All over the world trend going to be advanced in website designing, we have ultimate web layout design tutorials using definitive deigning application Adobe Photoshop, these of all Photoshop tutorials helping to get increase our website designing skills with features and practices.

How to design a professional or creative website using Photoshop, you will get sufficient thought of designing website through these useful tutorials, some of these web layout design tutorial authors also offering their free PSD files to enhance designer interest, as our writer effort to arrange those of all on one post page, hopefully you’ll appreciate this and will share your comment also.

Create a Gnarly Snowboarding Themed Web Design

How to Create eCards Themed Website Design Using Photoshop CS5

Complete Grunge Web Layout Tutorial in Photoshop

Corporate Business Website Design Tutorial (Free PSD file)

Create a Dark Themed Web Design from Scratch

How to Make a Creative Blog Layou

Create a Portfolio Web Layout in Photoshop

Premium WordPress Theme Design Part 1

Create A Detailed Solid Dark Layout In Photoshop

Design a Unique Grungy Website Layout

Making Your Own Portfolio Web Page

How to Create a Unique Colorful Site Layou

Awesome Portfolio Design

Clean Style Portfolio Layout

Rock Band Layout

Create a Clean Magazine & Blog Theme

Snickles: Create A Modern Business Template In Adobe Photoshop

Create a Magic Night Themed Web Design from Scratch in Photoshop

With this “How to Create eCards Themed Website Design Using Photoshop CS” you will learn that how can we make design a clean and update trendy festive website for your desired festive or redesign it. We design in Adobe Photoshop which is really helpful for this kind of designing and we help those who want to design own website as a latest trend web 2.0 designs. You may get even free source file for both your personal and commercial use, if you have any question in your mind about this eCard themed website design you may ask in the comments.

Step #1 – New Photoshop CS5 Document

First we need to create new Adobe Photoshop CS5 document to start work on web design layout, we’re using dimensions of 1024×1024 pixels.

Step #2 – Web design layout background

Let’s create a creative background in this web design layout with three colors Start by filling the background using gradient (G) with three color nodes, first node on dark green #4c5a00, second node in center of the gradient color bar as we showing below as color #9fbc00 and now fill end node in this same gradient bar with color #edff8a then blending out background color.

Step #3 – Apply gradient background vertically

In this step we will apply this created gradient vertically from top to bottom and get result as we showing below:

Step #4 – Downloading Texture and Design Modifications

Now we try to make more festive this design because this is belong to eCards themed web design layout so we’re downloading a texture red yellow victorian pattern and applying “Hue/Saturation” CTRL + U as we showing below the path of this menu (Image –>  Adjustment  –>  Hue/Saturation).

Step #5 – Hue/Saturation Settings

We want to produce desired color scheme so we’re applying some specific setting in “Hue/Saturation” as we showing below in sample image:

after this apply opacity 15% and result will be:

Step #5 – Top Header Area & Content Area

In this step we’re applying black color on 110px height on top as “top header area” also apply grids on content area where we limit our all content (central area of total size “850px wide).

Step #6 – Create a logo for eCards website

This is identity of any website, let’s guide you how we create this below logo:

First – using a famous resource iconfinder.com (these beautiful candle logo icon we using for logo, you must read license agreement before use as commercial) for Christmas inspired icon as logo because this is festive season so we’re working with respect of “Merry Christmas”.

Second – write company name with logo icon as easy identify website name, as we need some creativity in logo name “Smashing” as word where we’re using font “Baar Sophia” free download and second word “eCards” where we using font “Banana” you can download free from our archive folder to get same result as we showing in below image.

Step #7 – Top Navigations with tabbed view

Using the rounded rectangle tool, create a rounded rectangle, then using your desired cutting tool cut off the bottom of rectangle as we showing below in image:

Step #8 – Top Tab Gradients

we’ve some creative settings to show our top navigation tab as more prominent as you can get results follow the following settings below:

Step #9 – Top Navigations with tabbed view

Using the rounded rectangle tool, create a rounded rectangle, then using your desired cutting tool cut off the bottom of rectangle as we showing below in image:

Step #9 – Facebook Login Button and Member Area

In this area we’re placing Facebook login icon and also place two more links with “Arial” font and font color #bebebe (underline) for login using “Smashing eCards” or Become a Member functionality area, sample image below:

Step #10 – Top Banner Area (Images)

