If you are looking for a quick and easy fix for symbols or icons, using dingbat fonts can help you save lots of time. Dingbats are symbols and shapes that are created to describe fonts in the position designated for alphabetical or numerical characters. Remember to take extra care on your choice of symbol. They should be understandable and intuitive.

Here are 17 Dingbat fonts available for free. Get them for your next interface project!

1. Symbol Signs

2. Notice 1

3. Notice 2

4. Travel Icons

5. Symbolix

6. Rally Symbols

7. Siruca Pictograms

8. Ding Dongs

9. Zeichen Hundert Alt

10. Road Signs

11. Warning Tables

12. Geo Type

13. Hazard

14. Cartographer

15. Glyphyx

16. Pictogramz

17. Waves

1. Using Custom Taxonomies to Create a Movie Database

Custom taxonomies in WordPress are similar to tags and categories, but they provide almost endless possibilities. In this tutorial Justin Tadlock shows a practical use for custom taxonomies while working on a movie database website. He shows how to set up custom taxonomies for actor, director, genre, producer, studio, and writer. This will make it easier for visitors to navigate the site as they can click on the actors name and see all of his/her movies. Justin also wrote an introductory post to Custom Taxonomies in WordPress 2.8.

You can also find more about custom taxonomies in Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr’s new book, Digging into WordPress, which I highly recommend.

2. Automatic WordPress Thumbnail Without Custom Field

This tutorial from Pro Blog Design shows how to use DarrenHoyt’s Tim Thumb script and the theme’s functions.php file to automatically grab and re-size the first image used in the post.

3. Design a Client Development Site with Wordpress MU

Another tutorial from Pro Blog Design. This one shows how WordPress theme designers and developers can save themselves some time and improve the process of developing themes for clients. It uses WordPress MU to be able to work on multiple themes with various clients at the same time.

4. Create Custom Single Post Template for Specific Posts or Sections in WordPress

WP Beginner shows how to create a custom single post template for each specific post, specific author, or a specific category. For designers or bloggers who want to use a number of different styles for their posts, this is a good option.

5. Creating Custom Write Panels in WordPress

Spencer from Function wrote a great tutorial that shows how you can create custom write panels in your WordPress themes. An example use for this would be post thumbnails without a custom field, but there are plenty of other ways that you could use this to improve your themes. Spencer has also written a follow up to the orginal article where he makes some improvements the to code being used.

6. Using Action Hooks in Child Themes and Using Filter Hooks in Child Themes

These two posts from Ian Stewart will help you to learn more about using child themes and customizations. Using the information here you can modify parent themes without impairing your ability to upgrade when a new version of the theme is released.

7. How to Make a Control Panel for Your WordPress Theme

Cats Who Code has a nice tutorial that shows how theme designers can create a simple options panel that allows users to make some modifications to the theme. Control panels can make themes more user-friendly and reduce the need to edit theme code. Starscape also has a tutorial for creating a settings page.

8. How to Integrate Pagination in Your WordPress Theme

Pagination is a little more user-friendly than the default “next” and “previous” links. The WP Page Navi plugin is the most popular option, but this post from Cats Who Code shows how you can integrate it directly into the theme.

9. How to Show Related Posts Without a Plugin

Plugins are commonly used to display a list of related posts at the end of a blog post. This post at WP Recipes shows the code for getting a list of related posts without the use of a plugin.

10. Display Thumbnails for Related Posts in WordPress

Still on the subject of related posts, Build Internet has a tutorial for creating a better-looking related post list that included thumbnails. It’s a customization of the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In this post we’ll look at a few aspects of blog posts and showcase some design elements that are used to make the post more helpful, inviting, or attractive.

1. Design Reviver

Design Reviver also includes a large lead image above the post title.

Sub-Headers:

Readability is obviously important to any blog in order to build an audience and encourage repeat visits. One of the best ways to improve readability in posts is to make use of sub-headers, and to have them styled effectively.

