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Design Shack showcases inspiring web design, alongside resources and tutorials for you to succeed in the same way. It is carefully curated and edited by Josh Johnson and David Appleyard.


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Latest Articles

27 Utilities for Saving and Sharing Code Snippets

By Joshua Johnson, On 30th Jul 2010, 13 Comments

You’ve got countless bits of HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and PHP rolling around in your head and on your hard drive that you are forced to try to recall each time you start a project. It’s time to get organized.

This post will briefly point you to 27 great utilities that not only help you store your favorite snippets both locally and in the cloud, but also make sharing with others a breeze. Enjoy!

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The Designer’s Guide to Taking Better Photos

By Joshua Johnson, On 29th Jul 2010, 11 Comments

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I’ve mentioned several times before that photography is one of the most natural complements to your skills as a designer. We designers are in constant need of very specific imagery and this can and does lead to hours of searching, unnecessary stock fees and ultimately the use of imagery that has a high likelihood of being found on the projects of countless other designers.

Becoming a decent photographer can save you time and money and provide you with a serious competitive edge in the form of truly unique imagery that no one in the world possesses but you.

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Web Design Critique #10: Creative Ad Awards

By Joshua Johnson, On 29th Jul 2010, 1 Comment

Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well as well as those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback.

Today’s site is Creative Ad Awards, a showcase for well designed advertisements.

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Tips for Designing for Colorblind Users

By Joshua Johnson, On 28th Jul 2010, 11 Comments

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It’s estimated that about 8% of males and 0.5% of females are born colorblind. That may seem like a low number but if you’re designing for a large audience, having a site that’s unusable for eight out of every hundred males is definitely less than desirable.

Fortunately, you can fairly easily make sure that your site is colorblind friendly by always keeping in mind the information below. We’ll take a look at what colorblindness really means and how you can tweak your designs based on a few simple principles.

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◀ Articles Archive

Community

How to Get More Web Design Work With a Great Prospect List

“In this post we’ll look into what prospects are, how to define a good one, and how creating a good list can help any web design business.”

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40 Better Ways to Work With Clients

“We all suffer from problem clients. However, sometimes the problem is not with the client but our ability to work with them. In this presentation Paul will share 40 practical tips on how to improve how you work with clients.”

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CSS: Noob to Ninja – the Complete Video Series

“This exclusive premium video series will take you from a state of absolute CSS “noobness,” all the way up to ninja-status, capable of taking advantage of the latest CSS3 techniques.”

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35 Books All Freelance Web Developers Should Read

“Reading is essential to any developer’s improvement. While blogs and magazines are great to read for a quick update, nothing replaces a good informative book.”

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Making User Interface Elements Difficult to Use by Intent

“A big part of designing user interfaces that are easy to use also involves figuring out what things should be a bit more difficult to to use. It’s a counter-intuitive notion that’s central to effective user interface design.”

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Free Stock File of the Week: PHP Simple Members System

A system that allows you to manage your members. Normally $7 so grab it quick!

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20+ Design Blogs That Release Quality Freebies

“Commonly-found resources include textures, Photoshop brushes, vectors, icons, patterns, and more. In today’s post I’d like to feature 20 design blogs that give back to the community by frequently releasing freebies to their readers.”

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