February 10, 2014 — There are so many options for running an online course, and all of them seem slightly confusing or time-intensive to set up! Using the method outlined below, Paul Jarvis created a self-paced email course that had over 1,000 registrations in the first 24 hours, and almost 2,500 in the first week. There are other ways to do this using MailChimp, such as triggering the completion of a course with a URL, but this is how he did it. Read more…

February 7, 2014 — As graphic designers, you’ll often have to work with off-the-shelf material created by others. Also, you’ll often have to follow the branding already developed by someone else, and that’s ok because it’s part of the job. But the part of a project that almost every graphic designer likes and is proud of the most is something that you can do from scratch. That’s why Anna Shuvalova loves illustration projects so much. Read more…

February 6, 2014 — Transformations are a powerful technique for separating content and presentation in Web applications. Yet, they transformations have failed to gain popularity through XSLT. For this reason, Web developers are liable to think that transformations “don’t apply to me,” even though they work with HTML. Thankfully, new transformation frameworks are on the horizon, that hold the promise of a revival. In this article, Ishan Anand will reintroduce transformations and explore their applications to mobile and responsive design. Read more…

February 5, 2014 — After writing his latest article, “Writing A Better JavaScript Library For The DOM”, Maksim Chemerisuk realized that it’s important to understand what exactly live extensions are and how they work since the topic is extremely complex. In today’s article, he will answer most questions that were asked regarding “live extensions”. Read more…

February 3, 2014 — One of the hardest problems in responsive Web design right now are responsive images. “Retina” images are especially a challenge because if you have sized your layout with ems or percentages, then you cannot be sure of the exact pixel dimensions of each image being displayed. In this article, Gavyn McKenzie will look at one solution to the problem that he implemented on his portfolio website at Etch. Read more…

January 31, 2014 — As designers, we usually turn to desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. And in today’s post, we feature free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for February 2014. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper! This creativity mission has been going on for over five years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed. Read more…

January 31, 2014 — In today’s article, Spyros Zevelakis is interviewing Anthony Burrill, one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary graphic designHe has never worked for another design firm, and his first studio was at home — at his kitchen table. Some of his most famous work is self-published making graphic design, a standalone discipline in itself. Read more…

January 30, 2014 — We did want to challenge you to be creative and think hard though, and finding this sweet spot of complexity took time and patience. So within the five weeks since the initial idea was conceived, we ran 17 various tests on various variations of various animated GIFs. Read more…

January 28, 2014 — The Mystery continues! To celebrate the launch of the SmashingConf NYC, we’ve prepared a new riddle, and this time it’s not going to be any easier, but the reward is worth the effort. In this piece, you’ll find an animated GIF that contains a hidden message. Once you’ve resolved the mystery, you’ll see a Twitter hashtag displayed in plain text. Read more…

January 28, 2014 — One of the ways we can continue learning in the Web industry, is by attending professional Web conferences. But how do you decide which is right for you? In this article, Jeremy Girard will answer this question by shareing the methods that he has found helpful in choosing high-quality conferences, as well as some tips to help you get the most out of the events you decide to attend! Read more…