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» Tuesday Article: The future need for web designers

 I’m going to touch on a subject that I’ve been pondering for a while and have a few different thoughts on this time and that is the topic of the current need and the evolvement of the web designers in todays world. We are greatly evolving the techniques and the ways of doing things and it is getting a lot more accessible for people to make their own sites. Read this full article, after the jump.

» End of the week news!

 Kelby Training News

• If you are in or around the Hartford, CT area on May 13th you might want to know that Scott Kelby is bringing his Photoshop CS3 Power Tour there! Entry is only $99 or $79 for NAPP members for the one-day seminar! Read more over at Kelby Training.
   
• For a seminar more closer in time, Bert Monroy is bringing his Photoshop CS3 Creativity Tour to Bostan, MI this Wednesday the 30th April! Check up all the details here, as before, entry is $99 ($79 if you are a NAPP member).
   
• There is a new Kelby Training online class released and it is from Joe McNally on how to get better results from a small off-camera flash. You can read more about the class as well as an overview of the lessons right here, or if you are a subscriber already, go to the online player to watch.

Great free Credit Card icons!

Over at Smashing Magazine, they had a really good little resource article filled with great free credit card icons. If you have been shopping on the web you’ve probably seen them already. The credit card icons all over, chances are you might have been wondering where to get them. Fear not though, we have an article link right here.

Really cool Parallax Gallery tutorials

Back a year ago or so when I was a subscriber to a magazine called Web Designer, Nick La of N-Design Studio had this really cool tutorial on how to create a scrolling parallax gallery from scratch in Photoshop and Flash. He now has posted a very similar but a little more in-depth version of the tutorial over at his other website. It is an amazing read, right here!

 

» Wednesday Postings

Apple’s acquisition of PA Semi

Apple has announced that they’ll be buying, PA Semi, a small company making semiconductor processors. This is pretty astounding seeing as Apple very rarely acquires any company but instead develops everything "in-house". Speculations are now rolling on why Apple has decided to do this and the rumors are that they might be looking to move away from the Intel platforms that has helped the growth a lot the past time.

Fuzzyeyeballs.com - Cool blog!

One of my buddies has a cool blog online that is called Fuzzyeyeballs where you can both view his astounding work as well as go ahead and read a blog about his photography and shoots! Definately a good read any day, Fuzzyeyeballs!

Typetester - Test and compare online fonts!

This is a cool site I recently became aware of that lets you preview fonts and compare them for web use. You can tweak settings like the size, tracking, leading, color, decoration and a lot more! It is worth checking out as it appears to be quite cool! Visit Typetester! »

 

 

» Friday News and Stuff

Firstly, sorry for the lack of news this week and posts in general. I’ve been down hard these past days with I hope, things clearing up very soon so I’ll gradually get back and I have some interesting stuff coming next week for all of you.

Weekly Website News

What’s been happening in the website world this week? Are there any new things? You bet there are and here they are!

• If you haven’t been to PixelatedImage’s Blog by David duChemin I strongly suggest that you go and check it out. David is posting a lot of really cool things over there and just got up his new blog site the other day!
   
• The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) has re-designed their members website with a brand new and beautifully designed version. If you are not a member of NAPP I strongly recommend you to be because there are awesome benefits, tutorials and everything and especially a great members only forum!

Tip when saving web graphics

When you are saving web graphics, don’t forget to make sure they are working with the background colour (unless you are using transparent PNGs of which there is difference) in all of the browsers, especially Safari. Being one of the only colour managed browser out there you usually run into a problem with your graphics on a background in Safari, so make sure you save them with the profile embedded to make them appear correct!

Humor: "The Perfect Couple"

Julie, a friend of mine passed me onto this little flash movie, featuring "The Perfect Couple". Definately worth a look on if you need a laugh!

» Favicons are an art alone!

Favicons are a true artform in and of themselves, they really are and it takes some skill to get them right seeing as they are so tiny in size. Smashing Magazine has been having a great series of articles on some really awesome favicon designs, all which works amazingly good. I urge you to head over and read the entire series as linked below.

• Episode 1: Inspire Yourself: 50 Remarkable Favicons
• Episode 2: Inspire Yourself: More Creative Favicons
• Episode 3: Creative Favicons: When Small Is Beautiful
• Episode 4: Creative Favicons: Tiny Artwork
• Episode 5: The Delicate Beauties
• Episode 6: Black, Abstract and Hand-Drawing

If you want to learn how to make a favicon, you can take a look at the tutorial here.

» It’s Thursday

 I couldn’t think of a good topic for todays post so, it is Thursday will have to do. Couple of tidbits for you today as always.

• Pro wedding photographer, David Ziser has a cool post series on his Digital ProTalk blog today that all deals with some business tips (every thursday is "Business Day Thursday" on his blog). 
   
• If you are a flash designer you’ll find this blog post from Smashing Magazine very interesting. It’s a showcase of some very creative flash preloaders that should get your creative juices flowing!
   
