Tweet-Parade (No.34 Aug 2011)

It’s weekend again! .. And you know what that means: a brand new Tweet-Parade! A Tweet-Parade is a post filled with the best articles of last week from the various blogs around the world. It’s all about webdesign, graphic design, typography, social media and more. A broad scale of topics, but never-the-less the underlying focus is on Design.

Also I see this as my personal bookmarks of great articles from the Community of the last period. The different articles and post are categorized by their main topics. The best way to keep track of these tweets is simply to follow me on Twitter.

 

Webdesign, CSS, HTML, jQuery, Usability, etc.

10 Excellent HTML5 coding Tools Many Users Don’t Know About - HTML5 will radically change the way we make websites and web apps. So here are 10 great tools that are amazing for simplifying and enhancing HTML5 coding.

A Comprehensive List of PHP Frameworks - PHP frameworks are tools used by many programmers and web developers to make their job easy in simplifying and facilitating the codingin PHP.

25 Handy jQuery Tutorials - jQuery is a “write less, do more” JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML. Released in 2006, it has become synonymous with script.

HTML5 And The Document Outlining Algorithm - By now, we all know that we should be using HTML5 to build websites. The discussion now is moving on to how to use HTML5 correctly.

New Approaches To Designing Log-In Forms - For many of us, logging into websites is a part of our daily routine. In fact, we probably do it so often that we’ve stopped having to think about how it’s done…

10 Excellent Developers Websites You should Bookmark - A lot of websites are out there that can prove to be really helpful for web developers. So here is a list of 10 great sites that would be really useful for web developers.

Design Trend: Interfaces with Less Information - When looking at some of the major new designs launched in recent days, an interesting trend seems to emerge: interfaces are getting slimmed down, showing less information at a glance.

21 top tools for responsive web design - To get started with building a responsive site, having a strong toolkit can make a world of difference.

The Key Features of a Perfect Landing Page - Computer technology has had a huge impact on the economy and education, and the number of online transactions is escalating. This makes competition tough, although there are endless opportunities.

10+ Google Map Javascript Resources to Kick Start Your Mapping Skill - Google Map is one of my favorite tools to search for direction because of its speed and accuracy. Nowadays, we always receive request from clients from basic implementation to fairly complicated implementation

FLEXSLIDER [*] - an awesome, fully responsive jQuery slider plugin

40 Brilliant and Advanced jQuery Effects To Use In Your Websites – Today, there’s an upward trend seen in the web development world to use alternative technologies to Flash, such as jQuery, Ajax and others.

How to Install A Shopping Cart Software In Your Website In Under 5 Minutes - If you are an aspiring entrepreneur looking to start an online business, the first thing that you need to do is to setup your online shop.

Techniques for Constructing Usable Registration Forms - Most websites offer a way for users to sign up into their databases. This is often coupled with a username or e-mail address tied to a unique user ID number.

Replacing Subtle Flash Animations with CSS3 - I often come across instances of animations and other effects that look like perfect candidates to be switched to equivalent CSS3-based solution.

Master CSS gradients - The word gradient has many different meanings, but in CSS, a gradient is strictly defined as a gradual transition between a range of (at least two) colours. CSS gradients are a fairly recent development but have already been through a number of changes.

10 Online Tools to Help Optimize and Format CSS - Optimizing your CSS will not only allow your web page to load quicker, it also increases the durability and resilience of your site when there is a spike in visitors (i.e. Digg effect) and for most of us, the most important ..

7 jQuery Plugins You Might Not Know - jQuery is a really good addition to web development. Not only it’s easy to use but also has a big developer community. I given up on Javascript once, but jQuery simply change the whole game – animation, interactive component and web elements can be made quickly and easily.

A Developer’s Guide to HTML5 Canvas - Undoubtedly, the canvas element in HTML5 is the feature that most developers will want to use to develop truly rich web applications – without needing to install browser plug-ins like Adobe’s Flash player.

The Concept of Balance in Web Design - In design, balance is the notion that elements are symmetrical, which in turn creates harmony, order, and cohesion. Often found in nature, the concept often yields aesthetically pleasing results that are complete in our minds.

20 Facilitatory jQuery Gallery Plugins - Ever since its release, jQuery is getting due attention of Coders. With little coding you can actually produce amazing results. You can see effective use of jQuery in image galleries.

MySQL for Absolute Beginners - A database is an essential part of most websites and blogs, but setting up and using a database can be a daunting task for the beginner web developer.

