A primary implication of a well organized website is the fact the end user keeps coming back. A website is created for a purpose, unless created for personal use. An example of this would be a portfolio website where you would want the end user to view the amazing work that you have created. For a business website you would certainly want to provide product information, to make sales, or something similar. Most individuals are visual creatures and would undoubtedly prefer visually stunning designs. It is undeniable this causes no harm but one must put themselves in the shoes of your visitors as to understand how the end user to the site might think, do, and react.

Extra attention should always be paid to every minute detail of your website to optimally serve it's purpose. This is a major pet peeve of mine. I, at times, spend so much effort on the tiniest of details that I can become carried away. In the end though, the finished product always goes beyond my expectations.

Here are some rules of thumb that should be observed to make certain your website performs to the best of it's ability.

I can remember a time when trying to pick the best matching colors for a website was a chore. If you didn't have any experience working with color variations it took quite a bit longer then necessary. The tools we have today to create the print and digital media that shapes our world has evolved. This is one of those amazing tools.

All web designers and developers should strive to simplify and code better CSS. Simplifying the code means less load times and less bandwidth use. Imagine you are a large company that has to pay for each individual byte of bandwidth used. By simplifying the code involved and getting rid of the white space, the company could save hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars a year. That's big money, even if it goes to the pockets of the CEO, less money 'wasted'. Secondly, and more importantly, if all designers were to simplify the coding of the CSS and add the new CSS3 properties to the mix we would become closer to having a universal compliance for all developers. This post is a collection of tools to help with your CSS skills. They will help to make your code more efficient and may even teach you some new cool CSS3 properties that we should be incorporating as designers that care about their profession.

I am pleased to announce a nice set of social icons I put together. The Glossy Icon's comes in two sets, both with 9 Social Icons, each in 128×128 px. One set is transparent the other is normal. They are all in PNG format and are free to download and use as you see fit.

They are also free for personal and commercial use with no restrictions on usage. The license for the images is in the zip after you download.

Flash based sites were the rave at one time or another. Luckily with new technology such as HTML5 they will soon to be non-existent. Here is a quick rundown on the good and bad of Flash based websites and why they failed.

Your website is where your business resides... in these days it is your online  calling card. This makes it an important part in practicing good design to make certain your site reaches the the largest amount of visitors and sells to as many people as possible.

Here is a list of some good practices when designing your website. They can save a lot of heartache in the end if thought through from the beginning.