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How To Make Glass Buttons Using Adobe Illustrator
In this simple tutorial, we are going to use Adobe Illustrator make buttons that have a glass-like look to them.
I’m using Illustrator rather than Photoshop because once you make your button in Illustrator, you are left with a much more flexible button graphic that can be used to make more buttons of different sizes. [...]
The Dubious Advantages of a Web Design Degree
21. December 2009
I got a call last week from someone who was considering a three year college program in web design. The whole thing was going to cost him tens of thousands of dollars … and that’s just what you have to pay the school!
He called to ask about my video tutorial courses; he saw that [...]
Smart Web Designers Play to their Strengths
5. December 2009
One of the biggest mistakes people make, is trying to develop skills in areas that they suck in. For example, you maybe good at writing HTML and CSS code but in the end, your pages don’t look all that great.
… Let’s face it, some people just don’t have that artistic/designers eye.
Play to your Strengths
Continue reading...Pixarra TwistedBrush Review
30. November 2009
Pixarra rebranded its digital drawing Sketchbook program into the new TwistedBrush application and I don’t like it. The program claims that it is “one of the most versatile and powerful brush engines in existence packaged in into an easy to use program”. TwistedBrush has over 5,000 brush styles, with all the customization choices, [...]
Continue reading...Professional Web Designer’s Roadmap
26. November 2009
The skills of a professional web designer are constantly changing because the Web is constantly changing.
This fast-paced nature of the Web is considered good by some (because it opens up opportunity) while others hate it because you have to be ready to learn new web design skills regularly.
… Personally, I see it as an [...]
Adobe Illustrator CS4 Review
5. October 2009
At version number fourteen, finding more features to improve the already near-perfect Illustrator app is probably quite the challenge for the developers at Adobe. Yet, they’ve managed to do it again and we’ll go into these features in just a moment.
The basics about Illustrator: it’s compatible with both Mac and Windows, has a [...]
Corel Painter 11 Review
19. August 2009
Corel’s Painter software, especially since the release of version X, gained quite a following from serious digital artists. Now, Corel Painter 11, a refined, more customizable version of an already great program, lets you carry an entire artist’s studio on your laptop. Painter is a bit steep – at $429 (box) or $399 [...]
Continue reading...Table to Tableless
27. July 2009
Table to Tableless Migration
This tutorial requires intermediate knowledge of HTML/XHTML. It only requires basic knowledge of CSS. All of the properties I am using are being added to an embedded page style sheet, which is between the <head> tags in the document. You must use this to define header CSS: <style type=”text/css”> and </style>. Alternately, [...]
The Universal Principles and the Business of Web Design
8. June 2009
It has been a while since I’ve posted on this subject – I’ve been busy working on upgrading the clarity of my videos. You should see the results of that work soon enough.
What are the ‘Universal Principles’ … and how do they apply to the business of web design?
These are some of the principles that [...]
How To Properly Use Web 2.0
4. June 2009
Using Web 2.0 for the Right Reasons
The term, Web 2.0, has become so common that it’s now almost one of those labels that everyone knows, but nobody knows the definition of. In fact, clients often ask me—with complete seriousness—if I can provide “Web 2.0 ” for their site. My reply is typically along the lines [...]
The Journey of a Thousand Miles
22. May 2009
There’s a pretty tired cliché used all the time that goes something like this:
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Like all clichés it’s true while at the same time a bit trivial. In the case of building websites, this particular cliché can help teach one of the most important lessons to learn. Let me try to put it in terms of what we do: it’s not how you end a project that gives you success as a web designer/developer; it’s how you begin it.
Continue reading...
23. February 2010
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