Writing CSS For Others – I think a lot of us CSS authors are doing it wrong. We are selfish by nature; we get into our little bubbles, writing CSS (as amazing as it may be) with only ourselves in mind. How many times have you inherited a CSS file that’s made you say “WTF” ..

Responsive Web Design. Roundup from DesignFloat - Responsive Web Design can be named one of the most discussed topics among designers and developers today. Responsive web design means the transformation of the websites that are built for the desktops into the corresponding designs that are suitable for mobile devices and tablets.

Techniques for Constructing Usable Registration Forms - Most websites offer a way for users to sign up into their databases. This is often coupled with a username or e-mail address tied to a unique user ID number.

Learning to be responsive - I love having this site not just as a portfolio but also as a living, breathing, ongoing tool that I can tweak and hack around to my hearts content experimenting with new methods and technology and either discard or keep it depending on the result.

 

Graphic Design, Brand Identity, (Web) Typography, etc.

23 Creative Uses of CSS3 Text Effects to Enhance Your Web Presence - CSS3 offers some great text effects. To give a website a visually impressive look, designers put emphasis on neat and stylish typography.

Tips On Typefaces In Webdesign and Font Hosts - When it comes to the design of your website a big part of the look and feel is down to the appearance and overall style of your text.

The relevance of the baseline grid - when you consider that the baseline grid is derived from a combination of the typeface’s x-height and your desired leading, it proves one very important point: typography is at the centre of absolutely everything we do.

Autosave in Adobe Illustrator Using the Actions Palette - If you participate in vector graphics forums, then you might have seen the question “Is there an Autosave feature in Adobe Illustrator?” and theorists would always say “no, there is not,”

Quick Tip: Using the Rotate Tool in Adobe Illustrator - At first glance, the Rotate tool is pretty basic. But there are some little-known techniques you can use to enhance its functionality. Find out more in this Video Quick Tip.

Surviving Logo Design in the Real World: Context and Meaning - The primary goal of a logo is to communicate a brand. If done properly, the logo should be a singular representation of that organization as well as an element of a brand’s foundation.

45+ Free Online Tools To Create Charts, Diagrams And Flowcharts - Charts and graphs are the best ways to represent information and relationship between two interlinked entities. Not only do charts and graphs inform visitors about the trend or relationship ..

 

Blogging, Social Media, WordPress, Writing, etc.

18 Tips to Enhance Your WordPress Blog Traffic - We are eager to sum up some thoughts and experiences of working with blogs and share them with you. Hopefully you will please us with captivating and cozy blogs after learning some keys ..

How Does LinkedIn Grow Your Business? - Social media marketing, part of digital marketing, is a great way to build relationships and grow your business. It’s no surprise Linkedin recently ranked as the second most popular social media platform in the world.

WordPress Initialization - I’ve been learning about WordPress for the past year and a half by building themes and reading through the awesome tutorials posted across the net.

The Effective Ways To Increase Your Facebook Fans - Facebook is one of the leading marketing tools that businesses use these days to find new customers, stay in touch with their existing customers, provide assistance to their existing customers and promote new products.

Influencers Are Real, But they’re Not Always Who You Expect - I find myself in the quantity of followers versus quality of followers debate quite a bit. And one of the fundamental questions of that argument is the concept of influencers.

22 Secrets Of Power Bloggers - I was watching Seth Godin who is one of the worlds top bloggers, being interviewed the other day on an online video. I had never seen him on video before or even seen a photo of him except for his blog photo which is a rather memorable partial image.

Understand Caching in WordPress, Part 1: The Basics - The bad news: if you run WordPress, then sooner or later, you’ll have to understand caching. Caching is critical to site performance.

How To Build Your Brand On The Internet And Social Networks - Some people get on the Internet to relax or escape from the day. They piddle around on Facebook or surf their favorite sites. Some even read this blog.

How to Use LinkedIn Mail to Connect With Your Contacts - It represents a powerful way to stay in touch with important people (when used properly). Keep reading to learn how to keep in touch with prospects and customers with LinkedIn Mail.

The Social Timing Sweet Spot: Timing your posts for optimal results - Some of us tweet and post on Facebook almost nonstop throughout our day, while others tend to limit their posts to a few updates here and there for fear of overloading their friends and followers.

Usernoise Modal Feedback: A Free WordPress Contact Form That Just Works - WordPress sites are always in need of a good contact form. Are you looking for a feedback/contact form that works, right out of the box, with attractive aesthetics and a simple yet full-featured form?

