Lets face it there is no enjoyment in writing a proposals. You became a web designer to build web sites, no one thought to mention anything about the processes you would have to follow to find new contracts and clients. Unfortunately, web design proposals are one of those essential processes you have to learn, and learn well.

Every web designer and developer should have a good and reliable wireframe (mockup or prototype) tool at there disposal. The importance of such a tool differentiates amongst web designers and developers, some use them, some don’t. Personally, I use them. It is in this initial stage of development that makes web design enjoyable, the coming together of the clients needs and your own creative ideas onto a blank canvas, allowing you to plan effectively the visual arrangement of the sites content.

Since its launch, an extension system has been one of the most sought after and requested features for Google Chrome, and last month, Google delivered. They launched, in beta, there Google Chrome Extensions web site, and in just under a month they have already cataloged an impressive 1000+ extensions (no support for the Mac, as yet).
So, the big question now is, how powerful, useful and indispensable can we, as developers and designers, actually make Chrome, while backed up with its new extensions? The next question is, can it or will it replace Firefox?

By now everyone has heard of HTML 5 and its new functionalities. Pretty exciting isn't it.
Of course, there are two sides to this, most developers love it, others feel it has come to soon and we are not ready for it. What ever your feelings are on this issue, it doesn't matter, it is here, so lets work with it.

Creating an accessible data chart or graph in HTML is very tricky to achieve, especially with some elements, such as images, that allow only the most basic features that give textual information to non-visual users. What are the solutions?
PHP, Flash, Javscript (jQuery, MooTools, Prototype) and CSS can all be utilized successfully to implement interactive visualizations, and there are many techniques and solutions from each that will allow you to display them on web pages and apps.

Not having the same funds or resources of a web design agency can certainly be one of the downsides to working as a freelance developer or designer. Established web design agencies have the finance to be able to have expensive full blown usability tests on a project, they will have accountants to mange invoicing, managers to project manage and have multiple developers and designers to covering several different aspects of any given design.
As a freelancer you have to do it all!

Why would you ever need to optimize (or optimise, which ever spelling you prefer) or reFormat your CSS? Optimizing your CSS will not only allow your web page to load quicker, it also increases the durabilty and resilience of your site when there is a spike in visitors (i.e. the Digg effect) and, for me, the most importantly part is that it gives you more readable code (I am a very messy code writer).

CSS frameworks are a Gods send. They speed up development, ensure usability, meet all W3C standards, compatabile across most browsers and a hell of a lot more. Sounds marvelous doesn’t it. Why doesn’t everybody use them? Well, for the novice developer, frameworks, may be a little bit tricky to get there head around? That is were this article comes in, to hopefully give everybody a better understanding of what a framework is and how to use it effectively.

A collection of extensions for your every Design and Development need, from Editing CSS and Database Management to Image Capture and Color Pickers.