Niederst discusses everything a web designer needs, from basic principles and HTML to designing for multiple browsers, cascading style sheets, and XML. For a working web designer this book will be an invaluable quick reference, and it is written well enough that someone just starting out on the web could also use it. Highly recommended for all libraries.
In 1998, Jennifer Niederst wrote the first edition of this very successful book after she found herself spending way too much time chasing down the solutions to HTML problems. From hexadecimal color specs to mouseover scripts, the answers are all out there, but finding the exact one you need can soak up a whole day. "I wrote Web Design in a Nutshell because it was the book I needed--one place to find quick answers to my questions."
With all that's changed in the meantime, an overhaul is welcome. This is the rare book for designers that is almost completely nonvisual. It doesn't show what's hip in navigational bars or what the coolest colors are. Rather, it gives readers the kind of know-how that can make a difference between someone who just whips up pretty pages with WYSIWYG applications like Dreamweaver and someone who can make those pages cross-platform, cross-browser, fast loading, and accessible to all.
The clear organization makes it easy to locate any specific topic. There are six sections. "The Web Environment" discusses the realities of browser compatibility, display-resolution problems, a useful bit of Unix, and tips for print designers looking to move into Web design. "Authoring" shows how to write accurate and up-to-date HTML, cascading style sheets, and Server Side Includes (like putting the current date and time on your homepage).
"Graphics" brings together all you need to know to make effective use of images (GIFs, JPEGS, PNGs, and animated GIFs). "Multimedia and Interactivity" helps with adding audio, video, or Flash to your site (including some succinct tips on optimization and publish settings). And "Advanced Technologies" covers JavaScript, DHTML, XML, XHTML, and WAP and WML. And there are six useful look-up tables in the appendix, which include HTML 4.0 tags, deprecated tags, attributes, and CSS support across browsers. Web Design in a Nutshell could easily have been titled The Web Designer's Companion--it's mighty handy to have around. --Angelynn Grant --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)
5 Website Design Common Mistakes You Should Avoid
by: Websites disappear from the internet everyday. Do you want your website to be one of them?
Of course not.
Then how can you avoid your website's failure?
The answer is - understand the common mistakes other websites made and avoid doing them in your website.
Here are 5 of them, which you should try to avoid at all cost.
1. A slow loading website.
Most visitors are impatient to wait for a website loading for more than 10 seconds. In building your website, try not to use any enormous graphic files. No, you do not need a high resolution images. No, you do not need lengthy movies or flash animation. No, you do not need appealing music. You need a website that deliver the information strict to the point at fast as possible, and for this reason, you should focus on functionality first, design second.
2. A complicated and difficult to understand navigation system.
do not make your menu bar too complicated, otherwise you will end up pushing your visitors away from your websites. Therefore, you need to make it easy for them to explore your website. Your pages must be linked in a logical way, and this connection should be easily navigable through an simple interface that even a 10 years old boy or 60 years old grandma will be able to understand. Place your navigation links either at the top of the page right below the header, or at either side of the page in a separate column.
This is where your visitors' eyes tend to look once they want to visit the other pages in your website.
3. Low quality content.
Content is the king on the net. People use the internet to search information they need, and information is shared through your content. If your content is poorly written, who will have the patience to read it? Or if your content is not unique, why will people choose your website over others? In brief, there are two requisites for good quality content: excellent presentation and originality. Without either of this, your website will be in trouble for retaining repeat visitors.
4. Poor choice of keywords
Keywords are the terms that people search for when they're looking for information. They drive traffic to your website. If you targeted the right keywords, quality targeted visitors will come. If you targeted the wrong keywords, your website will have low traffic. Therefore, you should research the right keywords before you start building your website and content.
5. A website without focus.
Focus is the key in designing a good website. Why would visitors who are interested with cats be interested with computer? There is no direct connection between the two subjects, it will just confuse your visitors and kick them away. So generally you should build your website on one main theme.
Now I have shared 5 common mistakes that you should avoid. Your online business success depends on how well your website designs.
So it's your time to think about how you can properly build your website. Take care.
About The Author
Mark Tse shares free tips, articles and downloads in his Internet Marketing Blog. Why do not visit his blog to get more great marketing related content? Click here to visit now: ==> http://www.marktse.com/blog/Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, Graphics, and Beyond [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)
A guide for beginners to the art of learning Web design. Includes tips on what to do and what not to do, with a tutorial on building usable Web sites that covers information design, interface design, and navigation systems. Also covers HTML basics, images, and the use of software to enhance Web pages. Softcover. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
In Learning Web Design, author Jennifer Niederst shares the knowledge she's gained from years of web design experience, both as a designer and a teacher. This book starts from the beginning-- defining the Internet, the Web, browsers, and URLs -- so you don't need to have any previous knowledge about how the Web works. After reading this book, you'll have a solid foundation in HTML, graphics, and design principles that you can immediately put to use in creating effective web pages.
In the second edition, Jennifer has updated the book to cover style sheets and reflect current web standards. She has also added exercises that help you to learn various techniques and short quizzes that make sure you're up to speed with key concepts. The companion CD-ROM contains material for all the exercises in the book, as well as trial versions of Fireworks® MX, and HomeSite™ 5; Adobe ® Photoshop® 7, ImageReady® 7, and BBEdit 7.*
Learning Web Design, 2nd Edition:
* Covers the nuts and bolts of basic HTML and style sheets, with detailed examples of formatting text, adding graphic elements, making links, creating tables and frames, and using color on the Web.
* Explains whether to use GIFs or JPEGs for different types of images, and includes important tips on optimizing graphics for web delivery.
* Provides dozens of web design do and don'ts, to help you make good web design decisions and avoid common beginner traps.
* Contains hands-on exercises throughout the book that allow you to try out new techniques along the way.
Unlike other beginner books, Learning Web Design leaves no holes in your education. It gives you everything you need to create basic web sites and will prepare you for more advanced web work. If you are interested in web design, this book is the place to start. After finishing it, you'll be ready for the author's bestselling companion reference, Web Design in a Nutshell.
* Fireworks and HomeSite are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Adobe, ImageReady, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Custom Web Design and Online Promotion Go Hand-in-Hand
by: Many new online business owners have misconceptions about custom web design. It's not only about getting your website up and running. It's about designing every aspect of your website - every "nook and cranny" - to lead your visitors to the ultimate end, a sale. Whether you plan to build a service-oriented website or offer many products, your site's design must have all the ingredients for success from the very start. Be sure the web designer you choose has an understanding of promotion as well as custom web design. Here are some features your site must have to survive among the Internet masses.
An Easily Recognized USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
When a visitor arrives at any of your web pages (not only the homepage), he/she should understand what your site is all about immediately. You only have a split second to grab their attention. Make sure each web page has a powerful keyword-rich headline that will keep the visitor reading.
Graphics that Complement without Dominating the Web Pages
Every website needs a few graphics here and there to make the web design pleasing to the eye, but be sure your graphic design and logo design do not dominate your pages. You want visitors to read your page, not look at your graphics. So, keep graphics to a minimum, and use them only when they help to create an even reading flow on the page. Many sites use a pleasant "newsletter" style when there is much to read on a page, sprinkling graphics or photos throughout the text in a wrap-around sense. For logo design, keep it small and simple. There's nothing more annoying than waiting on a page to load because its logo is too big!
Keyword Rich Content for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Be sure your designer understands about SEO and keywords. Every page of your site should be designed with search engine promotion in mind. This means gearing your meta tags, link text for pages or in menus, headlines, image "alt text" contents, etc. to attract search engine traffic for the long haul.
Easy-to-Use Navigation
Be sure the navigation on your web pages is easy to use. Many visitors will not take the time to "search" for hidden links or to browse through a confusing menu. If ordering custom web design from a professional, write out on paper how you would like your link system to flow from page to page. If you have content, place visible, colored links within the text to give visitors a chance to click while reading. Have menu bars or links in the usual places - sidebars and top/bottom of the web page.
