Lots of "blogs" nowadays have one of those "top links from this month" kind of post every so often. To be honest, I rarely find these posts very useful; most of them seem rushed and contain pretty average links to pretty average content.

So, in rebellion of the above status quo I have put together an awesome list of all the articles which I feel will be useful to the great majority of people who read this. I won’t be doing this regularely - that’s why there are so many. Some of them are very techie, some of them are inspirational, some of them are preaching usability, some of them are just for beginners and some of them are quite old (but still relevant)… Regardless of what type of web developer/designer you are I think there is a mixed enough blend of content linked to, to keep you satisfied.

Ok, so here are the links:

• 

  » What Beautiful HTML Code Looks Like

  Chris Coyier explains what good HTML code looks like - it may sound simple & easy but if you read through his article I have no doubt you’ll come to a more terrifying realisation!

  I have an addiction. I can’t help but view source on every nice looking website I see. It’s like if you had x-ray glasses that allowed you to see any person you ever saw in their underwear at will. How could you not?

• 

  » IE CSS Bugs That’ll Get You Every Time

  Chris Coyier takes us through the most common and annoying IE6 bugs and explains how to fix them!

  IE 6 actually had the best CSS support of any browser when it first came out… SEVEN YEARS AGO. The little bugs in it’s CSS support still haunt us to this day.

• 

  » 10 Things Any Web Developer Worth Their Spit Should Know

  I thought this was quite a good list. I’m not sure about no.10 - surely that should be the job of the copyrighter, not the web developer? Anyway you should definitely read this!

  In days gone by web developers would meld HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code all into a single page; like a web page jambalaya. Inexperienced web developers may still do this, but the experienced ones took notice that the make up of any given page is defined by three elements: the content of the page, the presentation of that content and the behavior of that content.

• 

  » Free CSS Layouts And Templates

  Smashing Magazine lists some of the best and most useful CSS layouts & templates.

  As a web-developer you don’t have to re-invent the wheel all the time. If it just has to work, and has to be valid, and has to have a nice, visually appealing design hierarchy, you just can use css-techniques developed in the web-dev-community over the last few years.

• 

  » 15 of the Best CSS Zengarden Designs

  A very inspiring collection of Zen-Garden layouts. One or two of them are pretty average and it could do with updating… so if you feel like more inspiration then head over to the actual Zen Garden!

  The CSS Zengarden is a great project and helped the web standards cause. Today I’m going to be taking a look back over the hundreds of submissions and choose some of my favourites …

• 

  » No CSS Reset

  Jonathan Snook admits that he doesn’t use a CSS reset… Shocking!

  When asked recently about using a CSS reset stylesheet, I readily admitted that I don’t use them. I don’t use them for my blog or for any project that I work on. Admitting such can raise an eyebrow or two.

• 

  » Version Targeting: Threat or Menace?

  In a fascinating article on A-List-Apart, Jeffrey Zeldman talks about the comparative necessity of version targeting…

  I’d like to live in a world where people weren’t killing each other over religious and ethnic differences and where version targeting wasn’t needed.

• 

  » 30 Exceptional CSS Techniques and Examples

  Jacob of SexRevisions lists some very useful techniques and examples - for CSS newbies and professionals…

  In this article, I’ve pieced together 30 excellent CSS techniques and examples that showcases the capabilities and robustness of CSS. You’ll see a variety of techniques such as image galleries, drop shadows, scalable buttons, menus, and more - all using only CSS and HTML.

• 

  » Developing with Web Standards - Recommendations & Best Practices

  This is a document explaining the concepts surrounding the development of websites when taking web standards into account. If you’ve got a lot of time on your hands then this one is definitely worth a read!

  This document explains how and why using web standards will let you build websites in a way that saves time and money for the developer and provides a better experience for the visitor. Also discussed are other methods, guidelines and best practices that will help produce high-quality websites that are accessible to as many as possible.

• 

  » SEO Guide for Designers

  Nick La puts SEO ignorance to rest… You must read this if you haven’t already!

