Twitter has quickly become a force to be reckoned with – just ask any major cable news agency. Fancy, Armani suit-wearing news executives around the world are still trying to figure out why all they see are cute little blue birds flying around everywhere they look, along with the occasional whale that fails. Twitter has truly become a mainstream, real-time information dissemination platform that is rapidly becoming the unofficial official news source of the entire planet.

With that being the case, and especially with the latest breaking news action in the Middle East (for which Twitter seems to be their last remaining resource to communicate), I thought it would be nice to go over a top 10 list of useful Twitter applications, tools and resources that will help you to better organize your Twittering experience. You may as well get familiar with them now, because many top social media experts claim that Twitter has long passed the “fad” mark in the social media timeline. If it’s here to stay, then it’s time to learn about all the cool stuff you can do with it.

Let’s do this.

1. Twitter.com

This one may sound obvious, but guess what the number one Twitter tool is? That’s right, Twitter itself! You see, not all that long ago, Twitter lacked some key features that tweeters needed at their disposal – such as the ability to “RT” (retweet) with the click of a button, a list of trending topics in the sidebar, and other little odds and ends that make tweeting so fun and easy. While in reality you don’t technically need all of the other fancy tools I’ll be talking about below, they will help boost your Twitter experience to the next level. Just keep in mind that if you’re in a rush, and want to tweet something quickly, it’s easy to just log on to Twitter.com with your username and get it done.

2. TweetDeck.com

Talk about super organization, Tweetdeck is easily one of the most popular Twitter management clients out there. Eventually, as your Twittering becomes more crazy, fast and confusing, (which tends to happen when you’re dealing with hundreds or thousands of followers) so you’re going to need to bring in the big gun. Tweetdeck definitely qualifies as a big gun. After installing Tweetdeck (an Adobe Air app), immediately you’ll see dozens of features and opportunities to manage your Twitter stream. Separate friends from colleagues and family, key in on certain keywords that were mentioned in your stream, sort your replies, narrow down specific topics being mentioned – I mean the list literally goes on and on. Oh, and did I mention you can simultaneously post to your Facebook account as well? Sweet.

As with any great application, there is an evil dark side – and in this instance, it’s another case of a great app being a complete resource hog. Recent Tweetdeck updates have addressed this issue, but it’s still not quite as efficient as it could be. Most will agree that it’s worth the trade-off.

Download Tweetdeck here.

3. Twhirl

Another Adobe Air based application, Twhirl is another highly popular Twitter management platform that certainly gives the above a run for its money. Perhaps one of the coolest things about Twhirl, besides the easy to use interface, is the ability to post to other sites like Jaiku, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and more. Packing a URL shortener and TwitPic powered image uploader; Twhirl brings the heat when it comes to managing every aspect of your social networking experience. Oh, and for the spelling challenged, it has built in spell checking. Sometimes it’s the little things in life…

Start playing with Twhirl here.

4. TwitPic

What would Twitter be without the ability to quickly post up pics of that wicked huge quadruple bacon cheeseburger you just ordered? Seriously though, pictures make Twitter what it is. Whether a tornado just blew through your town, or you just spotted Justin Timberlake naked on the beach, passing this info around is crucial to your social standing. TwitPic easily reigns as the top Twitter image uploader, and many applications and tools integrate TwitPic for ease of use.

When using TwitPic, you can post pictures to your Twitter stream via your computer or smartphone, which is definitely a must. When a picture is uploaded, it will show the number of views it gets, which is quite satisfying for those of us with massive egos to maintain. Best of all, it requires no extra signups or registrations – if you have a Twitter account, you automatically have a TwitPic account.

Check TwitPic out here.

5. Tweet-Later

The ultimate tool for those that like to work ahead is available in a free and paid version. The free version includes the ability to schedule tweets to go out at specific times, send automatic direct messages to new followers (which can be annoying to some folks), URL shortener, automatically unfollow those who unfollow you, and all sorts of cool little time savers that most would appreciate.

