First, I would like to thank everybody for reading Web Designer Wall and following me (@nickla) on Twitter. Today, I have iPhone stickers to give out to my followers only. I will be giving out 20 iPhone stickers (sponsored by Sticker Mule) with my illustration printed on it . All you have to do is tweet a message to me. For example: "@nickla, I like the Koi or Peacock or Phoenix sticker. #wdw_stickers". Winners will be selected randomly on Aug 27, 2010 and contacted by Twitter’s Direct Message.

Flashloaded offers Flash components that help you to build cool Flash stuffs without having to code any Actionscript. The components are very easy to use and customize. Just drop the component on the stage, customize it via the parameter palette, and you are all set. In this contest, Flashloaded will be giving out 5 components. To participate, enter a comment along with the component that you like before Aug 27, 2010.

CSS2 allows you to specify stylesheet for specific media type such as screen or print. Now CSS3 makes it even more efficient by adding media queries. You can add expressions to media type to check for certain conditions and apply different stylesheets. For example, you can have one stylesheet for large displays and a different stylesheet specifically for mobile devices. It is quite powerful because it allows you to tailor to different resolutions and devices without changing the content. Continue on this post to read the tutorial and see some websites that make good use of media queries.

I will be speaking at Frontend 2010 conference along with a big list of famous designers. The event will take place in Oslo, Norway on September 1st & 2nd, 2010. I have a last minute free conference ticket to give away. Enter a comment in this post before Aug 24, 2010 for your chance to win a free ticket. If you are buying the conference tickets, enter "WDW" coupon code to save 10% discount.

Update: the winner is #58.

You may probably notice that I haven’t been updating Web Designer Wall for a while. I’ve been working very hard on a new project called Themify, a premium WordPress theme shop. It is a collaboration with Darcy Clarke, who is an amazing developer. Each theme is packed a framework and bunch of custom widgets. With the framework, you can apply theme settings, style everything, apply skins, and import/export the setting data. Let me know what your thoughts. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @themify.

I have a free FITC San Francisco to give away. To get it: you just need to enter a comment in this post before August 6, 2010 and the winner will be selected randomly. The event will take place in San Francisco between Aug 17th to 19th. If you are getting the tickets, use coupon code "wdwluv" to get 10% discount. For more information, visit the FITC website.

Update: the winner is #109

For those of you who been reading my blog should be familiar with ZURB. They are the guys who created those fantastic web apps — Bounce, Notable, and Verify. If you read online tutorials a lot, you may have probably stumbled upon their Playground before where they post various CSS and Javascript tutorials. Today, I’m happy to have ZURB here at Web Designer Wall to talk about their team and work.

Some people hate it, some people love it, but undoubtedly it is preferred in a wide variety of situations, from banners and online videos to rich internet applications. I’m talking about Flash of course. Take the comic strip below as an example. It was animated with BannerSnack and output as a SWF file. Click to play it.

The other day I was trying to style CSS3 border-radius to image element and I realized that Firefox doesn’t display border-radius on images. Then I figured a way to work around it — wrap a span tag around with the original image as a background-image. Thanks to Darcy Clarke for the jQuery code which does the magic tag wrapping automatically.

View Demo Rounded Images (more…)

Inspired by the CargoCollective and David DeSandro’s site, I asked my Twitter followers (@nickla) on how to do the scrollto posts with jQuery. Within a day, Ben Bodien of Neutron Creations sent back a quick demo on how to replicate the similar result with the ScrollTo plugin. The script finds your current view position and scroll to the next or previous post accordingly. Check out the demo to see what I’m talking about.

View Demo Scrollto Posts (more…)

Guest Post by Lingo24

Web designers are a highly creative bunch. Whilst most will probably have a natural eye for what looks good and what doesn’t, experience is everything in the world of web design, and learning is a key part of the process en-route to the top. One of the fundamentals of any design – be it web or print – is that it’s the audience that counts, not you. With that in mind, the one golden rule of thumb web designers should remember when carefully crafting their sites is that the second they’re launched into cyberspace, they’re global.

