Current Web Design Articles

Web Design, HTML, and XML Articles from the About.com Guide to Web Design and HTML

By Jennifer Kyrnin

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10/28/2009 - Green Web Hosting
The Web is turning into a very resource intensive industry, and Web hosting is what takes up a lot of those resources. But some companies are trying to solve this problem before it becomes too big. I had the opportunity to interview Trey Gardner, CEO of Green Geeks, to find out more about green Web hosting.

10/25/2009 - How to Charge Higher Prices for Web Design Work
Choosing a pricing scheme is very difficult for most beginning Web designers. We don't know what our work is worth, we're afraid we'll lose clients if we charge too much, and yet we want to be able to live off our work. But if you use these tips to work out your pricing, you will end up charging a fair rate that clients are willing to pay.

09/29/2009 - 10 Tips for Web Writing
These 10 tips for writing on the Web will help you create Web pages with content that people want to read. Web writing is more than just HTML, there are styles that help you get and keep readers as well as tools you can use to help you get the most out of your Web pages. Web writing is an art, and it's a different art from writing for print.

09/24/2009 - What Should I Name my HTML File?
Naming your HTML files is important, but there are some conventions you should use when choosing what to name your files. Follow these instructions for naming HTML files.

09/22/2009 - Protect Your Forms from Spam
Spammers are ubiquitous and since most of them use autmoated systems, they can fill up a contact us form almost before you've posted it live. While nothing is fool-proof, there are some things you can do to make it harder for a spammer to submit your form but that your readers won't notice. Learn how to protect your forms from spammers.

09/21/2009 - How to Find Photos for Web Pages
Some of the best Web pages use photos for most of the images on the site, and it can be fun to use photos as backgrounds or embellishments, but finding photos can be challenging. There are many ways to get photos for use on your website, and many are free or inexpensive.

09/16/2009 - Where to Register a Domain
These are the best domain name registries for registering your domain name. If you're looking for a domain name registrar, you can go with the cheapest or you can look for one with a good reputation or you can look for features. Domain registrars are an important step in marketing your website.

09/15/2009 - Top 10 Web Designer Job Skills
Web designer job skills list. These are the skills that you should have in order to be a Web designer or Web developer.

09/14/2009 - Pricing is Important, But Support is a Deal Breaker
When you're trying to find the best hosting provider for your business you should look at the support options available before you decide how much or little you'll spend. I've found that people choose their hosting providers because of how much they cost, and they leave their hosting providers because of their abysmal support.

09/03/2009 - Free Web Template: 2 Column Web Page in HTML 5 Website Template
This is a two column layout written in HTML 5. It uses CSS and HTML 5 tags to define the layout. It doesn't work in IE or Firefox. It does work in Safari 3 and 4 and Opera 9 and 10.

09/02/2009 - New Tags in HTML 5
HTML 5 brings in a lot of new tags, 25 in fact. But what are the new HTML 5 tags and what are they for? This article explains about the new HTML 5 tags and how you can use them.

08/23/2009 - Asian Web Designers - Find a Web Designer in Asia

08/23/2009 - African Web Designers - Find a Web Designer in Africa

08/23/2009 - Australian and New Zealand Web Designers - Find a Web Designer in Australia and New Zealand

08/23/2009 - Canadian Web Designers - Find a Web Designer in Canada

08/23/2009 - European Web Designers - Find a Web Designer in Europe

08/23/2009 - South American Web Designers - Find a Web Designer in South America

08/23/2009 - United Kingdom Web Designers - Find a Web Designer in the United Kingdom

08/23/2009 - United States Web Designers - Find a Web Designer in the United States

08/19/2009 - What Web Metrics to Track
There are lots of metrics you can track on a website. You can start with pageviews and delve into visitors, time spent on site, entry and exit pages, social media links, inbound links, outbound traffic, and so much more. So how do you decide what to track and what's important information and what's fluff.

08/16/2009 - How to Comment HTML
Learn how easy it is to write comments in your HTML so that you can follow what the code is doing later.

08/12/2009 - Start a New Website Checklist
Building a website for a business can be a challenging endeavor. There are a lot of things you need to remember. And before you can decide if you'll do it yourself, you need to know what is required to do it. This checklist covers the basic things you'll need to build, market, and maintain a sucessful business website. And it provides the tools you need to do it yourself or find help for each part.

08/11/2009 - Web Design is All Hours
Working as a Web designer, especially for a business (small or large) often means that you need to be available at all hours to do work. When you have a job maintaining and building a corporate site, and a problem is fixed, the person finding the problem often wants it fixed immediately. And then there are the customers who want things done at the last minute. In order to complete their pages when they need them you work weekends and at night.

08/10/2009 - 3-Column Centered Flexible Width Layout Template
XHTML 1.0 Strict Doctype; SEO Ready
Centering your three column layout makes it fill the browser viewport nicely. And this template uses a flexible width so that it fits different resolutions correctly.

