Visual comparison of iPhone 3GS vs iPhone 4G (Infographic)

Here is the nice infographics that depicts the differences between iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4G.

Global Attributes of HTML5

 Here is the list of new global attributes in HTML5

Attribute	Value	Description
accesskey	character	It specifies a keyboard shortcut to access an element
class	classname	It specifies a classname for an element (used for stylesheets)
contenteditableNew	true false	It specifies if the user is allowed to edit the content or not
contextmenuNew	menu_id	It specifies the context menu for an element
dir	ltr rtl	It specifies the text direction for the content in an element
draggableNew	true false auto	It specifies whether or not a user is allowed to drag an element
dropzoneNew	copy move link	It specifies what happens when dragged items/data is dropped in the element
hiddenNew	hidden	It specifies that the element is not relevant. Hidden elements are not displayed
id	id	It specifies a unique id for an element
lang	language_code	It specifies a language code for the content in an element
spellcheckNew	true false	It specifies if the element must have its spelling and grammar checked
style	style_definition	It specifies an inline style for an element
tabindex	number	It specifies the tab order of an element
title	text	It specifies extra information about an element

Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sample Text

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, At accusam aliquyam diam diam dolore dolores duo eirmod eos erat, et nonumy sed tempor et et invidunt justo labore Stet clita ea et gubergren, kasd magna no rebum. sanctus sea sed takimata ut vero voluptua. est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut laboreet dolore magna aliquyam erat.

Consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

100+ Great Resources for Design Inspiration

Veer: Ideas – A huge idea gallery from stock photography company Veer formatted as a blog and including news and updates from the company itself.

Delicious CSS – A CSS web design gallery that was founded because of the lack of features for tracking design ideas on traditional social bookmarking sites. Categorizes sites in useful ways (such as by color) in ways that traditional social bookmarking sites don’t.

Raster – A regularly-updated gallery of photography and art with collections broken into “chapters.” Founded in 2001, its only goal is to provide inspirational images from a collective of creative minds.

CSS Galaxy – A very simple French gallery of CSS website designs that selects sites based on their standards-compliance, technique, coherent graphic design, and aesthetic.

CSS Uber Clean – A gallery of exceptional CSS-based designs. The sites featured all contain simple, minimalist, super-clean designs.

deviantARTdeviantART – A gallery for all types of artwork, both traditional and digital, that serves as an excellent source of inspiration for all kinds of projects. Just be careful not to get sucked in and spend three days looking through it when you have deadlines to meet!

muse – A collection of some of the best commercial artwork out there. Includes interviews with the artists who create the designs that reveal what their inspiration was.

Behance NetworkBehance Network – Features a gallery of all kinds of creative projects including illustration, music, web design, typography, photography and more.

Depthcore – An international collective of modern art and digital media that releases chapters every three or four months featuring work contributed by members.

Designflavr – A gallery featuring all kinds of artwork and design including Flash websites, CSS websites, vector art, advertising, abstract design, photo manipulation, and more.

Web Creme – A web design gallery with more than 330 pages of great designs. Search the archives by the month a design was featured or by color.

CSS Remix – A gallery of beautiful CSS designs where you can sort designs by what’s popular or up-and-coming.

Typechart – A gallery of typography for the web with CSS styles included. You can search available styles by font, emphasis (whether something is bold, italic, etc.), type size (heading, body, etc.) and more. Also lets you compare Windows ClearType rendering and Apple font rendering.

CreativeDepart – A gallery of design, art, photography, and more with its own inspiring design. Their goal is to increase awareness of the designs they love to open up more avenues to the creators they admire. You can also submit designs you’d like to see become a part of the site.

CSS Mania – Another CSS gallery with more than 13,000 sites and a blog. View galleries by month or by topic (associations, media, web developers, blogging, etc.)

Screenalicio.us – A gallery featuring more than 10,000 website screenshots. Offers an RSS feed for keeping up with the best new website designs online.

One Page Love – An awesome collection of single-page websites. Covers portfolios, applications, and even temporary landing pages with enough information to help a visitor make an appropriate decision. Also includes searchable tags for finding inspiration from similar sites.

Design Snack – Features two different galleries, one for XHTML/CSS designs and one for Flash. You can browse designs by color or category.

