MyBackgrounds Blog

Smashing Magazine’s Web Design Trends For 2009 has awesome examples of design elements we’re seeing on the web today. Bold typography, clean layouts and custom graphics continue to rule design.

For those that aren’t web designers, one trend you need to be aware of is PNG images (logo.png). Designers love PNGs because they preserve transparency beautifully, meaning we can layer image over image to create amazing effects. Firefox has supported PNGs for a while; IE7 also supports them. If you’re using IE6 PNGs will not appear transparent; they’ll have an ugly blue or white background where the transparent areas should be.

The image below is a PNG file. If your browser supports PNGs, you’ll see text with a slight drop shadow over the white background of this page. If your browser does not support PNGs, you will see a shaded square around the text.

If you are using IE6, STOP IT! Please upgrade immediately! Not only are you missing out on some of the web’s best designs, you’ve missed tons of security breaches that have been fixed in later IE versions. Better yet – just use Firefox!

You need a website form, but you don’t know how to program one (or you’re just too lazy). JotForm is a promising web-based form building tool. Forms fields are simple to add – just pick the type of option you need (i.e. drop-down menus) and add your variables. You can even add a CAPTCHA to help stop spammers. Save, copy the code and stick the form on your site. It’s that easy.

Form replies are easy to read (JotForm lets you turn HTML off) and you can edit your form at any time. JotForm also keeps copies of your form replies just in case you delete your emails. So far the free version lets you receive 100 form replies per month and no ads are shown on your form pages. Unlimited replies are $9/month. Keep it up, JotForm!