08/07/2009 - Why do ID attributes need to be unique?
If ID attributes are supposed to be unique then what is the purpose of them? Find out what they are used for and why they are better than just putting in inline styles.

08/07/2009 - When Should You Change a Class to an ID?
If you only have one class on a page, should it be converted to an ID? Are there situations where you should change a class designation to an ID?

08/07/2009 - When Should You Change an ID to a Class?
If you have multiple duplicated IDs on a page, should you convert them to classes? Are there situations where you would want to convert an ID to a class?

08/07/2009 - Why Do Browsers Allow Duplicated IDs on the Same Page?
If it's not correct to use the same ID more than once on a Web page, why do browsers allow it?

08/07/2009 - What is the Point of Having an ID and a Class Attribute When They Act the Same?
The differences between the ID and class attributes can be subtle, but they do serve different purposes.

08/05/2009 - How to Set Up an Effective Affiliate Strategy for Making Money on Your Site
Using affiliate programs to make money can be very effective, but only if you spend some time working at it. There are a number of strategies you can use to create a site that is well positioned for making money with affiliates. Learn how to make money as a Web affiliate.

08/05/2009 - What is an Affiliate Program?
An affiliate program is a great way to earn some extra money from your website. Affiliate programs can look like advertising or be integrated directly into the content of your site with purchase links on reviews or other content.

08/03/2009 - What is a Top-Level Domain Name?
Top-level domains are the most generic portion of a URL. They can describe what type of site the website is or just what country it is from.

07/23/2009 - HTML Frames
HTML frames are a part of the HTML specification. While some people hate them, they are still very useful in certain situations. And if you want to be an expert at HTML, you should understand at least the basics of HTML frames.

07/20/2009 - What Kind of Web Designer Should You Become?
The great thing about becoming a Web designer is that it can mean so many different things. Some Web designers do nothing but work in Photoshop all day, while others work on databases. It's possible to write for the Web or build the pages but not the design. And as always, you can freelance and do it all.

07/20/2009 - Should I Become a Web Designer?
Deciding to become a Web designer can be a hard decision. It's hard to know everything there is to know about a job before you start, but there are some questions you can answer that will help you deteremine if you have the right aptitude for being a Web designer.

07/20/2009 - Should I Become a Web Developer or Web Programmer?
Deciding to become a Web developer or programmer can be a hard decision. It's hard to know everything there is to know about a job before you start, but there are some questions you can answer that will help you deteremine if you have the right aptitude for being a Web developer or Web programmer.

07/20/2009 - Should I Become a Web Writer?
Deciding to become a Web writer can be a hard decision. It's hard to know everything there is to know about a job before you start, but there are some questions you can answer that will help you deteremine if you have the right aptitude for being a Web writer.

07/20/2009 - Should I Become a Web Producer?
Deciding to become a Web producer can be a hard decision. It's hard to know everything there is to know about a job before you start, but there are some questions you can answer that will help you deteremine if you have the right aptitude for being a Web producer.

07/20/2009 - Should I Become a Freelance Web Designer?
Deciding to become a Freelance Web Designer can be a hard decision. It's hard to know everything there is to know about a job before you start, but there are some questions you can answer that will help you deteremine if you have the right aptitude for being a Freelance Web Designer.

07/14/2009 - XML: Visual Quickstart Guide by Kevin Howard Goldberg
XML Visual Quickstart Guide is a great book for XML beginners. In it you'll learn about XML, XSLT, schemas, and more. Plus it includes a section on how XML is used in the real world. Read my review of XML Visual Quickstart Guide 2nd edition by Kevin Howard Goldberg.

07/13/2009 - Top Searches
When trying to decide what to write about for your website, there are many different ways you can come up with topics. But if you have a focus on search engine optimization then writing articles about top searches is a great place to start. If you check lists of top searches both worldwide and in your country, you can find out what people are interested in and plan your articles accordingly.

07/12/2009 - How to Submit a Sitemap to Yahoo!
Learn how easy it is to submit an XML sitemap to Yahoo! Once you've created an XML sitemap, you want to make sure that the search engines see it and index your site.

07/12/2009 - How to Submit a Sitemap to Google
Learn how easy it is to submit an XML sitemap to Google. Once you've created an XML sitemap, you want to make sure that the search engines see it and index your site.

07/12/2009 - How to Submit a Sitemap to Bing
Learn how easy it is to submit an XML sitemap to Bing Once you've created an XML sitemap, you want to make sure that the search engines see it and index your site.

07/12/2009 - Google XML Sitemaps - How are they Different from Other XML Sitemaps?
A Google XML sitemap is another name for the XML sitemaps specification agreed upon by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. If you use a Google XML sitemap on your website, you can submit your sitemap to those three search engines as well as others and have them spider your site using the sitemap.

