BlogmyQuery – BMQ

As Web designers and developers, much of our time is spent carving out little corners for ourselves: setting up stops along the information superhighway, creating hangouts to populate the virtual landscape. We shape areas of the Web as we choose to or as our clients command—like Neo altering the Matrix. Unlike Neo, though, we have rules to follow, standards to meet. Web development and design exist in a framework that dictates what we can and cannot do. With this idea of molding the Matrix in mind, we once again turned to our followers on Twitter.

In a recent poll, we asked: if you could make one thing about Web design different today, what would it be? To avoid repetition, we included a caveat: other than making IE disappear? With that, a wide range of answers flooded in on hash tags.

As always, we appreciate everyone who took the time to respond to the poll. Having a strong connection with our readers is rewarding—that’s one thing about the Web design and development community that we hope never changes. Below is a peek at what Web development and design would be like if our Twitter followers and Facebook fans had their say in shaping the industry.

Better Browsers

Even with the proviso in our question, most responses dealt with browsers—just not Internet Explorer. They also brought up how we build for the Web and how our work is interacted with, but browsers seemed to be the topic of the day. Judging by the amount of noise about it, the most frustrating problem is cross-compatibility between vendors. A number of different makers build browsers, and each browser has a unique way of rendering code; in this environment, designing and developing can be a burdensome task, and our readers would change it if they could.

Below are selected responses from our followers that offer a number of approaches to bettering the browser experience, and most of them deal with rendering code. There was variety in the responses, but making all browsers adhere to one set of enforced standards is an extremely popular solution. Compatibility was the focus.

• I’d make every browser standards-compliant… and every website look amazing!
• I would make every browser render the same code the same way.
• Kill vendor-specific codes. No more of this -webkit crap.
• Make all browsers be in sync. They are out of sync now. That’s the big difference between being a Web and graphic designer.
• As many have said, cross-browser standards. So much time is wasted creating cross-browser compatibility. I’d also like to see better methods for separating content and navigation forms.
• I’d ask all developers and companies to create one standard all-in-one Web browser. Need competition anyway? Here: plug-ins!
• All browsers should have a unified rendering engine.
• Standardize form elements across platforms and browsers.
• Force standards. The W3C should have to “allowâ€� browsers to browse the Web—and if -webkit, -moz or 90% of IE’s browser-specific bullshit were there, they’d block the browser. In a week, we’d have development heaven for all.
• Make every browser read visual elements mathematically the same way so that developers wouldn’t have to care about cross-browsing.
• We need a single open-source rendering engine (i.e. WebKit) that every browser could use and contribute to—and then we can scrap all other engines.
• Fix font rendering.

Improving User Interfaces

What else would our readers like to tweak? Another fairly popular response had to do with making alterations to predominant user interfaces, to make them not only more user-friendly but more engaging than the standard ones we so often come across. A UI should never be taken lightly, because it leaves a stronger impression than the overall concept or content of the website itself. The design might be the most spectacular thing to ever grace an app or page, but if the interface hampers the experience, good luck getting people to come back.

We got a couple of suggestions that might steer the community toward a more advanced UI experience. From doing away with roll-over pop-ups to a website-specific history of links for returning users so that they can pick up where they left off, whatever the approach, adjusting the UI was in our readers’ sights.

• Oh bloody hell, that question is easy: NO roll-over popups. Anything that obscures content on the page should require a click!
• Engage people with better user interfaces, lightweight websites and Web apps in order to create great user experiences.
• Great design + great code = amazing experiences = happy people = a better world!
• I would like to see more usability functions and a “resumeâ€� option to bring up the last links seen on a website when you return to it. That way, if you have to leave, you can return and begin where you left off—a history, but saved on the server side of that specific website.
• Push for consistency and usability.
• I’d have two versions of websites: one with no ads at all, the other with ads, etc. The Internet user would have options.

Come Together

Our Twitter friends also wanted to change the Web design community and foster a collaborative mentality that motivates the masses. Many innovative and exciting minds are working in the design field, and some believe that the best possible change would be if more designers came together to encourage a forward-thinking and creative environment. By working together, we could educate and strengthen the community, empower the honest and dedicated designers out there and relegate the con-artist crew to the fringes of the industry.

A handful of replies suggested that through the unity of designers, we could effectively guide the industry forward. This doesn’t mean we would all have to agree on everything and move in the same direction. It just means that a friendlier, more collaborative mindset could take the community to new heights.

• I would reduce hostile competition between designers and increase collaboration. IMO, too many designers do their own thing.
• Improve quality of and access to education relevant to the industry.
• I’d make some sort of service-level agreement compulsory so that clients could see those “freeâ€� and “cheapâ€� website con men for exactly what they are.

Flash: Fix Or Farewell

The next item our followers targeted falls under a couple of the other categories we’ve already discussed, but a few people specifically addressed this platform, so we thought we should too: Flash. Some say fix it and keep it around, others say abandon it once and for all. We know the topic is divisive. On one hand, the platform has been used to create some truly inspired work; on the other, compatibility is not guaranteed. For that reason and others, some people have called for its head. Perhaps there could be a compromise, in the form of a stable and functional version that realizes its full potential.