Promote your Website
Some design firms will offer promotion bonuses with a custom web design package. This benefits you because it helps you to get a head start on building traffic. You can take advantage of the design firm's skills and knowledge about Web promotion and search engine optimization. Don't forget to promote your website in every way possible. Print your site address on business cards, newspaper ads, letterhead, etc. Also, promote your site online using only targeted advertising.
Custom web design techniques and promotion are so tightly knit together that it's impossible to separate the two. Be sure to include both in your custom web design plans so you can see positive results from the start!
About The Author
Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource web site at: http://www.majon.comTo learn more about subjects like custom web design please visit the web site at: http://www.webdesignoffice.us
For more information and informative related articles and links about this subject matter and content, please visit Majon's Business and Entrepreneurs directory: http://www.majon.com/directory/Business_and_Entrepreneurs
Web Design Garage (The Garage Series) (Paperback)
Get free two-day shipping on this item when you spend $200.00 or more on Qualifying Textbooks offered by Amazon.com. Prime members will also receive a $20 promotional certificate to be used for a future purchase. Need a promo code? Enter code TBFALLO7 at checkout. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Book Description
Web Design Garage is a hands-on guide for Web design and usability. In thespirit of the Garage series, this book doesn't preach to the reader or coverground already well documented in software manuals. Instead, it providespractical, quick solutions to common design and usability problems.- This book includes layout diagrams in addition to graphical Web-pagemockups. By comparing the figures, the reader learns how to visualize designproblems in terms of the underlying layout.- In addition to the standard Toolkit, Blog, FAQ, and Glossary features of theGarage series, this book includes a View Source element for commentedHTML source listings of layout diagrams and a Help element for tips andtroubleshooting. These elements approximate common designer responses toproblems: viewing the source of a page and going for the help file.- Each topic in the book can be read or referenced as a stand alone solution,but cross-references are included where appropriate to foster a nonlinear,browsing feel. These "links" are helpful for those readers who want to learnmore about a particular aspect of the problem.
Technologies And Design Elements To Improve Web-site Navigation
by: As you browse the Web, you will find sites that implement just about every type of navigation scheme you can think of and then even some more! However, certain common factors do emerge. The use of menu bars, either horizontally or vertically oriented, are the most common way of allowing users to move through your site.
Sites with a great deal of content often implement dynamic menu bars that change to present the most relevant options on each page. Sites often use some kind of “feedback” or special effect to let users know where certain navigation elements are located, such as graphics that change colors when the users point their mouse at them.
You can use a variety of technologies and design elements to implement Web site navigation. As you consider different navigation techniques, keep the following seven basic comparison factors in mind:
Visual
Does the technique look and like a navigation element that users are accustomed to seeing? In other words, is it a button or a menu that users will recognize as a navigation element?
Feedback
Does the technique offer some form of feedback to indicate that a user has pointed at or clicked a particular navigation element? This type of feedback can be important because users often explore a site by moving their mouse around to see what happens. Navigation techniques that allow individual elements to respond to this activity make the overall navigation more likely to succeed.
Accessibility
How does the technique work when a visually impaired person attempts to use the site with a specially equipped Web browser? If this demographic is important to your company, pay special attention to this capability.
Overhead
Some techniques require the Web browser to server to transfer more data to the Web browser than is required by other techniques. If your customers will be accessing the site over slower connections, then using techniques with a high overhead will result in slow page loads, and possibly bored customers who will give up and move on to the competition.
Scalability
Does the technique offer any particular advantages to make growing the site easier? Some navigation designs may require you to redesign the entire site every time a new feature is added. Others may simply require a few minor modifications to add several new departments to a menu.
Space
Some techniques, combined with your site’s browsing philosophy, require considerable space on the screen. Other techniques allow you to present a wider array of navigation choices while using less screen space. Keep in mind that your navigation elements should never occupy the majority of the screen. It is the content that your customers came for, not the menu bars.
Compatibility
How well wills this technique work within the available range of Web browsers? If one of your objectives is to have your site usable by as many customers as possible, pay attention to the techniques that offer a broad range of compatibility, and steer away those that are limited to a smaller set of browsers.
Navigation Technologies
To implement Web site navigation, you can use one of four primary technologies. The oldest and simplest of these technologies is the basic, static HTML page. A step up from that is the static HTML page, which is dynamically generated on the Web server. Web pages can be given more interactive capabilities with Dynamic HTML (DHTML), whether programmed in VBScript or JavaScript. Java presents the opportunity to program a complete, standalone application to use as a navigation aid.
Static HTML
Static HTML links are the oldest and simplest form of navigation on the Web. They can be less exciting than their dynamic counterparts, but remain one of the most effective navigational techniques on the Web.
Dynamically Generated Static HTML
If your site is constantly growing and changing, static HTML will require a constant effort to keep the navigational elements in line with the site’s growth. A common solution to this problem has been to dynamically generate the navigation elements when the page displays. When using the DHTML, you don’t have to manually update elements as the site grows, because an automated process generates the navigation elements as necessary, based on the information in a database.
VBScript and JavaScript Dynamic HTML
DHTML is a technology that allows you to embed programming code in the Web pages that are sent to user’s computers. DHTML code actually executes within the users Web browser, and can change the appearance and content of the Web page in response to the user’s actions on the page.
In Finality
You can use a variety of technologies and design elements to implement Web site navigation. As you consider different navigation techniques, keep the above seven basic comparison factors in mind. Visitors are becoming rare and rare in this competitive globe of e-commerce. Retain those who visit to your site for longer period in order to convert them as customers. Site navigation techniques help you to do so.
About The Author
David Davis, is the lead developer and project manager of RedflyStudios LTD. – Web Design Ireland. For more information visit http://www.redflystudios.com© 2006 David Davis. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
Friday, August 17, 2007
Six Common Mistakes In Website Design That Kill Your Online Business
by: Some websites fare well. Others falter - and miserably at that. What’s the difference? What do the successful websites do right and what do the failed websites do wrong?
The answer - or answers even - isn’t difficult to fathom. There are quite a number of common mistakes that seal the fate on internet marketers and their dreams. Here are 6 of them, which hopefully, you’d try to avoid at all cost.
1. A slow loading website. There is nothing more irritating than a website that tales forever to load. Granted that most internet users these days have high speed connections, a great percentage are still hooked up to the World Wide Web via slower 56K access. This percentage should not be taken for granted. In building your website, try to stay away from the humongous graphic files. No, you don’t need a high number of pixels. No, you don’t need fancy movies or flash animation. No, you don’t need catchy music. You need a website that will deliver the information it promises at an instantaneous rate, and for this reason, you have to choose functionality over design.
2. A navigation system that is very difficult to understand. If your menu bar is too complicated, you’ll just end up driving away a lot of your visitors. You don’t want your visitors to get stuck in just one page. You need to make it easy for them to explore your website. Your pages must be interlinked in a logical way, and this connection should be easily navigable through an intuitive interface that even a 7 year old will be able to understand. Again, this is a matter of functionality over design. Place your navigation links either at the top of the page right below the header, or at either side of the page in a separate column. This is where your visitors’ eyes will wander once they want to discover the other pages in your website.
3. Low quality content. Content is king on the internet. People log online to find information they need, and information is conveyed through your content. If your content is poorly written, who will have the patience to read the same? If your content is not unique, why will people choose your website over others? Indeed, there are two requisites for good quality content: excellent presentation and originality. Minus either of this, your entire website will be in jeopardy.
4. Poor choice of keywords to focus on. Keywords drive traffic to your website. Keywords are the terms that people search for when they’re looking for information. If you targeted the right keywords, quality visitors will come aplenty. If you targeted the wrong keywords, visitors will be scarce. So make sure you discover the right keywords even before you start building your website.
5. Cookie cutter websites. Again, this is a matter of originality - or the lack of it. Why would people choose your website over thousands of others sharing the same layout and boasting of the same content? What makes your website special? If these questions cannot be answered positively, then your online business is doomed. Worse, search engines penalize duplicate content, and your website will have a lower position in the search engine results.
6. A website that lacks focus. Focus is key in designing a website. It will be difficult for a website to focus on several, unrelated topics. Why would visitors who are interested with dogs be interested with astronomy? There’s no connection between the two subjects, and if your website caters to these topics, among others, then prepare for some rough sailings ahead.
