design tips

Is learning the basics of web design still on your “someday” list? Why haven’t you got started yet? We’ve put together 30 tips and resources to help you start learning web design this month (and maybe even find yourself a new career path!)Graphic designers, print designers, and creatives looking to learn something new or break…

In light of the recent conversations about the Unsplash plugin’s CDN, several extensions have popped up this week for disabling it. By default, the plugin serves images from the CDN but saves copies to the WordPress media library in case the plugin is disabled or removed. The plugin does not currently have an option to…

Affinity Designer is rapidly growing and winning over the hearts of many designers as one of the best alternatives to Adobe Illustrator. It’s not only affordable but also keeps getting better with new feature updates and community support.In this post, we wanted to highlight a great feature of Affinity Designer—brushes. Much like Photoshop and Illustrator,…

Justin Tadlock · August 10, 2020 · 36 Comments The Themes Team suspended Astra from the official theme directory just a few short weeks after it became the first non-default WordPress theme to surpass one million active installs. The reason: the theme was breaking the directory’s ban on affiliate links. The theme has since been…

Almost everyone is shooting video these days. From social media clips to full feature moving images for websites and more. But you have to do more than just take video, to get the right finish requires a solid video editing tool.Two of the best options available are Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro. These…

Sarah Gooding · August 11, 2020 · 21 Comments WordPress 5.5 “Eckstine” landed today, named for American jazz singer Billy Eckstine. This release introduces major improvements for the block editor and the security of WordPress. It was made possible by the contributions of 805 volunteers (with 38% of them being new contributors.) The 5.5 update…

We all know that collecting user feedback can make design projects better. But how many of us are actually using tools to gather and analyze that information to make better decisions?If your stumbling block is finding the right tool, we have found it. Userback is a tool that helps you gather visual feedback for projects.…

With all of the advancements made in JavaScript and newer, shinier frameworks, it is sometimes easy to forget that WordPress still relies on the aging jQuery library. The same holds true for thousands of plugins and themes in the official WordPress directories.For some, this may feel like a journey back to the mid-2000s, a time…

Does it ever seem like certain website color schemes just get all the attention? As with every other aspect of web design, there are color schemes that tend to trend more than others. Bright colors, stark palettes, and even some mismatching schemes are elements of color that are trending.Here’s a look at some of the…

In the summer of 2019, I was asked to help out with a WordPress release. A few months before, the Core Team representatives reached out to other teams in an effort to increase the diversity of the release teams, and I started seriously considering it. At the time, I was already heavily involved in the…