07/10/2009 - What is Uptime in Web Hosting
Uptime is a measure of how long a Web hosting machine has been up and running. When you are choosing a Web hosting provider, you want to find one that has a good uptime record as well as a high uptime guarantee.

07/09/2009 - CSS Line Spacing
CSS line spacing is affected by the css style property line-height. CSS line spacing is also known as leading in the print world. Learn how to use the CSS style property line-height to affect your line spacing on your Web pages.

07/06/2009 - CSS Sprites
CSS sprites are a way to take one large master image and use it to display all the images on your site. CSS sprites help speed up your website and they provide a great way to manage the images on your site. This tutorial will take you through the steps to create a CSS sprite button bar for your website.

07/03/2009 - HTML Colors
HTML colors are displayed as a combination of red, green, and blue light. Once you understand that, you can start mixing HTML colors yourself.

07/01/2009 - Indenting Lists
The indenting of lists is a frustrating topic for Web designers trying to get a consistent look and feel on their pages between different Web browsers. This is because the way various browsers implement the indenting is different from browser to browser. So if you change the indenting in only one way, your pages will look wrong in other browsers.

06/30/2009 - CSS List-Style
The CSS list-style property is a style property to help you manage your lists. You can define the type of list, where you want the bullets or numbers, and even what image to use as a bullet. The CSS list-style property is a shorthand CSS property that combines the CSS properties: list-style-type, list-style-position, and list-style-image.

06/28/2009 - Best HTML Validators
Check your HTML is valid with these validators.

06/25/2009 - Google Blogger for Dummies by Susan Gunelius
If you're looking to start writing a blog for your business or just for yourself, Google Blogger for Dummies is a great book to help get you started. Google Blogger for Dummies by Susan Gunelius takes you through all the steps you need to start a Google Blogger blog and then make it useful to you and your company.

06/24/2009 - Don't Use Flash This Way
Flash websites are very popular with designers who want to show off their Flash skills or just include animation and dynamic websites without needing server-side programming skills. But there are good ways to implement Flash on your site and bad ways. This article describes some of the bad ways you can implement Flash on your website and drive your customers away.

06/23/2009 - HTML for Dummies Review
HTML for Dummies has been in print for a long time and has helped a lot of people learn how to write HTML and build Web pages. This latest edition provides all of the same information as previous editions but includes more information about CSS and exciting new technologies like podcasting. HTML for Dummies is not just for dummies, it has a lot of information for beginners wanting to learn HTML and CSS.

06/22/2009 - What's New in HTML 5
HTML 5 is a new specification of HTML designed to help Web application developers build better Web applications. There are some new and interesting features of HTML 5 that you won't find in HTML 4 or XHTML 1.0.

06/19/2009 - What is a Hosting Reseller
A hosting reseller sells hosing space on their Web server. You can become a hosting reseller by setting up a dedicated Web server and then selling space on that server or buying a reseller hosting plan and selling hosting space from within your plan.

06/16/2009 - Positioning
Positioning can be very difficult to grasp because it is very complicated. There are many different ways to position elements on a Web page and many factors in determining positioning. This article will explain the different ways you can position elements and point you to different examples of CSS positioning.

06/15/2009 - Block-Level vs. Inline Elements
Block-level elements and inline elements are the two types of elements that you'll see in HTML. But why does it matter what an element is? If you know whether an element is a block-level element or an inline element, you'll have a better idea of how it will react when you apply positioning rules on it in your CSS.

06/09/2009 - Best Practices for Using PDFs on Web Pages
Many people like to use PDF files on their websites, but there are good ways and bad ways to implement PDFs on your website. If you want to make sure your customers love your PDF files as much as you do, follow these best practices to include PDFs on your site.

06/08/2009 - Dreamweaver vs. Drupal vs. WordPress
There are so many tools you can use to build and maintain a website it can be hard to choose which one to use. Dreamweaver, Drupal, and WordPress are all very popular tools right now, but should you use them? Find out which one is best suited to your needs and why.

06/04/2009 - HTML Examples
Free examples for using HTML. HTML examples explaining how HTML works in various situations.

06/03/2009 - Image Codes
Learn how to find the image code or URL for your images and then add the image code to your Web pages.

05/26/2009 - How to Choose Your Keyword Phrase
Choosing the keyword phrase to optimize for on a Web page can be challenging. It's why so many people would rather focus on one phrase for their entire site. But to be truly successful at SEO, you need to have a clear idea of a keyword phrase for every page that you write. This article will show you the steps to choose a keyword phrase that works for the page you've written or are planning.

05/20/2009 - Free Keyword Density Analyzers
If you need to know what the keyword density is for a specific Web page, there are lots of free online tools to help you analyze them. These free keyword density analyzers will help you check your pages and get them to rank higher in search engines because they are more keyword dense.