The responses below make clear that both sides are passionate. Flash has done so much for the art and design communities that not giving it a nod would be wrong. Perhaps, though, that nod should be a final one as Flash quietly exits the playing field.

• I would kill Flash.
• Make Flash disappear.
• Somehow sort Flash so it integrates better. Don’t ever overlook what Flash has done for Web design and digital art!

Standards Approval And Implementation

Next up: the standards that govern the field. More specifically, let’s talk about the process by which those industry standards are approved and then universally put into practice. This does partially fall under the umbrella of browser issues, which kicked this article off. We felt we should also address the overly long time it takes for these standards to actually become standards. In this field, where staying ahead of the game and being as innovative as possible is all but mandatory, lags in the industry don’t help us break new ground.

Below are the responses in this part of the conversation. Speeding up the standards certification process would be a major step forward for the Web design community. Moreover, if the implementation happened across the board for all vendors simultaneously, all of our jobs would be so much simpler.

• I want instant adoption of CSS3 so we wouldn’t have to bother with so many vendor-specific rules.
• Web standards should be approved faster. By the time they are official, there’s a whole new language ready to take their place.
• Make Web fonts standardized and universal, starting immediately!

Modding the Box Model

We also thought it prudent to cover the box model and the way different vendors handle this element of Web-based projects. Much like the Flash dispute, there are a couple of different takes on this, and both turned up in the poll responses. Altering the box model math would work if all vendors, say, adopted the IE approach to setting margins and borders and padding around boxes. Rather than working outside the box like the other vendors (who require you to do math to set them), IE works inside the box to keep your div the size you intended. An approach other than with IE would steer the industry away from the box model altogether and just push the grid.

This would provide some level of consistency among the various browsers. Alterations that simplify our work are always welcomed, and cutting out unnecessary steps from the process would be a change for the better.

• Change box-model math.
• Replace the box model with a grid model.

No-Limit Thinking

The next item we’ll examine also concerns a box of sorts, but this one metaphorical. It’s a box found in the minds of many industry creatives and otherwise innovative thinkers, and changing it would be amazing. If everyone could break free of their mental boxes (the ones they can’t think outside of), the industry would explode. We’d soar to fantastic heights and open up unforeseen trails. No-limit thinking should be a required study for everyone working in creative fields.

Hopefully, the advice offered below will help you break out of your box. Usually, the only reason we don’t try something new is because we haven’t seen it done before. That should be a reason to go forward, not back.

• Make your work free of limited thinking. Why a sidebar? Why a menu? Why a content area? Why not re-invent it all?! Free your mind!

How Design Is Perceived

The last topic that came up in the poll is the way our job is perceived by those outside of it, especially clients. It’s a problem that bothers many in the industry. Unfortunately, some belittle the creative process, undervaluing us and our work in the process. We often hear horror stories of designers being disrespected by former clients. It can make the job much more difficult than it should be. This would be a welcome change.

Easier said than done, but admitting there is a problem is always the first step to solving it. Opening a dialog on the subject, and keeping the tone respectful, is one way forward. Information is usually the best way to combat ignorance.

• Change the client’s ingrained perceptions of cost and value.

Additional Resources

We say a final word of thanks to all who participated in the Twitter poll. Below are a few resources to check out when you have the time and inclination. Feel free to leave comments on what you would change about the world of Web design.

• The Web Standards Project
  A grassroots coalition that fights for standards to ensure basic affordable access to Web technologies for all.
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
  An international community that develops standards to guide the long-term development of the Web.
• The Interactive CSS Box Model Demo
  Just what you would expect. Get a look at the box model in action.
• The CSS Box Model
  A comprehensive guide to the CSS box model for those interested in learning a bit more about it.
• 20 websites to Help You Master User Interface Design
  A useful post that teaches you the basics (and more) of UI design.

With the help of Abobe Photoshop you can turn your usual image to an interested photo artwork. In this post we present a couple of recent useful photo effect Photoshop tutorials that may help you improve your skills and enhance the quality of your artworks.


Combine Stock Photography to Create a Sleepy Japanese Village in Photoshop
We often talk about what an incredible tool Photoshop is to create imaginary scenes from stock photography. In this tutorial, artist will create a sleepy Japanese village in Photoshop by combining several stock photos.

The creation of “A Life Of Aquatic Sounds�
In this tutorial artist will show you how to create “A Life Of Aquatic Sounds�. They realize it using a variety of blending mode tricks, photo filters and other useful Photoshop techniques.

Create a Dark and Gloomy Photo Manipulation in Photoshop
Photoshop is great because it allows us to combine several images into a scene that can’t always be created in real life. In this tutorial artist will demonstrate how to combine several stock images into one gloomy scene.

Money Style Illustration in Photoshop
So in this tutorial artist will show you a nice technique to create a simple money style illustration using a regular photo, it’s not as perfect as the money illustrations we see in the dollar bill for example, but it’s a quick tip.

