April’s Best: This Month in Web Design

It’s hard to believe that April is almost over. Here is a collection of the best design-related articles of the month.

Celebration of Vintage and Retro Design from Smashing Magazine.
Smashing Magazine always provides great resources for inspiration, and this one is no exception.

60+ Unusual WordPress Blog Designs from Noupe.
If you’re looking for some inspiration for creating something unique with WordPress, Noura has put together an excellent categorized collection.

IE CSS Bugs That’ll Get You Every Time from CSS Tricks.
Hate dealing with Internet Explorer? Chris beaks down some of the most common CSS bugs with IE and how you can get around them.

7 Incredibly Useful Tools for Evaluating a Web Design from Six Revisions.
Analysis is critical for any website. Here is a quick look at seven tools that can help.

60 Great RSS Icons for Your Blog from Pro Blog Design.
Don’t want to use the same old RSS icon that every other blog uses? Take a look at this collection.

30 Must See Comment Designs for Web Designers from Blog Design Blog.
The design of the comment area is often overlooked. Vinh has done a nice job researching to find 30 excellent examples.

Sparkle Backgrounds Madness! from You the Designer.
A nice collection of graphic design work with popular sparkling backgrounds.

Web Form Design: Modern Solutions and Creative Ideas from Smashing Magazine.
Forms are usually boring, but as you will see from these examples, they don’t have to be.

4 Uber Cool CSS Techniques for Links from CSS Globe.
As usual, Alen has an excellent tutorial for some new CSS techniques.

14 Inspiring CMS Showoffs from Most Inspired.
Ty Gossman lists many of the leading options for CMS.

63 Impressive Website Background Images: Trends Resources and Tutorials from Noupe.
Large background images are becoming more and more common, and this is a great mini gallery of some of the best uses of creative background images.

In the Background: Simplifying and Demystifying CSS Backgrounds from Bits O’ NewMedia.
While Noura collection above provides an excellent gallery of background images, Matt’s post will explain how to use background images with CSS.

101 Adobe AIR Resources to Add to Your Toolbelt of Awesomeness from Jason Bartholme.
This is a huge categorized list for anyone that has an interest in Adobe AIR.

How to Blog Design Style Guide from Blog Design Blog.
Vinh has put together a very comprehensive guide to blog design that covers all aspects that need to be considered.

On Choosing Type from I Love Typography.
Typography decisions are a challenge for most of us. This article can help.

5 Principles and Ideas of Setting Type on the Web from Smashing Magazine.
This is an excellent post from Sean Hodge that can also help with your typography.

Business and Freelancing:

10 Clever Ways to Wow Your Clients from Small Fuel Marketing.
Dave Navarro has provided 10 ways that you can improve your services in the eyes of your clients.

Is Charging More Really the Right Thing to Do? from Men with Pens.
Pricing is a very common topic for freelancers. This post takes a different angle than most.

3 Steps to Creating a Freelancing Brand that Sells from Freelance Folder.
Another excellent post from Dave Navarro. Here he breaks down three simple steps that every freelancer needs to consider.

Deciding When to Use Project Pricing from Wake Up Later.
Do you charge by the hour or do you use project-based pricing? This post shows some situations where project pricing could be preferred.

SEO:

The Beginner’s Checklist for Learning SEO from SEOmoz.
Danny Dover covers the basics that new SEOs will need to learn.

Some posts that I wrote for other blogs this month:

Web Design: Set Prices or Quotes? at Most Inspired.

Opportunity Cost: The Freelancer’s Aid for Better Decision Making at Freelance Switch.

How to Target the Right Social Media Sites at ProBlogger.

My Blog Needs a New Theme. What Option Should I Choose? at PureBlogging.