Need some Web 2.0 style buttons? So did I, so I made a few different versions for the redesign of my website ITS Net Services. I only ended up using 1 of them, so I figured I might as well give the rest away.
They all come in 1 Photoshop file and include all the buttons separated in their own folders.
I made most of these using the Ultimate Web 2.0 Gradients and Styles available to download for free from Deziner Folio.
I’m back again with more FREE CSS Containers to download. Unlike my previous set of FREE Content Boxes, these boxes were designed to be able to stretch as wide as need be. Simply adjust the size of the container css value to the width you need, or remove it completely to have it auto adjust its width. I have also remade the original boxes in this auto stretch way.
You may use these boxes for any purpose, and you do not have to credit me. However, you may not redistribute these on another website, or hotlink directly to these files.
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Blue Round |
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Green Round |
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Grey Round |
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Olive Round |
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Orange Round |
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Pink Round |
Pink Square |
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Purple Round |
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Red Round |
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White Round |
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Sometimes preparing for a web design is the most time consuming AND the most important. There are so many ideas floating around, that you better be quick to catch them while they are fresh. I have compiled a list of some of the most important processes when preparing for a web design.
Every client you work with will usually have very different needs. It is extremely important to identify these needs from the start. I have listed a few of the questions you should ask your clients to get a good scope of what they will require.
#1 What’s the clients budget?
I list this question first because it really will dictate what you can do for the client. I have encountered so many clients that expect everything including the kitchen sink and think one price pays for it all. After the client has stated their intended budget, it doesn’t mean thats the final budget, that just means that what they would like to pay. If they are asking for more work then their budget allows, tell them that, and it’s up to them to figure out if they can afford to put more towards the budget, or if they can just do without some things.
#2 Timeframe?
Some clients will have an absolute timeframe, and othes will not. It is important to know their timeframe so you can make sure you have the time to accomplish their design in the required time. Also a good trick I learned from a designer friend of mine, is to always over quote your projected time frame. If your client doesn’t have a hard pressed deadline quote them about twice as long as you think it will take you, that way when you are done before you said you would be, you look like a hero.
#3 Brainstorm & Write the ideas down
One of the best things you can do with your client is have a brain storming session with them. One of the worst things you can do is not write the ideas down. Some of the greatest ideas of the project will come during the first meetings with your client. When the project is new, and fresh, and you are excited about it.
#4 Logo & Branding
Does the client already have a logo design? Are they happy with their current branding, and/or colors?
#5 Scripts and Interactivity
What type of website will the client be needing? More importantly, what type of functionality is required of the website? Will it need certain types of scripts, like blogs, photo gallery, comments etc?
#6 Audio & Video
Will the site have any audio and video needs? If so, what type of players will be needed? Should you go flash or not?
#7 Statistics Tracking
Usually setting up some type of statistics tracker is a good idea. Probably one of the best ways for the average webmaster is to obtain a Google Analytics account. Once you have done that, you can setup as many websites with trackers as you need. You can also give separate accounts access to just the trackers you want.
#8 Similar Websites for examples
Try to have the client give you examples of other websites they like, and explain to you what they like, and dislike about each of the examples. You can use this to greatly increase the chance of them being completely happy with the website you build for them.
#9 Number of Pages
Some sites are simple one pagers, and others are hundreds of pages. Find out early how many pages your client will need. If its going to be more than 20 or so, you should probably start talking to them about a content management system (CMS). Not only will it be a little easier to keep in order, it will also give them the ability to edit content themselves.
Perhaps ones of the hardest part of a web design is actually compiling & organizing all the content the client wants. In fact, just getting all the content from the client is a task in itself. Many times it’s almost like they expect you to come to their house or office and go through their content yourself. However, this is not the case, it is their responsibility to provide content for their website.
#1 Text Content
This is ultimately the most important part of any website. It doesn’t matter how pretty the site is, if it doesn’t have good informative content for the users to read, there might as well not even be a website at all. This again can be quite difficult to procure from the client. Unfortunately you are pretty much at the mercy of the client to provide you this.