This is major area of any website design where we attract to visitors to keep intact regularly, we using square rectangles as present eCard examples in tilted form with some blending options “drop shadow” as follow in below image:

Step #11 – Top Banner Area (Images Blending Option)

In this step we’re getting images from Google search and put in tilted square rectangle and add “drop shadow” on rectangle layer as follow as:

in below image we sharing blending options:

Step #12 – Top Banner Area (Repeat Images)

Now we’re adding different images in square rectangle as we showing below as an sample view:

Step #12 – Top Banner Area (headings and shadow effects)

We still on top banner area where we now adding a heading as “Send Unlimited eCards to worldwide” using font “Myriad Pro” with white color #ffffff and thankful to cufonfonts.com for free download and after that we duplicate same layer with black color #000000 and move as you want to show as best presentation, one more slogan we’re adding as “Smashing eCards for every occasion all year – Let’s Choose” with color #ffe400, we’ve an sample image below:

Step #13 – Top Banner Area (Register Now Button)

In this rounded rectangle button we’re using gradient colors as color #cccccc and second color #eeeeee also showing an image with gradient editors.

one remaining setting we’re showing below as “stroke“.

after completion of top banner we are on:

Step #15 – Three column category listings background

Now go ahead on body content area with single color background # 4c6800 and set opacity 40% to get background victorian pattern below categories.

Step #16 – first column with Photo Card

For the “Photo Card” column we using a beautiful icon from iconfinder.com “gallery, photos, images icon” for get more user interest as UI presentation and drop sample text from lorem-ipsum.info using while color #ffffff.

interface button, its more useful and interesting we would like to share “365psd free download” for button, this is a creative resource where hundreds of free UI kit available for design inspiration, we just want to share this useful resource to you audience (Note: if you want to use this as commercial you should ask to author on 365psd.com and follow license).

Step #17 – second and third column

In second column we are using same setting as we shared in “Photo Cards” column but in here we getting an icon for “holiday” from iconfinder free download.

Third column we also have same settings and “celebrate” beautiful icon free download also from same resource as iconfinder.com.

Step #18 – Footer section one

Now a days in website design, footer is also an important part where we list down useful and ultimate links with privacy links, we’re adding 3 sections into footer area, with an heading and links under each heading.

We using same arrow which we’re using in content columns in “Learn More” buttons but under footer headings we’re using color #3e3e3e in arrow and page links.

Step #19 – Footer section (Free Newsletter)

Another part of website which we’re designing with same settings as we using on heading and text colors, in this area we’re using “rectangle tool” to draw for your email address with stroke color #828282 and beside using a button with name “Go!” this is also belong to 365psd free download for button, only resizing according to input area size.

Step #20 – iOS App Icon as present having website app

In this advanced era almost every website going to be design app for next generation mobiles which most using worldwide as iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, so we adding an iTune App Store image to identify this website also exist on apple itunes.

Final Result

Click on Image for Large View

There are many ways through which you can develop a user-centric website. First of all you need to learn about your target audience and what information or questions would bring them to your website. Your website should have a friendly navigation and a user friendly interface. Apart from that, the website should have all the answers to the questions of a visitor so that they are able to get a solution of their problem without going through hassle. Your print postcards and brochures should match your website’s appearance to help give a cohesive presence to your users.

Advantages of Having a User-Centric Website

As a developer or owner of the website, you need to learn about the advantages of having a user-centric website. Following a re a few websites that you will get if you focus more on developing a website for your visitors and not for yourself:

1. Repeated Visits

It is obvious that if a visitor gets solutions to is problems, answers to his questions and any other information that he is looking for on your website; he will prefer coming to your website again and again if he needs to know anything. So, by developing a website which is user focused, you will get repeat visits.

2. Referral Traffic

Mouth referral has become way to important these days as people do not have to time to search for things, they prefer visiting the websites which are referred to them by someone. One satisfied customer means multiple mouth referrals and unique visitors.

3. Inbound Links

You can always get to have inbound links from others websites. Exchanging links is a good way to promote your website.

4. Good Impression

Not only you will have a satisfied visitor, your business will get a good branding too as a nice website will put a good impression of your business in visitor’s mind as well.

5. Pleasant Experience

Your website should give a pleasant experience to the visitor.