Design Shack – A searchable CSS gallery with more than 1700 designs that lets you browse by category (such as blog, magazine, photography, design, etc.), layout, or color.

eduStyle – Designing websites for educational institutions is sometimes more challenging due to the volume of information and the intended audiences (after all, it has to appeal to current students, prospective students, parents, professors, alumni, etc.). This site has a huge gallery of college and university websites sorted by categories and tags, and also features articles on design and other resources.

COLOURlovers – A community-based color gallery that includes colors, palettes, news, and real-world design examples. Members get points for being active participants in the community.

Faveup – A gallery of logos, business cards, flash and CSS websites where you can vote for your favorites. One of Faveup’s main purposes is to provide inspiration to designers and to showcase and provide links to great designs.

CSSclip – Sort websites by color or look at the Best of 2009 websites. The site also includes news and other resources for designers.

InspirationKing – Another gallery that started as a personal resource before going public. Offers an RSS feed and features a number of well-known websites in its design gallery.

Ads of the World – Check out print, TV, radio, online, outdoor and other types of advertisements from all over the world to get inspiration for both online and offline design projects.

Design Flood – Vote on a scale of 1-9 on the sites featured in this gallery or just browse for new ideas. All the sites featured are handpicked for being unique and well-designed.

Darkeye – Web design gallery where you can search by color or keyword. You can also browse recent submissions, most viewed, and highest rated sites, and you can vote and leave comments on featured designs.

TextureKing – More than 300 textures divided up by category—grunge, plaster, rust, wood, glass, and more. You can then download the textures as free stock photos.

The Cool Hunter – A gallery of all things awesome, including architecture, design, stores, and more based in AustraliaAustralia. The site serves as a celebration of modern creativity in all its forms and is a global hub for everything cool, innovative, original, and thoughtful.

UniqueCSS.com – A judged site that features six of the best and most unique CSS designs on the web every month. Viewers can then vote and the highest-ranked site each month wins $25.

CSS Import – A CSS gallery with more than 2,000 sites featured. They offer RSS feeds for the full gallery and for just the notable entries. The biggest drawback to the site is that the archives are only organized by date.

csstux – A huge collection of websites with browsable archives. There is no search feature on the site, so while designs are tagged with categories, there’s no effective way to find designs tagged a certain way.

UCreative.com – View graphic design, photography, web design, digital art, and industrial art galleries. Each category has subcategories to further refine your search.

CSSArtillery – Great standards-compliant CSS sites from all over the web. The site is browsable by category and subcategory and also offers RSS and TwitterTwitter feeds.

One Pixel Army – A collection of sites perfect for finding inspiration or direction in your own designs. All the sites featured are handpicked by the site owner as excellent sources of inspiration.

Splench – A gallery in a blog format that makes browsing easy. You can view sites by color or search by keyword. An RSS feed is also available.

Website Design Awards – Features some of the best designs on the web with a focus on interactivity, usability, creativity, and originality.

CSS Design Yorkshire – A gallery of more than 2,500 CSS website designs that also has monthly featured websites. All of the designs featured are by designers in the Yorkshire region and all sites are built with good semantic xhtml.

CSSMoon – View web design galleries by category—education, business, portfolios, medical, and more. The coolest part about this site is the header, which allows you to browse sites in a similar way to browsing album covers on the iPhone.

css {imagine} – A huge gallery with a blog that features outstanding designs and other useful posts. They normally showcase ten designs each month, though some months they share additional sites if there are tons of excellent submissions.

Pattern Tap – One of my favorite resources for web design inspiration. View the way other sites handle specific elements such as 404 Pages, Backgrounds, Calendars, Contact Forms, and more.

PageCrush – A place where designers from all over the world can post their best work and where others can go to find inspiration.

The Photography Showcase – View and rate photos of a variety of subjects. The tag cloud makes finding exactly what you’re looking for easy and the site offers a widget you can add to your own site.

Stylegala – Though currently going in a new direction, this site has an amazing gallery of CSS website designs, as well as a forum, resources, and feature articles.

unmatchedstyle.com – A web design gallery site that also includes podcasts, resources, interviews, news, and more. They also offer an RSS feed and you can follow them on Twitter for regular updates. The sites featured are tagged and can be rated on a scale of 1-10.

CSS Scoop – View and rate CSS designs and check out the blog for web design articles covering a variety of topics. RSS feeds are provided for both the gallery and the blog (”The Scoop”).

Beautifully – A regularly-updated gallery of beautiful websites. They also offer weekly web design news roundups and RSS feeds for the gallery, news, and resources.

DiVine CSS – A gallery that features blog designs, CSS, Flash, e-commerce sites and more. Sites are selected by the team of graphic designers, web designers, programmers and developers behind DiVine CSS.

