Top jQuery Plug-ins, Web Apps and Typefaces- Essential Toolkit Components for Website Designers in 2
As ever, with the passing years online media has gone through a number of changes. The year 2012 has also brought back the ongoing tradition of evolution in the world of technology by bringing in the latest search updates and further advancements in the web design and development arena. There are lots of new web [...]
25 Websites with Awesome Backgrounds
In recent years the use of large background photos and illustrations has become increasingly common in web design. In some cases the background image is the most distinct feature of the design. There are all kinds of different backgrounds that can be used, like nature photos, nature illustrations, and abstract designs. In this post we'll showcase 25 websites with impressive backgrounds that really make the sites stand out. If you're looking to make a website or a design memorable, a large background may be a good option. Museum of Science and Industry 
5 New Portfolio Themes from ThemeForest
When it comes to choosing a look for your site, it takes time. I could spend hours just on one site looking through all the great themes they had to offer. Believe me, there are a lot of theme sites out there and some of my favorite sites are StudioPress, Thesis, and Elegant themes, but… Related posts:
- 300+ Premium WordPress Themes To Choose From!
- Get 44+ StudioPress Themes for $270.00
- Celebrate MOJO Themes’ 1st Anniversary with a Bundle of Premium Themes and Plugins for only $25
15 fantastic data visualisations
Brian Suda, software developer, informatician and author of A Practical Guide to Designing with Data, presents some of the best and most beautiful visualisations on the web that are based on time, geography, sound data and more
Different Aspects Of Penny Auction Websites
More and more people are becoming aware of great benefits of online auctions; especially after the increasing popularity of penny auctions. Statistics also express the same fate for penny biddings. There are so many reasons that make people so much inclined towards penny auction sites. A penny auction is very...
Pushing CSS to its limits
As CSS3 roars ahead in spite of the old Internet Explorer legacy browsers acting like a drag weight on faster adoption, there have been some really fascinating experiments with CSS3 properties and values which have created design styles far beyond what the original participants behind the W3C CSS modules could have imagined.
There seems to be a craze for recreating cartoon characters like Homer Simpson in HTML and CSS only, but I don't see any point in creating work with no practical value. Of far more interest to me are those that are pushing CSS that can be replicated and expanded upon by other coders.
Pseudo Elements, Box Shadows and some CSS3 animation
Of particular interest are those that are using regular, everyday CSS and stretching the syntax as far as they can.
Pseudo elements have a lot of practical, albeit minor uses. I've use them to add typographically correct smart quotes around blockquotes such as below (note the added space in the value for the before content property):
blockquote:before { content :"201C" ' '; font-size : 2em; vertical-align : middle; font-style : italic; } blockquote:after { content : "201D"; font-size : 2em; vertical-align : middle; font-style : italic; } I use unicode characters rather than HTML entities because the latter has a habit of producing strange mistakes when cutting and pasting CSS.
I have also used pseudo elements in the past to add an extra oomph to menu links on the hover state like so:
#main-menu ul li a:hover:after { content: " GO! ->"; color : #ffffff; } Other coders are taking it further.
I really like Chris Coyier's use of pseudo elements to create full browser width bars, while Nicolas Gallagher combines CSS3 transitions with ::before to create impressive shiny buttons (hover over the them).
The W3C working draft document CSS3 Generated and Replaced Content Module dated May 2003 and allows multiple pseudo elements per element. When browsers implement this standard expect another wave of ultra-complex CSS experimentation on par or more inventive then these pure CSS GUI icons.
Unfortunately, CSS 2.1 pseudo elements :before and :after do not work in Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7. Thankfully though there is a polyfil in the form of Dean Edwards ie7-js script. This script covers a myriad of advanced CSS not used in IE versions 6-8. It is the only script that gives support to pseudo elements. Be careful when using it though as it is a big file and it will create a Flash of Unstyled Content as the JavaScript is loaded.
Box shadows have been implemented for a couple of years now in Firefox and Webkit-based browsers. It didn't take long for coders to realise that adding layers of values, with pseudo elements and CSS3 transforms can create amazingly attractive and complex shadows.
A popular demo was created by Nicolas Gallagher.
Likewise the Viget crew have had a lot of fun creating their 39 Box Shadows, No Good Reason page (only works in Webkit-based browsers).
Like Nicolas Gallagher they only achieved their complex shadow effects by mixing box shadows with other important CSS3. In their case they liberally used gradients, pseudo classes and animation.
CSS3 transitions and transforms are a nice added bonus to the coders arsenal. When they first appeared my initial reaction was, 'Well that is what JavaScript is there for'; but they do add another welcome means of adding motion to elements on a page.
In its favour the syntax is easy to implement. There really is very little to using CSS3 animation. Secondly, it can animate elements on a page and animate them in particular ways that would be difficult even with a JavaScript library like jQuery.
I particularly like using animation on forms to give an extra usability feature. On the :focus selector I add a scale value like so:
input[type="text"]:focus, input[type="email"]:focus, input[type="tel"]:focus, textarea:focus { -moz-transform : scale(1.05); -webkit-transform : scale(1.05); -o-transform : scale(1.05); transform : scale(1.05); } Through experience I wouldn't recommend using CSS3 animation on page load and only use them on mouse and keyboard events. Presumably CSS3 transitions and transforms are quite resource hungry as whenever I have added them to a style sheet to fire on page load it creates a stuttering, non-smooth movement on the page.
Unfortunately, due to lack of support in the legacy browsers, you would have to be cautious in using a lot of the above in commercial jobs; but they clearly signpost a future direction for CSS users in which far, far more complex code will become standard.
CSS branching
Due to the frustrations of using a non-programming language like CSS, JavaScript and Ruby developers have created their own forks called LESS and Sass respectively.