  According to a poll I conducted, just over 1 out of 10 people don’t think SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is mandatory as a designer; and what really surprised me is about 24% don’t even know what SEO is!

• 

  » 20 Useful tools to make Web Development more efficient

  Six Revisions list some of the most useful tools in web development. That DOMtool looks very useful!

  There are many available tools to help make web development projects quicker and more productive. Aside from a handy text editor or WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver, you can find plenty of tools and utilities that can greatly increase development speed, reduce debugging and testing time, and improve quality of the output.

• 

  » CSS - A recipe for Success

  CSS Guru, Paul O’Brian explains how to style your typical restaurant menu in plain HTML and CSS.

  If you look at most restaurant menus (or recipes) you will see the dish described on the left hand side followed by a dotted line that continues to the right side of the menu where the price is situated… So that’s exactly what we are going to learn how to do in this article!

• 

  » Why Standards still matter

  In a down-to-earth article Roger Johansson argues that standards still matter! Read this if you’re dull enough to think otherwise.

  If you really think that the majority of people in the Web business have fully embraced Web standards, accessibility, and usability, and strive to follow best practices in general in their work, I’d like to know what planet you’re living on.

• 

  » 8 Web Design Mistakes That Developers Make

  This article covers the most common mistakes a web developer will make when trying to "design".

  An excellent website takes a particularly savvy blend of both great design and great code. Because of this, you often find designers having to figure out code and developers trying their hand at design.

• 

  » Create a Simple, Intelligent Accordion Effect Using Prototype and Scriptaculous

  There are tonnes of Accordion scripts & plugins out there… heck, you could go and grab the jQuery plugin and have it integrated within minutes, but a web developer should always know how these things work. In this tutorial Brian Crescimanno takes us through the steps involved.

  We’ve all seen the "accordion" type effect used on many Web 2.0 sites; however, many accordion scripts are heavy, make poor use of the libraries they are based on, and don’t handle things like ensuring that the accordion maintains a consistent height.

• 

  » CSS Sprites: What They Are, Why They’re Cool, and How To Use Them

  Chris Coyier explains CSS sprites with some good examples.

  You’ve heard of them, but… Do you really understand them? The name might be a little misleading, because sprites aren’t little images like you might be picturing, a sprite is actually one big image.

• 

  » Add and Remove Elements with JavaScript

  Dustin revisits his earlier solution with an up-to-date killer script. - Be sure to take a look at the demo!

  When it comes down right to it, the bottom line is this. You need three ingredients. Event attachment; the ability create and append elements, and the ability to remove them.

• 

  » Powerful CSS-Techniques For Effective Coding

  The stars at Smashing Magazine list some hyper-powerful techniques to enhance your coding efforts!

  Sometimes being a web-developer is just damn hard. Particularly coding is often responsible for slowing down our workflow, reducing the quality of our work and sleepless nights with pizza and coffee laying around the laptop.

• 

  » 100 Essential Resources for Web Developers

  And here we have another "Essential Resources" list - except the 100 or so listed here are actually essential. I suggest you go through and bookmark all the ones applicable to your "speciality"…

  In the words of the rapper/entrepreneur and occasional developer Jay-Z, "If you got developing problems I feel bad for you son…."

• 

  » PHP 101: PHP For the Absolute Beginner

  Either you are awesome at PHP or you are not… If you’re not I bet you’ll pick up a few things by reading through this intensive guide to everything PHP… Even if you’re not a beginner.

  If you came here to learn about elementary PHP 4 or basic PHP 5, this is for you. Enjoy!

• 

  » How To Cope With Rejection As A Freelancer

  Even though this article is targeted at freelancers it’s applicable to everyone within the various web-related industries.

  Whether you’re an experienced veteran or fresh out of college, you will feel the burn of rejection at some point or another.

• 

  » Good Answer… Perhaps TOO Good

  I feel sorry for this guy… Read it and you’ll know why!

  It was then that Peter realized he was probably better off without that job.