These are the things you should try to avoid. Your online business depends on how well your website fares. So take some time to think about how you can properly build your website,
About The Author
Mike Spence has been involved in Website design and marketing for years and currently runs variety of business online and offline. Readers can visit He's http://LiveDeal.com Classified WebsiteMike is in a variety of business such as international trade, publishing, media, and maunufacturing selling different types of products and offering advice to customers. For more infomation about this topic visit: http://mystore.livedeal.com/miketrader
Why HTML Is Better For Web Design
by: Why HTML is better for web design.
Flash and heavy image websites may look good, they often do. But how effective are they? Not as effective as you may think. Most people think once a website is created it is going to found by everyone on the internet. They couldn’t be more wrong. This article will talk about why HTML is a key to a website and its success.
HTML is the only language search engines can understand, anything else is like a foreign language. Search engines cannot read flash. They cannot read JavaScript. They cannot read images. That is why you are going to want to find a web designer who is going to be able to create a strong based HTML website.
Now I am not saying that if your website is heavy in flash, JavaScript and images it’s not going to be found. You still have you Meta tags, you did remember those right? Search engines work on keywords, word that people are going to use when finding your website. If you have read my article on Better Goggle Rakings you will be familiar on this, if not, I would suggest reading that next. If your website was developed in flash, you will still have the Meta tags working for you, but those can only take you so far. Websites that are heavy or well balanced in content are better. When a website is made in flash the text is imbedded in the flash file, the swf or it is loaded externally. It is not directly in/on the page for the search engines to find. Same goes with JavaScript and images. With images you have a little lead way, the alt tag. For those of you who are unfamiliar with HTML code, the alt tag is what you code into an image. So when you hover over an image, you will see the popup with the title written in it. But if you content is on the image, forget about getting a good ranking. A general rule of thumb, websites should have about 200 words of content, rich with keywords and unique content.
HTML is great and all, but there are a few things it cannot do for you. Animations, sometimes good, but are often used wrong. Floating menus, animated menus and drop down menus. Again, these can look very good if done well, but they are invisible to search engines. Links are a big thing to them too, search engines love to see a lot of links, incoming and outgoing to websites. If you are linked with websites of a higher page rank thank you is can be better for you and help your page rank. Now with that said here are some things that HTML will give you that other languages cannot. Keyword related navigation, again, back to the links. The links on your website should relate into what they are taking you too. Sounds obvious huh? You wouldn’t believe the amount of links I have seen taking me somewhere else other than what the menu said. Real text; keyword rich, unique content that will bring your customers to your page along with good page rank from Google. Lastly, with HTML, the page is your canvas, free to do anything you want and still have it be effective enough for your customers to be able to navigate you site.
So what’s a website with out any images? Not a whole lot in my opinion. But you just said websites shouldn’t have images on them. Wrong. I said that a website with heavy imagery is not always good. Take my website for instance, images all around you, but the pages are balance with my content, content that is keyword rich. So read some tutorials on Photoshop, slice it up and put some quality content in it and you should have a pretty effective website. Just keep in mind all of the above. Websites that look stunning are not always a good thing. Your website should look good, but it should be effective and smooth for the user to navigate through.
Having your website created by me will not only guarantee you a strong design and strong functionality. It will rank well in Google, keep your customers coming back and they will not be getting them lost in the navigation.
About The Author
Chris LowdenI have been doing web design for a number of years now. I have always loved the internet, so I decided to pursue a career in it. You can visit my website here.
http://www.chrislowden.com
Professional Web Design
by: Professional web design is becoming more important in today's ever-chaging marketplace. Whether you are trying to establish yourself as an online presence or acquire more clientele, professional web design has become crucial. What is it that distinguishes you from your competitor? How often do you find yourself wishing you had an online presence? Are you an entrepreneur? Would your business be better served by professional web design?
So, how do you think your business could be better served by professional web design? Could it be one of the following reasons:
* Flash Environment--Interactive WebPages
* PHP Environment--Dynamic WebPages
* HTML Environment--Static WebPages
* Search Engine Optimization
* E-Commerce Development
* Sales Page
* Video Tutorials
* Product Launch
* Affiliate Program
* Lead Capture--Acquiring New Clientele
* Recreating a Professional Look
* Creating A Link Directory
eYouCanDoIt, Inc. realizes the importance of professional web development and what it means to your business in terms of deadlines. That is why we strive to complete your professional website in two weeks. After gathering the necessary information to complete your website, we give ourselves a deadline of two weeks. This helps us ensure that your professionally-designed website is completed in a timely manner.
Professional web design and focus on your website is important to us. For that reason, we limit ourselves to five projects every two weeks. After your website is completed, your professional web design comes with one full year of support on operating and adjusting your website.
About The Author
Bradley G. Smith is a freelance Professional Web Designer. He designs web sites for entrepreneurs and small businesses. View his portfolio at the following link: http://www.eyoucandoit.comAdvantages and Disadvantages Of Using Web Templates or WYSIWYG Editors For Web Designing
by:
This article discusses the pros and cons of using website templates and WYSIWYG editors to design web pages as against traditional web programming. This article is intended for novice web developers and prospective website owners.
Template based web page development:
A lot of people get tempted by good looking web templates. Some template vendors even offer do-it-yourself kits to their customers. Web templates are designed by experts, using the latest designing software. They look stunning, compared to web pages developed by other means. While readymade templates offer several advantages, they have some disadvantages too.
Advantages of using templates:
1. You know how your finished site looks. You can choose the template that appeals to you. You need not rely on a web developer to get a good looking website.
2. Faster turnaround. You need not spend a lot of time on getting the colors and layout right. You can go straight to changing text and proceed with programming.
3. Templates are much cheaper than hiring a web developer. There are several sites that offer free templates as well.
4. Templates look much better than sites developed in traditional HTML programming. Templates are designed by professionals that are creative and competent and experienced.
5. Templates can be customized by anyone with basic HTML knowledge. You can customize the template yourself using a text editor.
Disadvantages of using templates:
1. You can get web templates for free or at a low-price. But these templates are not unique. Several people may have already bought or downloaded the template you have chosen. If you cant change the colors or layout a bit, your site looks like a clone of several sites. If you want a unique template design licensed only to you, you need to spend a fortune on it.
2. Often, templates don’t look good if you stretch them a bit. For example, if there is space for 100 words in a block and if you try to insert 200 words in that space, the template layout may change. And this may not look good. This puts limitations on text you can place in a template based web page, thereby restricting you from optimizing text or being descriptive about your business. It is well known that the more verbose in a page the more attention it gets from search engines. A template doesn’t come with Meta tags. You need to insert these meta tags.
3. Templates are good for static pages. If a site needs dynamic pages with a huge database to built, you need to opt for simpler templates.
4. If you are doing customization for yourself, always work on a copy of the template files. Templates are often done with simple HTML. But if you try to edit HTML tags instead of text between them, you might end up with bad page layout.
5. If there are template files with .tpl extension, locate the files where variables are defined. Then try to establish the logic behind the file system.
Using WYSIWYG editors:
Nowadays, several WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are available for creating web pages. With these editors it is possible to create good looking pages simply by dragging and dropping objects on the page, without any HTML knowledge. They come with a lot of menu options. If you are familiar with windows objects or windows based software, you can create a web page in time.
Advantages of using a WYSIWYG editor:
1. It's great fun to create web pages this way. You can do it yourself, experimenting with colors and layouts. The web page is likely to be unique, unless you are trying to clone another web page. You can stretch your imagination.
2. It’s faster and easier to create web pages. You can make changes to a page layout by simply dragging the objects to their new positions.
3. You can make changes to content (text or images) in WYSIWYG editor, instead of searching for and inserting between HTML tags, or using a complex content management system.
4. WYSIWYG software runs on any windows computer.
5. you can also create background images on fly.
Disadvantages of using a WYSIWYG editor:
1. A WYSIWYG editor produces files of large sizes. The web page may take a bit longer to download.
2. The HTML code generated may not be compliant with existing web standards. Some of these editors are meant for web sites to be hosted with particular servers. Some WYSIWYG editors even produce files with their own extensions.