Light on Dark – A gallery of nothing but websites with dark backgrounds and light-colored text. This can be one of the hardest design styles to pull off, so studying successful sites that employ this style is a good place to start.

Wooki.es – A CSS and general web design gallery with browsable categories. Sites featured are excellent examples of innovative and creative uses and are web standards compliant.

CSS Dance – A web design gallery showcasing appealing site design with a rating system. They offer an RSS feed of new additions and you can follow them on Twitter.

CSS Mix – Gallery sortable by color or category and with a rating system and RSS feed. Members can also view sites that are still pending for addition.

CSS Nature – A gallery featuring only green, eco, and organic websites. They also offer open source templates and the ability to comment and rate designs.

---

Blogs

---

Web Designer Wall – The Trends category on Web Designer Wall has amazing showcases of web design elements and complete sites.

Web Design Ledger – The inspiration category on this blog has tons of places to go for inspiration and showcases beautiful examples of all kinds of design.

Computerlove – A social platform and blog for finding inspiration and sharing your work. They offer design news as well and ways to promote yourself as a designer.

Design is Kinky – A blog featuring new designs and artwork from all over the world. They’ve been around for more than 10 years, making them one of the older design blogs/sites on the net.

DFCKR – Tracks design news and resources and highlights up and coming illustrators and designers. Their archives are browsable by recent entries, date, and category.

You the Designer – Posts featuring examples of excellent design across the web and beyond put together by a freelance graphic designer.

Think Vitamin – A blog for web designers and developers that includes some great design galleries and articles. The site is put together by Carsonified, the same company that produces the Future of Web Design and Future of Web Apps conferences.

Vandelay Design – Features multiple posts showcasing great designs for inspiration. The blog itself is produced by a web design company in an effort to make their site more useful than just the standard portfolio site.

Design Shard – Blogblog featuring inspiration for print and web design, with a pretty inspiring design itself. It also features other resources for designers, including free photoshop textures and brushes.

I Love Typography – Great inspiration for anyone trying to find just the right font, this site showcases fonts and typography in the world around us, from road signs and shampoo bottles to billboards and posters.

Noupe – Posts offering collections of design elements for inspiration along with tutorials, icons, showcases, and more. Noupe’s goal is to help designers create more engaging websites and functional interfaces.

Six Revisions – Posts covering all kinds of design topics and including a variety of sources of inspiration and useful tools. Includes practical information for modern web designers.

Design Reviver – Offers a variety of articles, including showcases of great design and design elements. They also include tutorials, free downloads, and articles covering anything related to web design.

fadtastic – A multi-author blog covering trends in web design with some great showcase posts. Posts cover trends in web graphics, typography, and more.

Design Melt Down – Covers all sorts of design elements and trends, broken down into chapters. Includes color usage, principles of design, site types and more, all illustrated with real-world examples.

Fuel Your Creativity – A brilliant design blog with some amazing articles in their inspiration section. They tout themselves as the place to go when you’re having one of those “I’m-going-to-implode-if-I-don’t-get-an-idea-soon” moments.

Typographica – A blog featuring typography news, resources and more. They feature mostly print materials that display excellent use of typography, though inspiration could be drawn from here for both print and web applications. Their handpicked font collections showcase the best fonts each year (four years are currently available, 2004-2007).

---

Online Magazines

---

Phirebrush – Online magazine and art group offering monthly issues that feature user submissions of photography, artwork, writing, and more.

Multilink Magazine – A free PDF magazine that has issues released on an irregular schedule as they’re ready with variable content.

GizMag – A PDF magazine that features photography, illustration, design, sculpture and more, as well as interviews with artists.

Destructed – A PDF magazine featuring art and design with themed issues that can be downloaded for free. Each quarterly issue features a unique art- and design-related topic.

delve – A free, experimental design magazine with archives available online that features photography, design, illustration and other visual arts.

ROOTmagazine – Features graphic design, illustration, photography, video, audio and other content from everybody willing to exhibit.

RevolutionArt Magazine – Magazine focusing on art as well as culture with over 70,000 subscribers. They cover the arts, modeling, music and more and consider themselves a massive worldwide propaganda machine for making people think about global messages.

Artz Mania – A downloadable design magazine featuring international artists and designers that started in January of ‘07. They showcase designs by artists and designers from all over the world distributed on a platform that’s accessible to people from all walks of life.

encore – A flip-book format online art & design magazine with a very slick interface. They focus on art, design, and film and track down innovative products, events, trends, and artists from around the globe each month.

