe team kindly invited us to an exclusive sneak peak demo of Creative Suite 5 and they also provided us with a pre-release copy for this review.
In this post, we’ll be sharing some of the highlights of each application in this exciting new release, with some detailed info on the new applications. We’ll also discuss whether we think CS5 is worth upgrading to or not.
That being said, get ready to be amazed… there are tons of new features to get excited about in this release. Read more
9 Apr
Book Review: Making Ideas Happen
Books, Productivity, Review
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Most creative professionals have no problem coming up with ideas.
In fact, too many ideas is more often the problem rather than too few. Where we usually run into issues, though, is in the follow-through.
How do we take the brilliant ideas that we come up with on a daily basis and see them through to completed projects?
That’s exactly what the book Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky (the founder of Behance) aims to teach us.
He’s spent years studying the habits and methods of successful creatives who have a knack for following through on their great ideas and bringing them to fruition. He presents this information in a way that is both easy to understand and easy to implement. Read more
29 Mar
A Look at the New MSN.com Design
Design, Review, Web Design
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Since March 9 of this year Microsoft has been rolling out their new design of MSN.com.
Backed by countless hours of testing and roughly 70,000 pieces of feedback from their users, the design has been tweaked over the last four months to its current state.
Visitors who cannot yet view it at http://www.msn.com can access it at http://preview.msn.com.
In this post, we take a look at the new redesign and examine its positive and negative aspects.
Feel free to share your opinion on the design in the comments area. Read more
25 Mar
Book Review: Logo Design Love
Books, Logos, Review
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Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities by David Airey is a fantastic place to start if you’re interested in creating logos that aren’t just visually appealing, but are also memorable, easily recognizable, and timeless.
The book includes a ton of real-world examples from a variety of businesses; everything from the brands of Fortune 500 companies to local restaurants and other businesses have space devoted to them.
There are examples on virtually every page, lending credence to the points being discussed. Airey’s extensive experience as a graphic designer shines through and lends even more credibility to the book.
It’s essential reading for anyone looking to create better logo designs, whether they’re just getting started or have been designing for years already. Read more
26 Feb
A Review of Consistent Designs on the Web
How to, Review, Web Design
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The visual language of a website impresses a visitor far beyond their first glimpse.
In fact, in observing the best websites, you notice that the small details speak to you subconsciously and that consistency improves your experience of the website and as a result makes you more likely to return.
In this article we’ll explore what makes a design consistent, and we’ll showcase some of the most consistent website designs out there.
Please comment at the end of the article about the consistency of these websites and feel free to add links to others that follow this principle. Read more
22 Feb
Happy Cog’s Redesign of VisitPhilly.com:
An Exemplary Modern Website
Review, User Interface, Web Design
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In January, Jason Santa Maria sent out a tweet announcing that visitphilly.com had been redesigned by world-renowned design studio Happy Cog. My interest was piqued, and I couldn’t help but take a look.
I can honestly say that I’ve never been more impressed with a website redesign than I was with this one.
That Happy Cog was able to turn such a large website into a beautiful, accessible, functional and inviting user experience testifies to the talent of the team at Happy Cog.
By no means am I in a position to offer a critique that does justice to the planning, design and development that must have gone into this project.
But I thought it would be useful to point out why this redesign epitomizes a beautiful and effective website design for today’s market. Read more
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
14 Oct
An Analysis of the Amazon Shopping Experience
Review, Usability, User Interface
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Designers of e-commerce websites today face a number of challenges in attempting to build a user experience that increases the likelihood of visitors making online purchases.
To battle fierce online competition and overcome the apprehension of skeptical shoppers, designers can take a number of steps to improve the usability of their online stores.
Since 1995, Amazon has established itself as the world’s leader in e-commerce. Its success is not a fluke, nor is it merely the result of being in the right place at the right time.
Amazon’s success is the direct result of a strong user shopping experience.
In this article, we will discuss a number of features of the Amazon shopping experience that will, either in principle or practically, offer a model worthy of imitation by e-commerce developers today. Read more
11 Jun
Doing Social Good with a Great Hosting Provider
Review, Web Hosting
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Let me first get this out of the way: my blog posts at WDD are not for sale, and I stand to profit in no way from this post.
That being said, I want to tell you about my success in finding great web hosting, as well as a good hosting deal for WDD readers that also lets you do some social good (more about this below).
Choosing the right web hosting provider is one of the most difficult business decisions I’ve had to make.
I realized early on in the game that the quality of the hosting and support is much more important than the price, because a website can build or break your reputation, and I didn’t want to mess around with hosts that would leave me in embarrassing situations. Read more