05/20/2009 - Keyword Density - How Much is Too Much?
When working on keyword density it can be tempting to make every other sentence contain your keyword phrase. But this can get quickly overwhelming to the reader and look like spam to the search engine spiders. Learn how to write SEO focused pages that have a decent keyword density, but not too high.

05/19/2009 - What is Keyword Density?
Keyword density is an SEO term that refers to the amount of times a keyword phrase is found on your Web page. The more often (up to a point) that your phrase is found on the page, the more likely that page will register as being about that phrase in the search engines.

05/15/2009 - How to Embed a Google Calendar in Your Website
It only takes a few steps to convert a Google calendar into a widget for your website. This how to shows you how to embed a Google calendar right into your site.

05/13/2009 - iSEO - iPhone App Review
This is a review of the search engine optimization tool for the iPhone: iSEO.

05/11/2009 - FileZilla
FileZilla is a free FTP client for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. It supports secure FTP and is easy to use.

05/07/2009 - Create a Focal Point for Web Designs - Before and After Web Page Redesign
Focal points are an important part of design because they tell the eye what the most important part of the page is. The focal point is the part of the page that the eye is drawn to and that the design is trying to emphasize. Pages that don't have a focal point look boring or busy.

05/06/2009 - Cheap Hosting
Cheap hosting or budget Web hosting is a great way to get Web hosting that provides your needs for your website without spending large amounts of money every month. Cheap Web hosting is Web hosting that costs under $10 per month, and there are many that cost under $5 per month and provide reasonable value.

05/05/2009 - How Do You Optimize a Multi-Page Article for Search Engines?
When doing SEO you should focus on one page at a time. But what if you've written an article that spans multiple pages? Learn how to optimize an article for search that spans many pages.

05/04/2009 - CSS Positioning Properties
There are several CSS properties that you can use to affect the position of an element on your Web page. These properties are useful to know if you're going to use CSS for layout or positioning.

04/30/2009 - How Big is an Em?
The em is a relative font size measure that defines the font size based on how big it is in relation to it's parent. In other words, a font that is 1em in size is the exact same size as the container's font size. A font that is 1.5em is 50% larger and one that is 0.5em is 50% smaller than the parent element's font size.

04/29/2009 - Is the Customer Really Always Right?
When you're hired as a freelance Web designer it can be tempting to build a website exactly to the specifications of the client without having any discussion of the viability or usefulness of those specifications. Many freelancers will argue that that's what the client wanted so that's what they did. But they are hiring you because they don't know how to build a website and you do, so it's your job to teach them when what they're asking for is unwise or a bad idea.

04/26/2009 - Web Hosting Comparison Chart
Finding a new hosting provider can be difficult. But this comparison chart shows you the features you get from some of the popular Web hosts.

04/25/2009 - Why Do Search Engines Like H1 Tags
When I am reviewing a page for SEO one of the most common mistakes I find is the designer has built the page with images for headlines and no structured markup, such as h1, h2, and h3 tags. Search engines like pages that have a clear structure that is visible in the HTML because that means that the pages are clearly written and have good organization - or at least some organization. Learn other reasons why search engines like the H1 tag.

04/24/2009 - Piwik
Piwik is a Web analytics tool that you host on your own Web server. It uses PHP and a JavaScript bug to track your pages. Piwik offers nearly all the same reports as Google Analytics, but since it's hosted on your server, only you will ever see the statistics.

04/24/2009 - Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a Web analytics tool that is hosted by Google. It is free and one of the most popular Web analytics tools available. It provides reports for nearly every type of analytic you need to track and is very easy to use.

04/22/2009 - Great Truths About Freelancing
When you're thinking about freelancing you'll often be met by skeptics who will tell you horror stories about people who had to eat dog food or work in fast food just to make ends meet. But the reality is that freelancing can be a great career choice, and there are some myths you may have heard that really are true. Learn some of the reasons to freelance.

04/19/2009 - Change Link Underlines
Links, by default, are underlined, but what if you want to make that underline more fancy. You would think you'd use the text-decoration style property, but that property doesn't have a lot of features. So how do designers get those fancy double underlined links and dotted and dashed links? They use the border property.

04/18/2009 - WinSCP
WinSCP is a great free FTP client for Windows.

04/18/2009 - Cyberduck
Cyberduck is a great free FTP client for Macintosh.

04/17/2009 - Become a Freelance Web Designer
Becoming a freelance Web designer may seem simple, but the more you know about the job and the requirements the better you'll do in the job. If you're going to work as a freelancer you need to have business skills as well as design skills. This class will take you through the steps you need to start doing freelance Web design and make money at it.

04/14/2009 - How Much Money a Web Designer Makes
The average annual salary for Web designers varies widely by where you live, but once you know how much a typical Web designer makes you can make a more educated decision about where you're going to live and what you can expect.

