5 of my most used websites for Web Design
I have been doing web design for a little over 5 years now outside of school and I have come across a lot of very useful websites in those years. I figured I could list the top 5 that I use almost all the time. Maybe not on a daily bases but I would say every other day for sure.
1. Lorem Ipsum
I think this is a site that most designers are familiar with. It allows dummy content to take place of actual content before it can be provided. I would say at least 95% of my clients come to me without any type of content but they want to get started right away. Well that’s when I roll on over to the Lorem Ipsum site and snatch a couple paragraphs, lists, etc and drop it in to the design. Its also beneficial because the client doesn’t get to focus on the content. They can solely focus on the the design.
Color palettes are extremely important. They can really make or break a site design. If you are mixing the wrong colors together it can look real cheesy real quick. I have rarely grabbed an exact color palette from this site but I do you use it to sometimes find a base color to start with. Most of the times colors can be grabbed from photos or base color can be chosen from a clients logo. I would recommend this site for some real good inspiration.
3. The FWA
I would think most designers have at least one site that they use to see what other people are designing. Whether it be a blog, a gallery or maybe a portfolio site of someone you really admire. I have been using FWA for a long time and have gotten a lot of great ideas from the sites that they feature. They really do a good job of posting sites that are cutting edge rather than just posting everything they find. If you have never been there you should definitely check it out.
4. psd Tuts
One thing that has really helped me boost my skills as a designer are Tutorial sites. Now, there are tons of these sites out there but one that I have been visiting lately is psd Tuts. They really have a great community over there and commit themselves to posting some solid content. Designers definitely have to continue to push themselves if they want to get better or else you just kinda stay umm… stagnate. I have met so many people that tend to just settle for the same old thing and their work definitely shows it. Whether you do that through a tutorial site or you do it through experimentation, that’s up to you. psd Tuts is a good place to start if you are looking.
5. Google
Everyone uses Google but not everyone uses all of the applications that Google has created. One component that’s is a great asset to any website is the Google Analytics application. You can see basically any type of stat for your website, keywords used to find your site, what browser was used to view your site, geographical locations of your visitors and the list goes on and on. But one thing that you can do with this information is use it to modify your site accordingly. You can better optimize your site for search engines, you can modify design elements that may cause visitors to leave once visiting and much more. If you don’t use it currently on your site you should definitely check it out.
What are some of your most used sites?