Here you can create CSS but do so too with variables, mixins, namespaces and nested rules amongst much else. Both LESS and Sass have their own bands of loyal users who would only reluctantly return to straight CSS as used by the vast majority of front-end developers.
Both of these projects have created a valuable contribution to the industry because they present working alternatives to CSS that are radically different to the current W3C recommendations and drafts. However, should we be branching out into mutually exclusive CSS formats? To me this seems like walking into an uninspiring dead-end rather a viable and sustainable future.
Boilerplates & resets
A number of years ago Eric Mayer produced his famous CSS reset. It allowed web developers to approach a project knowing that before they have even written a single line of code, many browser inconstancies and quirks had been levelled.
Today, YUI reset and David Hellsing's Tripoli Reset have been become, if not obsolete, then certainly dated in the face of software and HTML and CSS changes.
As a modern CSS reset, Nicolas Gallagher (him again!) and Jonathan Neal created normalize.css. I'm particularly impressed with their detailed comments that describe the purpose of every line of code and I like the attention to detail in the form section.
Beyond just a CSS reset is HTML5 Boilerplate, the creation of Irish Paul. There's a ton of code in this project to learn from. I really like the work they have done in the .htaccess file. Proper Apache configuration is vital for a fast, non-buggy website, and they have covered a wide territory including GZIP, expires headers, proper MIME types and UTF-8 encoding.
Building upon this project is Andy Clarke's 320 and Up Boilerplate that takes a ?mobile first? approach to web design. Again, this is a really interesting project to study and use.
I can't begin to tell you how much I have learned by examining the code in these boilerplates and resets. But, as a word of caution, the worse thing you can do is just cut and paste code without a clear understanding of what it does. Question everything. Just because a face like Irish Paul or Eric Mayer deems a particular line of CSS a necessity, doesn't mean that it is or is suitable for your web builds.
New layout modules
Last year saw a buzz of activity around new CSS layout modules. Originally back in the 90s tables were the preferred method of page layout. During the last decade this approach was chased out of existence by standards evangelists such as Jeffrey Zeldman who insisted on the separation between presentation and content, and in its place came the CSS solution of floats. However, CSS floats were never intended as means of laying out an entire page but of positioning objects like images within a body of text. Many involved in the web design industry have longed for a different approach to layout.
By my counting there are now five different W3C sponsored alternatives to floats! They are Exclusions and Shapes, Regions, Template Layout, Grid Layout and Flexible Box Layout. For a thorough explanation of all of them read net magazine's article The Future of CSS Layouts.
I find it difficult to get exciting about these new layout options. Using floats can be tricky, but ultimately I've never had any serious problems creating complex layouts. Also, none of the above will be backwards compatible. I'm not against a fundamentally different approach to CSS page layout, but I would baulk at having different layout systems for different browsers in the same web build. It's also worth noting that Flexibox was first introduced in 2009 and it is now going through a radical rethink because the original draft proved lacking. I wonder how many of the other four will also be subject to major revision in the coming years?
Conclusion
CSS: use and abuse it. Time spend trying out new techniques is important to personal development. Make sure that you set aside some quality time to play around with CSS3 and see what you can produce. Look at the code linked to above and learn from it. Use it as a base for further experimentation. Avante!
Fresh Free Fonts For Bold Typography
Fresh Free Fonts For Bold Typography: Typography is an important element of design in all forms, typography has been since ages and the typefaces used by print 100yrs back is still followed in web design and other design fields. In this post fresh fonts for bold typography I have listed some of the best high quality fonts that are used in many print projects and this list can be as a repository of fonts for your next project of brochure, web design or any typography poster. In a recent interview of Erik Spiekermann by Elliot Jay Stocks where he speaks about typefaces and fonts that were measured by points ages back and the same is being followed by web designers and it really inspires us to pay more attention towards typography in design.
Enter to Win Our $100 Sticker Mule Giveaway!
Usabilla UX Tweet Scoop ? Week 6 of 2012
Best links this week: Zach Holman explains how Apple commands their words in The Apple Voice. Ever wondered why paragraphs always have a clean break when reading words written on the web? Read Islands of Thought in Macrotypography for an interesting perspective. A great addition to UX Myths on how success doesn’t happen overnight. Smashing [...]
Illustrated History of Web Forms
How many forms are filled out each day across the web? Billions of them, for sure. From small
?This is what you need ? a magic dot.?
"Gentlemen, we have a very small product. There is hardly enough room on it for a name, let alone a symbol!"
Convergese 2012
Demi Creative
Sprk
YCO Yacht
The Woman
Going Freelance Workshop
Event Registration Online for Going Freelance Workshop I’ve been working with a lot of people who’ve been wanting to go freelance – but they all worry about the same thing: money.
Use Gravity Forms to submit custom post types
In my previous post I explained how I used the Types plugin to create a new custom post type. That custom post type will be used to display a table of supported themes for my WordPress SEO plugin, and is therefor called wpseo-theme. Now the trick here is that I want users to be able [...]
Use Gravity Forms to submit custom post types is a post by Joost de Valk on Yoast - Tweaking Websites.A good WordPress blog needs good hosting, you don't want your blog to be slow, or, even worse, down, do you? Check out my thoughts on WordPress hosting!
ferrari garage (Inspiration)
Awesome Stories of Beautiful Life
99 Tiny Stories Filed under: Misc Tagged: Life
Space Time Lamp Karim Rashid (Inspiration)
ernst leitz wetzlar (Inspiration)
colored face (Inspiration)
villain chair (Inspiration)
How Does Blogging Lead To Better SEO
We have said repeatedly on this blog that blogging is one of the most effective SEO techniques. Blogging is a great way to improve your brand presence on the Internet including search engine results. This article helps explain how the benefits of blogging translated to better ranking on search engine results of Google, Yahoo or Bing. To understand how blogging leads to better SEO, we need to understand the main factors that have an impact on SEO and see how blogging addresses each of these factors. Search engines take a number ...
