The web is full of flat color fields. It is the easiest solution for a design in HTML, but it is not easy on the eyes. In a design such as for brochure printing, visual appeal is easy to create with gloss, textured paper, or unique folding techinques. But how do you make your website stand out while being comfortable to read? Subtle texture in several areas is a great start.

Texture is one of those design elements that can be used gently or aggressively. The key to adding some texture is to know how and why you want to spice up an area of your site. Don’t just start texturizing everything you can. Be intentional.

You have a couple of different options for texture. You can use repeating patterns, textured graphics like wood grains or concrete, or photographs.

Header:

Across the top of the page, the header tells the user where they are and often how to navigate the site. Proust uses texture nicely to set their header apart and make it the first thing you see. The lighting of the texture draws the eye toward the brand, working with the design – not distracting you away from the most important elements.

Background:

The content of your website is important. The background should avoid drawing attention from your text and photos. LearnVest sets itself against a quiet grey pattern that frames the page well. Background textures run the gamut form extremely textured to subtle, like LearnVest’s design. A little goes a long way. Start with subtle and build from there.

Logo:

Many logos are designed to present well in two colors, which is a practical consideration for real-world use. But many designers are recognizing that the vast majority of the time, a logo will be displayed in either full-color print or on the web. Squared Eye uses textures on their whale logo to gently add depth.

And in the spirit of two-color designs, this Design Skyline logo has plenty of texture with just two colors:

Source | Graphic

Photograph:

A texture does not have to be repetitive. Many beautiful patterns are found in nature and the world around. Weightshift uses a photograph under the header to give weight to the site. This technique has seen a rise in popularity and is very easy to implement in web design.

Border:

The web is built on squares and grids. Blocks of text, images, navigation menus, headers, all are framed inside four walls. Brown Blog Films uses a quality wood texture to build their website’s frames. Frames can work in tandem with other textured elements or be used as a stand alone technique.

Wholistic:

A website can feel like a photograph, like a scene from any part of life. Lounge Lizard uses texture to give the impression that their site is a literal desk. This also breaks the design out of grids and blocks of content. Beware, though – this may not function on mobile devices.

Typography:

Typography is another easy way to add texture to your web design. With the @font-face CSS attribute, you can use fully selectable fonts that are fun and visually interesting. Using jQuery plugins like Lettering.js, sites like Lost World Fairs can create beautiful typography that is still fully selectable and readable by both humans and search engines.

What are some of your favorite ways to add texture?

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WordPress without a doubt can be used as one of the best tool for project management and with the availability of new and enhanced versions of WordPress, project management has become much easier. One of the best thing about WordPress is that it can be accessed using mobile applications of any Android phones, Windows Mobile and iPhones. Well if you use the WordPress services for your website you won’t have to be bothered about the security of the content of your website.

You need to have certain plugins that will help you in project management. Here is a list of WordPress plugins which are generally used in project management.

Ndizi Project Manager

This WordPress plugin generally have two options you can either install this plugin on the project level or you can install the project on the main site aswell. This plugin keeps a track of the clients and at the same time keeps a track of the projects which are related to the clients. This ndizi project manager plugin keeps a record of the tasks related to the projects and the tasks that are assigned to any WordPress user. It helps in maintain a record of the time entries with respect to the project and the ones that are assigned to any WordPress user. This plugin also stores the invoices, file attachments and messages which belong to a certain project and are attachable to the tasks and project. It provides you with the facility of sending an invoice to the clients which is quite amazing. This WordPress plugin makes project management very easy and simple.

CollabPress

This is the most complex of all the WordPress tools and has a lot of functions to help a WordPress user. It provides the user with the facility of creating unlimited tasks and project. This plugin even provided with an email notifications whenever a new task or project is created. This is and enhanced version of the ndizi plugin and provides with the facility of due dates for certain tasks if assigned by the WordPress user. This is without a doubt the best WordPress plugin for project management which provides all the possible functions and features that are required for a project management system, provided by other paid software. So it is almost as efficient as the paid management software but it comes for free if you are hosting a website of your own.

WP Project Managment Ultimate

Simple to use project managment post type for anyone. You can set project specifics add description and project details, then monitor the project through the comments section, with special front end image/file upload in comments. Projects are fully protected, only viewable by users assigned to them.

