Stupid Sucks!

I wrote this article for the Theme Forest blog.

If you’re new to freelancing or web design/development, then chances are you’ll be picking up applications left and right to accomplish all sorts of tasks. With all the applications available, it can be quite overwhelming to pick and choose the best ones to fit your needs. Often times there is no clear winner, applications can and will be equal, it just depends on what suits you best.

With that being said, here’s the applications I use on a regular basis to get my work done. Hopefully this list can help some of you starting out or even some of you pros.

Continue reading at http://blog.themeforest.net/resources/essential-desktop-apps-for-professional-designers-and-developers/

I wrote this article for the ThemeForest.net Blog

On a daily basis I view all sorts of websites and all kinds of designs. One thing in common with successful templates on ThemeForest or with websites around the web is strong visual hierarchy. Often times I see templates that have a great concept going but has poor visual hierarchy. I’ll cover what visual hierarchy is and some great examples in this article.

Continue reading at http://blog.themeforest.net/tutorials/visual-hierarchy-in-web-design/

I wrote this article for ThemeForest.net

As a designer, web developer and techie-geek I need a versatile and robust data storage solution that I can afford but also use without learning some new language. So far, I’ve only found one service that can handle the large majority of my needs. This article covers how I use the Amazon Web Services Simple Storage Service (AWS S3) to meet most of my needs.

Continue reading at http://blog.themeforest.net/general/using-aws-s3-to-power-your-digital-world/

Lately I’ve been having some issues. Motivation issues. This last week I essentially accomplished nothing and I’ve felt like a total bum yet I just couldn’t bring myself to hunker down and crank out some solid work. Then this morning I read a great blog post by Jeffrey Way, “Not Reliable, Not Hireable“, which was exactly the trigger I needed to get my arse in gear.

As an independent contractor I get paid depending on how much work I accomplish each day. If I decide to work 24/7 I’m going to develop a very comfortable income but as we all know, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So as you can imagine I have an inner conflict here. read more…

This roundup was written for ThemeForest.net

Getting started with HTML, CSS, PHP or jQuery can seem like a daunting task for many beginners. Some people think you need to go to school for these subjects but as many of you already know, there is an abundance of free resources to get you well on your way to becoming a pro in any of these subjects. Here are some killer tutorials and screencast series which cover the most popular topics (HTML, CSS, PHP and jQuery).

Continue reading at http://blog.themeforest.net/resources/html-css-php-and-jquery-killer-tutorials/

This roundup was written for ThemeForest.net

Part of what makes a web template, website, blog post, etc. really stand out is high quality icons, photos and other graphics. It’s pretty easy to find tons of icons and photos around the web which you can use for your personal projects, but what about those commercial projects? Here is a great list of resources to find just about anything you need for your personal and commercial projects. You’ll even be able to use most of these resources in your themes and templates you plan on selling at ThemeForest.

Continue reading at http://blog.themeforest.net/resources/photos-images-and-icon-resources/