• 

  » 5 Most Common Web Standards Misconceptions

  A short, sweet and spot-on article from Alen Grakalic of CSS Globe.

  When starting to get interested in web standards, you hear a lot of buzzwords, a lot of theories about what web standards are… Here are some most common misconceptions.

• 

  » WebMonkey - Beginner’s JavaScript tutorial

  There are plenty of these beginner tutorials available, and I should probably list all of them - if I did that it would get a bit crowded so instead I’ve decided to give you one of the more well-written and easily navigable ones.

  There’s a lot you can do with JavaScript: Images can swap when you move a mouse over them, form elements can influence each other on the fly, and calculations can be made without having to resort to a CGI script. And it works in all major browsers.

• 

  » 12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them

  This is another freelance-related article. It is applicable to all of us though. I absolutely loved some of the comics on this post and all 12 "breeds" are spot on in my opinion.

  There are loads of different types of clients out there and chances are at some point you’ll get to meet all of them. So let’s take a look through some typical clients and see if you recognise a few of your own in there!

• 

  » From PSD to HTML, Building a Set of Website Designs Step by Step

  In this intensive tutorial Collis takes you, step by step, through the process of making any PSD design into a functional and cleanly coded website.

  Today I’m going to take you through my entire process of getting from Photoshop to completed HTML. We’re going to build out a set of 4 PSD mockups of a website that eventually will become a WordPress theme.

• 

  » A Simple Guide on How to Effectively Talk to Clients

  Even if you never have to come face-o-face with your clients this is still a useful article to read since you may have to one day!

  So that you know how in-depth you have to explain certain concepts or ideas, you should first try to determine the individual’s computing/technology knowledge. This can be accomplished indirectly with, what I’d like to call, fishing questions (similar to “fishing for compliments“).

• 

  » What makes someone leave your website?

  This is a very good read. It covers the obvious causes such as complicated navigation and in-your-face advertisments but also talks about user expectations and the bore factor.

  What makes you leave a site that you’re visiting? What factors do you take into consideration when you’re designing a site?

• 

  » Smart CSS Ain’t Always Sexy CSS

  A very well-written article from Digital-Web magazine detailing some key concepts, hopefully aiding you on your quest to CSS mastery!

  When it comes to our CSS, we all agree that being bloated, slow, and messy are less than attractive traits—but the CSS used in enterprise-wide and mass-adopted web applications, or those with significant daily unique visitors or websites that demand extreme extensibility and flexibility, being smart isn’t always being sexy.

• 

  » Why tables for layout is stupid

  Just encase there’s anyone left to convince…

  Tables existed in HTML for one reason: To display tabular data.

• 

  » Efficient CSS with shorthand properties

  You either know what "shorthand properties" are or you don’t - if you don’t then definitely read this!

  One of the reasons for using CSS to layout websites is to reduce the amount of HTML sent to site visitors. To avoid just moving the bloat from HTML to CSS, you should try to keep the size of your CSS files down as well, and I thought I’d explain my favourite CSS efficiency trick: shorthand properties.

• 

  » Markup as a Craft

  Garrett Dimon writes about the art and precise science involved in crafting beautiful markup.

  Carefully crafting your markup is like making a lucrative investment in the future of your code base. It’s easier to create and maintain back-end code when it integrates with clean and simple markup.

• 

  » Ajax for Beginners

  An in-depth article from the wizards at Web Monkey. It details all the things you need to know in order to start using Ajax.

  This opens up millions of exciting possibilities. Every form submission, every JavaScript event, and heaven knows what else, can now interact with server-side databases and processing power. Data retrieval, password authentication, image generation - you name it, Ajax can trigger it.

• 

  » CSS Layouts: 40+ Tutorials, Tips, Demos and Best Practices

  A tonne of useful advice. It’s not something you’ll have time to read through now but is was of those that should be bookmarked for future use!

  So we’ve decided to take a deep look at articles about CSS-based layouts and the result was a list of 40 tutorials, resources and best practices offering gorgeous and valid CSS-based Layouts.