The paid version, of course, includes all of the free version stuff, plus the ability to weed out spam (which is huge), manage multiple Twitter accounts, run your own Twitter bots, and a nice selection of other enhancements to fully and completely automate your Twitter experience. The paid version of TweetLater costs around $30 USD per month, but there is a free trial that will allow you to test every function before buying into it. For most average tweeters, the free version should suffice.

Sign up for Tweet-Later here.

6. Group Tweet

So whether you’re tweeting for your company, or your boy scout group leaders, Group Tweet is a sweet little deal that will allow you to send group tweet to specific groups you set up in its interface. Perhaps you want to send one message to your web development team, and another message to your designers – well, this is the tool that you absolutely must have.

Using Group Tweet is as simple as setting up an account, registering your group on GroupTweet.com, and having all group members follow the special account you created, and viola! You can tactically send out messages and keep the lines of communication flowing. Best of all, it’s free.

Try Group Tweet here.

7. Twitter Counter

For those of us that need data (and ego inflation), there is a super cool online tool available called Twitter Counter. This awesome Twitter stats tracking tool will tell you everything from the amount of followers you’re predicted to have in 30 days to your average follower growth per day.

Best of all – they have graphs, charts, downloadable badges to show off your count on a blog or website, and just all kinds of fun and potentially valuable data that you might need personally or even in a company environment.

Personally, I love the “Twitter Rank”, which shows where you rank among your people, or even where you rank on a global scale. Twitter Counter is free to use, and if you love analytics, this is about as specific as it can get for Twitter.

Play with Twitter Counter here.

8. Twello

With a cool name like “Twello”, it’s hard to ignore this super directory of interesting twits. Let’s say you’re interested in following people that are into cooking, or energy, or real estate. Whatever it is you fancy, the first place you should visit is Twello.

Twello is a massive directory of twits that are broken down into all sorts of categories, and chances are good that if you’re looking for a specific group of people, you’ll find what you’re looking for. Twello also allows you to link to your personal website along with pretty much any other social networking site you have a profile on.

At the time of this writing, Twello (a service of WebProNews.com) sports nearly 5 million user profiles.

Start your Twello profile here.

9. Monitter

Let’s pretend the world is experiencing several breaking news events that you’d like to keep track of simultaneously. As you probably already know, Twitter is the best way to get real time news from ground zero. But unless you’re wanting to open several instances of Twitter search on your computer to follow each keyword or tag relevant to each unique situation, there is a better way.

Monitter allows you to monitor several different keywords in one handy interface, with real time updates. Today was the first time I’ve ever used Monitter (due to all of the goings on in the world right now), and I must say that I’m highly impressed! The information flowed very smoothly and there were no hiccups that I noticed.

Monitter is free to use, and it looks very sharp and crisp. It also allows you to specify the monitoring of tweets within a certain radius of a city or town, which can come in very handy for local events.

Try Monitter here.

10. Twitterholic

Last but definitely not least, is Twitterholic. This clever site allows you view the top 100 tweeters of all time (which Ashton Kutcher is leading the pack with over two million, with Ellen DeGeneres close behind) and best of all, it allows you to enter your Twitter username and it will pull stats within your city or location to show where you rank.

Not that this information is important, but let’s be honest, it’s fun.

Have fun with Twitterholic here.

Hopefully you’ve learned a little more about the top 10 Twitter tools that are available for you to use. Sure, there are literally dozens more, but the one above seem to get the most attention, and I’m sure a few were left off the list that should have been there (depending on whom you talk with). At any rate, the tools and services above should give any Tweeter, rookie or veteran, a lot of extra help in managing and having fun with their Twitter stream(s).

If you have suggestions for tools that should be included, by all means leave them in the comments below.

Interview with Steven Snell

1. First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do for a living?

I’m 30 years old and my wife and I live in suburban Philadelphia (in New Jersey). It’s kind of hard to say exactly what I do for a living. I’m a web design, blogger and freelance writer, but I kind of bounce around in terms of the balance between the three. Sometimes I feel like spending more time working on sites for clients, and other times I may put that on hold and dedicate more time to freelance writing. Fortunately, my work allows me some freedom to pick and choose at times.

