The Icon Directory For Designers

Posted on 29. Jun, 2009 by Brian.

Icons are necessary in web design to convey messages, create mental images, and to establish a visual connection between your content and your readers. Whether you are attempting to design your own icon, find the perfect set for your website, or implement the icons into your design successfully, finding the perfect resource can be a daunting task. Welcome to the complete Icon Directory For Designers.

This post is a complete directory of icons for designers. Featured are hundreds of icon sets that will be continually updated, dozens of icon design tutorials, as well as dozens of examples of successful uses of icons in web design.

Bookmark this page so you will always have a growing resource for icon information at your fingertips!

Jump To A Section:

• Icon Sets Directory
• Directory Of Icon Design Tutorials
• Examples and Uses of Icons In Modern Web Design
• Sources

Icon Sets Directory

Directory Of Icon Design Tutorials

Examples And Uses of Icons In Modern Web Design

Icons hold no value if they aren’t used correctly in web design. In light of this, I present a showcase of websites that use icons beautifully and effectively. Keep in mind the way that they are used to organize content, separate content, provide visual organization, as well as spice up a web page.

Click each image to view the full site

Sources

Here is a plug to the sites that have helped compile the resources that found their way into the Icon Directory For Designers. Check them out and send them some love!

• Six Revisions
• Noupe
• Smashing Magazine
• Spoon Graphics
• Dzine Blog
• Hongkiat
• Speckyboy
• Web Design Ledger
• Vandelay Design
• PSD Tuts

Conclusion

I hope you have found something of use in this directory. Remember to keep checking back for updated icon galleries, more tutorials, and additional stunning examples of icons in modern web design.

If you enjoyed this post, share it with your friends and the world by clicking one of the icons below!

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Getting Started With CSS: 20 Awesome Introductory Tuts

Posted on 10. Jun, 2009 by Brian.

Do you want to make your own web pages but are too worried about falling short in the complex depths of CSS? Not too worry – all it takes is some patience, some practice, and a little bit of time. Don’t stress out with overly-complicated tutorials – start here with 20 awesome introductory tuts to CSS.

Before We Begin

Before you get started, go ahead and familiarize yourself with why you should be learning CSS, and where it can be applied to web design. The following two sites should help to get you started with understanding what CSS is for, and how it can help you.

1. 10 Reasons To Learn CSS Here is a list of the top ten reasons why you should learn CSS – from creating more elegant web pages to having more control over specific elements in your design.
2. Wikipedia – CSS A basic introduction to CSS from Wikipedia with its history, syntax, and how it can be applied in modern web design.

The Tutorials

Ok, you now know a little bit about the basics of CSS and what it can do for you. Let’s go ahead and jump right into some very basic, beginner tutorials to get you started with CSS. Take your time with each tutorial and make sure you understand each concept. A great tip is to break each tutorial down – do not try and complete all of these in one day! Try doing one part a day while spending an hour practicing each concept. This method will really help you hold this wealth of information in your brain for long-term memory.

1. CSS Basics You’ve heard the buzz about the seperation of style from content, but you are stuck in the world of nested tables and deprecated markup. If so, you have come to the right place!
2. Learn HTML & CSS: A Beginner’s Guide So, you’re ready to take the plunge and begin to learn how to build your own web pages and sites? Fantastic! We’ve got quite a ride ahead, so I hope you’re feeling adventurous.
3. Starting With HTML & CSS This short tutorial is meant for people who want to start using CSS and have never written a CSS style sheet before. Another great resource for beginners.
4. CSS – Beginners A very well structured and organized tutorial set that covers everything from how to set up your computer to write CSS, to how to create your own web pages!
5. CSS For Beginners This is a downloadable tutorial from deviantART for beginning CSS with features such as: Adding boxes around text, how to add background images, how to add menus for your links, and much more!
6. The Basics This ‘Basics’ section will give you enough knowledge to re-vamp your existing web sites and make your future web sites leaner and meaner – and will save you hours of update and maintenance time.
7. CSS From The Ground Up If you are frightened by the prospects of using Cascading Style Sheets, there’s no need to be. It all comes down to taking small steps to begin with and that’s what I’m going to do in this series of tutorials. One step at a time!
8. Back To Basics: A Beginner’s Guide To Starting A CSS Document What we’ll go over today is a quick and easy way of defining styles for common html tags that should dramatically cut down on the amount of guess work a browser will have to do to interpret your website.
9. Style Master CSS Tutorial This tutorial teaches CSS using both hand-coding and Style Master for Windows. You can also follow it using instructions for Style Master for Mac OS X.
10. Site In An Hour This is a very unique tutorial that interactively walks you through the steps of designing your own website. Perfect for visual learners, this tutorial makes CSS easy to see.
11. An Introduction To CSS This first CSS article is designed to get your ‘feet on the ground’. You should know at least a little about HTML and web design before you begin.
12. CSS Tutorials From beginner, to intermediate, to advanced, this resource has loads of tutorials to help get you started with CSS from the ground up!
13. CSS Introductory Tutorial It is time to take your web designing skills to the next level with CSS. It is a way to control the look and feel of your HTML documents in an organized and efficient manner.
14. Introduction To CSS A short, concise beginners introduction to CSS. Easy to read, simple to understand, and quick to follow, Design Shack has provided us with a great beginner’s guide to CSS.
15. CSS Do’s And Dont’s Part 1: CSS Selecting Selecting an element is the basis of the css styling process. If you can’t target an element you can’t style it, right? This article could help you to fix some of the errors you might have been doing.
16. CSS Do’s And Dont’s Part 2: Markup A tutorial instructing how to properly markup your CSS documents into a good, solid, well structured piece of code. This is very helpful for beginners to understand how to code CSS the right way.
17. Creating A CSS Layout From Scratch This guide will attempt to take you step by step, through the process of creating a fully functioning CSS layout.
18. CSS Beginner In this tutorial you will learn how to apply basic CSS (cascading style sheets) to your HTML documents to style and change the colors, backgrounds, fonts, text-sizes and more.
19. Video: Introduction To CSS Design Part 1 A relatively short video walking you through the basics of web design with CSS.
20. Video: Introduction To CSS Design Part 2 A relatively short video walking you through the basics of web design with CSS.

