Holiday Reading List: The Top 10 Stories of 2016

The holiday season is often a nostalgic time when we reflect on the year gone by. Whatever you see when you look back at 2016, the team here at the Shopify Web Design and Development Blog wants to stroll with you down memory lane. We pulled together our best articles of the year, and hope they inspire and challenge you as much as they did us. Enjoy!

The holiday season is often a nostalgic time when we reflect on the year gone by.

Some think back to the growth their business has seen, others the amazing challenges they’ve overcome; perhaps your year was one of personal fulfillment and joy.

Whatever you see when you look back, the team here at the Shopify Web Design and Development Blog want to stroll with you down memory lane.

We pulled together our best articles of 2016, and hope they inspire and challenge you as much as they did us.

And as you start to contemplate all that lies ahead, may this collection of articles help prepare you for the challenges and successes sure to come in 2017.

Enjoy!

You might also like: 10 Beautiful Christmas-Themed Ecommerce Websites to Get You in The Holiday Spirit.

Starting Your Own Web Design Company

We start this list of articles with yet another list of articles! But hear me out — it’s an epic list of articles that will help you with every facet of starting your own web design or development business. This article covers every stage of your journey, including working as a freelancer, finding and managing clients, and tips for taking your creative endeavor to the next level.

3 Simple Steps for Setting Up a Local Shopify Theme Development Environment

Lots of developers and designers use and love the online Shopify Theme Editor — but if you’re looking to develop Shopify Themes locally, you should know that you’re not limited to the online theme editor alone. In this article, we cover three simple steps that’ll help you start developing themes on your local development environment.

Designing with SVG

Earlier this year, we sat down with Chris Coyier — co-founder of CodePen, author of A Book Apart’s Practical SVG, and creator of CSS-Tricks — for a Shopify Partner Session webinar, and chatted about how web designers and developers can incorporate SVG elements into their design toolkits. We compiled five of his tactics into one article that helps you easily implement SVG objects into your next client project.

How to Build a Shopify App in One Week

Shopify app developer and ecommerce consultant Eric Davis busts the myth that creating a custom Shopify App for a client is crazy or difficult. In fact, he argues it’s doable in one week, and might even be the best option for your client.

99 Beautiful Ecommerce Website Designs

Prepare for wow. We’ve done ecommerce website design roundups in the past, but we’ve never been able to capture so many of our favorites ecommerce designs in one go. From art and photography, to food and drink, this list has all the amazing ecommerce website design inspiration you’ll ever need.

You might also like: How Ecommerce Stores Are Designing Web Pages for the Christmas Shopping Season.

20 Expert Strategies to Help Overcome Creative Blocks

I’m sure you’re familiar with the feeling. A deadline is looming; a client awaits. You know your brain has the capacity to dream up a beautiful solution to the problem you’re trying to solve, but it’s just. not. happening.

When a creative block lodges itself in your path, how do you smash down that wall to release your creative energy? Here are a few key strategies to get your creative mojo back.

How One Sri Lankan Teen Transformed His Life With Freelancing

At only 19, Shopify Expert Mohammadu Mifras has achieved a great deal in the span of only a few years. His amazing story of family struggle, freelancing, and Shopify Partner success will get you inspired and ready to tackle 2017 with a fresh sense of gusto.

15 Web Designer and Development YouTube Channels To Subscribe To

Once you skip past all the cat videos, there’s a world of web design and development knowledge to explore on YouTube. This list consists of channels covering everything from color theory and creating color palettes, to parallax effect animations. You could even start on the Shopify Partners channel (😏 ) and watch our latest webinars with industry experts, like Eva Lotta-Lamm and Jeffrey Zeldman.

The Seven Deadly Sins of User Experience Design

If you want a competitive advantage, nothing is better than offering a great experience to your customers. But are you doing all you can to create a great experience, or just paying lip service to it?

Digital strategy industry leader Paul Boag shares his playful yet informative take on the seven deadly sins of user experience design. We hope you’re a saint and not a sinner.

How to Design a Wholesale Solution for an Ecommerce Store

Shopify Expert Mark Perini dives into what wholesale’s got to do with your role as a designer or developer (a lot, it turns out). If you haven’t built a wholesale store yet, it can be a great way to re-engage a client with whom you’ve lost touch. Maybe they’ve never thought B2B was possible, and if that's the case, you could be the inspiration for a new-found revenue stream. Take a read and learn something new!

You might also like: 12 Holiday Gifts for the Designers and Developers in Your Life.

What was your favorite article of the year? Let us know in the comments section below!