#2 Images, Videos, & Music
You can’t have a website with some type of images. Ask you clients to provide you with the largest possible size if images so that you can use them in more than just content. Some images are great for using in the design process as background images and collages. If they require Video or Audio to be on their website, you will need to think about what the best way to provide the website users that content. Normally Flash players are the best way to go since it prevents users from stealing the music/video and don’t have to worry about cross platform compatibility issues.
We web designers don’t design for free. So when it comes time to put together a price for a client make sure you do it right. Take the time to figure out exactly how much time you will need to design the site. I find that charging by the hour in a web design situation just wont work. Charging per page is also hard to do as well since some pages have alot of content and some do not.
I find that charging a base fee for the actual design works for me. It is usually between $500 - $1000 just for the design, not including the conversion from graphics to HTML & CSS. Then I try to put together a price on how long it will take me to convert the graphics into code.
Finally put a price together based on the number of pages the client requires. Price may vary depending on the amount of content. But in the end sometimes charging a set price per page is the better way to go since it means the client knows where you stand. And if in the future they need to have you develop another page, they will have a good idea of what to expect to pay.
So there you have it. A somewhat comprehensive list of how to go about starting a website design for your clients. I will add to this list as time goes one.
The question was raised in a comment on this blog about the legalities of who owns what upon completion of the web design. In the contracts I personally use it states that all the HTML files, images, and content contained in those files are owned by the client. It also states that all other design & materials remain property of the web designer.
Here are some links to some legal contracts for web designers.
Yet Another Web Designer Contract
Non Exclusive Copyright License
I have created a selection of FREE to download CSS Content Boxes. These were designed to be used for side bar areas, but if you know your photoshop decently enough you can easily modify the headers to stretch as wide as you need. These CSS Content Boxes are all 100% XHTML & CSS Validated.
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Blue Content Box |
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Green Content Box |
Pink Content Box |
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Purple Content Box |
Orange Content Box |
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As a designer I often find myself using many of the same colors over and over. That’s not to say they aren’t a wide range of colors, but they are used more often than other colors. The amount of colors available to us designers is just about limit-less, so why do many of us find ourselves in the same position of repeatedly using the same colors?
The answer is we become comfortable with what works for us. And when I find myself once again using comfortable colors, I go to my extensive vault of links to help myself out of a rut.
So please enjoy my collection of links to websites with colors, color palettes and patterns. As always this list will be continually updated.
Last Updated 1-11-08
Brought to you be Adobe, this online color tool is basically a social color palette website. Quickly create harmonious color themes online. Explore, create and share color themes.
COLOURloversTM is a resource that monitors and influences color trends. COLOURlovers gives the people who use color - whether for ad campaigns, product design, or in architectural specification - a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews.
Create and find color palettes made from images
Pretty much self explanatory
Organised into 3 distinct colour groups - neutrals, muted tones and bold colours, you may recognize a few of the shades from some of your favourite Web2.0 sites.
This is just a site with tons of free patterns to download. I wouldn’t say these are Web 2.0 style patterns, but they are pretty good, and you just might be able to find some uses for them.
This link points to the free online application, but there is a more full and robust version that can be purchased and installed on your computer. GenoPal always proposes colors that are eye-pleasing. GenoPal colors are based on how your eye explores color - they are naturally harmonious.
A site with mostly textures. Not the best textures in the world, but they are free and you just might find some use for them somewhere.
Everyone loves icons right? Right! So I have put together a list of some of my favorite and some of the best icon sites I have managed to find on the internet, along with a few examples each of the site has to offer..
If you have any other great links to add to the list, just go ahead and leave a comment with the link.
This page will be updated regularly
Last Updated 1-14-08
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This site is one of my newest discoveries and has some of the best looking, highest quality icons I have seen. I don’t even know what to call the website because half of it is in another language of some sort, but I will take full advantage of all it has to offer, and I suggest you do to.
