Web Design HQ has a great article explaining open source software. There’s also an excellent list of software at the end. check it out!

OSCON Call For Proposals Now Open — Circle August 1-5 on your calendar and join us at the O’Reilly Open Source Convention in beautiful Portland, Oregon. OSCON 2005 will be at the Oregon Convention Center, where we’ll have tutorials, sessions, parties, BOFs, and a huge exhibit hall. The Call for Proposals is now open, and registration and hotel information will be available soon. Get the details as soon as we have them by signing up for the OSCON newsletter. Submit a Proposal — The call for participation is open, and you’re invited to submit a proposal to lead tutorials and sessions. Visit the submissions page for all the details on tracks and proposal guidelines. Proposals are due no later than February 13, 2005. Check out OSCON 2004.

I have a tendency to forget things that I don’t use that often, and javascript is one of those things. But there are often times when javascripting is necessary and I find that i’ve forgotten everything i’ve learned, that’s where this handy little JavaScript Reference comes in. I’ve looked around everywhere for a one page, quick guide on all things JavaScript and finally found it with this page. Check it out, i’m sure you’ll find it as useful as I do.

All of us know what CSS is, a good deal know how to use it, some know how to use it to replace tables, but very few know how to utilize CSS efficiently. This site shows you some tips and tricks on Writing Efficient CSS.

An awesome article on 5 applications that make life so much easier for designers, check it out! 5 Free Windows Web Design Apps You Can’t Live Without!

Typography has been an important factor in communication for centuries. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable wooden or metal letters in 1436. In my opinion, this is the single most important invention of mankind. Anyways, I won’t get into a history lesson and a general argument as to why the printing press has held such an important place in history. I am here to inform, educate and cherish your minds with effective typography techniques. Lets face it, any design with horrible typography automatically degrades the design itself. Many magazines are repulsive to look at because of their typography and layout styles. I’ll give you examples like Vogue, Cosmopolitan, New Yorker (great articles though), Men’s Health, many weekly and montly periodicals. Typography requires a special set of skills. It is not easy and not everyone can pull it off effectively. One needs to study it closely and determine how to make best use of it. I would suggest picking up a book on typography and studying it from A-Z. My persononal suggestion would be works of David Carson, the name of the book eludes me at the moment, but do your research, you’ll find many of his books on just typography. Make sure you study it till it satisfies your hunger for knowledge. After getting done with the book, get hold of a few magazines. Pick up publications like, Punk Planet, Wired, GQ, Wall Paper, WYWS, ID and anything that catches your eye as skillful typography. Get use to using one kind of font if you are designing a brochure, business card, any kind of stationery, magazine articles etc. And make friends with all classic typefaces since to this day, they are most effective. I think the info above is sufficient enough for you to get started. I personally have spent years studying typograhy on the web and print. I still have to grasp typography techniques on the web and CSS has yet to advance in that area. Pt-2 on typography is next. I will also introduce another topic regarding usage of typography with cutting edge photography. PS. Whenever you get a chance, pick up New City publication. It is available free in many convenience marts and street corners. Probably the best free publication put out in Chicago in recent years. Also check out UR Chicago.

The PHP Development Team has issued an important statement that deals with the security of PHP, and of PHP-based applications. The trigger for releasing this statement was the growing misconception in the PHP community regarding recent security problems, which exploited bugs in PHP applications, rather than bugs in PHP itself. It’s a recommended read for anybody using PHP…http://www.php.net/security-note.php

I found this really cool page that displays 300 different icon images including arrows, bullets and envelopes. Very cool place for inspiration and ideas for your own designs. Check it out!

I roughly estimate that for every six web sites I scoured, I was able to acquire one graphic image. I visited only Fortune 1000 company sites, major online retailers, well known blogs, top advertising, publishing, and design agencies, technology and software industry leaders, and the very largest online news publishers. Approximately 1800 web sites later, I have this collection of 300 of the most interesting, unique, and beautiful formations of pixels to display.

http://www.intersmash.com/300images/

This nifty site scans the fonts on your machine and creates an easy to use interface to quickly find the one you need. You can even type in a word or phrase and see how it looks in each of the fonts. I find myself using it all the time so I thought it may be of use to you all as well. So go check out the STC Font Browser 2.0!

I’m sure most of you have already heard about it, but for those who haven’t, here’s a great free stock photo resource… Stock Xchange Some people there ask for credit if used in commercial projects or to be contacted first etc. but that’s much better than paying cash for the same privilege!