Design patterns are in vogue and have been for quite a while, I believe in them, I use them and find them invaluable to short cut my thinking processes. I am more of a class library designer than an interface designer so I ten to use them alot.
The only issue with being at ease with class design and not interface design is that as a web developer interface design is a big part of my job, so to help me build on my interface design I spend alot of my time trawling the web to see how other people have created their interfaces and learning from their successes and failures.
What I really need is an abstract representation of these interface design patters, yes you guessed it, there is a web site with this information. A Danish web developer called Anders Toxboe has created a great web site which lists alot of the UI design patterns you see throughout the web but in one place.
To see his current list of UI design patters you can find them at http://ui-patterns.com/
Along with using the right UI pattern you also need the right look and feel for your web site. However to be successful you also need to know how the majority of web users actually use your web page. Smashing Magazine have published an article which contains 10 tips on achieving your goal of the best web design. The article opens with a introduction into how users will scan your pages, which gave me a great insight into how to better structure my pages for easy access and presentation of key information.
To read "10 Principles of Effective Web Design" go here
