Web Design & Layout How-Tos

Tug and Twirl Text in Illustrator

The sky’s the limit when you convert Illustrator text to outlines. It’s so easy to change each letter’s size, position, and color, and even push and pull letters into fantastic new shapes.

Create Nondestructive Text Effects with Photoshop's Smart Filters

Apply Photoshop's Smart Filters to text to get special effects you'll love and still keep the text live.

Transform a Busy Photo into a Strong Silhouette

When you want a clean, strong image for a print or Web project, use Illustrator to turn a photo into a striking silhouette.

Create Web Animations in Photoshop CS3

Animate banner ad and graphic objects; transform their shape, size, color; or replace them entirely.

Dreamweaver How-to: Create "You Are Here" Navigation Links

Use this simple technique to create a nav bar button that changes to reflect a visitor's location in your site, then make it work across the site using Dreamweaver CS3's Template.

Use Any Font in a Web Site Design

There have always been two certainties in Web design: You can never have enough bandwidth, and all Web design must rely entirely on fonts installed on the viewer’s computer. But thanks to sIFR, at least one of these so-called inescapable certainties is wrong.

View Source: Make Your Links Unforgettable

Most Web usability books (for example, Steve Krug's excellent Don't Make Me Think) emphasize that the less you make a visitor think and work, the more likely they'll visit, enjoy, and benefit from your site. The typical HTML link is one of those things that make visitors work -- a single linked word, for example, is a small target that requires good aim to hit. That's one of the reasons Web designers make navigation bars with buttons that are larger than the text inside them.

Turn Color Photos into Duotones in Photoshop

You can transform one photograph into a wide variety of duotones to use in print or on the Web.

View Source: JavaScript for Designers

Add interactive Web site effects without a lot of programming.

Make a Drab Newsletter Dramatic

Even with a small budget, you can design a newsletter that pleases you, your client, and the newsletter's readers.

View Source: An Introduction to Dreamweaver Templates

Want to build and update your sites more quickly and efficiently? Read on.

View Source: Web Design's Magic Bullet Is Back!

Do you want overlapping page elements, captions that sit on top of photos, and images that float outside the edges of their containing divs? Modern browsers and this tutorial make it safe to try CSS positioning again.

View Source: Create Advanced Online Galleries

Do you need an online portfolio or just want to post photos from your kid's birthday party? The free Lightbox2 adds sophisticated JavaScript functionality you can customize. The best part? You don't have to do a lick of programming.

View Source: Building Better Forms with Dreamweaver CS3

Web forms don't do you much good if they're incomplete or filled out with incorrect data. You can prevent this problem with form validation that is sophisticated yet simple to add to your sites.

View Source: Advanced CSS Rollovers

Forget JavaScript -- you can create dynamic rollover images using just CSS. And once you've mastered the basic concept, many creative possibilities open up.

View Source: The Easy Way to Add Dynamic Elements to Web Sites

This tutorial takes you step-by-step through adding and modifying a Spry Menu Bar in Dreamweaver CS3.

View Source: Harnessing the Power of PNGs

Compared to GIF AND JPEG, the PNG file format has a lot to offer: smaller file sizes, higher quality, and superb transparency. All you need are a few guidelines and techniques to expand your design toolbox.

Web How-To: Plan Your Site Right In Dreamweaver

Without the proper site management, your brilliant work may instead be replaced with an annoying "File Not Found" error. Here's how to plan, build, and manage Web sites for best results.