Articles by Smashing Magazine from October 2011

    Everyone who is a regular Smashing Magazine reader will know that we have a trad...

Everyone who is a regular Smashing Magazine reader will know that we have a traditional habit of regularly researching the latest resources, tools and services out there on the Web, as productivity is...

This is the second in a three-part series on how to build and grow successful user experience teams in agile environments. It covers challenges related to organization, hiring and integration that pla...

    Before we start, Id like to pose a question: when was the last time you asked so...

Before we start, Id like to pose a question: when was the last time you asked someone to review your code? Reviewing code is possibly the single best technique to improve the overall quality of your s...

    Three weeks ago, we launched a photo contest in which everyone could submit a ph...

Three weeks ago, we launched a photo contest in which everyone could submit a photo of their favorite coffee mug. For those who have participated, thank you for taking shots of your beloved mugs and s...

    Editors note: This article is the second piece in our new series introducing new...

    Whatever type of website you operate, its success will probably hinge on your in...

Whatever type of website you operate, its success will probably hinge on your interaction with your audience. If executed well, one of the most effective tools can be a simple email.WordPress users ar...

    Today we are delighted to release another freebie for our design community. This...

ZURB are well-known for their wireframing and prototyping tools and in this post they present their recent tool, Foundation, a framework to help you build prototypes and production code thats truly re...

Today we are delighted to release another freebie for our design community. This set contains over 80 original high quality vector files designed by the team at Vecteezy. These masterfully created, ha...

    If content sits at the top of the food chain, why do we spend so much time talki...

If content sits at the top of the food chain, why do we spend so much time talking about the finer points of design? Every day we debate, experiment with and discuss topics that easily fall into the c...

    Have you ever had someone flirt you and they did nothing but demean themselves t...

Have you ever had someone flirt with you and they did nothing but demean themselves the whole time? Did that make you attracted to them? Doubtful. Yet, this is how so many individuals seem to handle t...

    Editor’s Note: Last Friday, we published an article on the Do’s And ...

Editor’s Note: Last Friday, we published an article on the Do’s And Donts Of Infographic Design written by Amy Balliett which raised quite a discussion within the design community. Some re...

    Using tabs in a user interface can help you better organize content, so its only...

    Usability and user experience testing is vital to creating a successful website,...

Using tabs in a user interface can help you better organize content, so its only natural that WordPress themes that have a lot of options would benefit from tabs on their settings page. In this tutori...

    Very frequently in Web development (and programming in general), you need to sto...

    Very frequently in Web development (and programming in general), you need to sto...

Very frequently in Web development (and programming in general), you need to store a long list of boolean values (yes/no, true/false, checked/unchecked you get the idea) into something that accepts on...

    In this post we release yet another freebie: the Balita WordPress theme, a theme...

In this post we release yet another freebie: the Balita WordPress theme, a theme dedicated to shops that sell products for children. The theme was designed by Tokokoo and released exclusively for Smas...

    This is the first in a three-part series on how to build and grow successful use...

In the last few years, AJAX has crept onto websites and slowly become the way to create dynamic, user-friendly, responsive websites. AJAX is the technology that lets you update the contents of a page ...

This is the first in a three-part series on how to build and grow successful user experience teams in agile environments. It covers challenges related to organization, hiring and integration that plag...

    It appears to be a readers market. More written content is freely available than...

    In this article, well cover how to separate the view of your PHP application fro...

    It appears to be a readers market. More written content is freely available than...

In this article, well cover how to separate the view of your PHP application from its other components. Well look at why using such an architecture is useful and what tools we can use to accomplish th...

    As a Web designer, I often find myself building WordPress-based websites that wi...

As a Web designer, I often find myself building WordPress-based websites that will ultimately be updated and maintained by clients who have little to no experience working with HTML. While the TinyMCE...

    Since the dawn of the Internet, the demand for good design has continued to skyr...

Editor’s Note: You might want to read Nathan Yau’s article The Dos And Donts Of Infographic Design: Revisited here on Smashing Magazine which is a response to this article.Since the dawn o...

    You might consider yourself knowledgeable, but youve probably never heard of thi...

