Some really strong blogs:

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/
http://www.zeldman.com/
http://www.simplebits.com/

I suggest also checking out google groups for specialties that you're interested in.

Links:

• http://www.boxesandarrows.com/
• http://www.zeldman.com/
• http://www.simplebits.com/

posted August 9, 2008

I have found these sites useful:
www.alistapart.com
www.meyerweb.com
www.zeldman.com
www.cssbeauty.com
www.catswhocode.com
www.nettuts.com
www.jankoatwarpspeed.com
www.sitepoint.com
www.webmonkey.com
www.lynda.com

posted August 9, 2008

You will probably find that most professional web developers are not actively involved in social networking or communities - they are too busy. They will however monitor several of the more prominent blogs (which others have commented on, along with others), in order to "keep an ear to the ground".

You're asking a similar question to "where do you get design inspiration from?" - in reality we soak information and imagery up all the time, and the skill perhaps is in relating it to a required solution when needed.

posted August 9, 2008

I agree with Johnathan's comment, there are a lot of forums out there, like DigitalPoint that sort of appear to be developer forums but they tend to be frequented by people who are new to development and are there to ask questions, seemingly usually questions that can easily be found by doing a few searches on Google. The places where you will find that there are some really knowledgeable people are forums that are specific to a certain open source project, such as Drupal, or something like the Amazon Web Services forums. These sites usually have a few experts that will answer questions for those of us who aren't experts but they still usually consist mainly of non-expert posters who are asking questions. I think that the really good people are generally too busy to participate in forums much unless they are actively participating in the development of an open source project.

posted August 9, 2008

Hi Connie, that is a really tough question in general. With so many sites out there and some focused on specific types of web development. If I’m looking to find or share information about a cool component in .net I’m probably going to stick to some of the sites such as http://www.asp.net/, www.msdn.com or http://channel9.msdn.com/. If I’m looking for style tips, I might visit http://www.cssbeauty.com/gallery/ for some inspiration and have found a few video tutorials on youtube.com good to watch as well.

From your question and your employer I’m going out on a ledge here and guessing you are looking for ideas for one of your new projects. Looking for feedback as to what we’d like to see is a great idea. I’m sure that you would agree that in there are many types of web developers out there and roles they play and keeping them all happy might be a hard thing to do.

When I’m wearing my design hat, I’m usually looking for galleries, inspiration, tips. When programming bits, it’s usually helpful to have downloads and samples to view or play with.

Short answers to your questions after all that:

Components I like include; ratings, comments (to try to filter out the idiots quicker), videos, related items. Not sure about the irritating part.

As far as interactions, it’s great to see a new angle on things, often I find useful tips, hacks and tricks on blogs I like. If I come across something I find useful, I’ll often email the article to a colleague. When coming across someone I like, I’ll subscribe to their feed if available. One a few sites, you can track the individual user with a digest setting so you are not overwhelmed with emails, that is useful.

I thought this site http://www.community-credit.com/ had a cool concept, something like karma on Slashdot (http://slashdot.org/faq/com-mod.shtml#cm700).

Probably the most common thing we all do when we have a question, want to find out about a technical issue we have is a quick google, from there I’d say that is where I come across most of the communities I like. New ones are coming up all the time and ones I’ve liked go stale, but Google keeps finding them for us.

Hope this helps you, let us know if you create one that we could all use.

posted August 10, 2008

I see several great sites have been mentioned, but the ones listed that I have visited aren't really community sites - a few are great resources sites in other ways.

This is very timely question, Connie, because I was thinking again the other day that I would love to find one that "does the job".

posted August 10, 2008

Hi Rick.

ABay Area Startup Network (BASN) is a fast growing non-profit association in the San Francisco Bay Area focused on helping early stage entrepreneurs build successful companies. Although focused mostly on technology and life sciences, BASN events and membership draw from all sectors of industry.
good place to start www.basn.org btw, I belong to LinkSVC they have a group on LinkedIn

Hope this helps.

Best to you!
William Hicks

posted August 11, 2008

I tend to stick close to the platform/application that I'm working with. For example: I design a lot of sites with Joomla. So, joomla.org is on my daily "browse" list.

I also rely on my subscribed feeds (I use Google Reader). By doing so, I am able to quickly scan my feeds for items of interest.

My two most important reasons for doing so are:

- learn new things
- keep up on the latest trends

Site organization can either create a helpful site, or create one that is extremely frustrating.

-JV

posted August 12, 2008

I am a member of the www.wise-women.org email reflector. It's a great source of information and is a very active group. I also monitor Evolt's list but find it to be less friendly than the Wise Women list.

Links:

• http://www.wise-women.org

posted August 12, 2008

Development with Microsoft is so similar no matter what your presentation layer is that most of the sites I visit are not geared towards web development specifically.

Links:

• http://www.codinghorror.com
• http://dotnetrocks.com
• http://dnrtv.com

posted August 15, 2008