Resources

Useful Web Design and Development Links

To be a great web designer/developer, you need to be on top of accessibility issues, browser bugs and quirks, color theory, CSS, DHTML, image processing, information architecture, JavaScript, search engine optimization, typography, usability, W3C standards... and a whole lot more.But you can't be a master of everything -- sometimes, you just need a little help.

That's where these sites come in.We've compiled sites in a number of categories to make your job easier.If you have some more suggestions of helpful sites for web designers, just let us know.

Accessibility

• Bobby
  Bobby is a great web-based tool that analyzes web pages and tests them for their accessibility to people with disabilities (based on both the W3C's guidelines and Section 508).
• Dive into Accessibility
  Designed for weblog creators -- but applicable to almost any web designer -- this site illustrates 30 easy principles to make your site more accessible.
• Section 508
  Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities.Learn more about the government's guidelines here.
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
  The W3C's guidelines for web accessibility.

Image Archives

Who knows how many hours every web designer spends searching for that perfect image for their project?Hopefully these sites will help reduce that time.

• Corbis
• Getty Images Creative
• iStockphoto.com
• Veer

JavaScript

• Peter Paul Koch's JavaScript Section
  A great site where you can not only find scripts to cut and paste in your own site, but read great explanations so that you actually understand how those scripts work.Scary, huh?

Online "Magazines" and Portals

• A List Apart
  "From pixels to prose, from code to content."Indeed, you'll find articles on everything from building a PHP style sheet switcher to incorporating your web business.
• Digital Web
  Articles, columns, interviews, and reviews published weekly on monthly topics that in the past have included user-centered design, searching, accessiblity, CSS, and more.
• Webmonkey
  One of the longest-running sites for web developers.Don't miss their cornucopia of tutorials; great for learning HTML, CSS, DHTML, XML, SMIL, and a ton of other acronyms.
• Web Page Design for Designers
  Designers, Joe Gillespie speaks your language. His site is dedicated to graphic design and the creative aspects of web design.
• Zeldman.com
  Probably no better site on the web for the latest information and smart thinking in the world of web design.But don't tell him we said that.

Web Standards and Validation

• Web Standards Project
  Fighting for freedom, justice, and web standards.
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
  The W3C sets the standards and specifications (HTML and CSS, for instance) that serve as the foundations for the Web.
• W3C HTML Validator
  Check your pages to see that they meet the W3C's published HTML/XHTML standards.
• W3C CSS Validator
  Just like the HTML validator, except that it checks the validity of your CSS. Sweet!

Web Design Firms

• Astra Web Design Company
  Professional web design and web development, internet marketing and promotional services, corporate identity and 3D modeling.