6 Useful PHP code snippets
Here’s a selection of really useful PHP code snippets that I find using on a weekly basis. You could use these as is or expand them as part of other applications or add them to a php class. Adjust server …
Continue reading
Author hReview ? WordPress Plugin To Add Google Rich Snippets
Author hReview is an amazing WordPress Plugin for adding Google Rich Snippets to your WordPress blog. Just before a week I was searching for a Google Rich Snippets plugin for WordPress and almost every search results guided me to GD … Continue reading →
Crunch: A Simple-Yet-Beautiful LESS Editor & Compiler
If you already use it, then you know that LESS is a "time and byte-saver" when creating + serving stylesheets (if not, you should definitely check it). You either use the .less files directly (via less.js or on the server with Node.js) or compile them into CSS from command-line and use only the CSS. Crunch [...]
We?ve Started Using PunchTab!
Here’s another one of our attempts to reward you loyal readers for sticking with You The Designer all this time, and this one is …
3D Gallery with CSS3 and jQuery
Today, we want to share an experimental 3D gallery with you that uses CSS 3D transforms.
Predicting Trends Web Design 2012
Web Design Tips: Economy Affects Budgets Technology is changing. Places where web pages are being served up are multiple. Tablets, IPADS, Nooks, mobile phones, smart phones are all expecting to be able to see and read webpages. How does the … Continue reading →
HTML5 Book-Flipping jQuery Plugin
Sponsors
Professional Web Icons for Your Websites and Applications
30 Free UI Kits Featuring Detailed Web Elements
When working under time constraints or on a tight budget crafting every single UI element by hand in Photoshop just isn’t economical. Thankfully there’s a range of ready-made web elements available in UI kits that can be quickly copied over to your own website or web app design projects. This post rounds up a collection [...]
How To Create a Cool Vector Yeti Character in Illustrator
Follow this step by step Illustrator tutorial to create a cool vector Yeti character. We’ll use as many basic shapes as possible to achieve that quirky style of illustration, then bring the character to life with a palette of cold colours. Despite the use of basic shapes this tutorial includes a good spread of intermediate [...]
Code a Useful Expanding Vertical Navigation Menu
Today we have yet another awesome step-by-step CSS project for you! This time around we’re going to build a super useful expanding vertical navigation menu. It’s a great way to hide a lot of links in a fairly small space and the animations will add a nice touch to your site. Even if you’re a [...]
21 Examples of Light Color Usage in Web Design
Last week we showcased a list with 21 Inspiring Examples of Dark Colors in Web Design, and this week, to show you a different approach on color choices, we decided to go for a list with examples of websites using mainly light colors on its designs. Color is indeed a really important element of web [...]
+Baratunde Thurston's new book How To Be Black looks good.
+Baratunde Thurston's new book How To Be Black looks good. This is his Tumblr Blog. Embedded Link How To Be Black Baratunde Thurston is a politically-active, technology-loving comedian from the future. He serves as Director of Digital for The Onion and co-founded Jack & Jill Politics. He resides in Brooklyn,…. Google+: View post on Google+
8 Useful CSS Tools for Developers
Writing better CSS is something web designers and developers should struggle for, and luckily there are some useful tools on the web to help out. For this post, we?ve rounded up a collection of new and really useful CSS tools. From learning new CSS3 properties, to making your code more efficient, there?s hope that CSS tools here you will find useful.The Web Font Combinator
The Web Font Combinator is useful tool to preview web font combination.
CSS Pivot
CSS Pivot lets you add CSS styles to any website, and share the result with a short link.
CSS Lint
CSS Pivot lets you add CSS styles to any website, and share the result with a short link.
CSS Lint
This tool lets you enter the URL of any site so you can view an modify its color spectrum.
CSS3 Patterns Gallery
CSS3 Patterns Gallery lets you browse various CSS3 patterns as thumbnails or full screen and grab the code so you can use them on your own web project.
PrefixMyCSS
PrefixMyCSS helps you save time by letting you write your properties one way.
Layer Styles
Layer Styles is a HTML5 app for creating CSS3 in an intuitive way.
Sencha Animator
Sencha Animator is a desktop app to create CSS3 animations for WebKit browsers and touch screen mobile devices. You can create rich experiences for today?s most popular mobile devices.
Do Your Search Engine Results Show You as the Author?
Google and other search engines are starting to use authorship information with the rel=author attribute to provide more information about the articles that are linked to. These fancier search results can include the author's photo, links to related articles by the same author, and more. Ultimately, results with this extended information are more memorable and more likely to get clicks. Learn how to tell Google who authored your articles.
Read the full article: Tell Google About Your Writing
More About Authorship and Microformats
Marie Claire Runway Hits the Shelves
Marie Claire, the premium fashion glossy, launched its new fashion magazine, Marie Claire Runway.
With over 160 pages in a super-size format, the new glossy fashion bi-annual captures all the show-stopping glamour of the international collections in an entertaining, engaging and exquisitely-designed package. 
2012 Australian International Design Awards
The Australian International Design Awards, one of the oldest and most prestigious design awards in the world, is now open for entries.
AIDA offers an independent, trusted and credible awards program to provide the best possible experience to companies looking to differentiate their innovative products and services. 