2. UX Booth

UX Booth uses different colors for h3 and h4 tags, which helps to visualize the flow or outline of the post.

End of Post Area/Promotion:

At the end of posts and before the comments, many blogs are including things like buttons and links for social media voting, and calls to action that will encourage readers to subscribe.

3. Well Medicated


Well Mediacated has an area for encouraging social media votes and an “about the author” section.

4. Tutorial9

Tutorial9 posts start with a lead graphic and links for social media voting/sharing.

5. Creative Tempest

Above posts on the Creative Tempest is a large lead image.

6. Viget Inspire

Viget Inspire also uses uppercase styling, and if you click through to this post you will see that their use of sub-headers and bold text helps to make the post scannable.

7. ANidea

ANidea’s appraoch is pretty unique. Each post has a lead image that appears above the right sidebar, and just below that is a list of related posts.

8. Web Design Ledger

Above each post on Web Design Ledger is a lead image. Between the image and the post title is a comment count, date of publication and category link.

9. Reality Equation

Reality Equation has a colorful theme, and the purple sub-headers fit well with the approach of the design and they look nice.

10. GoMediaZine

GoMediaZine has a dark, textured area with social media icons and links, as well as related posts and subscription options.

11. AppStorm

AppStorm uses a box that contains two simple lists for related posts and popular posts.

12. Carbon Sugar

Carbon Sugar includes two large areas for voting and for subscribing.

If we look at web design today, it’s anything but simple. Sometimes you need that extra Photoshop knowledge in order to achieve the look we need.In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to create five killer effects for your site.

1. Faded Shadow
With a little bit of Blur and Quick Mask we can create shadows that fade out in any direction we want to. With this effect you can make boxes look like they pop out of the background. This example is from mint.com.

Step 1
First thing first, the background. As usual by now, within New Document same dimensions like previous ones.

Step 2
Draw in a white Rectangle.

Step 3
Create a New Layer and place it under the white rectangle layer. Cmnd (Ctrl) + Click white rectangle shape. Fill the empty layer with Black.

Step 4
Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and enter Radius: 12px.

Step 5
Add a Quick Mask to this layer. Select a 300px Soft Brush Tool and carefully mask all

Step 6
Now this was pretty easy, don’t you think? Now you can play around with this technique and who knows what awesome results you’ll get.

2. Depth and 3D Space
More and more interesting 3D elements are being used in web design lately. Here you can see how with just few extra layers, you can create an illusion of 3D space. This example is from mosaiko.com.br.

Step 1
New Document filled with Black.

Step 2
With Rectangle Toll draw in rectangle and fill it with #21262a.

Step 3
With same tool selected draw in another, this time smaller rectangle and fill it with #191b1d. These two rectangles will create our space on canvas. It will look like a wall is passing through it.

Step 4
Cmnd (Ctrl) + Click bigger rectangle shape to get a selection. Create a New layer. Choose 300px Soft Brush, color Black and click few times in top center of the selection.

Step 5
Do the same with smaller rectangle but this time click on bottom center part of the rectangle.

Step 6
Now, do the same for the background layer itself just use White as Brush color.

Step 7
Draw in a 85×20 px rectangle, fill it with #555759.

Step 8
Add following effects. Drop Shadow – Color: Black, Opacity: 25%, Angle: 90, Distance: 1px, Size:4px. Inner Shadow – Color: White, Opacity: 7%, Angle: -90, Distance: 1px, Size: 2px. Gradient Overlay, use values provided in the image.

Step 9
Choose Pen Tool and draw in a shape like you see in the image. Fill it with #555759.

Step 10
With a little use of Quick Mask and some Brushing we will create the illusion of 3D space. First add a Quick Mask to the layer and with 100 px Soft Brush mask the sides of the stripe.

Step 11
Next, select the whole stripe and choose 100px Soft Brush again. Create New Layer, set color to white and click few times at the beginning of the path but only with the top of the brush just like shown in the image.

Step 12
I added some navigation links, copied few more stripes, modified the perspective a bit and there we have it.