3. You need to fill in a lot of details, such as Meta tags and link colors for each page. Some WYSIWIG editors support CSS while editing and some don’t.
4. You need to preview the page in different browsers more often to see if the page is shaping up as you intended.
5. Web pages designed using WYSIWYG editors are rigid. They do not stretch if you put more text or images on a page. Instead they overlap on each other. Some WYSIWYG editors produce excessive div tags. It is difficult to edit these pages in an ordinary HTML editor.
6. Often these web pages are difficult to optimize for search engines.
I believe this article will help you in deciding the tools to use for your next website. If your site requires a huge database and pages need to produce dynamically, it is always better to opt for traditional programming methods. If your site is static, then a great looking template or using WYSIWYG editor will be a good option. Another factor you need to consider is SEO. If you want to rely on traffic from search engines, traditional HTML, CSS gives you the best results. If you can promote your site by spending huge amounts of money, you can go for flashier and visually stunning templates without much regard to SEO.
About The Author
Jaya Kumar Patchala is a web hosting provider and web developer. Author sites http://www.hotbusinesssolutions.com and http://www.hostingplans4all.com. Author’s email : jkpatchala@gmail.comDoes SEO and Web Design a Pair of Enemy?
by: The following scenario happens every day:
To many web designers, they want to draw visitors attention and develop many creativity features on the website. The Website owner feels very good and pay for the design. The website owner is likely to find that they need more search engine traffic and want to acquire some good search engine ranking. However, search engine optimizers tell them your website is not able to be indexed by search engines because there are too many creativity features, for example, excessive Javascript, full flash website, etc. To rectify the situation, you must remove all those elements. It creates a dilimmea for the website owner.
On one hand, he wants search engine traffic. On the other hand, he wants an interesting and appealing website. The website owner will ask "God, what can I do?"
Is it true that if you want top search engine ranking, your website must be a boring ,full of text website?
Probably No.
The following provides some recommendation to rectify the situation:
1. Flash Website
Search engines cannot "understand" flash but it does not mean that you cannot use Flash design. To solve the problem, you can use Flash header and put text under the flash header. An example can refer to website http://www.star-prototype-china.com company.
Nowadays, many flash has no real meaning to visitors and is for decoration purpose only. In this case, you can make a smaller flash header. If your flash header is trying to deliver a message, you can make a larger flash header to draw attention.
2. Interactive Scripts
You may want to add some interactive feature or picture swapping function on your website via Javascript/VBScript and etc. However, improper use of Javascript can hinder your website being indexed. For example, a garment software vendor embraced all hyperlinks by Javascript. As a consequence, search engines read their homepage only but did not index all their inner pages.
To ensure Javascript does not hinder search engine crawlers, I recommend you using external Javascript technique. Additionally, all important hyperlinks should be presented by basic HTML anchor tag.
3. Link Exchange Page
Some website owners refuse to exchange links with other websites because they think a link page makes their site very odd. How about making your link exchange page in this way? First, write a useful article and then assemble the links into the content. It makes the link page becomes useful for visitors and the links become more natural as if it is part of your content. If a link cannot be assembled into the content, it may mean that your content is very poor or the link partners actually is not relevant to your business. Why do you exchange links with them? Remember, search engines only value relevant 2-way links.
4. Content Management System
Website owners are keen to use content management system (CMS) to update their website becuase it is more easy and faster for them to update their websites.
However, many CMS generate webpages dynamically. It is widely known that search engines have difficulty to read or a tendency to ignore dynamically generated web pages.
I will recommend you must spend time to find a good CMS or a good web host providing CMS that can generate static webpages. Since Omega Plastics, http://www.rapidmanufacture.co.uk starts to use this kind of CMS, all of your web pages can be indexed by search engines. In the past, only 1 web page can be read by search engines.
About The Author
Emily Yan, is working in Agog SEO Services, http://www.agogseo.com, a SEO company dedicated to internet marketing.Getting Professional Web Design Right
by: All businesses want a great website, but few are willing to pay for an expertly designed site. Personal websites where you just want to show your friends your pictures or share your stories, a basic static website is a great idea, but you will get little traffic, and you will also have to tell your friends the name of the site. The internet is great for sharing pictures files etc and for personal fun sites a professional website is not necessary.
Businesses on the other hand want a site that attracts visitors and brings them back again and again, and hopefully buying their services or products. Only a professional well designed website will bring the visitors in, and even then it may not due to the amount of competition on the web. A website needs to stand out from the crowd and also there is the question of optimisation; does it come up on the first page off Google when doing a relevant search? Unless the site is professionally designed with Google friendly relevant content and the site is listed on many other relevant sites then very few people will find it. So what is the point in wasting money on domain registration, web design and hosting only to find out that the site is not bringing in any extra business. Basically the site is useless and a waste of money and you may have wondered why you bothered!
Getting it right is the trick and there are lots of people offering to do this but are they really interested in helping you and your site do well? Or are they just lining their pocket? It is tricky to know if your website designer has your best interests at heart and whether they have the professionalism build the site well.
So what makes a good website design?
• Focused home page with clear readable text
• Pleasant to the eye, minimum colours – not multi coloured
• Clear navigation buttons and links
• Consistent relevant pages
• Pages that download quickly
This is just a few simple pointers but the best way is to pay a professionally web designer to do all this for you.
If you want your site to bring you business then it is worth paying a little bit more for a professional designed site by knowledgeable people. BlueStreamDesign.com is run by a competent company who know what they are talking about. A lot of companies seem to think they know what they are doing but all they want is your money and lots of it.
Carolyn is the webmaster of Blue Stream Design your professional web design partner. This article is free to republish provided this resource box remains intact.
About The Author
Carolyn ClaytonBlueStreamDesign is the best for the UK for Professional Website Design services.
http://BlueStreamDesign.com
Is Your Website Design Professional?
by: In business world, you need a professional image, a professional sales team. Similarily, as one of your company member, is company website performs in professional fashion? Company website is your online sales team, do you know how professional it is?
#1 You have a beautiful website background?
In personal website, we can always find some beautiful background image or eye-catching background color. In some company websites, they also use some company photo, factory photo or product photo as the website background. Actually, it is not the right way to do. The right way is "Make it simple".
You will never find a background image in Yahoo, Google. People visit your website is looking for information not the beautiful background. Moreover, the background image have disadvantages: loading time will be longer and distract the visitor attention. Think again what information the background image can bring to your customer? If no, take it off.
#2 Full of image
Dont make your webpage in full of image. Use image only if image can present more clear than text. For example, you can use image to present the order process. Size of those images should be small enough, you can take a look on the article about "Image Optimization".
Remember, company website is not a comic.
#3 Page Frame
Many websites use frame to make the navigation easier. However, more and more website designers dont use frame in the design. It is because frame will distort the whole design and also make the visitor confused and difficult to find the information. Also, using CSS or Javascript can provides similar effect but can keep the design consistency.
#4 Visitor Counter
Put a visitor counter on the web site. This can let visitor know how many people visit the website before, get their attention and build up their confidence. This look true, but we suggest you to take it off.
Actually, these counters are not accurate and can be trigger manually, no one will believe these counters. Why don't put a testimonial with a real customer name instead of this counter?
#5 Under construction
Have you see those "Road Construction" image? Or those "Under construction, please come back later"? Dont waste your visitor time. If your webpage has not finish, take it away. I can't remember have I try "come back later".
If you really need to put this "Under Construction", we can give you some suggestion. You can package it to become a re-visit event, for example:
- On which day the web page open, the first 100 visitors complete the registration can get a free gift or discount.
- Raise the visitor curiosity, tell them what surprise they may get once the webpage open.
- Make it like a fiction. Everyday you put some additional information on it, make the visitor re-visit. This can greatly encourage the visitor to visit again.
Remember, no one like those boring "Under Construction". Turn it into a marketing event.