Designjunction 2012
designjunction will take the London Design Festival 2012 by storm in September when it joins forces with The Tramshed into its new expansive venue in the centre of London, combining two major events.
designjunction, which last year attracted 6,500 visitors, will be an even more vibrant design destination bringing together a carefully curated selection of leading global brands and smaller cutting-edge enterprises. 
*No Start Button On Windows 8? Are You Serious!*
This is going to piss off some people. Who's upgrading? I'm not sure yet. Embedded Link Windows 8 Start button removed by Microsoft in 'Consumer Preview' Microsoft has taken the bold step of removing the traditional Windows Start button from its Windows 8 "Consumer Preview." The Start button and menu were introduced with Windows 95 [...]
If You're Not Into Football And Just Want To See The Best Ads Check This Out
If You're Not Into Football And Just Want To See The Best Ads Check This Out +Mashable is "Live Blogging" not the game, but the commercials. Embedded Link Super Bowl XLVI: The Ads [LIVE BLOG] Mashable is joined by some ad industry luminaries to analyze Super Bowl XLVI. Google+: View post on Google+
Very Clever Way To Have A Technology Free Dinner
"At the beginning of the meal, everyone puts their phone face down at the center of the table. As time goes on, you?ll hear various calls, texts, and emails, but you can?t pick up your phone. If you?re the first one to give in to temptation, you?re buying dinner for everyone else. If no one [...]
Data Liberation Heads To The US Executive Branch
The White House Pushes Green Button To Liberate Your Energy Data Embedded Link TechCrunch | White House Pushes Green Button To Liberate Your Energy Data The future of easy home energy monitoring may be a little bit closer, thanks to a government initiative designed to allow consumers direct access to their energy consumption data. The [...]
Kartell Reissues Joe Colombo's 4801 Armchair
For the first time in its 60 year history Kartell has decided to pay homage to one of the most iconic pieces in its Museum and is reissuing the 4801 Armchair designed in 1965 by the Italian master of design, Joe Colombo.
An authentic symbol of design in the '60s, much sought-after in the auctions of modern historical pieces and on show in the most important world museums such as the MOMA in New York, the Victoria & Albert in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the 4801 armchair is also famous for being the only piece produced by Kartell made entirely of wood. 
Living Future 2012: Women Reshaping the World
The International Living Future Institute announced its keynote speaker lineup for its sixth annual Living Future unConference.
A sold-out event since 2009, this year's theme, "Women Reshaping the World," is rapidly gaining traction as the must-see program for green building practitioners and sustainability-focused thought leaders. 
Sure, Times are Still Tough, But It?s Not All Bad
The title says it all. Yes, there's a light at the end of the tunnel (and it's not a train).
10 jQuery Tabs and Accordions
The accordion effect is in many ways similar to tabs – the main difference is the way in which panes are shown and hidden. Here we have collected 10 of the many Tabs and Accordions you would definitely love to find out about. Enjoy! Related Posts: 10 jQuery Tab Plugins using Ajax & CSS 10 [...]
BITS Software Assurance Framework
BITS, the technology policy division of the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry body representing the US financial services industry, has published a Software Assurance Framework.
The 50-page guidance document describes an outline of recommended components of what they describe as a "mature, strategic program for secure software development" for software used within the US financial services industry. The framework was a collaborative effort that involved several financial services companies in conjunction with Microsoft, and it references the Microsoft-sponsored Forrester Consulting research which indicated that the use of a prescriptive secure software development lifecycle achieves the greatest return on investment (see also the similar Aberdeen Group research).
This is not a hands-on "how to" for software architects, developers, testers or operational staff, but instead describes a framework of activities that contribute to the specification, production, deployment and operation of secure software throughout the development lifecycle. In that respect, the comparable documents to refer to are BSIMM, MS SDL and Open SAMM, and indeed these are referenced in the BITS framework. Some organisations also build their software assurance efforts around the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).
So what does BITS consider to be the key components of a software assurance framework? Eight are defined and explained:
- Education & Training
- Security Software Assurance Development Standard
- Threat Modeling
- Coding Practices
- Security Testing
- Pre-Implementation Practices
- Software Assurance Documentation Archive Best Practices
- Post-Implementation Phase Controls
There is of course considerable overlap with the references mentioned above which describe actual practices in place, how Microsoft undertakes secure SDLC and a maturity model for software assurance respectively. I have tried to indicate below how the BITS key components broadly map to Open SAMM:
| BITS Component | SAMM v1.0 Business Function: Security Practice |
|---|---|
| Education & Training | Governance: Education & Guidance |
| Security Software Assurance Development Standard | Governance: Strategy & Metrics Governance: Policy & Compliance Construction: Security Requirements Construction: Secure Architecture |
| Threat Modeling | Construction: Threat Assessment |
| Coding Practices | Governance: Policy & Compliance Governance: Education & Guidance |
| Security Testing | Verification: Design Review Verification: Code Review Verification: Security Testing |
| Pre-Implementation Practices | Deployment: Operational Enablement |
| Software Assurance Documentation Archive Best Practices | (Through all above security practices) |
| Post-Implementation Phase Controls | Deployment: Vulnerability Management Deployment: Environmental Hardening Deployment: Operational Enablement |
So quite a lot of overlap. There is an existing mapping of Open SAMM to BSIMM activities which could be used to extend the above mapping onto BSIMM. As the BITS framework has been developed in conjunction with Microsoft, I expected to see a much closer relationship with MS SDL, and yes this is the case.
