Having trouble designing your very own website….fear not my brave friends, we have some nice links for you to make your website building experience fun instead of frustrating!
But first, if you just don’t have the time or don’t really care to know how to build your own and just want an easy, ready to go platform to display your lovely photo’s…we suggest you look into…
Jalbum – With this fun and free software, you will have many different themes and designs to choose from to display your own photo lovin’ website (these are called skins). Jalbum boasts free software, free hosting and a friendly community. So if you don’t feel like starting from scratch, you should dive in and give them a try.
Now, some helpful links for those that want a more personal approach for their website…the brave builders with their own design in mind.
We’ll start off this venture with HTML and CSS help:
Having trouble keeping your code clean…does it look unkept and messy? Well, there is a great article called 12 Principles for Keeping Your Code Clean by Chris Coyier for cleaning up that mess! This article provides screen shots of how to clean it up and some before and after shots of what looks clean.
I know what your thinking, yes I want clean code, but how can I streamline this never ending process! You can stop pulling out your hair now, because Megan McDermott has created a wonderful article on 21 Ways to Streamline Your CSS. Or if you would like a little more information about streamlining and keeping your code clean, there is also this nifty little article by Jacob Gube: Resetting Your Styles with CSS Reset. So now that you have learned how to keep the code clean, you can breeze through the process. What more could you ask for???
How about when you run into problems and you just don’t know how to fix them or even how to avoid them? Slamming your keyboard and cursing at your monitor is just not fixing the problem, huh? Well maybe you should look into this blog post – Using CCS to Fix Anything: 20+ Common Bugs and Fixes. This is only the first part of a series, so if your problem isn’t on there…it could be in the future.
Finally, you’re probably wondering what could make life a little easier…how about some cheat sheets! Here is a comprehensive list of cheat sheets ready to print Cheat Sheets for Front-end Web Developers. Don’t spend grueling hours trying to remember the code when you can just look it up on your cheat sheet.
Now that you have the coding in check, what about the Design of your website?
Are those creative juices letting you down? Do you have too many ideas to narrow them down? Or is it just taking your forever to accomplish your design?
If it’s taking you forever to accomplish your design, what you need to know are the 48+ Greatest Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts provided by Dainis Graveris. So stop all the mousing around and go faster with your keyboard!
Still wondering how to get things done in Photoshop? Have an idea, but not sure how to apply it? Well, what you need are some tutorials and Dainis Graveris is helping in that area too with 45 Photoshop Tutorial Sites. Learning Photoshop doesn’t require a 4 year college degree when you can learn from others tutorials….so save yourself those college years.
Looking for some structure? Not sure how to make your design strategy? Look no further as Kathy McShea has an intriguing post Web Design Strategy Step-by-Step. This post will give you the questions to ask yourself on how and what you want out of your design. It will help you get organized and provide a structure for your website.
Looking for a dark website design but unsure how dark? Need some inspiration to see what others dark websites look like? We all need inspiration and Jacob Gube has provided and excellent blog post to help you see what dark can do: 50 Beautifully Dark Web Designs. So check it out and watch how a dark background on your website can make your colors pop!
Wanting to check your websites usability without is costing you your first born child?
Checking your sites usability can be an expensive task, so let’s look into some cheaper options:
To help your users navigate your website without expensive testing, there is 10 Usability Tips for Web Designers. This blog post helps you remember important components that should be added into your website for your visitors.
Wondering about your interface and how easy it is for your visitors? Where should I put my buttons, how should I space me text, and what colors should I use? Well, all these questions and much more are answered in 10 Useful Techniques to Improve Your User Interface Designs.
Now you may be wondering about your hyperlinks and how to make them stand out from the rest of the information on your website. David Hamills blog post Let your hyperlinks shine not only tells you why to have hyperlinks, but also how to make them get noticed on your website.
Wondering why people are ditching your site once they are on it? Don’t understand what is wrong? Then you should probably read 14 free tools that reveal why people abandon your website. These tools will help you realize where you have gone wrong and why people are leaving. Having a better understanding of why people are leaving your website will help you get a better understanding on how to make them stay!
Don’t worry, we’re not going to leave you hanging here…let’s get some finishing touches on that website of yours!
Times New Roman just not your style? Looking for something a little more eye catching or wild and crazy? You might want to check out 40+ Excellent Freefonts For Professional Design to feed your need for exciting font.
Another question that might be looming in your head is what about the color? What colors should I use and how will they affect my visitors? Good question and Colourlovers is here to help you. They even provide color trends! But if you’re looking for something a little more color basic, you should take a peak at this Colorchart.
In conclusion, we hope you find all this information helpful – so now it’s time to get to work!
Hang out with us!