Niche Designer | Web Design Resources | CSS tutorials | Graphic Design News | FOR U

Online Shopping Cart Features Built in SEO

2011-03-22T13:40:00.003-04:00

Are you interested in selling products online? There are a lot of tools available to help your website generate traffic, but selling a product on your own is the most profitable. Avoid affiliating with companies that take 90% of the selling price and leave you with a pittance compared to the investment you made. After all, if you can sell products on your website, why not sell your own?

To get started you'll need a shopping cart programmed into your site that features SEO capabilities. Often times an ill-designed shopping cart can bog down your site with heavy coding, so you'll need one that is built specifically with SEO in mind. Try SEO Shopping Cart.

It has an amazing list of features that allow you to implement a fully, working shopping cart into your site to generate online sales revenue immediately!

SOME of the many Shopping Cart Features

Web Based Administration
Customer Relationship Management
Invoice Printing
Packing Slip Printing
Webmail Access
Customer Account Management
Product Search-ability
Easily edit/update content
configurable categories
Custom fields
And more!!

Whether you are a designer or a merchant, the AscenderCart has all the features you need and is fully customizable, so you can white glove your product and keep a professional appearance!

New E-Mail Marketing Tool Coming Soon!

2009-07-17T11:45:00.003-04:00

New products are popping up all over the web these days, but it’s always exciting for me and I know all the other web professionals out there! Easy Emails is a brand spanking new E-Mail marketing tool that looks very user friendly and I’m excited for the launch date. Their website is definitely what I would consider up to standards as far as Web 2.0 style goes, which is something I always look for as an indication that they are on top of their game. It is also a great indication that the site will be user friendly, easy to use and hopefully utilize some nifty, fun fast and simple Ajax technology that we all love so much!

Ok, so now on to the Easy Emails E-mail marketing services and what I gather from the company so far. They specialize in E-mail marketing solutions for “Whatever industry you’re in.” They also have online survey products, which is awesome for collecting leads and learning more about your target customer/audience! They also have an affiliate program that offers 35% of each sale you bring to them!

Easy Emails will beat any price around for Email Marketing Services, which is incredible considering this basically means they are going to be the most affordable option for your next Email Marketing campaign. Easy Emails offers 500 FREE Emails for your Email Marketing Campaign, so you can definitely test drive their services and decide if it will work for you.
Visit www.EasyEmails.com and be first to get in on this new and exciting product!

Your Small Business Can't Afford a Marketing Department? No Problem!

2009-04-07T20:14:00.001-04:00

What is the most important thing a company can do to increase sales and boost business? Effective marketing will do just that! If you own a small to medium size business and aren't sure how to begin your business marketing campaign, there is a unique solution that is available for you.

The idea of an Outsourced Marketing Department is the process of hiring a company to handle your entire business marketing plan. The benefits include saving time without having to outsource each marketing intiative from different companies, saving money and knowing that you're in the hands of experienced, professional marketing gurus. Not to mention increased sales, no contracts, no employee taxes and no additional office space needed!

Lead Optimize offers outsourced marketing services that include many solutions for all your business needs including web design, improvements and management. Not only can they build you a website that is unique and maintains the image of your company but they can get your website recognized and available across the web! Search engine optimization, PPC campaigns, post cards, print designs, copy writing, web copy, newsletter development and distribution and much more.

Contact Lead Optimize today and get the benefits of a full-service marketing department at a fraction of the cost.

The Online Casino Lobby

2007-12-29T15:02:00.000-05:00

Free information resource for online casinos and gaming

The Online Casino Lobby offers its services, free of charge, to anyone interested in gambling online. They are a one stop information source for all things related to online gambling and online casinos.

Choosing an online casino can be a difficult task, due to the overwhelming amount of available casinos online. You may end up choosing multiple games before you find the one that is right for you. Before you begin your search for the best possible online casino games, visit the Online Casino Lobby and read their detailed reviews in order to narrow down your search and start making money today!

Why Choose Online Casinos?

Just like shopping online, online casinos have less overhead cost than standard casinos. This offers their gamers higher percentages of payout plus better odds of winning!

You can access your online casino games twenty four hours a day, seven days a week saving you money in gas and offering you convenience and comfort of use.

Safe Online Casinos and Understanding the Game

I suggest using the Online Casino Lobby to help you get a better understanding of how online gambling works and the rules involved before you begin. They offer much needed information on the safe ways to play online casinos, the rules you should follow and tips for making the most money out of your experience.

They also offer information on managing your casino funds, the different games you can play, free online casino downloads and more! You can find descriptions and instructions on how to play all of your favorite online casino games from Craps to Keno.

Interested in signing up with an online casino that pays the highest bonus and is safe to play in your state or country? Online Casino Lobby can help! It’s a free resource site and you should check it out! The Online Casino Lobby

Business Web 2.0 Site Design Inspiration

2007-11-16T10:26:00.000-05:00

Are you a Web 2.0 website designer/developer? Only like to visit websites that look like Digg.com and Sitepoint.com? Well, I bet is very hard for you to find inspiration when designing websites for businesses!

It's always difficult to explain to business owners why the early 90's style website design is no longer considered, "Good." Most of the time they don't understand why and want a websites with flashy blinking graphics, tables and a lot of pictures. But, there are ways to influence their decision and integrating proper business website design with your own Web 2.0 style design techniques. After all, as a web designer it's not only your job to design the site, it's to make the client happy and that does involve some critical thinking and yes, even a little "sales" ability.

1. Use inspiration from other website designers who have nailed it. There are website designs that still make my jaw drop. Not because they're incredibly good, either. It's because I can truly see how they made the client happy but also integrated newer, pure CSS, XHTML compliant oozing with Web 2.0 style.

2. Show the client some of their competitors with the website design that is cleaner and more up to standards. Let them see for themselves why usability is important and why a cluttered (ugly) websites are not considered the norm.

To find inspiration for your Web 2.0 website design and to find some actual business website designs to show your potential clients check out: CSS Beauty Gallery

They have their top web designs separated by industry, so you can find actual business websites that are still showing off that up to date Web 2.0 style.

Also, check out Websitenabox.com if you would like a website design that meets these standards, your budget and your needs!

External Link Resources

Setting Up a Blog

2007-10-17T18:53:00.000-04:00

Are you interested in blogging but don't know where to begin? Here's the basics on setting up a blog in this fast moving, fairly new industry. Blogging is a lucrative source of profit and blogs are easy to set up and maintain. Imagine a life where you are paid to write on stuff that interests you, whenever you want, wherever you are. The mere flexibility of blogging makes it easy for you to just kick back, relax and go on a vacation whenever you feel like it.

In this article, we are going to look into the profitability of a blog and set up a blog of our own at no cost! Interested? Read on!

First, we need to obtain a blog. There are several options – host a blog on your own domain or get a free blog. For starters, let’s talk about the free blogs. You can obtain a free blog at www.blogger.com or the newer (and better!) www.wordpress.com. If you are a techie, you must have heard of Wordpress, a free blog engine that is robust and infinitely expandable.

Want more information on where to host a custom Wordpress blog? Check out Best Web Hosting for Wordpress Blogs There is information on coupon codes and a very cheap, but quality web hosting service for new bloggers.

Blogger.com is actually owned by Google, so it will be detected on Google’s radar faster and you will be indexed faster. Wordpress.com, however, is a relatively new option so I have no comparison on the speed of getting indexed by search engines. However, Wordpress is better in the sense that it has more advanced features such as Trackbacks and Categories. You can also manage your sidebar links more efficiently (more about this later).

Get a free blog at either Blogger.com (http://www.blogger.com/signup.g) or Wordpress (http://wordpress.com/signup/). Then, familiarize yourself by posting your first post on your blog and tinkering around with the options and templates.

Here are a few common “blog-related” words to help you out:

1) Permalink – Permalink stands for permanent link, which is a URL (uniform resource locator) that leads to an individual post that you make in your blog.
2) Trackback – When you post about someone else’s blog post elsewhere, your post will show up in their “trackback” section. This feature, however, is not available with a Blogger.com account.
3) Pinging – Blogging seems to be paired with pinging almost every time either one is mentioned nowadays. Pinging is actually the action where a certain aggregator is notified whenever your blog is updated, so that the aggregator may show the newest post of your blog on their website. This is a useful way to gaining traffic, which we shall discuss later.

For now, I shall leave you testing out your new blog and the features that come included with it. In the next articles, we shall discuss the many ways we can gain profit from a blog, as well as tips on how to write posts that keep visitors glued and keep coming back for more!

Best Online Coupons For You

2007-09-26T17:49:00.000-04:00

Are you looking for online coupons? Let me tell you a secret right now, ok? Ready?

Secret: If you're shopping online, at all, and you are researching for coupon codes before you make your purchases, you're losing tons of money!

There are tons of promotions, coupons and deals waiting for you online, and if you aren't looking for them, they're not going to chase you around until you decide to use them. You can find incredible, and almost unbelievable deals online through coupons, promotions and promo codes.
Coupon Chief is one of the best places to find deals for online shopping, and they pretty much lay it all out on a silver platter for you.

If you're going over the Home Depot and buying your spring gardening tools, equipment and supplies, you're spending way to much! Coupon Chief has great deals and coupons for Home Depot. Also, compare prices until you get an impossible deal with some of these other gardening store coupons:

Spring Hill Nursery Coupons

Gardens Alive Coupons!

Why are there are so many deals for online shopping?

Right now, in this age, you are absolutely losing money every day by not utilizing the benefits of price comparison and competition over the web. Every day, a new website arises offering price comparisons of various products. The reason why websites can offer discounts you wouldn't normally get by just calling, is that they negotiate terms with these "products" (computers, software, services, books, clothing) Terms that individuals, not purchasing in bulk amounts, would have no place negotiating.

CouponChief.com offers these coupons at many stores you probably already shop at, why not saving money shopping online?

Here are some of my favorite stores they offer coupons for.

Dell Small Business Coupons

Best Buy Coupons

Dreamweaver Vs. Visual Web Developer

2007-09-26T17:34:00.000-04:00

Are you currently using Dreamweaver to design your web pages? Are you using Microsoft's Visual Web Developer? You may be trying to decide which is best for your web design projects, and if you are currently using Dreamweaver, and designing either static web pages or Dynamic web pages with PHP, you have probably not used Visual Web Developer before.

That's because, Microsoft's Visual Web Developer was built to be used with ASP.NET 2.0 and other similar Windows Server applications. While, Dreamweaver can be used to build almost any type of web page.

Now that I've basically explained the main difference between the two, let me compare the two! Visual Web Developer is something I had not even used until about 5 months ago. I was building dynamic web pages using Dreamweaver, and doing absolutely fine. But, when I decided to start learning ASP.NET 2.0, I found myself happily surprised while learning Visual Web Developer.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

If you're using ASP.NET you MUST use Visual Web Developer, it's incredible, it lets you create sessions, interact with MySQL databases, and much much more without hardly touching the code surface of your websites. On the other hand, Dreamweaver does allow this same "type" of thing, but with almost every language for building websites.

So, in short, to compare Dreamweaver and Visual web developer, is like comparing Apples to Oranges, because you can't use VWD to build PHP sites, Flash Sites, etc. Well, you can, but it would be a little mundane.

If you want to learn ASP.NET 2.0 and get started with Visual Web Developer, check out this review of the latest ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Web Developer tutorials Books.

Visual Web Developer and ASP.NET 2.0 Best Books

External Link Resources

Visual Web Developer Book Reviews

ASP.NET 2.0 Book Reviews

Find Hotels in Australia

2007-09-23T18:41:00.001-04:00

Cheaperthanhotels.com.au offers great deals for Syndey Hotels, Melbourne Hotels and Brisbane Hotels.

Most of us have a hard time paying for a plane ticket to Australia, let alone finding a nice place to crash it. Follow the above links to your desired city and you'll see it's possible.

Cheaperthanhotels.com.au has last minute deals, year round prices and you can receive travel deals by email so you are never missing out. They promise two things; lowest rates guaranteed and pay on arrival. Find the all year deals and catch the last minute deals that are always changing.

Australia is a great place to vacation. The people are great, the food is great and the beverages are pretty good too.

Website Design Company Understands Design

2007-09-15T16:22:00.000-04:00

If you're a small business owner, restaurant owner, freelancer or any other type of business and need a website to represent your company, I have to highly recommend Websitenabox.com

Why?

There are tons of reasons why, that are pretty obvious...Including their low prices, extensive features, the ability to update your website any time, free hosting, free domain and 30 day money back guarantee.

While these reasons are great, as a designer, I have even better reasons why they are one of the best choices for website design company.

I am very impressed with the fact that they have a section on their website with information about web design, and how their process uses these techniques. Let me tell you straight up, they know what they're talking about. And, it's so refreshing to see a web design company focus on QUALITY design standards up to date with Web 2.0. Their resources section can be found here at Website Design Information

Here's a great quote from their website in the "Why Websitenabox" section:

"We have been witness to arrogant prices plus high monthly fees for websites we would not be comfortable selling, maintaining or promoting. Many web developers are living in the past creating low quality, poorly designed websites. This is a secret they keep closely pinned to their chest but we want the information superhighway robbery to stop and to enhance the experience for our clients. "

This is absolutely great! Trust me, any one who's any designer knows this is SOOOO true!

In addition to these great features and professional design abilities, I am very impressed with their built in content management system for every website they design. That means, you can update, edit, add on content and menu items to your website once it's up and running. Also, after viewing the user interface tour, it looks easier than a blog!

Another interesting package I noticed within their website was their Industry Web Design restaurant packages. I always visit local restaurants and try finding their menu and website online, with no luck! They have an exclusive package for restaurants, cafes, delis, coffee shops, etc. and it sounds like a great idea for any and all restaurant web designs.

Coupon Codes Resource Shopping Online

2007-09-15T16:12:00.000-04:00

If you shop online, at all, you should always be checking the web for coupon codes available. Why not? They might save you 5%-75% of the price you were originally willing to pay, and with a few resources, you can always save that money shopping at your favorite online stores.

When searching for coupon codes on the web, the last thing you want to do is waste more time than you need to finding coupons. After all, time is money! One of the most comprehensive online databases of coupon codes can be found at CouponHeaven.com. They offer coupons for online shopping at almost every type of store.

For us online people...web designers, graphic designers, bloggers, web masters, some of the best types of coupons you can find online are for domain names, hosting accounts and website builder products. Coupon Heaven's most recent deals are offering Register.com coupon codes.

To save money on domain name registrations, hosting accounts, shopping cart registrations, or products from WebsiteNOW an exclusive website builder try out the the coupons for register.com.

Web and Graphic Design Color Scheme Tools

2007-08-26T14:37:00.000-04:00

Anyone who works on websites frequently knows, one of the first steps in developing a new web design layout, logo, branding item, etc. is to choose a color scheme.

Choosing a color scheme is vital to the success of any design. Absolutely VITAL. Don't believe me? Let us use a horrible example to demonstrate how badly a BAD color scheme can ruin any web design:

BAD Color Scheme Example

Well, there are many tools available out there to find the best color scheme for your projects. Even artists need some inspiration! So, here are my top picks

Web 2.0 Color Palette

the Web 2.0 color palette, this tools is awesome, and I use it all the time. But, it is limited only offering a particular number of colors, which of course demonstrates the Web 2.0 philosophy of simplicity. But, for those of us who dare to venture outside the box once in a while...

Online Color Schemer

This website has been around for a while, but they have recently revamped! It is totally awesome, for lack of a better phrase, and definitely stands up to some of the newest color scheme tools out there.

They also have a library that I've utilized more than a few times already on projects, it's a really beautiful library of color schemes and I suggest everyone take a look:

Color Scheme Library

Also, don't forget to download their FREE color pix download. What is the color pix? It is this cool little light weight square dialog box that lets you run your mouse over ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING on your screen and the color pix will choose that color and give you the specs for it....AWESOME! :)

Here's a screen shot of the little color pix box while I run my mouse over the Google Logo:

Magic CSS Rollovers using One Image

2007-08-08T19:16:00.000-04:00

Magic your say? Why yes, that's what I said when my programmer friend introduced me to the concept. Now, please don't go point and laugh "Newb!" all the way to your Mac, I'm not sure why I didn't know about these cleaner, prettier, more efficient rollover techniques. But, I'm sure glad I know now.

For those of your who are baffled right now and never once uttered, "Newb" through your shameful newb lips, let me explain myself...

In short, they're called "Sprites" and apparently when the old schoolers developed video game animations they used them. It's the concept of taking one image, and moving it around, mapping it using coordinates, beneath other images depending upon the animation you had in mind. Well, there's a way to use this concept to make CSS rollovers cleaner looking and easier to create!

It's the concept of consolidating every rollover image and every pre-rollover image into one single image. After this, you map the position of the background image of each div and link according to the area that defines that rollover.

Here's an image that might communicate what I'm talking about a little better:

I'm not explaining this very well, I'm sorry, it's new to me too! Check out the more in depth example and tutorial on A List Apart: CSS Rollover Sprites

Website Design Planning and Implementation

2007-08-04T17:08:00.000-04:00

Designing websites can often be a very organic process....Especially if you're designing for yourself, for fun and are very familiar with the process. But, if efficiency is something you're interested in when it comes to designing websites, it is important to plan and implement your web design projects in a somewhat similar fashion. If implemented correctly, it stream lines your web design process and also has other benefits incuding (but not limited to):

Less time making structural changes and edits
Ensures proper XHTML standard compliant formatting
Organizes styles
Saves you time, Everytime!
Allows other (employees, contract workers) to make changes and edit your project

What do I mean by implementing each project in a similar fashion?

Creating 1-2..3...4 different website project template files within a folder that include all the necessary components, applications, styles, etc. of what is needed for those projects. The reason why many website designers haven't done this already, is probably due to the time involved with creating template projects and the fact that there is no direct income associated with the process of doing this. But, it will ultimately save you tons of time in the long run, allow you to make educated estimates on prices of different client projects and expedite your turn around time. All of which will earn you more income in the long run.

I'm writing this post to introduce my readers to a new series I am going to write that involves creating project folders, with template files and how to utilize this to BE A MORE EFFICIENT web designer. Why am I doing this exactly? Because I recently had to buckle down and do just this. Let me tell you, what a sweet sigh of relief to begin a web design project with a more clear idea of what I'm doing by using my predefined templates and simply adjusting them.

The series will cover the following topics:

Components of web design project template folders

Commenting and making the code easier to adjust

Creating applications ready to go!

Style sheets and the basics of creating a simple CSS file that can work with ALL your projects

Folders and file systems within projects

And more!

Stay tuned for the series on efficient web design process and template creation for your web designs.

External Link Resources

Story About E-Bay Searching for Art

2007-07-08T19:01:00.000-04:00

I’ve been looking at art auctions on eBay all day today. I have found some wonderful things. I browsed the Art category and chose the subcategory of self-representing artists.

I like what I see for sale. Art auctions on eBay are a great way for an unknown or even a known artist to sell their paintings. I found some nice paintings in the featured section.

Since I was looking at art auctions on eBay, I used the option to just view the picture gallery. I’m glad I did that because I really just wanted to see the art, not the title of the auction. What immediately caught my eye was all of the bold colors.

On the first page of image results of art auctions on eBay, there was a beautiful painting of a martini. I think that martini images seem very classy to me. I can visualize this painting in the home of someone with a glass coffee table and a leather couch!

The virtual foot traffic that art auctions on eBay gets is incredible. The artist can get so much more exposure to so many more people than hanging their paintings in galleries. It is just such a good way to get discovered.

I did think it was a little funny when I saw art auctions on eBay listed for 99 million dollars. The artist wants to make history by breaking the world record for the most paid for a painting by a living artist. The record is currently forty million dollars.

There was another art auction on eBay that really caught my eye. The artist was Kelly Shanks and she lives in Boston. The painting that I saw was done in an impressionist style and called Neon Rain. It is part of her New Orleans series. I liked it a lot.

I found an art auction on eBay for a painting entitled The Egg Eaters. It was really odd and didn’t exactly suit me. I tried to imagine where it would end up hanging. I think that fantasy art just can’t hang everywhere. I can see this hanging in an upscale gaming store or in a bachelor pad.

