It’s incredibly hot where I am as we enter into the last weekend of May, a three day weekend for many of us. As May draws to an end we get closer to the new Devlounge design and a surge of new content. I want to personally thank Ronald, as his WordPress plugin series (which I promise will be getting it’s own “table of contents” page this weekend) has restored Devlounge visitors to what they were a few weeks back before we began the decline. If you’ve been following the series (which he has left a note about at the end of this week’s focus), please leave your comments in the series finale on how helpful the series was to you. We have had a lot of trackbacks, but little comment feedback on the series itself. It’s always nice to know our readers appreciate the effort of hard working writers.

Let’s kick this weeks focus off. Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Sites of the Week

Up first this week is StayDecent, the personal portfolio of Adrian Unger. For this one, I love how the display of work is put together. There is also Ajax used here and there, and lots and lots of big, bold fonts.

Next up is another portfolio, this one for Jason Julien. The portfolio is neat and clean, and there’s is a very nice collection of work that goes along with it. Worth a look.

Digg Weekly

Favorites from the past 7 days

Design: 60 Elegant and Visually Appealing Designs
From the list-creating-masters of Smashing Magazine comes an entirely new list, this time with 60 “visually appealing and elegant designs”.

Programming: The top 10 dead (or dying) Computer Skills
While not directly related to design, most of us understand computers a bit more than our average friends, so I thought it might be interesting to know what is and isn’t needed anymore.

Up and Coming

Software – 10 Open Source Apps You Can’t Live Without
A nice collection of open source apps including the usual suspects Firefox and Open Office.

Design – 20 Killer Resources Every Good Web Designer Should See : May
Within the post are twenty resources from icons, to CSS, to Web 2.0 layer styles.

Design Dilemma

What would be your approach for finding a color scheme if you are color challenged?

WordPress Plugin Spotlight

The Devlounge Plugin Series is drawing to a close with the last post scheduled to be published Sunday. It has been quite a journey and a few people have e-mailed in saying that the series has been helpful. If you have yet to check out the series and are a WordPress user, please start with the introduction.