Playing with Displace Filter in Photoshop
So in this tutorial, or a quick-tips artist will show you how to create a curtain made of bricks or how to deform a brick wall as it was a curtain. To do that artist will use a few stock photos, layer adjustments and the Displace filter in Photoshop CS5.

Create an Eerie Underwater Composition in Photoshop
Sometimes certain scenes are too expensive, dangerous, or even impossible to photograph. This is when people often turn to Photoshop. In only a little bit of time, you can create a very realistic looking image. In this tutorial artist will create an eerie underwater scene.

Create a Moonlit Night Scene in Photoshop
Photoshop is an excellent tool to combine several photos into one seamless image. In this tutorial artist will use different tools and techniques to create an abandoned automobile in a moonlit night scene in Photoshop.

Create a Dark and Rainy Crime Scene in Photoshop
We can all imagine what a dark and rainy crime scene looks like. We have all scene them in television and movies. In this tutorial artist will show you how to use different tools and techniques to create a scene of our own in Photoshop.

Create a Surreal Atmospheric Phone Booth Scenery
In this tutorial artist will be creating a Surreal Atmospheric Image from these 2 source images.

Distort Paint Splatters to Construct a Unique Photo-Manipulation
In this tutorial artist will show you how to distort paint splatters using the polar coordinates tool, and then blend various images together using masking techniques and adjustment layers.

Quick techniques to create a panorama in photoshop cs5
In this tutorial artist will show you about panoramas and the very basics in levels adjustments to make our images pop in ways they maybe never have!

Create Beautiful Surreal Photo Effect via Cloud, Star and Vexel Hair in Photoshop
In this tutorial, artist will show you how you can Create Beautiful Surreal Photo Effect via Cloud, Star and Vexel Hair in Photoshop.

Create a Cosmic Love Goddess With Photoshop CS5
Photoshop CS5 includes several new features to help improve your workflow. In this tutorial artist will demonstrate how to create a cosmic love goddess using some of Photoshop CS5′s new tools including the Refine Edge Feature which really helps to streamline the process of masking and removing objects from their background.

How To Create A Beautiful Sunset Over A Hill
In this tutorial, artist will show you how to use a series of images to make a beautiful, sunset over a hill. We will also add an old abandoned boat to increase the atmosphere.

Use Puppet Warp in Photoshop CS5 to Tweak Your Images
Photoshop CS5′s new Puppet Warp feature can be extremely useful if you need to make minor adjustments to your photos. In this tutorial artist will demonstrate how to correct a Photo with this new tool in minutes.

Create a Magical Flaming Heart Illustration in Photoshop
The Warp feature in Photoshop can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it correctly. In this tutorial artist will demonstrate how to combine a few stock images to create a magical flaming heart illustration.

Create an Adrenaline Filled Car Chase Scene
In this tutorial artist are going to use many techniques to turn several stock photos into an action packed car chase scene with explosions and weapons fire

Remove a Person From a Photo With Photoshop CS5’s Content Aware Feature
In this case artist will choose to remove a person from a photo,with the help of  new features called Content Aware this can be done in less than five minutes. With the additional image enhancements this tutorial will take you less than 10 minutes to complete.

Create a Refreshing Beer Themed Poster Design in Photoshop
When you create a print advertisement, it’s important that all the elements of your composition are geared towards selling a product and promoting a brand. In this tutorial artist will demonstrate how to create a refreshing beer-themed poster design in Photoshop.

Playing with custom brushes to create magical scenes
In this tutorial artist will show you some powerful features of brushes. Start with a musical note shape to create a custom brush and deal with some options like shape dynamics and scattering.

Create amazing cosmic-inspired scene in Adobe Photoshop CS5
In this tutorial artist will demonstrate how to use fashion photography and various techniques to create a cosmic-inspired scene in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Apply a Vintage Effect to Several Images Using Actions
In this tutorial artist will demonstrate how to create an action and apply it to several images using Photoshop’s batch process function.

How to Smooth Skin Without Losing Texture in Photoshop
There are several ways to smooth skin in Photoshop. All to often, however, skin can appear too smooth, fake, and synthetic. In this tutorial artist will demonstrate a straightforward technique to help you smooth skin fairly quickly while preserving the texture of the pores.

Create a Surreal Turtle Image
This tutorial shows the creation of one of my images. It shows how I adjust lighting and colours in my images to create this surrealistic turtle.

Meteorite Impact Photoshop tutorial
In this tutorial artist will show you how to create a building hit by a meteorite. artist will show you how to create a realistic smoke trail and a meteorite using only Photoshop filters and custom brushes.

Reconstruct a Face to Make it Match a Custom Skull
In this tutorial, artist will show you how to use layer masking along with the burn tool, brush tool, pen tool, and various others to recreate a face to match a skull.

How to Simulate X-Ray Photography in Photoshop
In this tutorial, artist will show you how to simulate an x-ray image in Photoshop.

Having Fun with Vectors, Custom Brushes and Stock Images for a Nature-Themed Girl Composition in Photoshop
In this tutorial, artist will show you how to have some fun with vectors, custom brushes, and stock images to create a colorful and eye-catching nature themed girl composition in Photoshop.