Castle Illustrative Magazine – A free PDF magazine full of work by “creative nerds.” They put out regular issues focused on free illustration and design. Back issues are available on the website.

Anti – A digital magazine showcasing outstanding art and design content. Eight issues are currently available for free download.

Blanket Magazine – A free PDF magazine covering all areas of art, design, and photography. Each issue also features humorous stories and informative interviews.

Proteus Mag – Features photography, painting, sculpture, graphic designs, fashion designs, and more in a free PDF magazine.

bitFUUL magazine – A PDF magazine that covers all aspects of art and design including music, photography, writing, and art.

WAG – Features “works-in-progress” in art, expression, literature, and more. They aim to be available in paper for some editions, though for the most part they are a screen magazine.

ruby mag – An art magazine that aims to promote different artists to the world. More than thirty back issues are available on the website.

Phase Collective – A downloadable digital magazine that’s currently undergoing a changeover to a blog format. Back issues are still available for download.

TXTnein – A free art magazine available in PDF, Flash or executable files for both PC and Mac. Submissions are open to graphic designers, photographers and artists from all over the world.

File – Online photography magazine with a focus on unexpected treatment of subjects. Photographs that treat their subjects with alternate takes, odd angles, and unconventional observations.

Computer Arts – An online magazine that includes a gallery, forums, creative directory, news and more. The creator of the site, Future, publishes more than 100 consumer magazines worldwide.

JPG Magazine – An online magazine devoted to photography with themed issues. Visitors to the site can vote on photos for upcoming issues. They have open themes where photographers can submit work and which may or may not be featured in future issues.

---

Flickr Pools

---

CMYK design – A collection of photos of print designs. This is definitely the pool to look at if you’re looking for inspiration for package or marketing materials design.

Web Design – A pool of website screenshots with more than 7,000 items uploaded. There are examples of just about every kind of web design present, some with multiple screenshots available.

Experimental Graphic Design – A collection of more than 17,000 graphic design images that don’t necessarily fit traditional design conventions.

Poster Design – View more than 10,000 poster designs from all over the world. Great for inspiration whether you’re designing an actual poster or any other print or online project.

Design the Logo – A graphic design pool focused specifically on logo design. Features well-known logos as well as ones for lesser known brands and companies.

Graphic Design Magazines – A selection of photos from magazines focused on graphic design. Shows layouts and specific elements from magazines from all over the world.

Photo-Graphic Design – A pool of graphic designs revolving around the use of photos. Some items from the pool are very straight-forward examples of photo-based design while others are truly original and creative designs.

Catchy Colors – A pool of photos focused on eye-catching color with more than 1.3 million items. Pulling colors from photos is a great way to design a unique color palette for any design project.

flickr in full color – Another photo pool focused on brilliant use of color in photography. While there are only around 99,000 photos in this pool (as opposed to the 1.3 million in the previous pool), the quality of the images is outstanding.

Src: http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/design-inspiration/

20 Exceptional Websites for Learning Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is the industry-standard when it comes to scalable vector artwork. As a designer, Illustrator is the right tool for graphics that need to be scaled. A prime example are logos which often need to be adapted for small mediums such as business cards, larger mediums like billboard signs, and converted to grayscale or black and white for mediums such as newspapers.

In this collection, you’ll find 20 excellent websites and blogs that provide high-quality tutorials and information on vector illustration and Adobe Illustrator.

1. Vectips

Vectips is a blog about Adobe Illustrator tips, tricks, and tutorials. It’s run by Ryan Putnam, a talented illustrator/designer, and an exclusive artist at iStockphoto. You can also find interviews of professional designers and excellent monthly roundups of Illustrator resources on Vectips.

Tutorial examples

• Create Sketchy-Style Vectors
• Create Abstract Backgrounds in Illustrator
• Creating Halftone Effects in Illustrator

2. Blog.SpoonGraphics

Blog.SpoonGraphics is the personal weblog of talented Graphic/Web Designer, Chris Spooner. He writes about design-related topics, and his tutorials are renowned as useful and top-notch. Check out the Tutorial section to quickly find Illustrator-related tutorials.

