As an owner of the design blog, I am often on the web looking for inspiration, new perspectives, trends, new solutions and other web design-related issues with which I can benefit my, and with it, my customer! The internet is now chock-full of sites & blogs full of resources for designers and front-end developers; photoshop tutorials, filters, patterns and brushes, textures, elements, free fonts, and icon sets, wireframe tools, applications, CSS frameworks, etc.
Below I have listed my favorite sites with a short description of why I like to use them. Use it to your advantage!
| Resource | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Smashing Magazine | An online magazine for web designers and developers with articles on coding, design, UX, and more | Visit Site |
| CSS-Tricks | A website dedicated to teaching all things CSS, with tutorials, video lessons, and an active community | Visit Site |
| CodePen | An online community for testing and showcasing user-created HTML, CSS and JavaScript code snippets | Visit Site |
| Awwwards | A site that awards the best of the best in mobile and web design | Visit Site |
| Stack Overflow | An online community for testing and showcasing user-created HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code snippets | Visit Site |
| Dribbble | A community of designers sharing screenshots of their work, process, and projects | Visit Site |
| Behance | A platform for creatives to showcase and discover creative work | Visit Site |
| Front-end Front | A place where front-end developers can ask questions, share interesting links, and showcase their work | Visit Site |
| Codrops | A web design and development blog that publishes articles and tutorials about the latest web trends and techniques | Visit Site |
| W3Schools | An educational website for learning web technologies online. Content includes tutorials and references | Visit Site |
| MDN Web Docs | An open community of developers building resources for a better web, including web standards documentation and learning resources | Visit Site |
| Sitepoint | An online learning resource for web developers, offering courses on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more | Visit Site |
| Web Design Ledger | A web design blog, publishing articles about trends, techniques, and more | Visit Site |
| Frontend Masters | An in-depth JavaScript, Node.js, and front-end engineering courses | Visit Site |
| GitHub | A web-based hosting service for version control and collaboration. It’s an essential tool for any developer | Visit Site |
Hongkiat.com – resources / inspiration / information
This a blog from the Malaysian web designer Hong Kiat Lim, who almost daily new blogs with content ranging from Photoshop tips & tricks, the best WordPress Themes, Infographics, free design resources, etc. etc., Reads nicely, the level is high and offers a lot of links to external resources.
CoolHompages.com – inspiration / resources
The name is a bit misleading. This site has become a very extensive gallery of all kinds of websites & designs. You can filter by style and type. There is also the possibility to download (some, not all) designs (as a template) and use them for their own purposes.
AgileDesigners.com – resources
A site is filled to the brim with free / royalty-free and paid tools & materials for designers and front-end developers. Anyone who is a member of the community can submit new content—clearly processed in different categories. Daily new resources.
Inspired-UI.com & pttrns.com inspiration
Running a UI company? Both sites are fully dedicated to the design of user interfaces for mobile applications and sites via the left-hand navigation to filter on different parts and subjects.
PatternTap.com – inspiration
One of the sites I go to for concrete inspiration for web designs. Patterntap has conveniently categorized examples of all kinds of different parts of sites. Scroll through hundreds of examples of headers, footers, forms, 404 pages, icons, etc., etc. Recently you can also filter on design styles. A valuable resource for inspiration.
NotCot.org – inspiration
NotCot is a motley collection of random things that have one thing in common; they look ‘special’ or ‘unusual’; they are ‘designed. Handbags, umbrellas, scale models, logos, toys, packaging, food, photography, furniture, etc., etc., everything is over. Not everything is equally beautiful or useful, but it certainly makes for inspiration!
CartCraze.com – inspiration
CartCraze is a gallery site dedicated to one type of site: webshops. Unfortunately, there cannot be filtered on style, content, or country, but scrolling through hundreds of different webshops makes up for it. A good source of inspiration for webshop designers like myself.
eCommerceGallery.com – inspiration
Just like CartCraze, a gallery site with only web shops. These can be filtered by means of tags on the products sold in the webshops. Lekker scrolling and clicking, again a good source of inspiration for webshop designers
TheFWA.com – inspiration / awards
The FWA, short for the ‘Favorite Website Awards’, has been known for 13 years as the Award Preamp for beautiful and stunning websites. Receiving a ‘site of the day’, ‘site of the month’ or ‘site of the year’ award from The FWA guarantees a high reputation within the web design world. Every day The FWA chooses a site that deserves the predicate ‘site of the day’ and this is shown on the homepage. Most sites that take an award are from big brands who have spared no effort to appeal to a large audience, but occasionally smaller sites or sites from unknown/independent companies or web designers fall into the prizes.