Creative Styling for Your Car
In this tutorial artist will show you how to make interesting styling and cool looking aerography for the car in Photoshop

How to Mix Hand Drawing Sketch With Photo
In this Photoshop tutorial artist will show you how to create nice unique photo effect from sketch and your photo. artist will use many tools in Photoshop and also you will need some skills in drawing as to create this effect you will need to draw sketch.

Create Beautiful Mystery Grunge Effect in Photoshop
In this Photoshop tutorial, artist would like to tell how to make a beautiful mystery grunge artwork, using some stock images and brushes.

How to create Halloween illustration in Photoshop
In this tutorial artist will going to show you how to create Halloween illustration using simple tools and techniques like Pen Tool, Brush Tool, Layer Style, etc. in Adobe Photoshop.

Giving your Photograph an Antique Look
In this tutorial artist will show you how to make a photograph look aged.

Correcting Exposure with the Shadows & Highlights Tool

Bokeh Background Effect – Photoshop Tutorial
Here artist will be showing you how to create a background bokeh effect to bring the foreground into sharper focus.

By Robert Bowen

Today we are here to help with the whole getting to know Adobe Fireworks a bit, as we dive deep into the internet to find the most useful sites, resources, tutorials and more to expand your Fireworks knowledge base and skillsets, and we deliver them all right into your readers.

Below is an assortment of various links that will help you assemble the ultimate Fireworks toolbox, so you can get the most out of this under used member of the Adobe Creative Suite family of design tools. So if you are a Fireworks enthusiast, or looking to become one, take a peek through the gathered resources below so that when you dive in to the works, you can dive in with style and preparedness.

General Websites

So the first section of our resource gathering finds us with a broad view opened up across the vast network of cyberspace to find you some dedicated sites based around this useful, oft overlooked, graphical and wireframing application. Below are a handful of places that anyone looking to beef up their FW toolbox should be heading first and foremost. Naturally our view will narrow in the sections ahead, but for now, these websites have loads of resources and tutorials for you to expand both your skill and your toolsets.

Adobe Fireworks Team is the FW focused blog from the folks over at Adobe. If you are looking for Fireworks info and insights, then what better place to start than at the source itself. This blog is loaded with all sorts of related tips and talk to help you get more out of the application than you first thought.

Sarthak is part of the Fireworks Engineering team, whose blog is part of the useful network of Adobe member blogs that we thought stood out enough to also be featured in our round-up. For insights, advice and troubleshooting tips aplenty, this is a fantastic blog to turn to.

Adobe’s Fireworks Exchange is another Adobe run FW focused site that is a virtual hub of downloadable resources. If it is tools to tighten up your overall Fireworks experience that you are looking for, then you should certainly set your browser to this location and fill your arsenal from the plethora of readily available content.

Fireworks Developer Center is another dedicated site straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth. Adobe has put together not only a Fireworks focused site in this instance, but one that is geared specifically towards the developers that are out there using FW in their projects.

Adobe’s Fireworks Forums are the final site that we are going to feature from the Adobe crew, and your last chance to rope in some help from the source. With users from all corners of the world and from various business markets coming together to share their expertise and experiences to help one another out this can be an invaluable resource to have at your disposal.

FireworksGuru Forums is another helpful FW focused set of forums for finding your way through the proverbial ins and outs of the application. Users once more pouring in from around the web to offer advice and share experiences to one another can always prove beneficial when learning a program, or strengthening up their existing FW skills.

Fireworks Zone is an extensive resource hub for all things related to this dynamic app. If you decide to only check out one website for building up your Fireworks arsenal, then this should be the one on your list. With useful downloadable content galore, and to borrow another popular slogan, you need to get into the Zone.

Entheos Web is another fantastic stop on our website collection packed with useful Fireworks resources. With an entire section dedicated to FW tutorials, downloads, and insightful articles, this hub has an impressive amount of content to assist you in your toolbox construction.

Community MX is a site that also has an array of helpful posts and content for anyone interested in stocking up on Fireworks related goodies. Another stop with handfuls of material to sort through as you go through this list that you might not want to pass up.

Heathrowe.com is another website that has a dedicated section on Fireworks. Here you can browse through their gathered FW tips and tutorials to sharpen your skills for any future endeavors that you take on with Fireworks at your side. Definitely one to keep bookmarked as you work through their offerings.

Matt Stow Presents Firewoiks is an Adobe Fireworks design oriented blog by none other than web designer, Matt Stow. This is another must visit site for any one, from Fireworks enthusiast to expert. There are so many invaluable contributions that the site has a little something for everyone to take away from for building up your arsenal.

BLUE2X Designs is another Fireworks focused website with loads of helpful content and shared insight from a designer who has been using this versatile design tool for years. By providing sample files and other various resources, not to mention tutorials, the site puts you in a position to dive right in to Fireworks and get started.

Caught In The Fire is another helpful site of tutorials to help you get your Fireworks skills leveled up, and even though it appears that they are no longer updating, there are still a number of useful tutorials there for you to work through.

