Typedia is a free-to-use community-driven resource to classify, categorize, and connect typefaces.
It works like a wiki, anyone can join, add & edit pages for typefaces or for the people behind the types.
It is possible to find out details about fonts like:
- the designers
- foundries
- country of origin
- release year
- & more..
The resource is not complete yet (and won’t be, as new fonts are created everyday) but growing & becoming a very useful resource.
Typedia also offers some other great information under the "Learn" section.
Adobe used to have individual Cookbooks applications for Flex, AIR & Mobile that presented code snippets created by the community.
Now, they have combined all, with new additions, under a single Adobe Cookbooks application.
The website is a great place for finding ready-to-use code samples for Adobe products, specially ActionScript & Flex.
Besides adding new snippets, users can request for the ones that they can not find & other users can create/share them.
The new Adobe Cookbooks also offers a better search/browsing experience with titles like "related recipes" & "contributor lists".
Requirements: No Requirements
jQuery, being one of the most popular & powerful JavaScript frameworks around, is offering a slick experience to users at every level.
Its website is a huge resource of documentation, examples & tutorials for anyone who is into it.
Besides the documentation jQuery offers, following other jQuery users is a great way to learn more & get inspired to discover new ways for taking advantage of this library.
Here are 15+ blogs to follow for jQuery fans that frequently create jQuery-oriented content:
Besides being the creator of jQuery, he has other creative JavaScript-related projects like:
Not only for jQuery users but for anyone into JavaScript, his blog is a great source of information & inspiration.
The blog covers any type of updates related to jQuery from new versions to jQuery-related posts in the blogosphere, events & more.
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It is easy to guess that most of the web designers/developers are not the fans of Microsoft.
On the other hand, lately, they are frequently creating interesting stuff for the community like the Web Platform, Expression Web SuperPreview & now WebsiteSpark.
WebsiteSpark is not a software, rather, it is a program that targets small web design companies & offers them valuable softwares to ignite their businesses.
The program has no upfront costs for 3 years & requires various amounts of payments depending on the products you want to use after that period. Also, you can quit the program anytime by only paying a $100 fee which is still acceptible.
The softwares included are:
- 3 licenses of Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
- 1 license of Expression Studio 3 (which includes Expression Blend, Sketchflow, and Web)
- 2 licenses of Expression Web 3
- 4 processor licenses of Windows Web Server 2008 R2
- 4 processor licenses of SQL Server 2008 Web Edition
- DotNetPanel control panel (enabling easy remote/hosted management of your servers)
For anyone willing to or already use Microsoft platforms to build websites, WebsiteSpark is definitely an opportunity to look at.
Tip: The program requires a referral program that can be obtained from network partners. If you don’t have one, you can e-mail webspark@microsoft.com to get a referral code quickly.
Few days ago, the JavaScript Framework Matrix, which enables you to make a detailed comparison of JS frameworks, was shared at WRD.
Bestwebframeworks has a wider look with less detail & makes comparing PHP, JavaScript, Ruby & CSS frameworks easier.
Frameworks are listed very clearly and shows:
- their licenses
- requirements
- features
- compatibility
depending on the category viewed.
Also, it is possible to hide any framework & sort titles for a quicker comparison.
The JavaScript Framework Matrix, by Mathias Schütz, is a well-presented comparison of the popular JavaScript frameworks.
It shows examples for most of the functions which gives a strong idea on the coding principles of every framework.
The libraries included are:
- jQuery
- MooTools
- The Dojo Toolkit
- Prototype
- Script.aculo.us
- Ext.JS
- Adobe Spry
- BBC Glow
- Yahoo UI! Library
Every function/snippet provided links to the original documentation which is nice for reading more on the resource.
E-commerce has its own dynamics when compared to the standard shopping experiences. It:
- is faster
- requires collection of data
- includes shipping more frequently
- has different ways of supporting users
- & more..
If the product sold is not something unique, then it probably exists in 100s of other e-commerce websites. So, to differentiate your stores from others, here are 13 tips for a better e-commerce website:
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Behind almost every successful web application, there is an easy-to-use & feature-rich API as they simply help the main application to spread into others & reached by more users.
Also, an API-enabled application can be easily developed further using the API itself.
In order to create an API for your web application, here are 10 tutorials to get you started. But before that, you may want to checkout the video: How To Design A Good API and Why it Matters by Google.
PHP
A very detailed yet easy-to-implement tutorial on creating a REST API with PHP.
And, there is a follow-up article: "Making RESTful Requests in PHP" by the same author which can guide you as well.
A detailed tutorial which describes the concepts like REST, SOAP & creates an API step-by-step with PHP.
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Userfocus, a consultancy & training company on website usability, is sharing 247 web usability guidelines for creating more consistently & better.
The guidelines are very well-categorized like homepage, forms & data entry, navigation, search & more.
Here are some examples:
- Text boxes on forms are the right length for the expected answer.
- The home page shows good examples of real site content.
- The layout helps focus attention on what to do next.
- Search results are clear, useful and ranked by relevance.
All the guidelines are also provided as an Excel workbook, where you can go through a website & check the ones that are ok.
Inside the "Let’s make the web faster" website, Google is sharing the tips & tutorials for better performing webpages.
Some of the articles are:
Besides the articles, It is possible to reach videos of speeches by several organizations on website performance.
Also, links to various tools for the issue provided & a large community discusses the subject continiously.