Also, keep in mind that if you want to come up with a user-centric website, money should not be a priority. You should give less importance to advertisements and more importance to your visitors. We have discussed the advantages of a user-centric website. For developing a website like this, you should have a good idea about your target market. Also, get a good knowledge of any questions that your visitors would have in their minds.

Tips to Develop a User-Centric Website

Following are a few points that would help you in creating a user-centric website:

Material of the Website

The layout of the website is obviously important but the most important thing is the material of the website as, at the end of the day the useful content on your website will bring visitors to your website and not the good design. If you really your website to be a success, you should focus more on the content you will be providing on your website.

Now, the type of content obviously depends on your target market and what your website is all about. If you are a designer, your website will obviously help new designers to learn something new and interesting. If you are running a blog, you should try to cover all important topics or current happenings. Once you are aware of the type of content you want, you need to make sure that it is well written. Readers will only be scanning your content and will be judging the article through headings so make sure you use catchy headings and good content.

Allow Visitors to Interact With You

Your visitor should always have an access to you so that they can let you know about their ideas or give you feedback. If is entirely up to you if you want your users to contact you after filling a contact form or you can also provide a general email address which is accessible to you. In most cases, website owners provide a link of ‘Contact Us’ under every page so that a user can contact them anytime.

You should also provide a comment box under every article. Give your users an option for open discussion and this bring very positive results for your website. If a user has addressed you in comments, make sure you reply to the users. This will not only make them feel important but you will also develop loyal visitors. You should keep your blog updated in order to keep your visitors updated.

Effective Navigation

At times, designers are so busy in making a website look beautiful that they forget the importance of easy and effective navigation. This is one factor that should never be ignored as nothing frustrates a user more than not being able to find what he is looking for. Don’t make your visitor go in circles as he might leave your website and would never come back even if you have the best content.

Make sure that everything on your website is easy to found. There are a lot of pages on a website and all of them should be accessible through home page of your website. If a user has to dig in deep to get to a page, you have probably not provided an easy navigation. If you have a huge website, give your users a search option so that they can easily find what they are looking for. Also, the links on your website should be self explanatory so that users are aware where they would be taken if they click on a certain link.

Do Not Distract Your Users

Your website should give a smooth running and easy navigation to the visitor. If there are distractions on your website, your user will not like it. Now, the distractions can be of various kinds. If you have a lot of pop-up advertisements, you will definitely end up irritating your visitor and instead of crossing out ads he will navigate away from your website. Apart from such ads, flash images, disturbing color combinations and any audio that starts without user’s permission can be very distracting and disturbing.

A visitor will like your website if he finds harmony and consistency in it. So use a nice font, good color combination’s and give an easy navigation. Now this does not mean that you cannot come up with a nice layout. Ofcourse you can, but do not forget to incorporate these things as well.

Get Analytics

It is very important for you to know what kinds of users are visiting your website. You should be aware of the internet connection being used by most users, browsers being used and other important details like these so that you can make changes to your website according to the user’s convenience.

Conclusion

Good designing is directly proportionate to a good user experience. Either it is a brochure, a flyer, a business card or a website, no matter what you design, it the design should always be user-centric. The points mentioned above can prove to be very beneficial for your website as according to these points, your priority should be your visitor. As a designer you need to provide a visitor with everything they are looking for and give them a call-to-action. Therefore, keep the above points in mind while developing a website so that you can come up with a user-centric website.

CSS3 and HTML 5 are capable of revolutionizing the way we design websites. Both include so many new features and functions that it can be hard to wrap your head around them at times. HTML5 is giving web designers and developers new capabilities that were things of fantasy with previous versions of HTML. Web pages will now be more semantic with the use of structure specific tags. The inclusion of native support for things like rounded corners and multi-column layouts are just the tip of the ice berg.

When saying about HTML5, developers mean the new semantic structural tags, API specs like canvas or offline storage, new inline semantic tags, etc. HTML5, in fact, is aimed at creating a comprehensive markup language for front-end development, able to provide qualitative information on the different elements of the page. But to help make some sense of what’s new and essential in HTML5, you could review some helpful and indispensable HTML5 tutorials that go over many of the major HTML5 aspects and new standards.

In an front-end development effort to encourage our respected visitors and readers to do the same and to prepare you for the future, we’ve rounded up “HTML5 Techniques – Ultimate Collection of Tutorials“.

How to Make an HTML5 iPhone App

You’ve been depressed for like a year now, I know. All the hardcore Objective-C developers have been having a hay-day writing apps for the iPhone. You might have even tried reading a tutorial or two about developing for the iPhone, but its C—or a form of it—and it’s really hard to learn.

