By now, everybody pretty much knows that valid web site code is pretty important, especially if you want your site to render fast, correctly and have clean code. A few years ago you could debate that conforming to the W3C standards wasn’t necessary, and that tables were still more useful than CSS, but those days are over.

So it’s no wonder that many web designers have really begun taking interest in their own code, making sure it is valid, while at the same time making it work in IE (damn you!). Keeping that in mind, you would think the pioneers of “Web 2.0″ would make sure their web site would keep with this new standard. Unfortunately, you’re wrong.

Tags: big companies, big websites, blogger, delicious, digg, facebook, flickr, google, internet, microsoft, myspace, photobucket, psdtuts, web, web 2.0, web design, web designer, wikipedia, wordpress, yahoo, youtube

Here are twenty articles, generators and tutorials on Photoshop, CSS, PHP and HTML that have helped me have the knowledge that I do today. Some are basic, talking about the difference between CSS ID’s and classes, and others are more in-depth, such as the “Create a Sleek, High End Web Design from Scratch” tutorial, that covers everything from the Photoshop concept to the final XHTML and CSS valid end result. Simple or not, I found these sites to be more useful than most, and now I am sharing them with you.

Tags: coding, css, html, learning, photoshop, Tutorials, web, web 2.0, web design, xhtml

Today marks my newest design for this site. Personally, I would call this my best design to date. My main influences were Apple (OSX mainly), N.Design Studio and Studio7Designs. I know my site doesn’t look much like N.Design’s but that design was what really made me want to make a large background in the first place.

Tags: chat tools, chatting, design, elitenick, elitenick.com, my programs, programs, visual basic, web design, y amp, Y!Amp, yahoo, yahoo messenger, yahoo messenger 9

Looking at and analyzing other artists’ work has always been common practice, and it doesn’t change when it comes to web and graphic design. I always love coming across a design that makes my jaw drop, and gives me new goals for myself as a designer. Here are 55 of some of my favorite website designs, in no particular order.

Tags: beautiful design, inspirational designs, web, web 2.0, web design, web designer, web tools