04/12/2009 - Web Hosting Requirements
When you're looking for a Web hosting provider, there are a few things that you should not compromise on and a few other features that are nice to have. Make sure that your hosting provider gives you at least the must-have items on this list.

04/12/2009 - Basic Tools for Web Design
Most of the tools you need to build a website come with your operating system. In fact, there are really only 3 software products you need. This article explains where to find the tools you need on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

04/11/2009 - Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way by Ian Lloyd
This is a book review of the excellent beginners Sitepoint book Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way by Ian Lloyd.

04/10/2009 - JustStyle
JustStyle is a java CSS editor for Linux, Windows, and Macintosh.

04/09/2009 - CSSED
CSSED is an open source CSS editor for Linux, Windows, and Macintosh. It requires Fink to run on Macintosh and GTK to run on Windows.

04/08/2009 - SEO Class
Learn how to optimize your Web pages for search with this online SEO class.

04/08/2009 - The Meta Description
The meta description is a meta tag that describes your Web page. By using the meta description, you add a short description to your Web pages that is displayed by search engines when your page shows up in search. It's a simple tag to add to your pages, but adds a lot of value. Learn how to use the meta description tag.

04/08/2009 - The Meta Keywords
The meta keywords is a meta tag that adds keywords about your Web page. By using the meta keywords, you add comma separated keywords about the page. This tag has a lot more hype surrounding it than actual value. Learn why you don't need to worry too much about the meta keywords tag.

04/05/2009 - Komodo Edit 5.1
Komodo Edit continues to be my favorite editor for writing HTML and XML. In fact, I use it for nearly every site I build. It is offered with a GPL license which means that there are lots and lots of add-ons and extesions for it as the community builds tools to help make it even better. I couldn't live without my snippets in Komodo Edit, and I love how easy it makes writing XML. This is not an ideal tool for visual designers, as there is only a preview feature and no real WYSIWYG. But if you program Web pages or write code in PHP, JSP, XML or other programming languages, this is a great tool.

04/04/2009 - How to Find Web Design Clients
Getting Web design clients may seem daunting when you're just starting out, but there are ways to help improve your odds. Many of these tips are free or very inexpensive, but you need to be able to sell yourself and your company. Learn how to find new Web design clients while not sacrificing your old ones.

04/03/2009 - Web Design Jobs Outlook Through 2016
Web designers have many different skillsets that make defining the outlook of Web design jobs difficult. But even when companies are laying off employees, they need Web designers to maintain their websites. By knowing what skills are projected to be in-demand, you can help give yourself a better chance of getting a Web design job.

03/31/2009 - Billing Best Practices for Freelance Web Designers
Once you start freelancing you're going to need to interact with customers on a professional level. For that you'll need to be able to write proposals, invoices and bills. But determining when it's appropriate to send these, and what should be included can be confusing. Find out the best practices for freelance Web designers to send out bills, invoices, and proposals to get projects and then get paid for doing them.

03/25/2009 - Experience Not Required
When you start trying to find work as a Web designer, you'll be asked to show off your portfolio of designs. But what if you've never worked as a Web designer? How can you get a job in Web design if you have to have a job to get a job? But you don't need to have had a job to put together a portfolio. Instead you need to show off what you can do with creative projects you've done for yourself.

03/24/2009 - How to Set Up Your Web Designer Office
What type of equipment do you need to do freelance Web design? Obviously, you need a computer and HTML editing software, but do you need anything else? Learn what equipment you should have to set up as a freelance Web designer, and what you can wait until you have more free cash.

03/21/2009 - Web Design Troubleshooting Checklist
Finding problems in your Web design can be very frustrating. But if you follow the steps on this checklist, you can help minimize the problems. By going through the checklist methodically, you can eliminate the areas that are working and concentrate solely on the problem areas.

03/19/2009 - How to Choose a Good Domain Name
Choosing a domain name can be a big step for your business. If you choose a really bad one you can actually harm your business. While that's not likely, choosing a good domain name can be a great way to improve your brand and gain more customers. So learn how to choose a good domain name and avoid choosing a bad one.

03/19/2009 - Is .COM Really Better than .NET or .US?
Once you've chosen a domain name, you need to decide what top-level domain to use. Should it be a .com, .org, .net, .us or what? What are the advantages to .com versus .biz and so on. Which top-level domains (TLD) will help your company and which won't.

03/17/2009 - How Long Should Your Web Page Be
There is a lot of focus on most Web design sites on how wide you should make your pages. And width is important. But what about how long they are? Conventional wisdom says that people don't like to scroll, and in fact won't scroll. So you should make your pages short and provide links to additional content. But is that really the case?

03/16/2009 - Ecommerce Annoyances
If you're trying to get people to buy from your website, there are some common annoyances that you should avoid so that you can retain more customers. Ecommerce annoyances are those little things in online stores that make them hard to use. Think about your customers and what they really want from your store, and don't just focus on getting them to buy. If you focus on the customers, they will buy from you. If you don't they'll find somewhere else to spend their money.