Tutorial examples

• Create a Cute Vector Monster from a Pencil Sketch
• Logo Design Project Step by Step Walkthrough
• How to Create a Vector Safari Compass in Illustrator

3. VECTORTUTS

VECTORTUTS is a blog and tutorial website on Illustrator and vector illustration. It’s one of the more recent additions to "TUTS" network which include NETTUTS, PSDTUTS, and AUDIOTUTS. You’ll find high-quality, detailed tutorials on vector illustration as well as excellent roundups.

Tutorial examples

• Create a Vibrant 3D Pixel Type Treatment
• Illustrator’s Type Tool: A Comprehensive Introduction
• Methods for Creating Random Vector Noise

4. Veerle’s blog

Veerle’s blog, written by Veerle Pieters, a reknowned Belgian graphic/web designer, posts top-notch tutorials on Illustrator. Check out her Tutorials category archive and Photoshop-Illustrator category archive to quickly find Adobe Illustrator-related posts.

Tutorial examples

• Creating simple Art Brushes in Illustrator
• Command shape in Illustrator
• Recolor artwork using Illustrator’s LiveColor

5. GoMediaZine

GoMediaZine is a website by art and graphic design professionals. They have a growing section of top-notch Adobe Illustator tutorials. Besides quality Illustrator tutorials, they also have a Freebie section where you can obtain free vector artwork.

Tutorial examples

• A Pseudo-Sugar Skull: From Start to Finish.
• From Sketch to Vector Illustration
• Intricate Patterns in Illustrator

6. N.Design Studio

N.Design Studio is freelance illustrator/web designer’s Nick La’s design blog and portfolio. One of the most popular sections of N.Design studio is Illustrator Tutorials section that hosts high-quality, detailed Adobe Illustrator tutorials.

Tutorial examples

• Illustrator CS2 Splash
• Drawing Face
• Halloween Pumpkin

7. Vectordiary

Vectordiary is Tony Soh’s blog on vector Illustration. You can find wonderful tips, tricks, and tutorials pertaining to vector illustration. Check out the Illustrator category to go directly to Illustrator-specific blog posts.

Tutorial examples

• Learn Illustrator CS3 in 30 Days
• Illustrator tutorial: The Perfect Diamond
• Illustrator Tutorial: Wire Fence

8. Layers Magazine

Layers Magazine is a magazine dedicated to Adobe products (such as Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver). The Adobe Illustrator Tutorials section has plenty of online tutorials to help you learn more about Illustrator.

Tutorial examples

• Swingin’ Retro Look in Adobe Illustrator
• Blueprint-Style Text in Adobe Illustrator
• Imitating A Scanner Darkly in Adobe Illustrator

9. Computer Arts – Tutorials

The Computer Arts Tutorials section of the highly-popular Computer Arts magazine has plenty of first-class arts and graphic design tutorials. The section has over 500 professionally-written tutorials, many of them involving Adobe Illustrator.

Tutorial examples

• Creating trees in Illustrator
• Retro car vectors
• Ornate lettering

10. FreeTransform

FreeTransform (referring to Illustrator’s Free Transform tool) is a blog by Illustrator and tutorial writer Cheryl Graham that covers Adobe Illustrator Topics. Check out the Tutorials and Quick Tips section for handy lessons on Illustrator.

Tutorial Examples

• Tutorial: make texture without leaving Illustrator
• Tutorial: A Gradient Brush?
• Tutorial: Transform, Style, Blend

11. Illustrator Design Center

Adobe’s Illustrator Design Center is the company’s section dedicated to Adobe Illustrator. You’ll find a variety of information, guides, and tutorials straight from the creators of Illustrator and from first-rate professional illustration and design artists.

Tutorial examples

• Creating scatter brushes in Illustrator
• Using Live Trace and Live Paint
• Working with Transparencies in Illustrator

12. Kevin Hulsey Illustration

Kevin Hulsey’s tutorial site is dedicated to sharing useful computer graphics tutorials and resources. The Adobe Illustrator tutorials are split into three categories: Basic, Advanced, and Tool tips and tricks.

Tutorial examples

• Drawing Gears in Adobe Illustrator
• Cutaway Car Illustration
• Hex-Head Bolts and Fasteners in Adobe Illustrator

13. IllustratorWorld

IllustratorWorld is a leading website for vector art and vector illustration software. It has a large community, so if you want to talk to illustrators and designers, check out the IllustratorWorld forums.

Tutorial examples

• The Importance of Layers
• Fun with AI’s 3D tool
• January eMag

14. BittBox

BittBox is a blog by talented designer Jay Hilgert. Jay Hilgert provides tons of freebie design resources and writes quality vector illustration tutorials and helpful Illustrator workflow tips.