Strictly Tutorials

Our next section starts that refined focus we discussed, as we close in on some wonderfully helpful tutorials dedicated to this dynamic program. Fireworks can be an awesome arsenal addition if it is used properly and to its fullest potential, however, some designers just are not as familiar with this tool as they should be. Never fear, the tutorials are here! From the basics and beyond, these gathered tuts should be able to improve your FW sessions and help you to get as much out of the app as you can.

Creating Web 2.0 elements is a must have tutorial to help your Fireworks designs stay ahead of the game as the web transforms and Web 2.0 takes hold. The web is going to continue to grow and clients are going to want their designs to shine among the new web. This tutorial can help take your Fireworks created design effects to the next level.

Adobe Fireworks Tutorials is a series of tutorials for advanced techniques so that you can easily learn how to better wield this design weapon of choice. This is not a place to start, but more a place to end up after you have a pretty solid grasp on the app, but make no mistake about it these are tutorials that you are going to want to check out.

Sixthings Rapid-Fire Tutorials is another Fireworks fixed series of detailed tutorials aimed at more intermediate and advanced users. This series really opens up the program, showing the versatility and full power of this dynamic design tool, while filling each tutorial with tips and tricks to give you the most from each session.

Firetuts is a fantastic place to turn when you are looking for to get your tut on. With a plethora of Adobe Fireworks tutorials geared towards all aspects of the program, this should certainly be added to your virtual toolbox if you are looking to get a firm grip on all of that this app has to offer.

Adobekurs is a great hub to keep on your radar if you are looking for Fireworks based tutorials. And given that you are browsing this section of the post, we can tell that you are. Get the best FW video tutorials the web has to offer. If you haven’t checked them out, make it a priority.

TutCity is another place on the Fireworks map that you should make it a point to stop by. Keen on showing the power of Adobe Fireworks as a design and graphics editor, the City is full of useful tutorials that every FW user should have in ready in their arsenal. Stop by today to get your comprehensive Fireworks learning experience started.

Vodix is yet another bookmark bound tutorial haven for anyone looking to really step up and take command of this dynamic design tool. With handfuls of useful tuts to keep you strengthening your skillsets, this site is worth surfing by.

Layers Fireworks Tutorials is a place that you probably have already headed to in your Fireworks searches, but just in case you hadn’t, we thought we would bring them to your attention. Given that Layers Magazine is considered the #1 authority on everything Adobe, how could we not include their FW tuts on the list?

Abduzeedo’s Fireworks Tag is another natural place to turn when you are looking for some truly top notch tutorials for expanding your FW skills. Known for delivering design excellence, we would not expect anything less when the Abdu-crew takes on delivering tuts to all the Fireworks junkies on the web.

30+ Tutorials that will Teach you Fireworks is part of the Abode tut series from the Arbenting duo. This list of bi-annually updated fireworks tutorials is designed to help teach you the program and is divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced categories to easily progress you through the program.

Creating Smooth Edges in Adobe Fireworks is a screencast from Rogie King where he explains his technique for creating smooth edges that eliminate border doubling for your FW creations. This technique works wonderfully when you are employing multiple layers to achieve the desired lighting effects. So if you have not seen this tutorial, then you should put it at the top of your list.

All Vector Buttons in Fireworks CS5 is an interesting tutorial that offers an easier approach to complex button making in Adobe’s latest FW release. This approach came from the desire to craft a detailed button with nothing but two vector objects: a button and a text label. Follow the link to find out how they got it done.

Fireworks CS5 Tutorial is a tutorial for web designers looking to find their proverbial groove in this design programs arena. Here they have created a handy Fireworks CS5 tut that will teach you how to create a basic website layout and slice the images you are using in your web page to get them ready for use.

Export CSS and HTML Using Adobe Fireworks CS4 is another tutorial that we could not pass up when compiling this toolbox building post. This easy to follow instructional contribution from Colorburned teaches the user how to convert a finished fireworks web layout into a fully functioning html page that includes CSS.

How to create 3-D perspective boxes in Adobe Fireworks pretty much tells you all you need to know about this useful tutorial just in the title alone. With easy to follow steps, this tutorial walks you through one of the basic processes of Fireworks. Complete with a little added animation to boot. Not a bad place to start for beginners just getting going in FW.

The Abduzeetles Rockband Website in Fireworks is one of the FW tutorials that we felt we should highlight from all of the tuts tagged on Abduzeedo. Just in case, we did not want this awesome instructional resource slipping through the cracks, so we pulled it from their collection and put in here at the bottom of the listed tutorial musts so you would not miss out. This is a step by step website design tutorial that teaches lots of interesting fireworks effects.

Templates

In this next section of the toolbox builder we come to another refined search for Fireworks goodies, the templates. As most designers are more than familiar with, templates can be a mega time-saver, especially in the very beginnings of a new project. Not to mention the headaches they can spare you as they kick start your project off into the right direction, whilst easily helping you to avoid the sometimes monotonous or lengthy setup process. Good templates can get you going almost immediately, so take a look through the ones we have gathered below.

