I’m extremely proud to announce the launch of Webdesigntuts+, the 10th member of the Tuts+ family. Though the Tuts+ network has a long history of publishing excellent web design content, Webdesigntuts+ is the first site completely dedicated to this topic – one which we’re very passionate about.

If you’re tired of the endless round-ups and lists circulating on web design blogs, we hope Webdesigntuts+ will offer a refreshing change. We’ll be publishing in-depth tutorials on designing complete interfaces and UI elements, coupled with in-depth articles on web design theory, workflow and strategy.

I’ll be the site editor over there, so there’s a good chance that I’ll be posting here at MakeDesign,NotWar a lot less often while I get things running smoothly.

Visit Webdesigntuts+

Available Now!

The book that I had been working on a few months ago has finally been published! Working with the incredible group of Allan Cole, Raena Jackson Armitage & Jeffrey Way, we’ve put together a book that takes you from start to finish with designing, building, and selling WordPress themes. Take a minute to grab the free sample at the official Sitepoint book page.

What You Will Learn

We’ll simplify your life as a developer by introducing you to the Thematic framework, so that building solid themes is a breeze! You’ll also learn how to maximize profits by effectively marketing and selling your themes on the Web’s biggest marketplaces.

In short, you’ll make money in no time at all.

Learn to:

* Use design elements effectively to create amazing themes
* Leverage the power of the Thematic framework
* Create color variants and custom widgets
* Apply your existing CSS skills to skin up your theme
* Promote and sell your theme for maximum profit

You can pick up either the printed or e-book directly from Sitepoint.

1. I got married this past week! This was a HUGE undertaking – requiring nearly a year to plan (and pay for!) in addition to way more energy than I ever would have imagined. My advice to the young and single: just get married once! Oh, and start saving up for it, now! (the wedding rocked btw, over 100 crazy family members getting down on the dance floor is a site to behold!)

2. My new book with Sitepoint was just published! This is another huge endeavor. I wrote 2 massive chapters for the new “Build Your Own Wicked WordPress Themes” book along with Allan Cole, Raena Jackson Armitage & Jeffrey Way. I’ll post some more on this later on, but the book should serve as an awesome tool for anyone looking to break into the WordPress biz!

3. I’m taking the brand new Site Editor position at the brand new WebDesigntuts+ site (part of the Tuts+ network at Envato). I can’t say much about the official launch date, but it’s coming up quickly! We’re currently seeking out new authors for the site, so if you’re interested, drop me an email or a comment here! More news will come on this one too.

4. Finally, I’m taking the next week off to honeymoon in Cabo – This will be the first formal “vacation” that I’ve taken in years (almost a decade!), so you can imagine that I’m both excited about it (and apprehensive about leaving work behind for so long!). I’ll be sure to post some pics when we get back!

5. The Shane and Peter crew submitted a couple awesome submissions for lecture panels at the upcoming SXSW event. There’s a good chance that I’ll team up with their panels if they get picked, so be sure to vote: http://ow.ly/2on16 & http://ow.ly/2on2C

I’ll be officially “back in the office” on September 1st, and until then I’ll be only signing on for fun during our downtime in Mexico.
Cheers!

Planning will help boost your creativity, save you time, and make you look like a rockstar to clients!

If you’re looking to up your game as a web designer, the planning phase is probably the single most “bang for your buck” skill-set that you could possible work on. Sometimes it seems that in the dizzying world of web design blogs, roundups, and screencasts, people just skim over the part of the process that makes everything else possible.

This post marks the first in a series where I’ll be examining the “planning” phase in web design. The goal: to help you better understand what role planning plays in design; when it’s effective, and when it’s wasted.

Read the rest of the post at Webdesigntuts+, where I’m the new site editor!

The Z-Layout is a great way to start just about any web design project because it addresses the core requirements for any effective site: branding, hierarchy, structure, and call to action. While it would be nearly impossible to claim that the classic “Z-Layout” is the perfect solution for each and every website out there, it’s certainly a layout that’s effective enough to warrant inclusion in any web designer’s arsenal of layout ideas.

Read the rest of the post at Webdesigntuts+, where I’m the new site editor!

This is an editorial and by golly, this is an issue that every designer should have on his or her mind at the moment, so grab a cup of coffee and get comfy!

First – in full disclosure – I started creating stock templates about a year ago after spending nearly a decade freelancing and considering the issues discussed in this article. You can find some of my own templates here and here.

Read the rest of the post at Webdesigntuts+, where I’m the new site editor!

Easily create vanity URLs on your WordPress site to redirect to any other url. For example, you can use this plugin to have http://www.myblog.com/iphone point to a link on the itunes store. Obviously you can also use this to point many urls on your site to the same post.

* Redirect from simple local urls to any url of your choosing
* Safely coded to prevent conflicts of url slugs
* Extremely clean premium quality code
* Install and use it in under 60 seconds!
* Perfect for all of your WordPress redirection needs

WordPress is increasingly becoming one of the most influential technologies on the web thanks to an incredibly powerful admin panel, a myriad of ready to use premium themes, and tons of useful plugins. I personally switched over to using WordPress solely as my technology of choice about 3 years ago when I realized just how powerful a tool it is for clients to be able to manage a site completely on their own once I’m finished designing it.