Tutorial examples

• Illustrator Tutorial: How To Make 3D Vector Vintage Stars
• Fun with Illustrator’s Blend Tool
• How to Make Vector Grunge

15. AiVault

AiVault (Ai is the Adobe Illustrator file extension) is a website dedicated to sharing resources, tips, tricks, and tutorials on Adobe Illustrator and vectors. For those seeking Adobe Illustrator tutorials, check out the Ai Tutorials section.

Tutorial examples

• Tutorial: An intro to mesh tool
• Know Thy Workspace
• Create a Cool Air Balloon Wallpaper

16. IllustrationClass

IllustrationClass is a website about illustration. The tutorial section has over 60 brilliant tutorials that you can download (they come with the source file and the tutorial).

Tutorial examples

• Pop Art Illustration
• Tango – Illustrative Icons
• Symmetrical Illustration: Thug Bunny!

17. PinkZAP

PinkZAP is dedicated to providing free Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials (as well as other design-related tutorials). Check out the Illustrator category to find articles speficially related to Adobe Illustrator.

Tutorial examples

• Drawing a character’s face in Illustrator
• How to Make Unique Swirl Graphics
• Draw a Koi Fish

18. CreativePro

CreativePro is a website for professional creatives. The CreativePro Illustration section provides many helpful tips and tutorials on Adobe Illustrator, as well as relevant news and reviews on the topic of Illustration. Check out the How-to’s section to go directly to the tutorials.

Tutorial examples

• Round Corners Quickly in Illustrator
• Add Strokes to Placed Images in Illustrator
• Illustrator How-to: Why the Appearance Panel Rocks

19. Illustrator Tutorials at Designer Today

Designer Today is a graphic design magazine and tutorial resource for designers. The Illustrator Tutorials section has plenty of useful and top-notch tutorials.

Tutorial examples

• Cityscape – Illustrator CS3 Tutorial
• 3D Logo – Illustrator CS3 Tutorial
• Abstract Background Path – Illustrator CS3 Tutorial

20. AiBURN

AiBURN is a website dedicated to discussing current art and design trends. The site is run by Sean Hodge, editor of PSDTUTS. AiBurn also has excellent web roundups that contain top-notch resources from around the web.

Tutorial examples

• Building a Website Wireframe in Illustrator
• Draw Your Self Portrait
• Design a Business Report Cover

Src: http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/20-exceptional-websites-for-learning-adobe-illustrator/

10 Excellent Open Source and Free Alternatives to Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a given in any designer’s wish list, and it comes with a host of features that allow for excellent and professional photo editing. The biggest obstacle to any designer who wants Photoshop is the price, which can be prohibitive. Fortunately there are a number of open source (and completely free) programs out there that do much of what Photoshop can, and sometimes more.

1. GIMP

GIMP stands for “GNU image manipulation program”, and it is one of the oldest and most well known alternatives to Photoshop in existence. Although it doesn’t quite have all of them, you’ll find most of the features included in Photoshop somewhere in GIMP. GIMP is cross platform and supported by a large community.

If just having the feature set isn’t enough for you, there is an alternative based on GIMP known as GIMPShop. It’s the same as GIMP, except the layout has been structured as close to Photoshop as possible, so anyone making the transition should still feel right at home.

2. Krita

Krita has been lauded for ease of use and won the Akademy Award for Best Application in 2006. Part of the Koffice suite for Linux, Krita is slightly less powerful than both Photoshop and GIMP, but does contain some unique features.

3. Paint.NET

Paint.NET has grown out of a simple replacement for the well known MSPaint into a fully featured open source image editor with a wide support base. You’ll need Windows to run Paint.NET.

4. ChocoFlop

ChocoFlop is a design application designed exclusively for Mac, optimized for Mac architecture. It’s quick and fairly well featured. This program won’t always be free, but until a stable version is released (it’s currently in beta) they are allowing free use. The program works pretty well as is, and if you’re the type who doesn’t mind an occasional bug it’s certainly worth a look.

5. Cinepaint

Cinepaint is designed primarily for video often used to make animated feature films by major studios, but it is also a great image editor capable of high fidelity 32 bit color. Currently there is no stable version for Windows.

6. Pixia

Pixia was originally designed in Japanese but English versions now exist for this rich editor. Although the original focus was on anime/manga, it is a very capable editor in general. Some of the features are a little counter intuitive, but there are plenty of English tutorials available now if you want to give it a shot. The website seems to have changed recently, so be sure to use our link if you don’t want a Japanese error message. Pixia works for Windows.

