Tools & Resources articles

It’s never been easier to set up an ecommerce store and start selling. There are a dizzying array of ecommerce solutions available in 2021, and most are feature-rich and competitively priced. Ecommerce sites are notoriously difficult to migrate from platform to platform, so more often than not, you’ll be committed to your chosen solution for years. The key when choosing an ecommerce solution to maximize your return on investment, is...

The new year is often packed with resolutions. Make the most of those goals and resolve to design better, faster, and more efficiently with some of these new tools and resources. Here’s what new for designers this month. Radix UI Radix UI is an open-source UI component library for building high-quality, accessible design systems and web apps. It includes examples and guidelines for all kinds of user interface elements that provide guidance...

When creating a website, it’s vital to remember that not only does it need to work and look great on the device you are creating it on, but on all the other devices, it might be used on too. Mobile and tablet optimization is important not only for the user journey but from an SEO point of view too, and badly created mobile sites just don’t cut it anymore. With more and more devices entering the market, you need to check any website you create is compatible...

Google Fonts is one of the most useful tools designers have, with hundreds of amazing fonts provided for free. But if you just grab one of the top ten suggestions, you’re missing out on a vast wealth of typographic gems. Just about every font on Google Fonts is worth trying out, but the very best designs — designs that engage, inspire, and delight — combine two or more fonts. It’s the same principle as sweet and sour; two competing tastes...

Looking for the best new CMS plugins to take your website to the next level? Well look no further.  In this post, we’ll cover a list of the best new CMS plugins for December 2020. This article will include useful plugins for WordPress, Shopify, Craft, and Joomla. Let’s get started… WordPress OptiPic images optimization OptiPic is a simple WordPress plugin that allows users to easily optimize and compress images. The plugin also returns...

Jumpstart your next design project or speed up a workflow with some of these new tools and resources. With so many new tools being developed all the time, you are almost certain to find something that can help you with projects. Here’s what new for designers this month. Everypixel Patterns Everypixel Patterns solves a common design problem: Creating seamless patterns with graphic editors is such a long and exhausting process. That's why...

Since there are so many CMS plugins out there, it can be overwhelming to choose the best ones for your website. We’ve done the research for you; this list contains the top new CMS plugins for November 2020. You’ll find useful plugins for WordPress, Craft, Shopify, and Joomla. Let’s get started… WordPress 404 Page Editor 404 Page Editor is a simple WordPress plugin that helps you add custom text to the default 404 page on your website....

In the spirit of fall feasts, this month’s collection of tools and resources is a smorgasbord of sorts. You’ll find everything from web tools to icon libraries to animation tools to great free fonts. Let’s dig in. Here’s what new for designers this month. The Good Line-Height The Good Line-Height is the tool you won’t be able to live without after using it a few times. The tool calculates the ideal line-height for every text size in...

Plugins offer a ton of benefits to developers and website administrators; from flexibility, to saving time in development, the right plugin is priceless to a project. In this article, we’ll cover a list of the best new plugins for October 2020. You’ll find useful plugins for WordPress, Craft, Shopify, and Joomla. Let’s get started. WordPress Sticky Post Expire Sticky Post Expire is a simple plugin for WordPress that allows you to add...

This month’s collection of new tools, resources, and freebies for designers is a smorgasbord of sorts. You’ll find everything from useful APIs to icons to tutorials to fonts. Let’s get right into it, here’s what new for designers this month: Tooltip Sequence Now that your app or website is ready, you might need to help users engage with it. Tooltip Sequence is a simple JavaScript package that helps you create a series of small tooltips...

Web accessibility is important for two reasons: Being ADA & WCAG compliant is required by law (we’ll explain this further) so if your website isn’t compliant, you can get sued. It allows people with disabilities to browse your website, which increases your potential audience and it is the decent thing to do. In this accessiBe review, we’ll cover: How Does accessiBe Work How to Install and Setup accessiBe Why ongoing compliance...

It’s fun to see new website design tools that reflect current times and the state of the world. That’s very true this month with new databases devoted to diversity and women in technology, as well and resources to make your design life easier. Here’s what’s new for designers and developers this month: Ztext.js Ztext.js is an easy to implement, three-dimensional typography tool for the web that works with any font you want to use. With...

I often see freelancers on social media asking what the secret is to working fewer hours, making more money, and helping new clients to find them. While those things tend to happen the longer you’ve been freelancing, it doesn’t happen without some effort. If you’re wondering how you can change things so that your business becomes more profitable and easier to manage, education is the key. But it’s not just mastering new design techniques...

Google resembles an iceberg: there’s the part above the water we can see and use everyday; there’s also the part beneath the water, that we don’t see and know little about. While many of us are concerned about the aspects of Google we don’t see — the parts that threaten our privacy, or monopolize the web — there’s no denying that Google offers some amazing products and tools, many of them free, all from the convenience of a single...