Hold on tight, people: I'm about to take you way, way back. Think back to a time before the Internet, before computers, before typewriters, back when the word “America” was still fresh on the lips of European colonists and people were still getting used to that newfangled Gregorian calendar. I'm talking about the 1600s, the Renaissance, perhaps the highest pinnacle of European art and creativity.

In these shaky economic and political times, it's important to put aside our conservative-versus-liberal differences, to shun petty political squabbling and come together in perfect bipartisan agreement about an important issue facing this election: Web design. I don't care who you are, whether you're a staunch conservative or a hardcore liberal, a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent — we can all agree that Barack Obama's Website is freaking gorgeous.

As a designer, do you know where your work really fits in the process of design? We all love Web design. Looking at a blank white box on a computer screen and using only your mind's eye, a mouse, and a keyboard to transform it into a living, breathing Website is no minor feat, and there is undoubtedly a creative rush when it comes to doing something like this. Web design can be a strong artistic outlet and it inevitably brings with it the joy that comes with looking at your finished work and presenting it to others.

I get anxious in certain environments. The reasons for this can vary from general disorganization, to bad lighting or clashing colors, but the biggest culprit is usually clutter. Clutter is the stuff that has no "place," doesn't belong with its surroundings, and serves little to no purpose. It's not that I'm a clean-freak, it's that I'm a designer, and I have a heightened sensitivity to things that are out of place or irrelevant.

What are Web safe fonts? Practically every personal computer has a set of fonts installed. These fonts are usually put there by the computer manufacturer or are the default sets of fonts for the operating system that computer is using. It's possible to install additional fonts on your own. However, not all font sets are created equal. Different computers can have very different sets of fonts installed, and most casual computer users never know the difference.

One of the greatest aspects about the Web is that it's such an open platform, especially for design. The accessibility and freedom of the Web allows designers to do some very nice-looking things, and it allows for experimentation and interpretation. Unfortunately, it also allows for some very bland-looking things, too. Let's take a look at some bland designs and some grand designs, and take a peek at what makes them that way.

They've been around for a while now: reset style sheets. They're becoming more commonplace among web designers, and even Yahoo is using a reset stylesheet of their own in their development. There are a few different viewpoints and opinions on the use of reset stylesheets, though. Do you reset? What are reset stylesheets? For those that don't know, a default reset stylesheet is a .css file that you use in your HTML documents.

Do you have a good Web design? I'd love to see it. As part of an upcoming article for WPDFD, I'm going to showcase and discuss some good-looking, functional, and well-coded designs. If your design can match any of these three primary descriptors, a screenshot of your design and a link to your site might make it into the article. Just drop me a line at drodriguez@wpdfd.com with links to any of your designs that you think should make it.