Wide World Of Web Design

To all those Grinches on Wall Street … Thanks for nothing!
In the midst of a global economic Freefall, I’d say now’s the time to bid an eager farewell to 2008, and in doing so I guess it’s always good to pause and reflect on the last year (while also bracing ourselves for what we can only hope are more prosperous times ahead …) Looking back, I’d have to say I fielded an unexpected number of Web Design related questions that fall into the “How Do I …” category, and although this would normally give me good reason to panic (I know much less than I pretend to ..) it is my good fortune to lay claim to a reliable arsenal of trusty resources, or should I say, a veritable “well” of expertise from which to draw upon. It was in the course of attempting to provide the best answers possible to many of these questions that I found myself revisiting the same handful of resources time and time again, so it seemed only natural to make a summary list of Links leading readers to some of the best and brightest minds in the World of Web Design and Development.

This could easily be a Top Ten list, but I’ve trimmed it down to an economical Top Seven, and you may also notice at some point that all of these websites have already been referenced throughout previous postings on this site, but they’re all worth repeating, so here goes …

• A List Apart - These are some of the best minds around, and this is probably the best collection of articles on Web Design coding techniques. This is where I learned about things such as Sprites and the Sliding Doors …
• Go To And Learn - When it comes to Flash Tutorials (video tutorials no less) this should be the first place you go to. This has it all, with script downloads and a well traveled Forums. It gets pretty advanced, but some of the early tutorials are extremely useful, such as building your own preloader, an mp3 player, and how to create Full-Browser Flash movies …
• Community MX - Here you’ll find an abundance of Tutorials on all aspects of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, etc .., and although there’s a fee per article or to join by subscription, they have one of the best User Forums anywhere …
• Dynamic Drive - I refer people to this website a lot, because it’s just so darn convenient when you need Image Effects, Slideshows, or any number of things that the magic of javascript can provide. Not only that, but their CSS Library section is great for some pre-coded navigation menus and CSS Layouts …
• HTMLsource - I mention this website often in the Learning Series videos, because it really is a clean, simple, easy-to-follow recipe on learning the basics for HTML and CSS …
• DMC Insights (Larry Ullman) - Larry authored my favorite books on PHP and MySQL, and his skills extend much farther to include Ajax, Adobe AIR, Ruby and C++. Besides great books, the Forums are of great benefit and the Newsletter always insightful. One thing is for sure, the information is always right in step with what’s current and just over the horizon …

Besides these, I also like to browse through CSS Mania on a regular basis just for inspiration, because sometimes it’s easy to get so mired in code that you have to recharge those Viual Design batteries every once in a while and make sure to keep in touch with current styles, trends, and design techniques.

So I hope these links prove to be as helpful to you as they have been for me.