My favourite online web design and development resources

A curated set of web design and development resources for problem solving, inspiration, and learning.

Three kinds of resource

A useful bookmark list splits into three parts: places to solve a specific technical problem, places to check how something is supposed to behave, and places to look when the work needs fresh air. Mixing them into one list is why most bookmark folders go unused.

For solving a problem

Developer question-and-answer communities are unmatched when the problem is specific and reproducible. The skill is in the search: pasting the exact error message finds an answer far more often than describing the situation in your own words.

For checking behaviour

Reference documentation and browser support tables answer the questions that stop guesswork: what a property actually does, which values it takes, and whether it is safe to use for the audience you have. Front-end playgrounds are the fastest way to isolate a behaviour away from the rest of a project.

For inspiration

Pattern galleries and design showcases are best used as a way of seeing how other people solved a structural problem, not as a source of visual copying. The most useful habit is to note why a layout works before noting that it looks good.

Keeping the list short

A resource list is only useful if it is small enough to remember. Anything that has not been opened in six months is not a resource, it is a bookmark.