I thought I’d share a couple web design tricks I’ve come across recently:

• Bordered Links
• Form Input Backgrounds

They are both very easy and just the things to make your design stand out from the rest.

Bordered Links

I found this in use at Oaktree Creative. It mimics the use of text-decoration: underline for links, but instead you use the border-bottom style. This allows greater flexibility because you can adjust the width and color of the underline. It’s a subtle effect, and I’m sure it’s been done elsewhere, but I’ve never noticed it until now. I personally like this technique because I don’t like making visited links different colors. Now, I can simply change the color of the underline to indicate that a link has been visited.

Form Input Backgrounds

This can be seen in action in Wufoo forms. Text input fields have a small background image that adds a little extra depth. It doesn’t go over the top, using just three colors. Once again, a subtle effect, but it makes the form look more polished and professional.

If you’ve got any tips, please feel free to comment.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 1:38 pm and is filed under web development and tagged with css, design, forms, links. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.