03/15/2009 - Use PHP to Force a File Download
Use PHP and the Content-disposition HTTP header to force files to download that would normally open in the Web browser.

03/15/2009 - What is the HTML Download Tag?
An HTML download tag would be very useful to set up links for people to download files. But while there isn't a specific HTML download tag, there are ways to create downloadable files and links on your website so that your readers can download your files to their computer.

03/11/2009 - HTML Size Tag - Does It Exist?
Is there an HTML size tag? How do you change the size of elements like fonts on your Web page without an HTML size tag? Learn how to change the font size on a Web page or adjust the sizes of your images.

03/09/2009 - Barter - An Alternative in Tough Economic Times
Barter can be a great alternative when you and your clients don't have a lot of money, but you have skills or items you can trade for them. But be careful when you barter that you treat it like any other business deal. There are definite pros and cons to bartering your Web design skills for services. Be sure you know what they are before you go ahead with an exchange that comes back to bite you later.

03/05/2009 - Principles of Successful Freelancing
A review of the Sitepoint book Principles of Successful Freelancing. This is a great book for anyone considering making the jump to full-time Web design freelancing.

03/05/2009 - Everything You Know About CSS is Wrong by Rachel Andrew and Kevin Yank
A review of the Sitepoint book Everything You Know About CSS is Wrong by Rachel Andrew and Kevin Yank. This book gives an interesting perspective on a new CSS property that will be supported by IE 8.

03/04/2009 - "How do I Use CSS Includes to Include Content on my Website?"
Is it possible to use CSS to include repeating data on your website?

03/03/2009 - Adobe CS4 Web Standard
A review of the most basic of the Adobe suites suited to Web designers. CS4 Web standard comes with Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, and Contribute.

03/03/2009 - Adobe CS4 Web Premium
Adobe CS4 Web Premium is a great suite for designers who need to do nearly everything for their websites. It includes Photoshop extended, Fireworks, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Contribute, Flash, and SoundBooth.

03/03/2009 - Adobe CS4 Design Premium
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium is a great suite for Web designers who do a little bit of print design and a little bit of Web design. It includes InDesign, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, and Acrobat.

03/03/2009 - Creative Suite 4 Master Collection
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection is a suite of all or nearly all of the design products that Adobe sells. If you do a lot of different elements on Web pages, this might be the perfect choice for you. It includes Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, InDesign, Contribute, AfterEffects, Premiere, SoundBooth, and Encore.

03/03/2009 - The First Time I Saw the Web - I Wasn't Even Online
The Web hasn't been around for very long, and many of us can still remember what we were doing or thinking when we first saw or heard of the Web or the Internet. These are my stories of how I got introduced to the Web and readers will have the opportunity to share their own stories.

03/02/2009 - iPhone Apps for Web Designers
There are thousands and thousands of iPhone apps to choose from, but there are some that are more useful to Web designers and freelancers than others. This list gives you a list of 95 apps in 12 categories that help make your work as a Web designer easier.

03/01/2009 - "Is there an HTML space tag?"
The HTML space tag doesn't exist, but there are ways to create space on your Web pages without an HTML space tag. It can be very frustrating to add spaces in HTML the way you would in a print document only to have them disappear on the Web page. Learn how to create space on your Web pages without an HTML space tag.

03/01/2009 - What is an HTML Tag?
An HTML tag is the basic building block of a website. If you want to learn HTML, you'll need to learn about what an HTML tag is and how to use them.

02/23/2009 - Developer's Tool Kit - iPhone App Review
A review of the Web development reference for iPhone and iPod touch - Developer's Tool Kit.

02/23/2009 - Web Developer Bible - iPhone App Review
A review of the Web development reference for iPhone and iPod touch - Web Developer Bible.

02/23/2009 - Hex-O-Matic - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - Hex-O-Matic.

02/23/2009 - Color Tool - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - Color Tool.

02/22/2009 - ColorRef - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - ColorRef.

02/22/2009 - Color Picker - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - Color Picker.

02/22/2009 - HTML Colors - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - HTML Colors.

02/22/2009 - cliqcliq Colors - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - cliqcliq Colors.

02/22/2009 - ColorSutra - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - ColorSutra.

02/22/2009 - Palettes - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - Palettes.

02/22/2009 - Palettes Lite - iPhone App Review
A review of the color palette creator for the iPhone - Palettes Lite.

02/20/2009 - What Traits Make a Good Freelance Web Designer
Being a freelancer takes a specific set of personality traits to be successful. If you have all or most of these traits, you would make a good freelancer. If you don't and you want to be a freelancer (or are one) you should work on your shortcomings so that you can be more successful as a freelancer.

