It has been a goal for many people to learn something useful every day, and that can help you to stay sharp when it comes to web design and development. Below are some websites that you should keep an eye on to find news, new resources, and techniques for building great websites.
Digital Web Magazine
If you want a great online magazine for web professionals, then you can find it at Digital Web Magazine. There is plenty of information provided here, such as programming, PHP, and Web Standards.
Web Monkey
This great site is just now back, and they are starting to get back into the swing of things. It is one of those sites that you should keep watching.
Google Doctype
That is a new project from Google that includes things such as by web developers for web developers. It does not have a bunch of articles, but it is one of those resources that you should start following.
O’Reilly Network
O’Reilly Media has created this site to feature blogs and articles that deal with open technologies and web development. There are a few articles like Getting Started with the Google App Engine and Creating Applications with Amazon S3 and EC2. Some blogs can be found here like ONLamp, which discusses PHP, MySQL, Apache, Linux, ONJava, which covers Java language, and WindowsDevCenter just for Windows developers.
Coding Horror
Coding Horror is a trendy blog written by software developer Jeff Atwood (over 100,000 RSS subscribers!). He also talked about web development, raised questions such as whether HTML is a humane markup language, discussed the feasibility of hosting images on Amazon S3, and sharing information in a version database.
PHP Developer
PHP developer gathers news and resources about PHP on blogs and websites covering PHP. At Zend, you will find various reports, from PHP video tutorials to exciting developments.
Boxes and Arrows
Boxes and Arrows deal with best practices, innovations, and trends in design topics, including information architecture, graphic design, and user interaction design. You can read information about findability (how people find information), the essential information on the first screen, and web accessibility.
John Resig
John Resig is a blogger with a site named the same. He is a writer and JavaScript developer. The most well-known thing that he has done is the created the JavaScript framework, jQuery. This blog talks about JavaScript development and web apps.
Blog.SpoonGraphics
If you are looking for a blog that talks about web design and graphics, then Blog.SpoonGraphics by graphics and web designer Chris Spooner. It is here that you will find a lot of tutorials for Photoshop, downloadable resources for free, Adobe Illustrator, and things like the “sliding door” tab menu, inspiration articles, and news.
ShareBrain
Sharebrain is a website that shares useful resources for web workers. You will find tutorials and resources on different design and development topics for websites like CMS, interviews, SEO tools, usability, and even photoshop tutorials.
developerWorks
If you are looking for a place that provides tutorials and articles that talk about important topics on development, then developerWorks is the place. It covers everything about web development, but also things like open source technology, system administration, and even open-source apps. Complex topics are found here, and everything is broken down into understandable articles.
Design Float
Design Float is a social media website created for web and graphic designers. Like Dzone, people can vote for content submitted. You will find information about CSS, HTML, and Photoshop submitted to Design Float.
DZone
If you are a developer and are looking for a social news site, then DZone is the place to be. You can see user shared development-related links and even vote on content that has gotten submitted. That is very similar to Digg, but only for developer links. If you want to update what you are interested in instantly, you have the option to subscribe to different sections and pages through RSS like databases, JavaScript, and Flex/Flash.
Web Resources Depot
Web Resources Depot is a lot like WebAppers as it talks about new types of web resources that web designers and developers could find helpful. Web Resources Depot is a beautiful way to keep up to date with the latest information.
WebAppers
Ray Cheung, a freelance web developer, created the blog WebAppers. WebAppers helps to provide free and open-source application resources that can be used by designers and developers. From icons and fonts to image galleries and navigation menus, you can find useful applications and tools that are here to reduce time spent creating customized solutions to your problems.
Signal vs. Noise
Signal vs. Noise is a usability/design company blog that 37 Signals has developed. 37 Signals are known for developing web apps like Basecamp, and they have gotten involved in a popular open-source web app framework called Ruby On Rails. The blog shows insights about being an effective and productive web app developer, and it keeps things simple.
Snook.ca
Jonathan Snook runs Snook.ca and is an icon for web design and development. The blogs have articles and tutorials on JavaScript, Adobe AIR, and PHP. Some useful bookmarks and resources are worth the read, as well as discussions on everything about being a web developer like maintaining your brand online and project management via email.
Smashing Magazine
There is not a lot to be said about Smashing Magazine because most people have heard about it, but if you are one of the few who has not, then this is the place for web developers and designers to be inspired. They manage to publish items each day, even though each post is thorough and fully detailed.
Web Designer Wall
Nick La’s blog, Web Designer Wall, involves ideas for designs and stunning and subtle tutorials like making CSS gradient effect for text, which shows how to use an image to overlay XHTML text. The blog also features designer tutorials for jQuery, which show how to get you started.
Other sites you should check out
CSS Globe: A community-driven site on standards in web development.
Vandelay Design: A blog by Steven Snell on web development and design.
Noupe: A site that provides resources and news on web development and design.
24 Ways: Yearly collection of design and development articles by leading website developers.
If you have been looking for your all-time favorite site, but it is not in this post, then keep an eye out for newer posts about how websites can make you a better web developer.