Free HTML5 Themes - If you need a WordPress theme that uses the modern technologies of HTML5 and CSS3 then you’ve come to the right place,

6 Tips to Secure WordPress from Hackers - 20% of all new active websites are now using WordPress as their content management system, and along with this huge increase in WordPress users is a greater increase in websites being hacked.

Get Less Fans! Why sometimes less is more in social media - Every business today contemplates a social media strategy on how to gain thousands, if not millions, of Facebook Fans, subscribers, and Twitter followers.

Reduce spam on your WordPress blog by using .htaccess - Sick of spammers? Of course, Akismet helps a lot, but your .htaccess file can also help: Today’s recipe is a snippet that prevent spam bots to directly access your wp-comments-post.php file

Tips for Blogging Success - A few weeks back I put together a some tips and guidelines for our guest bloggers. I’ve been told that the information is useful so I thought I’d share it with you guys as well.

Getting Started With WordPress Shortcodes - In this article, you will be given a detailed explanation of WordPress’ shortcode API and learn how to create a shortcode… the right way.

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Mastering LinkedIn - With more than 100 million users, LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professionals as well as one of the top social networks overall. Are you using it to its fullest potential?

Use your blog to get design jobs - Are you a freelance designer? Are you interested in boosting your credibility, building your client base and increasing your number of paying projects?

 

Search Engine Optimalization, Rankings, Analytics, etc.

7 Tips To Help Your Website Load Faster - There are several things to look at when your website has bad latency.  Slow loading pages can be frustrating for viewers and can be loss of business for you.

Be Realistic with Your Keyword Research - Keyword research is arguably the most important building blocks of any SEO campaign. The keywords you select will determine what searches your site ranks for and who can see your site.

Straightforward SEO for Webdesigners - Dreaded by many Webdesigners, SEO often seems like a headache better left to coders or marketing analysts, but there’s no reason for standing around on the sidelines.

Current SEO Tips & Tricks - SEO or search engine optimization is big business in web design and search these days. In this article I’d like to focus on some current tips and tricks you can utilize on your site to boost your seo ranking in search engines.

Bing Gives a List of 18 SEO Fundamentals - Microsoft is systematically killing off the mystery of Bing-Yahoo optimization. In addition to a post on quality content that we covered previously, Bing has now told us the 18 fundamental things that webmasters need to know.

“How Does Social Media Such As Blogs, Twitter And Facebook Help Your SEO? “ - This question is being asked more often and the hype of Social Media can overwhelm the basic foundation of building a well designed website that is optimised for good organic SEO, but the truth lies in using both to create top ranking organic SEO.

SEO Essentials for Freelance Web Designers - The life of a freelance web designer brings you freedom in your work and allows you to escape the confines of a boring 9-5 office life and develop your creativity within the comfort of your own home.

Don’t Forget About Internal Link Building! - Link building doesn’t just happen off-site; it is also a critical component of your site’s structure, navigation and overall user-experience.

 

Tutorials

JavaScript and CSS Spinners with spin.js - I think it’s safe to say the days of using images to provide the “small touches” are over.  We can now safely create gradients, drop shadows, rounded corners, and scaled, rotated, transformed animations.

35 Important PHP Tutorials and Development Techniques - The most popular and important scripting language PHP is pretty famous among the developers since a long. Its one of the easiest to learn and pretty handy which comes in use in WordPress and other corporate communities.

Building a Website with PHP, MySQL and jQuery Mobile, Part 2 - This is the second part of a two-part tutorial, in which we use PHP, MySQL and jQuery mobile to build a simple computer web store.

How to Create An Ajax-Based HTML5/CSS3 Contact Form - Contact form is deadly essential for any website, as it acts as a messenger which passes the opinion or enquiries of visitors to webmaster.

20+ Interesting Adobe Illustrator Icon Design Tutorials - Every web designer knows that details are an important part of any kind of project and it doesn’t matter if it is an eCommerce website or a creative design blog.

Create a Filterable Portfolio Powered by jQuery [*] - In this tutorial I will show you how to create a filterable portfolio using jQuery. The idea is to display all of your work in a single page that would have a filtering option allowing visitors to filter portfolio items by category.

 

F*cking Brilliant, a great Read or just magnificent Tips!

You Should Build Websites That Empower Site Owners - Until recently, managing a website required, at the very least, familiarity with HTML. Updating a web page required the ability to work with FTP.

Adopting Feng Shui in Web Design - Feng Shui, pronounced fung-SHWAY, is an ancient Chinese practice of aesthetically placing things in a specific way in order to allow positive Qi to flow through the environment.