02/19/2009 - Post Portfolio Screen Shots on Flickr
Use free photo sharing sites like Flickr to promote your portfolio screen shots. If you post your screen shots there, and make them public, this puts them out to a lot of people and could get you some extra business.

02/18/2009 - iPhone Analytics Tools
Follow how your Web pages are doing even when you're not at your computer. Use your iPhone or iPod to connect to Google Analytics with any of these tools and track your site's status. Get various reports and metrics so that you can follow your site's progress from anywhere.

02/17/2009 - iPhone Color Tools
Choosing a color scheme can be a really fun part of Web design, but it can also take a lot of time. There are iPhone apps that help you create color schemes as well as convert RGB, CMYK, HSL, and hex to other color formats. There are even apps that will tell you the color schemes that go best with photos on your iPhone.

02/16/2009 - HTML CheatSheet - iPhone App Review
The HTML CheatSheet is an iPhone app that provides a reference manual for Web developers. It includes tags, colors, entities and more.

02/16/2009 - iPhone Reference Applications for Web Designers
If you're on the go and need to look up a tag or color name it can be tedious to have to go to your computer, switch to a site with the reference and look up the information you need. But if you have an iPhone or iPod touch, you don't have to. Pick up these apps to get a full reference as close as your phone.

02/15/2009 - Komodo Edit 4.4
Komodo Edit is a free text Web page editor for: Windows, Macintosh, and Linux / UNIX. It can be used to edit both HTML and XML documents.

02/15/2009 - SeaMonkey 1.1
SeaMonkey is more than just a Web editor, it's an all-in-one suite of Internet applications. This could be very useful if you want to keep everything together, but as a Web editor it's only middle of the road.

02/14/2009 - Nvu 1.0 - Web Editor Review
Nvu is a free Web editing platform available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. It is notable because it is a WYSIWYG editor which makes it much easier to use than most text HTML editors.

02/14/2009 - KompoZer 0.7.1 - Web Editor Review
KompoZer is a free Web editor for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. It is notable because it's one of the few WYSIWYG editors that is completely free. KompoZer is an editor based on the free editor Nvu, which has been stalled in development for a while. It started as a bug-fix version and is now being more reliably maintained than Nvu.

02/14/2009 - FTP on the Go - iPhone App Review
FTP on the Go is a great little iPhone app perfect for anyone who woks with files on a server or needs to transfer files between two computers.

02/13/2009 - Pros and Cons of Freelance Web Design
Freelancing is a tough job but there are some definite perks and drawbacks to being a freelancer. Learn whether you would like being a freelance Web designer or whether you should get a job as a corporate Web designer.

02/11/2009 - Review of YourFonts.com
If you want to create your own font, you can do so with YourFonts.com an online free font generating service.

02/10/2009 - Don't Accept This Type of Payment
When it comes to being paid there are many creative ways to offer your work for sale as well as get paid. But there are some payment schemes that, while perhaps popular, are not good ideas for freelance Web designers who want to make money and stay in business.

02/08/2009 - Working for Free
As a freelancer, you will often be presented by a project that the client wants for free. Only they don't say it that way, they tell you that you will be paid in exposure - people will see your work and you'll get more clients because of it. Once someone figures out a way to buy food, pay the mortgage or rent, and pay for gas in exposure, I'll be happy to accept it as payment. Until then, you should avoid it.

02/06/2009 - Web Design Mistakes
There are lots of things you can do with Web pages. And there are lots of things that it's possible to do, but you shouldn't do. When you're working on a new design, you should avoid these mistakes. You'll have happier readers and a more effective design.

02/04/2009 - What to Look for in a Web Designer
Finding a Web designer can be a daunting prospect. There are lots and lots of Web designers to choose from, so how do you make the right decision? And if you are a designer, how do you know if you're presenting yourself in a way that will get you hired. These are some tips for how to find a good Web designer.

02/02/2009 - What is HTML 5
HTML 5 is a new specification being developed to move HTML forward in the realm of Web applications. It was initially being developed by a group independently of the W3C, but the W3C HTML working group has since joined the development. If you want to stay on top of the changes in HTML and building Web pages, you should learn about HTML 5.

01/30/2009 - Writing a Great Web Design Contract
The minimum Web design contract will have just the project description and the price agreed upon. But while that can work as a contract, it can leave you open to many different problems. By creating a contract with these things, you will have a contract that spells out, in detail, exactly what the client wants, what you will give them, by when and for how much.

01/29/2009 - Freelancers Should Set Up an Emergency Fund
So you want to start freelancing, but you don't know what you should do first. By setting up an emergency fund, you set yourself up to be prepared to weather any storm. An emergency fund gives you peace of mind so that you can spend time finding clients and getting more work so your emergency fund can continue to earn interest and keep you safe.

01/28/2009 - What Do You Wish You Had Known When You First Started Freelancing?
If there were one thing you wished you had known about freelancing before you started out, what would it be? Here are some thoughts on freelancing and how to freelance. And if you're already freelancing, you can provide your own advice. The one thing I wish I had known more about was networking.