I don’t want to say that you should give up on the objective: you can get it eventually. But in the meantime, there is something else that you can do. You can create a native app that lives with all the other apps, and for the most part, it’s going to be a pitch-perfect imitation. You can do this with the skill set you probably already have: HTML(5), CSS, and JavaScript.

A Marriage Made in Heaven? HTML 5 and CSS3

Perhaps foreshadowed by Google’s adoption of HTML 5, Jeffrey Zeldman pointed out late last week; the future of XHTML 2 is no more. Obviously the selectors we use in CSS 3 depend on the underlying markup we work with, so this news is very interesting and we think timely. As CSS 3 support inches forward with each browser release and as JavaScript libraries supplement poor browser behavior, the need for web developers and enthusiasts to be able to focus their attention has become a paramount concern.

HTML 5 and CSS 3: The Techniques You’ll Soon Be Using

In this tutorial, we are going to build a blog page using next-generation techniques from HTML 5 and CSS 3. The tutorial aims to demonstrate how we will be building websites when the specifications are finalized and the browser vendors have implemented them. If you already know HTML and CSS, it should be easy to follow along.

When can I use…

Look up which browsers support CSS3, HTML 5, and other technologies not supported by all browsers.

The Power of HTML 5 and CSS 3

Web designers can do some pretty cool stuff with HTML 4 and CSS 2.1. We can structure our documents logically and create information-rich sites without relying on archaic, table-based layouts. We can style our web pages with beauty and detail without resorting to inline <font> and <br> tags. Indeed, our current design methods have taken us far beyond the hellish era of browser wars, proprietary protocols, and those hideous flashing, scrolling, and blinking web pages.

As far as we’ve come using HTML 4 and CSS 2.1, however, we can do better. We can refine the structure of our documents and increase their semantic precision. We can sharpen the presentation of our stylesheets and advance their stylistic flexibility. As we continue to push the boundaries of existing languages, HTML 5 and CSS 3 are quickly gaining popularity, revealing their collective power with some exciting new design possibilities.

Code a Backwards Compatible, One Page Portfolio with HTML5 and CSS3

HTML5 is the future of web development but believe it or not you can start using it today. HTML5 is much more considerate to semantics and accessibility as we don’t have to throw meaningless div’s everywhere. It introduces meaningful tags for common elements such as navigation’s and footers which makes much more sense and are more natural.

This is a run through of the basics of HTML5 and CSS3 while still paying attention to older browsers. Before we start, make note of the answer to this question.

Design & Code a Cool iPhone App Website in HTML5

HTML5 isn’t here just yet, but the Working Draft is complete enough for us to play around and get to grips with the exciting new elements we can use in our code. To learn how a few of these elements can be used, let’s put together a simple website for say, a fictional iPhone app. How about we use the recent tutorial I wrote over at Tutorial9 as a base for our app website? This tutorial covered the process of building an interface just like the awesome apps from Tapbots, so head over and check it out, then we’ll be ready to build an accompanying website for our PKE Meter application.

HTML5 Unleashed: Tips, Tricks and Techniques

Can we use HTML5 today? What can we do with it? Is it really going to kill Flash? You must have noticed a gradual increase in the frequency of these and similar questions being asked, debated and even answered. In my opinion, you must answer such fundamental questions yourself.

The whole purpose of this article is to help you get started with some basic guidelines and easy to follow code templates. If you are familiar with the basics and want to take things to the next level, you will also find several useful resources providing more tips, tricks and techniques.

HTML5 Features

Official Specification Document is the best place to look for HTML5 features, but you can also start with simple and easy to follow HTML5 Tag Reference at W3Schools. We will cover following features in this article:

• Semantic Markup

• Form Enhancements

• Audio / Video

• Canvas

• ContentEditable

• Drag and Drop

• Persistent Data Storage

Designing a html-5-layout-from-scratch

HTML5 and CSS3 have just arrived (kinda), and with them a whole new battle for the ‘best markup’ trophy has begun. Truth to be told, all these technologies are mere tools waiting for a skilled developer to work on the right project. As developers we shouldn’t get into pointless discussions of which markup is the best. They all lead to nowhere. Rather, we must get a brand new ideology and modify our coding habits to keep the web accessible.