The funniest art auction I saw on eBay was for a folk art rendition of a Jack Russell terrier. I can only imagine that a dog lover should own and display this. The dog looks like he is about to jump up on me!

I found a landscape that I really liked when I was looking through the art auctions on eBay. The piece was called Red Barn under Praire Clouds. I think that if this was hanging in my bedroom, I might never get out of bed. I love to watch clouds.

I guess I just don’t understand abstract art. I think if I understood it, I could appreciate it. I found an art auction on eBay for an original painting called Beige Dancelines #2. The artist says that it is an abstract dancing figure. I just can’t see anything but an oversized ear.

There were so many photos to look at when I was searching on eBay for art auctions. I think that my tastes really run to realism and landscapes. I especially liked a painting of Alaska by Hunter Jay. The blues in the picture were really nice; I’ll bet that this painting is wonderful in person.

My mother-in-law has been decorating her house slowly. I found a really nice art auction on eBay for her that would fit her likes. The painting depicts a tree at sunset and is just beautiful. The artist has a lot of auctions and I really hope that she sells a lot. She is very talented.

The only other art auction on eBay that I spent a lot of time looking at was a painting of red tulips against a yellow sky. I’m not sure why I was so taken by this painting. Tulips are my favorite flower. The tulips in this painting are just suspended in the center. They just seem to hang there magically. I really liked this depiction of my favorite flower.

Vintage Photography and Art Auctions

2007-07-08T19:00:00.001-04:00

Vintage photography gives us a glimpse into the past, and helps to allow people to gain some understanding of the world before us. Unlike many of the collections that are considered the staples of art collection, vintage photographs are truly a unique exploration of the recent past, and many eras of the current civilization have come to contribute their share of what makes up vintage photography. Though not the largest grouping of auctioned materials of artistic value, they are still valued for their recollections of past events, and even items relating to vintage modes of photography are included in the auctioning of these things.

Cameras and equipment, photographic books and photo postcards before 1940, and even Viewmaster reels are acceptable pieces of auctioning material. All these things have contributed to the overall history on film, and even as the motion picture took on a predominant role in culture, the photograph has still been a staple of this system forming the basis for it all. Much of what seems to have the most value are those photographs that come from eras predating this revolution in film, and even further back to those images captured years just after the invention of the camera. Some are standards to which we have become accustomed to considering is merely part of our past, and we have to know that these things also have worth.

It is with this in mind that one can better grasp the innate worth of the photographs that might have caught their eye, and to be most prepared for an art auction with vintage photographs as the focus a bit of research is in order, especially if you wish to get the most out of your money for a proposed purchase. Much as any other auction, the buying and selling of vintage photographs can done in a variety of places, and that even includes through the Internet. Today, the markets are wide open with many different examples from previous eras, and finding that photograph that can really capture your attention can be a difficult process well worth the effort.

There are many organized auction houses that conduct business every day, which could perhaps be of service for you and your needs for the art you choose to become more aware of, and you can learn much by consulting experts on such matters. For the most part, buying and selling art through auctions can be an easy process with the right amount of time and money spent in the right places, and you can always go back to your research when you happen to feel overwhelmed by how complex the bidding can get with these types of experience in life.

It is when you are considering the value of a piece that you already own, that consultation with an appraiser can be of much help, and the more professional ones will go out of their way to get you the best total for your items. When concentrating on just what you want, you be better adapted to finding those needs met more adequately, and you will have no need for fearing the system of rules when it comes to the art auction. The more research that you commit yourself to, the more worth your time it becomes, and the more you can have your money work for you.

Draggable Divs Made Easy

2007-07-03T23:33:00.000-04:00

Want your users to be able to move elements around on the page? Add a cool Web 2.0 style draggable Div style to your website using simple Javascript code and Div elements, img elements or any other element that can have a CSS class assigned to it!

There are no server side applications needed, or advanced knowledge of website programming. I went searching the web for code snippets to create dragable div elements within my website. I found some heavy javascript packages, like mootools. I also found some not so easy tutorials on very advanced and confusing methods of achieving this goal. Finally, after searching Google for about an hour, I found the greatest, simple, easy to use tutorial with files ready for download and to implement into your website.

All you're going to need is a website, an HTML document, a Div class and a javascript file. Check out the demos, Draggable image elements

Here's a my favorite example of a dragable div element, enabling complex items in tables, boxes, etc. to be dragged around the web page Draggable Div content

I'm not going to write the tutorial all over again, so check it out with the link in my External Link Resources section at the bottom:

External Link Resources

Create Dragable Divs Content Script
Dragable Images Javascript Demo
Dragable Content Elements Demo

Order Printer Ink Online: Free Shipping!

2007-06-27T17:20:00.000-04:00

Personally, I think that going to the store and purchasing ink every time I am low on it is absolutely time consuming, expensive and frustrating...Frustrating?

YES. Because there have many times when the type of ink that I needed was not available at the store I went to. Requiring me to go to another store, waste gas and waste even more time. Wouldn't it be nice if you could have your printer ink delivered to your door step, free of shipping charge? Yes it would, and it CAN!

If you need inkjet cartridges, no matter what type of printer, copier, multifunction or fax machine you own, you can find it on Inkers.biz. You can also find the latest toner cartridges and multiple generic and cost effective options for purchasing brands that are cheaper and just as good quality.

Inkers is dedicated to providing efficient, simple, time efficient and cost effective solutions for purchasing the ink you need and getting the ink you need when you need it. They have a huge database of types of inks that you can choose from, ranging from simple printer ink cartridges to sophisticated toner cartridges.

They also offer high class customer service and satisfaction guaranteed, as all their ink cartridges and toners are 100% covered for any defects for an entire year. They also have a 30 day, no questions asked money back policy.

The best part about inkers.biz? Free ground shipping and usually ships the day you order it arriving within 2-3 days. Can't beat that! This qualifies for the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

So, next time you're out of ink and have a graphic project you need to print for, no worries. Order online and get your ink cartridges delivered same day and for free.

Check out Inkers.biz Now!

Best Free CSS Templates

2007-06-23T20:23:00.000-04:00

I have accumulated some great resources for FREE CSS templates, and just wanted to share them with you. Now, don't think you can only use templates if you are new to web designing. Templates are great for newbies and experienced designers, because you can always customize them to your liking, while learning new tips and tricks for layouts.

When choosing templates, there are some important factors I consider to get the best possible web design templates. First of all, they have to be all CSS and XHTML compliant. It's just as easy to find quality templates that are pure CSS, so why get yourself into a messy template? Second of all, think about the type of site you're designing. There are templates for blogs, portfolio websites and even made for dynamic websites. Choose the one that from a structural point of view, can accomplish the web design project you're doing.

Here are the very best internet sources for FREE CSS Tempalates:

http://www.freecsstemplates.org/

http://www.free-css-templates.com/

http://www.solucija.com/home/css-templates/

http://opensourcetemplates.org/

http://www.oswt.co.uk/browse_designs.html

http://www.templateworld.com/free_templates.html

Freelance Guild With Health Benefits

2007-06-14T23:43:00.000-04:00

Are you a freelancer? Are you a full-time worker who part-time freelances? I'm not sure about associations, guilds or even sororities while I'm on it! But, I have been getting MediaBistro news report feeds for over 3 years now because they are so targeted, interesting and informative for myself (as a technology enthusiast and freelance designer.) I get the feeds in my e-mail so I dont' regularly navigate to their site but to finish reading each article.

The other day I received an e-mail inviting me to a media bistro celebration party due to their recent health benefits. I get e-mails about their parties sometimes, and always wish I could go. But, they're in NY or LA, and I'm in well...Florida :)

The point of the story is, their membership costs a mere $50/1 year to join and they offer freelancer's health benefits!

I just graduated, and am freelancing part-time while working full-time...With NO benefits as of now. This sounds interesting and I'm curious as to how much you end up paying (saving, that is) and if the program is good. I'd be willing to go ahead and sign up, because they also offer freelancers benefits like cheaper portfolio listings on their site, and guides for pitching articles and things of that nature.

If you are a member, shoot me a comment or e-mail telling me how this program is, I am SERIOUSLY wanting to join, for fear that I am in a horrible car accident tomorrow and have to claim bankruptcy due to my sucky no-health benefit job! Thanks guys.

If you aren't a member, read about the benefits here:

Media Bistro Member Benefits

Also, I know I write sponsored messages from time to time, to make a living! But, this isn't one...So, signing up for their newsletter is a good idea I learn something at least every week from it.

Luv yaz!

-Nikki

External Link Resources

Media Bistro Avant Guild
Media Bistro.com
Freelance Health Insurance

Online University Offers Graduate Degrees Online

2007-06-08T18:44:00.000-04:00

Whether you're going to back to school, just beginning your education or would like to further your knowledge in a specific subject area and have a diploma to show for it, Capella University is a commendable option. They are an accredited online university offering dgraduate degree programs in business, information technology, education, human services, and psychology, and bachelor's degree programs in business and information technology. Within those areas, Capella offers 76 graduate and undergraduate specializations and 16 certificate specializations. Get your masters degree, associates or even doctorate degree online

Technology is moving so fast, and it's up to us to keep on board and utilize it through to it's full advantage. With an online University, like Capella, you can work, take care of your children, and still have time to come home and finish your college course work.

The online university currently serves 16,000 students from all 50 states and 63 countries. It is a national leader in online education, committed to providing quality academic excellence and ensuring the growth and prosperity of all of their students. It is a part of Capella Education Company and currently has headquarter in Minneapolis...But, no matter where your location is, you can still work towards and receive a degree through Capella using nothing more than your computer and internet access. For more information on the Online Course, please visit www.capella.edu or call 1-888-CAPELLA (227-3552).

New Movie 1408 Hits Home...Run!

2007-06-05T23:06:00.000-04:00

Growing up, I was infatuated with horror movies, books and stories that left one feeling, well, eerie. My personality then, and to this day, is one to fall into the stories of paranormal activity and for some reason it fascinated me! That never did sit well with my two parents, whom were both devout Christians. Not the Catholic kind either, so exorcism, demons and anything super natural was considered blasphemy to them.

Spawning from my urge to imagine and dream, my creative outlet was writing. At only 10 years old I wrote a 40 page story about a young girl, visiting her grandmother in the country at an old rickety house haunted by creatures from the 7th dimension. The house was a portal to this alternate world, where the beings stuck there were embedded in the realistic paintings lining the cracked walls.

Houses, homes, seem to hold some kind of life with their history of past dwellers. The new movie, 1408, reminds me of this story I wrote when I was in elementary school and it still excites and haunts my imagination.

John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, two of my favorite actors from some of my favorite movies (Pulp Fiction, Infedelity) are also staring in the new movie, 1408 Movie and I'm afraid, but completely ecstatic to watch yet another incredible Stephen King Flick.

Want to know the eeriest part about it? The movie premise is based on a room in a hotel, room number 1408, that is haunted by beings from an alternate world. One of the trailers depicted him (Mike Enslin played by John Cusack) stuck inside the room 1408. He pleads to his wife to bring the cops, as his eyes swell up with frost bite, and the room is flooded with ice and cold air. She responds by saying (paraphrased) "Mike, the cops are in the room, there's no one there."

Mike Enslin is a also a writer, who based most of his novels on supernatural phenomena. The room number 1408 in this specific hotel, is named to be haunted and the guests who room there, don't make it out alive. He defies the rumor, despite numerous warnings by the hotel managers, and seems to be stuck in some kind of alternate realm of space-time...

Can't wait to check out Stephen King's latest thriller! Check it out the details at: 1408

Here's the trailer!

Logo Design Good Enough for Designers!

2007-06-03T01:32:00.000-04:00

As a designer, it's often discouraging when you see design companies advertising logo, graphic, print design services without a quality portfolio...Sometimes without a portfolio at all! It's also insulting to designers, because it's understood that business presence and identity is directly proportional to client base and a growing, thriving business.

Logo design is one of the most important first steps in developing a business presence, and building and identity based upon that image. Logo Design Works is a Logo Design Company that offers services good enough for even a designer!

So as not to bore you, let me explain their thorough process of logo design process, as stated on their site, from concept to redesign to review:

1. They clearly state a logo design process for your business, geared towards your business. They also clearly recognize the fact that not all projects will remain parallel in process, illustrating their reputable, honest and thoughtful logo design business.

PS: Don't you just hate those companies that give absolutely no specific result examples, or process instructions, or portfolio examples. BUT, make it seem as if they will have the PERFECT logo ready in 3 hours? DOESN' HAPPEN. Good design is created by good designers, who take pride in their work, Logo design works exemplifies this stance without over emphasizing.

2. They understand the importance of the process of design.
part of their design process overview features the process of sketching out the design, and deciding on the perfect concept to represent your business. As a designer, I know that this step is mandatory if you want to develop a unique and truly representative design.\

3. They don't attempt to offer only one design example to their clients. Packages start out at at least 3 design concepts, at under $200! While the designer is a professional, knows what he/she's doing, the client is the most important part of the process. Without more than one design concept for them to review, there is always opportunity for disappointment and lack of perfection in the final outcome.

4. They offer their clients secure access into the site, to view the concept from start to finish as the designer works on it. How incredible is that? While you might wonder why this concept hasn't come about sooner, it almost seems like a necessary and highly marketable reason to use Logo Design Works to create your business identity. You can submit changes, reviews and insight as your logo is being developed, to ensure your satisfaction and full input within the process of design.

5. More than one designer will work on your business logo. Again, graphic designers are professionals, and are incredible at what they do. But, just as even the best writer needs an editor, it's always a good choice to have more than one angle on your design.

Your concept will be original, individualized and perfect for your company by the time they've taken all this insight into consideration.

I have to say it again, if there was a designer for designers, Logo Design Works would be it!

External Link Resources

Online Color Schemer for Graphic Designers
Guide to Grid Systems in Graphic Design
Web 2.0 Design Style Guide

Dynamic Dreamweaver Tutorials and Books

2007-05-29T17:25:00.000-04:00

If you're an experienced web designer, or new web designer, you are probably familiar with the term, "Dynamic Website." If you aren't familiar with this term, time to get familiarized!

Any website that is not dynamic produces simply static pages, with an overload of useless pages. Dynamic websites allow the web designer to cut down on pages, more efficiently get data up on the site, all users to log in through the front end and more.

Examples of Dynamic website Types:
Forums
Blogs
Wikis
Photo Sharing

Examples of Dynamic website uses:
Content loaded quicker
Website security
Easy duplicating of content
Easy templating
And much more...

Dynamic Dreamweaver books and tutorials are difficult to come by, especially if you are not experienced with programming languages...Why? Because web developers and programmers don't often write comprehensively and because some programmers choose not to use Dreamweaver, and use other solid programming UI software programs.

I, personally, have found Dreamweaver to be an exellent tool for developing dynamic websites. I began without ANY programming knowledge, and even now I don't posses a great deal. But, Dreamweaver makes it pretty easy.

When I decided I wanted to learn how to develop dynamic websites, I bought, Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition

While I use it often NOW. When I first began, it was impossible with all the code. It is a great resource though, and I'm not sorry I bought it. I teaches you to create a shopping cart and secure access all yourself.

Now, the #1 best dynamic Dreamweaver book:

Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8

I learned how to create log ins, blog applications and more with Dreamweaver and with hardly any programming! It also shows you how to manage MySQL databases from Dreamweaver, while ALSO giving you detailed instructions for downloading PHP and MySQL and setting up a local server. MACS and PCS both.

These are the only two I've tried, but here are some newer books out there for Dynamic Dreamweaver applications...with reviews :)

Dreamweaver 8 Dynamic Development

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP: Training from the Source

External Link Resources

Tutorial Find Dreamweaver and PHP
Dreamweaver Tutorials
Dreamweaver 8 Video Tutorials

Easy Online Contests, Win Free Gift Cards From Home!

2007-05-18T20:36:00.000-04:00

Here are some easy contests I came across, and the greatest part about these contests is that you can enter as many times as you have e-mail addresses.

Why not? Part of the benefit from being online all the time is that you can enter contests, get free stuff, and get ahead utilizing the internet and it's many promotions...

These contests are easy, and each have rules that apply to them that I suggest reading. Other than that, it's as simple as 1-2-3, enter e-mail address or addresses and you can be the lucky one who wins!

Free Gift Cards! Win free gift cards to your favorite restaurants and stores with a quick field entry:

Victoria's Secret and Women's Collections (Your or your other :)

Best Education Resource and Directory Online

2007-05-18T20:06:00.000-04:00

Looking for a college? Online education solution? Trade school in your area? Want to compare online degrees and programs? Deciding on a school to attend for higher education can be a tedious endeavor. Your first steps may be to ask around, consult friends and family, look to the local colleges in your area, etc. But, this method doesn't always ensure that you are going to pay for the best possible education for YOUR needs and in your budget.

Directoryofschools.com is a directory of educational institutions in every area and in all subject matters. From online colleges, 4 year degree programs, trade schools, vocational schools and more.

What makes directoryofschools.com directory unique?

Represents over 1,355 schools
Partners with trade schools, universities and colleges
Verification process to review schools and degree programs through each institution

Their database represents the educational community as a whole with information regarding high schools, homework helpers and career resources.

Win a Vacation, Contest Entry Online!

2007-05-18T19:00:00.000-04:00

Why Not?

I live in Orlando and I recently wrote an Orlando Vacations Guide, with reviews of the theme parks in Orlando, you can check out here...

Orlando Theme Parks Guide to Vacation

Staying on the vacation theme, here's an easy contest entry to win a free Bahamas vacation. What I love about this contest is that it's so easy to enter, and you can place as many entries as you have e-mail addresses! Tripling, quadrupling, and more your chances to win!

Wait! Want to win a vacation to Florida or the Bahamas?
Win Accommodations at Bahamas' Luxurious Water-Themed Resort!

FREE TO ENTER, ONE FIELD, EASY!

Online Shopping: Save Money With Instant Coupons!

2007-05-17T00:05:00.000-04:00

Saving money isn't always about hard work and pinching pennies...Sometimes it's just about WHAT YOU KNOW. If you could save money on every purchase you make, would you complain? As a freelancer, one method of making money from home, is saving money from home and using the web to achieve income success and more cash. You save on gas, save on work clothes, now save money on everything using online coupons.

Coupon Chief is a website dedicated to saving you money on almost every type of purchase you make. Being on the "inside" of this best kept secret is more than just knowing that coupon chief will save you cash money on every type of purchase you make, it's about actually using this great tool and resource when you make your purchases. Their coupon codes give you the ultimate opportunity to save serious money when shopping

I'm not talking about a buy 1 get 1 free coupon for electronic alarm clocks here, I'm talking about MONEY SAVING coupons that can be used at just about every store you shop at and just about everything you are going to buy.

Their office supplies coupon store is a valuable resource, saving you 25% on Photo Paper right now, $30 off batteries and more. Coupons change day to day so you have to check out the website before every purchase you make to start saving some money, and consequently, putting cash right into your pocket!

Think about it, all your freelancing and working from home to make money through hard work and research can now make you money every time you buy something. Lucky you!

Discount Disney Tickets for Your Orlando Vacation

2007-05-16T20:30:00.000-04:00

I live in Orlando, and have been to almost every park, dinner theatre and attraction made available. Believe me, they are all different and geared to specific age groups and interests. Here's my complete guide to some of the most popular Orlando theme parks!

The best place to purchase Discount Disney Tickets is Orlando fun tickets, they have all day passes, ticket packages, 3 day passes and more to all your favorite Disney theme parks, dinner shows and attractions.

Remember, if you wait till you get here to purchase your tickets, you'll end up paying 3 times as much! Buy your tickets at Orlando Fun Tickets online and make the process easy and cheap.

Here are my two favorite theme park reviews that Orlando fun tickets offers discounted tickets for!

Disney World Theme Parks

Magic Kingdom

Magic kingdom is definitely magical, themes and fantastic scenery surround almost every edge of this park. It is most appropriate for adults and younger children, or the vacationer looking to just have a relaxing, fun time. The most exciting roller coaster at Magic kingdom is Space Mountain, and it doesn't come close to the scare factor that Busch Gardens and Six Flags give you with their roller coasters.