7. Pixen

Pixen is designed as a pixel artist’s dream, but has expanded into a smooth and well featured overall editor. It’s definitely best at animation though, if that’s your style. Pixen is Mac (10.4x or later) only.

8. Picnik

Picnik is a web based photo editor that has recently taken off due to a partnership with Flickr. It has all the basic features plus a few advanced ones like layers and special effects. It is cross platform since you only need a browser.

9. Splashup

Another web based application, Splashup has a strong set of features (including those layers) and will remind you somewhat of Photoshop. It integrates easily with photo sharing websites and just like the above, is cross platform.

10. Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe actually has a free web based photo editor of their own. It has all the basic functionality you’d expect as well as a few advanced features (sadly though, no layers), and interfaces well with a number of photo sharing websites. Again, completely cross platform.

Your favorite open source/free image editor?

There are many excellent open source and free alternative photo editors out there, and if your favorite isn’t on the list – why don’t you tell us about it in the comments?

Why your Web content will look darker on Snow Leopard

If you're a Web designer, expect your CSS colors & your untagged/unmanaged images to look darker on Snow Leopard than on previous versions of the Mac OS. You'll also see less of a visible color shift when going from Photoshop to Flash or other unmanaged environments (e.g. Internet Explorer).

Why is that? Apple has switched to a default gamma of 2.2, which is what Windows has used for years. Colors that aren't color-managed are going to look darker on the whole. Your whole display will now be closer to what Windows users see*.

Apple's marketing materials (and reviews of Snow Leopard) say only that the change is "to better serve the needs of consumers and digital content producers." Not really knowing what that means, and wondering why Apple would change the Mac to match Windows after 25 years of using gamma 1.8, I sought out more info.

Adobe Principal Scientist Lars Borg provided some perspective. Lars has spent the past 20 years at Adobe defining & driving color management solutions, and lately he's been focused on digital cinema standards. Here's what he said:

In the distant past, the computer world was colorless, bleak, stark black and white. No one cared about their display gamma, as gamma is irrelevant for displaying only black and white.

Macintosh, in 1984, introduced us to desktop publishing and to displays with shades of grays. Publishing at that time meant printing presses, and the dot gain of a typical press (then and now) corresponds to a gamma of 1.8. As color management was non-existent at the time (the first color management solutions did not appear until early 1990s, when color displays became more available), Apple's pick of a 1.8 display gamma enabled the Macintosh displays to match the press.

In early 1990s, the TV industry developed the High-Definition TV capture standard known as ITU Recommendation 709, using a net gamma of around 2. Later, in 1996, IEC put forth a CRT-based display standard (sRGB) for the Web that would match the HDTV capture standard, having a net gamma of around 2.2. sRGB was slowly adopted first in the PC display market, next in the burgeoning digital camera market, and 2.2 became the dominant display gamma.

Is 2.2 the ultimate gamma? No. In 2005, leveraging color science research, the movie studios' Digital Cinema Initiative selected a gamma of 2.6 as providing the best perceptual quality for 12-bit cinema projection. Today, few can afford a true Digital Cinema display at home, but as always prices are falling. Yes, that's what I'll have in my next home theater.

But, recall VHS versus BetaMax. The VHS format finally died with the last video tape. Gamma 2.2 will not be unseated easily. However, calibrated displays and functional color management will make gamma a moot point. Gamma will be for the Luddites.

Source: http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2009/09/why_your_web_content_will_look_darker.html

Configuring GIMP 2.6 to Replace Adobe Photoshop

If you’re used to the Photoshop interface, the open source alternative GIMP can be somewhat confusing. You can, however, configure it to look and behave the same way.

GIMP is often referred to as the poor-mans Photoshop. Is this a fair assessment? Perhaps. Users tend to be split into three groups: those who can afford Photoshop, those who cannot, and those who are willing to pirate. For those who cannot afford it and aren't willing to pirate (we're certainly not encouraging it), then the most attractive option is GIMP.

Is GIMP an adequate alternative, however? Is it worth the effort to learn the new menu system and swap out the monster-sized commercial program for the lighter, free, open source graphics program? For most users, the answer is yes.