About The Author
Isaac Chu is Project Director of Evinco Solutions Limited. Evinco provides innovative business software, include emarketing web solutions, email marketing software, e-catalog publishing software, invoicing software, and electronic cheque writer. Visit: http://www.evinco.com.hk.Monday, August 13, 2007
Church Website Design And Web 2.0-effective Web Techniques For Fulfilling The Great Commission
by: Wikipedia describes Web 2.0 as an often-misused phrase that refers to second-generation Internet-based services that allow people to share and collaborate in previously unavailable ways. If you cut through the marketing hype of this term, you're left with a simple concept: the web is no longer a static medium with limited or one-way communication. Fully utilized, static church websites, with little or no reach, can be transformed into community-building, self-propagating, communication powerhouses with enormous reach. Is this important to your ministry? No. It's not important; it's critical. Let me explain.
A church, by its very definition, is a community of like-minded individuals who share and collaborate on a common belief and mission. More importantly, in Christian churches, the spreading of this message is accomplished by members of that community sharing their beliefs with others. By utilizing the communication vehicles currently associated with the term “Web 2.0,” you effectively replicate your physical church and mission on the web. Unlike your local congregation, however, the web-enabled version has instant global reach.
Here's an example: as a pastor you give your sermon to your congregation on Sunday morning. The reach of this sermon is limited to the people present, and anyone with whom they may verbally share that message. What if that same sermon could be available globally, appearing automatically in subscribers’ podcasting software halfway around the world, within hours of the original? What if these same subscribers were to share that sermon with friends, the original propagating from MP3 player to MP3 player, around the world? Suddenly, your non-congregational reach is exponential. Not only is this scenario possible, it is readily available. Believe it or not, podcasting refers to only one vehicle of what currently constitutes “Web 2.0.” There are many other such vehicles, each with its own ability to reach separate web populations.
Given the Great Commission all Christian churches are tasked with, utilizing these tools is critical, as any means of exponentially increasing your listener base should be. To follow is a short list of features which should be utilized in your current church website design, or used as a checklist for commercially available systems.
Audio Library: Sermons are the most tangible commodity of a church, and subsequently, should get primary attention. An audio library, distinctly separate from the previously mentioned podcasting stream, allows you to make all recorded features, from sermons to music to instruction, available for online listening and download-capable for later use. This feature should be extremely easy to navigate for your users so that they can quickly locate specific recordings.
Video Streaming: While still bandwidth intensive, video, like audio, can be a very effective medium for spreading the gospel. Where possible, audio should be used unless there are significant visual reasons to do so otherwise. Visual presentations and performances are better candidates for this than the typical Sunday sermon.
Podcasting Feeds: A podcast feed is an audio subscription initiated by users who click on your feed link. If you have ever subscribed to a favorite television series with a Tivo, then you're already familiar with how a podcast works in conjunction with podcast software, such as Apple iTunes. By clicking on your podcast link, users are subscribed, via their podcast software, and subsequent sermons will download automatically for them, becoming instantly available for use on their MP3 players. This is a separate feature from your Audio Library, as podcasts should be regularly scheduled recordings, as a rule of thumb. You may have a great variety of recorded material available, but you may not want every recording linked as part of a regular podcast feed. Make sure any system that you are considering makes this distinction.
Blogging: Blogging is the perfect online mechanism for your pastoral staff to reflect and provide guidance between Sundays. Pastoral staff blogs can help bring repeat visitors to your site and provide a platform for personal insight, that goes beyond the confines and structure of Sunday's sermon. Entire search engines exist for blogs and, because of this, ministries have an enormous opportunity to reach entirely new readers. The most effective blogging will involve having your own blog server versus a freebie account in a shared environment.
Newsletter Management: Electronic newsletters simply cannot be ignored for effective ministry due to their viral nature. A commonly used marketing term, viral marketing refers to the act of one person sending or forwarding information, they found helpful, to others who they know might benefit from it. In other words, an effective newsletter not only finds its way to the subscribers, but they typically forward meaningful newsletters to others. Many factors influence the effectiveness of this method including subscriber management, the quality of the content, and the focus on gaining new subscribers.
Forums: Adequately moderated, church website forums can provide the perfect means for developing a community around your online ministry. Topics can be discussed or debated, church classes can have their own forums for collaborating on teachings, and questions about the faith can be answered. While there are some obvious requirements for moderation, a good system will allow several layers of control that provide a balance of administrative control and management ease specific to your needs and abilities.
Image Galleries: Image galleries provide far more than the obvious display of happy times within your congregation. A well-made gallery will allow optional user interaction, such as rating and voting, in addition to commentary. Most importantly, make certain your system has the ability to send pictures as e-cards. As previously mentioned, this feature is viral in nature, allowing users to send selected images as postcards with greetings to friends, again, greatly extending your online reach.
Events Calendar: No church website design would be complete without a full-featured, fully searchable events calendar. Events can be the lifeblood of a church, and getting the message out, about those events, is mission-critical.
User Polls: While sometimes overused in secular websites, user polls on a church website can be extremely effective for several reasons. Religion and politics have long been the start of many a debate and. as a result, most people are very willing to give their opinions on either topic. By providing effective, anonymous polls, you not only encourage user interaction, but you can gain a better understanding of the mindset of your site visitors. Many times, this can provide great material for sermons!
Email to friend: This little feature should appear on every page of significant content throughout your church website. Its function is to provide a means for site visitors to email a specific page they think might be of interest to their friends. This feature, while seemingly small, is also viral in nature (one person receives it and sends to another) and can have a significant impact in your ministry’s reach.
Search-Engine Optimization: Whether you are attempting your church website design by hand, or are using a commercial system, make absolutely certain that you don't overlook good search-engine optimization practice. Without going into a long description of the function of each, make sure that any system you use automates accurate meta tag creation, has a reciprocal link-management system and, if your site is dynamic (database- driven). that URLs are rewritten as search-engine friendly. Overlooking these items will result in decreased search-engine positioning, so pay close attention to these. As your site grows, the more important the automation or near-automation of these functions become.
Multi-Lingual Page Translation: While there is no true 100%-accurate page-translation service available, there are some that do an outstanding job. Make sure that all your content pages have some form of multi-lingual translation capabilities. The more languages you can translate into, the more lives you are likely to impact on a global scale.
RSS Feeds: RSS feeds provide a similar subscription method as podcast feeds do, but they are focused on textual content versus audio. These feeds can be established throughout your site and alert subscribers to changes in content, without them having to browse your site. Areas of your site that do not frequently change (like your statement of faith) are not good candidates for an RSS feed, while constantly updated content areas are. Forums, for example, are great places to deploy an RSS feed, as replies and responses to ongoing threads update frequently.
About The Author
Brooks Patton is founder and CEO of The Church Site Project, an integrated, web-content-management system, and online church community suite, specifically designed to meet the needs of the modern church. Learn more about these techniques at http://www.thechurchsiteproject.com.Domains Names & Web Design
by: Needless to say for many aspects of working online you will need your own website. Depending on what you want to do it is not always possible to function without one.
If you are going to be working as an affiliate or are considering doing freelancing or data entry then you may be able to get away without one but for everything else you will need to build a website. But, it’s ok, I am here to tell you that that doesn’t have to be as frightening a prospect as it may at first seem.
There are many people who will build your website for you and not all of them will cost an arm and a leg although the price does vary depending on what you want.
The other option of course, is to build the site yourself and although this is not something that you will be able to do over night there is a lot of technology and software out there that will help you do just that. Again the prices can vary dramatically depending on what you want to do but there are also a lot of free resources if you look.
But before you get to building your site you need to have a name for it. I once received some very good advice about deciding on a name for your site and it was this “Just get on with it”
Many people find themselves suffering from what’s known as ‘Analysis Paralysis’. We so desperately want to come up with a success sounding name that we spend days deciding what to call ourselves only to find when we go to register it that it has already been taken.
How to choose your domain name:
Consider this:
1.What does your business do?
2.Who does it do it for?
3.What is you unique selling position – in other words what have you got that the others haven’t that will make people want to come to you?
4.What is your name?
The last one may seem a bit odd but I’ll get back to that in just a minute. After considering the first 3 points come up with a list of several names that you could use and then take them to a domain registrar and see which ones are available for you to use.