Why You Should Learn WordPress

With any new technology, you’ve got to look at education as a sort of investment. Put simply: the question you’ve got to ask yourself is “Do I stand to make more by knowing this new technology than I’ll spend on learning it”? In that light, the arguments for learning WordPress are simple:

1. You can raise your freelance hourly rate far above what you’d get for a standalone HTML site (from as little as $15/hr to $40/hr +)
2. You’ll have less headaches after you walk away from a project.
3. The learning curve isn’t steep compared with other technologies and education is easy to find.
4. You can learn as much or as little as you want and still be a rockstar.
5. You are not alone! Chances are good that whatever you want to do, it’s been done already and has been documented somewhere.
6. Did I mention that you’ll be able to raise your rate?

What’s best about WordPress is that with a couple serious days or weeks of study, you can literally go from a complete novice to an intermediate WordPress designer; Plus, you’ll have all the tools at your fingertips to take the next step towards becoming a master. So where to start? This list is comprised of the top five places that I frequent for WordPress know-how:

My Top Five Favorite Places to Learn WordPress:

1. WordPress for Designers , at In The Woods, by Drew Douglass. This is easily my favorite series of tutorials on WordPress, and for good reason. Drew takes you through each major step in great detail with screencasts, downloadable files, and excellently written articles. Don’t miss this series:
   • Day 1: Installation
   • Day 2: The Admin Panel
   • Day 3: Creating a Theme from Scratch
   • Day 4: The WordPress Loop
   • Day 5: The Sidebar
   • Day 6: The Templates
   • Day 7: Widgets!
   • Day 8: Comments
   • Day 9: Tweaking the Comments
   • Day 10: Your First Plugin
   • Day 11: The PSD
   • Day 12: Slicing
   • Day 13: WordPress Coding
   • Day 14: Custom Fields, Functions, and Queries
   • Day 15: The Slider
   • Day 16: Creating a Custom Page
   • Day 17: The Slider (more)
   • Day 18: The AJAX Contact Form



2. The WordPress Codex. The WordPress Codex is the definitive, official library of information on all things WordPress related, so it’d be dumb to leave this off of your list. While many of the articles are written at a higher level than you’ll understand right out of the gates, there simply is no better place on the net to get information on the technical ins and outs of WordPress. Here are a few great starting points:
   • New To WordPress – Where to Start
   • Installation
   • Installation Help
   • Upgrading WordPress
   • WordPress in Your Language
   • Posting in WordPress
   • WordPress for Beginners
   • WordPress Lessons
   • File and Plugin Management
   • WordPress Plugins
   • FAQ New To WordPress



3. Nettuts: WordPress Section, by various authors. Another favorite spot of mine, Nettuts has an exhaustive set of great tutorials for everything from setting up your first theme to integrating custom fields, features, sliders, and more! What’s best about this resource is that it’s always being updated… so today, tomorrow, and next year it’s going to be a solid place to come back to. Here are a few of my favorites:
   • How to Include an Options Page in your WordPress Theme
   • Your First Plugin
   • How to Use Post Thumbnails



4. The Ultimate Guide to Learning WordPress 3.0, by SixRevisions. One of the trickiest parts of learning WordPress is getting your head around the new features. This was especially true with the latest version (3.0 as of writing this article) – with brand new Cutom Menu features, custom post types, and tons of other great stuff, it’s often helpful to have a spot to go to that focuses exclusively on what’s new. Here’s a few other great WordPress 3.0 specific articles:
   • How to Add Custom Menus to your WordPress 3.0 Theme
   • How to Use Custom Post Types



5. Creating A Quality WordPress Theme: 12 Points to Consider, by Noupe. Last but not least, this has been a favorite article of mine from the standpoint of strategy. While all of the other tutorials focus on the details of using WordPress as a programming language, this article focuses on some of the bigger picture topics like Standards, Commenting your code, and more. Noupe also happens to have a great listing of WordPress Tutorials as well.

The Events Calendar and Twitter Widget Pro for WordPress were both featured at Nettuts! This is pretty exciting for us since this is our first adventure into the world of premium plugins – the Shane & Peter crew worked their butts off on putting together two incredible plugins, and I’m stoked to be working with them on the promotional campaign. Check them out below:

Check out the brand spankin’ new Aspire theme for WordPress. Features include:

• 10 unique color skins to pick from (more on the way)
• Massive jQuery Admin Panel with 100’s of Customization Options
• Fully Customizable jQuery Slider (with loads of options and 9 unique effects)
• Two Custom Portfolio Galleries
• Several Page Templates included
• Step by Step Installation and Customization instructions
• Video Screencast Walkthroughs for using the theme
• jQuery Media Lightbox (YouTube, Vimeo, Quicktime, Flash, and more)
• Social Media Hotlinks (Facebook, Twitter, and more)
• Cufon Font Replacement
• Full Layout PSD & individual element PSD ’s for quick and easy skinning
• Create your own custom skin with just three files!
• “Build Your Own Contact Forms” included

So far this is the closet theme to the “perfect” theme for me I have found. The layout is great. I really like the unique homepage layout. It has a good flow to it. I love the colors and the features…