I had originally meant to write this post in December in the spirit of my past efforts at the end of year wrap up. But some where between the intense heat we have been experiencing this summer in Australia and our time consuming redesign this post went awry.

So here is a list of things on the web at the moment that I find are invaluable when it comes to developing our Joomla templates.

Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow is a brilliant example of peer researched solutions for obscure code issues. If you have an issue, chances are that someone else has had it before and that the answer is on Stack Overflow. I love the enthusiasm and debate that goes on in some of the threads - entertaining and educational.

CSS Tricks

Chris Coyier features a lot in my lists (well twice to be exact - Codepen is another one of his project). CSS Tricks is another go to resource for css, html and javascript solutions. I love the spirit of that site too, lots of great information delivered in a down to earth manner. You can tell from Chris’s screencasts he has a great sense of humour.

CodePen

Codepen is a resource for developers to create experiments in html, css and javascript. I like to think of it as a Dribble for developers - sure designers can and do use it too. There are some really interesting ideas on Codepen that looks at solving common web pattern problems and pushing css and javascript in general.

Codrops

I regularly have to lift my jaw off the floor when I visit the Codrops site. I love the sense of adventure in their tutorials and of course the beautiful way that they present them. An absolute must for anyone looking to push their layouts to the next level.

CodeKit

Not quite a resource but Codekit is a tool that I use daily and could not live without. It's hands down the best way to work with code development on a mac - Compile less, minify js, optimise images, live reload. I know there are other options out there for this but the app is flawless and a real pleasure to work with. Again I love BDK Jones humour that comes out in his changelogs and of course the "testimonials" on his site.

Dribbble

I used to have a whole list of design inspiration sites I would visit weekly to see what was happening in the design world. And while I still visit Webcreme occasionally, Dribbble is the first place I look to see what’s happening.

When I first saw the tiny little squares that folks were posting I wondered how these design snippets could be useful. Sure sometimes there is a sense that the design is getting taken out of context, however the for the most part posting shots of work like this has the potential to improve your design process by providing a focus on detail that you perhaps would not normally see.

I’ve often uploaded a shot of something, only to realise that there is a tiny misalignment on one of the elements. Sometimes you don’t see that sort of detail when you are looking at the big picture.

Dirty Markup

There are a few tools that do what Dirty Markup does but the UI is staright forward to use and delivers reliable results for cleaning up html, css or javascript.

Hipster Ipsum

I now there are a ton of variations on this theme but Hipster Ipsum is awesomely usable for creating your dummy text.

What are you grateful for in 2014? What resources are fundametal to your work?

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