Prices don’t vary too wildly but it is worth a look around.
.com names are among the most expensive and with good reason, as it is the first extension that people will type if they are unsure of your full address and also the most professional sounding. Stay away from cheaper more obscure extensions they may not cost as much but you need to consider what kind of image you want to portray to your customers.
Almost all domain registration services will offer free extras such as domain and email forwarding, if the company you are using doesn’t offer these basic add ons then say thank you and move on to one that does.
4. What is your name?
There is one domain name you should definitely register and that is yourname.com.
Why? Because branding yourself in your market is a brilliant way of letting people know not only who you are and what you do but also that you are very serious about it and take pride in your position. Think about it, would you want your name branded on something that wasn’t up to par, and that’s exactly how your customers are going to see it too “Oh, Denise has put her name to this so she must think it is a quality product/service”
And as long as it is a high quality item your name will become synonymous with quality in your field.
Warning: some domain registrars, upon closing your account due to spam complaints, missed payments or any other reason will retain the name that you purchased and assume ownership of it. Meaning that you will not be able to re-register it anywhere else and so will loose all the traffic that you may have spent months directing to that address. As with all things be sure to read the small print – it’s small for a reason.
Ok so now that you have your name it’s time to choose your web host.
Quite often this can be one I the same provider and so if you are going to use your registered name as the address for your site then be sure to register it with them as it saves you having to transfer things over at a later date.
So what do you need from your web host?
It is essential to know that whatever goes wrong with your site there will be someone that you can contact, preferably by phone 24 hours a day 7 days a week. There is nothing worse than sending a helpdesk ticket for support and not receiving a response for 3 days, and the best way to find out how good the support system is, is to ask their customers. Visit forums and ask questions or search articles and read reviews also ask your friends and colleagues who they use and if they would recommend them.
Building Your Site
As I mentioned before there are many people out there that will build your site for you. All you need to do is give them the details and the premise and they will take on all the technical work for you. To have your website professionally designed and built from scratch can cost you anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. And there are many places where you can find companies to do it for you.
However if you like a challenge and have basic computer capabilities it is perfectly feasible that you can build your own site depending on just what you want it to be.
If you decide to take the challenge on yourself then my first suggestion would be to find some help, support and guidance. If you are quite new to web design there will be many things that can throw you and if you don’t have someone to ask it can become frustrating. Again joining a forum is one of the best ways to find help from like minded people or you can just use the power of the web to find a place where you feel comfortable enough to ask.
There are some things that you will need:
A domain name – Clear, concise and easy to remember. Also be careful with names that people can easily misspell.
A web host – Good customer support is essential. Also check uptime and bandwidth.
Web page templates – Depending on your products/services your site should have a certain consistent feel to it all the way through.
Html editor software – Html is a very complicated language, if you don’t know it or don’t want to learn then you will need software that can do it for you. There are lots of free programmes.
Ftp software – This is how you get your site from your desktop to your server. All FTP software is basically the same but if you are new then stick with the more basic versions until you figure out what you’ll need the rest for.
Header, footer and other graphics – All websites need graphics of some kind. There are packages that you can buy online and edit to your liking or you can spend around $60 - $100 and get the basics done for you.
Those are the very bare basics that you need to be able to start building your site, you will also need to consider e-commerce, download protection, and a few other factors depending on what your site will do.
About The Author
The author of this article is Denise Hamilton. Denise has had a phenomenal impact on Network Marketing from the UK. If you want a free resource to learn about & advance your online career then visit http://HomeWorkersReview.com OR come together & learn success secrets at http://HomeWorkersForum.com.Website Designing - Looks vs. Works
by: Web developers with extensive graphic arts background often pay more attention to how a page looks than considering how visitors are going to find the page. The consideration on Usability and Business gets sidelined. On the other side of this issue, SEO consultants obsess about how much traffic it generates and how well a web site works. Sales and Business gets a front seat for them.
Designers want more 'pretty' graphics, but SEOs want lots of 'ugly' keyword-rich text, bullet lists, and text links. The more graphically complex the website the longer it will take to load.
To balance those Looks vs. Works, currently a web design company is in demand, which have an advanced knowledge on marketing, designing, programming as well as aesthetics. Designers having absolute control over the size and dimensions of all aspects with an eye on marketing are pitching to success. Today, fixed browser-friendly designs are more frequently chosen over the liquid designs.
There is a usability reason for why a designer may choose a more fixed layout. There is usually an optimal line width in terms of readability. There is a rule which tells that lines should be between 40-60 characters long, or approximately 11 words per line, though users can choose their windows size and font selection to optimize the factors which are important to them.
It becomes difficult sometimes to create a fixed layout which looks well and sells. Well, if the content is agreed upon, there is always a little difficulty in developing.
Storyboarding
To maintain an adorable balance between LOOKS and WORKS, the modern web gurus emphasize on storyboarding. Storyboarding covers the business, audience, purpose and the content. So the web designing is going to be more and more of calculative engineering than liberal art.
Storyboarding records description, purpose and title of each page in a given website. Then those elements are linked together according to the most effective and logical diagram patterns. It is like a prototype where there are options for feature enhancements and future improvements.
Audience Research
The key step in web designing/planning is defining the audience. They are the group of people who will visit your website – the market being targeted. Those people have a certain reason for visiting your site. And it is important for you to know what they are looking for. Technology and Eye-Candy designs come much later.
A clearly defined goal of the site and an understanding of what visitors want to do when they come to your site helps to pitch your message to identify the target audience. Upon considering who is most likely to use the content. There are some common factors a webmaster should take care. They are:
Audience Characteristics - Age, Language, Education
Information Preferences - Techies, Naive
Computer Skills - Beginners, Masters
Web Experience - Web builders, Web surfers, Lay-users
About The Author
Kathy John is an eminent analyst and writer in internet marketing related topics like web design firm, search engine optimization and web hosting. For more details please visit http://www.bmmi.us/.
Stock Images- The Indispensable Tool For Designers And Webmasters
by: When the already obtainable photographs are accredited for definite usage, then they are called Stock photography. These are also known as ‘stock photos’, ‘photo archive’ or ‘image banks’ in USA. Outside the United States, the term ‘picture library’ is generally used to refer to these stock photos. Stock photographs generally consist of still images, illustrations and videos. Stock photographs are useful to a large section of people that includes book publishers, business resourceful groups, specialty publishers, interior decoration firms, magazines, graphic designers, advertising agencies, web designers and filmmakers. In the Internet there are outstanding collection of stock photography images from all the leading brand names. Instead of going for on-location shooting, using stock photography will help the customers to save adequate amount of time and money. Suppose, submitting a photo on a certain topic is required immediately and there is no time at all for shooting the photo in a conventional time-consuming process. So, stock photos can come to the rescue now. Researchers can easily come across their well-desired images from the broad assortment of online images. With the advent of digital delivery techniques, people can buy, download or e-mail images easily.
In the stock photography industry, the new micro-stock models of images get filed at the agencies. The photographers are paid a certain amount of percentage. There are various factors on which the cost of the images depends on. These are the audience, the frequency and duration of using these images and the associated countries or regions. The licensed price varies from $1 to $200. You can find any type of image that will fit the budget of your project. For big budget projects, you can afford high-cost images; otherwise just go for the images that come at a cheaper price rate. Some professional stock photographers submit their images to more than one agency. The photographers can sell the same image several times. So, the availability of these images increases. In case of ‘rights managed’ stock photography, the agencies go for a separate licensing contract for each use whereas in ‘royalty free’ stock photography, the purchasers can use the image again and again with a single license fee. There is no restriction of time. But there is a limit in the number of usage. In this way, other customers are debarred from using a certain image for a specific time period. From stock photography, both low-resolution and high-resolution images are accessible. You can use the ‘rights managed’ images in 2 mediums separately. But for each use, you have to pay the agency separately. The size of the audience is important here. The non-payment licensing period for most of the stock agencies is 6 months to 1 year. Other options are on hand too. There are also certain provisions to apply for ‘exclusive’ rights in ‘rights-managed’ images. Thus scope of overusing the image by the challenger market lessens. The ‘released images’ are classified into 2 sections. These are ‘model released’ and ‘property released’ stock images. These images are accessible for authorization through stock photography agencies. Usage charge is not required in case of ‘Royalty-Free Images’. So, for unrestricted, worldwide usage, royalty free license is the best resort.
