As the worlds of web design and SEO merge ever closer, we’ve been seeing design-specific elements produce a positive impact on SEO for the sites that employ them. It’s terrific news for SEOs who love design and are capable of and passionate about making it part of their repertoire. It’s also great for designers who find that as they evolved from Flash designs to machine-readable CSS and separated markup from content, they’ve earned more links and more organic search love…

I thought for completeness I would throw out some quick notes on the creative commons and how it relates to both GPL and proprietary WordPress theme licenses.

I am not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice, and I am trying to make this “non-specific” to any particular theme because it affects users of themes, not just the theme authors.

The Difference Between GPL & Creative Commons

The primary difference between the GPL & the least restrictive Creative Commons licenses (such as SA – share alike) is that the GPL is aimed at programmers, and the Creative Commons is intended for various forms of art…

At some point, most of us have to make a presentation.

Does the notion fill you with dread? Or perhaps you comfortable with presenting, but often don’t know what to say, or how best to say it? Do you think you might get more sales, or get your way more often, if you could made better presentations?

Making better presentations is a craft that can be learned. Let’s break the elements of a presentation down to an easy-to-use template…

The Internet holds a wealth of information on virtually any topic one could think of. With a simple search, you can gain access to knowledge about almost any subject out there.

In fact, you can often get so much information returned that it’s a little intimidating even knowing where to start. Information overload gets more and more common as ever-growing amounts of information go online…

The angle gradient tool is an overlooked gem tucked away in Photoshop’s toolbar.

Often passed over for its more popular sibling, the linear gradient tool, angle gradients create clockwise blends of color around the point a user clicks.

The angle gradients create clockwise blends of color around the point a user clicks.

Most people stop there. But when combined with other techniques and some creativity, the angled gradient has some surprising uses…

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.

Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out…

In this post we release a free Facebook GUI PSD Kit, designed by SurgeWorks and released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The main idea behind the kit is to speed up the prototyping of Facebook application UIs and Facebook fan pages, thus sparing you from drawing all the comps and letting you customize all the texts, buttons and data as you need. As usual, the kit is free to use in all projects, without any restrictions…

Mark Rothko, an American artist who described himself as an “abstract painter”, once said that he was not the kind of person interested in the relationship of form, color or similars. He didn’t define himself as an abstractionist, but rather as a person interested only in expressing basic human emotions such as doom, tragedy, ecstasy and so on. This was one person’s vision of art, but what do we mean by art today? Why is defining the concept so difficult?

This article is an exploration of the meaning of art and an attempt to understand the relationship between art and artists, with some useful insights via interviews with both traditional and digital artists…

Think of Tumblr as micro-blogging on steroids (technically, it’s called “tumblelogging”). Whereas Twitter and similar services limit posts to 140 characters or less, Tumblr lets you post updates of any length, although it’s best suited to short-format posts. Tumblr bridges the gap between full-blown blog and micro-blog.

Tumblr is also a great option for designers and creative people, because it gives you complete control over the look of your tumblelog…

When it comes to online tutorials and articles, you have to be very careful in choosing the right one from tens of thousands of articles you find as you are seeking help in the Web. So today we present nice articles and tutorials which are easy to understand and will surely add to your knowledge.

Web Development

The Principle of Contrast in Web DesignA web design is made of many different elements, each having varying levels of importance and some demanding prominence over others…

A website is never done. Everyone has worked on a project that changed so much after it launched that they no longer wanted it in their portfolio. One way to help those who take over your projects is to produce a style guide.

Edward Tufte once said: “Great design is not democratic; it comes from great designers. If the standard is lousy, then develop another standard.” Although there’s no stopping some clients from making their website awful, by creating a style guide, you’re effectively establishing rules for those who take over from you…

For the past week, we’ve been running IconDock’s Giveaway for 10 Icon sets. Thanks to all who participated and a special thanks to Nick La for these wonderful icons.

IconDock features professionally designed pixel and vector stock icons suitable for print and web projects. The website contains a great collection of both premium and free icons.

Today we have the results of the contest and 10 lucky winners get the chance to pick any icon set of their choice from the great collection at IconDock…

Smashing Editorial: Please notice that the language in some parts of this article may be very informal. If you think you might be offended, please stop reading this article now.

I hate the division represented in this title. It’s the major stumbling block in modern business. Power struggle is never constructive, and it at least doubles workforce effort at a time when streamlined is crucial for a positive ROI…

A/B testing (also called split testing) is a testing method generally used in marketing to compare results between two samples with the goal to improve conversion or response rates.

In web design, A/B tests are generally used to test design elements (sometimes against the existing design) to better determine which design elements will get the best response from visitors.

A/B tests, by definition, compare only two variables (design elements) at a time…

Today we are glad to release CMS Icon Set, a set with 12 high quality icons in 48×48px, available in the .png-format. The set was designed to be used in content management systems, but can also be useful for other user interface designs. This goodie was designed by the Russian design studio Pixel-Mixer and released especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers.

Download the icon set for free!