| BITS Component | MS SDL v5.1 Phase: Process |
|---|---|
| Education & Training | Training: Core Security Training |
| Security Software Assurance Development Standard | Requirements: Establish Security Requirements Requirements: Create Quality gates/Bug Bars Requirements: Security & Privacy Risk Assessment Design: Establish Design Requirements |
| Threat Modeling | Design: Analyze Attack Surface Design: Threat Modelling |
| Coding Practices | Implementation: Use Approved Tools Implementation: Deprecate Unsafe Functions |
| Security Testing | Implementation: Static Analysis Verification: Dynamic Analysis Verification: Fuzz Testing Verification: Attack Surface Review |
| Pre-Implementation Practices | Release: Incident Response Plan Release: Final Security Review |
| Software Assurance Documentation Archive Best Practices | Release: Release Archive |
| Post-Implementation Phase Controls | Response: Execute Incident Response Plan |
There isn't a direct one-to-one mapping here, but I hope the above help navigate the document if you use Open SAMM or MS SDL and want to delve into another source of ideas for secure software development lifecycles. Although the BITS framework might be somewhat heavyweight for some non-financial services organisations, especially on the documentation front, it is perhaps an easier starting point than the closely related MS SDL, to begin working on building security into development (and acquisition) processes. Take what suits, makes sense and fits your own organisation's type of applications and tolerance of risk.
Most of the content will be relevant, and since it is spelt out in reasonable detail, this could be very helpful. Some notable nuggets deeper in the document are:
- pp2-3 "teaching techniques of good design and their subsequent use can result in software secure not just against known attacks, but also against unknown attacks and attacks yet to come"
- p20 "Security defects are "defects", not just "security defects"
- p35 Security vulnerabilities identified in applications in production .... should not be treated as software defects, but as one part of the company's incident response process".
And on page 36 in the section relating to emerging threats in the post-implementation phase controls, there is a comment relating to the OWASP Top Ten and CWE/SANS Top 25 which seems out of kilter with the rest of the framework's text. The document states these as being valuable sources of information but "both represent an earlier generation of software security intelligence". I am not sure each of those sources set out to define the only threats to consider, and are instead a way of introducing the concepts to less-knowledgeable groups and encourage reading of the much deeper related materials. But perhaps this is more of a comment about PCIDDSS which specifically mentions these two sources. I wonder.
As you can see, worth the read.
BITS Software Assurance Framework
JavaScript Testing From Scratch: New on Premium
This likely isn’t the first tutorial on testing that you’ve ever seen. But perhaps you’ve had your doubts about testing, and never took the time to read them. After all, it can seem like extra work for no reason.
This tutorial (with screencasts) intends to change your views. We’re going to start at the very beginning: what is testing and why should you do it? Then, we’ll talk briefly about writing testable code, before actually, you know, doing some testing! Let’s get to it.
Become a Premium member to read this tutorial/screencast, as well as hundreds of other advanced tutorials and screencasts from the Tuts+ network.
Tuts+ Premium
The recently re-launched Tuts+ Premium is a service that provides top-tier training in a variety of creative fields. Whether you prefer books, visual training, or in depth tutorials, we have you covered. While we unfortunately can’t afford to provide the service for free, it’s only $19 a month – less than you’d spend on dinner.
I hope you’ll consider checking it out! In addition to learning a huge variety of new skills, it’s also a fantastic way to say thank you to Nettuts+.
Backups are Critical
Last week was a challenging week for me. Last Sunday, I tried to turn on my computer, and, well, it didn't. I spent most of the morning that I had planned to use to get ahead during the week, trying to troubleshoot what was wrong. I finally gave up and called Apple support and proceeded to go through all those same steps again with Cristophor on the phone. His conclusion? The hard drive was dead. Luckily, I have Apple Care for that computer, so Cristophor set up an appointment with the local Apple store, and I took it in. There the Genius (I forget his name, sorry) hooked up a cable to the computer and after a few minutes confirmed that the hard drive was dead and the optical drive was failing. He took my computer and said they would be replacing the hard drive and optical drive over the next 1–3 days.
I didn't get the computer back until Thursday. Then I started the restore process from my Time Machine backup. Of course, what I didn't notice was that the backup I was using was from my first Time Machine drive, not my current one. When the machine restarted, it was restored back to July 2011. Oops! So Thursday night I started the restore process again, this time using the right backup!
Friday morning I got up and saw that there was an update to Lion, 10.7.3, so I ran that and then started doing some work, writing some articles, and so on. I noticed that there were some glitches, but nothing too bad, and I thought they would be cured by a restart. So when I was done working I shut down for the day, as usual.
Saturday I turned on the computer to check some mail, and noticed the glitches were worse. In fact, I couldn't open some of my critical programs like Solitaire :-) and more importantly, no web browsers would open, nor would Finder. After some research using my iPad I discovered that the update to Lion 10.7.3 was screwing up a lot of systems. It sounds like my situation was a bit more serious than most, because I couldn't even get Finder to work. And ultimately, I had to restore from my Time Machine backup a third time. This time I restored to right before I updated to 10.7.3.
Backups Saved Me
I was saved both by Time Machine, which was able to restore my system back to Friday morning, but also by my secondary backups of data on Dropbox. Time Machine brought my computer back to the living, and Dropbox made sure that all the work I'd done on Friday was not lost.
If you don't have both your personal machine and your website backed up on a regular basis, you will eventually live to regret that. I know. This week was challenging, as I had to do work on my iPad or not at all, but if I hadn't had backups I would have been starting from scratch. Before I had regular backups I once deleted my entire home directory on my web server. I much prefer this method. Restoring from backups takes time, but it's a lot faster and easier than trying to rebuild a site from memory.
AtticTV
The best, lean back and relax way to watch music videos online
Campalyst
Social Media Management Software for E-Commerce
Phenomz Mail
Secure Email Communication
Siriously
Siri Humor, Funny Siri Responses, Things Siri Says Siriously?