WordPress Project

WordPress project is the most important plugin when it comes to project management because it provides the user with the facility of managing his projects straight from the admin itself. The WordPress project is designed in such a way that it keeps a track of clients, the number of projects you have worked on, the tasks that are done by you and it even records the amount of time you devote into a project. So basically this helps you in keeping a track of everything you do and the things done by others on your website.

WordPress Task Manager

The WordPress task manager is a tool that provides a user with the option of adding a task manager which is fully functional to his WordPress admin. This plugin helps in you in keeping a track of your projects. This tool helps you in keeping a track of your client aswell; it keeps a track of the time and date aswell. With the help of this plugin you will be able to create a page where you can store all these data and go through all the details of the various projects whenever needed. The WordPress task manager is an impressive project management tool and performs tasks relatively well.

The project management framework provided by WordPress is very simple and has endless possibilities. WordPress provides you with enhanced security which keeps your peace of mind intact. With the help of these WordPress plugins and themes you can create a project management system of your own and save a lot of money every year.

About the Author:

The above article is composed and edited by the team of WizKraft. They are associated with many technology and designing communities as their freelance writer and advisers. They excel in writing articles related to logo design , web design, wordpress etc.Similar Posts:

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Impress.js – really impressive script to create stunning online presentations and infographics. It slides, rotates, pans, zooms and what not! It’s basically a presentation framework based on the power of CSS3 transforms and transitions in modern browsers and inspired by the idea behind prezi.com. It could be used for creating cool-looking infographics too!

Checkout the video demo below

View Live Demo 

Download the script

..and don’t be too excited yet, it works with Google Chrome and Safari only. It also lacks mobile compatibility :-/Similar Posts:

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One of the greatest advantages to designing a website using the WordPress platform is an endless selection of free themes. At times, however, this great variety of themes can also be intimidating. After taking the time to locate a good website hosting company that supports wordpress hosting, many webmasters spend additional hours looking though hundreds of screenshots trying to discover that perfect theme. In order to save some time the next time you go hunting for WordPress themes be sure to note these five essential ingredients that make up a great WordPress theme – for any type of website.

1. Widgets

For blogs and portal sites that aim to keep their visitors busy during each website visit, the inclusion of sidebar widgets is essential. Basic widgets include things like a calendar, time/date, and local weather reports. More advanced widgets like mini video games or a feed from a live webcam can also be dropped into the sidebar of any WordPress theme that supports the widget feature.

2. Multiple Post Formats

In order to offer a variety of content offerings not everything on a blog or website needs to be a standard post. With this in mind many WordPress themes support multiple post formats such as audio, video, image, quote, gallery, or link. Each type of format is stored in the optimal way within the WordPress site. By using different post formats for different types of content you also make it easier for your visitors to find the content they are looking for.

3. Mobile

Today’s web surfer is just as likely to visit your site using their mobile device such as an iPhone or Android smartphone. In order to optimize your site’s design for these devices’ tiny screens it is suggested to choose a theme that supports output which is optimized for mobile browsers. Mobile friendly themes can automatically detect if the visitor is viewing the webpage on a phone and loads a much lighter version of the page for them increasing the chances they’ll stay on your site.

4. W3C Compliance

While this theme feature isn’t quite a sexy as the ones mentioned above it is still essential to make sure your website works for all browsers. The W3C is an organization that sets website standards and major browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Chrome all strive to implement its recommendations. With a W3C compliant theme you can be sure that your site will look the same across most browsers.

5. Wide Screen Resolution

Today’s web surfers are mostly using wide screen tablet or desktop devices. Studies show that over 90% of all internet users have a display with resolution set to 1024×768 pixels higher than 1024×768. In order to take advantage of all this screen space a good WordPress theme will need to support wide screen resolution.

This article was brought to you by Mark Thompson from the web hosting review site Businesswebhostingplans.com

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In this era of Google Instant, fast page load speeds are as crucial to getting your website noticed as having the hottest SEO.  Nobody is going to wait around for your slow-loading page to show up, which means it is up to you to optimize your page load speeds. Luckily, there are several websites and tools that help you compress your CSS and Javascript files so that you can experience much faster page load times.  The tools work by eliminating redundant or poorly written code, thereby minimizing the total size of your page while retaining the essential functionality.

Here is a list of the best tools we’ve found that will help you trim your digital waistline.