You can use the set for all of your projects for free and without any restrictions…

CSS3 continues to both excite and frustrate web designers and developers. We are excited about the possibilities that CSS3 brings, and the problems it will solve, but also frustrated by the lack of support in Internet Explorer 8. This article will demonstrate a technique that uses part of CSS3 that is also unsupported by Internet Explorer 8. However, it doesn’t matter as one of the most useful places for this module is somewhere that does have a lot of support — small devices such as the iPhone, and Android devices…

The ability to tint black-and-white photographs with color has been a staple of photography for decades, and modern image editors make warming and cooling grayscale images a snap.

This concept of a steady progression of shades can be used to present information as well.

This technique of tinting digital photos works well for presenting information and can improve usability.

Just as a gradient shows a range of colors, a monotone or duotone can be used to show a range of data…

Companies like Time, Wired, and BMW have invested in publishing magazines on the iPad ever since it came out but now with help of HP’s Magcloud, literally anyone can begin publishing magazines of their own. Magcloud suggests that using their 7 step process (and about 2 weeks in time, you can setup and begin selling online magazines. Below is an out line of their 7 step process:

1. Create: The publisher creates a magazine in a design program
2. Upload: The publisher uploads the PDF to MagCloud, fills out the description, and orders a proof
3. Proof: MagCloud prints, binds, and mails the proof to the publisher
4. Publish: The publisher reviews the proof…

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.

Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out…

In previous video roundups, we’ve collected together some interesting videos and presentations from a variety of speakers discussing topics covering usability, graphic design, CSS frameworks, web standards, and more. In this small roundup, we’ve included seven videos that we think would be of great interest to web app developers in particular, with less focus on design and standards…

Illustrated additions to websites can lend even the plainest theme an extra level of visual interest and complexity.

Illustrations vary widely from one site to the next. Some look hand-drawn (whether they are or not) while others are obviously digitally rendered.

Below are more than thirty great website designs that feature illustrations.

Most common are illustrations in headers and backgrounds, often of site mascots or characters…

In the Web design scene, the sense of community is extremely strong. We always talk about “giving back” and about how much we learn from those who do. A few names are popular and dropped here and there. But it’s all still just a bit too impersonal, isn’t it? Here at Smashing Magazine, we’ve decided to give you a more intimate look at our writers.

Among the people who regularly write for us, 15 agreed to answer our questions…

By Andrea Austoni

You’ve spent years honing your design skills in that corporate cubicle you’ve been living in, hoping for the day when you would finally make the jump to full time freelance. You’ve taken on some side jobs from some friends or friends of friends, but now you are itching to be out on your own. There’s just one glitch…

You know that corporate sales guy that’s been out getting those web and print design orders that land on your desk everyday? He’s not coming with you on your freelance excursion down the yellow brick road…

By setting images in type, you are able to express more than words or pictures can alone.

The effect packs a lot of information into a tight space. But it can get ugly if the text and imagery are at odds with each other.

Designers can steer clear of disaster by keeping their purpose in mind: expressing the idea clearly should trump the “wow” factor of the technique…

The word chocolate can be associated with many words: dark, white, milk, hot, sweet, spicy, etc. But have you tried to combine it with the word web design? We did. We searched the Web for websites in any way related to chocolate and what we found is worth to be collected in this showcase. The interesting thing is that you would probably never stumble upon some of the sites, so the overview below may provide you with a unique perspective and get your creative juices flowing…

You may be wondering why you’re reading about the good old semantics on Smashing Magazine. Why doesn’t this article deal with HTML5 or another fancy new language: anything but plain, clear, tired old semantics. You may even find the subject boring, being a devoted front-end developer. You don’t need a lecture on semantics. You’ve done a good job keeping up with the Web these last 10 years, and you know pretty much all there is to know…

IconDock is the brain child of renowned designer Nick La, more known for his popular blog, Web Designer Wall, and his portfolio site, N Design Studio.

IconDock features professionally designed pixel and vector stock icons suitable for print and web projects. The site contains a great collection of both premium and free icons.

With today’s contest, we’re bringing you the chance to win 10 sets of these wonderful and useful icons…

Today we are glad to release gCons, a set of free all-purpose 32×32px icons for designers and web developers (100 icons). The icons come in 12 different colors and are available in PSD, PNG, JPG and GIF formats. This set was designed by Sarfraz Shoukat especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers.

Download the icon set for free!

You can use the set for all of your projects for free and without any restrictions…

By Cameron Chapman

Online banking and investment services have become big business in recent years. Whether it’s a tiny local bank or a major, multi-national one, if a bank wants to be successful, a user-friendly, well-designed website is a necessity. But that doesn’t mean every bank out there has a great site. In fact, a lot of bank websites barely manage in terms of usability and functionality, and leave a lot lacking in the design area…

One thing that can be said about human beings is that we are, by and large, creatures of habit. We establish routines, consciously and subconsciously, that help us accomplish tasks or move us more quickly or comfortably through our day. Habits are formed in the design and development community just as they are in nearly every other professional and personal environment, and they serve any number of purposes…