We’ve seen innovative ways in which designers and developers have used CSS to innovate upon its shortcomings. Here, you’ll find some of the best ways to use CSS for your website navigation. You’ll find a variety of techniques that truly showcase the capabilities of CSS.
In this article, you will find a collection of excellent navigation techniques that use the CSS to provide users with an impressive interface.
This another great CSS menu Stu Nicholls that’s unique – hovering over a menu item reveals a submenu. If you want get started with this menu just simple view the source code. Demo in page.
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Matte is a simple CSS menu with rounded corners using two small images only from 13styles. It is maintained by David Appleyard who has lots of simple and advanced CSS-based menus.
Inspired by the Hoverbox Image Gallery technique developed by Nathan Smith, CSS Hoverbox leans on the background-position CSS property to superimpose rollover images on top of neighboring menu items. Demo in page.
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This is a very basic CSS-based drop-down menu that’s excellent for trying to grok the technique involved in creating drop-down menu that doesn’t require client-side scripting.
Here is another excellent method for creating a module tab interface based purely on CSS. Use the tabs in the page to learn about the instructions on how to implement this technique.
View Demo
This CSS menu on the popular web design agency SimpleBits shows a way for creating mini tabs. View the source code on the demo page to learn how it works (the code is inline and formatted well for readability for your convenience).
View Demo
This A List Apart CSS menu technique is for a fly-out submenu that appears on the right of the top-level menu, leveraging the position: absolute CSS property to move the submenu to the appropriate level.
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Roger Johansson of 456 Berea Street shows us the basic principles of turning an unordered list into a navigation bar – it’s a great starting point for beginners to learn about building a semantic HTML structure and then styling it with CSS.
We are always in search of great free resources, tips, tricks, etc. for our readers. Every day we work hard to find new resources and inspiration for designers like you. Today, we have another great post, “Discover the Best of the Web” on SmashingApps. In this, we made a list of 80+ Incredible Collection Of Inspirations, Tutorials And Resources For Designers. We obviously cannot cover all the best from the web, but we have tried to cover as much as possible.
Photofont WebReady is a revolutionary technology for website typography. Fontlab’s Photofont WebReady can be called a font converter meant for Windows and Mac OS X systems, which can help you customize the fonts on a web page. Since the main technology lies in the conversion of texts into Flash objects, this technology can be best applied to comparatively shorter texts. Like headlines, just as has been done with the title heading above. Be it your blog or a web site, you can enhance the web pages with your own custom fonts of your choice.
WebReady is basically a software solution based on Flash and JavaScript. With this sIFR 2 compatible solution, you can customize the headings or main headlines of your website using any photofont, any TrueType or OpenType font by converting it into an embedded type web font. (See our headline? That’s not your usual Times or Georgia. Can you guess the font?) This embedded type web font is further rendered on the web page by using Flash technology. And the best part of it is that the standards compliance and search engine friendly feature of the page is still retained. With Photofont WebReady, you can simply change the typographic appearance of your blog or website and give it a new direction.
Main Benefits of Photofont WebReady
Following are some of the major benefits of using Photofont WebReady over the traditional fonts available. There’s a free video demo tutorial offered by the company to help you know its features in depth. Click here to view the Free Demo Video Tutorial.
Featured with a simple wizard interface that guides the user through simple step-by-step processes, which is easy to understand.
On your website or blog the use of new, interesting fonts can bring in dramatic change by increasing the attraction of the web page.
The use of custom fonts can also help you give a corporate branding to your website or blog on the web, which is very important.
If typographic effects are applied to create headlines and the results are saved as a PNG or GIF, these in many cases are not visible to search engines. You can’t copy/paste that text either. However, the web fonts created by WebReady are search-engine friendly and compliant with the standards. They are SEO visible like other HTML text. Try selecting/copying/pasting part of our headline above. You can’t do that with a bitmap!
The web font text created by WebReady is independent of browser used and is always visible to search engines and is search-able too.
Using photofonts you can display text with multiple colors and transparency. A translucent headline could overlay your logo or masthead. Or you could have a rainbow font. Or both! See photofont.com for some examples.
Visitors to your website using older browsers that do not support Flash or JavaScript are also capable of viewing the text, but in the web font that is mentioned in the CSS stylesheet and considered as default.