2. How did these two design blogs start, and what motivated you to create them?

The blog at Vandelay Design started about two years ago. At that time I knew absolutely nothing about blogging. My goal was to put some articles on the site in hopes that the content would help to draw search engine visitors and ultimately lead to some clients. Before too long the blog started drawing way more traffic than I ever expected and I started noticing that many of my readers were other designers rather than people who would be looking to hire a designer. At that point my focus with the blog shifted and I’ve never really used it to directly promote myself or my services, which was my original intent.

DesignM.ag started in July of 2008 because there were some things that I wanted to do with the site that I didn’t feel were completely appropriate at Vandelay Design. Even though I don’t use the blog at Vandelay Design to promote my services, it still is a portfolio site and that comes with some limitations. I wanted to start a more community-oriented site that could include things like a design job board, a gallery, and a news section, in addition to a blog. To me it made more sense to start a new site since there was really a new purpose.

3. Were your blogs always community based? (If they weren’t, how did you begin to create community around them?) How has a sense of community enhanced your websites?

The community at Vandelay Design is actually what got the blog really moving in the right direction. At first I was just using the blog as a way to publish articles, like I said earlier, I really didn’t understand the community aspect of blogging or social media. I started getting some traffic, somewhat unexpectedly, and people started commenting and linking and that is really how I began to learn about blogging. In some ways I feel like the community around the blog was stronger when there were less readers because I would be familiar with most of the commenters and I had more time to visit their sites and interact there as well.

At both Vandelay Design and DesignM.ag the design blogging community is largely responsible for any success that I’ve had. I’ve been fortunate enough to get a lot of great links and meet many awesome people that have allowed the audience at both sites to grow. Without that I don’t think I would still be blogging.

4. I’ve seen you around the blogging community over at Smashing Magazine, FreelanceSwitch, PSDTuts+, and many others. What is the freelance blogging lifestyle like?

Freelance blogging has been great for me. I actually never set out to be a freelance blogger but I was offered a position with Daily Blog Tips after I submitted a guest post and I almost said I wasn’t interested. I decided to give it a chance and I really liked it. It’s a great way to get exposure and links to your own blog, but the best part is that you get to meet some very influential people. It’s been really cool to work with people like Vitaly Friedman from Smashing Magazine and you can learn a lot about what it takes to run a successful blog just from being involved on a small scale. The downside of freelance blogging is that it does take a lot of time if you’re writing detailed posts, and that is time that you lose for working on your own sites. The last few months I’ve really cut back on my freelance writing because I have been focusing on some of my own projects.

5. Where do you find motivation and inspiration for everything you do, from web design to writing?

A lot of my motivation comes from the desire to run a successful business. I worked for several years in typical corporate America jobs and it really made me hate that lifestyle of working for a company that cared nothing about me or my future. So even though those people don’t care and would never really know whether my business is successful or not, I still have the attitude that I’m going to succeed in my own way to show that I don’t need a job from them.

In terms of design inspiration, I get a lot of it from design galleries and blogs. I try to also mix in inspiration from offline sources, but since I spend the majority of my time online I often find myself going there first.

6. To what would you tribute your overall success? Is there anything specifically that helped you become as well-known in the web design community as you are?

Well, I still have a long way to go before I would consider myself to be successful, but whatever success I have been able to have along the way I would attribute to consistent effort and a great network of friends and colleagues. I look back at the first few months of blogging and almost none of my blogging friends from that time are still actively blogging. Most got discouraged and gave up, or realized it just wasn’t that important to them. Blogging for an income takes consistent work, even when things don’t seem encouraging. Once I got my first small taste of blogging success (I literally went from about 10 visitors in one day to a few thousand the next because of an appearance on the Delicious front page) I became determined to grow my blog and that has kept me motivated ever since. I’ve been lucky enough to get some really great readers that have supported my blogs, and getting links and mentions from others in the community has been huge.