If we look at web design today, it’s anything but simple. Sometimes you need that extra Photoshop knowledge in order to achieve the look we need.In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to create five killer effects for your site.

1. Navigation Menus
The most important part of a website: the navigation. I’ve chosen the example that uses some transparency and fade out effect (taken from legacylocker.com).

Step 1
Open a New Document, same dimensions from previous example. Create a New Layer and fill it with Gradient Overlay using the color hex values you can see in the image.

Step 2
For the purpose of this example I added few clouds

Step 3
Draw in a Rectangle, paint it with #6bb9ec and set Opacity to 65%.

Step 4
Add a Quick Mask to this layer. Choose 200px radius Soft Brush, set the color to Black and mask the ends of this rectangle, like you see it in the image.

Step 5
Draw in another Rectangle, but much higher. Put it under the small rectangle. Use the same color and Opacity. Again add a Quick Mask to this layer

Step 6
Choose 600px Soft Brush and carefully mask bottom of the rectangle os that top line stays visible across the document.

Step 7
Now we can play a bit with the small Rectangle by adding some light and shadows. Cmnd (Ctrl) + Click small Rectangle to make a selection out of it. Go to Select>Modify>Contract and enter 1px. Create a New layer and set Mode to Overlay. Choose 200px Soft Brush, color white and click few times the top part of the rectangle just like you see in the image.

Step 8
Do the same with bottom part just change the Brush color to Black.

Step 9
Here you can see how this looks like. It’s really a subtle effect of light and shadow which you can use wherever you want.

Step 10
With Line Tool draw in a line just the same width as small rectangle. For color choose #8dd1fe.

Step 11
Mask the ends of the line just like we did in Step 4. Copy this line and shift it to the bottom of the small rectangle

Step 12
Finally I added some Navigation items and that’s it!

2. Typography Inset
Even though we’re used to seeing this technique now, it’s still a good skill to add to your toolbox. Please use it only if you have to The example was taken from forabeautifulweb.com.

Step 2
I added some floral brushes just to recreate the same background from the example

Step 3
Choose Type Tool, set font to Times New Roman. Choose color #591e0d and type something.

Step 4
Add Inner Shadow filter and use settings like shown in the image.

Step 5
Add 2px Outside Stroke with color set to #bc9f6c.

Step 6
Done! What, that’s it? Yes, that’s it! Simple and effective.

If we look at web design today, it’s anything but simple. Sometimes you need that extra Photoshop knowledge in order to achieve the look we need.In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to create five killer effects for your site.

1. Awesome Buttons
Now what is a site without a great “Call to action” button? The design style and colors will depend on your overall site style and importance of each button. Here is one example of a simple but effective button that we’ll be trying to recreate (taken from transmissionapps.com).

Step 1
Open New Document, set canvas to 470px wide and 350px high. Create a new layer and draw in this shape with Rounded Rectangle Tool with radius set to 80px.

Step 2
Right after that we will add some layer filters to make this button immediately awesome. Drop Shadow – Color: Black, Opacity:65%, Distance: 2px, Size:2px, the rest leave by default.

Step 3
Gradient Overlay. Just copy these hex codes for gradient colors and place color buckets in approximately same position as you can see in the image.

Step 4
Inner Shadow will make this button stand out even more. Notice that this is just a subtle effect.
Inner Shadow – Color: Black, Opacity: 15%, Distance: 0px, Size: 5px;

Step 5
Finally add some Stroke. You will notice that this is a Gradient Stroke with same colors as our buttons Gradient Overlay. The only difference here is that gradient direction is set -90, which is the opposite of buttons Gradient Overlay. With this little trick we made a nice light effect to our button and made it stand out a bit more.

Step 6
Done with effects, time for some shine! Create a new layer above others.

Step 7
Cmnd (Ctrl) + Click on Button shape layer. We have made a selection out of it.

Step 8
Choose Marquee Tool. Hold down the Alt key and Subtract the half from selection.