01/26/2009 - Build a Small Business Website
This is an 11-day class that takes the businessperson or entrepreneur through all the steps they need to take to buy a domain name, get Web hosting, hire a designer or build their site themselves, and promote and maintain it. Small businesses need a website these days, and it can be overwhelming all the things you need to do to get one. This class takes you through the steps through daily email messages that you can save and review at your leisure. Get your small business website online in under 2 weeks with this free class.

01/22/2009 - Editing HTML with TextEdit
If you open an HTML document in TextEdit, it will open it as an RTF file and give you a WYSIWYG editor to work with. But if you want to edit the HTML tags directly, you need to change your preferences so that you can see them.

01/21/2009 - More Configuring osCommerce
Configure your osCommerce ecommerce engine so that you can sell products and downloads from an online store. This multi-part article will take you through the basic administration configuration pags in osCommerce and how to set them for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

01/21/2009 - Configuring osCommerce
Configure your osCommerce ecommerce engine so that you can sell products and downloads from an online store. This multi-part article will take you through the basic administration configuration pags in osCommerce and how to set them for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

01/20/2009 - Installing osCommerce
Install an open source ecommerce engine onto your website so that you can open an online store. Find out how easy it is to install osCommerce on your Apache, PHP, mySQL Web server.

01/19/2009 - Web Design Project Request Form
When you start a new Web design project, there are a number of things that you should get into the habit of asking for from your customers every time you start a project. By asking these questions before you accept a client, you show your professionalism and you get a better sense of the job ahead of time.

01/18/2009 - Create a Design Brief to Go With Your Contract
When you write a design brief and get it agreed upon by your clients, you ensure that what you are going to build is going to meet the needs and desires of your client. Design briefs take the information you gained from client interviews and turns it into a proposal for your clients to approve. This shows that you know what they want and need and gives them a roadmap detailing how they're going to get it.

01/17/2009 - Why Use @import for External Style Sheets
It used to be that the only reason people used the @import property in CSS style sheets was to block those styles from being seen by browsers like Netscape 4. But now that those browsers are practically unheard of, it might seem like there's no good reason to use @import in your style sheets. But @import does help streamline your CSS and make it easier to manage.

01/15/2009 - How to Buy a Domain Name with GoDaddy
GoDaddy is one of the most popular domain name registries out there, mostly because it is one of the least expensive. Learn how easy it is to buy a domain name using GoDaddy as your domain registrar.

01/14/2009 - Book Review - Portfolio Project
Book reviews are fairly easy to write, but can provide some good details for your Web portfolio. Book reviews show that you know how to design, how to use specialized HTML tags (quotes and lists), and how to use ecommerce. Plus, to write online book reviews you have to know how to write for the Web, which is different than writing for print.

01/13/2009 - Create a Site Map Before You Build Your Site
When you map out the pages you want or need on your website before you start building it, you will know that you have all the pages you need and want on your website. A visual site map is just a flow chart detailing the website with the sub-sections and pages.

01/12/2009 - Create a Site Plan
If you are creating a website from scratch, you should start by planning what your site needs and your goals for the site before you start building. This will help you ensure that your website meets your goals and serves the purpose you are trying to fulfill.

01/11/2009 - SMART Goals
Write goals for your website that actually get done. SMART goals are goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

01/08/2009 - Paying Taxes While Freelancing
When you're freelancing, especially when you're starting out, it can be challenging to handle taxes. If you forget to save money for them or worse yet forget to pay them you set yourself up for large finacial problems later. Even if you're just starting out as a freelancer, thinking about your taxes from the beginning is important.

01/07/2009 - A Page for Your Pet
Pets make great fodder for Web pages because we love them so much and they are fun. It's often easier to create a Web page for your pet than for yourself because there is less riding on it emotionally. Your dog will still love you even if you post that picture of him wearing the silly costume. Creating a Web page or site for your pet can be a nice addition to your portfolio.

01/05/2009 - What is a Namespace?
When you use multiple XML specifications in one document, you can run into collisiohs between the two specifications. XML namespaces tell the parser which specification to use for the element in question.

01/05/2009 - Encoding URLs
When you submit data to a Web form with the GET method, you are sending that data via a URL. But there are many characters that should not be included in URL strings. So if your customers include them in their form entries, you need to encode them. This tutorial explains the basics of URL encoding and has a list of the common characters that need to be encoded.

01/03/2009 - XHTML Challenge
Hidden on this site are several pages designed to test your knowledge of XHTML. The pages are in the form of a question, but the question isn't always obvious. Once you think you know the answer to the question, you should know the next page to go to. If you guess wrong, you'll be taken to my homepage, otherwise, you'll go to the next page in the challenge. Challenge your knowledge of XHTML.

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