Every web designer needs a bit of inspiration sometimes, or that missing snippet of code, or a cool new script to power their brand new website. Many web design sites have published their lists, but today we are publishing the ultimate list of web design resources, the only one you will ever need.

Design Inspiration:

Favorite Website Awards – A resource of the best designed websites to use as inspiration on your next project.
CSS Reboot – A stunning gallery of sites designed with CSS.
CSS Zen Garden – A great example of the power of CSS.
HOW Design – A great e-magazine for designers.
Web Pages That Suck – Shows web designers what NOT to do when building a website.
Design Shack – A community for web design inspiration, tutorials and more.
CSS Beauty – News, jobs, resources and more for CSS developers.
The Import – A fantastic gallery of beautifully designed websites – a great source of inspiration.
W3C Sites – A directory for sites that look professional and follow W3C Standards.
No Resolution – A site dedicated to fluid width website design.
Web Creme – A stunning gallery of unique website designs.

Web Templates:

4Layouts.com – Premium low cost and free web templates, business card templates, flash designs and more!
HQ-Templates.com – Free web templates, WordPress themes and Joomla templates.
ThemZa – Quality free web templates, Joomla templates and more.
Metamorph Design – A large collection of quality free original web templates.
BoxedArt.com – The top membership-based template site online. Unlimited access for a set fee.
Template Monster – The largest and most popular paid template site.
WordPress Theme Base – The best collection of quality free WordPress themes.
Free WP Themes – A great collection of original free WordPress themes.
Joomla24 – The largest collection of free Joomla templates.
Template Search – A collection of free web templates.

Web Standards

W3C.org – This is the organization that sets web standards. A must bookmark resource for any web designer.
10 Reasons to Learn and Use Web Standards
Developing With Web Standards – An in depth document explaining why using web standards saves time and money.
10 More Reasons to Use Web Standards
A Roadmap for Web Standards – A beginners guide to developing websites using W3c Standards.
Web Standards Coalition – A group advocating widespread use of Web Standards for the good of all.
Web Standards Workshop – A great guide to web standards.
HTML & XHTML Validator – The official W3c HTML validator. A must use resource for every webmaster.
W3C CSS Validator – The W3C’s CSS validation tool.

Typography & Font Resources

The Anatomy of Web Fonts - A great guide discussing how fonts impact website design.
TypeTester – An online tool for testing how fonts will display on a webpage.
Typography for Headlines – A great inspiration tool for your web site’s headings.
1001 Fonts – A great resource filled with tons of great free fonts you can use.
DaFont – Tons of free, quality fonts.

Webmaster Forums

Webmaster-Talk.com – A great webmaster community with a large, active member base.
V7N – Another great webmaster community, but with more strict rules.
WebmasterForums.com – A pretty good webmaster forum community.
SitePoint Forums – The largest and most respected web design community.
Do Follow Webmaster Forum Lists – A list of web design forums that use Do Follow links for better SEO.

Firefox Addons

Total Validator – Validate your site and take a screenshot with ease!
Firebug – Puts a wealth of web development tools right in your browser!
FireFTP – A free FTP addon program for Firefox.

Stock Photography

Stock Exchange – A great collection of 100% free, 100% royalty free stock photos and images.
morgueFile – Another great free stock photography site.
Veer – A low cost stock photography site with a nicely sized collection.
iStockPhoto – One of the largest and well known stock photo and video sites.
Fotosearch – Ugly site, but a pretty good collection of stock photos.

Photoshop Tutorials

Photoshop Tutorials – Great collection of tutorials for web & print.
Photoshop Lover – Outstanding and easy to follow tutorials.
33 Best Typography Effects for Photoshop
130 Free Photoshop Plugins
Photoshop Video Tutorials

Web Design Blogs/Tutorial Sites/Other

ProBlogger – My all time favorite web design blog.
Spoono – A great resource for code tutorials, snippets, and many other web design resources. HIGHLY recommended.
14 Most Useful Web Design Cheat Sheets
61 Ways to Get Massive Quality Traffic - I’ve tried a lot of these and they work!
Dynamic Drive.com – Free DHTML & AJAX scripts to enhance your site’s functionality.
Elliot Jay Stocks -A great resource on design, coding, accessibility, technology and more! One of my all time favorites.

Are there any resources we missed that we should add? Comment below and we will add any good submissions to the list!

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  4. Reasons to Learn and Use Web Standards

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