Layering: Multitasking That Actually Works
sweets for caramelie
 sweets for caramelie | A new wallpaper has been posted to the Abstract gallery on Desktop Nexus. Uploaded By: CroZg Category: Photography Date Uploaded: 02/04/12 Native Resolution: 1600x1067 Points: +7 Download Count: 0 View This Wallpaper Now - View Wallpaper Comments (6) |
Pears: An open source collection of common markup & style
Lo and behold, Mr. Dan Cederholm has done it again! This time the folks over at SimpleBits unveiled their latest project, Pears, an open source WordPress theme that enables you to get your own pattern library up and running quickly.
This is super helpful to collect, test and experiment with your collection of semantic HTML & CSS patterns. For beginners it can be a great way to begin to understand the relationship between markup and style. No matter which audience you fall into, it is a handy tool for improving speed and productivity.
Also make sure to take notice of the Pears website itself, which is beautifully designed and responsive.
Thanks Dan, for making our lives more enjoyable with Dribbble and easier with Pears. :)
ZeroBundle ? Free Bundle for Designers
I'm a huge fan of +Aaron Wood's art
I'm a huge fan of +Aaron Wood's art Reshared post from +Aaron Wood Part of a balanced internet surfing diet!!! Google+: Reshared 1 times Google+: View post on Google+
Gotta Love +Cali Lewis and the Geekiness That is +Geek Beat
Gotta Love +Cali Lewis and the Geekiness That is +Geek Beat Reshared post from +MicroFab Lab We love the geek stuff going on over at +Geek Beat with +Cali Lewis. Check out their latest video. There's some great hacking going on! Google+: Reshared 1 times Google+: View post on Google+
Unrequired Listening
View in siteInspire | Go directly to Unrequired Listening
Speech Bubble Arrows that Inherit Parent Color
Interesting question:
css3 speech bubble question: for the "triangle"'s border color, how can I set it to whatever its parent div's bgcolor is automagically?
— Jin Yang (@jzy) February 1, 2012
By "css3 speech bubble", Jin means using a pseudo element on a container to add a little pointer arrow (triangle). Not really CSS3, but that's pedantic.
Let's say that pink color isn't practical to set in an external CSS file. Perhaps is a user setting, or perhaps …
Speech Bubble Arrows that Inherit Parent Color is a post from CSS-Tricks
Three Reasons Apple?s iCloud Isn?t Ready | SEO Development
HikeMySite.com
35 New And Fresh Single Page Websites
Single page websites have become popular among designers these days. Today we have a roundup of single page websites. Enjoy!! If you like these websites you might also want to check out our previous posts below.
42 Awesome Single Page Portfolio Websites
30 Beautiful Single Page Website Designs
dylanjones
30 Beautiful Multi-Colored Websites
In this post we?ve compiled some well designed colorful websites. Enjoy!! If you like these designs you might also want to check out our previous posts below. Examples of Solid Colors in Web Design Examples of Orange in Web Design Examples of Purple in Web Design thisistommy
Future Insights Live ? Early Birds Extended!
If you caught Ryan’s article last week, he told you about our brand new, not to be missed Vegas event – Future Insights Live! We’ve combined the Future of Web Apps, Design and Mobile into one massive five day event all geared toward you! Whether you’re a Web Designer, Developer or
Check My Colours
Developers often write tests to make sure their code is working properly, and designers should be thinking along the same lines.
It’s difficult to test aesthetics, but with tools like Spur App you can make sure that your design looks good for people with color blindness and other mild vision impairments. You can also make sure that your design has enough contrast and feels "balanced" on both sides.
Check My Colours is another web-based tool that can help out. Simply type in your live URL, and you’ll get a listing of all the areas where your color contrast can be improved. It’s a bit more technical than simply looking at a black and white image, but it’s good for more detailed analysis, especially on a complex web application that might have lots of dynamic views.
Epic Giveway! ? Win A $75 Printing Credit For FREE From Next Day Flyers
Tweet Do your old business cards or marketing materials need a new look? Do you find yourself crossing off information from printed flyers and writing in the correct info? Time to update people! Here’s a chance to do it without
Read More »
Focus Lab
Philippe Bordonado
Create a Chewing Gum Packaging Design in Photoshop ? Tuts+ Premium Tutorial
In this Tuts+ Premium tutorial, author Tim Kyde will explain how to create chewing gum packaging in Photoshop and Illustrator. We will begin by showing you how to create print-ready artwork and then how to render that artwork as a mockup that can be presented to clients. If you are looking to take your packaging and print design skills to the next level then Log in or Join Now to get started!
Tuts+ Premium Members can login now for instant access to this tutorial. Membership to Tuts+ Premium gets you access to hundreds of exclusive premium tutorials, top selling ebooks, in-depth courses, member forums, and much more. To learn more about Tuts+ Premium, Take the Tour or Join Today.
Grow Your Community by Asking Questions
Reporters at The Washington Post are now actively engaging their readers by posting comments in streams on the paper?s news stories online, something they?ve never done in the past. The paper switched to a new website platform called Echo, which has helped them grow their online community. Reader comments at the paper have shot up 142% since March, 2011.
This is new territory for many journalists. Never before have they been urged to take part in the conversations the public is having online about their stories. This type of involvement helps reporters fend off rumors, speculation, and flame wars, according to this article published on the Nieman Journalism Lab website. It also allows reporters to share more information, as well as prove that they, too, are real people.
For freelancers, this new trend at one of America?s largest newspapers just goes to show how important it is to engage with your community.
Show You Care
I try to comment on the blog posts I write for FreelanceSwitch?especially the posts that have gotten a lot of action from the readers. I really do appreciate the time people take to share their thoughts and opinions on my blog posts. Comments help me gauge a posts? success and help me decide what to write about in the future. The best way for me to show the readers that I am paying attention, is to tell them so.
