It's hard to believe that 2008 has already come and gone. However, the year was not without some fantastic articles, tutorials, tips, and freebies spread throughout the Internet. Today, we will take some time to reflect on the most outstanding development related articles of 2008. So hurry up and review these before the Langoliers get them!
Articles
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10 Usability Tips for Web Designers.
While were on the topic of user interface design, The Web Designer Depot presents an article containing tips to keep in mind when designing a website.
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20 Excellent AJAX Effects.
Glen Stansberry brings us a round up of 20 great AJAX effects, techniques, and resources to use in your projects and websites.
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Blurry Background Effect.
Chris Coyier of CSS-Tricks.com shared a creative use of the backgrond-attatchment property in order to achieve a unique design result.
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Converting a Design from PSD to HTML.
Jeffrey, the site manager of NETTUTS and ThemeForest, recorded an excellent and very popular screencast and article on how to convert a design from a psd file to a/an html web page.
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Web Design Week!
For as long as I can remember we've gotten requests for more web design posts here on PSDTUTS. Well web design fans, it's your lucky day because all this week we'll be bringing you articles and tutorials on just that topic.
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10 Principles of the UI Masters.
NETTUTS interviewed 10 UI masters on what principles they use when working on a project or design. The result was an excellent article great for any web/UI designer.
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Golden Ratio in Modern CSS.
A very interesting look at a mathematic approach to web design and css, using 62%/38% analogies.
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Using Absolute Positioning to Create Equal Columns.
Jeffrey shows us how to use absolute positioning instead of faux columns to achieve 2 or more columns of equal length, regardless of the amount of content.
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Huge Compilation of Wordpress Code.
WPHacks collected a gigantic list of wordpress codes and "hacks" and put them all on one web page for your bookmarking convenience.
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Cross Browser CSS Fixes, Tools, and Hacks .
A long and well explained list of so common and not so common web browser hacks to achieve compatibility.
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The Top 7 Fonts used by Professional in Graphic Design.
Designer Jacob Cass displays a list of the top 7 fonts use in graphic design. Sure to be helpful to anyone looking for some typography guidance.
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How to Get Cross Browser Compatibility Every Time.
A more in depth look at the cause and effect of browser bugs (mainly IE specific) and how you can go about fixing these issues.
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Whatever Happened to UI Consistency?
One of my all time favorite Internet heroes, Jeff Atwood makes some excellent points in his article pointing out the importance of consistency with UI design.
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Creating Custom Write Panels in Wordpress.
The guys at WeFunction always produce quality tutorials, so its no surprise that their recent tutorial on creating custom write panels in wordpress was a very popular one.
PHP
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Learning PHP from Scratch.
The first article of the "learning php from scratch" series, Jeffrey takes us through all the in's and out's of starting off with PHP.
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Learning PHP from Scratch-Part 2.
The second article of the "learning php from scratch" series dives right into all kinds of useful PHP functions, arrays, and loops.
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PHP Security
This is the most comprehensive (video) security tutorial I've found on PHP. 45 minutes of secure goodness.
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10 Code Snippets for PHP Developers.
There is no need to re-invent the wheel if great and free code already exists, this article covers 10 extremely useful snippets of PHP code, such as email validation and an accurate IP address tracker.
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TimThumb PHP Script Released!
Using PHP to generate thumbnails of images got a whole lot easier when Darren Hoyt released TimThumb in early April 2008.
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Creating a Photo Admin Site Using PHP and jQuery.
Absolutely one of the best PHP articles of 2008, this video tutorial takes you through the steps of creating your own photography website much like photobucket.
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Seven Habits for Writing Secure PHP Applications.
IBM collected a list of seven great ways to secure your php applications and protect against XSS.
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Creating Custom Avatar Icons with PHP.
This tutorial will not teach you how to become a php master, but it is just plain fun. Learn how to use php and the GD library to create custom avatar icons. Icons such as a drunk Brian Griffin.
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User Membership with PHP.
If you've ever wondered how to build your own user login script from scratch, this tutorial is for you. It covers all the steps from setting up the database, to logging the user out when finished.
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JPG to ASCII Converter with PHP.
Lets face it, ASCII art is awesome. This fun script/tutorial shows you how to use PHP to turn a JPG into ASCII art, give it a try!
Javascript/jQuery
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jQuery for Absolute Beginners: Video Series
"So everywhere you look, you see “jQuery this” and “jQuery that”. For the last year or so, this library has been the darling of the Javascript world. But do you feel that you just can’t seem to learn the dang thing? Do you hate how the existing tutorials assume that you know WAY more than you actually do? If this rings true for you, I can help. "
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Visual jQuery.
I'm not sure if this existed before 2008, and if it did please forgive me. However, I think you'll agree that visual jQuery is one of the most helpful and quick go to guides for jQuery documentation.
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Extending jQuery’s Selector Capabilities
"I’m sure you all know that it’s possible to create plugins and extend various aspects of the jQuery JavaScript library but did you know you could also extend the capabilities of it’s selector engine?"
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15 Resources to Get You Started With jQuery From Scratch.
This article is more than just a list of resources, it's a complete walkthrough and introduction into the jQuery framework.
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25 Excellent Tips to Improve your jQuery Skills.
A collection of 25 excellent and thorough tips to improve your jQuery skills and abilities.
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jQuery Link Nudging.
David Walsh showed us an extremely simple jQuery script to give links a nice 'nudge' animation. This effect is now being used on many popular websites, such as CSS-Tricks.com
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10 Essential Principles of the Javascript Masters.
Take advantage of this excellent article and series of interviews and learn from the Javascript experts.
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A Lesson in Accessibility and Progressive Enhancement.
An excellent and in-depth view on how to make sure your web pages degrade gracefully in the case that Javascript is disabled.