1. Site Load Test

All you have to do is plug and play—or at least, type in your URL and watch how quickly everything loads.  This is a great testing tool for those who want to see how their pages are performing, or for those who have already optimized their pages and want to see where they can trim some more fat.

2. Squishit

You get two for the price of one with Squishit by “bundling” your CSS and Javascript code into one file.

3. Packer

Perfect for Javascript coders who want to eradicate any excess, Packer automatically creates a compressed version of your code.  Just paste in the code and hit the ‘Pack’ button.

4. Minify

Use this tool to turn your CSS and Javascript files into caches. By minimizing the files, Minify makes page load times virtually instant.

5. JS Min

While commentary is great when you’re coding, it is pretty useless once your page is up and ready for display.  This tool gets rid of non-functional white space and commentary without altering the actions of your code.

6. JS Compressor

Every character counts in the race for speed.  The JS Compressor knocks out line characters, random white patches and frivolous comments to create the leanest, meanest version of your source code.

7. Google Closure Compiler

The difference between competent code and high-performance code often comes down to how clean and compact it is.  This tool corrects a range of common coding errors while creating the most efficient rendition of your Javascript code.

8. YUI Compressor

Speed meets quality.  This tool is considered to be one of the finest and fastest code compressors available.  It also comes with a guarantee of safety.Similar Posts:

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You might be an aspiring blogging superstar or well on course for your 500,000^th unique monthly visitor, but the one thing all bloggers have in common is that they are writing for a global audience.

Even if you do only share your unique knowledge and insight with the world in English, the fact is that anyone from Miami to Mozambique can end up perusing your carefully crafted pages…and this is why there is a strong argument for adopting a multilingual blogging strategy.

Of course, if you are just a casual blogger with no intention of making money from your hobby, then you’ll probably get by just fine in English. But if revenue is the name of the game, then it might just be worth your while going down the multilingual route.

75% of the Earth’s population speak no English which is a lot of people for monolingual bloggers to be missing out on. English is the most widely spoken second language, which is why you’ll often see a European blog with a side-by-side translation of the content – the original post in German, French, Italian…whatever the native language is, and one in English. With that in mind, would a similar setup benefit your English-language blog?

Multilingual blogging may sound like a rather daunting prospect at first. If you – like most native English speakers – don’t speak any other languages, then that’s your first problem. If you happen to speak one or two other languages, you probably don’t want to spend all your time translating your posts.

The rise of the machines…

Everyone’s probably copy/pasted a paragraph or two into Google translate at some point, either out of curiosity or because they genuinely want to know what something says on a foreign website. The truth is, Google translate isn’t actually all that bad if you’re not too fussy about grammatical correctness and the nuance of meaning. In other words, Google can get the general gist of a foreign language message fine.

But before you consider using this to translate your precious blog posts, you need to enhance your changes of hitting a good machine translation. And this all begins with how you write your English post in the first place.

Control your language…

Google translate is good, but it can’t decipher slang, colloquialisms or words that have multiple meanings. So rather than ‘going bonkers’, perhaps it’s best ‘going mad’…and you’re best using ‘food’ over ‘chow’ or ‘grub’.

A controlled English language model may restrict your creativity, but it will help to ensure that any subsequent machine translation is accurate.

English often has what is known as an ‘excess of words’ for one concept (e.g. ‘dog’, ‘mutt’, ‘hound’) as well as allowing nouns to be used as verbs (e.g. ‘race’ – ‘to race’ and ‘in a race’).

Through using a controlled language approach, each word can only have one meaning. Once you learn what words Google translate likes and what it doesn’t, you can build a glossary of the best terms to use.

Blogging platforms such as WordPress also have translation plugins available, so that when the plugin is installed, it generates a series of national flag icons which the user can click to automatically translate the content into their desired language.

Humans to the rescue…

If you’re not entirely comfortable with a user-generated translation approach and would rather have the content machine-translated yourself, you can pay for the services of a native-speaking translator who will essentially proofread and edit the text. Given that the machine translation will be reasonably accurate, all the human has to do is check for errors and help avoid any potentially embarrassing lexical slipups. This means you can maintain the creative dexterity of your English blog content.

