mishingo/ucfwebresources

A compilation of resources for students and web designers at UCF.

#UCF Web Resources

A compilation of resources for students and web designers at UCF.

Curated by John D. Jameson, and anyone else who wants to contribute.

##Why Does This Exist?

Classes at UCF are great for getting our feet wet and learning new concepts, but as designers and developers, we're much better off learning from and practicing on the web itself.

##Resources

Websites, courses, and tools that'll get you up to speed and maybe even give you a competitive edge.

###Sites

• CSS-Tricks
• Smashing Magazine
• A List Apart
• HTML Dog

###Courses

These sites teach web design curiculum in a course-like structure.

• Code School
  • A broad range of outstanding courses:
    • HTML/CSS
    • JavaScript, jQuery
    • Ruby and Ruby on Rails
    • Chrome Developer Tools
  • Check Facebook ads for a two-day free trial.
  • You can also pay $9 for your first month by 'liking' their Facebook page.
• Codecademy
  • Beginner-level courses on a variety programming languages.
  • Completely free.
  • If you need to learn the fundamentals of a new language, this is the best place to go.
• Treehouse
  • The biggest diversity of online courses.
  • Both two-week and one-month free trials are advertised online.
  • If you're intersted in learning Command Line, Terminal, the Console, etc, this is hands-down the place to start.
• Udacity
  • Free online college-level courses on web development and more:
    • Web Development
    • HTML5 Game Development
    • And more...
• Hack Design
  • Curated links to even more resources online.
  • Structured as an ongoing online course and updated weekly.
    • Updates available via a weekly newsletter.
• User Interface Engineering — All You Can Learn
  • UIE has over 120 hours of seminars and workshops by experts in mobile and web design:
    • Responsive web design
    • User experience
    • Typography
    • Content Strategy
    • Accessibility
  • The first month is free.

###Podcasts

These podcasts are all available on iTunes and generally available via RSS.

• ShopTalk Show
  • The most informative and entertaining of all the listed podcasts.
  • Listen to their 'Rapidfire' Q&A episodes for quick and easy advice and best practices.
• UIE Brain Sparks
  • User Experience expert Jared Spool interviews the web's hardest working professionals about various aspects of research and design.
• The Web Ahead
  • Discussions with industry experts on the latest web technologies.
• The Big Web Show
  • Interviews with some of the most influential people in web design.

###Workflow and Tools

For anyone not sure what tools and software to use, Chris Coyier of CSS-Tricks provides an excellent screencast of his typical workflow.

Then there's also various tools and utilities across the web.

• CodePen
  • An excellent place to practice HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more.
  • Removes the need to wrestle with setting up local files, libraries, and compilers. Just click 'New Pen' and start writing front-end code.
• Modular Scale
  • A handy application for calculating modular scales for web typography.
  • Helpful links if "modular scales for web typography" doesn't make any sense to you yet.
• Color Scheme Designer
  • The best tool on the web for creating color palettes.

###Visual Design

####Typography

• Butterick’s Practical Typography
  • The best free resource on the Internet for learning the fundamentals of typography.
• Beautiful Web Type
  • "A showcase of the best typefaces from the Google web fonts directory."

####Inspiration

• Dribbble
  • The site for designers to showcase their work.
• Codrops
  • Tutorials and free resources for creating beautiful effects in the browser.

###Library Books

The UCF library has a bunch of design-related books that nobody ever checks out. They're all just sitting on dusty shelves, waiting to be read by anyone eager to learn. For easier usage on mobile devices, I've moved the list to a Google Document.

UCF Design Books

###Miscellaneous

• Front-end Development Guidelines
• Front-end Developer Interview Questions
• A Baseline for Front-End Developers

##Jobs

School is a step in the right direction, but until you're in the trenches making real websites, it's hard for a lot of the concepts to sink in.

###Advice

• How to Land Your Dream Job

###Job Boards

If you're a designer or developer, it's definitely a good idea to research the types jobs you want to have. Knowing the skills and experience employers are looking for will give you the opporunity to prepare yourself accordingly and learn the tools of the trade.

• Authentic Jobs
• Dribbble
• Smashing Magazine
• We Work Remotely
• Zurb
• 37 Signals

##Me

I'm @johndjameson on Twitter. Feel free to ask me anything; I might not be able to help everyone personally, but I know where to look for answers and can definitely point people in the right direction.