SpyreStudios

Web Design and Development Magazine

26 Open Source Tools & Scripts for Web Developers

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I am a big advocate for open source codes and software. These are possibly the greatest methods for learning new techniques and bridging your knowledge from another person or team of people. Scripts and webapps are some of the most commonly shared resources, but also consider desktop-based software applications as well. I have put together […]

Launching the Brand New SpyreStudios Job Board

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Over the past week we have launched a new job board for SpyreStudios. This is the perfect bulletin board for marketing any freelance work or full-time job opportunities. Since Spyre attracts such a broad audience we can incorporate many different topics including layout design, graphics/icons, web development, and Internet Marketing. If you check out the […]

Modernizing Scripts Every Web Designer and Developer Should Use

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Web development keeps getting better – there are more increasingly-standardized tools like HTML5 and CSS3, and their features let web designers and developers create advanced and good-looking websites more easily.

But some browsers – mainly Internet Explorer version 6, 7, and 8 – don’t support many of these features, like border-radius, gradients, text-shadow, transparency, CSS animations and transitions, and so forth…

Hosted vs. Self-Hosted Blog Solutions – Pros and Cons

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There’s never been a better time to start or upgrade your blog. The tools available are fully-featured, polished solutions that make getting a professional and robust blog up and running ridiculously easy. Like, seriously – some of this stuff would’ve blown the minds of web developers in the ’90s.

But with so many options, which should you choose? This article will focus on the pros and cons of some of the most popular blog solutions: Self-hosted WordPress vs. Squarespace vs. WordPress.com.

Great CSS Techniques to Enhance Web Typography

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We all have our techniques for obtaining a great combination of readability and design. Many designers like to fine-tune the font stacks and sometimes add a nice shadow to bring text to life.

Others like to take typography to a different level and use anti-aliasing tools and such to get a sharp clean result. Whichever method you decide upon, there are some great CSS techniques to enhance web typography without running the whole nine miles.

25 Essential Android Apps For Web-Workers And Designers

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The Android platform is growing in popularity every day, and for good reasons. Obviously being an open-source project and having Google behind it makes it a great choice for developers. Unfortunately the Android Market can’t really compete against the Apple App Store (in my opinion).

So I’ve chosen 25 Android apps that I think can be very useful to designers, developers and web-workers. You’ll find editors, reference guides, blogging tools, image editing tools and more. If you have your Android device handy you can scan the QR Codes next to each item in the list using the Barcode Scanner application.

How to Overcome Common Mobile Office Problems

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An effective mobile office is essential for productive traveling designers. There are plenty of reasons why you need a mobile office: besides introducing more traveling into your life, you have easier mobility with your design work, increase your focus, get more quality work done, and simplify and enjoy your life more as a result of it all.

But there are no doubt problems that come up while using a mobile office: distractions, finding good places to work, no internet access when you need it, and so forth. How do you avoid these issues? Well, today’s your lucky day, because this article covers how to overcome common mobile office problems.