MyInkTrail: Best of the Design Community June 2009

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Well, I’m a little tardy on this month’s MyInkTrail… but better late than never I suppose. Despite some domain and hosting issues MyInkBlog is back on track.

This month I focused on quality HTML and CSS advice. At the end of this roundup is a featured sites list which is chock full of cool new sites I’ve found this month. I hope you folks enjoy this month’s best of the design community!

Articles

line25 10 HTML Crimes You Really Shouldn’t Commit

Chris puts together this list of 10 HTML issues to avoid. It’s a simple list, but a great reminder. A must read for newer web designers.

 

uxbooth How To Approach Categories and Navigation in Blogging

I love articles that go into depth on the proper way to handle navigation. It’s something that I need to improve on and will do so in my next design iteration of MyInkBlog. A lot of good points are made about the common misuses of categories within blogs.

 

sohtanaka CSS Beginners Do’s and Dont’s Part 2

This article covers 5 important tips to help you write cleaner, more optimized CSS. And if you’re thirsty for more, be sure to check out the first part.

 

creative-curio 4 Tips for Creating an Effective Poster Design

This article features helpful design tips when working with large poster designs. And 3 of the tips are ideal for pretty much any graphic design that you do.

 

smashing Take Your Design To The Next Level With CSS3

I love the new features in CSS3. I plan to use a lot of progressive enhancements in this site’s redesign. So anything CSS3 related I’ve been reading up on.

 

kyle-steed Defending Your Offense

Kyle makes a ploy for designers to know their weaknesses and to improve on them. He offers some great advice on how to take your designs from good to great.

 

css-tricks Web Nerd Terminology (Explained)

The web nerd dictionary; I love it! Check out this post out and learn up on terms like “Borked”.

 

build-internet Five Minute Upgrade – Making Your Design Pop

Paying attention to the small details can really help you improve your designs. This post features quality tips about how to make your designs pop.

 

Tutorials

line25 How to Create a CSS Menu Using Image Sprites

This is certainly not the first time css sprites have been covered, but this is a clear, concise explanation that features cool Apple-inspired menu example.

 

build-internet-author Displaying Author Meta Information in WordPress 2.8

This tutorial covers some of the new features of the author meta information that you can utilize in WordPress 2.8.

 

vectips Turn Any Font Into a Sketch Font

The handwritten font look has become really popular lately in web and graphic design. This tutorial shows you how to create a cool sketched look on any font in just a few steps.

 

Freebies

fudge-graphics Free Hi-Res Old Grunge Paper Textures

Textures are an awesome addition to almost any photoshop design project. These hi-res grunge paper textures are a fantastic addition to your texture library.

 

vector-tuts 30 Different Flying Birds Vector Freebie

A cool set of 30 free vector birds. I love having this type of file in my designer’s toolbox.

 

webdesigner-depot 30 Photoshop Brushes: ‘Drippy Sprays’

This is a nice set of spraypaint style dripping brushes that are sure to help you grunge up your designs.

 

colorburned 20 Spray & Splat Brushes for Photoshop

As long as we are on the subject of grunge brushes, here is another great set of spray, splatter brushes.

 

Compilations

design-cubicle 50 Alluring Typography and Grid Focused Websites

A compilation of beautiful typography and grid designs in websites. This post makes for a great bookmark to go back to when you are in need of quality web design inspiration.

 

minervity 14 Invaluable Tools To Check The Real Worth of Your Design Work

It’s always fun to find out the estimated value of your blog. This post showcases a bunch of estimators, and some other tools to help you estimate design costs.

 

six-revisions 26 Beautiful Photoshop Tutorials on Designing Posters

A collection of 26 poster design tutorials. A really good list, that was made even better by including a MyInkBlog tutorial :)

 

command-shift-design My Web Design Toolbox

I talk a lot here on MyInkBlog about having a designer’s toolbox. Liz from Cmd + Shift Design Blog shares the tools that she uses the most.

 

Featured Sites

texture-lovers My Web Design Toolbox

A great new texture site that is well organized and beautifully designed. I love that the site showcases a good use of texture within it’s own design and offers texture inspiration and texture tutorials.