You might consider yourself knowledgeable, but youve probably never heard of this powerful communication and design technique that Im about to share. Im sure youve seen it in practice but never knew i...

    Imagine youre playing the latest hash-tag game on Twitter when you see this frie...

    Updating your Twitter profile can give you really unnecessary headaches. In toda...

Imagine youre playing the latest hash-tag game on Twitter when you see this friendly tweet: You might want to check your #WP site. It includes two copies of jQuery. Nothings broken, but loading time w...

    Editor’s note: This article is the first piece in our new series introduci...

    Updating your Twitter profile can give some unnecessary headaches. In today̵...

This article is the first piece in our new series introducing new, useful and freely available tools and techniques presented and released by active members of the Web design community. Lea Verou is w...

    Updating your Twitter profile can give you really unnecessary headaches. In toda...

    Updating your Twitter profile can give you really unnecessary headaches. In toda...

Updating your Twitter profile can give you really unnecessary headaches. In today’s post, we proudly present to you a Twitter UI GUI template, designed by Shelby White which has exclusively been...

    AIDA. Attention, interest, desire, action.Its the classic copywriting formula, s...

    I occasionally write about implementing design patterns in JavaScript. Theyre an...

I occasionally write about implementing design patterns in JavaScript. Theyre an excellent way of building upon proven approaches to solving common development problems, and I think theres a lot of be...

AIDA. Attention, interest, desire, action.Its the classic copywriting formula, studied and used by almost every copywriter on the planet. Well, Im not a fan.Not because it isnt accurate, and not becau...

    Whether your product is an open-source script, a Web application or a downloadab...

Whether your product is an open-source script, a Web application or a downloadable product, you will need to provide some form of technical support. This article explores the subject based on my exper...

    If youre into WordPress development, you cant ignore hooks for long before you h...

If youre into WordPress development, you cant ignore hooks for long before you have to delve into them head on. Modifying WordPress core files is a big no-no, so whenever you want to change existing f...

    Forms, forms, forms: so often overlooked in design. In this post, we are pleased...

Forms, forms, forms: so often overlooked in design. In this post, we are pleased to release the Form Design Cheat Sheet, created by Joe Leech and released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. This c...

    16 PixelsFor Body Copy. Anything Less IsA Costly MistakeI know what youre thinki...

Please note that this article used to have another layout that got lost in space during the migration of content to new servers. Ed.I know what youre thinking. Did he just say 16 pixels? For body cop...

    Forms, forms, forms: so often overlooked in design. In this post, we are pleased...

    In your pocket right now is the most powerful "remote control  (as Drew Dis...

In your pocket right now is the most powerful remote control (as Drew Diskin put it) that has ever existed. It is no ordinary remote control. It can harness everything that all of the previous mass me...

    Here’s a task for you! Have a look at your desk, take a shot of your belov...

    What seems like one of the most complicated bits of functionality in WordPress i...

    Its easy to see your top-visited pages, navigation patterns and conversion metri...

What seems like one of the most complicated bits of functionality in WordPress is adding meta boxes to the post editing screen. This complexity only grows as more and more tutorials are written on the...

This special Halloween icon set was inspired by classic cartoons. Spice up your website or application with a spooky Halloween atmosphere.The set was designed by the creative folks behind IconCreme fo...

Its easy to see your top-visited pages, navigation patterns and conversion metrics using visitor-tracking tools like Google Analytics. However, this data doesnt show the roadblocks that users typicall...

    In school, I hated math. It was a dire, dry and boring thing with stuffy old boo...

In school, I hated math. It was a dire, dry and boring thing with stuffy old books and very theoretical problems. Even worse, a lot of the tasks were repetitive, with a simple logical change in every ...

    Texture is becoming integral to design. Its gone beyond being a trend R...

Texture is becoming integral to design. Its gone beyond being a trendits now a simple and effective way to add depth to a website. Wielding the power of texture is a great responsibility. It increases...

WordPress plugins are PHP scripts that alter your website. The changes could be anything from the simplest tweak in the header to a more drastic makeover (such as changing how log-ins work, triggering...

    We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some int...

We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork. And as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a mat...

    WordPress plugins are PHP scripts that alter your website. The changes could be ...