Tag Archives: Design

Do you want to learn how to design websites? The best way to learn is probably through books. With a book you don’t have to sit in front of a glowing screen, reading impatiently in “Internet Time” (where everything seems to go to slowly for your liking). You can, instead, read it at your own pace, and you will likely retain more of the information. Also, books will likely have more refined content, as they’ve been fine-tuned over the publication process.

So, without further ado, here are some books that I’ve found to be essential for learning CSS design.

1. HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition - A great primer/reference for CSS and (X)HTML.
2. The CSS Anthology – Learn how to make 2/3 column css layouts (fixed and liquid), style forms, create CSS rollovers, and more. The CSS Anthology covers “101 essential tips, tricks, and hacks” that anyone who works with CSS should know.
   
3. How to Design and Build the Coolect Web Site in Cyberspace – Though it was written awhile back, when tabular designs were common, this book covers basic things that designers should know about. A great companion to Web Design Expert.
   
4. Web Design Expert – In Web Design Expert, Nick Nettleton (author of How to Design and Build the Coolect Web Site in Cyberspace) teaches basic design methods, taking a more informational approach than the prior book, which walks you through creating a website.
   

Have you run into a brick wall while designing a new layout? It happens a lot, but there’s an easy remedy. First, head over to Smashing Magazine and look at their design roundups. Still stuck? It’s time too look through some design galleries. There are a lot of them, definitely more than I have here, but here are some of the better known ones, along with some new galleries that I stumbled across.

• CSS Vault
• CSS Based
• CSS Beauty
• CSS Drive
• CSS Mania
• Screenalicio.us
• FaveUp (also has business cards and logos)
• CSS Reboot – A Pligg design gallery.
• CSS Elite

Those design galleries sure like the term “CSS,” don’t they? Seven out of nine are called “CSS [fill-in-the-blank].” You could probably find a lot of design galleries if you Google inurl:css.

What are your favorite websites (design-wise)? We all want to know.

Here’s how it works:

• You submit the URLs of websites with cool designs via the contact form (or the post comments). Try to think up a few sites, and submit the URLs in one message (I’d prefer not to get 27 emails per person…).
• After a week or so, the entire list of links (and image previews) will be posted in a Smashing Magazine-style post. So, I’d recommend using the contact form so as to avoid spoiling the anticipation.

You may submit your own blog, but only if it’s a truly exceptional (and unique) design. So if you use Misty Look or No So Fresh, your site is definitely not eligible.

Submit any cool-looking site you’ve seen, and you’re own if it’s designed well. I’ll be adding a few designs to the mix, and exercising editorial control over the submissions (read: filtering out spam submissions). Have fun, and get your entries in (remember: submit them in one batch!).

There’s writer’s block, but what about designer’s block? I’ve been trying to design a new template for a tech blog, but I’ve been unable to do so. I’ve got a general idea of how I want to lay-out the content and sidebars, but as for the overall look….

Not even design galleries have helped so far. I open up Photoshop to make a mock-up, and a pay around for a little, but I don’t end up with any viable results. I even tried “just having fun with CSS” to see if I’d get anything good. Did I? Not really.

If you have any tips for combating “Designer’s Block,” be sure to post them in the comments.