February 16, 2011 — Although CSS isn’t that difficult, useful CSS techniques are not easy to find. Sometimes finding a cross-browser solution might take time, but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every single time. Other designers may have had the same problem in the past and thus the main goal of this round-up is to share with you a goldmine of new techniques which you will hopefully find very useful and valuable. We also hope that these tutorials and articles will help you solve common design problems and find new ways of approaching tricky CSS issues. The main goal of the article is to present powerful new CSS techniques, encourage experimentation in the design community and push CSS forward. Please notice that we feature both experimental demos and practical techniques in this article. Next week we will present even more useful new tools and resources for front-end developers. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of the design community — thank you, guys! Read more…

February 15, 2011 — Typography is not only an all-important aspect of design, it is also an art form in and of itself. Choosing the right font, the perfect spacing and even the correct shape of text can be an important factor as to whether a project fails or succeeds. Although Illustrator is not really used for multiple-paged projects, many would agree that it is one of the most powerful applications for creating vector graphics, such as logos, and it is also often used for one-page documents, such as business cards, posters, or postcards. Read more…

February 11, 2011 — In this article, the focus is on what’s coming: styling techniques you’ll use in the immediate and near-term future. From styling HTML 5 elements to rearranging layout based on display parameters to crazy selection patterns to transforming element layout, these are all techniques that you may use tomorrow, next month, or next year. With partial browser support, they’re all on the cutting edge of Web design. Read more…

February 9, 2011 — I used to think the beginning of a website design project was the best part. Hopes are high. People are full of great ideas. Nobody is disappointed yet. But as I gained experience, I found that learning about a client’s brand, competitors and customers doesn’t always give clear direction about design goals. Read more…

February 8, 2011 — We know how hard it is to find good useful tools that all of your developers and designers out there spend hours searching for. And for that reason, we’re regularly collecting useful online web services, tools and resources — little time-savers that can boost every designer’s workflow and save time that would otherwise be required for mundane tasks. Read more…

February 7, 2011 — Often, it’s the little details that turn a good layout into a great design; details such as subtle textures, shading and smooth shapes. Photoshop contains a vast array of tools for embellishing a design, but choosing the right one isn’t always easy. Read more…

February 4, 2011 — Good web design is a balance between UX (creating personas, testing usability, and improving the user experience) and focus on business (its objectives and good calls to action). Read more…

February 3, 2011 — Adding interactivity and animations to a design doesn’t have to be complicated or make the website inaccessible when you use modern Web standards. In this article, we’ll explore several examples and theories that employ CSS, HTML, SVG, the canvas element and JavaScript. Some of these techniques you’ll know, others you may not have considered. Let’s start with the basics. “Bringing Interactivity To Your Website With Web Standards”)](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/?p=85432) Manipulating HTML with JavaScript is the most common method of adding interactivity to a website. But before you start using JavaScript, having a strong understanding of the CSS visual formatting model and box model is important. They are vital to making sense of how HTML elements can be manipulated visually. When you dynamically change the style of an HTML element, it will flow with and react to the rest of the document. Learning to anticipate and control what is affected can be difficult. Read more…

February 1, 2011 — The Smashing Book 2 is here. It’s printed. And it’s being delivered worldwide at this very moment as you are reading this. All pre-ordered books have been sent out from our warehouse via air mail and should reach all countries soon. In fact, some readers have already received a copy of the book. Read more…

January 31, 2011 — A selection of free desktop and creative wallpapers. Created by artists all around the world, get some inspiration! Read more…