H. Armstrong Roberts founded the 1st prominent stock photography agency way back in 1920. The current name of the agency is RobertStock. In the 1980s, the industry of stock photography got a significant facelift. The Image Bank, Masterfile, Index Stock Imagery, FPG, SuperStock and Comstock Images were the leading agencies of this period. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Getty Images, Corbis and JupiterMedia Corporation emerged as some of the major players in this business. All the photographs are distributed only through Internet. Both professional and amateur photographers are employed in this business. In 2004, fotoLibra started the system of open access model by which everybody became capable of uploading and marketing the images. Throughout Europe and North America, there are several stock photography agencies that supply good quality images to various media publishers and advertising agencies. The demand for lifestyle images is on the rise nowadays.
If we search through Goggle, we can come across innumerable stock photo agencies. You can use smaller or larger agencies as per your requirement. The number of images of your preferred topic varies considerably according to the agency strength. There are certain guidelines you can follow while searching for stock photography images. You should always opt for the advanced search techniques. The position of these advanced search buttons vary according to the agencies. Let us suppose that you are going to search for images on ‘chocolates’. You should insert that very key phrase ‘chocolate’ and click the advanced search button. Soon, you will be flooded with desired results. In some agencies, you have to register as per the agency’s terms and conditions. Not much information is required to register in Index Stock. But FotoSearch, Getty Images and Corbis want extensive information. Your image buying process will get facilitated if you set up an account at the agency’s website. Setting up an account and registering don’t have much of a difference in the websites of some companies. Some agencies proffer special services also. You can search for high quality images such as images without any watermark. In some stock photography agencies, you can get the assistance of professional searchers also. These professional searchers have proven to be immensely beneficial for certain customers. For further queries, calling the customer care associates of the agencies will definitely be a wise option. The amicable customer care services of various stock photography image agencies have got global appreciation.
If you are looking forward to the perfect stock photo for your marketing project, you can at once search through the online agencies. Inserting the keywords, image type, image size and color will be helpful. Searching by orientation like portrait, panoramic and layout is available in agencies like Index Stock Imagery. The more you be specific in terms of keywords, the results will be more precise. Let us suppose that you want photographs on ‘children playing on the beach’. Here, all the key words ‘children’, ‘play’ and ‘beach’ must be included in your search. Re-sorting the images from the search results is possible too. Searching by the name of the artist who has generated the image is another popular option. To make your search more refined, you can insert your desired adjectives in the keyword. If you are satisfied with the images you obtain, you can place them in the ‘light box’ where other people connected to the project can take a look at them. Using the ‘light box’ is acceptable in Index Stock. Some prefer e-mailing the images to the co-workers. The name of the light box appears as the subject line in the mails of the recipients. In the mail, a clickable URL exists that refers to the light box. All the stock photography agencies have almost identical features. After the selection of the stock images, filling up the online ordering form is mandatory. You have to spell out the actual forms of usage of the images. After the completion of the ordering process, you get necessary information from the agencies on the downloading of images. Next comes the step for saving and using the images. The whole process of purchasing a license for online stock photography is trouble-free, speedy and reasonably priced.
Stock photography, nowadays, is an extensively used application of digital media. Digital audio, digital video and other digital ‘content’ are the prime categories of digital media. The digital information processing machines play an important role in this regard. The digital media is technologically far more advanced than the analog media. From the conventional stock photography, a branch known as Micro Stock Photography has emerged. These images are obtainable only from the Internet. The agencies of micro stock photography buy images from a broad assortment of photographers that incorporates recreational photographers also. The cost of royalty free images is quite less. The range of the price is between $10 and $20. Here, quantity of the images is the major concern of the photographers. Bruce Livingstone initiated the microstock photography industry. You can download thousands of microstock photographs from agencies like ShutterStock, Dreamstime, BigStockPhoto, Stock Photo and Fotolia. Gradually, the whole Stock Photography industry is going through a steady growth rate and in the coming years, it will surely undergo further revolution.
About The Author
Albert Mills is a freelance photo researcher based in Barcelona, Spain currently contracting for an international publishing group based in london and leading advertising agencies in Europe.http://www.epictura.com
alisonyoung@epictura.com
Web Design Evaluation
by: Preece et al. define testing or evaluation as the process of ‘systematically collecting data that informs us about what it is like for a particular user or group of users to use a product for a particular task in a certain type of environment’. (Preece et al. 2002:317) That is to say that it is a process where the interface is tested against the practices and needs of the user. (Faulkner 1998:109) Evaluation is important in design as it aims to ‘eradicate any problems that may be present in a system’. (ibid. 1998:124) Evaluation and amendment of the design at various stages of development helps the designer to verify that the product is suitable for the users’ needs, that they can use the product and indeed they like the product. (Preece et al. 2002:317-319) Preece et al. refer to Tognazzini who asserts that evaluation also ensures that the design team focus on ‘real problems, not imaginary ones’. (ibid. 2002:321)
Evaluation with users underpins a user-centred approach to design. Preece et al. refer to Gould and Lewis who identify three main characteristics of this approach. There is an ‘early focus on users and tasks’ which means understanding users and tasks through observation and analysis, whilst actively involving users from the early stages of design. ‘Empirical measurement’ gauges the performance and reactions of users to storyboards and paper prototypes for example, in the early stages of development and subsequently to software prototypes or simulations for example. Another feature of a user-centred approach is ‘iterative design’ characterised by cycles of ‘design, test, measure and redesign’. (Preece et al. 2002:285)
Some useful links:
Jenny Preece - http://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/
Bruce Tognazzini - http://www.asktog.com/
Jakob Nielsen - http://www.useit.com/
About The Author
Mark Chambers is a freelance web designer specialising in web design for small to medium sized businesses.Home page: http://www.markchambers.net/
Web design links: http://www.markchambers.net/links.htm
Here Are A Few Web Design Tips For Businesses Living In The Jungle
by: Web design has come a long way in 10 years. No longer can a business simply throw up a web site and expect their customers to drop by. It's a virtual jungle out there.
Some Internet veterans remember when their were just 3,000 web sites. Now, there are millions, and most of them aren't very effective in doing what they're supposed to be doing. The reason lies within the elements of the web sites themselves.
Web design is not an exact science, but it does require some planning. Here are a few tips that will help you design your web site with your human visitors in mind and with the search engines in your heart:
1) Include an About Us section on your web site. Make it easy for your visitors to find out exactly what you do. Be up front about it.
2) Use alt and title tags for design elements. Photos, videos, Flash presentations, and other visual and graphic elements can not be read by the search engine spiders, but alt and title tags can.
3) Give each web page a title. You will do better in the search engines.
4) Don't load your web site with graphics. Use them minimally, and then only to enhance your message.
5) Update your content every day, but don't move pages and change the URLs.
6) Like too many graphics, too much text will bore your readers. Don't bore your readers. Just include the pertinent and relevant information.
7) Start a blog. It really does work. Even if you don't get any readers, you'll get fresh content and inbound links to your web site, which the search engines love like circus clowns enjoy unicycles.
As the Web proliferates with more and web sites (web site traffic doubles every 100 days), the jungle will only get thicker. That means, the competition for traffic will get tougher and the search engines will start demanding more of web designers to attract attention from their spiders. If you plan on going online, you need to start studying design elements right now and learn how to make your web site meet the ever-changing standards of search engine friendliness and human visitor interest.
Design your web site with your customers' needs in mind, but learn what the search engines want to. It's the only way you'll survive in the jungle.