Typefaces are "top trumps"-style card pack contains 20 well known designers (yes, I’m included in the cards). For each designer, a typeface was selected to match their overall vibe. Each card is individually designed to reflect this vibe, supported typographically with the selected typeface. I have 10 sets to give away. For your chance to win a free set, simply enter a comment in this post before Jun 25th, 2010. For more information about the cards, visit TheTypefac.es and the Voting Stage.

Update: the winners are 254, 102, 197, 408, 2, 371, 345, 255, 423, and 415. (more…)

People mostly use either serif or sans-serif fonts and often miss out the handwritten fonts. They are as important as the main font classifications. I particularly like to use handwritten fonts to highlight significant items in screen captures. They add the personal touch in my design and also provide great typographic contrast. However, not all handwritten fonts are legible. I’ve put together a huge list of free handwritten and script fonts that work well. (more…)

Web Designer Wall is giving away 10,000 business cards sponsored by UPrinting. Uprinting has been in the industry for over 25 years. Check them out if you need printing services. Enter a comment in this post before June 18, 2010 for your chance to win 1,000 business card printing (full color both sides on quality card stock). This giveaway is limited to US residents only and you must be 18+ year old to enter.

Update: the winners are #316, 393, 356, 282, 37, 88, 120, 326, 189, and 111. (more…)

Guest post by ChoiceVendor

Graphic Designers: Grow your Business with Word of Mouth Marketing. Referrals have always been a great way for graphic designers to gain new customers. Now, B2B review websites are bringing these peer referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations online, creating new opportunities for firms and freelancers to easily promote their services. (more…)

Lately I’ve been playing around with CSS3 and discovered some new CSS tricks. Did you know you can make a round circle with border-radius and create inner shadow effect with box-shadow inset? Check out this beautiful search form demo that I’ve created with CSS gradient, border-radius, and box-shadow. It displays perfect in CSS3 browsers and degrades gracefully in non-CSS3 browsers.

View Demo Search Form (more…)

New Riders’ Voices That Matter: Web Design Conference, now in its fourth consecutive year, will take place June 28-29 in San Francisco and the timing couldn’t be better! Web design is undergoing an historic transformation: while the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript haven’t changed, the new and evolving functionality in the HTML5 and CSS3 specs, the number of new ways in which people access the Web, and the rise of social media mean that Web designers need to know more than ever. Post a comment in this post before May 21, 2010 for your chance to win a free ticket.

Update: the winner is #34. (more…)

On Thursday May 27^th, web developers from all over Canada will be coming together to talk about the ever evolving web, discover new platforms, take part in a codefest & network with some of the best web developers in the country! With Keynote speaker Joel Perras, core developer of CakePHP and sessions including: SEO for dynamic websites, Building in HTML5, CoApp, Cross Platformed Solutions for Social Media & Cloudy with a Chance of Interoperability – this conference is one that should be of interest to all of you looking to build the ultimate web experience for your clients. Check out the website for more information here. Registration ends May 20^th. (more…)

The Applied Arts Design & Advertising Awards Call For Entry is currently open. It will be judged by an panel of highly regarded industry professionals, in a rigorous process developed over our two decades of awards experience. All entries must be received by May 7, 2010. Eligible for entry are all forms of commissioned, published, unpublished and personal work created between May 2009 and May 2010. The competition is open to entrants from any country. For more information, a complete list of categories and to access our online entry form, please visit AppliedArtsMag. (more…)

The FITC Toronto 2009 officially ended yesterday. Congrats to the award winners. My overall experience was pretty good. I’ve attended FITC in the past four years and they are getting better and better. This year, I’ve learned a lot of new things about Flash, particularly the multitouch Flash content and mobile Flash. In this post, I’m going to share my thoughts on some of the presentations that I’ve attended.
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