• Photographers also get another thing on the board today. If you haven’t already you should get to checking out the amazing and helpful community over at Photography Corner. It’s basically a photography forum where it all centers about the community spirit. With helpful members who are actively commenting on the photos in the feedback sections and helping out in the gear and help sections you just have to love the place. They also have two monthly contest, Contest Corner Challenges - where you are supposed to shoot a photo to match a specific theme; and also the Photograph of the Month - a contest where photos get nominated by members and then voted by members to which is the best photograph, every month!
  Really do check out Photography Corner!
   
• I’m working on a review of my new Eizo FlexScan S2201W and I think it should be coming in the end of the week!

» Birthday Tuesday

Today is my birthday and it is a tuesday, so naturally it is birthday tuesday here on the blog! I’m 16 years old today which really makes me able to start practise driving by the laws here! Pretty cool I think, can’t really believe it.

As for presents; I got a one year extension to my NAPP membership, a brand new 250gb internal HDD to replace my old one which I’m going to put in an external case and use as a backup drive I think, plus finally, a brand new 22" Eizo FlexScan S2201W screen, which was from me to me.

Lighting week over att Photoshop Insider

Scott Kelby over at his blog Photoshop Insider has pronounced this week a lighting week over at his blog where he will be going over what you need when you are starting with lighting. Yesterday was the time for the budget starter kit and you can read the post right here. Today was the time for a little step up.

 Interesting writing article on Copyblogger

In an interesting article over on Copyblogger, they are today asking us all to "say no to the three enemies of clear and direct writing". It’s a pretty nice read and we can all learn something from it.

Designing for smaller screens!

When we are designing today many think this way "most people visting my site has got a screen larger than 1024×768 and therefore I can skip the 800×600 compatibility". This is the time when you should take a look at how many is using a resolution above 1280×1024, because over that resolution comes the time where you don’t always have your browser expanded throughout the whole available screenspace and when you perhaps want to be able to view sites at 800 in max width! So be wary and think the other way around as well! As screens get larger, browser windows get smaller!

Anyway, now I*m off to continue copying over my old disk to my new one and to eat some more cake

» Webdesigner Thursday!

Since it’s soon going to be weekend, everyone should have time to update their websites (I hope). So for this post, I decided to share some different webdesigning stuff.

First link, will go to Smashing Magazine, that has an awesome article on how you can create a very successful portfolio.
Also we have the Astheria blog, that will give you even more tips on how to get a better portfolio.

And when you design a portfolio, colors is a must!
Therefore I searched for some sites that gives you some great palettes!
Take a look here, here and here.

And finally, Copyblogger has a great  article on how you can write better!
Check it out!

» It’s Design Monday

 Today is design monday and will feature some great links for, you guessed it, design! Today will be all about design, how to do it and what to think about! Also we’ll have some tips on getting started! Should get you prepared for "Tutorial Tuesday" tomorrow!

• Smashing Magazine, today had a great article about some of the cool and breathtaking typography and typographic posters. There are indeed some really breathtaking things in there so if you want to get inspired, then that is definately an article to read!
   
• A Web Design tip that kind of lines up with the article tip above is to really think about the typography when designing! Do think about the fonts you are using in the header and text and make them suit eachother and the theme and the site in a nice way, that goes for their colours as well! It’s perhaps one of the most vital things you have in your designing and it is what your goal is!
   
• Another tip; when you are showing a design to your client, make sure that you have it filled with sample text (Lorem Ipsum will do just fine) and sample images so your client will get a feel how it is going to look for him/her! That will greatly help to sell the site and perhaps convey the feeling of the site you’ve made!
   
• When entering the realms of designing and keeping in with the latest news you should definately be reading A List Apart! It’s a great site with a ton of very helpful and in-depth articles on coding, design and the general web production!
   
• Final tip; think your design through before making it! Outline on a sheet of normal paper with a normal pencil what you want on your site and where to best fit it in. What kind of navigation are you going to have? Are you going to have any columns? Will there perhaps be a large or a small header? Basically what you need and where to put it thought through before actually desgining it. And of course, do design things that are codeable!

Look back here tomorrow for the "Tutorial Tuesday" where I’ll be putting up a lot of brand new tutorials and a few cooler announcements regarding those as well!

» Learning Wednesday

 Today will be all about learning new things, whether it be Photoshop, Lightroom or web things, I have some learning links saved up for you for today!

• Kelby Training has released a brand new online class that is called "Retouch a portrait in 15 minutes" by Vincent Versace. It is a great class where you’ll learn the secrets to quick and good portrait retouches that is actually used in a workflow environment. I’ve watched the first few lessons in the class myself and I think it looks great! Not for the beginner though but for someone who knows their way around Photoshop.
   
• If you are planning on visiting Photoshop World coming up to Orlando, April 2-4 this spring you should note that the date of the early-bird registration closing is coming up in about ten days. It is a $100 saving, so if you are planning on going to Photoshop World, you should register soon (and to prevent it from selling out before you register!). 
   
• If you are looking to learn a little about Photography then you should go ahead and subscribe to David Zisers totally free newsletter. A new edition is just out and you can click here to subscribe. Also check out his blog, Digital ProTalk!
   
• Over at Smashing Magazine, they have today listed 45 more excellent blog themes. They’re some really good themes so if you are into design, it is a very nice read!