Now What?

So you’ve gotten a basic grasp of CSS and its properties – now what? Follow some of these links to find intermediate and advanced CSS resources from tutorials and guides, right down to which CSS editor is right for you.

1. CSS – Intermediate
2. CSS – Advanced
3. 53 CSS Techniques You Couldn’t Live Without
4. Advanced CSS Layout
5. CSS Editors Reviewed
6. Powerful CSS Techniques For Effective Coding
7. Moving Forward With CSS
8. 101 Best CSS Techniques Of All Time Part 1
9. 101 Best CSS Techniques Of All Time Part 2
10. Using CSS To Do Anything: 50 Creative Examples And Tutorials
11. Clean And Pure CSS Form Design
12. 10 Examples Of Beautiful CSS Typography And How They Did It
13. The CSS Cheat Sheet
14. Introduction To CSS3 Part 1: What Is It?
15. Introduction To CSS3 Part 2: Borders
16. Introduction To CSS3 Part 3: Text Effects
17. Introduction To CSS3 Part 4: User Interface
18. Introduction To CSS3 Part 5: Multiple Columns
19. Introduction To CSS3 Part 6: Backgrounds
20. 5 CSS Questions – And Answers

Conclusion

Hopefully you are well on your way to learning CSS and how to design your own web pages. Just keep these few simple things in mind:

DO:

• Practice
• Stay organized
• Learn how to do it right the first time

DON’T:

• Do too much at once
• Rush yourself through the learning process
• Worry about failing at first

Good luck!

For more CSS tutorials check out the new tutorial site, The Tutorialist.

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50 Must-Read Resources For Incredible Web Design

Posted on 02. Jun, 2009 by Brian.

Web design has become one of the largest online fields with thousands of people pitting their designs against those of others every day. While the field is still young and growing, there are few designers who are recognized by all and have stood the test of time as their designs prevail over all others. Today, I want to share fifty must-read resources if you want to get started on the path of creating incredible web designs. Remember, beautiful designs aren’t made overnight – this is a process that takes time and practice. Don’t give up – instead, read on and find either a website, article, tutorial, or just some inspiration to help you take yourself and your business to the next level.

Sites

A lot of times, there are just a few sites out there in which every article is a must-read to learn more about web design. I’ve compiled ten of my favorite resources that I read every day to get my fill of design news, resources, tutorials, articles, and practices. Most of these you have probably heard of – some may be new – but either way, all ten of these sites deserve your visits and you deserve to read their articles. So dive on in!

1. Smashing Magazine – A site devoted to compiling resources for designers, Smashing Magazine is a great place to stay on top of the latest web design trends and news.
   

Popular Articles

• 83 Beautiful WordPress Themes You Probably Haven’t Seen
• 50 Beautiful CSS Based Web Designs In 2006
• 53 CSS Techniques You Couldn’t Live Without

2. Noupe – Noupe is a web developer’s paradise of resources.
   

Popular Articles

• 60+ Unusual WordPress Blog Designs
• 101 CSS Techniques Of All Time
• 40+ Extremely Beautiful Icon Sets Hand Picked From DeviantArt

3. David Airey – An incredible designer, and a resourceful blogger, David Airey is a great place to learn about design, designers, and web design. That’s a lot of design!
   

