Are you looking for ideas to design a portfolio site? Maybe all you need is a single-page site? Single-page design works if you don’t have much content, but just want to showcase your work. It can save time and cost because you don’t need to build the CMS and templates. In other words, it’s perfect for the non-coders. Here are 30+ single-page portfolio sites with exceptional design and implementation. Hopefully, they can give you some inspiration.
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Since Web Designer Wall launched last year, the feedbacks been encouraging. Recently though, a lot of complaints have come in that I don’t write frequently enough. Well, writing quality content takes time; plus I have to manage my freelance business and Best Web Gallery. Some people have suggested hiring guest bloggers to step-up posting frequency, which sounds interesting. So, please tell me what you think in the poll below:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

It is time to give out free Flash components again! We’re giving out 5 copies of Partigen from Flashloaded. Partigen is a real time Flash engine capable of creating realistic effects such as smoke and explosions. Every single particle is made within Flash at runtime with zero render time. Partigen includes the engine, the emitter and the particles, which are fully customizable at design and runtime. It is great for making particle, fire, snow, rain, bubble, and smoke effects (view Demos).

Just add a comment in this post before August 22, 2008 and you could win one of the five component giveaways (value $99). (more…)

If you liked my previous article on Photoshop shortcuts, you’ll probably find this post useful. Here are 26 Illustrator shortcuts that can help you to speed up productivity. I use most of them (in fact, I can’t work without them). Most of shortcuts listed in this article aren’t documented in the software, so keep reading and you’re sure to find at least one new trick to put up your sleeve. Enjoy!

Note: this article is written in Mac Illustrator CS3 format. If you are using PC, Cmd key = Ctrl key and Opt = Alt. (more…)

In case you haven’t noticed yet, the hand drawn style is one of the hottest design trends. There are several ways to create hand drawn images — you can create it from scratch in Photoshop or you can scan an actual hand drawn sketch. Personally, I like to use a scanned drawing because you get a realistic drawing texture. Here is a quick tutorial to show you how to create a hand drawn design in Photoshop using the blending mode and alpha channel. (more…)

About a year ago, I compiled a huge list of artistic sites. It seems like the trend has carried on in 2008 and is growing stronger (thank God the glossy style is gone). So what’s hot now? Pencil sketches, handwritten notes, card stocks, watercolor effects, collage art, script fonts, grungy and splatter ink backgrounds (glossy gradients are not "in" this year). Another trend to be on the lookout for are the vintage and retro styles which I’ve posted earlier this year. Here is a list of 82 sites picked from Best Web Gallery that show the current design trends. (more…)

Did you like my previous CSS tutorial on how to create gradient text effects? I’m using the same trick to show you how to decorate your images and photo galleries without editing the source images. The trick is very simple. All you need is an extra <span> tag and apply a background image to create the overlaying effect. It is very easy and flexible — see my demos with over 20 styles, from a simple image icon to a rounded corner to a masked layer (both decorative and complex).

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If you’re a regular visitor, you should know that Web Designer Wall is always giving out free Flash components. This time, we’re giving out 5 copies of 3D Wall from Flashloaded. 3D Wall is a Flash CS3 component that lets you create an interactive wall that looks 3D! It’s very flexible, easy to use, and is a cool addition to any gallery/portfolio sites (check out my samples: Demo 1 and Demo 2)

If you missed our free PhotoFlow component draw last time, you don’t want to miss this one!

Update: The contest is now closed and the winners are: 91, 221, 658, 825, and 980. (more…)

According to a poll I conducted, just over 1 out of 10 people don’t think SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is mandatory as a designer; and what really surprised me is about 24% don’t even know what SEO is! If you’re among the quarter of people who don’t know what SEO is or understand how it can help you, you should really read this article. This is an SEO guide for designers who want to learn about making it easier for websites or blogs to be found by search engines. I’ll explain the common mistakes made by designers and developers. Then I’ll provide some basic tips that you should be practicing to optimize your site for search engines. (more…)

In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a Flash parallax scrolling gallery from scratch. Parallax scrolling is frequently used in most 2D animation and games, where the background images and foreground images scroll at different rate of speed. This will create an illusion of depth as the background images are moving slower than the foreground images.

View Demo Gallery

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