If you pay attention to web trends you have probably noticed that a growing number of sites are using designs that give the appearance of three dimensions. 3D design elements can help to make the design look more unique, as well as to highlight something in particular by drawing the visitor’s attention. In this post you’ll see 25 websites that use some type of 3D element in the design.
Today I’m happy to announce that I have launched a network of five niche gallery sites! Many of us visit design and CSS galleries on a consistent basis for design inspiration, and there is no shortage of galleries to choose from. Some of my favorite galleries are those that exist to showcase work of a specific kind (We Love WP is a good example, it is a showcase of WordPress-powered sites).
Niche galleries are especially useful for designers because they allow you to get the specific type of inspiration that you are looking for without being overwhelmed by too much that doesn’t interest you. You can go to a niche gallery and quickly find helpful and relevant inspiration that applies to your own situation. With that in mind, I have chosen five topics for galleries that I thought would be of use to many designers.
If you have any interest in some of these types of design, please check out what has been posted already and subscribe to the feed or follow on Twitter. Each gallery has been launched with more than 30 showcased items and they will be updated consistently (The amount of new additions will depend partly on how many quality submissions are received, so please feel free to submit your work for consideration. Ideally, there will be about 10 additions each week per gallery).
Some of the most popular posts that have ever been published on the Vandelay Design blog are the collections of websites with a minimalist design style. Minimal Exhibit is a niche gallery that showcases only sites with excellent use of minimalism in the design.
Finding inspiration is important to designers of all kinds. For web designers there is plenty of design inspiration available online through gallery sites and design blogs that compile posts for inspiration. This abundance of potential inspiration makes it quick and easy to browse through these sources, but unfortunately it also tends to make many of us forget that there are limitless sources of inspiration all around us in every day life that don’t involve the internet.
Budget limitations are common with non-profit and charitable organizations. As a result, organizations often compromise on the need for an effective and attractive website. However, the websites shown here represent some of the most well designed websites of non-profits.
Networks of websites owned by the same company are obviously very common. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the trends of major networks as well as to provide a showcase of the various sites that make up the network, so in this post we’ll do just that. We’ll look at 7 major networks and make some observations about common practices and trends.
Part of the reason a network of sites may be stronger than the individual sites would be collectively is that visitors are able to associate the sites as being connected. If a visitor is new to a particular site in the network, the site may still have a familiar feel because he or she has already been to other sites in the network.
Branding and identity are important for any website or business, but a network of sites is able to capitalize on this more so than an individual site. The identity may be established by displaying the logo of the network, by stating that it is part of the network, or just by having a familiar look and feel that indicates it is part of the network.
Testimonials from customers and clients are used on a lot of websites to demonstrate credibility and build trust. In response to a reader request, I put together this post to showcase testimonials in action on a variety of websites. Here you’ll see more than 25 sites using testimonials, many with different approaches. Hopefully these will give you some ideas for use in your own design work.
As a designer, each of your clients and projects is unique. However, there are certain things that you will need to know or understand about all of your clients in order to produce your best work for them. An effective website will be built to address the specific needs of the business, which will require the designer to accurately understand a lot of details about the business.
In this article we’ll look at nine things that should be discussed between the designer and the client at the start of the project to improve the likelihood of success. These topics focus on getting to know the business and their needs, rather than contractual issues like payment and deadlines.
The need for schools, universities and other educational institutions to have a quality website is constantly increasing as online technologies become a bigger part of the educational process, and as students and prospective students turn to the internet for information.
In this post we’ll feature 25 well-designed educational websites.
One of the keys to WordPress’s flexibility and endless possibilities is the use of custom fields. With custom fields you can do all kinds of things, but most designers and developers who are new to WordPress are not familiar with how to put custom fields into practice. In this post we’ll look at a number of tutorials that will show you some potential uses of custom fields, as well as a handful of plugins that make it easier or more productive to use custom fields.
Using WordPress Custom Fields: Introduction
This article from Justin Tadlock gives an overview of custom fields, and it’s actually the introductory post to a series on the subject of custom fields (other posts in the series are included in the list). If you’re not familiar with custom fields or if you just want to make sure you get the basics before moving further, this article is a great starting point.
Many of the most popular posts on this blog are collections of Photoshop tutorials in specific categories. I thought it would be helpful to also do a post that features the best tutorials of all kinds. This post links to more than 60 excellent tutorials and they are categorized by type. Some of these have been featured here at various points, and others are new.
Updated regularly with articles, resources, and inspiration for web designers.
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