Mana Media is first up in our template section of the post as it compiles a large collection of free layered Fireworks CS3 files for anyone who is looking to get a jump start on their next FW based design project. This is a great resource to turn to when you start building up your toolbox.

Fireworks toolkit for creating iPhone UI mockups is another fantastic template gathering stop to make as you beef up your arsenal. After finding a lack of decent available iPhone templates for Fireworks on the web, the creator of these helpful mockups sought to solve this issue. Job well done.

Dragnet website wireframes kit v0.9 for Adobe Fireworks should also be in your bookmarks if you want a kick-start your FW designs with some handy templates. This useful kit contains a variety of common web design elements such as scrollbars, buttons, menus, alerts, and more.

Craig Erskine’s Blog is a fabulous place to turn to load up on template files for all of your Firework’s needs. In fact, it is a place that might just land you on template overload as new editable templates are added to the site weekly for free download. So if it is templates that you are looking for, then you might need to look no further than this blog.

Fireworks Web Templates also delivers when it comes to looking for templates to kick-start your design projects and get you right into the mix. The site focuses on layered source files, .png formats, only. These are not templates that include any slices or htmls, but don’t let that deter you from visiting this useful resource.

Fireworks 975PX Grid Systems is a handy template file to have in your personal arsenal for sure. This Adobe Fireworks file contains a grid system for a page that is 975px wide and that has been divided into 12 columns or 6 columns and rows. The template also includes a 16px baseline grid.

Fireworks template for Android is another template born out of necessity, when the designer searched the web for an existing file and could not find one. Handhelds are popular and if you are cracking into the Android interface design using Fireworks then you might want to get this template added to your toolbox today.

Social Media Icon Pack is a fantastic template that stood out from the BLUE2X blog so much so that we felt we should highlight it lest it slip under your radar. In total, this pack contains 28 icons focusing on the handful of standard ones that you see included on people’s sites, with seven varieties of styles and sizes for you to choose to build from.

Extensions & Styles

As we press on, moving through our toolbox building post, we arrive at a bit of a hodgepodge of a section, where our focus widens a bit to take in a variety of Fireworks offerings. In this section we focus on extensions and styles, oh my! And we have a few selections pooled together to assist in your arsenal construction. Below are the added extras that we could not let you escape out of the post without sampling. Enjoy.

Senocular Fireworks Extensions is one of the places that any FW enthusiast should turn when they are looking to expand on this versatile design program. With a wide range of useful extensions ready to plugin and open things up for you, this is certainly one of the must visit additions to the list.

Abeall Fireworks Extensions is another wonderful outlet to opt for when you are wanting to extend the usefulness of this design tool. Every extension that is developed and offered on the site is done so completely free of charge no matter if you are using them for personal or commercial projects.

John Dunning Fireworks Extensions is another must visit site to head for when extensions are your proverbial order of the day. Mostly what you will find here are Adobe Fireworks extensions geared more towards productivity enhancements, which most of us can admit freely that we need. When it is all about getting a more efficient experience this is where you want to go. Once again, they are all free downloads.

FWKit Fireworks Extensions is the last place for helpful program plugins that we are going to feature in this toolbox building post, but that certainly should not make you think any less of it. There are plenty of helpful app enhancements for you to expand on this design tool waiting for you at the other end of the link.

Sketchy Brush / Styles for Adobe Fireworks is a set of styles that can add a sense of personality to some of your FW objects. The crafter of these styles made them in response to the community critique about the lack of decent brushes in Adobe Fireworks. These styles were the end result.

Dynamic Bokeh styles for Adobe Fireworks is another set of styles that will liven up your objects in FW. Bokeh is a popular effect these days in web design, and you can bring that home to your Fireworks creations with this handy addition to your design arsenal.

3 Free Adobe Fireworks Style is the last resource to come at you from this end of the toolbox building post. If it is styles that you are needing for your FW workings, then head over and see if these three style selections might be just the thing you are looking for.

Further Reading

Here are a couple of articles from around the web that are specific to Fireworks, and that can aide you in deciding if Fireworks is in fact the design program for you. Or if you have already made that decision, then these informative posts can act as a re-enforcer for your decision to design for the web the Fireworks way!

7 Reasons Why I Choose Fireworks Over Photoshop is a thoughtful comparison of these two design tools to over at Web Designer Depot that might just lure you away from Photoshop, if you haven’t been yet.

The Features That Make Fireworks the Application of Choice for Web Designers breaks down the program to show the benefits that web designers get out of this versatile tool, and why it is gaining more and more of a following in the community.

Related Posts

• Adobe Fireworks: Is It Worth Switching to CS5 is another helpful post from Smashing that looks at the latest version of the app, and the improvements this version has brought with it.
• Tutorials and Resources for Adobe Fireworks is another collection of helpful Fireworks focused content from the archives.

By Cameron Chapman

Generators can be a great way to save time in your web design projects. High-quality generators can create graphics or code or even layouts in a matter of seconds or minutes, things that might take an hour or more if done by hand. Below are some useful generators to help you speed up your web design process. There’s everything from color scheme tools to complete layout generators included. If you know of other useful generators out there, please share in the comments!