Photofont WebReady Solutions
Using the Photofont WebReady font converter, a TrueType font (.ttf), a photofont (.phf) or an OpenType font (.ttf, .otf) has the following possibilities;
Convert into an embedded type web photofont, which is a Flash object that is bitmap based and can be consistently used in any website. The text is rendered dynamically in the typeface of your choice, while maintaining the compliant standards and searchability of the page.
Convert into a Simple photofont web headline, which is a Flash object that is bitmap based and static in nature. In this case, the text that has been specified during the conversion is displayed.
Converted into a plain bitmap image, where the text that has been specified during the conversion is displayed
Photofont WebReady Formats
The Import font formats of Photofont WebReady include;
OpenType PS (.otf)
OpenType TT/TrueType (.ttf) and
Photofont (.phf)
The Export font formats of Photofont WebReady include;
Embedded Web Outline Font (Adobe Flash .swf, CSS, JavaScript and optionally HTML)
Embedded Web Photofont (Adobe Flash .swf, CSS, JavaScript and optionally HTML)
Simple Outline Web Headline (Adobe Flash .swf)
Simple Photofont Web Headline (Adobe Flash .swf)
Plain Bitmap Image (PNG, JPEG, TIF, BMP) and
It is capable of modifying HTML documents too, but that is optional
However, please note that before going ahead with the conversion of any type of fonts into embedded web outline type, you must read the terms of the font End-User License Agreement (EULA) provided by the font vendor. This is only because EULA is actually responsible for governing font usage. To know more about it, please check out with Details About Font Licensing.
Software Requirements
For Windows version of Photofont WebReady, your system must have the following minimum software requirement;
Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or Win7
For Mac version of Photofont WebReady, your system must have the following minimum software requirements;
Mac OS X 10.4 or higher version recommended
PowerPC or Intel
To help the users with the entire process and details, a free copy of user manual is provided online for both Mac and Windows versions of Photofont WebReady. To get the user manual downloaded into your system, all you need to do is right click on the following link and choose any of the options between – “Download Linked File” and “Save Target As”. And you get a free copy of user manual in PDF format saved in your system. To get a copy, click Download Photofont WebReady User Manual for Mac and Windows Version.
If you want to create dynamic web headlines using the demo mode, the font selected by you will not be used. Rather, a default font will be used in this case, which can be considered as the only noticeable limitation of it. To get full functionality access, you have to buy the product and enter the serial number that will be provided to you.
Service And Support
Fontlab Ltd. provides free technical support to all its registered users. However, for exceptional cases like if the Serial Number or Installers are lost, a nominal service fee is charged.
At the first instance, it is advised to check the free user manual provided online in PDF format that can also be downloaded, before contacting the support team.
There are also online FAQs for instant help to the users. For any immediate technical inquiries, users can always check with the Frequently Asked Questions. Furthermore, if the answer to your problem is not listed in the FAQs, you can contact the support team by filling a simple Problem Report Form.
If you have any technical as well as non-technical queries prior to purchase,
you can directly join the Online Forum
of Fontlab or contact directly.
We are always in search of great free resources, tips, tricks, etc. for our readers. Every day we work hard to find new resources and inspiration for designers like you. Today, we have another great post, “Discover the Best of the Web” on SmashingApps. In this, we made a list of 85+ Excellent Resources And Tutorials Especially For Designers. We obviously cannot cover all the best from the web, but we have tried to cover as much as possible.
We are always in search of great free resources, tips, tricks, etc. for our readers. Every day we work hard to find new resources and inspiration for designers like you. Today, we have another great post, “Discover the Best of the Web” on SmashingApps. In this, we made a list of 70+ Promising Resources and Tutorials Especially For Designers. We obviously cannot cover all the best from the web, but we have tried to cover as much as possible.
We are always in search of great free resources, tips, tricks, etc. for our readers. Every day we work hard to find new resources and inspiration for designers like you. Today, we have another great post, “Discover the Best of the Web” on SmashingApps. In this, we made a list of 60+ Ultimate Resources Especially For Designers. We obviously cannot cover all the best from the web, but we have tried to cover as much as possible.
This is one of the very best list of its kind where you can find the simplest online web designer’s tools that are developed for designers and may be very helpful for you as well when you want to get your work done or just for fun. I hope web designers will like this list, but you can also use them and will love them whether you are an office worker, a manager, a supervisor, a student, a home user, etc. Most of them are not very well-known, but they are really amazing in respect to their features. This is the list of 23 Brilliant Web Apps To Simplify Designer’s Work Life. Just take a look at them and share your thought’s here.