Step 9
Choose Black to White Gradient Tool, set the layer mode to Screen and pull upwards from bottom of selection to about 30px outside the selection. There you have it! A nice shiny button.

Step 10
Add some text like I did here. Draw in a circle and position it like you see it in the picture. Add a Gradient Overlay with same values like shown in the screenshot. Finally give it a 2px white Inside stroke.

Step 11
Choose Shape Tool. From presets choose an Arrow. Rotate it.

Step 12
Like the image says, position the arrow in bottom direction.

Step 13
Now choose Direct Selection Tool and select the shape. Next, select two points from upper part of the arrow and move them with Arrow Keys few pixels to the right. Do the same with the right top side of the arrow, just shift it to the left. This way our top part will become a bit thiner. With the same tool adjust the bottom part (triangle).

Step 14
This is how it should look like. You can also see the layer structure.

1.Dejan Beljic

2. Football Made in Africa

3.BAR-T

4. Aspired Mind

5. Ndesign Studio

6. Sam-sys

7.VixML

8. Getting Crazy

9. The Rox

10. Lyrical Media

11.Corvus Art

12. Wild About Gardening

13. Sprocket House

1. drew wilson

2. tao effect

3. lisa moseley

4. foehn

5. wcria

6. aronil

7. entropiads

8. albertlo

9. icon dock

10. barack obama

11.elemental

12. darjan panic

13. markup-service

14. real mac software

1. Carbonica

2. Fall for Tennessee

3. Soh Tanaka

4. Africa Tour 2008

5. MacAllen Ridge

6. Mint

7. Grooveeffect

8. Vitor Lourenco

9. Designsensory

10. Jobs on the Wall

11. The 9513

12. Interactive

1 Stackflow with Scrollbar
StackFlow is an advanced 3D Flash component powered by PaperVision 3D and featuring XML support, over 50 customizable properties, 3D camera control, auto-scroll, rich API and more.

2. FLV List Gallery V. 1.3.1
FLV List Gallery Flash Component combines extensible functionality and easy to use user interface for multiple flash video files playback. FLV List Gallery supports XML and RSS 2.0 feeds and is fully customizable through component properties.

3. Free Flash-XML Image Rotator
XML Banner Rotator is a free Flash component to display rotating images with style. It is highly customizable via a XML file & comes with 35+ options including the masking size and speed.

4. Carousel with Auto-scroll feature and Grey Effect
Carousel is an advanced 3D flash component powered by PaperVision 3D and featuring XML support, over 40 customizable properties, 3D camera control, auto-scroll, rich API and more.

5. Flash Full Text Search Component
This is a very flexible Flash full-text-search component that supports multiple images and texts. All aspects of it can be customized via XML files, including the images, texts, colors, sizes and more.

6. Media List V. 1.0
The Media List component is an adaptable list that can be used as a navigation for a variety of media. It allows you to easily scroll to, and select items in the list, with a clear indication of which item is selected.

7. Thumbnail Grid

8. Free Flash Gallery
You can easily add, edit or delete pictures by editing the xml file in Notepad. All images are loaded externally. You can add unlimited number of images. These photo albums include a simple fade-in and fade-out transition effect for the photos.

8. UMap
UMap is the Universal ActionScript 3.0 Mapping API. The scalable component model allows you to create rich maps with interactive data layers.

9. IMG Loop Flash Component
IMG Loop Flash Component creates continuous image scroll. Component supports XML, RSS 2.0 as well as direct data input.

10. Free Flash-XML Poll Component
XML Flash Voting Poll is a free component for creating nice looking Flash-based polls. It is built with AS3 & supports one active poll with an unlimited number of answers. Everything is customizable in the XML files, including the question’s height, text, color, size and much more.

11. Flow List
Flow List Component loads external images and creates a 3D flow animation. Flexible API makes it easy to integrate this component into your web application. At only 40K (raw) Flow List is the perfect tool for displaying dynamic image sets.

12. Luxurious Analog Clock