7. What advice would you give to anyone just starting out in the field of web design, or freelance blogging?

For web designers my advice is to find what you truly enjoy and follow after that. Some people love freelancing and others prefer working as an employee. And some people want to start a small studio of their own. Even though you may be a designer, those situations are all very different. My advice is to evaluate the differences and see what fits best with your lifestyle and your goals. And also, always be working on your own skills and abilities. I know I have a long way to go as a designer, but at least I can feel good about the fact that I’m moving forward.

For those who are interested in freelance blogging, my advice is to be assertive. If you don’t have much of a profile yet, the freelancing jobs are not likely to find you. Be willing to take the initiative and contact some blog owners about the possibility of writing for them. Taking action always beats not taking action. Also, I would advise freelance bloggers to work on building their own blog(s) at the same time. Constantly writing posts for other blogs can be very draining, and as soon as you stop, the money stops coming as well. By having you own blog that makes some money you will be better off.

New Gallery Sites

Steven has also just started up 5 new gallery sites, so be sure to check them out below. All are a great source for inspiration!

Cart Frenzy

A showcase of excellent e-commerce web design.

Type Inspire

A Showcase of excellent typography design.

Minimal Exhibit

A showcase of minimalism in web design.

Folio Focus

A showcase of outstanding portfolio websites.

Blog Design Heroes

A showcase of excellent blog designs.

I can see many readers thinking, “Why would it matter? Light or dark design is just a designer’s personal preference, right?” It’s easy to think this, but dark and light design are world’s apart. Also, with the rising trend of dark website design, a closer look into the differences is needed.

Why Use Light Design?

Let’s analyze light design first. This is dark text on a light background, a very common type of web design. Using light design is also an easy way for a designer to come out with something boring.

What happened to the importance of readability everyone? A website that needs to accommodate a large audience should always use a lighter design. This is because light design is, by far, the most legible type of design.

When the screen emits more light, it’s easier to see the text — just as you can see more during the day rather than the night. Seems like a silly thing for our brain to do, but it’s undeniably true. I could go into the science behind this phenomenon, but I’ll just Jonathon Snook from Snook.ca explain:

“But the outcry against black could be heard amongst the crowd. “Hard to read”, they say. I’ve been looking at this design most evenings for a couple months now and actually found it comfortable on the eyes. Why is that? And then it dawned on me…I was always looking at the design in the evening, often working in the dark. Looking at it during the daytime with the bright sun beaming in, I actually found myself preferring the contrast mode on.” – Reboot: Light vs. Dark

When our eyes are adjusted to the dark, it’s easier to see a dark web design. However, most readers probably aren’t sitting in the dark every time they view a web page!

Dark Design

Ok, so I think the point’s been made about readability. So what’s the big deal about dark web design? It’s purely aesthetics. Most experienced web designers will scream usability over design any day, but lets consider dark design a bit closer.

To really determine if you should try out dark design, we need to answer the question, “How important are aesthetics?”

Well, they say content is king, but design is the queen. —and who says the queen can’t be of equal status? When it comes down to it, design sets a mood for he visitor. If there is bad design, the visitor won’t trust the website. If there is unprofessional design (even if it’s pretty to look at), the visitor surely won’t invest anything into it, whether it be time, a registration, or buying a product.

What is the mood-setting difference between dark and light design though? This is how dark design can be a powerful thing. The following moods can be portrayed from dark website design:

• Creativity, “Out of the Box”
• “New”, contemporary
• Sleek/Web 2.0
• Mysterious

An excellent example to use dark web design would be a web design portfolio. Creativity is obviously something that needs to be displayed, and at the same time most designers want to display themselves as contemporary and new — a person that would think outside of the box.

The Big Debate

Darren from Problogger did a poll on this topic, and just to see how many people actually preferred light backgrounds, below are the results he came up with.

As you can see, most viewers prefer light backgrounds with dark text. However, a large chunk of this population also says it depends on the blog. Below are some of the comments made by the voters.

Wrapping Up

In one of my next posts I’ll be speaking about how to achieve a more legible dark background website. So for those that think they would benefit, or just prefer dark backgrounds, keep checking back. You may also be interested in the two articles I found below.

• Light text on dark background vs. readability
• Reboot: Light vs. Dark

Do you prefer light or dark websites? What are you basing your reasoning on?