Epcot

Epcot is my favorite Disney theme park and always has been. But, I’m a technology geek and always loved all the cool gadgets and technology toys throughout the park. It’s also exciting to visit every country in only 3 hours.

Basic Color Theory for Graphic Designers Part 1

2007-05-16T18:42:00.000-04:00

Color theory is essential when designing any graphic, whether logo or website design, understanding basic color theory is an essential asset to your designer tool belt.

This is going to be a two part series. This first post is covering color basics and fundamentals of the color wheel, the second post will talk about tone, hue, saturation and neutrals using Photoshop to get better control over your graphics and designs.

While you may have taken a graphic design course, covering Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, the lessons you learned in grade school art class are just as important. Once you master these basic fundamental theories for color and color design, you will not remember how you ever designed without taking into consideration color combinations and effects.

Primary Colors

Red

Yellow

Blue

These three colors can be combined to make almost every color you can imagine. Acrylic painters often only need to buy these three tubes of acrylic paint in order to create their art.

Combining the three primary colors in different amounts and proportions will give you varying levels of colors.

Secondary Colors

Made by combining only two of the primary colors...Cyan, yellow and magenta.

Additive and Subtractive Colors

While the second series is going to cover how Photoshop and your computer interpret and control color, their is one thing that is a fundamental aspect of colors...Additive and subtractive colors.

Additive colors

Red, green and blue...Why?

Because as you add color to them they turn more white. This is how a computer works with additive colors. But, color printed on paper is different because computers use light, the color turns more white, but printed color on paper uses pigment like toner, dye or ink. These types of colors absorb light and reflect other colors.

Subtractive Colors

Cyan, yellow and magenta...Why?
ARTICLE CONTINUES! >>

Because as you add more color pigment to these, they become darker as they are subtract light and reflect the color coming from a flat piece of paper emiting no light like a computer screen does.

There are fundamental theories involved with hue, saturation and brightness that do not directly relate to Photoshop...But, I'll cover those aspects in the second part of this color theory series.

Time to UpGrade to Adobe Photoshop CS2

2007-05-16T17:04:00.000-04:00

Before I start, here are the latest deals on design and production suites at Adobe:

Special offers on Adobe products.

If you haven't upgraded your Adobe Photoshop Suite to at least CS2, you are missing out on time saving features and essentially, money saving features!

The Adobe Photoshop and the entire Adobe suite for graphics and design is an essential tool, and really there isn't a stand in if you are serious about your design work. But, I realized the other day, while talking to a graphic designer who hasn't upgraded his version since Adobe Photoshop 8.0, that Photoshop gurus are hesitant to switch, thinking that they have all they need in their current version.

Think again Photoshop Users!

Here are the features available in the Adobe Photoshop CS2 suite, read about the new Adobe Photoshop CS3 suite that I wrote earlier here: Before Upgrading to Adobe Photoshop CS3 Read This Review!

Perspective Creator and Cloner...3-D Images in Photoshop!

Add another story to a 4 story building, add another floor to a house illustration, add books stacked on top of other books. The new Photoshop CS2 has a unique

Photoshop Creative Suite 3 Extended.
Render and incorporate 3D images into your 2D composites. Order Now!

Adobe Bridge

An included application that allows you to browse all your design project files like browsing your computer...with one very big enhancement: You can see all your art files, enlarge the art files, filter the files and even do simple editing without ever opening your actual Adobe Program!

Select Multiple Layers

Can I hear an amen? Think about all the time you'll save not having to move your related layers into a folder? There are scores of ways that this new feature will save you some serious time and money.

Enhanced Customization of your Menus and Work Space

Basically, you can customize your Adobe Photoshop environment to make it your very own. The degree to which you can personalize your settings for work spaces is not only specific to the tee, it is also easier and more intuitive. You can also save work spaces for different types of projects and clients. Personally, I have a separate work space per client I am designing for...This saves me tons of time so my menus, tool bars, swatches, files, etc. are all ready for me and the current design job.

Smart Objects

If you haven't heard of smart objects yet, I question whether or not you are living on planet earth. Smart objects are the absolute essential and greatest invention since sliced bread. You can easily copy, paste, move, manipulate and edit any type of file...ai, eps, inDesign, etc. into all of your applications keeping the pixel rate in tact and editable as if it were part of the application you are currently using.

Example: you have illustrated an incredible logo in Illustrator, with gradients, vectors, shadows, clipping masks and more. Now, you want to put it in InDesign to create a brochure. Simply copy and past the image into InDesign as a smart object and lose absolutely NO Quality. You can also edit it even further in the new InDesign CS2, which is an entirely new article focused on InDesign.

Animate Easier, and Correctly in Adobe Photoshop

Using features from Image ready you can now easily create flash animations in Photoshop far easier than using flash if the animation is simple.

With all these incredible features packed in CS2, imagine the CS3 suite. It is time to upgrade, or time to call yourself a waste of design space!

Creative Suite 3 Web Premium. Redefine the extraordinary in web design and development. Order Now!

Monex Deposit Company Purchase Gold

2007-05-14T01:26:00.000-04:00

The only true universal monetary investment is Gold, it is the standard by which our current money sytem based itself on. Ever wanted to purchase gold or any other precious metal for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository?

Monex companies have been America's gold and precious metals investment leader. For 30 years they have been allowing Americans to invest gold in a coin or ingots.

What is the difference?

Ingots are generally gold ingots of pure bullion cast in a convenient size and shape. Coins have a currency value or they are actually defined as ingots.

Besides the obvious monetary value of Gold Bullion, it is also a beautiful and timeless investment, from the time of ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to more modern times, man has had an affinity for gold bullion. Monex Precious Metals employs hard asset professionals committed to providing you with precious metals investment needs and being America's best dealer with a convenient market and competitive precious metals prices.

Through Monex Deposit Company (MDC) you can purchase gold or other precious metals for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository. For over 30 years, the Monex companies have been America's gold and precious metals investment leader. As an investment product, gold, is available in coin or ingot form. Ingots are generally gold ingots of pure bullion cast in a convenient size and shape. Coins have a currency value or they are actually defined as ingots. Buying gold has been recognized for centuries as one of the best ways to preserve one's wealth and purchasing power. Gold bullion is a unique investment. From the time of ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to more modern times, man has had an affinity for gold bullion. In all ages, man has been fascinated with the beauty and magic of gold, and with its power to change men's lives. Today, the beauty of a gold bar lies in its proven ability to diversify investments, protect wealth and preserve one's purchasing power. Monex Precious Metals is home to a large and dedicated staff of hard asset professionals committed to serving your precious metals investment needs and being America's best dealer with a convenient market and competitive precious metals prices.

Graphic Design Bleeds and Printing

2007-05-14T00:29:00.000-04:00

A bleed is the area outside of a graphic, image, document, etc. that extends beyond the edge of the page. For example, if you want some part of a graphic to go all the way to the edge of a document with no margin. Here's a rough example picture:

The circles on the outside bleed to the edge of the paper.

It's important to note that most printers cannot create a natural bleed because the rollers that print the ink need a part of the paper to grasp on to. So, there will always be a margin of some kind.

To get the bleed effect without going to a professional printing company, you can print your document on 11x17 or any size bigger than the document you wish to create. Then, use a paper cutter to accurately resize the document.

Taken from www.leniche.com online freelance Terms Glossary

If you've ever been involved with graphic design printing you have probably been given specs that involved bleeds as well. In Adobe illustrator and Adobe Photoshop you can create bleeds by simply offsetting the design a set distance, most of the time in inches or centimeters using guides. Adobe InDesign has an option to create bleeds very easily and exactly in a more suitable way, because InDesign is made for printing purposes.

When preparing a set document or graphic for print in say, an event program or booklet, you will want to make sure your design is offset to bleed on one side more than the other sides. Because, the booklet pages when printed will be bound together, thus taking extra paper on the inside of the page design in order to bind with the other pages.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your online printing and graphic design preparation!

Best Web 2.0 Focused Articles and Tutorials

2007-05-14T00:08:00.000-04:00

Web 2.0 is an ever growing phenomena, dictating the future of web design as we know it. It is more of a philosophy if anything at all, and while anyone can think they know what Web 2.0 website design is, it is the select few who have taken the time to study, research and implement the Web 2.0 techniques that truly understand what it's all about. Web 2.0 design can mean many different things, including but not limited to:

Social Bookmarking

What is Social Bookmarking?

Socialize Social Bookmarking Website

Social Networking Websites

Top Freelance Writing Online Community

Free Online Resources to JumpStart Your Career Search

Web 2.0 Text and Font Design

Web 2.0 Color Scheme Templates

Photoshop Tutorial: Create Web 2.0 Reflective Font Design

CSS Web Design Basics

Simple CSS Tutorial Sliding Doors Navigation

Beginners Guide to CSS Website Design

How to Create CSS Liquid Layouts

How To CSS Block Quotes Tutorial

Money Making Websites

Freelancer's Make Money Through Multiple Income Streams

Other Resources:

Top 25 Web 2.0 Businesses most likely to succeed

This information is taken straight from the "Business 2.0" magazine, which is an awesome magazine, if I don't say so myself. With all the so-called "Entrepreneurial" magazines out there, filled with mostly advertisements and web nonsense written by non-professionals, Business 2.0 Magazine is a great haven for those who are internet savvy and want the latest, most exclusive, highly educated information regarding web 2.0 business and the internet.

Why Web 2.0 Social Bookmarking is Difficult to Understand: Personal Story

You'll have to start at this story if you haven't read it yet. It was too long to put in one post!

Americans Say Web Is Useless

Personal Story: "Social Bookmarking Sites Are Useless"

Here's a story for you. I had a client, venture capitalist who thought he was really in on the internet and it's new technologies. Under his suggestion, wanted me to start bookmarking some of his articles through social bookmarking sites. So, I created some accounts and began to bookmark his articles, and other relevant articles to his industry...

What to know Before Buying CS3

2007-05-01T11:04:00.000-04:00

Right when my Adobe Photoshop CS2 fix was coming to a close, right along pops up Photoshop CS3. In case you have not heard, Photoshop is now almost of legal age....17 years old! This means that thousands of kids have caught onto the idea that Adobe Photoshop can be an incredibly fun, useful tool (As well as the entire Adobe CS3 line).

I jumped into the Adobe CS2 products pretty hard. In particular, Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. I used these applications in a number of ways both at home and work. While I'm not an incredibly great artist, I have developed the skills needed to be efficient and professional in my endeavors. Along the way, I've been developing little tricks that have made me the life of any party (yeah..right).

This is the best Photoshop CS3 review I've seen floating around.

Every line of Photoshop seems to get a little easier for users while adding great features. This time around is no different.

Mac users will love CS3 because it will allow Intel Macs to run Photoshop at full speed. I don't own a Mac but have heard about CS2 being a pain in the ass sometimes. There are other improvements to the interface, selecting and filtering, smart objects and overall intigration between outside resources and the CS3 programs.

Still Not Sure

It's good to be skeptical. Nobody likes the jerk who gets the nicest car but does not know how to drive it. Wasted money is a waste, period. If you are thinking of joining the Adobe game for the first time there are some things to know.

Every new line of Adobe products brings cool new features to play with. The number of people and businesses that have bought Photoshop over the years is astounding. In reality, much of the time and money spent toward buying and learning the software is wasted.

Someone buys Adobe and a book, then read 15 pages and they don't read it again. They then periodically mess around with a couple simple tools and give up or never advance. Photoshop can perform some awesome tasks for users fairly easily. It's a matter of knowing how to use the tools. What buttons to press, basically and general direction. I spent $400 dollars on CS2 Training videos and improved my work speed literally overnight. Simple keyboard shortcuts alone make it worth it. Also, just the whole process of creating a product out of one of the unique tools and programs. I suggest them to anyone who is serious about using the program in an effective manner.

They are much easier to follow and understand than any of the books (for me anyways). After awhile they can move too slow and you'll not pay attention, then miss something and have to rewind. But overall they are a must. You won't believe what you've been missing.

Is Photoshop CS3 worth it? If you like CS2 and don't want to bother spending money than no, it's not. If you are like me than of course it's worth it. It's the newest, latest and greatest version, dummy.

Photoshop has become like a new video game for me.

Check out the Adobe CS3 Video Tutorials at: Adobe CS3 Video Tutorials Website

Bid 4 Prizes Cool Web 2.0 Bidding Website

2007-05-01T01:51:00.000-04:00

It's about time there was a bidding system online made for the freelancer, truly giving back to the internet enthusiasts donating hours upon days upon months of time entirely devoted to the web.

I recently came across a website where you can bid on items and prizeds, like e-bay, but with a cool Web 2.0 style interface. As freelancers, we spend enough time on the internet that it's often refreshing to come across a truly unique and aesthetically pleasing website. We keep reading industry professionals write, "Yea, you built another community site, but where's the next big thing? Where's the next E-Bay? Where's the next Yahoo Directory?

Well folks, bid4prizes is it!

Here's the coolest part about bid4prizes...Ready? Are you sure? It's pretty good!

They have prizes available on their bid site, far below retail that you can bid on. If you have the highest bid you win the prize....Ok, well, that is not it!

For us freelancers and striving work from home web obsessed gurus, they also have a super fun game attached to each prize. Here's how it works, you find the prize you're interested in and in a morbid twist of fate you decide to bid a ridiculously low amount on the prize. This is where the fun begins, the website is actually playing with you and gives you hints, tips and guides to help you determine the lowest unique bid on the prize. If you get it right you win the great prize, no matter what the highest bid was! Seriously.

Love crossword puzzles? Riddles? You're going to love this, with the added bonus of a big fat winner's deluxe prize package at the end.

Try it out: Bid4Prizes.com

Getting A Degree Online Best Resource

2007-05-01T01:35:00.000-04:00

Whether you're going to back to school, just beginning your education or would like to further your knowledge in a specific subject area and have a diploma to show for it, Capella University is a commendable option. They are an accredited online university offering graduate degree programs in business, information technology, education, human services, and psychology, and bachelor's degree programs in business and information technology. You can get a distance learning degree through Capella in the easiest way, customized for your needs and offering you hands on training. Within those areas, Capella offers 76 graduate and undergraduate specializations and 16 certificate specializations.

Technology is moving so fast, and it's up to us to keep on board and utilize it through to it's full advantage, elearning is the future of true college education. With an online University, like Capella, you can work, take care of your children, and still have time to come home and finish your college course work.

The online university currently serves 16,000 students from all 50 states and 63 countries. It is a national leader in online education, committed to providing quality academic excellence and ensuring the growth and prosperity of all of their students. It is a part of Capella Education Company and currently has headquarter in Minneapolis...But, no matter where your location is, you can still work towards and receive a degree through Capella using nothing more than your computer and internet access. For more information on the Online Course, please visit www.capella.edu or call 1-888-CAPELLA (227-3552).

“This (or “the following”) blog post was (or “is”) based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.”

Free CSS Templates: Web 2.0 Design

2007-05-01T00:48:00.000-04:00

Free templates aren't just for newbies or for people looking to create a quick website without knowledge of web design. They're for everyone! :)

I have found TONS of Free CSS Templates, distributed under the: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License, requiring absolutely nothing in return for using the templates. Some specific sites ask that you link back to them, but other than that you can use, distribute, alter, recreate and play with these incredible Web 2.0 style FREE pure CSS templates!

Here they are, have fun!

Free CSS Templates Super Web 2.0

Professional CSS Templates No Back Link Required!

Cute CSS Blog templates and More!

Hope you make great use of these resources.

TIP: As a web designer, graphic designer or webmaster these tools still come in handy. I can vouch that these templates are pure CSS, XHTML properly formatted sites, and you can use them as inspiration, a base to start from or to alter and re-design to offer clients!

Here are some stripped, simple CSS Tableless template layouts. Whatever CSS layout you want, you'll find a starting point here!

Web 2.0 CSS Layout Templates

Basic CSS Template Layouts

Personal Vacation Planner Online Now!

2007-04-24T17:46:00.001-04:00

Life gets easier by using to web, internet and online tools to manage mundane activities that used to be difficult. It's only a matter of time before every industry has found a way to use the web, to make their customers HAPPY!

Vacations.net just launched a new, advanced website that not only makes planning a vacation easier, personal and better...But also does it cheaper. Vacations.net is the number one all-inclusive travel website that assists you and helps you plan your best vacation ever.

Using online tools to set up your vacation almost always ends up being cheaper than using a travel agency or by purchasing your plane ticket, hotel, excursions separately because online all inclusive vacation sites are competing to offer you the best prices and dominate your market.

Vacations.net has certainly gone above and beyond with their new site, after research and listening to their customers and consumers (YOU!) to create a site that customizes to your vacation plan!

Customized booking engine
up to 50% off regular rates RIGHT NOW!
Specials, offers, discounts, FREE NIGHTS PROGRAM
Visual tours, see your vacation before you take it!
Detailed information on accommodations and plans

100% Free Money Making Secrets: Paid Opportunities Resource

2007-04-21T20:27:00.000-04:00

There are hundreds of websites, blogs, resources, etc. online built to assist freelancers and aspiring entrepreneur's with ways to make money online. The reason why work from home opportunities are big on the internet right now is because there are tons of ways that ANYONE can earn an income working from home...It's just a matter of finding the easiest, most profitable and appropriate way to be your own boss.

If you are a work from home mom, freelancer, aspiring freelancer or someone looking to earn income online, you will probably spend hours upon hours of online research, sifting through scores of painful scam opportunities, and come out knowing more about which opportunities to take and which to avoid.

Tori, a full-time work from home mom, has an extensive resource, database, directory (whatever you want to call it) of almost every work from home opportunity you can imagine, honest reviews of paid opportunities, and she reveals tons of scams through her own experience, so you don't have to experience it!

Her knowledge and experience with work from home opportunities goes far beyond any resource, that I have found, out there. Her blog is a never ending knowledge base for work from home jobs, freelance writing jobs, blogging opportunities, affiliate reviews, affiliate advice, blogging advice, and so much more.

The information she gives away on her site is invaluable, quoted from her blog:

"I often get emails from visitors asking who I am and why I am giving away this information for free. I don't blame people for wondering because I often wonder the same things when I find work-at-home sites!
So let me tell you a little about who I am and why I “donate” this information.

I am a stay at home mother of a 15 month old son. I used to manage a bar and I really loved my career but decided to sacrifice it to be at home with my child. Like you may have, I spent endless hours online trying to find legit ways to earn a living off the internet"

Read more at: Paid Opportunities Information for Free

No matter what your interest, focus, niche, genre, etc. you will find informative articles, tutorials, reviews and information on paid opportunities you never knew existed! She has a huge readership base, and a long standing reputation for exposing scam opportunities and giving honest reviews and online money making opportunities to her readers.

I've added her to my blog roll on the right, and you can also find a feed to her latest articles in the right nav bar.

Visit: Paid Opportunities Free Money Making Secrets by Tori and check it out!

Freelance Writing Opportunities: Multiple Earning Streams!

2007-04-19T20:29:00.000-04:00

I have recently come across an incredible website that offers multiple ways for writers to earn money through submitting articles, reviews and posting. With the many paid to post opportunities out there, and adsense revenue sharing sites like Orble and Gather, this site offers EVERY method of earning, all at one time and on each writing assignment you post! They are unique because of the many different possible ways for you to earn money through your writing, generating revenue through

Flat payment per article
Adsense revenue sharing
Commission on advertisers

Not only can you earn cash for writing on specific tasks, but you earn Adsense revenue sharing on EVERYTHING you write through their community. Including your personal blog, reviews, articles, tutorials, etc.

Leniche is a freelance community, focusing on freelancers and their "niche." They assign articles based on advertisers and the commission that can be earned for the advertisers. You can view project and assignments through your member dashboard, and choose assignments that you know about or that you're willing to do some research for.

Once your articles are approved and published, the banner advertisements for the advertiser you wrote about are placed inside your article with your unique member ID. For every sale, lead, click, etc. you earn 50% commission from the advertiser! Not to mention 75% commission on all Adsense revenue through the article, and they pay a flat $3 for every task assignment in the first 30 days or the commission revenue in the first 30 days (whichever is the highest!)