While it is true HTML5 and CSS3 are both a work in progress and is going to stay that way for some time, there’s no reason not to start using it right now. After all, time’s proven that implementation of unfinished specifications2 does work and can be easily mistaken by a complete W3C recommendation. That’s were Progressive Enhancement and Graceful Degradation come into play.

HTML5 JavaScript APIs

Just because you didn’t get to go to that awesome conference doesn’t mean that you can’t still watch the lectures! Each weekend, we’ll feature a recommended web development lecture on Nettuts+.

In December of last year, Remy Sharp spoke at CODEBITS about the various new HTML5 APIs. In the talk, he covers the video element, canvas, web storage, and other techniques.

Build Awesome Practical CSS3 Buttons

What once required background images and icons can now be created with plain-old CSS. Because modern browsers have access to things like box shadow, gradients, rounded corners, text-shadows, and font-face, we can finally take advantage of this and remove any need for images, when creating visual elements, such as buttons! I’ll show you how in today’s video tutorial.

Quick Tip: Mimic Equal Columns with CSS3 Gradients

What happens when your main content area needs two specific background colors: one for the primary content, and another for the sidebar? If you’ve ever tried applying the background to each container itself, you’ll no doubt have realized that your layout quickly becomes fragmented as soon as, say, the primary content section exceeds the height of the sidebar.

Generally, the solution is to set a background image on the parent element, and set it to repeat vertically. However, if we get clever with CSS3 gradients, we can achieve the same effect with zero images. The irony in this is that we’re using CSS3 gradients to create an effect that doesn’t contain a gradient! Read on to learn more.

Have a Field Day with HTML5 Forms

Forms are usually seen as that obnoxious thing we have to markup and style. I respectfully disagree: forms (on a par with tables) are the most exciting thing we have to work with.

Here we’re going to take a look at how to style a beautiful HTML5 form using some advanced CSS and latest CSS3 techniques. I promise you will want to style your own forms after you’ve read this article.

Designing a blog with html5

Much of HTML 5′s feature set involves JavaScript APIs that make it easier to develop interactive web pages but there are a slew of new elements that allow you extra semantics in your conventional Web 1.0 pages. In order to investigate these, let’s look at marking up a blog.

Firstly what we’ll do is use the header, footer, and nav elements to mark up the broad structure of the page. We’ll make the blog comments form much smarter by using the new data types and built-in validation available in HTML 5-aware browsers.

Then we’ll do some work on the guts of the page, using HTML 5’s article elements to better mark up blog posts and comments and show how to use the section elements to better structure accessible hierarchical headings on sites that are CMS-driven. As blogs are chronologically ordered, we’ll see what HTML 5 offers us for representing dates and times.

Blowing up HTML5 video and mapping it into 3D space

I’ve been doing a bit of experimenting with the Canvas and Video tags in HTML5 lately, and found some cool features hiding in plain sight. One of those is the Canvas.drawImage() api call. Here is the description on the draft site.

HTML5 Audio and Video: What you Must Know

In promotion of what I consider to be the best HTML5 book currently available on the market, Remy Sharp and Bruce Lawson agreed to donate a chapter of Introducing HTML5 to our readers, which details the ins and outs of working with HTML5 video and audio.

A LONG TIME AGO, in a galaxy that feels a very long way away, multimedia on the Web was limited to tinkling MIDI tunes and animated GIFs. As bandwidth got faster and compression technologies improved, MP3 music supplanted MIDI and real video began to gain ground. All sorts of proprietary players battled it out—Real Player, Windows Media, and so on—until one emerged as the victor in 2005: Adobe Flash, largely because of the ubiquity of its plugin and the fact that it was the delivery mechanism of choice for YouTube.

HTML5 provides a competing, open standard for delivery of multimedia on the Web with its native video and audio elements and APIs. This article largely discusses the <video> element, as that’s sexier, but most of the markup and scripting are applicable for both types of media.

Hybrid Column Layout

Have you done a website with fixed columns? Easy, right? What about one with liquid columns? you know, those that use percentages.. easy too.  Have you ever mixed them up? If so, Did you have problems? I bet you did..

Create an Elegant Website with HTML 5

I’m sure that who chooses to work as web designer makes a choice of heart, a choice of love. He/she decides to bet any given day on his creativity and his ability of producing an idea and of making it tangible, visible and perceptible for all. These crazy men have my respect. But, also when the creative side is very important for a work, there exists a logical (and technical) part in all creative process.

