Just as you wouldn't build a house without a plan, you should never design a website without a sitemap. Good planning avoids frequent redesigns and a flexible site structure, not to mention good usability. If you dont have the luxury of working with an information architect or if you are creating a fairly small website you will have to get your hands dirty and create your own sitemaps. The standard tool for this job is Visio but to tell you the truth I'm not a big fan, I'd much rather use Illustrator or even Omnigraffe. I like to make them look a little interesting and to save time I often re-use some of my old files/templates. Below are some templates (files are EPS Illustrator CS) that you can download to create your own site maps.

Stock.xchng Getty Images CSA Images -icons, illustrations, clip art, ornamental designs... Stockxpert Istockphoto Istockpro Dreamstime Photocase Freefoto Stockvault 123rf   Email Encryptor- If you dont want to receive spam use this encryptor when you are adding an email to your html pages. Yahoo design pattern library Download a stencil kit Welie- Patterns of interaction design UX toolkit by Fluid

Email marketing tools-

Most email marketing templates need to be created using the basic html without styles, here is a useful tool that tells you if your code has anything that email programs will have issues with-

http://code.dunae.ca/premailer.web/

Some useful tools & websites.

FAVICONS - Create a Favicon for your website.

Browser size & browser stats - Check your browser size and set your browser size tool.

Browser usage stats W3C

Background Patterns- from the guys at K10K. Download a pattern tile or customise your own by colorising one that you download.

Developer cheat sheets - Because sometimes Dreamweaver just doesn't do what you want it to do.

Type Tester- Compare fonts and font sizes online.

The Elements of typography applied to the Web

The web developers handbook - useful resources for web developers

A list apart - For people who make websites

Web Design from scratch - great site with really useful info specially for those starting out in webdesign.

W3C Markup validator - Checks your code for non-compliant errors

Domain tools: Includes 'Who is' look up search & SEO text browser and score.

CSS websites, tutorials and tools

Adobe Studio features tutorials, tips and info for designers.



This site features a list of corporate brand guidelines & styleguides to download and view.



Annual Report Gallery
Good inspiration for brochure design and annual report designs.


Logo designs
Trying to find a particular logo? Also good for inspiration.



This is a really useful site, created by Yale University. I came across it in 1999 just as they were printing the contents into a book.



Usability Professionals' Association.
Covers what is usability, guidelines & methods,etc.



www.useit.com
The so called 'guru of the web' Jakob Nielsens' website.





Boxes and Arrows is the definitive source for the complex task of bringing architecture and design to the digital landscape



Features some tips for designers




Design forums