It's very easy to sign up, and once the site has more advertisers and members, there are going to be floods of opportunities for freelancers to earn more money. Their network of sites is also growing, and there are opportunities to write for sports, media, news and all different types of genres.

The best part? They do the marketing, advertising and promotion for your content, earning you even more commission income due to more traffic. Of course you can also do your own marketing on your articles like social bookmarking, buzz articles and telling family and friends.

Simply register on the leniche freelancer registration page, fill in your Adsense ID and PayPal e-mail address if you have it on hand (or fill in later).

Go to your "Profile Dashboard" >> "Update Profile" link and click on the tab "Staff Writer Application"

The application is short, simply fill in your area of interest and just one writing sample. Once you fill out the application, they approve you within 24 hours!

You can view all the available projects through your Assignment Manager in your member dashboard.

The newest project available is Web Hosting Reviews

They have specific web hosting companies that you can write about, the hosting company links and banner ads are placed in your article with your unique ID, and you can start earning income right away! There's really unlimited earning potential with this company, and it's a great place to network with freelancers, write on your own blog, earn Adsense revenue, advertiser's commission and much more just by being a part of a freelance community!

Sign-up now and become a staff writer, earn unlimited income and start making money online writing!

New Spin On A Business Directory Online

2007-04-09T17:10:00.000-04:00

When new ideas, businesses and website emerge everyday, it's difficult to distinguish between the innovative ideas, the mockery ideas, the emulations and the frauds. But, it's often easy to spot a truly different method, idea and easy to use website. Globalbx.com has taken the business directory to an entirely new level, while also integrating the idea of owning your own business and making it easy to do...Online!

Globalbx.com is the internet's business listing resource. You can find any business in any industry listed in their directory with not only the basic information about these companies, but also how YOU can find business opportunities in construction, real estate, tourism retail, manufacturing, internet, finance, and more!

If you're interested in starting franchise business, look no further! The listings run deep through every franchise opportunity you might be interested, while giving you the information you need to make a decision about your business goals. You can find unlimited businesses for sale, all over the world, while the site also hosts a confidential forum area so that you can discuss the opportunities, collaborate and make educated business driven decisions!

Are you a business seller? Globalbx.com is not only the premiere place to list your business, but also the place to get comprehensive business statistics and other business selling services in a one stop business marketplace fashion.

Great site, innovative idea, new spin on a business directory and much needed while being extremely useful! Check it out!

Great Resource for Web Graphics!

2007-04-03T17:06:00.000-04:00

If you're looking for graphics for your newest web design project, graphic design project, image enhancement, or simply to spice up your blog, MySpace, website, etc. There's a great resource available for all these tools.

I know that I'm sick of skimming through free photo sites for a great image, or paying $10 for a graphic that I'm just going to manipulate later. iCLIPART has millions of downloadable, high quality, eps, ai, psd, graphic files ready at your finger tips for your next design project.

One great thing about iCLIPART is that you can find any web graphic you need in no time. Including Photoshop buttons, Photoshop arrows, Photoshop icons and more. You can also find graphical 30d images and illustrations ready to utilize for any project.

It will definitely help for either inspiration or to download when you're in a rush designing a website or graphic piece.iCLIPART. Unlimited access to more than 5 million clipart images, animations, photos, fonts, and sounds for one low price!

CSS Layout Creator: All You Need for Pure CSS Layouts

2007-04-03T17:02:00.000-04:00

If you're a newbie web designer, or an experienced web designer, you are probably dealing with the hassle of designing CSS layouts based on standards and perfectly structured so that your website design holds together.

One resource I find helpful is Layout Gala's CSS layout gallery full of pure CSS layouts for every type of web design you could imagine.

If you are an experienced web designer, and know perfectly well how to create a CSS based website layout, this resource is still great to bookmark. Why? Because you can use these perfect CSS layouts as a base for any web design, and customize it according to your needs.

Every layout includes CSS, HTML and a preview, check it out at Layout Gala CSS Layouts

Web Development Community: Need Web Design Help?

2007-03-26T11:39:00.000-04:00

dreamincode.net is a web development community that has over 25,000 members and offers many benefits for web designers, web programmers and programming applications specialists. I am wondering why I haven't been to this site before, as it's sometimes very difficult to find like minded individuals with an interest in programming and web development when I have specific questions with my web design projects.

It's a very active community site, which is one of the most important things I look for when joining any type of community site that focuses on web programming and web design. But, not to say that if a site is new, and offers some great resources and well...looks pretty, I won't think about joining it!

A site with so many active web development professionals is a great asset for any web developer or web designer.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW!

Why Join Web Development Community:

Ask SPECIFIC web programming questions in the forums or straight away to individual members
Active web development and web programming forums
Code snippets that not only can assist you in your web projects, but also give you new ideas for applications and ways to implement them
Networking with other web developers is the ONLY way to make it in this ever changing industry. Without constantly growing and learning, you will surely be lost somewhere behind the pack when it comes to technology
Score web developing and web design projects with other members. I know that I outsources sometimes depending upon the web design I have to do, and communities like this, with so many members is the perfect place to collaborate

I checked it out today and I'm absolutely baffled by the amount of active members on the site. I have not visited a web development community with so many members, and so many members actually online on a Monday mid-afternoon. I am definitely going to utilize this new resources, and start getting involved today. You can check it out at: www.dreamincode.net

Need Help With Your Web Design Project?

2007-03-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

If you need help with your web design project, and you're a web designer...Where do you go?

Most of us will either buy a book, and learn it ourselves or search online until we find the answer. But, if your web design project requires something more complicated, some programming questions, URL questions, etc. you may need an expert to help you find more information and give you a specific answer to your specific question.

Another reason why spending time searching online or buying a book, waiting for it, reading it and attempting to learn it might not be a good idea is if you don't have the time to do that! If your client wants his website up and running...Now. And you know that you need an experienced programmer or web developer to give you an answer to a questions, I have found a great resource!

Kasamba has a whole database of experts who can offer support for a variety of subjects. Web developing, graphic design, web programming, web marketing and SEO services. What's great about this site, is that the experts set their own prices, can charge you straight through the site (so no messy paypal situation) and you can also pay per minute to speak with them live if your questions only takes a few minutes! They're very helpful, and enthusiastic to help.

Check out the Experts on Kasamba Here: Kasamba.com

The New World of SEO

2007-03-05T18:31:00.000-05:00

As the world of search engine optimization is growing, and more people are trying to utilize web marketing strategies to promote their websites, so is Google's intricate algorithm changing. While many of the rules for SEO and Web Marketing have not changed, there are many new rules that are gaining a higher importance within Google's Formula for ranking sites.

One of the most important factors to consider when marketing your website are outside links. This means that there are relevant pages on the internet, that have links leading back to your website. This sounds like an easy enough endeavor, but the initiative to get these links is becoming an internet craze. Meaning, that there are those who try and find ways to cheat the forumla, but creating sites on the web that are known as "Link Farms." Google is smarter than that, and when they realize that the links are coming from these sites, your page rank will plummet. To get quality, important, Google friendly outside links, follow these guidelines:

1. FACT: Getting 100 sites with a Google Page Rank of 4 or higher is not as beneficial (according to Google's Pagerank formula) as getting 1000 links from websites that have little to no importance according to Google. In other words, get as many relevant links back to your site as possible, the page rank of the websites linking to your site are not important.

2. Your links should be surrounded by relevant content. If the link to your site is on the bottom of a page, or top, with no content surrounding it, it will hold little importance. But, getting your link inside content specific words and sentences (articles) will be the best way to gain Optimization according to Google's Page Rank Foruma.

3. H1 tags, P tags, basically all content HTML tags surrounding your link will lead to a higher page rank.

4. Offer free software or unique content that people can't get anywhere else to bring more individuals to your site, and to also encourage others to link to your site on theirs.

5. Gain outside links through Blogs. This is the most effective way of gaining many outside links into your site, set within relevant content, and positively recognized by Google's Page Rank formula. Blogitive is an innovative company that offers the service of connecting blog writers with those who want to gain outside links through the use of blogs. With over 2000 blogs in it's network, you can choose the appropriate blogs that correspond to the content within your website. You simply submit a web release with the information you want the blog writer to include in their post, the URL to link to and the Keyword phrase you would like to link back to your site. Gaining outside links that not only go back to your website, but link through a keywords phrase is the best tip to getting quality outside links through Google's Page Rank formula. If you want to increase link popularity, use Blogitive to gain outside links through quality blog writers.

I Remember When Web Design Was Big...

2007-03-05T17:05:00.000-05:00

I remember when web design was the big thing, just plain web design, web hosting and domain names. When colleges had majors like: Digital Media and they focused on user experience on a website, how to design using CSS, maybe some digital video and flash. The industry of web design has changed and grown so much since then...

While portals and online communities used to be far out of reach for most beginning web designers, now it is possible for someone with absolutely no HTML, CSS or programming knowledge to create an entire online community using open source software like Joomla, Mamba, Drupal and even some web based solutions offered by other internet companies.

Web 2.0 has also eliminated some facets of web design as I used to know it. I remember when the web designer would focus on the aesthetic appeal of a website, when flash enhancements were a great addition to any website, when the more graphical, pretty, unique and color coordinated a website was the better!

Web 2.0 simplifies the web design industry, creating standards and websites that all look the same. We've come to a point where we know what works, and it isn't only highly regarded, it is standard. Web 2.0 takes user interaction to an entirely different level. Instead of taking the website and "wowing" the user, we now build a website that caters to the user.

There are still some web design companies that create websites that have images that are links, flash splash pages, graphical websites. Poor souls, their livelihood is extinguishing as I type.

No longer is "the" industry web design. The industry is open source software solutions, web marketing, social networking sites, more ideas, more interaction, less graphics, less complication.
If you want to start a web design business, or work as a freelance web designer, you better know more than HTML and CSS. And, don't think I'm talking about programming languages like PHP/MySQL and C++. While the programming industry has a long ways before the programmers are of less need, web designers need to know more than web design to make it in an ever expanding industry.

If you are an aspiring freelance web designer, looking to be more than a grunt worker or small time web designer for local gift shops, here's what you should know:

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW:

HTML, CSS, Flash (duh)
Blogging and blog design
PHP Templates, MySQL database (front end only, either from CPanel or just a basic understanding)
Open Source Software (Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, etc.) At least one or more of these programs
We 2.0

Web Marketing: There's a whole new list for this one...

Social Bookmarking sites
Meta Tags
SEO friendly URLS
Keyword Optimization
Keyword Content Writing
Press Release Writing
E-Mail Marketing Campaigns
PPC and Affiliate Advertising
Blogging

And there's more, I just can't sit and ponder on the vastness of this growing industry

Good luck aspiring web designers! And, if there's one last thing I leave you with, remember this fact:

If you're a college student, thinking that your "digital media" degree will teach all you need to succeed, think again. You have to stay up to date on EVERYTHING. Colleges prefer to hire professors with a doctorate degree, if your professor has a doctorate degree he can teach you nothing, and I mean nothing, you need to know. In fact, he'll probably muddle up your mind so much with his incessant babbling and narcissistic need to hear him/herself talk that you'll leave class with less of an understanding than when you came.

Adobe Design Software Available Online

2007-03-05T14:11:00.000-05:00

Adobe has been on the forefront of design software for quite some time, while aquiring Macromedia and web design software has only further enhanced the expanding industry. For graphic designers, web designers and photographers, Adobe is our best friend and really the only option for professional authoring tools. This fact, while not escaping Bruce Chizen (Adobe Systems CEO), it has also not stopped him from looking to the future of the industry and adjusting to the future of the online software availability and Adobe's competitors.
Article Continues Below

Microsoft is always going to be the mogul of moguls, monopolizing industries left and right. Also, Google's online tools such as Picasa, have taken over certain markets regarding image authoring and design tools. In the past, Chizen has stated that the market they sell to are high end, industry and professionals, so in some ways this competition doesn't necessarily apply. But, this hasn't stopped him from looking over his shoulder and making sure his market competitors don't sneak up behind him.

Read this exclusive interview with Chizen here:

Adobe Sees Its Future on the Web

Small Business Web Design

2007-03-04T17:03:00.000-05:00

If you're a freelance web designer, newbie or not, you have probably created websites for small businesses. Although web design and web development is a specific field and service, building a website for a small business and building a website for a large corporation are two very different animals.

What's good about small business web design?

Designing a website for a small business is a good idea for:

New Web Designers
Individual Freelance Web Designers
Companies that have the means to create websites very quick using templates and systematic methods...Programming with a dynamic web programming language like PHP/MySQL.

Small businesses do not always have the resources aka funds to support an entire web campaign for their business. Especially because it's difficult to put a price and return on investment number on marketing services that involve the web. If you're a web designer who takes a lot of pride in your designs and strives to work on highly intricate, websites with web 2.0 usability and design and only want to create beautiful, perfect, detailed websites...Small business web design probably isn't for you.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Why Not?

Because you are going to have to weigh in the amount of time you're spending on the website and the amount of money you're getting paid. It is sometimes difficult to lower the quality of your work just to get a web design finished and submit to a client.

So, What do I do?

You will have to find a happy medium between pleasing your client and pleasing yourself. While this lesson applies to web design within all industries and all business sizes, it is important to really concentrate on your client, your means and your goals when working with small businesses. If the small business can't afford to pay for anything more than a static website with basic information on their company, even if you know they would benefit from a more detailed web identity, you will have to push this intuition to the back burner and get proper payment for your skills and the work you put into their site.

Good luck dealing with small businesses, it aint easy!

Web Design Like a Glossy Magazine

2007-02-01T19:24:00.000-05:00

Web design needs user focused design, where the user feels the ease and ability to navigate through your site like they're effortlessly flipping the pages of a glossy magazine. Where Reality T.V. became structured and more beautiful like going from "The Real World" to "The Hills" and "8th and Ocean" web design will transform into a more entertaining and pleasing form of communication.

Web 2.0 is already telling us that our users want to feel comfortable and inspired, using shiny and applicable icons, simple elegant designs over jumbled SEO covered websites. If you want a career in web design, and have aspirations of moving up and above the local car dealership's website, you should really analyze the way web design is evolving like an art form and even psychologically try and understand what your user wants.

Let your user feel as though they're looking through the other side of their brand new makeup mirrors, opening and peering into something lovely and exciting. Take your design skills to the next level and study other sites that are pleasing and easy for you to navigate.

If you're serious about web design, you should take ever aspect of it seriously and really concentrate on the new standards making way, like web 2.0.

Animate Liquid More Realistically

2007-02-01T00:03:00.000-05:00

The advancement in technology is also advancing web graphics, graphic design, web animation and graphical animation. From the mathematical equations developed to properly animate objects and make animations look more realistic, comes the automation of such equations, perfecting the art of realistic animation.

If you are familiar with graphic design and animation, you have probably worked with trying to make realistic liquids in Photoshop, Image Ready, Flash, etc. But, the top dogs in the animation industry are attempting to analyze the exact motion and movement of liquids in animation to make their animations look as realistic as possible.

Here's an article on the study of creating realistic liquid animations, worth checking out very interesting!

Making animated fluids look more realistic

Find Freelance Gigs: 3 Great Freelance Resources

2007-01-28T17:02:00.001-05:00

Being a professional freelancer is hard work. You might sign up for 20 different freelance job sites, looking for the perfect job. Half of the time the job opportunities don't even sound legitimate. It is more beneficial to focus your freelance career on quality freelance gig sites that offer quality, high paying opportunities, for professionals in the industry that you practice.

Here are 3 great Freelance Resources for the professional freelance writer, freelance web designer, freelance programmer or freelance graphic designer.

GURU.com
Exellent, high paying, legitimate opportunities for freelance writers, freelance graphic designers, freelance programmers, freelance web designers and freelance SEO experts or web marketers. This site offers a multitude of opportunities for the professional freelance web marketer or SEO expert. GURU.com is a high profile freelance talent marketer and networking site. This site is definitely worth your time to sign up and check out the job positions available. It's free for the basic account.

GetAFreelancer.com
Freelance job opportunities for freelance web designers, freelance graphic designers, freelance writers and freelance web marketing professionals. Similar to GURU.com and still has quality job positions available to the best bidder! Another site that is worth your time to sign up for if you are a freelance professional.

Freelancewriting/careercenter
The Best kept secret in the Freelance writing world! High paying freelance writing opportunities separated by budget, type of position and size of position. All freelance writing gigs. If you're a freelance writer, you owe it to yourself to check out some of these freelance opportunities.

Hope I could help! Freelance opportunities are everywhere, you just have to know where to look!

Bookmark my site to stay updated on Freelance oops! http://freelancefromhome.blogspot.com

Netflix Vs. Blockbuster Comparison Article

2007-01-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

Mr. Lloyds Apple posted a really great comparis of the two companies: Netflix and Blockbuster.

You're probably curious as to why blockbuster and Netflix right? Blockbuster just recently started offering a new program very similar to netflix, some even claim better! Here's a piece of the article:

"Blockbuster Vs. Netflix: A win-win situation for consumers. Not as exciting as, say, Ali vs. Foreman, but money is now being saved. In retrospect we were simply getting ripped off by the rental companies in the 90's, just like the music industry, so let's not get too giddy.

Thankfully that the tide has turned in the movie rental business and it is now a buyers market. What does this mean? Simply, it is possible to rent multiple movies for cheap.

Here is a quick break down of the two services:"

Check it out at: Netflix Vs. Blockbuster Comparis and Advice

Advertisement-Plastic Surgery

2007-01-28T16:55:00.000-05:00

Rodeo Drive houses a great little "boutique", right next to Chanel, Armani, Boss, and more high scale, high end stores. It's a medical center that treats all of their customers like rock stars, from beginning to end.

"Our medical center looks more like a boutique than a doctor’s office,” explains plastic surgeon Dr. Lloyd Krieger

He wanted to the medical center to ooze with luxury, sophistication, but also set his patients at ease and make them as comfortable as possible. Beyond his skill in performing the nips, tucks, and lifts his patients seek, Dr. Krieger encourages them to open up to a new lifestyle to further enhance and maintain their youthfulness for years to come.

His devotion to his clients goes beyond the medical room, he wants to enhance each patient's life with ways to improve their quality of life and prolong the length of their life! Whether you're planning a Los Angeles tummy tuck, breast augmentation or any other type of procedure, get the best possible job you can get. Its your life, and your body!

Work From Home: E-Book in Progress

2007-01-28T16:39:00.000-05:00

Hello readers, I just wanted to let you know that I am currently working on an in depth guide to working from home in the year 2007. (date sensitive because it will need updates and revisions and time changes and so does the internet.)

I plan on making it as in depth as possible, with guides on money making opportunities online that are:

* Completely FREE
* Legitimate
* Offer real money, or mutually beneficial assistance in making money
* I have tried, I like, and am currently using
* SCAMS WILL BE REVEALED

I also will put my personal experience with these methods, how much I made at the beginning and how much I am currently earning. Also, I want to include my secret to self-promotion, and how to create a "Circle Marketing" campaign to build up your reputation and name online so that prospective clients can find you!

I am going to have chapters on Adsense and Affiliate programs, and how to integrate and make the most of these methods when earning an income online.

I would like some input, and I would also like you to let me know if there's anything in particular you want instructions on and/or information about ways to make money online...Please comment so that I can make this the best E-Book Ever!

Thank you!

-ME :)

Freelance Web Design and SEO Job Opportunities

2007-01-28T16:26:00.000-05:00

About one year ago, I joined multiple online freelance networking sites. Some of them did not work out, either because I was tricked into thinking they were legitimate freelance sites, when in reality they were just interested in spamming my e-mail!! It happens, everyone knows that.

But, one company I've kind of grown with from the ground up is Guru.com. When I first joined, I would browse through the site, and there were just a few jobs I qualified for. All legitimate of course, but some were for serious web programmers, corporations willing to build E-Commerce sites, things of that nature. It wasn't a bad idea posting my resume there, its always great to network, but it wasn't really producing results job wise.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD

About 2 months ago I started getting project notifications every 2 days. This means, they found job postings that matched my skill set, and they would send me, via e-mail full descriptions of these jobs. They've really extended their database of opportunities, and I am thrilled that I found out about this site!