Doing it this way makes it far cheaper than having a full translation carried out by a professional translator or translation company, though if you’re serious about making inroads into global markets, then full translation could be money well spent.Similar Posts:

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Today I am very proud to announce the release of my first free Worpress theme - Zexee!

It is a free, two column WordPress theme originally based on The Design Superhero’s previous design.

The theme is provided to users under the open source GNU General Public License. That means, you can use it for personal as well as commercial purposes. I am releasing the theme via one of the very popular design blog, Six Revisions.

Full view of the design

Demo and Download

• Download it from Six Revisions
• Checkout the Live Demo
• Download PSD ← NEW! (Not really a perfect PSD, but it will work for you)

What do you think about the theme? Cool or no cool? Please write a comment and let me know.

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A New Year is always a good reason to begin something new or to improvise the existing one. In this New Year, I am extremely happy to introduce to you the whole new ‘The Design Superhero’!.

I hope all of you are having a great holiday season. For me, the holidays are busier than ever! However, I am very much excited today.

It’s been many months since I have been planning for a redesign. At last here it is. As usual, I still have a lot more ideas and modifications to be incorporated in the site.

How the website is ‘the Whole New’?

• Brand new design; 99% texturified!
• Designed using 960.gs and built using HTML5 and CSS3.
• More focus on the content and readability. Less distractions
• Added new pages and some subpages including a new About page, Service Offering page and a Portfolio(Still incomplete)
• More frequent updates, more freebies (future plans!)

What is so exciting about it?

I left my full-time job last month and moved back to my home town to work independently. Yes, it is exciting for me. I have always had this dream of working independently. Now I have no boss to report to! yay! 

Well, now on TDS is not only a design blog, but my portfolio website too. (Actually when I had started TDS in late 2007, it was my portfolio, not a blog). I am going to use TDS to promote my services as well.

Services? What are they?

Right from Project planning to Marketing, I provide services as a solution to anything and everything in a web development project. Please check my services page for more details. Nowadays I am more concentrating in WordPress projects. Are you looking for a WordPress Designer cum Developer? I am your man, contact me… 

The Year 2010

I am really looking forward to this year. This redesigning and moving to freelancing were two of my New Year resolutions for 2009 and I am glad I could achieve them. If you have never tried making one, get a resolution list for this year and stick to it. It really works.

I wish you all a Very Happy and Productive New year

What do you think about the new design? How do you rate it? Please comment on this post and let me know. Your thoughts and suggestions are very valuable to me.

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Whether you use Twitter to promote your business or simply to enhance your social life, it’s vital your Twitter page looks its best to attract those all-important followers. With Twitter receiving 55 million visitors every single month, you’ll need more than regular tweets to stand out from the crowd! A great Twitter background is a key ingredient in creating a Twitter page that’s both eye-catching and true to your personality or brand image.

There are literally hundreds of websites out there providing Twitter backgrounds – some are very good, others are terrible! We’ve done the hard work for you: we’ve trawled through (what seems like) millions of backgrounds to find the 35 coolest ones around. Some are free to use, others are available to purchase for a small fee, and others still are strictly for inspiration only. You’re bound to find one that’s perfect for you, helping you transform your Twitter page into a masterpiece of social networking!

1. Photoshop

2. Dream Stream

3. Bunch of Lights Vector

4. Shapes

5. Creative Colors

6. Season Lights

7. New York City

8. Earth Horizon

9. Galaxies

10. Fire Fly

11. Moon

12. Writer’s Block

13. White Energy

14. Red Balls

15. Water Bubbles

16. Flames Pattern

17. Optic Cables

18. Pink Cascade

19. Wallpaper 1

20. Rainbow Clouds

21. Life Makers

22. Cosmos

23. Blue Sci-Fi

24. Wolf

25. New

26. Deep Garden II

27. Siberian Tiger

28. Typographic

29. Twitter-1

30. Zatun

31. Carr Rays

32. Vintage High Rise

33. Laquesefue

34. Flying

35. Juanmanuelm

Pass4sure provides you up to date 642-072 notes and 000-330 questions with accurate answers so you will pass your E20-593 exam without any difficulty.

About The Author

 When he’s not writing about HP Laserjet cartridges, Tom Walker enjoys discovering and trying out new gadgets as well as being up to date on Twitter. Tom currently writes for a leading printer cartridge supplier called Cartridge Save which is based in Manchester, England.

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