This tutorial will teach you how to configure GIMP to make it as close to Photoshop as possible, accomplished via plugins, filters, and other downloads. The modifications done in this article are performed on the regular GIMP, not GIMPshop. If you are absolutely unwilling to learn new keystrokes and menu layouts, then you may want to look at GIMPshop, which is a redesigned GIMP layout for Photoshoppers. If you don't like GIMPshop, you can also try GimPhoto.

How to Install Brushes, Filters, and and Plugins in GIMP

To add brushes, filters, and plugins to GIMP, simply open the program folder and put the files into their appropriate folders--brushes into Brushes, filters into Filters, etc. In Mac, right click and open the app folder. In Linux, navigate to your Home Folder and press Ctrl+H. In Windows, it's in C:/Program Files/Gimp.

Arrange the Layout

GIMP has compromised and changed the layout to be the best of both worlds. If you enjoy the free floating windows so common in GIMP, those features are still available. If, however, you want everything to be contained in one window, simply maximize the menu window, and then place the toolbar and window dock inside. Right click and choose "Always on top". It will now function just the same as Photoshop's all-in-one window; the individual docks aren't all listed in the bottom, they are all contained within the one window.

Add Photoshop Plugin Support

If you've invested in a library of Photoshop plugins, then the last thing you'll want to do is leave them behind when you switch. Luckily, it is possible to add support for Photoshop plugins using the PSPI plugin.

Download the PSPI plugin for your operating system and copy the file(s) to your GIMP plugins folder. The menu feature can be found in Filters > Photoshop Plug-in.

Higher Bit Support

Navigate to Colors > Use GEGL and check the box next to it.

Add CMYK Color Separation - http://cue.yellowmagic.info/softwares/separate.html

To add CMYK separation, you will need to add the Separation+ plugin. Download and copy it into the GIMP plugin folder.

Add Layer Styles

Can't live without Drop Shadow, Inner Glow, etc? Then install this plugin. Simply add the script to your GIMP script folder, then close and reopen the program. You'll find the Layer Styles in Script-Fu > Layer Effects.

Add Brushes

While you're adding everything to your install, download a bunch of brushes and add them to your brush folder. The default brushes that come with GIMP aren't all that great. A good resource for brushes is Blendfu.

Conclusion

The above will add a few extra features to GIMP that increases it's functionality. It doesn't have all the features of Photoshop, many of them due to copyright issues. For the vast majority of users, however, GIMP is a very good graphics program that will do everything you need.

Source: http://laptoplogic.com/resources/configuring-gimp-2.6-to-replace-adobe-photoshop

Fonts
Dafont Typenow Neatfonts Fonts Fontshop Typetester Betterfonts	Veer Types Urbanfonts Creamundo Free Fonts 1001 Free Fonts My Fonts Fontifier ThinkingwithType	Fontso Better Fonts Urban Fonts Font Diner YouFont Fonts by Theme Fontlet Funny Fonts

Links for Designer

Web Reference
http://www.webcreme.com

Images
http://www.imagesbazaar.com/
http://www.gettyimages.com/Home.aspx
http://pro.corbis.com/

Send Large files
http://www.yousendit.com/

Top Links for Designer
http://blog.inserit.com/links.php

Photoshop Brushes
http://www.brusheezy.com/brushes

Design
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

Light Burst (Photoshop)

Ever wanted to create those space warp/ light bursts that you see in banners and wallpapers all over the web? If you haven't, the following image is an example of such a graphic:

Now, I am sure you are interested in creating this effect. It's simple - here's how:

1. Create a new document, any size, with a black background.
2. Using the freehand lasso tool, draw a random, roughly round shape in the approximate centre of the image.

3. Create a new layer, then fill this shape with white, using the Fill tool.

4. Press Ctrl+D to de-select, and then open the Filter menu. Choose Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set the amount to 9 pixels and click OK.
5. Now open the Filter menu again and choose Distort>Ripple. Set the amount to maximum and the size to medium. Click OK.
6. Now press Ctrl + F twice, to repeat the filter twice.

7. You should now have a nice ripply shape. This is the basis for your light burst.
8. Open the Filter menu yet again, and choose Blur>Radial Blur. Set the amount to 100, the Type to Zoom and the Quality to Best. Click OK.
9. Depending on the size of the image and the speed of your machine, the speed at which PS will process will vary. When it's finished, you should have a white light burst.
10. You may notice some odd rings of noise around the burst. To fix this, apply a gaussian blur, experimenting with the amount.
11. To make it a bit more interesting, try colorizing the burst (Ctrl+U, tick colorize, and play around), and maybe even adding a bit of lens flare.