Popular Articles

• 5 Important Design Aspects Of Any Website Or Blog
• 20 Questions Clients Ask Before Choosing A Designer
• First Steps To Graphic Design Pricing

4. You The Designer – YTD has been in my RSS reader for quite some time now – this information is simply too valuable to miss out on. Get a taste for the articles below:
   

Popular Articles

• Common Design Scams
• 6 Things Every Designer Should Have
• New “Out Of This World” Trend In Web Design

5. WPCandy – WPCandy is a site all about WordPress, WordPress themes, and WordPress news. This resource is for all you WP developers out there!
   

Popular Articles

• Sites – Inspirational collection of designs.
• The WordPress Starter Theme Project
• 10 (WordPress) Twitter Users You Should Follow

6. Fuel Your Creativity – An overall great resource for design in general, Fuel Your Creativity has an amazing and inspiring web design section that must be checked out.
   

Popular Articles

• 40 Minimalist Web Designs
• 24 Kick Ass Portfolio Designs

7. WP Designer – WP Designer has been the starting point for many web designers and developers out there, including myself, so don’t pass up this incredible resource of knowledge.
   

Popular Articles

• 6 Over The Top Blog Designs
• How To Design A WordPress Theme
• So You Want To Create WordPress Themes Huh?

8. Just Creative Design – JCD is another one of my favorite resources for web design articles and inspiration. Read a couple of articles and you’ll be hooked.
   

Popular Articles

• 101+ Places To Get Design Inspiration
• 99 Sites All Designers Must Know About
• 13 Signs You’re A Bad Graphic Designer

9. Fadtastic – Fadtastic is a web design trends journal that goes all-out and in-depth with web design.
   

Popular Articles

• Don’t Make Me Think – A Common Sense Approach To Web Usability
• 25 Ways To Improve Your Site In 5 Minutes
• Beautiful Sites With No (Or Very Few) Images

10. A List Apart – Put quite simply by ALA, “For People Who Make Websites.”
    

Popular Articles

• Design Is In The Details
• Saving The Spark – Developing Creative Ideas
• Findability, Orphan Of The Web Design Industry

11. Web Designer Wall – A beautifully designed website with some beautifully written articles, you can’t go wrong with WDW.
    

Popular Articles

• Typographic Contrast And Flow
• SEO Guide For Designers
• jQuery Tutorials For Designers

12. Net Tuts – If you’re a web designer or developer and you haven’t heard of Net Tuts, you probably shouldn’t call yourself a web designer or developer. Enough said.
    

Popular Articles

• How To Build A Maintainable Site Using CushyCMS & Twitter
• 15 Resources To Get You Started With jQuery From Scratch
• From PSD To HTML, Building A Set Of Website Designs Step By Step

13. Tracey Grady – My deepest apologies to Tracy, with whom I mixed up a link. Check out this incredible article: 10 Seamless Website Designs
    
    Popular Articles

    • Making A Bigger Impact With Your Design Skills
    • Interview: Fifty Designers Current Favorite Typefaces
    • Reasons For Keeping Your Web Portfolio Short And Sweet

    Inspiration

    I’m a big fan of inspiration – from CSS galleries to news feeds, inspiration is everywhere and is never lacking in numbers. Here are ten inspirational websites to help you with your web design process and ability. I am no advocate of copying or replicating a website design, however there is nothing wrong with putting your own twist on someone’s work. So be a true designer – get creative!

14. CSS Remix – A fresh blend of the best designed web 2.0 websites.
    

15. Unmatched Style – Unmatched Style offers the ability to browse their designs by certain tags making it easier than ever to find what you’re looking for.
    

16. Kreativuse – A relatively new site, Kreativuse offers a regularly updated inspiration section along with several articles linking to great posts from around the design world.
    

17. Design Flavr – Design Flavr is a great place to read design-related articles while at the same browse through their inspirational site gallery.
    

18. Web Creme – A clean site dedicated to showcasing the best of the web.
    

19. Best Web Gallery – A CSS gallery with so many sites you’ll get lost in a matter of minutes. This is the place to come for endless inspiration.
    

20. Screen Fluent – With over 7,000 submissions, Screen Fluent is another place to lose yourself in the inspiration.
    

21. Screenalicious – Sporting almost 10,000 submissions, Screenalicious offers endless web design inspiration.
    

22. Full Single – The front page of Full Single offers a lone preview of one web design. To see dozens more incredible designs, just browse through the archives.
    

