Articles by Smashing Magazine from October 2012

When one goes to the professional, one expects to invest in his expertise. This investment requires no great leap of faith, as it is supported by a trust acknowledged among the general populace and du...

   Growing up, weekends were about worship in the Hinman household. Sunday mornings were reserved for a laborious worship ritual dictated by my parents. It required dressing u...

Growing up, weekends were about worship in the Hinman household. Sunday mornings were reserved for a laborious worship ritual dictated by my parents. It required dressing up in uncomfortable clothes, ...

   When one goes to the professional, one expects to invest in his expertise. This investment requires no great leap of faith, as it is supported by a trust acknowledged among...

   Life as a Web developer can be hard when things start going wrong. The problem could be in any number of places. Is there a problem with the request you’re sending, i...

Life as a Web developer can be hard when things start going wrong. The problem could be in any number of places. Is there a problem with the request you’re sending, is the problem with the respo...

   Masking passwords is an old practice thats commonly implemented in sign-up and log-in forms. Its used to prevent over-the-shoulder snoopers from catching the users password...

Editor’s Note: This article expresses the author’s personal opinion and covers experimental UX techniques which aren’t considered to be best practice. Do you agree or disagree with t...

   Roles have been an integral part of WordPress for quite some time now — many functions associated with managing them have been in place since version 2.0.0. Despite t...

Roles have been an integral part of WordPress for quite some time now many functions associated with managing them have been in place since version 2.0.0. Despite this longevity, they are rarely util...

   When I was studying computer science in college, I had one extremely tough professor. His name was Dr. Maxey and he taught the more complicated courses like data structures...

When I was studying computer science in college, I had one extremely tough professor. His name was Dr. Maxey and he taught the more complicated courses like data structures and computer architecture. ...

   With the intense workload throughout the year, we tend to miss out on the opportunites for networking with like-minded designers and developers. This makes it difficult for...

   With all the talk about responsive Web design, designers and coders are moving even further from the fixed pixel layouts of designs print-based history. Were finally thinki...

With all the talk about responsive Web design, designers and coders are moving even further from the fixed pixel layouts of designs print-based history. Were finally thinking in terms of fluid layouts...

   A few weeks ago, I dug up an old article that I wrote for Smashing Magazine, When One Word Is More Meaningful Than a Thousand.  While I stand firmly behind all of the ...

A few weeks ago, I dug up an old article that I wrote for Smashing Magazine, When One Word Is More Meaningful Than a Thousand. While I stand firmly behind all of the HTML development principles I list...

   Testers are often thought of as people who find bugs, but have you ever considered how testers actually approach testing? Do you ever wonder what testers actually do, and h...

Testers are often thought of as people who find bugs, but have you ever considered how testers actually approach testing? Do you ever wonder what testers actually do, and how they can add value to a t...

   Care to make a cross-platform mobile game with HTML5? No need to dabble in Java or Objective-C? Bypass the app stores? Sounds like an instant win!A handful of game develope...

Care to make a cross-platform mobile game with HTML5? No need to dabble in Java or Objective-C? Bypass the app stores? Sounds like an instant win!A handful of game developers are pushing the envelope ...

There is a prevalent belief amongst developers that design is a skill that can’t be learned you either have it or you don’t. While much of this can be attributed to the perception that he...

I have an idea for a new product can I tell you about it? It will take months to develop, and even though this kind of thing is usually given away for free, Im going to charge for it. Oh, and the mar...

   I have an idea for a new product — can I tell you about it? It will take months to develop, and even though this kind of thing is usually given away for free, Im goin...

Update (12.12.2012): The book is now officially released. If you’ve already pre-ordered the book weeks ago, then it’s really only a matter of days! Until then, the complimentary digital ve...

   The future is mobile. As more and more people are turning to mobile devices, designers and developers are facing new challenges and opportunities. Web design has to adapt, ...

   Howdy, folks! Welcome to more Smashing Magazine CSS Q&A. It works like this: you send in questions you have about CSS, and at least once a month well pick out the best ...

Howdy, folks! Welcome to more Smashing Magazine CSS Q&A. It works like this: you send in questions you have about CSS, and at least once a month well pick out the best questions and answer them so...

   While Fireworks can be a useful and powerful tool for any screen designer, several aspects of it make it really shine in an enterprise environment when used by both small a...

While Fireworks can be a useful and powerful tool for any screen designer, several aspects of it make it really shine in an enterprise environment when used by both small and large design teams.What d...