Here’s What I Know - I’m a designer. Sometimes I try to be a developer. Other times I’m asked to be an illustrator. There are even scenarios where I get hired by a client and am expected to be a calligrapher.

Making up Stories: Perception, Language, and the Web - Storytelling is a buzzword with lots of different interpretations. Either the internet is killing stories, or it’s the best thing to happen to them since the printing press.

How to write a Visual Identity Brief - In the same way that most people will pay close attention to the way they dress, how you ‘dress up’ your business deserves just as much attention.

Better First Impressions Through Design - Much of UX for the Web focuses on the experiences users have while they’re interacting with a website or web application. But that focus neglects a key part of the user experience: the first impression visitors have when they initially discover a product or company.

Things You Really Shouldn’t Put on CV - Your CV speaks about you much before you are given a Chance to speak to. Thus the Importance of CV can not be sidelined. Your selection for an Interview strongly depends on how Effective and Communicative your CV is.

How To Force Yourself To Be Creative - Sometimes (okay a lot of the time), the life of a creative is less about inspiration and more about needing to get x done so that y can happen.

6 Questions to Ask Before You Start a New Project - I have been a designer for about thirteen years, and most of my business during the past two years has come from new clients. Many have been new up-start businesses, not-for-profit groups and educational networks.

Hot Google+ Tips for Freelancers - So how exactly do you use Google+ to (a) make it a tool for finding clients, and (b) keep it from sucking up any more of the time you’re already using for social networking?

Getting rusty – we need new best practices for a different development world - Here’s the good news: we, those who promoted open web standards, have won! The web of today uses less and less closed technology and plugins and HTML, CSS and JavaScript are the tools used to create a lot of great web experiences.

Is Your Company Guilty of These 5 Social Media Mistakes? - Even though social media has matured over the last few years into an invaluable marketing tool, there are still plenty of site and business owners (and even marketers) who still don’t feel comfortable using social media.

Why Do Chairs Have Four Legs? The Cornerstones of Usable Websites - Without going into great detail about the structural design or integrity of a simple chair, they have four legs because if they didn’t we would fall over.

4 Creative Ways to Attract More Visitors to Your Website - ”How can I get more website visitors?” This is one of the most common questions I hear from clients, frustrated at the lack of business their website brings them.

5 Questions For Your New Corporate Web Design Company - Thinking about hiring someone to build your company a website? If so, you would be wise to consider your decision very, very carefully.

6 Things You Should Avoid In Projects - When you start your work (mostly as a freelancer) you feel very proud when you get your first job. The idea that someones pays you for your work is totally awesome.

So You Want To Make It In The Web Design Industry? - Sorry to be such a let down in the opening paragraph of an article, but there is none. No secret sauce or magic bullet. As with just about all careers and with things in life you need to put in the graft ..

9 Reasons for Freelance Designers to Blog - Blogging can be a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For some, blogging provides a way to communicate with friends and family. For others, blogging provides a way to grow a business or advance a career.

How To Become A Web Design Expert - Have you ever wanted to take a client by the collar, shake them around vigorously and demand that they take you seriously because you are the expert?

Relentless Quality - Quality has no room for egos. Other people will have better solutions. You are going to miss things. You are going to break things. You are going to make mistakes. And people are going to point it out.

N-Dimensional Thinking: How To Get More Out Of Your Daily To-Dos - In our jobs and in our lives, we often find ourselves facing the same list of things to do: attend the daily meeting, produce the monthly report, update the website, finish the annual reviews.

Content Meaning - I’ll let you in on a little secret that really shouldn’t be much of a secret at all: content is king, and your design will never dethrone it. We live in a world where ideas sell, and everyone is buying.

The Illusive Click: Structuring Designs to Influence Behavior - Click. That sound means you’ve done your job. The user has viewed your page and taken the action that you wanted them to. How is this achieved? Should you be thinking about this goal more as you structure your designs?

How to be More Productive and Start Earning More as a Freelance Designer - Being a freelance designer can be a great way to make money with your skills but the time will come when it seems you just can’t earn more. A major fear of every freelancer is the ..

10 Steps to the Perfect Client Meeting - You’ve scheduled your very first client meeting and now you’re nervous. Will the meeting go well? Of course, there’s no way to know for sure if your meeting will succeed, but there are some steps you can take to stack the odds in your favor.
 

I hope you have enjoyed these hand-picked great articles? Please let me know by sharing your opinion in the comments-section. Did we miss a great article, please let us know  .. To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @gonzodesign_