June 20, 2009 — Today we are glad to release 30 Swirl Brushes, a set with 30 high-quality swirl Photoshop brushes with an average size 2000px. These brushes were created with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and also work with the version CS, CS2 and CS3. This set was designed by Thomas Béal especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers. Read more…

June 20, 2009 — Working on a Mac is a nice experience. Not only because of the aesthetics, but also because of the many useful tools built right into the operating system. One such tool is Exposé, which allows instant access to just about anything on your desktop with the press of a button. If used correctly, it can be a powerful ally in the war against screen clutter, but if you’re unfamiliar with it, it can seem quite daunting. That’s where I come in – I’m here with five useful tips that will allow any Mac user to get the most out of Exposé, and their screen space. You may be interested in the following related posts as well: * 30 Must Have Tweaks For Your Mac * Mac Hacks: 17 AppleScripts To Make Your Life Easier * Mac OS X Leopard: Designer’s Guide to Icons * 200+ Hotkeys To Boost Your Productivity Read more…

June 19, 2009 — Almost everyone out there who runs a website has toyed with the idea of selling ads on their website. So many options are available. Dozens of ad and affiliate networks exist, and you have different ad formats to consider. Should you sell text ads or banner ads? Should you allow Flash ads? What about ads with sound, pop-ups or floating ads? People have so many decisions to make that they often just end up slapping on some AdSense code and calling it a day. And that’s fine. Read more…

June 18, 2009 — Today we are glad to release Quartz Icon Pack, a set with 90 clean, sharp and (hopefully) useful icons for your project. [Links checked February/16/2017] Read more…

June 18, 2009 — Without argument, one of the most important things to consider when creating a website is that it be accessible to everyone who wants to view it. Does your website play nice with screen readers? Can a user override your style sheet with a more accessible one and still see everything your website has to offer? Would another Web developer be embarrassed if they saw your code? If your website is standards-compliant, you could more confidently answer these questions. Let’s take a look at 10 ways to improve the accessibility of your XHTML website by making it standards-compliant. We’ll go the extra mile and include criteria that fall beyond the standards set by the W3C but which you should follow to make your website more accessible. Each section lists the criteria you need to meet, explains why you need to meet them and gives examples of what you should and shouldn’t do. Read more…

June 18, 2009 — Today’s desktop wallpaper collection is all about horror. Wallpaper can convey the depths of emotion and feeling and whatever you want them to convey. You will always find a wallpaper to express your feeling or mood. It’s always nice to refresh your perspective with some inspirational, elegant, stylish and beautiful wallpaper. Read more…

June 17, 2009 — Website designs have so many different elements that work together to convey information in a usable and organized manner. For a website to be effective, every element on the page, from the header to the footer, needs to add to its overall usability and readability. In this article, we’ll take a look at the footer and see what exactly makes for a good website footer. Keep in mind that just because the footer is at the bottom of the page doesn’t mean you should slack off with good design practice. We’ll look here at what to include in footers, the importance of site maps, usability practices and styling ideas and trends. We’ve also compiled almost 50 well-designed footers to give you ideas and inspiration for your own footer designs. Read more…

June 16, 2009 — Adobe Illustrator is one of the best applications for making graphic artwork like logos, print designs and Web pages. As time goes on, more and more Illustrator techniques are introduced by talented designers and artists in the industry who achieve some of the best results on the Web. One hot trend nowadays is 3D effects. So, we’ve gathered together some 3D tutorials to give you an idea of what Adobe Illustrator offers and how to use its 3D features. This list mixes tutorials for beginners and experts. [Links checked February/10/2017] Here then is our round-up of 50 Excellent Adobe Illustrator Tutorials for 3D artwork. You’ll learn a lot of techniques and good practices. You may also be interested in the following related posts: * Adobe Illustrator Tutorials * Adobe Illustrator Tutorials: Best Of Read more…

June 15, 2009 — If there is a commonly reoccurring need for a particular solution, there is a great probability that someone has - by now - solved that need and has finished the legwork involved in researching and constructing something that resolves it. Read more…

June 15, 2009 — Cascading Style Sheets were introduced 13 years ago, and the widely adopted CSS 2.1 standard has existed for 11 years now. When we look at websites that were created 11 years ago, it’s clear that we are a thousand miles away from that era. It is quite remarkable how much Web development has evolved over the years, in a way we would never have imagined then. Read more…