Design Shack - Web design showcase, CSS tutorials and web standards
About
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.
Articles & Tutorials
25 Beautifully Designed Web Agency Sites
Getting noticed in an industry as competitive and overcrowded as web design is no mean feat. In order to stand out, first impressions need to be both targeted and executed to perfection.
To provide an insight into how it should be done, we’ve compiled a list of 25 of the most beautifully designed web agency sites. These amazing sites all have that “wow factor”, displaying cutting edge design alongside marketing savoir-faire. They are conscious of their target clientele, whether it’s large corporations or personal clients, presenting an understanding of their needs.
Creating a Well Designed Invoice: Step-by-Step
Boring paperwork is one of the necessary evils of being a freelance designer.
There’s simply no way around it, if you want to track and manage payments from clients, you’re going to have to setup an invoicing system. It’s not all bad news though; the fun part is that you actually get to design a custom invoice.
Today we’ll walk through designing an invoice from scratch. I’ll be as in-depth as possible and include everything you need to know from the absolute basics to advanced features and even a little design theory.
A Smashing Review of the Smashing Book
When Smashing Magazine first announced the release of their book, I have to confess that I was slightly sceptical. I enjoy their blog regularly, but didn’t really see how the concept would carry across to a book – or what topics it would cover.
I’ve spent a few hours reading through my review copy over the past week, and have been pleasantly surprised. Sven and Vitaly have managed to bring several talented writers on board to help put together a thoroughly interesting read.
This review will walk you through the book’s contents, and outline a few of the chapters I particularly enjoyed!
15 Design Tips to Learn From Apple
There is no shortage of companies that follow popular design trends to appeal to a mass market. Much more rare is the breed of company that actually sets design trends. Today we’ll examine the techniques of a company that occupies the top of the design food chain: Apple.
Below you’ll find 15 practical ways to follow Apple’s example in creating beautiful interfaces.
Win a Copy of Five Simple Steps: A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web
That’s right, it’s time for another amazing giveaway. Are you excited? I hope so.
Read on to find out how you can win a copy of the the excellent book Five Simple Steps: A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web by Mark Boulton.
20+ Examples of Fantastic Fixed-Position Navigation
A site with fixed-position navigation is one that never allows the user to lose site of the directory links as they scroll.
This simple trick makes for a site that is incredibly easy to navigate and is ideally suited for specific types of content. Below we’ll take a look at both the most common and the most unique uses of fixed navigation in web design.
How to Make Money as a Freelance Designer
So you want to be a freelancer, now what?
Despite the glamorous reputation, freelance design is no walk in the park. It takes an incredible work ethic, significant entrepreneurial prowess, and a little bit of insanity to pull it off effectively. This article will discuss how to effectively make a living as a freelancer (designer or otherwise). Since we are in fact a design blog, I’ll scatter in some well-designed freelancer sites along the way for inspiration.
In Depth With Adii: The Growth of a Rockstar
Today we’re starting a new series of interviews, in which we’ll have an in-depth and fascinating conversion with various industry leading figures. We’re kicking things off with Adii Rockstar, a WordPress guru and the man behind WooThemes.
We’ll be discussing Adii’s early days as a designer, the rise and growth of WooThemes, a standard working day, his favourite hardware and software, and a number of new projects he’s beginning to get involved with this year.
15 Tips for Designing Terrific Tables
Tables of information are boring.
In a sense, they’re meant to be that way. A good table communicates a lot of information in a concise, easy to understand way. Because the emphasis really should be on the information, over-designing a table can kill the effectiveness. However, in the right hands, clever design can not only make a table more attractive, but can actually increase readability.
Today we’ll take a look at several ways you can improve the functionality and aesthetics of your tables. One of the most common places we currently find tables online is on a web app’s pricing page so most of our examples will take this form, just keep in mind that these principles can apply to any type of informative grid (whether or not it’s actually a <table>).
20+ Outstanding Mac Apps for Designers
Like every good designer, I’m a complete Mac addict.
Ok, that’s probably going to get me into trouble, not every good designer uses a Mac. But honestly, you should. The strong emphasis on beautiful design in Mac apps is hard to overlook and is in fact a necessity for anything that makes its way into my applications folder.
There is a never ending sea of amazing Mac applications available online. Here’s a list 20, undoubtedly incredible apps that will make your life as a designer a lot easier. When possible, I’ve included both high quality professional apps as well as their free alternatives.