Asking for feedback is mandatory these days if you want to be successful.
Asking for feedback is mandatory these days if you want to be successful. I worked for a magazine where the editor and publisher never solicited advice or comments from the readers because they were worried about what people would say. This is just backwards mentality. For years, the magazine paid money to freelancers for articles in the magazine that a scant few of the readers actually enjoyed. Why not take that money and create content that people actually look forward to reading?
If you don?t know what your readers and clients want, how can you deliver? Maybe you are considering changing your invoicing system and want to know if there will be backlash. Maybe you?re looking into other opportunities and you want to know if there is a market for your ideas. Maybe you want to change your logo but you don?t know where to start. Ask!
If you don?t let your readers, fans, or followers know you are open to listening to their thoughts and opinions, your popularity will never grow. People want to be empowered?and you have the ability to do that.
Gather Information
The Internet has made gathering opinions and information easier than ever. You have social media networks, apps, and tools right at your fingertips.
One of the easiest ways I have found to solicit information is by conducting an informal poll. You can do this on your blog or website easily. My tool of choice is SurveyMonkey, but there are plenty of other companies out there that do the same thing.
I also ask questions and conduct polls on my business Facebook pages. It?s another tool to reach your audience that takes little to no effort to implement.
My advice is to keep these polls concise. You know how annoying it is when a telemarketer calls you with a survey and you feel so bad for them that you agree to do it over the phone. Instead of asking five questions, they ask 55, and you become angry and impatient.
You don?t want to give too many choices. For example, instead of asking for a rating between 1 and 10, try 1 and 5. And try to focus on one particular aspect instead of a vast, broad survey. Keep the questions to a minimum. People don?t have a very long attention span. You want them to consider each question carefully, instead of rushing through just to finish.
You also don?t want to put out a poll every other week. Decide what is most important at the time and focus on that.
Some places offer an incentive to respondents if they complete your poll. I don?t find this necessary. If you keep your survey short and to the point, people don?t generally mind answering a few questions?especially if you already have a level of engagement with them.
Asking for opinions doesn?t have to be scary. Heck, you might already have an inkling of what the outcome will be, and if it rings true that just means you are on the right track!
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by xilius.
Why noreply email addresses are bad for business
Direct communication with your customers is crucial. Robert Rawlins argues that noreply@ addresses are a sign of bad user experience, as you don't allow your customers to converse with you
40 Websites That Look Great in Blue
It seems these days that many designers automatically settle on the main color in their website’s palette automatically: white. Every other color is just an accent to that. Today, we look at 40 websites that used a bolder color to base their design on — in this case, blue. It’s harder to pull off a [...]
This is a post from Inspired Magazine. If you like it, you may want to subscribe to our RSS full feed to be updated on every article we're publishing. Also, it's highly recommended to follow us on Twitter!
40 Websites That Look Great in Blue
40 Websites That Look Great in Blue
It seems these days that many designers automatically settle on the main color in their website’s palette automatically: white. Every other color is just an accent to that. Today, we look at 40 websites that used a bolder color to base their design on — in this case, blue. It’s harder to pull off a [...]
This is a post from Inspired Magazine. If you like it, you may want to subscribe to our RSS full feed to be updated on every article we're publishing. Also, it's highly recommended to follow us on Twitter!
40 Websites That Look Great in Blue
Infographic showcases web hosting evolution
From 1MB of space on GeoCities to the cloud over two decades
Really Frustrated With Market Samurai
The software that I use to check search engine ranking for my clients is really getting bogged down and horrible. Terrible customer service and horrible stability. Stay away from this software. Google+: View post on Google+
Tom Brady Pirated The Super Bowl Last Year | SEO Development
HikeMySite.com | SEO Development blog 2/6 Many athletes have been brought up for their websites’ content. Can you believe Brady Pirated The Super Bowl last year?! This year’s Super Bowl was the first to be streaming on NFL’s website. If … Continue reading →
RedBox Partners With Verizon | SEO Development
HikeMySite.com | SEO Development blog 2/6 Verizon and RedBox are partnering to provide a streaming video service! “Coinstar subsidiary Redbox today announced a new partnership with Verizon for the launch of a streaming video service.
Windows 8 UI is dropping the ?Start? button | SEO Development
HikeMySite.com | SEO Development blog 2/6 Windows 8 with no ‘Start’ button?! Yea, it really isn’t too big of a deal to me either. I’m writing this article from a i5 iMac at M.D. Anderson Library at University of Houston, … Continue reading →
How To Design Great Mac Icons
Back in 1973, a couple guys from Xerox thought of a great idea?to use icons for each application on the desktop. Apple too liked this idea, and developed the Mac desktop in an attempt to revolutionize the field of icon applications. In today?s ever changing market, each and every application has its own unique icon. [...]
5 Free jQuery Page-Flip Plugins For Book-Like Interfaces
Mimicking the interactions offline is always popular in the world of computers. Page-flips are one of the most popular ones of them in web design. They are implemented very successfully in Flash, many websites, documents, magazines are being created/published each day. With the capabilities of new web technologies, we can also expect them to be [...]
OK GO's Newest Video Is Awesome
The band, known for their imaginative music videos now plays the music with a Chevy. Google+: Reshared 2 times Google+: View post on Google+
The Superbowl Ads In All Their Glory
There were some great ones this year. Embedded Link Super Bowl 2012 Commercials: Watch Them All Here Watch all of the Super Bowl 2012 commercials here. Google+: Reshared 3 times Google+: View post on Google+
favolla.com.br
Love the illustrations of the trees in the background. The little multicolored squares that denote the screens in the slideshow(s) are subtle and skirt the line between not reading like slideshow markers at all. The way the logo and top nav is treated visually is rather nice and inviting looking to me. Overall nice site [...]