Misaligned interests create tension in the design process that can lead to bad, and potentially unethical, design decisions, that result in inferior products. In this article I will examine how the de...

   Misaligned interests create tension in the design process that can lead to bad, and potentially unethical, design decisions, that result in inferior products. In this artic...

   When Albert Einstein was a professor at Princeton University in the 1940s, there came the time for the final exam of his physics class. His assistants passed the exam forms...

When Albert Einstein was a professor at Princeton University in the 1940s, there came the time for the final exam of his physics class. His assistants passed the exam forms to the hundreds of students...

   WordPress security is serious business. Exploits of vulnerabilities in WordPress architecture have led to mass compromises of servers through cross-site contamination. Word...

WordPress security is serious business. Exploits of vulnerabilities in WordPress architecture have led to mass compromises of servers through cross-site contamination. WordPress extensibility increase...

Today, we present yet another freebie a free set of icons related to movies and television, designed by Samuray and released for Smashing Magazine and the design community. The icons are available in...

   At some point or another, you will find yourself writing JavaScript code that exceeds the couple of lines from a jQuery plugin. Your code will do a whole lot of things; it ...

At some point or another, you will find yourself writing JavaScript code that exceeds the couple of lines from a jQuery plugin. Your code will do a whole lot of things; it will (ideally) be used by ma...

   Today, we present yet another freebie a free set of icons related to movies and television, designed by Samuray and released for Smashing Magazine and the design community...

   Today, we present yet another freebie a free set of icons related to movies and television, designed by Samuray and released for Smashing Magazine and the design community...

   Icons are scattered throughout our history as a species; early man painted pictures onto stone depicting their triumphs over their hunted prey, Egyptians had an icon-based ...

   Icons are scattered throughout our history as a species; early man painted pictures onto stone depicting their triumphs over their hunted prey, Egyptians had an icon-based ...

Icons are scattered throughout our history as a species; early man painted pictures onto stone depicting their triumphs over their hunted prey, Egyptians had an icon-based writing system in their hier...

Are we cheating our clients when it comes to mobile? More precisely, are we allowing our desire for mobile work to get in the way of providing our clients with the best solution for their business nee...

   Are we cheating our clients when it comes to mobile? More precisely, are we allowing our desire for mobile work to get in the way of providing our clients with the best sol...

   Are we cheating our clients when it comes to mobile? More precisely, are we allowing our desire for mobile work to get in the way of providing our clients with the best sol...

   The trouble with a colors name is that it never really is perceived as the exact same color to two different individuals —especially if they have a stake in a website...

   The trouble with a colors name is that it never really is perceived as the exact same color to two different individuals especially if they have a stake in a websites emoti...

The trouble with a colors name is that it never really is perceived as the exact same color to two different individuals especially if they have a stake in a websites emotional impact. Name a color, a...

Stefan Sagmeister is a designer who has been following his instinct and intuition to the fullest, having gained recognition for his unique, and often provocative, visual explorations. Its possibly his...

While vector based artwork lets designers take advantage of small file sizes and lossless scaling it can also be limiting when trying to add depth and richness to a design. Adobe Illustrator offers a ...

   Stefan Sagmeister is a designer who has been following his instinct and intuition to the fullest, having gained recognition for his unique, and often provocative, visual ex...

   Stefan Sagmeister is a designer who has been following his instinct and intuition to the fullest, having gained recognition for his unique, and often provocative, visual ex...

   While vector based artwork lets designers take advantage of small file sizes and lossless scaling it can also be limiting when trying to add depth and richness to a design....

   While vector based artwork lets designers take advantage of small file sizes and lossless scaling it can also be limiting when trying to add depth and richness to a design....

   This is our seventh article in a series that introduces the latest useful and freely available tools and techniques, developed and released by active members of the Web des...

   This is our seventh article in a series that introduces the latest useful and freely available tools and techniques, developed and released by active members of the Web des...

This is our seventh article in a series that introduces the latest useful and freely available tools and techniques, developed and released by active members of the Web design community. The first art...

   Update: 01/10/2012: The original version of this article by Jen Gordon was published in August 2009. It was thoroughly revised and updated by the author in September 2012. ...

   Update: 01/10/2012: The original version of this article by Jen Gordon was published in August 2009. It was thoroughly revised and updated by the author in September 2012. ...

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...

   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 sour...