I get freelance jobs e-mailed to every day, here is an example of my latest e-mail:

Profile ID: 719003 matches...
Title: Website Re-Design with CSS
Project ID: 269057

Category: Website Design / Website Marketing
Description:
I need a website re-designed for 2 or 3 column css coding. I will also need an admin panel (or php admin page) so I can make necessary changes and updates, or complete "how to" instructions help files.

I'm not really familiar with css other than hearing that it's better than html because of the "tables" vs "div" tags.

It should also be designed with search engine traffic in mind and be cross browser compliant.

I want the site to look similar to the existing style unless you can show me a better look. I'll give you the URL via PM.

Please only bid on this if you are extremely qualified with css and seo.

Thanks,

Mike

------------------------------

---------------------

---------------------------------------------------
Profile ID: 719003 matches...
Title: SEO Expert
Project ID: 269072

Category: Website Design / Website Marketing
Description:
i am in need of anindividual to keep my website high on the natural listings scene with google and yahoo.

experience necessary with proven track record
Title: SEO Expert
Project ID: 269072

Category: Website Design / Website Marketing
Description:
i am in need of anindividual to keep my website high on the natural listings scene with google and yahoo.

experience necessary with proven track record

---------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________

This Project Notification will be deleted from your account in two weeks. Avoid deletion, and save a copy to your Watch List.

In just two days I have two projects that I can bid on, and that I qualify for! If you are a freelancer and have room, time or the experience to add some projects to your schedule, you will really find some great opportunities here. They list the highest profile, legitimate and various opportunities out there, for all kinds of freelancers.

try it out, its www.guru.com if you're interested!!

Good Luck!

All Inclusive Vacations Rock!--Need a Vacation?

2007-01-28T15:59:00.000-05:00

January 8, 2007 VACATIONS.NET LAUNCHES NEW CUTTING EDGE WEBSITE WITH SAVINGS UP TO 50%

Vacations.net is a great new website with all inclusive vacation packages, killer deals on all new vacations, ways to help you plan your next vacation and more! Their new website is absolutely the best out there for vacation sites, and I'm sure you're sick of sifting through poorly designed vacation sites trying to find pricing, info and packages.

Their site offers customized booking engine and intuitive functionality that sets it above its competitors. They have images to help you really picture how your vacation will be, virtual tours of all their packages, and in depth descriptions of every aspect of your vacation package!

Are you looking for an all inclusive Bahamas Vacation?

Vacations.net has over 50% the regular price and value of their packages, and the options are endless. You make the decisions, you make the plans you decide what is best for your vacation by watching the tours, reading through their extensive review and description system and watching the images bring your potential vacation to life!!

Top Ten USB Flash Drives Atleast 1GB of Memory Under $20!

2007-01-28T15:58:00.000-05:00

USB drives are extremely helpful, and necessary. For backing up your hard drive, transferring files and applications to different computers, or simply to use instead of wasting money and time with discs or the old school floppy disks!

For $20 or less you can get a USB flash drive, with at least 1GB of memory (that can hold waaaay more than a disk) and you don't have to keep purchasing CDs, or wasting your time copying information onto your disks. It will save you a lot of money in the long run, and also make your life far easier. Also, for all you e-bay sellers and online store owners, these are great things to stock up on and sell later for double or triple the price you paid! Grab them while they're hot.

Here are the top 10 USB Flash Drives, with at least 1GB of memory, all under $20 bucks!

1. US Modular 1GB USB Flash Drive-1GB for $16.99!

2. A-Data 1GB Flash Drive- 1GB for $16.99!
3. Transcend 1GB JetFlash V10 USB Flash Drive-1GB for $16.99!
4. Transcend 1GB JETFLASH 110 USB 2.0 Drive-1GB for $17.99!
5. Memorex 1GB Flash Drive-1GB for $19.99!
6. Ultra FlyDrive 1GB USB 2.0 Portable Drive-SPECIAL SPECIAL 1GB for $4.99!!
7. Connect 3D 1GB USB Flash Drive-1 GB for $19.99!
8. Ultra FlyDrive 2GB USB 2.0 Portable Drive-2GB for only $19.99 after rebate
9. Emtec 1GB USB Flash Drive-1GB for $14.99
10. Ok, for FUN! :) But, still worth its weight--A-Data PD3 Mickey 1GB Flash Drive-1GB and Mickey Mouse for only $19.99!Aren't you glad you have me around to tell you about the cheapest, best top ten electronic deals out there? You're welcome! :)

Job seekers, Career Search Free Resources

2007-01-28T15:57:00.000-05:00

Are you currently trying to get the word out about your skills, abilities and the fact that you are looking for a new job? There are lots of ways to market yourself online, it is probably the fastest, most comprehensive and effective way to find a new job in fact!

Technology has really laid out a great foundation for job seekers to find job opportunities that meet their specific skill sets. What used to require going on multiple interviews, realizing after the interview that the job is not right for you, now allows that job seekers to narrow their career search to opportunities perfect for them. The ball is in your court, you can browse hundreds of opportunities, know what the job requires, what you can offer the employer and whether or not its worth it.

It is strange, but one of my favorite ways to dork off online is to look at different types of jobs available online, and see what I'm qualified for. Stay on top of it, even if you're pretty satisfied with your current job status, its nice to know that you can be in the know of any new positions out there. Its about being in the right place at the right time, with the internet, and if you're as internet obsessed as me, you can always be there!

Here are some of the daily updates and free resources I use everyday to check out job opportunities.

Get your resume on each one these sites, they offer FREE resume posting. Its like having your own personal recruiter. Have employers contact you and know that you are out there. How else would they know? You can't afford not to stay up to date, all your competitors surely are.

1.Beyond.com offers Free Job Seeker Tools, a career network, open opportunities daily updated and e-mailed to you if you choose, and a great opportunity to post your e-mail online and have employers contact you! The Beyond.com Career Network is a great resource for anyone who aspires to find a great job in your field, by being a part of it you're putting yourself in the position to be in the right place at the right time 24/7.

2. Hot Jobs on Yahoo is an incredible resource for job seekers. Employers pay Yahoo to post their positions and really rely on this incredible directory of legitimate job opportunities and serious job seekers. Yahoo is trusted and world renowned, their Hot Jobs are also trusted, of course its free to browse and post your resume so its a win-win. Post your resume on HotJobs.com today!

3. Freelance Work Exchange is another option for posting your resume online and searching through job opportunities that meet your qualifications. The positions are freelance jobs, so if you're in the market for this, its not a bad site. Lots of freelance writing opportunities and lots of programming jobs. They offer their free service, which allows you to search through most opportunities, bid on opportunities, submit your uploaded resume and be seen by employers. They also offer an enhanced listing a search opportunity for $2.95, with a free trial if you want to test drive the site.Find thousands of freelance writing and editing jobs...fresh jobs daily. Kickstart your career . Click here

4. Craig's list is the greatest place to look for job opportunities for absolutely nothing. I check out the site daily just to browse the unique job listings, local opportunities and freelance gigs available. If you check out your local craig's list site, don't forget to look through the bottom section of "gigs" for freelance opportunities available. I have, personally, found more than a few freelance jobs this way!!

Well, I hope this list helps you, I would recommend subitting your resume and getting it out there through as many venues as possible! Have potential and enthusiastic employers contacting you for jobs!

Advertisement-Beyond Blossoms

2007-01-26T17:35:00.000-05:00

Beyond Blossoms is an incredible website dedicated to providing unique flower arrangements through their website. There are many great things about this company that make it far above the competitors out there. First of all, their website is by far the most informative, decorative, easy to navigate layout, quotes page, gallery views of all the flowers and more!

They are also prided on providing the freshest flowers imported directly from flower farms around the world, while saving you money and giving their customers competitive prices. Beyond Blossoms feature European styles, that showcase a complementary mix of flowers and greens expertly designed colors. The look is sophisticated and far from the typical “garden” style bouquet filled with a wild mix of filler flowers.

Their sincere love of flower arrangements and pride in their work makes this company the best possible option for your next thoughtful gift of flowers.

Custom Printing Services Online

2007-01-26T17:28:00.000-05:00

If you're a small business owner, freelancer or aspiring work from home professional, you have probably needed some kind of printing service for your business.

Whether you need printing services for ads, business cards, media kits, company policy worksheets, custom envelops, company folders and literature pieces, etc. Its never ending really!

Do not go to Kinkos to get these things printed! It is far overpriced, for a color ad piece on regular 8x11.5 paper, you could pay over $2.00 per sheet! this is ridiculous, especially when you are purchasing in bulk, where most printing companies offer significant discounts.

This is just my tip of the day, try out some online printing services, compare prices, before you commit to printing something. It can be far more convenient, efficient, and cheaper to do it this way. Some of the online printing services even allow you to submit artwork online, choose your size, paper type and quantity, order and receive by mail within days! And, I can assure you its cheaper than Kinkos.

Small Business Owner--Media Needs

2007-01-26T17:18:00.000-05:00

If you are a small business owner, using different types of media as advertising and company identity is essential. You should be communicating to your customers professionalism, consistency and creativity so that they are comfortable as your client.

Some of the important media assets every small business should have, but might think is important are:

1. Business Cards
2. Business Envelops
3. Advertisements in local papers
4. Online Identity
5. Custom return address labels
6. Custom stamps

By taking that extra step to ensure that your media is either customized, or at least projects the type of identity you want to convey to potential customers, will go a long way in bringing in new clients. If your budget can't afford to do all of these things at once, focus on the type of media your customers are going to be most in contact with. Business cards are a must, so are envelops and return address labels. They are also very cheap to print, contrary to what you might think. Local and online printing services usually over 1,000+ business cards for a mere $50-$74, if you supply the art.

If you need artwork for your company, and can't afford to hire an entire graphic design firm, you might try contacting the local college for an intern, to see if they will do the work for school credit.

Marketing your company is just as important as building your company. In fact, it is an essential building block. If your marketing initiatives are sub-par, your company's identity will reflect that representation.

Acorn Value Management Software

2007-01-25T20:16:00.000-05:00

Software solutions for large or small businesses can be highly beneficial, and profitable if sourced properly. Acorn Systems offers software solutions and proven consulting methodology software platform options that directly improve and sustain meaningful profits. They are a profit improvement company is geared towards enabling businesses and companies reach their performance management objectives. Their extensive knowledge, history and experience with profitability, supply chain efficiencies, cost allocation and cost reduction, make their solutions perfect for highly scalable solutions for any business.

Enterprise Profit System and next generation Activity Based Costing (ABC) solutions that provide the highest value at the lowest total cost of ownership. Their software solutions offer the benefits of on going opportunity to measure, optimize and predict costs, net operating profits, EVA, capacity and resources at any level of granularity such as by customer, supplier, product, facility, transaction and more.

They offer specific solutions, including their IT value management software, ensuring that every project is focused and they can deliver their mission of helping customers quickly and DRAMATICALLY improve their profitability.

Top 5 Best Gifts for Full-time Bloggers!

2007-01-25T17:45:00.000-05:00

Are you a full-time blogger? Do you know someone who is? Do you aspire to make money online blogging? Here are great gifts, resources and tools for aspiring bloggers or anyone who works online full-time. Sympathy gifts for your hard working media professional...Check it out!

Working online, over the internet, on websites is not an easy task and it requires stamina, determination and most of all, caffeine!

#1 gift for bloggers, those who make money online: Starbucks coffee gift card!

#2 gift for web designers, web design students, graphic design students--Total Training for Website Design

#3 gift for freelance online writers--Subscription to The Writer Magazine

#4 Gift for Freelance Writers--Subscription to Writer's Digest Magazine

#5 Gift for full-time freelance professionals and bloggers!!--iTunes Gifts, they're great for purchasing individual songs for only $0.99, videos, and more so that your blogger, freelance, full-time work from home professional can stay sane while on their computer all day!

Good luck, and be kind to your freelance professional special someone, they need it!

itunes Movies and Music--Get the latest itunes downloads!

2007-01-23T22:03:00.000-05:00

itunes now has movies, music and multitudes of multi-media options for quick download right now. If you are looking to watch a new movie and aren't sure whats good right now, you should check out these latest itunes movies and itunes downloads, and watch to your heart's content!

They also have some great new itunes music out right now, and these are the latest music artists and bands on itunes for music downloads

Peter Belisi--The American Dream

2007-01-20T18:23:00.000-05:00

Web Designers and Internet Enthusiasts are always trying to find a way to materialize their next big idea. We are born to work for ourselves, because of our understanding and close proximity to the internet moguls we admire and appreciate like Mark Zuckerberg and Tom Anderson.

Peter Belisi did just this, though in his own very different, creative way. He didn't invent the next big online community, search engine or innovative technology idea. He created a unique line of accessories that are a product of a novel concept to start his own company. He worked as a bartender in the elite area of Palm Beach, Fl. Observing his high-end clientele and their trendsetting fashion, he began to use his own creative by designing unique and luxurious ties. At first, co-workers started to notice his inspirational tie accessories. They started to request some of his fashions for themself. From this initial interest and admiration, Peter Belisi invested the very little money that he had in an accessory collection of his own.

Accessories are the finishing pieces to any well-heeled look—done the right way, you present a polished picture to the world. The Belisi Brand was founded to enhance luxury wardrobes, while making the world a little brighter for everyone. Belisi—a name already synonymous with beauty—has earned a loyal following for its high-end, quality ties, and most recently scarves and handbags. Visit Belisi.com to view his latest collection, and be part of a true American rags to luxurious richest story!

Graphic Design: Customize Your Printing Services

2007-01-16T19:12:00.000-05:00

If you are a freelance graphic designer, or you work as a graphic designer for another company, a great addition to your services could be to offer custom printing on different types of media. Custom printing equipment can often be very expensive for a freelancer, or a small business for that matter! But, there are other options to print your designs on different types of media, such as business cards, flyers, brochures or folders.

Tip for Small Businesses and Freelancers--

If you have a media kit, that includes your prices some examples, some literature, etc. A great addition to the media kit is to keep it all inside a custom printed folder. You can find custom presentation folder printing options online that are reasonably priced, and well worth their professional appearance.

Website Colors That Turn Off Your Customers

2007-01-09T21:35:00.000-05:00

By Christie Turley, www.NotSoDumbBlond.com

Using too many colors or the wrong combination of colors could
alienate or turn off customers completely. Out of any form of
non-verbal communication, color is the quickest way to
communicate a message and meaning. Many studies have been
done on the psychology of color and the subconscious emotions
that they create. Studies have shown that color can help
improve recall, comprehension, and understanding by 75%. In
fact, color accelerates the ability to learn by 20% by keeping
readers focused and improving retention.

Choose Colors with Care.

Marketers spend oodles of time and money determining the
colors to best market their product: the colors that will
prove the highest amount of return on investment. You may
want to hire a professional web designer to help you. Make
sure the web designer you hire is not just a programmer, but
also a graphic designer and/or marketer. After all, the
reason why 99% of all websites fail is because it was created
by a technician, rather than a marketing expert.

So, What Colors are Best for Your Website?

That is hard to say. Again, you may want to hire a
professional to help you. However, the following tips will
help you understand the underlying meaning behind color so you
may be guided to make the right choice. Keep in mind that
depending on its value or intensity, one color can give very
different emotions.

Red - Stimulating. Exciting. Energizing. Appetizing. When you
eye sees red, chemical responses in your body cause your blood
pressure, pulse rate, and adrenaline to increase. Fire engine
red is more energetic than a more traditional burgundy.

Pink - Happy. Romantic. Spirited. Youthful. Best used for
less expensive and trendy products. Vibrant pinks are common
in the cosmetic industry. Bubble gum pink can be considered
immature, but fuchsia or magenta are considered more
sophisticated.

Orange - Friendly. Adventurous. Energizing. Inviting. Of all
the colors, orange is the hottest. Similar to red’s arousing
effect, orange is often associated with bright sunsets or fall
foliage. Orange contains the drama of red with the cheeriness
of yellow. Neon orange tends to be load and is the most
disliked color, but a more tempered vivid orange is highly
effective for point-of-purchase graphics and specials.

Yellow - Warm. Sunny. Cheerful. Vibrant. Yellow is equivalent
to enlightenment and imagination. This color is especially
effective for food service industries because of the –
association to bananas, custards and lemons. Pale yellow is
an excellent choice for point-of-purchase materials (materials
at the cash register or reception area) because the eye sees
the highly reflective yellow before it notices any other
color.

Brown - Rich. Sheltering. Durable. Sensible. Brown is an
earth tone and is related to the earth’s nurturing qualities
and stability. Generally speaking, brown provokes a positive
response, but the wrong shade could lead to customers relating
it to dirty, which could be detrimental for a product in the
fashion industry, for example. Brown works well with food
products since customers also relate it to root beer, coffee
and chocolate.

Blue - Cool. Trusting. Serene. Consistent. Similar to the
earthy color brown, blue is related to the sky and water, both
dependable constants in our lives. Blue is an ideal color for
websites, especially e-commerce websites. Many banks and
financial institutions use blue in their marketing because it
makes customers feel more trusting. Blue also can generate a
cold, distant, corporate feeling, the opposite of generating a
personal relationship with the customer.

Green - Refreshing. Healing. Fresh. Soothing. Green offers
the most variety of choices out of all the colors of the
rainbow. Green works well for personal hygiene or beauty
products because of its soothing and flattering tones. Most
people link green to nature; they think of foliage or grass.
Mint green is seen as fresh while bright greens are associated
with grass. Emerald greens are elegant and deep greens are
linked to money and prestige. Green is also combined nicely
with many other colors and can also work as a neutral.

Purple - Elegant. Sensual. Regal. Mysterious. Purple is seen
as sensual and spiritual as it combines the sexuality of red
and the sereneness of blue. It is best used with creative
products, new products, or cutting edge products. Deep purple
is associated with regal sophistication and lavender has a
more subtle nostalgic appeal.

Neutrals - Classic. Quality. Natural. Timeless. The neutral
tones of beige, gray and taupe emulate the psychological
message of dependability and timelessness. They are regarded
as safe and non-offensive and will not go out-of-date as they
are always in style.

White - Pure. Bright. Pristine. Simple. While white can
signify clean elegance, it can also be considered generic and
stark, unless you have stylish graphics to compliment the
white.

Black – Strong. Classic. Mysterious. Powerful. Black is most
closely associated with the night. Black is seen as powerful,
dramatic, elegant and expensive. In food packaging, a
customer will actually pay more for a gourmet image. Although
black is associated with mourning, its positive associations
far outweigh its negative. Warning: too much black can be
overkill.

In conclusion, choosing the right colors for your website is
an important decision. Use these tips and hire an expert if
you need help!

--------------------------

Christie Turley is a web marketing expert and author of the
Not-So-Dumb Blond Internet Guides. RATE YOUR WEBSITE with her
complimentary online Web Site Diagnostic tool and BOOST your
Web Profits: http://www.NotSoDumbBlond.com/web-diagnostic.htm

Advertisement-Gold

2007-01-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

The only true universal monetary investment is gold, it is the standard by which our current money sytem based itself on. Ever wanted to purchase gold or any other precious metal for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository?

Monex companies have been America's gold coin and precious metals investment leader. For 30 years they have been allowing Americans to invest gold in a coin or ingots.

What is the difference?

Ingots are generally gold ingots of pure bullion cast in a convenient size and shape. Coins have a currency value or they are actually defined as ingots.

Besides the obvious monetary value of Gold Bullion, it is also a beautiful and timeless investment, from the time of ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to more modern times, man has had an affinity for gold bullion. Monex Precious Metals employs hard asset professionals committed to providing you with precious metals investment needs and being America's best dealer with a convenient market and competitive precious metals prices.