About The Author
Randy Moretz has been involved in the telecommunications industry since 1993. He has owned and operated his own business since the early 1990s and currently serves as the guide and principle of The Cardinal Group. His corporate services involves the promotion of telecommunications technology, including “Maxie” the virtual attendant and Total Recall voice loggers, as well as Web design and hosting services. For more information about the latest communications technology for small businesses and Web services go to http://www.thecardinalgroup.org.Signs You May Need A New Web Design
by: 1. Does your website provide quality content that would be valuable to your customers and is updated regularly? If the answer is no or maybe, place yourself in your customers position and analyze your web pages thoroughly. Try to assess if the material would interest you enough to keep on reading. If it's difficult for you to be objective, ask a friend or colleague to perform this task and give you their honest opinion.
2. Is the ROI from your website low compared to the number of visitors you are receiving? This could mean you need to highlight the benefits of your products versus those of your competitors or offer an incentive to your customers.
3. Can people automatically guess the purpose of your website the minute they get to it? Remember that online visitors spend less than ten seconds, on average, on each website they visit. Why could this be? Many websites do not captivate their visitors’ attention, possibly because of confusing copy that doesn't pinpoint the company's purpose or benefit to the customer. Other problems can be the use of too many images, cluttered context, or copy that is hard to read.
4. Does your website mirror your business image? Analyze your company's marketing position and goals. Make sure your website is delivering the right message to your visitors and conveying your company's personality and vision. You must also provide an interesting website that captivates your audience and will stand out in visitors’ minds.
5. Do you receive calls or emails from your customers asking how to find sections of your website that should be easily found? This strongly suggests that you need better website navigation.
6. Do you provide testimonials or examples of your products? Websites differ from traditional forms of selling in that there are no personnel to talk to and no store front to view. Your image is solely portrayed through your website. Your copy, images and videos do it all! That's why it is a worthwhile investment to get a professionally done website if you want it to be successful.
In Conclusion…
If you tailor your website around the needs of your customers you will be successful. Follow the tips above, along with our SEO recommendations found at: http://www.stellarimagedesign.com/websitetips.html and you will experience more traffic and sales. Stellar Image, LLC is now offering a free web hosting package with any order of web design.
About The Author
Alexandra Saieh is the owner and president of Stellar Image, LLC, a top provider of imaginative website designs, business websites, and secure web hosting. She has been designing websites for seven years and Stellar Image, LLC has been awarded the “Fastest Growing Company” award in October, 2006 by http://www.HostReview.com.So, you want to start a web design company in the UK?
by: A friend of mine is learning, the hard way, that starting a web design company is not as easy and straight forward as we make it seem. The web design industry is very competitive. Delivering top quality, accessible, search engine friendly web designs at affordable prices will give you an edge over your web design competitors, but it is only half the battle. Coping with web design customers, especially if they are very picky is the other half of the battle. Unless you can cope with these two battles, the likelihood is you will give up on web design and do something else for a living. Still, if you are determined to battle on, here are a few commercial advice that worked for our web design company. We’ll look at a number of key success factors in other articles in this web design series. Let’s look at the web designers you are looking for.
If you are serious about starting a sustainable web design company, get some talented and resilient people on your team first. Young people seem to cope better with an emerging web design business. You need web designers who are good at design, coding and ready to learn new web design techniques all the time. The web design industry is booming and changing all the time. Your web designers need to keep up with the latest techniques and web design trends. They need to make time to do personal reading and soak up fresh web design ideas and be innovative in developing new web design products and services.
Although it is rare to find the two set of skill, design and coding, in one individual, do not despair, it is possible to find the gem if you search well. So spent some time looking for the good web designer, don’t just hire anybody on the cheap. This is a knowledge based and skill based industry, so start with two or three good web design specialists who know their web design stuff. We are talking a minimum of artistic abilities and talent. Ask them for some previous work and get a feel for their web design style. If you are offering bespoke web design you need people with flexibility and able to adapt and change their web design style to suit the need and taste of your web design customers.
If you are lucky you will find someone who is both talented and who is good at coding. Start with someone who is good at php, an open source web design programming language which is becoming very popular. You will also find plenty of technical help online. If you cannot find a web designer who is a coder, you obviously need a web designer and a coder. Make sure they can work seamlessly with each other and communicate well, they will be doing lots of that while developing web designs for your web design company. Team spirit is key, especially is you have just set up your web design company.
Find web designers who are emotionally resilient, flexible and able to work odd hours. No matter how good the web design contract you signed with your customers, they will expect lots of web design changes in the course of the project and somebody will have to do and redo these web design changes, sometimes over and over again tirelessly. There are times when your web designer will do a brilliant web design which is turned down by your customer. People have different tastes and ideas. Don’t take it personally if a customer turn down a brilliant design, it happens all the time. Can your web designer take it? If he wants to progress in your new web design company he will have to put up with a lot and plough on with a flexible attitude.
As far as you can, do not get them involved in the commercial issues and disputes with customers. Do let them know what is going on but they have enough on their hands with the web design and they need every bit of creative energy and peace of mind to concentrate on the web design and coding. Try and handle the customer issues and disputes yourself, that’s your job.
Where am I going to find these web designers? If you can afford it, advertise online and interview locally. Otherwise there is a great big pool of talented young web design experts out there willing to work and make a good living. Try posting your ads on international forums and don’t be afraid to chat with web designers overseas. Perseverance will get you somewhere and getting the right web design team together is one of the keys to setting up a solid web design company.
About The Author
Ralph Ramah is owner of a Web Design company in the UK. He is the author of a number of web design articles and has helped several companies setting up web sites and successful web design services. He can be contacted through http://www.discountwebdesign.co.uk.Thursday, August 9, 2007
Does SEO and Web Design a Pair of Enemy?
Cathy Kun
The following scenario happens every day:
To many web designers, they want to draw visitors attention and develop many creativity features on the website. The Website owner feels very good and pay for the design. The website owner is likely to find that they need more search engine traffic and want to acquire some good search engine ranking. However, search engine optimizers tell them your website is not able to be indexed by search engines because there are too many creativity features, for example, excessive Javascript, full flash website, etc. To rectify the situation, you must remove all those elements. It creates a dilimmea for the website owner.
On one hand, he wants search engine traffic. On the other hand, he wants an interesting and appealing website. The website owner will ask "God, what can I do?"
Is it true that if you want top search engine ranking, your website must be a boring ,full of text website?
Probably No.
The following provides some recommendation to rectify the situation:
1. Flash Website
Search engines cannot "understand" flash but it does not mean that you cannot use Flash design. To solve the problem, you can use Flash header and put text under the flash header. An example can refer to website http://www.star-prototype-china.com company.
Nowadays, many flash has no real meaning to visitors and is for decoration purpose only. In this case, you can make a smaller flash header. If your flash header is trying to deliver a message, you can make a larger flash header to draw attention.
2. Interactive Scripts
You may want to add some interactive feature or picture swapping function on your website via Javascript/VBScript and etc. However, improper use of Javascript can hinder your website being indexed. For example, a garment software vendor embraced all hyperlinks by Javascript. As a consequence, search engines read their homepage only but did not index all their inner pages.
To ensure Javascript does not hinder search engine crawlers, I recommend you using external Javascript technique. Additionally, all important hyperlinks should be presented by basic HTML anchor tag.
3. Link Exchange Page
Some website owners refuse to exchange links with other websites because they think a link page makes their site very odd. How about making your link exchange page in this way? First, write a useful article and then assemble the links into the content. It makes the link page becomes useful for visitors and the links become more natural as if it is part of your content. If a link cannot be assembled into the content, it may mean that your content is very poor or the link partners actually is not relevant to your business. Why do you exchange links with them? Remember, search engines only value relevant 2-way links.
4. Content Management System
Website owners are keen to use content management system (CMS) to update their website becuase it is more easy and faster for them to update their websites.
However, many CMS generate webpages dynamically. It is widely known that search engines have difficulty to read or a tendency to ignore dynamically generated web pages.
I will recommend you must spend time to find a good CMS or a good web host providing CMS that can generate static webpages. Since Omega Plastics http://www.rapidmanufacture.co.uk starts to use this kind of CMS, all of your web pages can be indexed by search engines. In the past, only 1 web page can be read by search engines.
About The Author
Cathy Kun is working in Agog SEO Services, a SEO company dedicated to internet marketing. http://www/agogseo.com.