You are welcome to share more Useful web tools that will be helpful for web designers and our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter as well. Adobe BrowserLab
An easier and faster solution for cross-browser testing. You can preview and test your web pages on leading browser and operating systems. This will help you get your results in real time, from virtually any computer connected to the internet. Color Scheme Designer
Color Scheme Designer generates color schemes of several types. Every scheme is based on one (base) color, which is supplemented with additional colors making together the best optical imperession. PHPanywhere
PHPanywhere is a new online service that’s changing the way people develop on the web. They enable users to develop and maintain their php/html projects online using any standard web browser. Carbonmade
With Carbonmade, you can manage your online portfolio with a variety of tools that allow you to change how you display your work. The core idea behind the design of Carbonmade is to keep your images or video at the forefront. Posterous
Posterous lets you post things online fast using email. If you can use email, you can have your own website to share thoughts and media with friends, family and the world. You can attach any type of file and they’ll post it along with the text of your email. iPlotz
With iPlotz you can create clickable, navigable wireframes to create the experience of a real website or software application. You can also invite others to comment on the designs, and once ready, you can then manage the tasks for developers and designers to build the project. Photoshop.com
This is your online photo sharing, editing and hosting resource. You can upload, organize, edit, store (up to 2GB free) and share your photos. Typetester
The Typetester is an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. Its primary role is to make web designer’s life easier. As the new fonts are bundled into operating systems. Pict
Pict is a free image hosting service that lets you upload and share your images with one click.
You can upload images up to 3.5Mb, JPG/PNG/GIF formats supported, it has automatic image resizing, multiple uploading & much more. Font Burner
Font Burner is the easiest way to add great fonts to your website. Just pick one of over 1000 quality fonts, add a chunk of code to your site, then sit back and admire your beautiful typography. Iconza
A collection of free icons that can be colored and reduced in size to your taste. If you are a happy site or blog owner, you will be able to pick icons that will fit right into your design. Verb
Verb is a user focused task management and sharing application. If you have things that need to be done, then this is for you. Verb was built with individuals and small teams in mind. It is the perfect solution for freelance designers and coders who want to manage themselves and their collaborations. CurdBee
CurdBee is a safe and secure web-based billing application. You can use it to send clients invoices and then collect payments via PayPal or Google Checkout, billing them easily in the currency you choose. It’s so simple, you won’t believe it till you see it. EmailTheWeb
EmailTheWeb is the only web-based service that allows you to email any web page to any one. The entire web page is emailed in a flash and is captured as it is now. Your recipient will see the same exact page as you. MyFontbook
MyFontbook is an unique online font viewer that helps save designers time by providing a number of tools to view installed fonts quickly and easily. Unlike a classic font management tool, MyFontbook is platform independent and can be used freely through any web browser. 247webmonitoring
Having a good uptime is essential for the success of your website. 247webmonitoring will monitor it 24X7 from their servers and notify you whenever it goes down. This will check your website every 15 minutes to know it is up. They will send you notification by email or SMS when it goes down. So you can quickly fix the issue and you can stay happy. This way you can relax and focus on your core business. In future, you will also find out how fast your site is from different location. ViewLike.Us This is a brand new site that allows you to check out how your website looks in the most popular resolution formats. It’s all powered by Ajax & PHP so no need to download anything. Using ViewLike.Us is perfectly free. Tracer
Tracer is a brand new way to generate more visits and page views. You can get credit when content is copied from your site. It will help you to measure and understand user engagement and Improve your search engine ranking. Picnik
Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It’s fast, easy, and fun. Go2Convert
Go2Convert is a set of free web based tools that allow you to convert, resize a picture without having to install any software on your computer. It is not meant to be a complete Image editing software package. It is meant to be an easy to use solution to convert, resize your pictures and digital photos without the need to learn a complex software package. Once you convert, resize an image, you can choose to copy image’s URL or download it directly to your computer – It doesn’t get easier than that. ShowDocument
ShowDocument is a free service for online meetings with fully synchronized co-browsing of any document. It is a quick and simple way to share a document with other people at the same time. It is a web collaboration platform that lets individuals have a free online meeting. It is an alternative to various commercial desktop sharing applications. One can easily upload any file and during the session mark it up with a pen or a highlighter tool in addition to a text box tool and eraser. PXtoEM
This is an online calculator that can help you easily covert pixels, to EM, to percent or to points. fivesecondtest
A simple online usability test that helps you identify the most prominent elements of your user interfaces.