Welcome
An Introduction to the UK Design Directory
Welcome to the UK Design Directory. This little corner of the web is where I intend to find and showcase some of the best design sites out there. As a professional web designer/developer, this site is a personal, pet project, where I want to try out some new techiniques with CSS, AJAX and Javascript.
If you'd like your site to be featured here, submit it here. I'd be more than happy to share high quality sites! As well as well designed sites, I will also be sourcing tutorials for all skill levels, in topics such as CSS, XHTML, JavaScript, jQuery, Ajax, Flash and Actionscript, so check back regularly.
Hmmm. It seems you are viewing UKDD with that sorry excuse for a web-browser, otherwise known as Internet Explorer. While a lot of this site will work for you, the really cool stuff is only available to users with up-to-date, standards compliant browsers. If you want to see this site as intended, please, get firefox.
It's a great browser, so whats stopping you? If you're wondering why this is, it's simple. I spend my working life making allowances for the foibles of IE, so in my spare time, I fully intend to ignore it!
Latest Tutorials
Creating Vector Scenes from Scratch
Another nice beginners tutorial from the guys at SpoonGraphics. This easy to follow tutorial will show how to create a cute vector scene using Adobe Illustrator. view tutorial here...
Use CSS to Customise HTML Forms
Anyone who works with HTML forms will appreciate this nice tutorial, showing how to use CSS to make your forms look better while using valid XHTML. view tutorial here...
Make Abstract Wallpaper with Brushes
This great tutorial will show you how to create stunning wallpapers or background abstracts using Photoshop brushes. Well worth checking out. view tutorial here...
Create a Reset.css for your site
If you've ever banged your head against your monitor in frustration at how different browsers render different elements, then this tutorial is well worth checking out. A nice quick tutorial showing how to reset all elements, giving you a much better chance of a consistent look for your designs. view tutorial here...
Getting started with Greasemonkey
Back in the day, Webmonkey was one of my favourite sites, so it's nice to see it making a comeback. I'm also a fan of the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox, so I thought I'd post this to the tutorial list. If you've ever looked at a web page and thought you could improve it, or wanted to get rid of annoyances like ads etc, the give this tutorial a shot. view tutorial here...
Design a Typographic Concept Poster
This very good tutorial takes you through the process of creating a grungy, edgy typographic poster using Adobe Photoshop. Well worth checking out. view tutorial here...
Create A Filmstrip Effect with Adobe Illustrator
My colleague Lyn found this one, and used the technique for a project. Nice tutorial showing how to create a filmstrip effect using basic shapes, a photo and some 3d mapping. view tutorial here...
jQuery for Designers
Nick La at Web Designer Wall has put together a great tutorial for those designers out there that have heard the buzz and want to try for themselves. Nice one. view tutorial here...
How to add code snippets to your Blogger posts
This useful little tutorial shows how to use SyntaxHighlighter to add nicely numbered and highlighted code snippets to your blogger posts. view tutorial here...
Creating Page Curls in Photoshop
While page curls have been abused by some designers, sometimes they can be useful. Here, Veerle, shows one way of creating page curls in Photoshop view tutorial here...
Peter Sunna
Stepping away from the design-led, graphics heavy sites I usually feature in the showcase, this site is simple but effective.
Peter Sunna is a New York based Design and Art Director, and his simple site showcases some of his work.
Twelve
There's been a trend lately for sites using large background images, and this site is a well executed example.
It also features some really good photography of the Bar and Restaurant, and the food they serve. Based on the site, I really want to visit and check out the menu!
My one disappointment here was the Register page, which features a rather ugly third party provided form. Ick!
The Dollar Dreadful
I really like this site. A modern day twist on the Victorian era "Penny Dreadful" short stories, with a suitably old fashioned design.
Well executed, with great content...Nice!
CSSNinjas
You may have seen some of the firms out there offering PSD to HTML/CSS services. You give them the design, they code it up for you. CSSNinjas offer just such a service.
Their site has a nice look and feel, validates as XHTML Strict, and explains what they do. It also has a bit of jQuery goodness thrown in...
Elan Snowboards
Hmm, this is an interesting one, as it's a bit "hectic" to look at. I don't know much about snowboarding, but enjoyed looking around the site, especially the videos!
MotionSpire
This one is a good one for those you into motion graphics. MotionSpire takes the CSS Gallery idea, and applies it to motion graphics.
A great showcase of some really high quality motion graphics. If you are looking for some inspiration, or you're just interested checking out some showreels, MotionSpire is a great place to start!
Digital Mash
Digital Mash is the portfolio site of Australian designer Rob Morris.
Nice design, bright and bold, with some great examples of his work and photography, with a nice little bit of jQuery thrown in for good measure. Well worth a visit
Shortcut to Brilliant
This is an interesting one. For those of you that have'nt had a look at Adobe Creative Suite CS4, this site showcases some of what's possible using the latest version of Adobe's software. The nagivation is a bit flaky in places, but lots of striking visuals, and a few interesting videos hidden throughout. Well worth a visit.
Hypr
Another nice web design agency site, utilising Flash.
At forst glance it looks very plain and simple, but spend a little time exploring and find the splashes of colour and interactivity.