Through Monex Deposit Company (MDC) you can purchase gold or other precious metals for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository. For over 30 years, the Monex companies have been America's gold and precious metals investment leader. As an investment product, gold, is available in coin or ingot form. Ingots are generally gold ingots of pure bullion cast in a convenient size and shape. Coins have a currency value or they are actually defined as ingots. Buying gold has been recognized for centuries as one of the best ways to preserve one's wealth and purchasing power. Gold bullion is a unique investment. From the time of ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to more modern times, man has had an affinity for gold bullion. In all ages, man has been fascinated with the beauty and magic of gold, and with its power to change men's lives. Today, the beauty of a gold bar lies in its proven ability to diversify investments, protect wealth and preserve one's purchasing power. Monex Precious Metals is home to a large and dedicated staff of hard asset professionals committed to serving your precious metals investment needs and being America's best dealer with a convenient market and competitive precious metals prices.

Freelance Web Designer: Find Your Niche

2007-01-02T18:44:00.000-05:00

Freelance web design can be a very lucrative career if planned and executed properly. Hopefully, before quitting one's day job and moving to Aspen, an aspiring web designer will research the freelance market and have some sort of a business plan. One of the first things to consider when beginning a freelance career as a web designer and/or graphic designer, is your target audience.

Many young, aspiring freelance web designers and graphic designers are very passionate about their work, they have to be! In essence, they are ready to tackle any new obstacle or client that comes to them, whether it is an E-Commerce website, Brochure Designs, CSS/HTML websites, Community based websites, websites using CMS software, or anything else. Most web designers also consider themselves renaissance designers, meaning that they can design for any industry website: A Local business website, artist's website, musician's website, professional website of many others. But, this is one of the main problems that freelance web designers face when starting out their freelance career and attempting to make a name for themselves.

While a great design is universal, and anyone from any industry can recognize that, if you mainly designed musician's, artists and E-Commerce websites, and you are outsourced by a Lawyer who would like a nice professional representation online, what kind of example are you going to show him? He might appreciate your quality design, but if there's another web designer who specializes in his industry and has examples to prove it, he will most likely feel more comfortable choosing the specialist. This is just one example of the downfalls of not focusing in on a niche industry, there are many more including lack of knowledge in particular industries, quality of work due to experience with specific designs, longer schedule because you're less familiar with the type of web design it is.

Most web designers think they will gain more clients by advertising their skills to everyone in any industry. While you should be capable of designing for every industry, developing a professional niche industry will ensure you survival and success as a freelance web designer.

Here's how to choose a niche industry for your freelance web design business:

1. Research your location, and what industries flourish, what industries there are a lot of, what industries do well, what industries don't do so well. If you're in Aspen, Colorado let's say, don't focus in on the Bathing Suit store industry. Also, don't jump head first into thinking you will conquer the Ski resort industry either. Choose another niche industry that makes sense for your area and has potential to keep you busy for a while.

2. Once you've decided on your freelalance web design niche, you should dive head first into this industry learning as much as you can and meeting as many professionals as possible. Go to conferences, get to know the type of people who might need your services, their personalities, their knowledge when it comes to technology and web design.

3. Contact professionals in these industries. Say there are a lot of Lawyers in your area, small law firms and large firms. Send them all a nice introduction letter and a business card. Have an online portfolio prepared and make sure the link is on your card. If you have time, it might even be beneficial to simply give them a free written website consultation. Discussing what you think would be great for their firm, your ideas to improve the current look of their site (if they have one,) etc. Another way to get your foot in the door is to find smaller but thriving businesses within your niche, that either don't have a website or have an awful website and design one for them. Show them your work and tell them about your services.

Once you've worked hard making a name for yourself as a freelance web designer in a particular niche, the job opportunities will come rolling in! Plus, the website design opportunities will slowly become easier and be finished quicker as you will accumulate templates and ideas and be able to mentally plan your site more efficiently.

If you make an incredible website for so-and-so Lawyer, his other lawyer friend compliments it, he gives him your number. This is the benefit of focusing on a particular industry as a freelance web designer. You will be the head honcho of your niche!

Good Luck!

Bookmark your Blog: Socialize it!

2006-12-28T20:26:00.000-05:00

Socialize it is a relatively new Bookmarking site and resource for website designers, developers and marketers. It adds the link to all of the most popular bookmarking sites, with ease and accuracy.

You simply add the Socialize it Button to your browser, website or blog and when clicked it takes the user to an entire list of bookmarks to choose from. Once the user clicks on a particular Bookmark Link, say Digg.com or Furl or Spurl, they are navigated to a separate browser or pop up browser that allows them to customize the description and tags. Click the submit button and voila!

Marketing your Blog or Website requires research and time. By marketing your website and submitting to bookmarking sites you will receive more page views, more clicks, and more money from your blog or website. Bookmarking your website articles, bookmarking your blog posts and bookmarking your website resources will build up your SEO and Google Page Rank.

Socialize it offers all of these options for bookmarking your website!

Here are the most popular bookmarking sites according to Socialize it:

Backflip	blinkbits	Blinklist	del.icio.us	digg	technorati
furl	unalog	yahoomyweb	NEW! Soc.ialize.us

Here is a list of ALL the most popular bookmarking sites:

Article Tag	Backflip	Bibsonomy	Blabb	blinkbits	Blinklist
Blogmarks	Bmaccess	Bookmark	Bookmarktracker	Buddymarks	Butterfly
Citeulike	co.mments	connotea	del.icio.us	delirious	digg
feedmarker	feedmelinks	Frassle	furl	givealink	gnafi
gravee	hyperlinkomatic	igooi	igooi2	Jots	kinja
lilisto	linkagogo	linkarena	linkatopia	linkroll	looklater
magnolia	maple	mylinkvault	netvouz	newsvine	Penntags
plum	rawsugar	reddit	rojo	sabrosus	scuttle
segnalo	shadows	simpy	sitejot	smarking	social bookmarking
spurl	squidoo	stylehive	sync2it	tagsy	tagtooga
tailrank	technorati	unalog	wink	wists	xilinus
MesFavs	yahoomyweb	zurpy

I have had more page views and most success with

Digg.com
Reddit.com
Netscape.com

But, it depends on the type of content on your blog, and what type of bookmarking site work best with your articles. Good Luck!

Advertisement-CondoCompany

2006-12-28T20:23:00.000-05:00

Looking to purchase a condo?

CondoCompany.com is the number one searched condo site completely dedicated, on the internet right now. There are thousands of new visitors frequenting the site every single day, whether they're looking to sell, buy or rent a condo. If you are in the market to purchase a new condo, whether it's a California Condo, Florida Condo, Hawaii Condos, Colorado Condos or any other dream location for a second or first home, Condocompany offers the most in luxury high rise condos.

They have a unique system called "CondoList" that allows condo owners, realtors, or condo developers to list inside condo listings for sale in Hawaii. You get their direct contact information, without having to go through anyone else. Contact the seller directly!

Get Back Links: Large FREE Directory List

2006-12-28T20:21:00.001-05:00

If you are a freelance web designer, freelance web developer, freelance SEO expert, Freelance blogger, etc. you are very interested in your website or blog's search engine rank and your website's SEO. Google has a highly sophisticated method of analyzing web pages and ranking them according to the Google algorithm...What most webmasters and web professionals call SEO is the method website designers use to get their website marketed. One of the most important and best ways to get your website or blog noticed and ranked on the search engines is to obtain many backlinks.

Backlinks are links pointing to your website or blog, from another website. There are many ways to obtain backlinks. Read: Website One Free BackLink if you would like to get at least one FREE and EASY backlink to your site.

Another way of collecting many backlinks into your site is to submit your website or blog to directories. If your site gets listed in a directory, it will be a static HTML link from the directory site into your site. That is the simple definition of an SEO compliant, search engine friendly backlink. Don't mistake directories with search engine submissions. Google has a search engine and a directory, Yahoo also has a search engine and a directory. Search engine submissions are not backlink quality...But, they are still good! :)

The problem with directories is that sometimes it can take a long time to get your site listed, better get started now then, right? Most website directories are free, so if your website or blog gets listed in the directory, you've managed to get yourself one FREE Backlink! To make it easy for your here is a list of the TOP FREE DIRECTORIES for Backlinks....You're welcome :)

Hope that helps! Submit your site to these directories, so you can start your backlinks and raise your search engine ranking.

Good Luck!

Affiliate Selling: Monetize Your Blog

2006-12-19T23:55:00.000-05:00

This is an Affiliate Success story! I just made My First Big Sales with LinkShare Corporation

Affiliate programs can be a very profitable for a blogger, web designer, web marketer or website owner. In short, you sign up with a particular Affiliate program (Companies,) they approve your website or blog, and you place links on your website or blog and if a user clicks the links and makes a purchase, you get a percentage of the profit.

To learn more about Linkshare, Click Linkshare Affiliate Program: Monetize Your Site

I signed up with numerous affiliates, all approving my blog pretty quick. I put affiliate links, affiliate banners and affiliate products that were relevant to my blog in hopes that a user would catch the advertisement, click the affiliate link and make a purchase...I did not have any luck, at all, for a little while. The affiliate report said that I was getting thousands of impressions on their affiliate links, but no sales were being made...Deciding that I was simply giving my affiliate programs free advertising and nothing more.

Ok, now you're wondering, When does the success part come in?

Well, I'm getting there, have some patience! :) After removing all of the pretty cluttered affiliate links I had on my blog, I started focusing on other money making opportunities. But, after long I went back to LinkShare.com (An Affiliate program I signed up for) and starting really browsing the affiliates. I started thinking about what companies I might actually purchase from, companies my friend's might actually purchase from. I came across TigerDirect, and remembered my good friend talking about the great refurbished computer he bought from them online for a really great price. So I made the decision to apply for The Tiger Direct Affiliate program.

After I signed up, I didn't simply grab the banners and links and fill my whole site up with them. I actually visited the Tiger Direct website, and started browsing the sales, the deals, the new products and everything they had to offer. I saw a lot of Mp3 Players and Mp4 Players that were just as snazzy looking as the ipod, some with 2GB of storage space, for less than $100!

I did some research on MP3 players and Tiger Direct's MP3 products, read reviews online for their MP3 players and MP4 players, and asked some of my friends who owned non-ipod MP3 players how they worked and if they liked them. The response was really positive to my surprise. I thought, if I am surprised and interested in MP3 players for so cheap, there are sure to be others looking to purchase MP3 players that would find this information just as interesting. So, I wrote up an article titled, "Top 10 MP3 Players Under $100." You can read the actual article by clicking the Title link.

I used the Affiliate links, Affiliate banners and Affiliate product links inside the article and reposted it on Google Base and my Blog, of course.

After 2 days I had made 2 MP3 player sales. After a week I had made 7 MP3 player sales. I thought, This is great! Now I know there actually is money to be made using Affiliates. I didn't touch the article, promote it or move forward with it at all, just let it sit on Google Base and My blog.

Then, after another week (2 weeks have passed total) I looked back at my Linkshare Affiliate account and saw that I had sold 16 Mp3 Players totaling $995 in sales! I make a percentage of that, which I am not at will to disclose ( I wish I could!! :) and it was VERY VERY exciting, surprising and an enlightening experience for me. My whole outlook on Affiliate programs and making money online has changed. Yey me!

After thousands and thousands of page impressions, and numerous banners and link mess on my blogs, I finally made sales with my Affiliate using nothing more than a little research, insight and understanding of my product and one article write up.

I hope you have just as much luck with your Affiliate Campaigns, and feel free to ask questions or post Success stories, comments, concerns!

Advertisement-Silver

2006-12-17T20:56:00.000-05:00

One true universal monetary investment is silver, it is the standard by which our current money system based itself on. Ever wanted to purchase silver or any other precious metal for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository?

Monex companies have been America's silver and precious metals investment leader. For 30 years they have been allowing Americans to invest silver in a coin or ingots.

What is the difference?

Ingots are generally silver ingots of pure bullion cast in a convenient size and shape. Coins have a currency value or they are actually defined as ingots.

Besides the obvious monetary value of Silver Bullion, it is also a beautiful and timeless investment, from the time of ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to more modern times, man has had an affinity for silver bullion. Monex Precious Metals employs hard asset professionals committed to providing you with precious metals investment needs and being America's best dealer with a convenient market and competitive precious metals prices.

Through Monex Deposit Company (MDC) you can purchase silver or other precious metals for immediate personal delivery or arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository. For over 30 years, the Monex companies have been America's silver and precious metals investment leader. As an investment product, silver, is available in coin or ingot form. Ingots are generally silver ingots of pure bullion cast in a convenient size and shape. Coins have a currency value or they are actually defined as ingots. Buying silver has been recognized for centuries as one of the best ways to preserve one's wealth and purchasing power. Silver bullion is a unique investment. From the time of ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to more modern times, man has had an affinity for silver bullion. In all ages, man has been fascinated with the beauty and magic of silver, and with its power to change men's lives. Today, the beauty of a silver bar lies in its proven ability to diversify investments, protect wealth and preserve one's purchasing power. Monex Precious Metals is home to a large and dedicated staff of hard asset professionals committed to serving your precious metals investment needs and being America's best dealer with a convenient market and competitive precious metals prices.

LightBox Image Effect: Simple Javascript Snippet

2006-12-17T20:49:00.000-05:00

"Lightbox JS is a simple, unobtrusive script used to overlay images on the current page. It's a snap to setup and works on all modern browsers."

Have you clicked on an image lately that popped out in front of your screen while shadowing the rest of the webpage? You must have thought, "Wow, what a great little Flash addition to the site." Turns out, the effect is nothing more than a simple Javascript Snippet, that you can apply to any website you wish. Why? Because the snippet is open source, fully customizable and widely used.

Personally, I think the the Light Box Effect is especially flattering to any site that is trying to really focus their images for the user. It looks professional, sleek and very advanced. Another great aspect of the Light Box Javascript snippet is that it is small...Very, very small and it will take no time at all to load up your images on the browser.

The LightBox Image technique can be easily customized and maintained, also, you can still have you images accessible even though there's Javascript involved. Great snippet! Glad I can share it with you!

Here's the Link: LightBox Javascript Snippet

Simple CSS Sliding Doors Tabbed Navigation

2006-12-17T20:25:00.000-05:00

CSS Tutorial: Tab Sliding Doors Nav

This tutorial will use the method from the CSS rounded corners, where tabs are created from a large image and one long side rounded corner image. This allows the navigation to be customizable and expandable.

The Images will look like the image to the left.

The HTML for this tutorial will look like this:

<ul>
<li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="#">About</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Contact</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Products</a></li>
<ul>

The margine and padding is set to zero, and the list bullets are taken out. Also, do not forget to set a width for your navigation. The navigation will also be floated left so that all of the enclosed nav elements are floated properly.

ul {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
list-style-type: none;
width: 720px;
float: left;
}

The method of floating the elements left is so that the list will display a horizontal navigation and not vertical.

ul li {
float: left;
background: url(iamges/tab-right.gif) no-repeat top right;
}

The tab effect is created using the background image, but we also need to make sure that the entire area of the list and link area can be clicked. We can set the the height using line-height to ensure that our navigation elements are clickable. Notice that I am now adding the tab-left.gif to the "li a" element.

li a {
display: block;
padding: 0 2em;
line-height: 2.5em;
background: url(images/tab-left.gif) no-repeat top left;
text-decoration: none;
color: #ffffff;
float: left;

Now, to have a rollover effect placed on our links, you can change the text-color according to the "a" element

ul a:hover {
color: #cccccc;
}

You can use whatever color tabs or text that you choose. Just make sure it fits with your site! Also, make sure you are using the correct images for your tabs. Enjoy!

The Knot Wedding Shop-Advertisement

2006-12-16T16:18:00.000-05:00

Finding something blue, something new, something...Well, you know what I mean! It can be very hard to find all of the perfect wedding supplies and novelty items for the big day. Well, luck you, The Knot Wedding Shop specializes in offering wedding supplies that are hard to find, quality items, unique and sure to add that little extra you felt like you were missing from your Wedding plans.

There are many reasons why they are the largest retailer of wedding supplies on the Internet. The Knot Wedding Shop is stocked with over 1000 hard-to-find wedding supplies at the best prices around. The variety of wedding supplies that they offer is amazing, from wedding cameras and ring pillows to personalized attendant gifts, cake toppers, and much more! Some of their collections cannot be found anywhere else.

The Knot Wedding Shop is also a great place to find special wedding gifts that no one else would have thought of. You can find great gifts, surprises and novelty items with a 24-hour accessibility and quick turnaround delivery for all those last-minute orders before the big day.

If you want to surprise your guests with unique and cheap wedding favors, visit The Knot Wedding Shop and check out their collection

Generate Income From Your Website 24/7

2006-12-16T11:59:00.000-05:00

If you are a website owner or blogger looking to generate income from your website, you have to know how to monetize it correctly. This includes Google Adsense (Or other PPC programs,) and affiliates, right? There are far more ways to monetize your website, and there are also many methods to choose when utilizing PPC programs like Adsense and Affiliates.

Here is a great article on how to properly monetize your website, and use every possible source to gain income from your website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Check it out!

Successful Marketing Campaign: Making Your Site Generate Money 24/7

Three Freelance Resources

2006-12-15T12:21:00.000-05:00

Belisi: Inspiration, luxurious Designs

2006-12-13T16:24:00.000-05:00

Peter Belisi was a struggling bartender in the elite Palm Beach area Florida. He was constantly among the fashion forward, and wealthy individuals, close enough to serve them a drink. Emulating his high-end clientele, Belisi invested any extra money he earned in a tie collection that began as a vision.

Through admiration, devotion, creativity and knowledge, Peter Belisi began developing his own line of creative, luxury ties that he wore everyday. Co-workers began noticing the fact that he never wore the same tie twice, while also doting him on his highly fashionable accessory pieces. He soon acknowledged his flair for fashionable accesory items, and the idea to create his own line began to develop.

The elite, and fashion forward are urged to make a statement, not to simply recreate fashion, but to add to it in a highly creative way. By adding finishing pieces to every outfit, it takes the image to entirely new level. Belisi’s guiding principle is to create Luxury with Meaning. The Belisi fashions is synonymous with good living: great style, quality accessories and giving back to the community.

“Belisi unites the luxury and prestige of Palm Beach with Italian beauty and sophistication. Inside Belisi we cultivate a passion for exquisite materials and skilled craftsmanship. Each dramatic detail, represents our unwavering quest to fashion products of truly enduring value.” – Peter Belisi

Great Way to Monetize your Website

2006-12-09T23:27:00.000-05:00

I recently came across "Text-Link-Ads" which is not a new company to me. I've been to their site numerous times, but I recently read an incredible review of the company from someone I trust and had to check it out again. Text-Link-Ads sells ad space, just like adsense or adbrite. But, the difference with this company is that the clients don't pay per click, they pay by the week! So, no matter how many people click (or don't click) the ad, you're still getting paid a flat fee. Every website I saw signed up with Text-Link-Ads was currently renting out space to one of Text-Link-Ads clients, so I assume they have enough to go around!

I just signed up, but it appears to be a very promising site, and I wish I had signed up with them before now! If you want to monetize your site, sell ad space on your blog, sell ad space on your site, or buy quality content rich links, you should definitely Monetize Your Site with Text-Link-Ads.

They're also offering $100 in FREE Links to new Advertisers...

SEO Resource: Free Outside Link into Your Website!

2006-12-09T19:33:00.000-05:00

In a recent article, 10 Tips for Obtaining Search Engine Friendly Outside Links
I talked about the ways to receive search engine friendly outside links into your site. The importance of outside links into your site is invaluable. Your rank through Google is directly related to the amount of links pointing to your site.

Here is just one method to get at least one link into your site, or add a link into your site with little to no cost. write about us is a company that offers these outside links for free, all you have to do is write about them on your blog or web site and they'll add your URL to the site!

"One of the way to get traffic is to include your site in free directory or homepage directory. A recent debut, Write About Us, has become a hub for traffic. You need to bid to get on the page and stay there for long. The good news is, they allow free links..."

Learn Adobe CS2: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and more!

2006-12-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

Learning the Adobe Creative Suite Programs is no cake walk, it takes time and direction. Personally, I will buy a book pertaining to the Adobe Software program I want to learn, and follow the directions and tutorials from front to back. Other's may need to be in a learning environment, like a classroom or a, Adobe training course. Because everyone has their own style of learning new software programs, I thought I would share my own insight and personal experience with learning the Adobe Software programs: Adobe Creative Suite 2 (Adobe CS2)- Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe GoLive, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and other Computer Programs like PHP and MySql.