There are some moments and situations in which the creative mind needs an analytical method to achieve the objective, that is, for us, the creation of a well-done website.

In his article on Design Informer titled “Web Design Iterations And Algorithm,” Adit Gupta explains how we can approach a web design work and how a website project can be processed in a number of iterations following a main algorithm. Well, generally it’s just how Adit has described.

Coding Up a Web Design Concept into HTML & CSS

I’ve recently been working on a design concept for a WordPress theme as part of a personal project. In this walkthrough we’ll go through the process of converting the design concept from PSD document right through to completed HTML and CSS mockup, complete with clean and valid code, a few touches of CSS3 and some quick fixes to help out old IE6.

Coding a CSS3 & HTML5 One-Page Website Template

Web development is an area in which you have to keep up with the latest technologies and techniques, so that you are at the top of your game.  And no wonder – this is an area which changes with an amazing pace. What is the standard now will be obsolete in just a couple of years.

But changes do not come from nowhere. The early adopters are already using what we are going to use day-to-day a few years from now. One of these technologies is HTML5 – the new version of the fundamental language of the web.

Today we are making a HTML5 web template, using some of the new features brought by CSS3 and jQuery, with the scrollTo plug-in. As HTML5 is still a work in progress, you can optionally download a XHTML version of the template here.

Comprehensive video tutorial on HTML5

This is an old video put up by a Google Employee called Brad Neuberg as an educational Introduction to HTML5. This is for the people who don’t find time to keep up with HTML5 developments by reading up articles.

The topics covered in this article are:

• Web vector graphics with the Canvas tag and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)

• The Geolocation API

• HTML 5 Video

• The HTML 5 Database and Application Cache

• Web workers

The video is long enough, so sit back and enjoy it completely and thank us later for digging this out for you.

Create modern Web sites using HTML5 and CSS3

This tutorial serves as a hands-on introduction to HTML5 and CSS3. It provides information about the functionality and syntax for many of the new elements and APIs that HTML5 has to offer, as well as the new selectors, effects, and features that CSS3 brings to the table.

Finally, it will show you how to develop a sample Web page that harnesses many of these new features. By the time you have finished this tutorial, you will be ready to build Web sites or applications of your own that are powered by HTML5 and CSS3.

Structural Tags in HTML5

The HTML5 specification has added quite a few interesting and useful tags for structuring your markup. For a majority of everyday uses, these tags will replace many of our typical <div> entries from our code. So let’s dig in.

How to Make All Browsers Render HTML5 Mark-up Correctly – Even IE6

HTML 5 provides some great new features for web designers who want to code readable, semantically-meaningful layouts. However, support for HTML 5 is still evolving, and Internet Explorer is the last to add support. In this tutorial, we’ll create a common layout using some of HTML 5′s new semantic elements, then use JavaScript and CSS to make our design backwards-compatible with Internet Explorer. Yes, even IE 6.

Pocket Books

Build a Custom HTML5 Video Player: Free Premium Tutorial

Much like the other various Envato marketplaces, our newly launched Tuts+ marketplace will offer a free file each month. For September, that free file/tutorial just so happens to mine! I’ll show you how to build a custom HTML5 video player with Flash fallback support.

Be sure to grab this one for free for the entire month of September. Next month, it’ll return to its original price.

Quick Tip: Getting Offline Access with HTML5 Application Cache

Just when you thought you’d seen all the cool features of HTML5, I’m here to bring you yet another one. The internet is no longer about just websites; it’s about web applications. Often, our users are on portable or mobile devices, and they won’t always have access to a network. With HTML5’s Application Cache, you can provide them with all or some of the functionality they would have online, no matter where they go.

The design of a website should be attractive and it should instantly grab the attention of the visitor. Seeking attention of the visitor is important however, sustaining a visitor on your website is more important and a well designed website will do it.

In today’s world, creating a website is not at all difficult. The access to the tools of creating a website is easily available and anyone can get them and learn how to design a website. Obviously, a professional designer will not get the page built but he will also make sure that websites works perfectly. As a web designer, you will have to keep a lot of important aspects in mind so that nothing goes wrong with the website. The design, theme, colours, content… and the list goes on. The important thing is that the entire look of the website should be pleasing to the visitor’s eye.

