If you are in need of a background pattern for your website, PatternCooler is likely to have what you want. There are thousands of backgrounds available for download and are freely available for your use: "All artworks on this site can be used freely on blogs, MySpace profiles, Twitter, mobile phone wallpapers, and non-commercial web projects" (PatternCooler).

The website offers the ability to customize the patterns and backgrounds to your liking using the Seamless Pattern Color Editor (example). This editor, as shown below, allows you to pick a pattern and change the colors using a color picker or hex codes.

Along with the available patterns for editing, there are over 20,000 prebuilt patterns available for download from the User-Colored Seamless Pattern Background Library. Technically you can edit these as well, but they probably have a pattern you like in this collection. Once you have decided on a pattern, you have the option to download and/or view the pattern.

You can get a glimpse of what the backgrounds that are offered will look like simply by viewing the front page. The front page uses one of their patterns as the background and changes with each refresh of the page. Along with the automatic loading of their patterns, you can change the background to whatever pattern you want to see. The view option allows you to see it on as the background on the current page or on a blank page.

Be sure to check out all of the patterns they have to offer. Chances are you will find one, probably multiple, that you like. If you like the service offered, consider donating to help out.

Picking the colors for your next website or logo design is not always an easy task. There are so many great looking websites out there that use some very nice colors. How do you find the color to start with as the base or add to compliment it? Thankfully for those of us that aren't as creative as we wish we were there are websites available to help us see what a color scheme would look like. Here are some of the websites available.

Adobe Kuler

This is one of the coolest color applications I've used. It allows you to register an account in order to save color schemes you create or like to easily return to them at a later time. There are recent and best lists for color schemes that have been created by others. You can create your own or pick one that someone else has made. Being able to browse the others helps in finding the right scheme for you. The app lets you control and change each of the five colors or choose one to start with and create a scheme based on rule sets (analogous, monochromatic, triad, complimentary, compound, and shades). Another cool thing about Kuler is its ability to pick a color from an uploaded picture.

Color Wizard

The Color Wizard is very similar to Adobe Kuler. It has the ability to pick many different colors and provides RGB color sliders for fine tuning. Once you pick a color, a general scheme is generated and allows you to filter based on the rule sets (monochromatic, analogous, triadic, tetradic, complimentary, and split-complimentary). You are given a scheme made up of four colors. You don't have the ability to save schemes for later, but this is still a great tool for color schemes.

Colour Scheme Chooser

This is the slowest loading application that I found but it is worth the wait. The app was originally created by SitePro Central. You have the ability to choose a color to start with based on HEX and RGB as well as providing a color picker. A scheme of seven colors is created for you based on rule sets (monochromatic, analogic, analogic+, complimentary, and split-complimentary, triadic, and double contrast).

Color Schemer

This application is available both online and as a downloadable desktop installation. It isn't as fancy looking as Adobe's but it gets the job done. You are able to pick a color to start with either by HEX or RGB code or clicking on a color and a palette will be generated based on that color. Once you have picked your base color and the palette has been created you can lighten or darken the entire palette. If you see another color in the palette that you like better you can simply click on the color and a new palette will be generated based on the new color as the base. A palette of 16 colors is created.

ColorToy 2.0

This is yet another Flash application that allows you to start with a base color and have a scheme created from that color. There aren't many bells and whistles offered but it will generate nine colors that work well together. You can use HEX or RGB to select your base color or use a random function that will pick a color for you.

What other resources do you use to pick your color scheme? Let us know in the comments.

Navigation is one of the biggest web design factors to consider for a website. Where is the navigation going to be? Will it be on top, on the left, on the right, vertical, or horizontal? Your visitors need to be able to easily find their way around your site. They also need to be able to follow clear and concise links that get them where they think that link will take them, more importantly, where they want to go. Wikipedia says,

[b]readcrumbs typically appear horizontally across the top of a webpage, usually below any title bars or headers. They provide links back to each previous page that the user navigated through in order to get to the current page, for hierarchical structures usually the parent pages of the current one. Breadcrumbs provide a trail for the user to follow back to the starting/entry point of a website (Wikipedia).

Breadcrumbs are so important because they allow a visitor to easily find their way back one or even multiple pages without going all the way back to the original link from the main navigation menu. Some website features, or applications, allow a visitor to go several levels (drill down) into the website. This "drill down" technique is very useful and user friendly, but creates a need for breadcrumbs, to allow for easy backwards navigation, or navigation out of an application. No matter whether your breadcrumbs are implemented on your site statically or dynamically, or use a scripting or programming language, like PHP, Perl, or ASP, to name a few, they definitely need to be there.

Resources

• conVerge Church - This page has an example of a breadcrumbs implementation.
• useit.com - Here is a great article by Jakob Nielsen on the use of breadcrumbs.
• About.com - Overview of the what, why, when, and where of breadcrumbs.
• Wikipedia - Wikipedia entry for breadcrumbs navigation on web pages.