 

flippa Flippa

This is the spin off of Sitepoint Marketplace. A cool new design with great new search features. Clearly, this is the best blog auction site available.

 

font-ex FontEx

A beautifully designed site that showcases a collection of hand-picked quality fonts. The site features easy to use categories and the fonts are also indexed by letter.

 

morgue-file Morgue File

A newer and free stock photography site. You can never have enough of these resources.

 

the-designed The Designed

A cool new design blog. Quality roundups, tips and resources.

 

ss-bits SSbits

This site is updated often and features tips on all things Silverstripe. Which is an awesome open source CMS.

 

digging-into-wordpress Digging into WordPress

Chris Coyier of CSS Tricks and Jeff Starr of Perishable Press have teamed up to bring you this new WordPress blog that will also serve as the home for an upcoming book by the same name that they are working on.

 

fuel-your-photography Fuel Your Photography

Another new site for the Fuel Empire. A nice bookmark for cool photography inspiration, news and tips.

 

About the Author

Andrew is a primary contributer for MyInkBlog. He is a full time web developer for Niagara University. When he's not working there, he's a blogger, twitter'er, wordpress'er, silverstripe advocate, blessed father and husband.

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  • http://arbent.net Angie Bowen

    Great roundup as always Andrew! The link for Texture Lovers needs to be fixed though. It’s My Web Design Toolbox again. :)
    .-= Angie Bowen´s last blog ..Comment and Win a Kartell – Prince AHA Stool / Table =-.

  • http://www.myinkblog.com Andrew Houle

    @Angie – Thank for catching that :)

  • http://kylesteed.com kyle steed

    Andrew, thanks for including my article here. Hopefully you can catch up with us over at Chat Creative this Wednesday.
    .-= kyle steed´s last blog ..What’s Going On =-.

  • http://www.myinkblog.com Andrew Houle

    @Kyle – Yeah, that sounds cool, I’ll definitely try to be there.

  • http://www.sitesketch101.com Nicholas Z. Cardot

    Thanks for the great round up. I especially like the tutorial about turning any font into a sketch font. I’ve been collecting sketch fonts for a while now and now it seems like my collection can be unlimited by simply using that tutorial on any font I want. Thanks!
    .-= Nicholas Z. Cardot´s last blog ..Social Bookmarking Module for Joomla =-.

  • http://www.favshare.net favSHARE

    This article has been shared on favSHARE.net.
    .-= favSHARE´s last blog ..How Popular are You? Top 10 Tools to Measure Your Twitter Influence & Grade =-.

  • http://www.fudgegraphics.com/ Franz Jeitz

    A great roundup once again. I’m always looking forward to the MyInkTrail since there’s always some articles and resources that I had missed. Also wanted to say thanks for including my paper textures.
    .-= Franz Jeitz´s last blog ..Tutorial: Create A Retro Cosmic Design in Photoshop =-.

  • http://thecreativelab.timothybsmith.com Tim Smith

    Thanks for the great round-up Andrew! I always like the featured sites. It’s nice to view new and upcoming sites. Thanks again.
    .-= Tim Smith´s last blog ..How to Start a Blog =-.

  • http://thedesigned.com Greg

    Hey thanks for including The Designed!!! Awesome!!
    .-= Greg´s last blog ..33 Apple logo wallpapers for your iPhone =-.

  • http://creativecurio.com LaurenMarie – Creative Curio

    Love these roundups. There’s always something here that I missed somehow! I liked the Five Minute Upgrade from Build Internet especially. They were things I know, but sometimes a slightly different perspective or a reminder of what can be done is so helpful.

    Thank you for the link to the Creative Curio posters article. I enjoyed that one, too (it was a guest post).
    .-= LaurenMarie – Creative Curio´s last blog ..Investigating Good Design: Del Taco Campaign =-.

  • http://www.merttol.com Mert TOL

    Very nice collection Andrew.
    .-= Mert TOL´s last blog ..Find Out About The Accessibility Standards =-.

  • http://webhostingsearch.com Eva Vesper

    Awesome round-up Andrew. I totally missed out on FYP.

  • http://www.wordpressintegration.com PSD to Wordpress Theme

    hey Andrew,

    Thanks for the great round-up Andrew! I always like the featured sites. Thanks again.