How To Change The Download Location for Videos in Real Player
The default location for RealPlayer video downloads is: C:Documents and Settings[current user]My DocumentsMy VideosRealPlayer Downloads To change the location, follow these steps: 1. Open RealPlayer. 2. Click Tools. 3. Select Preferences. 4. Click Download & Record from the left menu. … Continue reading →
Networking Guide for Bloggers: Choose People Wisely, You Must (Part 3)
I’m sure you can relate to this and agree that selecting the right people to [...]
Freelance Freedom #244: Bad Trip
Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive?
Design Inspiration: Timeline Control
A beautiful example of an interface element, an analog control to be precise. I particularly like the attention to detail and use of lighting ideas.
There's a certain perspective that helps to add depth and presence to the design.
This design was featured on the Monday 6th of February 2012. It falls under the category of Element, and has a layout style of Other.
If you'd like, you can visit this site, or view all our other featured designs.
Design Inspiration: Story
A brutally simple logo that uses its typesetting to make an impact.
There's something particularly memorable about the missing lines that helps this logo to stick in your head.
This design was featured on the Monday 6th of February 2012. It falls under the category of Logo, and has a layout style of Other.
If you'd like, you can visit this site, or view all our other featured designs.
Design Inspiration: Switchblade
Switchblade is a clean theme that would work well for a variety of sites, from businesses to personal portfolios.
I like the customisable options (it comes with 8 pre-defined colours) and the use of icons and typography throughout.
This design was featured on the Monday 6th of February 2012. It falls under the category of Design, and has a layout style of Other.
If you'd like, you can visit this site, or view all our other featured designs.
A Beginner?s Guide to Using AJAX in Your Website
AJAX is a method that has been around for a while, yet in the past was not something that was used by many developers. Only recently has it been gaining more attention, especially with the rise in web... Read More
Products that help you survive office life
At one of my first jobs, my lunch constantly disappeared from the community refrigerator. There were no clues and, being New York, ?nobody saw nuttin!? I tried marking my lunch. I tried notes pleading with people to not take my lunch. I tried hiding my lunch behind cans, etc. Nothing worked. One day, after my [...]
beeminder
The scientific way to achieve your goals
Finding the Inner Balance Between an Artist and a Designer
The
World?s Top Five Chair Designers
The mid to late twentieth century has seen numerous advances in both science and technology which provided us with a wide range of modern furniture. Noteable designers of this period used modern design as a vehicle for social change. Consequently, the furniture designs bore a strong emphasis on durable, functional furniture which could be readily [...]
(Powered by LaunchBit)
Silo Theatre
View in siteInspire | Go directly to Silo Theatre
How Social Media Could Improve Public Safety | SEO Development
HikeMySite.com
Apple iTV a $1.499 dollari: parola di BestBuy (o forse no)
La fantomatica iTV di Apple secondo Best Buy: 42 pollici 1080p LED HD, iOS e Siri a $1,499.
Points to Note while Doing Competition Analysis
There are lots of points but these 4 are very important. How good is the on-page SEO of the page (e.g. does the keyword appear in the title tag or description tag)? What?s the PageRank of the site? How old … Continue reading →
Here There Be Dragons! Dealing with Nightmare Clients & Challenges As A Freelance Designer
Tweet In the great fantastic world of design, professionals are like knights, claiming prizes and rewards while fighting fierce dragons and vanquishing evil foes. At least, we think ourselves kin to the great knights of old. In many ways, we
Read More »
Search Engine Optimization and Website Design in Florida
In addition to the search engine optimization and web design in Jacksonville, Florida we are successfully providing other internet related services including web content development, mobile applications development such as iPad application development, iPhone application development, Android application development, web programming, database management solutions and software testing services to clients all over Florida and United States.
A well-caffeinated tale
A colleague of mine recently reminded me that good user interface design is all about user experience, but user experience is about more than just having a good user interface. More…
6 Creative Ways to Use Delicious Bookmarks
This is a guest article contributed by Rebecca*. – Delicious is a popular social bookmarking site which you can use for saving your favorite website links. The process is termed as bookmarking. This will enable you to share your bookmarks among others as well as allow you to browse bookmarks of other users?. Tagging and search tools [...]
How to do Proper On Page SEO
If you have a website that gets any amount of traffic, you have likely heard of SEO. There is always a lot of talk about getting off page SEO taken care of but sometimes the on page optimization is ignored. Yes, on page SEO just isn?t sexy. However, it is important to realize that if [...]
Pears: An open source collection of common markup & style
Lo and behold, Mr. Dan Cederholm has done it again! This time the folks over at SimpleBits unveiled their latest project, Pears, an open source WordPress theme that enables you to get your own pattern library up and running quickly.
This is super helpful to collect, test and experiment with your collection of semantic HTML & CSS patterns. For beginners it can be a great way to begin to understand the relationship between markup and style. No matter which audience you fall into, it is a handy tool for improving speed and productivity.
Also make sure to take notice of the Pears website itself, which is beautifully designed and responsive.
Thanks Dan, for making our lives more enjoyable with Dribbble and easier with Pears. :)
withassociates.com
Really neat idea to redesign your site every month. Check out the backlog of designs from With Associates.
My 2012 Super Bowl commercials report card
I know that the last thing the world needs is another Super Bowl commercials top 5 list but since my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t playing this year I had nothing better to do. TOP 5 M&M’s “Just My Shell” I have loved the M&M’s commercials for a long time because they are so funny and [...]
Buyhatke
Online penny auction site along with a meta search engine.
pixloo
Free virtual tours