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Free Icons Web has quite an impressive selection of truly high quality icons. Most of the icons are not full sets, but mini sets with particular themes in mind. The icons I show above are just small samples of very different sets available for free.
Some small and clean icons to use for your various web development projects.
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A very random selection of high quality and not as high quality icons. It’s not an all in one icon website, but you just may find the perfect icon you have been looking for.
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A Web 2.0 badge generator. Select from many different badges, add your text, and download. Simple as that.
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A selection of a few good looking Web 2.0 badges available for download.
The web, such a bountiful source of free information. The really is no limit to the amount of information you can stumble upon and consume, and completely free no less!
After years and years of being a web designer, I have gathered quite a collection of links to websites that offer me unlimited amounts of css tips, tricks, and free downloads. I have decided to share my list with the rest of you. I hope you enjoy them, as much as I do.
This page will be updated regularly
An amazing archive of numerous free css based scripts, menus, layouts and much much more. Some of my personal favorites are the ones that are inside the Dynamic category.
Free CSS layouts to download
Of all the LightBox scripts, I think this is so far my favorite. It supports video, flash, external websites, forms, inline content (divs) and of course images. And it also looks amazing as well. Definitely a highly recommended script.
I really like this lightbox script. It might be in contest for my favorite lightbox script with the LightWindow one above. Best thing about this one though, is that its html will validate, which lets face it is increasingly important these day.
This is yet another script that can be used to overlay image on top of the current pag. It is very similar to Lightbox, Thickbox, and Greybox.
Before I get to the bad stuff, I will talk about the good parts about the script. The interface is quite nice looking, with white rounded corners and borders. The animation effect is also quite smooth and nice to look at.
However, I have tested this script on both IE6, and FF2 and I must say that it works better on IE6. On Firefox the animation is a little bit jittery, and gives a very strange effect outside of the borders. It almost looks like a magnifying glass is being put over the outside edge for a quick second, but after the animation is over, it looks great!. I suspect this is a bug that will be worked out in the near future. So defintely don’t hesitate to try this script out for yourself!
Facebox is a jQuery-based, Facebook-style lightbox which can display images, divs, or entire remote pages.It’s simple to use and easy on the eyes. Download the tarball, view the examples, then start enjoying the curves.
Lightbox is a very simple script that can be used to overlay an image on top of the current page to keep users from being linked to other pages. It is an exceptionally clean way to show off your pictures, designs, and more.
Another version of the Lightbox script. This version adds support for more than just images, you can include iFrames, div’s and many other text based pieces of content.
Yet another version of the Lightbox script. This one is probably one of the most well rounded versions I have seen. You can display external pages in the pop ups, and the gallery setup is just plain beautiful.
This is one of the best incarnations of the Lightbox scripts I have seen so far. I am very impressed with this one, and suggest trying it out. Lightbox that supports images, flash, video, mp3s, html.
Highslide JS is an open source JavaScript software, offering a Web 2.0 approach to popup windows. It streamlines the use of thumbnail images and HTML popups on web pages.
DHTML Goodies has a high quality assortment of CSS / DHTML / AJAX scripts all available to download for free.
Think you need images to have gradients in your designs? So did I, at least I used to until a friend of mine told me about this website.
As a web designer I encounter all sorts of road blocks that although small, really start to add up to wasted time that I’m not getting paid enough for. The Web Developer plug for Firefox built by Chris Pederick has completely dissolved all those road blocks to make my life a whole lot easier.
Read on to get a generalized summary, review, and small tutorial on this quite amazing incredibly powerful tool. Read the rest of this entry »
Years ago on a TV channel that no longer exists (Tech TV), on a TV show that also no longer exists (The Screensavers) I was introduced to a great little design helper application called Pixie by Nattyware
This small sexy little application, which is only a 160px X 82px size window, runs on top of your desktop, as well as on top of all your computer applications to help you quickly identify colors by simply putting the tip of your mouse cursor over the color you wish to identify.
Read the rest of this entry »
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