In my effort to figure out what would be the best structure for my site, I have decided to get rid of the "Time savers" section. Instead I will continue publishing thematic links that I consider useful under a separate blog category – "Goodies". In this post I am arranging the links to various magazines and tools, which I consider particularly handy for myself as a web-developer and UI designer. I hope these would be useful for other people like me. And if you have something to add to the list – you are more than welcome to do so by leaving me a comment underneath the article.

Graphic elements of web sites

• Favicon generator – this was the only tool from the bunch that I tried, that managed to correctly generate a favicon.ico file out of a 24-bit PNG with Alpha-transparency. Every time I need it – I cannot find it in my bookmarks. I put it as the first one on the list in order not to lose it again.

• Ajax Load – very handy generator of progress indicators with many options to choose from.
• Fresh Badge Generator – Web 2.0 badge generator with a big set of options and customizations (see a sample to the right).
• Iconza – this tool generates a set of typical icons to match your particular site's colors. Though it's in Russian, it's pretty straightforward to use.

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Photo galleries

There are numerous free gallery generators available now, both standalone and based on popular libraries and frameworks.

• HighSlide JS – I chose this standalone project for my own needs. I like the wealth of options and settings and the fact that this tool can be used in a variety of tasks.
• Javascript Image Galleries – if you are in search of a perfect tool for yourself, check out this compillation of jQuery, MooTools and Prototype-based tools.
• 32 Flash и Javascript галереи – another compillation (this time in Russian), which also includes Flash-based solutions.
• 25+ Create Amazing Image Effects with Some of the Best jQuery Plugins Available – this article features not only galleries, but other interesting tools as well.
• Gallery project on SourceForge.

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Javascript frameworks, libraries and solutions

• Scriptaculous
• jQuery
• Prototype
• Highly useful JS scripts

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Do it yourselves

• Kuler by Adobe – convenient tool for creating color themes for your site. If you need some inspiration to get started – there's a big collection of color palettes created by other users, some of them are very nice and original.
• Grid Calculator – this tool would come handy for web-coders when they need to calculate/adjust the total width of a site or a web page. Nothing fancy, just plain useful.
• Web 2.0 design kit – simple step-by-step tutorial on how to make Web 2.0-ish headers.

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There's something I want to do, just don't know what...

• Smashing Apps and Smashing Magazine are two online-magazines which publish interesting compilations, overviews and articles for web developers and designers: textures, fonts, thematic samples and more. I am subscribed to both sites via RSS, and I visit them almost every day. Very inspiring! This is where I found an HTML5 sheat sheet and an article on Designing with grid-based approach.
• Webdesigner Depot – yet another magazine for UI- and web-designers. The following article was from there: 25 Inspiring Examples of Sign-Up Pages.
• Creating a Usable Contact Form is an article I found in the UX Booth magazine for usability specialists.
• And just speaking of usability, here's a very nice post How do I force? on why it is not a good idea to force too much modification to standard browser behavior.
• DeviantART – the never-ending source of inspiration!
• CSS Mania, Web Creme and Design Meltdown feature many examples of quality web-sites of all kinds.
• 500+ Truly Useful Resources of Free High Quality Patterns – nearly infinite source of textures and wallpapers.
• Collection of Web 2.0 Navigation Menus – this collection is pretty outdated and old-fashioned by now, but I used it a few times before so I'd let it sit here as a historic link.

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Logos

I do not mention any resources on logo design here in this post –  there are so many of them that they call for a separate one.

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this article was last edited on: October 27, 2009