23. We Love WP – A CSS gallery that focuses on web designs running on the WordPress platform.
    

24. I Love Typography – A fantastic website for typographical inspiration on the web.
    

25. Fave Up – A user-driven website with inspirational sections on logos, business cards, and of course, web design.
    

Tutorials

It can be great to read the articles and browse CSS galleries for inspiration, but none of that will do you any good if you can’t design in the first place! Here are ten tutorials to get you started creating beautiful website designs. Remember, it’s all about the journey – not the destination. Just because a final product of one of these tutorials doesn’t interest you doesn’t mean the tutorial is worthless. Complete each tutorial step by step and you will walk away from the process knowing so many new techniques and styles that you’ll be able to start designing your own websites.

26. Professional, Clean Hosting Layout – How to design a simple, clean, and professional hosting website design.
    

27. Making Your Own Portfolio Web Page – How to design a personal portfolio web design in Photoshop.
    

28. Tutzor – Tutzor shows us how they redesigned their website with this well organized PS tutorial.
    

29. Aqua Layout – A tutorial walking you through the process of designing a simple “aqua” style website.
    

30. Design Studio Layout – This is a great resource to show you how to design a layout that a design studio may use.
    

31. Real Estate Layout – As millions of real estate agents move online, it can never hurt to have the knowledge to design a real estate website.
    

32. How To Slice A Web Design – A video tutorial walking you through the process of properly slicing and dicing a PSD image into usable web design images.
    

33. Create A Sleek, High-End Web Design From Scratch – PSD Tuts shows us how to design a nice website design through this in-depth and thorough tutorial.
    

34. From PSD To HTML, Building A Set Of Website Designs Step By Step – Net Tuts walks us through the coding portion of building a very professional looking web design.
    

35. How To Create A 3D Shelf Element Similar To Dragon Interactive – PSD Tuts shows us how to create that sleek looking shelf element seen at Dragon Interactive’s website.
    

Articles

Articles are the bread and butter of this post. I want to show you all some articles that will truly help you take your designs to the next level. From inspiration posts to guides, any of these articles can, and will, help you with the creative process of website design.

1. 30 Most Inspirational Designer Web Designs
   A post compiling 30 inspirational web designs from the designers themselves.
2. 30 Most Inspirational Dark Web Designs
   If 30 is the new 20, then dark is the new light. This post is a compilation of beautiful dark web designs.
3. 30 Most Inspirational Light Web Designs
   Here are 30 light web designs to get you inspired.
4. What Does Your Website Say About You?
   David Airey shows you what your website is really saying about you.
5. Free Design Templates
   Smashing Magazine brings us a collection of free design templates.
6. 35 Designers x 5 Questions
   What happens when you ask 35 designers 5 questions? 175 quality responses.
7. 50 Designers x 6 Questions
   The second installment of designing questions brings more practical web-design related questions to the table.
8. 10 Designer’s Checkpoints To Be Aware Of
   Our last article from Smashing Magazine brings you 10 checkpoints that all designers should keep in mind.
9. Footer Design Showcase
   A fantastic collection of inspirational and creative website footers from around the web.
10. What Everybody Ought To Know About Usability And Web Design
    A great article explaining the importance of usability in website designs.
11. A Design Is Finished When…23 Pro Designers’ Opinions
    How do you know when a web design is finished? Here’s what 23 professionals have to say.
12. 30 Websites To Follow If You’re Into Web Development
    If you’re this deep into the article, one would assume that you are into web development. If so, here are 30 sites you should follow.
13. 20 Blog Designs That Stand Out
    Want to stand out among millions of sites online? See how others are doing it and how you can too.
14. 9 Common Reasons A Website Is Not Drawing Visitors
    Having trouble getting visitors onto your site? Perhaps one of these 9 reasons can explain your troubles.
15. 20 Useful Tools To Make Web Development More Efficient
    In the fast paced online world, time is money. So learn how to save time and earn more money!
16. 5 Excuses For Discrimination In Web Development
    Are you discriminating against your visitors? It’s time to find out and right your wrongs.
17. 3 Key Prerequisites Required To Succeed As A Designer
    We all want to succeed, but many designers lack these elements of success. Do you have them?
18. Seven Reasons You Shouldn’t Charge By The Hour
    Are you charging your clients by the hour? If so, you may be hurting your business and your wallet.
19. 11 Ways To Gain Exposure As A Web Designer
    A fantastic post designed to guide you through the process of gaining exposure as a professional designer.
20. 53 Steps To Follow If You Want To Become A Freelance Web Designer
    A list of 53 logical steps to making it as a freelance web designer and developer.

Got something I missed? Drop a comment and let me know!

For more web design tutorials check out the new tutorial site, The Tutorialist.

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