Color Schemes

A good color scheme is the cornerstone of a good website design. Coming up with unique and appropriate color schemes isn’t always easy. That’s where these color scheme generators come in handy.

Color Scheme Designer 3
Color Scheme Designer 3 has a really fantastic user interface that’s both attractive and easy to use. Just select a color, the type of color scheme you want to create (mono, complement, triad, tetrad, analogic, or accented analogic) and then make adjustments. It also lets you preview the color scheme right in light and dark website layouts.

ColorSchemer Online V2
ColorSchemer lets you create color palettes around RGB or HEX values, or using a color selector tool. It also has built-in tools for lightening and darkening the color schemes it generates. There are also downloadable versions for both Windows and OS X.

Kuler
Adobe’s Kuler is one of the best color scheme tools available, with multiple options for both creating and finding color schemes. To find a color scheme created by someone else, you can search or browse by newest, mot popular, highest rated, or random. They also include tools for creating a color scheme based on an image (Flickr search is built in, or you can upload your own image) or a starting color.

ColourLovers
ColourLovers offers more than just color and pattern generators; it’s an entire community based around a love of color and good design. Their color tools include basic and advanced palette generators as well as an option to create a color scheme from an image.

GenerateIt.net Color Scheme Generator
Here’s another basic color scheme generator that lets you create a scheme based around a specific color, with options to lighten or darken the scheme.

ColorBlender.com
ColorBlender.com offers both manual and automatic color palette creation tools, as well as the ability to export your palette to Photoshop or Illustrator (it also provides HEX and RGB values).

Color Palette Generator
This generator creates a color palette based on an image. Just enter any image URL and it will create two color schemes: dull and vibrant.

Layouts

If the layout you need to create is pretty standard, using a layout generator can save you tons of coding time. There are even layout generators for creating more complex grid-based layouts and for WordPress themes.

YAML Builder
Here’s a visual tool for creating a YAML (Yet Another Multicolumn Layout) design. It’s super easy to use and offers a lot of customization options.

Variable Grid System
This is a simple generator for creating grid-based CSS layouts. Just enter the column width, the number of columns, and the gutter width, and it generates a layout for you.

Blueprint Grid CSS Generator
If you like using Blueprint for your CSS layouts but want something more flexible, this generator is for you. Just enter the number of columns, column width, and margin width and it generates your CSS for you. One caveat, though: it’s no longer in active development and is not supported.

WordPress Theme Generator
This generator lets you create a WP theme, and while it’s not extremely powerful, it is a quick way to create minimalist themes (both in terms of style and functionality).

Templatr
Templatr is another simple generator for creating quick WordPress layouts. It lets you edit virtually every element in the design, all using a visual editor.

Grid System Generator
The Grid System Generator lets you create grid layouts using 960.gs, the Golden Grid, 1KB Grid, or Simple Grid. Just enter the variables for each one and it will generate a preview and give you a download link for the CSS and HTML files.

ColoRotate
ColoRotate lets you view and create color schemes in 3D. Being able to manipulate the color palette tool in 3 dimensions can lead to better understanding of how the colors in a palette relate to one another.

Wix
Wix is often thought of as just a Flash template customizer, but it can also be used to create Flash layouts from scratch, including Flash banners and widgets.

CSS

There are CSS generators for almost everything. Many of the ones featured below are for creating new CSS3 effects, but there are others for typography, setting up initial stylesheets, and creating CSS buttons.

CSS Type Set
CSS Type Set lets you create typography designs and generates the CSS for you. Just paste in text you want to modify, and then use the options at the bottom to customize it and it will generate the CSS in real-time.

CSS3 Generator v1.6
This CSS3 generator lets you generate cross-browser compatible CSS for things like rounded corners, box shadows, and @font-face. Just pick something from the drop-down menu and it shows you the appropriate generator.

CSS3.0 Maker
Here’s another CSS3 generator that lets you create a variety of different effects using CSS3. There are generators for border radius, gradients, animation, text and box shadows, and more.

CSS3 Please!
CSS3 Please! is a cross-browser CSS3 rule generator that works for things like box shadows, border radius and gradients. Just edit the underlined bits to get the appropriate code.

CSS3 Sandbox
This CSS3 Sandbox has five different generators: linear gradients, radial gradients, text properties, box properties, and transforms.

CSS3 Gradient Generator v2.0
This gradient generator lets you pick three or more colors to combine in your gradient, and uses sliders to allow you to adjust how much space each color occupies within your gradient.

PrimerCSS
Getting started on a new stylesheet can be one of the more time consuming parts of coding a website design. PrimerCSS creates a starter stylesheet for your from your HTML, with all the IDs and classes used in your design.

CSS Border Radius
Here’s a simple border radius generator that’s incredibly easy to use. All you have to do is enter the border radius for each corner. It automatically fills in all four when you enter the first one, but you can then change each one individually.