If a client is pleased with your web design work, chances are you’ll be hired on for other design projects like creating print layouts for brochures and sell sheets.

Looking for perfection?

Before you start designing a website, you must keep in mind that attaining perfection is not at all an easy task. In fact, some people say that it does not exist and you can only get better with the passage of time. This is quite right in a way, but the key is to make your website as perfect as possible.

While designing a website for your client, always keep in mind that you will be creating an image for their brand online, and so you will have to be extremely careful with the design. People do tend to ignore small details which are unacceptable if you really want to design a perfect website. You will have to concentrate on every little thing, get into minor details to get things perfect for your client.

Client’s Input – Important

It is quite understandable if you consider yourself a perfect designer and you can create almost anything and everything as far as it is related to the web industry. However, if you really want to satisfy your client, the best thing you can do is have a meeting with them so that you can share your point of view and learn about your client’s perception and expectations regarding their website. Always keep in mind that every client will have different expectations and objectives for their particular website and it is necessary for you to understand what they really want.

Once you will learn about client’s requirements, you can start working on the website’s design. Another advantage of meeting with your client is that it will remove any sort of confusions and eventually there will be less mistakes or misunderstandings once the website has been created. If you do not get your client involved in the web designing project from day one, it could result into an unsatisfactory product and all of your effort will go to waste. Added onto this, you will have an unhappy client which you do not want.

Planning – Equally Important

Well, once you are aware of your client’s requirements, another important thing is planning. You should be really clear about what is required and what is not. Lets suppose, your clients wants an animated website. You will have to make a plan as to what you can use to animate objects. Similarly, if your client wants a simple website, you will have to plan things accordingly.

To be precise, before you start off with anything, brainstorming for a perfect design is very important. Mixing and matching of different colours does not help you create a perfect website design. There is a lot more to it.

Color

As I have mentioned many times earlier in my post that color choice is a crucial for every point of communication and web site is one of the most important source of communicating your ideology and the basic concept of your business online. Sometimes you may be designing a site for an existing business that already has an established color scheme or what we call ‘corporate colors’ and in that case you will have no problem at all in putting that particular color or colors in the website.

However, many design projects will require the development of a color scheme. Luckily, there are almost endless resources and tools online to help you find that perfect color combination for your client’s website. You can easily make use of them and amaze your client with your color geniuses.

Target Audience

It is quite obvious that every website has a target audience and you should be aware of it so that you can design things accordingly. Keeping the target audience in mind will help you a lot in making a perfect website for your client. For instance, if you are making a website for some ladies product such as handbags or shoes, you will use colors such as pink or other feminine colors so that you can attract your target audience easily. If you want things to be more perfect do a good research on your target market and then design your website accordingly.

Appearance and Functionality

So, when it comes to website designing, there are two most important things. One is the appearance and other one is functionality of the website. To be honest, you cannot compromise on any of them. However, for some clients appearance is way too important but one should always keep in that functionality is something which is going to make the visitor stay on your website. Your website should work even if it does not look that pretty.

This too depends on what your clients need. Do ask him if he wants exceptional visuals or complete functionality. If you have managed to bring both into a website, you have successfully created a perfect website for your client.

Layout

As a graphic designer, you are expected to create a perfect layout for a website. While creating a layout for a website, exhibit your best creativity. Also, you should always keep in mind that website should always look original so avoid taking ideas from different website. Being original will help you create a perfect website.

You should always keep in mind the amount of content to be used in the website so that you can design the entire layout accordingly. While designing layout, try to avoid distractions such as loud music or some annoying animations. Also, minimize the space for ads as they annoy the visitors mostly. Image backgrounds are a big NO when it comes to designing a website. Keep it simple.

Budget

These days, with a lot of effort you have to put in a lot of money as well to come up with something exceptionally well. The design of your website depends a lot on the estimated budget of your client. You need to discuss the budget with your client as you should know how much they are willing to spend on it. Once you have an idea of the budget, you can the start designing the website within the available resources. Obviously more money means more resources and more resources will help you create a better project for your client.

Conclusion

A website plays a very important role in the image-building, marketing and brand awareness of any business. If a client trusts you with his website, it means he trusts you with his business. Designing a perfect website is obviously not easy as it requires a lot of planning, budgeting and other stuff. What it requires most is your sincere efforts so that you design a website for your client which can help them enhance their business. If this happens, you will know that you have successfully completed your job.