From the Beginning:

Adobe Creative Suite 2 (Adobe CS2)
I have been following the Adobe Software programs since Adobe PhotoShop 6.0 was out. But, any web designer or graphic designer needs to stay up to date on the latest software. Currently, Adobe CS2 is the latest software built for Graphic Designers and Web Designers. This is how I taught myself the individual programs.

I can't personally recommend any books that cover the entire Adobe CS2 software programs, but I can PERSONALLY and HIGHLY recommend the training videos offered by Total Training. It is so in depth, accurate, easy to follow and interactive, you will come out of the video program a GURU. I bought the Adobe Creative Suite 2, entire video tutorial...But, they also offer individual video tutorials. When I got the videos (3 months ago) there was a pleasent British gentlement teaching each software program from newbie info to highly advanced info. And, because it's a video, you can skip ahead or rewind whenever you want. If you are the type of learner who needs hands on, teaching advice, this is a must buy if you're attempting to learn the Adobe Software programs. They now have new videos out, which are more in depth and even better.

If you're trying to learn the Adobe Creative Suite 2 Software programs, you have to try New Adobe CS2 training videos from Total Training.

Here are the individual tutorials you can get, without trying out the whole package, from my understanding, they are just the sections taken from the entire Adobe CS2 package.

Adobe PhotoShop CS2 Tutorials or Adobe PhotoShop Elements Tutorials:

New Advanced Adobe Photoshop CS Training.

The Adobe PhotoShop Elements software program, for novices, also has Video Tutorials:
Learn Adobe Photoshop Elements 3

Adobe GoLive Tutorials:

Get more out of Adobe GoLive with Total Training DVDs.

Adobe InDesign Tutorials
Get more out of Adobe InDesign with Total Training DVDs.

Adobe Illustrator Tutorials

Get more out of Adobe Illustrator with Total Training DVDs.

Macromedia Dreamweaver Tutorials

For Dreamweaver Tutorial, I recommend using one of the "Hands on Training" Editions of the Dreamweaver Tutorial Books. They come with a CD that you can download all the files on to your computer and work through it while reading the Tutorials

PHP/MySQL Tutorials

For newbies, I would recommend the "PHP for Dreamweaver 8" by David Powers. It is a great book to guide you through using Dreamweaver for creating dynamic, database driven websites. It covers MySQL as well as PHP.

For pros, or for those who already know a bit of prorgamming, I recommend the O'Reilly Edition of "Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL.

Great CSS Tutorial and Reference Book:

This book isn't going to teach you absolutely everything you need to know about CSS, but it is an amazing resource with great techniques, advice and priceless information regarding CSS. I consider myself a pro when it comes to CSS, and I still pull out this book all the time. It is also really easy to follow for more newbie CSS designers.

I hope this advice helped! This is all first hand experience, as I have used every single recommendation I have here. Enjoy!

Creating Simple CSS Liquid Layouts

2006-12-06T22:27:00.000-05:00

CSS Tutorial: Simple Liquid Layouts using CSS Design

Liquid Layouts are used to create clean CSS designs that can expand or contract depending upon the browser size. They are becoming standard for a lot of new website designs, and Web 2.0 highly recommends the CSS liquid layout technique. Liquid layouts base the dimensions of the columns, header, footer and content areas on percentages. Of course there are some actual pixel sizes constrained depending on your design, but essentially, the width of the web design will be completely designed using percentages based on the browser size. This tutorial will explain how to create a simple CSS liquid layout.

Once you've mastered the concepts of the liquid layout, you can start getting creative and apply it to any type of design your heat desires! Just keep in mind, that CSS liquid layouts are not meant for every type of design, there are places to use it, and places not to. Before we begin, here are some examples of nice CSS liquid layout designs:

Clear Left Liquid Layout

Site Point Liquid Layout

Now, on to the tutorial:

1. Decide on a basic layout based on the grid system. Use the 800px wide standard, and measure out the amount of space you want between columns (gutters), width of columns and the width of your content area.

2. Convert these standard measurements into percentages based on the pixel measurements.

Here is an example of what one type of conversion might look like:

gutter 1	24px	3%
column 1	384px	48%
gutter 2	24px	3%
column 2	160px	20%
gutter 3	24px	3%
column 3	160px	20%
gutter 4	24px	3%
total	800px	100%

3. When calculating your percentages in a CSS liquid layout, we are not basing them on an exact 800px width, we are basing them on the variable size of a browser the user might view the website in. So, make sure you leave some room within your calculations for errors that may occur. This means rounding one or two of your measurements down a percentage point. One way to do this is to have the percentage width of a gutter set to undefined. For this example, let's set Gutter 4 to the value of undefined.

4. Up until this point, we have been going over the process vicariously. Because, obviously, there is no value available to define what a "Gutter" is. So, to replace out gutters we will use the "Left-Margin" attribute instead.

5. Getting into the actual code, now we will make each of the columns described above into their own DIV tags.

<body>
<div id="column1"></div>
<div id="column2"></div>
<div id="column3"></div>
</body>

Here is the CSS Code:

#column1 { float: left; width: 48%; margin-left: 3%; display: inline;

}

#column2 { float: left; width: 20%; margin-left: 3%; } #column3 { float: left; width: 20%; margin-left: 3%; }

You may have noticed that I added an attribute display: inline to the first column. This is to eliminate a bug that occurs in IE 5, 5.5, and 6. These browsers have some quirks when it comes to margins and floats, and sometimes will cause the column to slip down past the others. This fix should do the trick.

6. Adding Headers and Adding Footers to your CSS float Layout
Place the Header <div> above the other Columns and make sure it is not set to float. The footer will be at the bottom of the header, columns, gutters and will have an attribute to "clear: both". This is so the Liquid Layout will stay above the footer, and the footer will be below the layout design. You HTML will look like this:
<body>
<div id="header"></div>
<div id="column1"></div>
<div id="column2"></div>
<div id="column3"></div>
<div id="footer"></div>
</body>

Your CSS Code will look like this:

#header { margin-bottom: 10px; } #col1 { float: left; width: 48%; margin-left: 3%; display: inline; } #col2 { float: left; width: 20%; margin-left: 3%; } #col3 { float: left; width: 20%; margin-left: 3%; } #footer { clear: both; }

7. This is pretty much it! You have created your first CSS Liquid Layout using the Box model. But, one thing to note, is that when you go to place text elements within these columns, you should apply margins to your H2, P, H1, etc. elements rather than the boxes. This will allow some space in between your column edges and the text you put within them.

Good Luck with your layout, and don't forget to get creative! Just keep within the standards too... :)

Reflective Glass Photoshop Tutorial

2006-12-06T02:36:00.000-05:00

This is an advanced tutorial, illustrating a simple method of giving the illusion of a 3d reflection to a particular form, using Photoshop's Glass filter. It should work in Photoshop versions 5 and later. For the demonstration I will use Photoshop 7.

1. a) Create an image, 800x800 pixels. For reference purposes, save this image (Ctrl+S) as glass.psd.

b) Use the type tool, or create an original form, filling most of the image, preferably using a typeface with thick smooth edges.

This example is using Goudy Old Style, Extra Bold. For reference, let this layer be known as the 'Type' layer.

c) Now holding down Ctrl, click on the Type layer in the Layer Window to select the it's transparency.

2. a) In the Channels Window, press the 'Save selection as channel' button to create a channel of the selection.

b) Now, click on the new channel this created, and with the selection still in tact, Gaussian Blur it accordingly.

Might I suggest, a series of blurs in succession, so that the edges falloff very smoothly.

Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... 9 pixels
Then blur 6 pixels.
Then blur 6 pixels.
Then again, 3 pixels.
Then again, 3 pixels.
Then finally, only 1 pixel.

The height map you create here is key to the goodness of the final effect.

c) Once you deem your blurration fit for submission, press Ctrl+A to select the entire channel, then copy it to the clipboard Ctrl+C.

d) Create a new image (Ctrl+N), of the same size (800x800), and paste (Ctrl+V) the blurred channel into it. Now, save this image as a glass_bump.psd into the same folder you are working from. You may now close it if you wish.

3. a) Download by right clicking on the image above then selecting 'Save as...'. Open the image in photoshop.

4. a) With the Photo layer selected, select all (Ctrl+A), then go in the menu:

Filter > Distort > Glass...

b)Once the image is in Photoshop, Select All (Ctrl+A), copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl+C), then go to the original image glass.psd and paste it (Ctrl+V) onto a new layer.

This will be the image which the glass refracts. Let it be known as the 'Photo' layer.

4
a) With the Photo layer selected, select all (Ctrl+A), then go in the menu:

Filter > Distort > Glass...

b) From the texture dropdown, choose Load Texture...

Then select the bump map you saved earlier, glass_bump.psd, and press OK.

These sliders are self-explanatory, though for this demonstration I will use:

Distortion: 20
Smoothness: 8

The Invert option may also produce a desired effect.

When you're done here, press OK to apply the filter.

Note: Rendering the glass filter a second or third time on the same layer (Ctrl+F) may also produce desirable effects.

The following steps are entirely optional, and should be experimented with.

5
To fit the glass refraction inside the original form, hold down Alt, then move your mouse between the Type layer and the Photo layer, until a little icon with two intersecting circles replaces the cursor, then click.

This will use the Type layer transparency as a mask for the refracted Photo layer.

To disable this, click between the layers again holding down Alt.

6
a) Holding down Ctrl click the Type layer to select it's transparency. Click on the Photo layer, then create a new layer above it.

Fill the new layer with a dark color, such as black, by pressing X (to select Black as foreground color), and then Alt+Backspace (to fill). Then deselect (Ctrl+D).

Rename this layer 'Highlight', or something to this extent.

Set the blending mode for this layer to Overlay.

b) With the Highlight layer still selected, go in the menu:

Filter > Render > Lighting Effects...

Set your texture channel to the bump map created earlier (possibly Alpha 1), then setup some nice lights, according to the Lighting Effects tutorial.

Channel height set to 100 'Mountainous', may or may not look hoopy.

When this is done, perhaps even change the blending mode to Color Dodge, or Screen... whatever appears the most groovy to your pulsating eyeballs.

In addition to the Photo layer, try refracting a layer of black and white scan lines to produce highly detailed moire patterns. This tutorial can also be used to create chrome looking items. Throw down drop shadows, stone textures, disgruntled dots, and hopefully better effects you've come up with by now.

Massage the pixels thoroughly, until they stimulate your eyeballs in return, and be sure to experiment until the persistantly unfolding depths of your mind push you to the brink of madness.

Photoshop Tutorial Taken From Phong Website with Permission to use freely.

Beyond Blossoms--Incredible Online Flowers Resource

2006-12-06T01:02:00.000-05:00

Semantically Correct HTML Forms: HTML Form Tags

2006-12-06T00:18:00.000-05:00

Web designers should always strive to write semantically correct, cross browser, clean code in every nook and cranny of their website. That includes creating proper CSS forms using the excepted HTML tags. In this tutorial I will guide you through the process of the correct HTML code and CSS code to use when designing your CSS and HTML forms. These HTML tags are very important for many reasons:

1. Just like marking your HTML code with H2 and <strong> tags, properly tagging the HTML form elements within your website will ensure that the browsers interpret your site in the cleanest and best way possible.

2. These HTML tags will provide you with more opportunities to use CSS code to design the forms correctly.

3. Web 2.0 demands the highest possible standards in proper HTML formatting and coding. This also includes CSS website design in your forms.

Ok, here is the basic information for creating a tableless, semantically correct CSS forms

First of all, you should be fully aware of the HTML tags that are automatically available to use within your form. This will allow that there are less IDs within your CSS code, and also less DIV tags. Thus, enhancing your website's overall functionality and cleanliness.

<fieldset>
<legend> Title of Form </legend>
<li>
<label for="date">Date </label>
<input id="name" />
</li>
<li>
<label for="Time">Time</label>
<input id="Time" />
</li>
</fieldset>

This form will look like this:

Title of Form

Date

Time

With this set of code, you can now proceed to style each one of these HTML tags within your CSS design. You can place your entire form inside a higher class ID to identify the form among your other forms. But essentially that is all you’ll have to do!

As an example, here is a simple CSS code snippet, just to illustrate how simple it is to add flavor to your very clean little HTML form.

form.mine fieldset {

Background-color: red;
Display: block;

}

form.mine legend {

font-weight: bold;

}

form.mine label {

font-color: #CCCCCC;

}

so on and so forth. The name I chose for my form was "mine" but you can label your forms however you see fit. This simple name ID within your CSS form code will allow you to recreate the CSS code to use on every form, while just changing that name. You can specify your li right underneath your form class, and have no need to add any other DIV tags or IDs to your CSS code. What is great about constructing proper form tags and HTML elements is that you can recreate them for many different forms. Just change the class name after the form tag and you’re ready to go!

10 Tips for obtaining Search Engine Friendly, Outside Links for Your Website

2006-12-04T10:39:00.000-05:00

One of the most beneficial ways to gain a high serach engine rank is to place your website's link onto other highly ranked websites. Here are some guidelines to observe and instructions to follow when obtaining outside links for better search engine optimization.

NOTE: These tips are exclusively geared towards obtaining outside links that search engines will index properly, and for SEO purposes. The guidelines do not account for gaining readership due to links. For example, placing your link more than once onto a domain name, might count against you for search engine indexing; But, you may have more people click those links, and gain readership that way.

1. Outside links should be in static HTML format. JavaScript does not get indexed through search engines, including RSS feeds generated by using JavaScript. If you want to use RSS feeds to market your content, you can use a server side computer language like PHP.

2. Link anchor text should contain one of your website's Meta title tag keywords. These keywords will correspond to the relevant content that you are linking to on your website. For example, if you own a website that sells dog accessories, one example of a link might look like this:

Dog Collars for every breed

3. Outside links must come from completely different domain names. For example, if you plan on using a site like Associated Content to gain links pointing into your site, it is counter-productive to make more than one article with links to your site.

4. Each outside link should come from a website with a Google page Rank of 4 or more. To find out what a website’s page rank is, download the Google Toolbar and it will tell you whenever you browse to a new site. The Google toolbar has many benefits for website owners, marketers and developers. Find Google's toolbar link in the resources section.

5. Myspace, Friendster and Facebook sites do not hold much water as far as outside links. It might be beneficial to start a group, forum or blog within these sites and link only once to your site instead.

6. Write articles and submit to E-zines, but try and vary the content of each article using different keywords from your website. Using the previous example: If you have a website that sells Dog Accessories, don’t write 10 articles about your website. Instead, write different articles that concentrate on things like, “Dog Training,” “Great Gifts for Dogs,” etc. and place your link within the article for a reference using your anchor text.

One very beneficial way to get outside links within relevant content is to find ways to utilize Blogs to obtain outside links into your website. While it would be impossible and very difficult to start hundreds of blogs on your own, build up content and traffic, and then begin to link your website within these blogs, Blogitive provides the solution. Blogitive has over 2000 approved blogs within it's database and they offer the unique service to get your website linked through the many blogs already accessible through their site. You simply submit a web release (mini press release) to the site, with instructions for your link including the URL and the phrase you want to link to your site. Blogitive is a very effective way to get outside links, and it will increase link popularity of your website URL. Your website can achieve top placement in the most popular search engines through marketing this way...You should check out blogitive for your outside link initiatives!

7. Getting your website listed in directories is different than getting your website listed on search engines. You may wait a year or more to hear back from directories letting you know you’ve been accepted. Some are free, and some may cost money. Best to start with the free directories, unless you have a niche group that you want to target right away and are willing to spend money on it. They are a great way to get permanent, static outside links. You can find lists of web directories to submit to online.

8. Start blogs, but don’t place your link in every nook and cranny. Make sure your link makes sense within its context, and that the reader is getting some use out of the content on your blog.

9. Surround every one of your links with useful, keyword optimized and pertinent content. Placing the link to your site, with anchor text, inside an article discussing relevant topics to your site is the best way to have search engines index your site and prioritize your specific domain name.

10. Do not pay companies to get you a ridiculous amount of outside links in a very short period of time. The only way to get quality, optimized, search engine friendly links into your site is to either hire a company to produce relevant articles and content for you or follow these steps or do it yourself. Anyone claiming differently probably owns link farms, and search engines do not regard these very highly, and could hurt your search engine credibility.

RESOURCES:

Google's Toolbar

Best Web Directories

Web Directory Submissions

CSS Automatic Creators: Top 3 FREE Sources for Automatically created CSS Code

2006-11-30T23:15:00.000-05:00

Using CSS to create your website is the standard and proper way of constructing a web page. When you start any website design using css, the first step is to create the structure of the layout and the basic lists that will make up your navigation. If you are a CSS guru, then creating these CSS layouts and lists can be a fairly simple task. But, if you are a new or intermediate CSS developer, or, you create website templates and unique websites consistently, wouldn't it be nice to have your initial layout and lists automatically created using proper CSS design? That way, you can move on to more fun aspects of constructing your website.

There are many resources available online to assist you in creating semantically correct CSS code, CSS layout and CSS lists. I have found these three sites, that offer automatically generated CSS code for these structures within your website. As a web design professional, and an expert in CSS (oh, yea, I'm super neat) I still find these websites PRICELESS, and use them often when beginning any web design. The first is called,

The List-O-Matic

The List-O-Matic automatically generates CSS code for any type of list or navigation element you're trying to create. Just fill in the blanks within the list-o-matic CSS generators form, and the application will give you the HTML and CSS code for a list in the style that you propose. It offers CSS rollovers, CSS horizontal navigation, CSS vertical navigation and some highly creative color and graphic formats. Of course, you can alter the code to your liking once you've plugged it into your site...But, isn't it nice to have the semantically correct CSS code automatically generated for you so you can begin to focus on the colors and graphical aspects?

The second automatic CSS creator is:

Firdamatic

This website offers a complete CSS layout generator, focused on blogs and weblogs. It will take your current site, and construct it, using sematically correct CSS code, into a 2 column CSS layout or a 3 column CSS layout. The options are minimal, but the feature itself is amazing. I highly recommend this option for those who own a simple blog or weblog, and aren't necessarily starting a highly unique and intricate website...For you, there's the:

Layout-o-matic

This option leaves the CSS layout privy the availability to use the application to create small box models within box models, so that your site is constructed within your vision. It also offers CSS 2 column layouts, CSS 3 column layouts, CSS simple 3 columns, full page layouts, and the option to align the CSS layouts to the left or right.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD

Check out all three of these resources...And, before you write them off as a waste because you are fully capable of creating the CSS code within your web site. I can say, as a web design professional and a CSS expert (ahem...there I go, tooting my horn again!) that they are useful, even if simply utilized as a time-saving technique. For the CSS newbies out there, this is absolutely the best way to watch your CSS design materialize into an actual example and to experiment with the way that different CSS lists and layouts are used.

Seattle Condos at Condo Company

2006-11-15T15:28:00.000-05:00

Are you planning on moving and looking for a new condo? Have you ever thought about buying a place, instead of throwing away money every month on rent? I'm moving to Washington at the end of this year, and have done extensive research on condos, prices, and relevant locations. Of course, as a technology enthusiast, I figure the best way to search is online. I stumbled across a website on Seattle Condos, the number one searched condominium dedicated site on the internet, and I can definitely see why!

Thousands of unique visitors frequent the site daily either looking to sell or buy condos in the Seattle area. It's a niche location, but it makes the site so much more informative. The resource offers people such as Realtors, Owners, and Developers to list condos for sale in Seattle, without any middle-man involvement. The buyer (or potential buyer) can contact the owners, developers or realtors directly when looking to buy. Also, to even further verify the validity and superb quality of the search, the site offers lists of "Building Specialists" who have been chosen as an agent who specializes in a particular condo building. Check out the Seattle Condos on this great website.

How to Create a Flash Text Fade Animation in Photoshop and ImageReady

2006-11-15T14:39:00.000-05:00

Photoshop Tutorial: Using ImageReady to create Flash Animations...EASY!