Button Maker
This button maker from CSS-Tricks lets you create custom CSS3 buttons with gradients.

Graphics

Most graphics in web design are created using Photoshop or similar photo editing programs. But creating certain kinds of graphics, like tiling background patterns that way is time-consuming and sometimes frustrating. Included below are a number of pattern generators, as well as generators for creating other kinds of graphics.

bgMaker
bgMaker is a background pattern tool that lets you create pixel-based pattern backgrounds.

Stripemania
Stripemania is a striped background image generator. Pick the strip width and spacing, the orientation, and the colors, and it generates a repeating stripe pattern.

Dotted Background Generator
This generator lets you create dotted, half-tone style backgrounds. All you have to do is put in the dot and background colors, along with the height of the pattern and it does the rest. There’s also a “random” button, which can create some truly hideous color combinations.

Striped Backgrounds
This generator creates boldly-striped backgrounds in any resolution. The randomize feature can create some interesting color schemes. Tip: for website backgrounds, download your stripes in the avatar size and then use the image as a repeating pattern.

BgPatterns
BgPatterns is possibly the most powerful repeating pattern creator online. You can choose from a variety of shapes and then customize size, rotation, placement, color, texture, and more.

Stripe Generator 2.0
Stripe Generator 2.0 lets you create repeating-stripe backgrounds. Just choose size and spacing, colors, stripe orientation, shadow, and background style (solid or two kinds of gradients). You can preview your background full-screen before downloading, too.

Tartan Maker
Plaid backgrounds aren’t often seen in web design, and part of that is likely due to the complexity of creating a tiling plaid pattern. Tartan Maker makes it as easy as choosing a few colors and using sliders to determine the size and boldness of your plaid.

Favicon Generator
This Favicon Generator lets you create a favicon from scratch or based on an image you upload.

Tabs Generator
Here’s a quick and easy generator for creating tabs for your navigation. You can choose height and width, border size, corner radius, background color and style, fill style and colors, and orientation.

CSS Menu Generator
This generator is great for when you just need a quick, simple drop-down menu. Just choose a style, create your menu items, and download.

CSS Sprite Generator
To create CSS sprites with this generator, just zip all your images and upload them. Specify the space you want between images, as well as the aspect ratio, build direction, and if there should be a background or transparency color, as well as your image specs and any CSS specs you want. It will output the sprite file, as well as the CSS for each image.

Pure CSS Menu
This site lets you create a menu with dropdowns that only uses CSS, no images. It’s simple, but it’s also quick to set up.

Typetester
Here’s a CSS typography generator that lets you test up to three fonts side-by-side, and then download the CSS for any or all of them.

Other Generators

The generators above aren’t the only online generators useful to web designers. There are generators for creating dummy text, creating forms, font kits and more. Here are some of the best:

Text Generator
Rather than using Lorem Ipsum for everything, why not get some randomly generated text? This text generator pulls text from a variety of sources. Just tell it how many paragraphs you want.

Web Form Factory
Web Form Factory takes care of the PHP programming of your web forms based on your HTML files. It can output forms that will email or submit to a database.

Faary
Faary lets you create forms quickly and easily, by just entering the form elements in a list format. Then click on generate and it will create a form you can download.

Showdown
Showdown is a port of Markdown in JavaScript. Just type in some markdown text and it will output HTML for you.

@Font-Face Kit Generator
This @font-face kit generator from Font Squirrel lets you create full kits for any font you can legally use with @font-face.

pForm
pForm is a free HTML form builder. Just choose from their pre-designed templates and then customize your form. It’s fast and they have a good selection of form designs to choose from.

Adhesiontext
Adhesiontext creates dummy text for various languages, including specific characters. In addition to Latin characters, you can also create dummy text in Cyrillic, Greek and Arabic.

Conclusion

If it will save you time and/or frustration in designing a website, why wouldn’t you use one of the generators above? Sure, there are plenty of instances where a generator won’t be useful in a particular project, but that doesn’t mean you should disregard them all together. If you know of other generators that would be useful, please share them in the comments!

The world around us is in motion. As photography is a still medium, we have to seek creative ways of capturing and conveying this motion to the viewers. This quest of capturing and conveying motion is collectively called action photography. Action photography demands lightning-quick reflexes, a solid foundation in composition and other photo elements, and a little bit of luck. In this showcase we have collected some perfect examples of action photography.

Action Photography

backflip

Action

black and white

Buddy and Silky snow

Busted !!!

Pacu Jawi (Cow’s Race)

Banzai Pipeline

the game

Splash!

The agony within a race

Takraw

Ben

A Leap Of Faith

Steer Wrestling

Sheepfold handplant

will i get ther?

Tenacity

The Duel

GhostRider

little red

Refresh

Action

Let it rain

Whoops

Royal canin cup

Predator

Corbis Soccer Shoot

Surprise!

Rage

Silat Betawi

Mystical Rail

Yacare

Separated

Fishman

Heroes

JOYFUL

the blue Acrobats

Cliff Jumping

Trey Canard Scrub

Attack of the Summer!

Wakeboarding Lago Como