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jQuery Tutorial for Designers.
WebDesignerWall always seems to deliver quality content and this article is no exception. Step by step, this tutorial aimed at web designers teaches you many popular jQuery practices.
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The jSkinny on jQuery.
A fun and practical look at the ever popular Javascript framework that is jQuery.
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Developing a jQuery Plugin.
Another one of my Internet heroes (I have a list), Jonathan Snook gives us an excellent article on how to develop your own jQuery plugin.
Freebies
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Fresh Finance Icons.
Icon Eden was nice enough to give out this stunning finance icon pack for free, complete with 59 raster and vector icons.
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Stunning Free Character Icon Pack.
WeFunction recently released this fun character free for you to use in any way you wish.
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Twitter Birds-Icons and Illustrations.
Another great set of icons released by WeFunction, this time with a focus on twitter.
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VanillA Cream Icon Set.
A clean and modern looking free icon set found via DeviantArt.
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Icon Set by MannMitDerTarnjacke.
Quite a mouthful to pronounce but it is certainly a lovely and clean icon set, free to download.
That will do it for now, please add your favorite links and tutorials of 2008 in the comments section below. I also would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2009!
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Rman January 2nd
Yah. the good to have that nice digest
( )Jack Franklin January 2nd
Nice round up, some of those tutorials I missed!
Thanks
( )Evan Byrne January 2nd
Really nice list you got here, its got a lot of stuff I haven’t seen.
( )Shane January 2nd
Good list – thanks for sharing with us. Quite easy to miss stuff throughout the year – there’s so much of it around.
( )Evan Byrne January 2nd
The link for “JPG to ASCII Converter with PHP” goes to “User Membership with PHP”
( )jaswinder January 2nd
frickin sweet list!
( )Zach Dunn January 2nd
Great list! I see a lot of bookmarks from this past year.
( )Juul Coolen January 2nd
Thanks, much appreciated!
( )Eduardo January 2nd
great!
( )John January 2nd
CSS Tricks (blurry background) links is broken
( )crypta January 2nd
thanks
( )Gareth January 2nd
Great list! Thank you.
( )Filip January 2nd
Awesome!
( )Jhay January 2nd
Sweet! Thanks and Happy New Year!
( )Brenley Dueck January 2nd
An excellent round-up. Definately missed or never saw some of the above. Thanks!
( )iEthan January 2nd
Not only a nice round-up but a nice reference list! Great!
( )Ariyo January 2nd
Brilliant. For some reason I missed some of them. Thanks a ton Drew for this round up.
( )Shari January 2nd
Thank you so much for posting these
( )macias January 2nd
wow… need more time for this !
( )Lorelle January 2nd
I’ve recommended many of these articles, so thanks for highlighting them all at once. However, in your feed, the links to these are really messed up. Might want to check that.
( )Drew January 2nd
@Evan-Sorry about that, it looks like a few of the items got re-ordered and so the link got duplicated. The link for the JPG to ASCII converter is below:
http://phpsnips.com/snippet.php?id=29
@Everyone- Thanks for the nice words!
( )Sarbartha January 2nd
Thanks for sharing it into one post. Will help us navigate useful things from one place..
( )Player January 2nd
Awsome! All in one! Thanks! Some articles i have missed! = )
( )Christos Chiotis January 3rd
Thanks for including my article “Golden Ratio in CSS” on CSSGlobe. I appreciate it!
Great list you have here!
( )Zen Elements January 3rd
Great catch up over 2008!
I managed to stumble across a good few of these through the year but for those missed, I’m making up for lost time here now.
Thanks for sharing!
( )cutt January 3rd
great list.. thank u
( )Chris Gunther January 3rd
Nice roundup of the year.
( )Web Developer January 3rd
There are awesome article at http://www.intelisoftbd.com/forum/.
( )Good list in http://www.intelisoftbd.com/forum/ thanks for sharing with us
Lamin January 3rd
very biased.. almost every article in the list points to a nettus article. This list is clearly not the best of 2008.
( )mike January 3rd
Lamin, I just opened up 11 tabs from this list, and only 2 point to NetTuts….
( )DKumar M. January 4th
Nice roundup…. Thank you guys for your efforts.
( )Steve January 4th
Thanks for sharing these resources.
( )James January 4th
Lamin, only 10 out of the 40 items here point back the nettuts.
( )Chris Kennedy January 4th
Thank you
( )Junni January 5th
Wow, this is a kickass overview. A lot of helpfull links for me, a PHP developer. Thanks!
( )ThaClown January 5th
Amazing list! Thanks so mutch for this, you are a great help!
( )Lado Criativo January 5th
thanks for the summary and for this amazing year of nettuts =)
( )Cam January 5th
Instant classic. I think this is the best “best of” yet!
( )long.vu January 5th
More great
( )Ejaz Siddiqui January 6th
Fantastic List
( )Paul January 6th
Great list!
( )sergi January 6th
i dig it.
( )sean steezy January 6th
thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
( )Drew Douglass January 7th
Thanks so much for the nice words everyone, glad you enjoyed the resources
( )WebdesignerDepot January 7th
Thanks for featuring my site!
( )Amit Upadhyay January 10th
Really nice collection. Love it.
( )paul January 10th
why do you have to make these great lists that get me sidetracked for hours???
( )Classic Casual Games January 13th
Great list! Thanks a lot
( )kevin February 8th
many thanks for the list, unfortunately I lost half my Sunday checking all these out…
( )software developement February 9th
glad i stumbled your site…thumbs up..great list and nice collections. thanks for sharing.
( )nev May 13th
i love the AJAX Effects
( )nev May 13th
cool site
( )John June 19th
Thanks for this great list, its very useful.
( )Ajay Matharu October 12th
Nice set of tutorials keep posting
( )