Once you've figured out the basics of what you'd like your website to accomplish and what kind of audience you're targeting, it's time to sit down and begin working on a web design layout. Use these resources to help inspire and guide you in the right direction.

Professional Services | Tools and Resources

Professional Web Design Services

• Web Design Services from DonSchaefer.com - If you're looking to have a professional custom-designed website created for you at a great price, look no further. While I can not independently offer the turnaround times or 9-to-5 availability of a full-blown web design company like Apps Communications, I can and will work hard to provide you with a professional-quality design that meets your needs within an agreed-upon timeframe. Please check out my available web design services or graphic design services and feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance.
• Wordpress.com - a free way to quickly and easily launch a somewhat-customizable decent-looking blog website. While it provides a great way to get a fast, easily-editable web-presence at no cost and can integrate with several social networking sites, there are a very limited number of available templates and most of the customizations that are possible (such as using your own domain name) require a-la-carte recurring payments.
• Website Templates - If you're looking to get a website design for the cheapest price possible this is the route to go. While some services will walk you through the process of adding content, others will require you to download all the files, navigate the html and add it yourself. Some templates are free, but even the ones you pay for will only cost pennies on the dollar compared to what you'll end up spending if you have a site designed and built by a company or someone working independently. The downside however is that the end result (both in terms of appearance and functionality) will not be tailored to your needs and depending on the template, you may be up a creek if you need to make a change to it at a later point.

Web Design Tools and Resources

• PSDTuts+ - This is by far the best single online resource I've come across for photoshop. At no charge, you get access to Photoshop tutorials, plugins, brushes, textures, patterns, source files, industry news, and some great sources of artistic inspiration. Those who are interested can also read interviews with industry professionals for additional insight. Premium memberships are available for a fee for those who would like access to even MORE content.
• WebDesignTuts+ - Free access to tutorials on web design and user interface creation, as well as industry news and some great ideas to incorporate into your next project. Those who are interested can also read interviews with industry professionals for additional insight. Premium memberships are also available for a fee.
• VectorTuts+ - Free access to Illustrator tutorials, plugins and source files, as well as industry news and some great sources of inspiration. Those who are interested can also read interviews with industry professionals for additional insight. Premium memberships are also available for a fee.
• PhotoTuts+ - Free access to photography tutorials, source files, industry news and some great sources of inspiration. Those who are interested can also read interviews with industry professionals for additional insight. Premium memberships are also available for a fee.
• Gimp - The closest thing I've found to a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
• InkScape - The closest thing I've found to a free alternative to Adobe Illustrator.
• IStockPhoto.com - One of the biggest misconceptions I hear from people when they're looking to make a site is that all of the images/text they find online are free, so they're intending to just use some images they found on someone else's site for their own. Not only is this illegal, it can cost the offender thousands of dollars if discovered. Whether you're simply looking for some photos to fill up space in your site, or you're looking for some photo-editing source material to work with, this site provides a wealth of stock photography and vector illustrations for just about anything you could want. The best part is, for little more than a dollar, you can download almost any image you want & legally use it for commercial purposes. As an added bonus, IStockPhoto also features a free image every week that is available for download!
• Brusheezy.com - Looking for cool floral graphics, watercolor splashes, or any number of other cool graphics to add to your design? Have you considered using Photoshop brushes to get the job done? This site has tons of free Photoshop brushes for every occassion as well as for most versions of Photoshop.
• DaFont.com - Hands-down, one of the best websites you'll ever find for a wide selection of free fonts.
• Lorem Ipsum Generator - This is one of those tools that you never realize you need until someone introduces you to it, at which point it becomes very handy. Have you ever been working on a design for something, and you know that your design needs to incorporate a bunch of text, but you don't want to type it all out right at that moment? Or perhaps you'd thought of typing "asdf" repeatedly & just realized it doesn't look quite the same? This site will provide you with realistic looking filler-text that you can use until you get your hands on the real stuff later on.
• Adobe Support - If you're involved in any of the various fields of computer art, the name "Adobe" probably rings a bell. Whether it be a question related to Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, etc., often our first instinct is usually to do Google searches and/or look through forums for an answer, but don't under-estimate Adobe's own support! The "Help" menu, which is generally useless in most programs actually has a wealth of information in Adobe's applications & their website expands on that knowledgebase even further.
• Good-Tutorials.com - Collection of online tutorials from individuals
• Tutorialized.com - Collection of online tutorials from individuals
• Tutorialsphere.com - Collection of online tutorials from individuals