Below are 10 things to consider and be aware of when working with your first client as a web designer. Some of these tips may even broaden to other forms of freelancing professions.

1. Add Gradients

Gradients can add a lot to web design without overpowering it. They also add depth and a modern appeal. Gradients can come in a variety of forms, too.

The example above uses gradients all over the place. From the top bar, to the logo, and throughout the various types of content. As you can see, there are different variations of gradient too. The gradients with the deepest contrast (Fallscreek, Hotham, and Hakuba) create a place for the eyes to focus.

Gradients can b added very subtly too. The above design is far from a sleek style, but gradients are still present in the logo and site title, and in various icons throughout the design.

This illustrative design uses slight gradients throughout the illustration, and adds detail with gradients to the navigation and various icons.

2. Add Lighting Effects

A technique that is sometimes similar to gradients is lighting effects. Glowing, spotlight, or other lighting effects can have a significant impact on the overall design. Again, lighting effects add depth and visual appeal, but with a bit more pizazz. These effects are often times the main feature, or highlight the main feature, in the overall design.

The above design features various gradients, but a main thing you’ll notice is the ’shine’ effect in the background. Two simple gradients, and this line have created a very realistic look for this website. On top of that, similar lighting effects were used in the featured icons.

As one can see, the main lighting effect resembles an underwater scene, and can be related to the site title. That lighting effect is complimented with the semi-transparent content area. Also notice the slight lighting effect to the logo design. Adding subtle lighting effects on top of the main effect can add a lot of appeal as well.

The background lighting effects are obviously not the only feature making this design amazing. It is a great example, though, of how lighting effects can add to any part of the design– whether it be the whole design, a logo, or in this example, an illustration. Nick La’s post, Vector Polishing Techniques, goes over these various techniques that he has become famous for, many of them being lighting techniques.

3. Use Image Detail

Many designers will create a main header or background image, and close down Photoshop for the rest of the design process. This is a huge mistake. Adding small image details to buttons, headers, and specific content areas can add a lot of detail to a design, creating more appeal and focus.

The travel website above uses image detail in various spots. For example, the navigation, menu background, borders, and even the submit button for the the search bar.

The above is a great example of how blog design can benefit from extra detail. The design above features a lot of whitespace and is very simplistic. The extra detail on the post date, comment icon, and color added to the active navigation element in the above screenshot already adds so much. If you visit the site, you will also notice details in the search bar, other navigation elements, etc.

This design adds image detail to the headers, a very common and effective trick when using this technique. One will also notice icons and unique borders used throughout the design. The footer border is also very colorful, creating a great separation point.

4. Declutter and Add Whitespace

This doesn’t necessarily mean every design should resort to the minimalistic style. Any design style should pay attention to the amount of whitespace present in the design. Also decluttering or removing any content or elements that are not needed in the design will help bring attention to the elements that are really needed– as well as leave more room for whitespace.

The extra spacing throughout the design aid in the visual hierarchy. One of the first components the visitor’s eyes are lead to is the navigation area. This area has a significant amount of whitespace around it. As I stated in A Guide to Simplistic Web Design, whitespace frames whatever it is around, and adds focus to the internal elements.

Be sure to consider spacing between the large, main components in the design as well. Drastic spacing between the content, logo, and navigation bar remind the visitor that they are separate entities, and allow the visitor to focus on each individually.

For websites that require a lot of content on the front page, even when decluttered, a smart use of spacing between paragraphs, headers, and images can create a content-heavy site that doesn’t look too busy.

5. Add Dynamic Effects

Most websites aren’t ready to enter the world of 100% flash, but adding smaller dynamic effects with, for example, jQuery, can create a sense of professionalism and aesthetic appeal that is bound to amaze.

There are a number of ways a designer can add a dyamic feel to a design, but because JavaScript is the most common way to do this, here are a few well-known techniques that are used.

jQuery Tabs

Carousels

Flash-like Menus

Lightboxes

Fancy Forms

What are some of your techniques?

Please share some of your own techniques with design, or share if any of the above techniques helped you out!