PHP is a powerful scripting language, which is the driving engine behind most of the today’s dynamic websites. It is estimated that it is used by more than 20 million websites and most of the reputable web hosts have PHP installed on their servers. According to many skilled programmers, the language is fairly easy to master and we have compiled a list of excellent sites, where you can learn PHP on your own and at your own pace.

In this tutorial, you will be taught how to mimic the cracked face effect as seen in Natalie Portman’s movie poster, “The Black Swan”.

While every seasoned designer wants his or her work to be original and stand out, incorporating separate design elements, vector graphics, brushes, and templates into your projects will speed their completion up and help you work smarter. It is wise to keep all the graphic elements that you have designed handy, so you can always find them on your hard drive and include them in your future work, but you can also find hundreds of websites, which offer premium design graphic packages at very reasonable price. Listed below are some of the places, where you can find just about anything a designer might need – from icons and gradients to premium WordPress themes.

Working from home brings numerous advantages and if you are freelancing web designer, you can decide which projects to take and work from the comfort of your own home. However, many independent web designers and developers do not realize the importance of communication successfully with their clients. Web design and development is business like any other and prompt and efficient communication is just as important as great designing and developing skills. Here are a few tips, which could help you keep that two-way communication channel open and your customers happy.

This week I really wanted to put together an awesome set of links. This list includes something for everyone from font enthusiasts to WordPress geeks we have it all. Forget going outside, it is too hot, stay indoors and check out these resources!

As a web developer, you would want to stay on top of the latest technologies and follow and learn from other developers as well. While reading numerous web development websites and personal blogs is always useful, you can also follow a number of podcasts and listen to the latest news and interviews of successful and skilled developers. We have compiled a list of 10 podcasts, which web developers should listen to.

Many of us artists and photography enthusiasts dream of owning the latest DSLR camera. But high prices have left us with only those dime a dozen digital cameras.

So what can you do to get those awesome shots that are just bursting with color and life? The trick is to fake it, and Photoshop, as always, is your best friend.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language, which enables web designers and web developers to change the way their websites look. The power of CSS lies in its capability to separate the content of a web site from its presentation, and it also allows webmasters to make changes to numerous web pages that use the same CSS file. CSS offers accessibility, flexibility, easy page formatting, and side-wide consistency, and is applicable to pages, written in HTML and XTML, as well as XML, SVG and XUL.

Digital cameras are amongst the most sought after gadgets. Right now, there are hundreds of digital camera manufacturers, offering thousands of models and with the vast array of digital cameras, it is often difficult for the consumer to pick the best model that he or she can afford. Most of us need cameras, which are easy to use, take excellent quality photos, shoot decent movies, and are small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. Of course, there are photographers, who take shooting pictures far more seriously and are after high-end models that offer better performance and have more features than the average point-and-shoot camera. Before buying a digital camera, you need to determine your own needs and decide if you are going to use the camera only on your next vacation, if you are more likely to take indoor pictures, or if you need a top of the range camera, which you can use with different lenses to take pictures in different shooting conditions. Once you have decided on the camera type, your budget, and your own needs, it is time to take a closer look at the different models’ specifications and pick the right one.

I am old enough I remember when the Sony Walkman was the must have gadget. We have come a long way with portable music, just look at what we are using today as opposed to just 15 or 20 years ago. It makes me wonder, how did we survive without or iPhones and other gadgets of convenience?

Let’s play around a bit by creating a stunning optic fiber inspired light rays background (or pattern, texture, or brush, whichever way you think of it). Just a bit of Photoshop know-how and you’ll be able to do this tutorial in a matter of minutes.