Everyday Design Resources

I’m constantly coming across cool, useful stuff but I have so many resource bookmarks that it’s kinda all become a pile of semi-useful sludge. Here is my attempt to list the Top Ten (or so) websites that I visit for practical help or inspiration when I’m working on a project.

O alistapart.com: A List Apart explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.

O w3schools.com/css: Fairly basic CSS reference.

O lipsum.com: Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. This is useful for filling in content when there is no content available to work on your project.

O colourlovers.com: Ultimate HTML Color HEX Code List: I am in love with this site in general but this post is especially handy.

O stylegala.com: Style Gala’s Bullet Madness Project: A list of 200 bullets, arrows, and icons.

O designmeltdown.com: Design Melt Down always seems to find sites that are the best of the best and categorizes them by style, genre, and technique. It also has some basic design reference.

O smashingmagazine.com: Superclean, blog style site full of design & tech resources. Check out their toolbox section. This website is a gem that I’d completely forgotten about! It simply got lost in my link pile! =D

O iStockphoto.com: Best community supported stock image website I’ve found so far.

O photoshoplab.com: Plenty of tutorials and ideas for working with photoshop for the web and more.

O MapleStory.com: Ok, ok, has nothing to do with design, but hey, what better way to unwind than to ks a n00b at chronos with your lvl50 Priest. I mean, really? And no, I’m not explaining.

Resources by Category:

Code, Technique & Useability: A List Apart, Colour Lovers’ Hex Chart, CSS Beauty, Max Design’s Floatutorial, W3Schools, Lightbox, Nifty Corners, KiLL3R C55, OpenCube, Smashing

Images & Icons: Yellow Icon, Icon Base, Bullet Madness, iStockphoto, BigStock Photo, Found Magazine, Library of Congress on Flickr, stock.xchng, Smashing, Squidfingers’ patterns

Design Inspiration: Design Meltdown, Cool Home Pages, Smashing, Style Gala

I’m sure I’ll think of more later but for now I’m spent. Peace.