When you decide to build a website, you must consider the time, budget, and skill investment to factor into the equation. There are many applications and tools available for web development and we want to help you make the best choice. Many designers and developers consider that most of the software tools available are limited in terms of customization and maintenance.

There appears to be an ongoing debate among designers and developers as to whether authoring programs like Dreamweaver are any better than hand coded HTML and CSS for converting designs and building an effective website.

Web development applications like Dreamweaver do offer some powerful features for quickly building, editing, and refining of HTML code. Also, Dreamweaver is customizable and has hundreds of extensions that can be used with it. In spite of being a powerful web development tool, we think a professional web developer will always choose to hand code – and here are a few arguments that support our viewpoint:

1. Dreamweaver does not offer cross browser compatibility. If you want to make sure that your website will look great on any browser or Internet access device, we advise you to choose a provider of W3C compliant hand coded markup.
2. Although it usually generates efficient HTML code, Dreamweaver may also include code cluttered with inadequate tags resulting in code that will need to be reworked.
3. Dreamweaver has a rather steep learning curve and it will take time to master. You need to ask yourself if you are being more efficient with your time trying to learn it, or to start productively hand coding your web pages or hiring a professional PSD to HTML provider.
4. Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) web design tool that provides visual methods for coding pages where – you will not be exercising  much of your coding skills, and you will probably have a hard time maintaining the  code.

Hand coding gives you the freedom to develop your web pages with optimum flexibility, ensuring important features such as cross browser compatibility and long term maintenance. At CodeMyIMAGE, we are focused on providing hand coded markup because we understand the nuances and specifications of every design and website.

It’s time we catch up with the latest resources in web development and web design.

• Networking Tips in the Design Industry
• Vector Chart & Graph Templates
• Best Practices for Mobile Web Interfaces
• Create a Web Application Website Design in Photoshop

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

As a web designer, how much time do you spend to promote yourself and to get your name recognized on the Internet? Web designers should probably have the strongest presence online, considering there are many opportunities and tools available to showcase their image, promote it consistently, and attract new opportunities which can ultimately result in new projects or clients.

Since we, at CodeMyIMAGE, are constantly working and interacting with web designers, we are going to share our vision of what makes some web designers stand out in the crowd when it comes to promoting their work online.

1. Building a website to showcase your web design portfolio is a must. Keep it simple but make sure you include information with substance such as illustration, design projects, photography or online videos. One page websites can be very effective as well, and they may function as an online business card or a resume for most web designers.

2. Submit your portfolio to quality web design directories. You are most likely familiar with design directories – make sure your work is there too and it is placed in a manner that displays your specific design to your specific target! Depending on the projects you want to showcase, you may choose to submit your design to a gallery website, a freelance directory, or to web design companies’ directories. Here are only a few examples of directories with great design portfolios: Behance, Web Creme, Sortfolio, Carbonmade, Creative Hotlist, or deviantART.

3. Maintain a blog and try to include updates of your web design work including what makes you enthusiastic about your design or what differentiates you from the crowd. This is a very efficient way of staying active and building an online community. And it will definitely improve your appearance in search results. A personal web design blog is an opportunity to introduce case studies or to network with readers or potential clients.

4. Use social networks to promote your blog, recent work, or to start networking with fellow web designers and potential customers. Facebook, Twitter, Digg, or LinkedIn are great social media channels to introduce your web design work, get feedback, and get your name out on the Internet.

5. Stay active on forums – start a thread or post a discussion in professional forums and communities. It is important to state your point of view and it will definitely generate interest from the people who share your views about design.

We hope these tips will prove to be valuable opportunities which will provide exposure to your web design portfolio, share your point of view on design, and finally to attract new projects and clients.

Here are the latest articles sharing interesting resources and tricks in the web design and development area. Enjoy!

• What Every Web Developer Should Know About Front-End Performance
• Beginning WordPress Development: A Look at Common Functions
• 12 Inspirationally Designed Infographics for Designers
• Get Inspired: 40+ Websites with Beautiful Typography
• Creating User-Sensitive Website Layouts

Have you ever wondered where is the World Wide Web heading to? Many technologists talk about the semantic Web and taking web development to the next level. In the same context, you may hear about developing high quality markup and W3C compliance. However, most users do not understand the importance of W3C compliance, since it is not mandatory, nor is the value it can add to their websites.

As providers of W3C compliant markup, we will share with you our understanding of these standards and the benefits they provide to your website. The World Wide Web Consortium or abbreviated W3C, is the main international community that develops standards and guidelines to ensure the long term quality growth of the Web. These guidelines and standards are based on best practices and they are also intended for Internet browser developers, in order to achieve a consistent web development process.

When your web developer or coding services provider informs you about W3C valid markup, this means that your website will meet the World Wide Web Consortium requirements for XHTML/CSS coding. At the same time, it is a certification of the quality of the delivered markup and a confirmation of improved cross-browser functionality of your website pages.

To sum it up, these are the benefits of W3C compliancy:

1. Accessibility and improved user experience – with W3C compliant code your website will look and function consistently on any Internet device or browser used by your visitors.
2. W3C compliant web design is, by nature, SEO friendly.
3. It is a future-proof quality check – validation with W3C standards is one of the most effective ways to make sure that what works today will work tomorrow.
4. Ease of maintenance due to compliance with standards that are globally recognized – creating Web pages according to a standardized coding style makes it easier to maintain your website.

Some will argue that web design and development can be done without complying with the demands of W3C guidelines. But we believe that this view would not embrace the ideas of the web community in taking the Web to the next level.

At CodeMyIMAGE we recommend that, when you decide to use the services of any PSD to HTML conversion services provider, it is a must to make sure that your coded pages are delivered W3C valid.