Graphic Designers are beginning to focus on every aspect of the digital medium, including web design and Flash animation. If you’ve ever been asked to create a banner ad or short animation for a client whom you have previously only offered print designs, this tutorial is very beneficial. For the experienced Flash animation designer, this is definitely too basic for your skills. Creating SWF format animations in Photoshop and Image Ready is actually very simple, and whether you want to turn a static ad into an animated ad, or would like to watch a cartoon hand wave back and forth on your web page, these tools are capable of accomplishing this.

In this Tutorial, I’m going to explain how to create a simple text fade in animation, saved as a SWF file (Flash file) using just Photoshop and Image Ready. I will also show you how easy it is to export your SWF animation and put it in your website. Although I’m using a very simple example (text fade) you can use these steps to accomplish any type of animation.

1. Open your Photoshop program, and click on “window” in the top menu. Make sure you click on the “animation” window, so that you can see the frames of your animation. You will see a long thing “animation” frame window appear at the bottom of your working space.

2. Create a new file, the size of the animation that you wish to produce.

3. Create a new layer, and do not type any text that you wish to fade. If you have some design elements that you want in the background of the text, or say, a background color that needs to be present before the animation initializes, go ahead and create those styles in this layer.

4. After you’ve created your blank (or somewhat styled) layer, go to your animation window, and click on the little arrow on the top right of the animation window. A menu box will fly out to the right, and select “new frame.”

4. Create a New Layer, and type in the text that you wish to fade in. You can then style the text however you wish: bevel, emboss, drop shadow, change the color, gradients, etc. This layer should have the text, style and look that you want present after the fade is finished.

5. Now you will see the text in both the first and second frame. But, you only want the text in the second frame. So, to achieve this, click on the thumbnail in your animation window of the first frame. Now, hide the layer with your text on it, only within this frame.

6. By now, you should have two frames. The first frame is an empty canvas (or, styled however you chose in step #3) and the second frame with your text in it and any additional elements that you want present when the fade is finished.

7. With these two frames open, and with the second frame selected, click on the icon that looks like many circles overlapping, located at the bottom of your animation window. If you roll your mouse over this icon you will see the label, “Tween.”

8. A dialogue box will appear with options for your tween. The drop-down menu for the label “tween with” should say “previous frame.” “Frames to add” will default to 5 frames, this will be fine for a simple fade animation. But, if you want to fade to be longer, add more, if you want it to be shorter and choppier add less. These other options should also be selected:

a. All Layers
b. Position
c. opacity
d. effects

9. Click “ok.”

10. You will notice that Photoshop has added 5 frames, fading from your original empty frame, to the final text frame. To preview your animation, click the play icon at the bottom of the animation window and you will view your entire fade animation in action!

11. Some options that you can adjust to get different fade effects are available. One, is the second’s option. Under each frame in the animation window, it should be at a default of “0 seconds.” Adjust this to .5 seconds or 1 second, and preview it using the play icon. This is up to your discretion, however you want the animation to look.

12. Now, to save it as a SWF file, which is the standard Flash format for animations, you need to bring it into Image Ready. Go to “File” and then scroll down to “Edit in Image Ready.”

13. You already created the animation in Photoshop, so now you only have to export it as an animation. Go to “File” scroll down to “Export” and choose “Macromedia Flash SWF.”

14. In this dialogue box, you can choose “Generate HTML.” The other options can be left at their defaults, but they are self explanatory if you need to change any of them.

15. Export! You’re done! You now have an HTML document with the Flash animation inside it, and a separate SWF file that you can embed into any other HTML document quite easily.

These instructions are for beginners, and illustrate the steps in creating a very, very simple animation. The “Tween” effect can be applied to any two images, or a blank canvas to an image, or any other use your imagination can come up with. Basically, it creates its own frames based on a beginning point, and an ending point. Have fun, and use these simple guidelines to create more dynamic animations of your own!

Open Source CMS Resource for php/mysql Based Opensource Software Systems

2006-11-15T14:12:00.000-05:00

Opensource CMS Programs are used for many different web design purposes including (but not limited to): Forums, Blogs, Communities, Galleries, e-commerce sites, shopping carts etc. The opensource software is so attractive because it is FREE, and because it doesn't take a programming expert to configure it.

Anyone interested in using a CMS Opensource software program will most likely go through at least 4-10 different versions/programs until they have found the one that suits their needs. The reason why it is so difficult to intially decide the best opensource software program is because they are usually lacking in a complete, comprehensive set of documents that explain exactly what they do, and who should use them. But, for free software that normally would cost someone thousands of dollars, who's complaining?

Anyway, if you're looking into creating or revamping a website to use forums, blogs, community utilities, galleries, instant messaging, e-commerce sites, shopping carts, bookmarks (like digg.com or technorati), Opensource CMS programs is usually where you'll begin. This forum/website offers complete descriptions, user feedback, ratings and lists of all the CMS software available, where to download it and users who currently utilize the software.

The site is: http://www.opensourcecms.com/

To view a short review of MY favorite CMS program, and the one that I am currently working with visit my article: My Favorite CMS Program

A Website Dedicated to Helping you Make Money Online

2006-11-14T22:35:00.000-05:00

Article about the best new program online. Blogitive.com

Blogitive pays the blogger, website owner, content writer, etc. for every post that they write. It doesn't have to be an article or even very long...Just contain the link specified in the instructions and you receive payment! This is by far one of the best opportunities for bloggers to make money off their blog instead of waiting patiently to monetize, affiliatize and advertise on their blog. The program makes it easy for any blogger to sign up and start making money of writing blog entries. You do have to be approved first, which isn't too difficult. And, after being approved, you're ready to go! Check out this article on the benefits of blogitive.com

Make Money

CSS Lists: CSS Tutorial

2006-11-14T19:28:00.000-05:00

CSS List Items –The many elements and styles

List items are multi-functional and provide a lot of options for customizing and designing your HTML document. They are also very important to your mark up because they designate meaning within your code and provide emphasis to specific list elements by embedding them into proper list HTML code. In this article, I will discuss the essential methods of HTML and CSS list item design, how to format your HTML and CSS list items and multiple ways of designing your HTML and CSS lists.

Lists are used for many reasons within a web page. They can provide structure for web page link navigation, product lists and descriptions, song lists, article lists and basically any other type of list you might use for your web page design. It is very important to use the proper HTML format when constructing lists because of many reasons. First of all, search engines recognize list items as part of the hierarchy of significance. By placing important elements of your page within list item tags, you are easing search engines through your site more fluidly and more efficiently. Also, it is standard to structure HTML and CSS so that your content is functional. By this I mean that it is more comprehensive to have list items defined by list HTML markup, it creates structure within your page and the source is more readable. It also provides you with a more broad availability of CSS style options when you are attempting to change, edit or enhance the look and feel of your site.

A simple unordered list will look like this:

<ul>
<li>List item 1 </li>
<li>List item 2 </li>
<li>List item 3 </li>
<li>List item 4 </li>
</ul>

The <ul> tag encloses the entire list, and marks the beginning of an unordered list.

The <li> tag encloses each individual list item.

Both of these tags can have a CSS style attached to it. They can also be defined by a specific div in case you want the first, last, or individual <li> items to have different styles.

The list items, enclosed by the <li> tag, automatically create bullets to the left of each item. While the bullets are present in any browser that views your list, the way in which these bullets are created differ between browsers.

Internet Explorer and Opera create this bullet using a left margin, while Safari and Firefox create the bullet using left padding. This is important to note, because if you plan on adding extra padding, margins, customized bullets, or background images within your list items, the browsers will handle the elements differently. A simple fix for your list bullet inconsistently is to take the margin and padding down to 0, take out the default bullets and make your own bullets using background images.

ul {
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
list-style-type: none;
}

li {
background: url(custombullet.gif) no-repeat 0 50%;
padding-left: 20px;
}

This CSS mark up works because it makes the image you choose as a background image within your <li> element and positions it in the middle of the <li> text and to the left of it. When creating your custom bullet, you should try and make it smaller than the text you are using, and also have it coincide with the rest of your site as far as color and design.

One of the most common purposes of a list is to provide structure for the navigation bars within your web page. A simple navigation bar using lists will look like this:

<ul>
<li><a href=”home.html”>Home</a> </li>
<li><a href=”about_us.html”>About Us</a> </li>
<li><a href=”products.html”>Products</a> </li>
<li><a href=”contact.html”>Contact Us</a> </li>
</ul>

This list within your HTML document, provides you with three separate elements to work with within your CSS design.

<ul>
<li>
<a>

All three of these elements can be style differently and creatively so that your list is unique to your site, simple and clean. Here is an example of list style design:

ul {
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
list-style-type: none;
}

li {
background: url(custombullet.gif) no-repeat 0 50%;
padding-left: 20px;
font-family: verdana;
font-size: 11px;
font-weight: bold;
color: red;
}

li a {
text-decoration: none;
color: red;
}

NOTE: By default all <a></a> tags automatically make the text a bright blue color and underline it. This is because most links look this way within browsers, and it lets the user know that, “hey, here’s a link.” But, you will probably have your own idea of what you want links to look like, so it is essential that you set your “text-decoration” attribute to “none” so that you can decide how to custom design your links.

This is a very simple example of how to design an HTML list with your web page. Lists can perform all kind of functions in and of themselves by using simple CSS. I will be providing tutorials on CSS rollovers and creative use of background images in your list items.

Joomla: My Favorite CMS Program

2006-11-14T16:50:00.000-05:00

I recently tested out some CMS programs out there, trying to decide which one was for me...

First I tried PHPAPP...Nice fellows who developed the program, I mean, it is open source! But, not really what I was looking for. It was difficult to manage, not aesthetically pleasing (also not easy to change look of site) and the plug-ins and add-ons were very difficult to configure. So, uninstall, on to the next one.

I tried Drupal. Whoa! What a great program Drupal is, so many features, so many plug-ins, so many links links links! I was looking for a program that I could easily manipulate. Drupal has a separate link for absolutely everything, the navigation is horrible, and if I can't even work with the navigation from the front-end of the CMS program, I'm up and out. Uninstall, on to the next one.

Joomla. Oh, Joomla, How do I count the ways? So friendly, so pretty, so talented...Yep, I'm sticking with Joomla. One of the greatest things about Joomla as a CMS Program is that for plug-ins and add-ons that normally require some back-end adjustments, Joomla allows completely front-end upload for all of their add ons! You download the zip from the featured list of add ons, then simply upload the zip file into the module or component area of the site. AMAZING! It looks great, comes with great features, easy to manage, inuitive navigation. Joomla, you had me at hello...

Capella Online Distance Learning

2006-11-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

Want to go back to school, but don't want to leave your house? Capella University offers accredited degrees through coursework taken ONLINE! This is absolutely amazing, and after working from home for so long, I'm not sure I would want to go back to school any other way. Technology has come a long way in developing the way we look at work, advertising, and an accredited college education. Through Capella University you can receive a Graduate degree in programs in business, information technology, education, human services, and psychology. You can receive a bachelor's degree in business and information technology. Capella University also has over 76 different specializations within these graduate and bachelor programs.

The program is popular--16,000 students from all 50 states and 63 countries are signed up with Capella University to receive accredited degrees while taking a full or part-time course load ONLINE! Capella University stays committed to excellence within their educational programs, and they're also devoted to the student's growth as professionals in a business environment. Visit the Capella University website and start working towards a degree through Distance Learning. If you've ever wanted to go back to school, or want a more convenient and well established program that allows you to take classes online visit Capella University and learn about this amazing Distance Learning program.

Top 10 Ways to Clean Up, Organize & Save Space On Your Hard Drive

2006-11-13T10:42:00.000-05:00

Technology Tutorial: Hard Drive Clean Up and Organization

If your computer is running slower these days, or freezes up when you have too many programs running, you might need to reorganize your hard drive. Even if your computer runs smoothly right now, it is still beneficial to know all of the space saving techniques that you can use to make sure your computer is clean, easy to navigate and in it’s best possible condition. Before you begin, take a look at the current disk space you are utilizing and how much free disk space you have available.

Go to “My Computer”

(PC Users) Right click on “C Drive”

Go to “Properties”

In the General tab, it should give you pie chart and information regarding the amount of free space currently available on your hard drive. If your free space is less than your used space, it is important that you make sure you are maximizing your computer’s performance by cleaning up your disk. Here is a list of ten ways to clean up, organize and save space on your computer’s hard drive.

1. Save space on your hard drive: Disk Clean Up

In the “Properties” dialogue box that you checked out by right clicking your “C Drive” folder, again, go to the “General Tab.” Click on “Disk Cleanup.” After this function has scanned your computer for available space, it will present you with another dialogue box. Here, you can view the files that are currently available to be deleted without causing problems on your system. These types of files include: Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Bin and can even compress your older files. You can click on each item, and view a brief description of what their purpose and reason is for being on your system. If it says, “You can safely delete these files” definitely check mark these items. The other items you will have to use severe discretion, as once they are deleted they will not be available again. After check marking the files you want to delete, click on “Clean up.”

2. Save space and organize your hard drive: Defrag your Computer

In the “Properties” dialogue box that you checked out by right clicking your “C Drive” folder, go to the “Tools” tab. Click on the “Defrag Now” button and your computer will analyze the space and information on your hard drive. After this, it will let you know if you need to defrag. If it recommends that you defrag, go ahead and do this. Nothing will be deleted, but your computer will maximize all the information it has on it by reorganizing the files.

3. Save space on your hard drive: Delete old or unused Program Files

Go to your control panel; Open up the folder entitled, “Add or Remove Programs.” Your computer might take a couple minutes to list your currently installed program files. Once it compiles the list, look through it and observe carefully the amount of space each program is taking up, how often you use each program, what company the program was downloaded from, and the name of the program. Do not delete any program that you aren’t aware of its use. It could possibly be a very important windows program that you aren’t aware is running to ensure proper computer functionality. But, if there are old, unused programs that you do not plan to use any longer, or do not need, go ahead and remove these programs.

4. Save space on your hard drive: Invest in an external hard drive

External hard drives are a great resource for anyone and everyone. They provide a great way of saving space on your computer by allowing you to transfer old, rarely used files that you may want to access later, onto another hard drive that will store them safely. Another great use for a hard drive is for back up purposes. An external hard drive will not get a virus, so by transferring important files onto it; you are guaranteeing a safe back up of all your documents.

5. Save Space on your hard drive: Zip it up!

Zipping up your files is basically a way of compressing your files into very, very small files, while keeping them easily accessible if you ever need them. There are many ways to do this, but the most common and easy way is to use a program like “WinZip.” You can get a free version of this program at:

Winzip Archive Utility

It advertises as a free trial, but, between you and me, you never really have to purchase the full version. The evaluation version will work fine.

Good files to zip up are documents and files that are important, but you do not need to access very often. If you need these files at least once a month, don’t archive them, because it will become a hassle trying to open them back up all the time. Take the files you don’t need to use all the time, zip them up into pertinent folders, and delete the originals. Anytime you need to use the files, simply unzip the contents of the folders and enjoy!

6. Save Space on your hard drive: Save onto Data Disks

Saving files onto data disks is not the ideal scenario, as you can’t really fit all that much onto them, and they cost money. But, if you first zip the files up that you’re going to transfer onto the data disks, then you will be able to fit more information onto them. After that, you can go back and delete all the files from your computer. Personally, if you’re going to purchase data disks, and go through the trouble of transferring files onto them, it would be better to invest into an external hard drive. They will hold more information and be easier to work with.

7. Save Space on your hard drive: Music Files

Music files take up a ridiculous amount of space on your computer. By transferring these files onto an external drive, zipping them up, or burning them all onto data disks you will free up an exorbitant amount of space.

8. Organize your Hard Drive: Delete Files from your Desk Top

Having too many files on the desk top of your computer can feel cluttered and obtrusive. If you work on the computer, or use it for any time at all, you will feel all warm and fuzzy inside by deleting or moving the files from your desktop and putting them into files within your “My Documents” “Pictures” or other directories within your computer. It will also help you to access the files more intuitively and stay organized.

9. Organize your Hard Drive: Book Marks

This isn’t necessarily related to your hard drive, but it is refreshing to have a nice set of organized, well titled and descriptive bookmarks in the browser that you prefer. Open up your book marks, and properly title, organize in folders, delete unused links and view all your book marks. This will also take some time, but will probably save you time in the long run, by finding the sites you need right away and with ease.

10. Organize your Hard Drive: Delete, Rename and Organize your Folders

On your computer, the top tier of folder should be: My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, Program Files, Temp, and Windows (or whatever operating system name or designation is here.) There may be some others depending upon what you have downloaded onto your system, like PHP, APACHE or others. Under these folders, you should do your best to organize, delete, rename and prioritize your files so that you can access them as easily as possible, and as intuitively as possible. It may take some time, but it end up saving you time in the long run; instead of searching through your whole computer for a file or folder, you’ll know exactly where it’s at. Also, by doing this, you might find folders and/or files that you can safely delete. DO NOT delete any files or folders within your windows or other operating system directory. In fact, don’t even go in that folder unless you are an experienced operating system professional.

More Resources:

Winzip Archive Utility Free Download

Recommended Magazine Subscriptions:

Computerworld Magazine

Computer Graphics World Magazine

Computer Shopper Magazine

CPU Computer Power User Magazine

Niche Designer | Web Design Resources | CSS tutorials | Graphic Design News | FOR U

Online Shopping Cart Features Built in SEO

New E-Mail Marketing Tool Coming Soon!

Your Small Business Can't Afford a Marketing Department? No Problem!

The Online Casino Lobby

Business Web 2.0 Site Design Inspiration

External Link Resources

Related Design Posts

Setting Up a Blog

Best Online Coupons For You

Dreamweaver Vs. Visual Web Developer

External Link Resources

Related Design Posts

Find Hotels in Australia

Website Design Company Understands Design

Coupon Codes Resource Shopping Online

Web and Graphic Design Color Scheme Tools

Magic CSS Rollovers using One Image

Website Design Planning and Implementation

External Link Resources

Related Design Posts

Story About E-Bay Searching for Art

Vintage Photography and Art Auctions

Draggable Divs Made Easy

External Link Resources

Related Design Posts

Order Printer Ink Online: Free Shipping!

Best Free CSS Templates

Freelance Guild With Health Benefits

External Link Resources

Related Design Posts

Online University Offers Graduate Degrees Online

New Movie 1408 Hits Home...Run!

Logo Design Good Enough for Designers!

External Link Resources

Related Design Posts

Dynamic Dreamweaver Tutorials and Books

External Link Resources

Related Design Posts

Easy Online Contests, Win Free Gift Cards From Home!

Best Education Resource and Directory Online

Win a Vacation, Contest Entry Online!

Online Shopping: Save Money With Instant Coupons!

Discount Disney Tickets for Your Orlando Vacation

Basic Color Theory for Graphic Designers Part 1

Primary Colors

Red

Yellow

Secondary Colors

Additive and Subtractive Colors

Additive colors

Subtractive Colors

Time to UpGrade to Adobe Photoshop CS2

Perspective Creator and Cloner...3-D Images in Photoshop!

Adobe Bridge

Select Multiple Layers

Enhanced Customization of your Menus and Work Space

Smart Objects

Animate Easier, and Correctly in Adobe Photoshop

Monex Deposit Company Purchase Gold

Graphic Design Bleeds and Printing

Best Web 2.0 Focused Articles and Tutorials

Personal Story: "Social Bookmarking Sites Are Useless"

What to know Before Buying CS3

Bid 4 Prizes Cool Web 2.0 Bidding Website

Getting A Degree Online Best Resource

Free CSS Templates: Web 2.0 Design

Personal Vacation Planner Online Now!

100% Free Money Making Secrets: Paid Opportunities Resource

Freelance Writing Opportunities: Multiple Earning Streams!

New Spin On A Business Directory Online

Great Resource for Web Graphics!

CSS Layout Creator: All You Need for Pure CSS Layouts

Web Development Community: Need Web Design Help?

Why Join Web Development Community:

Need Help With Your Web Design Project?

The New World of SEO

I Remember When Web Design Was Big...

Adobe Design Software Available Online

Small Business Web Design