Create a new document size 900 x 900 pixels. Select the gradient tool with a linear gradient, select the colors #224371 and #4b86c4. Drag the linear gradient from the top of your canvas to half way down. The look your going for is incredible like this.

Select the rounded rectangle tool with a radius of 10pixels, draw out a navigation sized rectangle and seal with any color. Place the rectangle at the top of your canvas so only the bottom corners are presentation.

Press CTRL + A on the keyboard then goto “image > crop”. This will have now chopped off the top corners of your rectangle. Next, add these layers to the navigation rectangle.

You should have something like this.

Add your navigation labels to your navigation, inbetween each link add a divider using the two 1px line method.

Find yourself a picture of the world, google is a good place to start, preferbly find one with a white background as it will be easier to hide. Copy and paste your world map onto your canvas, resize if you have to. Place the map underneath your navigation, set layer blending mode to multiply and opacity to 75%.

Add your website title and slogan over the map.

Next we need to create a diagonal line pattern, create a new document 25 x 25 pixels. Select the pen tool with a 1 pixel sized brush, zoom in as far as possilable and copy the pattern below.

Once finished goto “edit > define pattern”. Head back over to our orginal design and select the rounded rectangle tool. Draw out a simple box for our little login fields. Dont fill the rectangle with a color instead select the pen tool, then right click and goto “make selection”. Select the paint bucket tool at the very top in the menu change “forground” to “pattern”. Select your pattern from the drop down box.

Add a white color overlay to your lines then set opacity to 10%.

Download this icon pack from “WEFUNCTION” Select the padlock icon and place it onto your lined rectangled. Begin to draft out a simple members login form.

Continue to build up the content on the right side of template. Adding icons and minor details as you go along.

On the left side of the template draw out a big rectangle using the rounded rectangle tool.

Add these layer styles to your content box to complete the effect.

Head over to google again and find yourself some business images, if you favor use your favorite stock website. Find yourself 3 different commerce type images. Make the 3 images all the same size then drag them onto your canvas. Place the 3 images next to each other horizontally. Combine all 3 business image layers jointly as one. Make a layer selection by click on the business images layer whilst investment down on the CTRL key. Copy the image to the clipboard then delete the layer. Make another selection by clicking on your big content box layer whilst holding down the CTRL key. Go to “edit > paste into”. Your image will now be able to move around within the boundaries of the big content box. Reproduction the business images another 2 times and place them on top of each. Merge the business image layers as one then add a “layer mask”. Drag a linear gradient from left to right.

Fill your content box with some business jargon, you can use the blue circles in the wefunction icon pack as bullet points.

Beneath your content box add some more business jargon in the form of paragraphs, underneath the paragraphs add a simple texted footer.

Also included in the wefunction icon pack were a set of payment icons, bunch them up together and add them above your footer info.

Create a new layer underneath ALL your footer content, select the eliptical marquee tool OR the circle tool and make a selection like this.

Fill the selection with white then goto “filter > blur > guassian blur”, blur by about 48pixels. Set layer blending mode to overlay.

Thats it all done, heres the final result.

Business web development project very often becomes the most profitable work for freelance web designer.

Hello welcome to Complete Website design tutorial. In this Tutorial we’ll be creating a website in Photoshop then later on code it into a 5 page template. We’ll also be addition a nice JQuery slide effect for our featured content section using JFlow.lets get started firstlt create a new document 900 x 1090 pixels with a black background. Select the rectangular marquee tool and create a box at the top. Fill the box with a radial gradient using the colors #202121 and #000000.

At the very bottom of the rectangle create two 1 pixle lines ontop of each other spanning the width of your canvas.

Add a layer mask to your lines layer. With the gradient tool and a reflected gradient start from the middle and drag towards the edge of the canvas. Make sure forground is white and background color is black. The edges of your lines should blend into the background. You should have impressive like this.

In the top left hand corner add your website title and slogan. I’ve selected to add a few layer styles to the 2nd word in my title. The layer styles are as follows.

You should have something like this

On the same level as your website title towards the right hand side add a straightforward navigation using the rounded rectangle to create a hover state. The color of the blue hover is #0096ff.

Beneath the website title add some featured content text with a title. Next to the title make a straightforward little icon/bullet point and place it next to the title.

On the right side of the header create a rounded rectangle, just big enough to fit inside the space provided. Make the rectangle over lap the header at the bottom.

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Source File (PSD)