Graphic designing add zing to a movie living you feeling entranced, compelled and maybe even a tad dizzy, such is the magic of graphic designing.
The scenes of thousands of machine sentinels attacking the human city of Zion were mesmerising. The climactic duel between Neo and Smith in the pouring rain in the streets of Matrix was breathtaking and beautifully executed. The Matrix movie garnered a cult like status around the world.
Millions of fans debated as to its plot's true purport and what message it held in the real world. Its tech savvy directors managed to induce mass hysteria in millions of people both old and young- as they laughed all the way to the bank. Much of the trilogy's magic on screen was possible due to the genius of some highly gifted motion graphic designers who toiled away at their computers for months on end, creating magic on screen for us to watch.
The term graphic design was first coined by William Addison Dwiggins, an American book designer in the early 20th century. In the last ten years, Internet growth has exploded from 50 million users in 1997 to more than 1 billion in 2006 and usage, web sites and e-commerce sales are all expected to continue to increase! Not surprisingly, there is a critical need for people with the graphic talent and technical capabilities to design and develop effective web graphics.
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Sunday, August 31, 2008
Graphic designing as an career
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Web Designing Project - Drupal Script Requirement
ITMatchOnline.com is the easiest way to find right partners across the world.
Project Details:
Type : Project
Id : 11276402
Category : Web Design and Development
Title : Drupal Script Requirement
Estimated Budget :Need Quotation
Description :
Country : United States
Status : Closed
Are you interested to work on this project? Post your contact details Now! Click Here
Friday, August 29, 2008
Which is the Best Browser Supporting CSS ?
Today both Netscape and Microsoft have agreed to implement CSS in their respective browsers and this means that Web authors who want to use CSS have to know
which CSS elements they can and can’t use, as well as the significant differencesin the way adopted CSS elements behave in both browsers.
Both use only a subset of the complete specification as laid out by the W3C. Since both companiesare members of the W3C, however, they will adopt the full set of CSS elements over time - at least that is the hope. CSS1 (and CSS2) will only be useful to Web authors if they are widely adopted and fully implemented by browser manufacturers. If they are not, CSS could easily disappear. There is a precedent for this: the official HTML 3.0 specification was widely ignored by browser manufacturers.
The piecemeal way in which Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer have adopted CSS elements is holding CSS back from wider adoption within the Web authoring community. In many cases, CSS elements that are supported in Internet Explorer are not supported in Netscape Navigator, or they are not supported in either browser. Sometimes only certain values of a CSS element are supported, or they only work when associated with certain HTML tags. There are even cases where a CSS element has been adopted for use within a beta (or “preview”) version of a browser and then later dropped in the next beta release - presumably an oversight, but not exactly something to inspire confidence in CSS for a Web author.
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Thursday, August 28, 2008
Options for Website Development
As it turns out, there are many different options available. In fact, there are as many options available as there are websites on the net. But a few stick out as particularly good approached for you to consider. This article will review three strategies for getting your website up and running. In reality, there are countless subcategories within each strategy but this overview should give you a good start to begin your planning.
The first strategy is also the cheapest. You can use the Joomla CMS Web Application Framework to build your website. Joomla is an open source project, meaning it was developed by loosely affiliated developers around the world and it’s free to use. Yes, you read it correctly. It’s absolutely free for anyone to use. You simply download the platform and install it on your server and you’re good to go. There are also countless extensions you can download and install, upholstery cleaning richmond the functionality of your website. The beauty of the platform is that you can log on at any time and make changes or adjustments to your website, all by yourself. Joomla is a powerful content management system and you can quickly put up a feature-rich website without paying a penny.
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Web design Tender - Re-Design & Create New Websites
ITMatchOnline.com is the easiest way to find right partners across the world.
Project Details:
Type : Tender
Id : 15039103
Category : Web Design and Development
Title : Re-Design & Create New Websites
Estimated Budget : Need Best Proposals
Description :
- Web hosting and maintenance.
- Hosting and maintaining of additional related websites (up to 20 websites).
- Two log-in portals as part of public website.
- Our existing website content have approximately 1190 static html pages, 487 dynamic pages & about 500 jpg and pdf files.
- A Content Management System that provides ability to create pages using standard template.
- Perform edits in-house.
- Distinct archival system.
- Ability to have RSS feeds on stories to alert subscribers.
- Autonomous ability to upload video, podcasts and other multimedia.
- Ability for a comments section under news stories.
- Ability for a secure “log-in” message board for different communities.
- Maintaining and enhancing payment options (e-commerce).
- Ability to have option to create mini-sites using the same capacities as master site.
- Maintaining and enhancing online registration.
Country : United States
Status : Closed
Are you interested to work on this project? Post your contact details Now! Click Here
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Web Designing Tips to Keep Your Visitor on Board
Learn how you can keep your website visitors intact by tricking with your website designing. Also understand the role website designing companies play in such situations.
The biggest problem that most websites face is with their bounce rates. Websites that are unpopular or do not have enough material to attract the user's attention are known to have a high bounce rate. Most search engine optimizers who are also responsible to study the performance of the websites, are busy understanding how the bounce rate of the websites can be controlled and the return ration of the visitors can be improved. Here are some such examples that will help you understand the importance of web design ing in this process and how people can take assistance of their web designing company to accomplish this task.
The biggest mistake that people commit is to create a lot of hype about their website in the site itself. It is high time they understand that this is not the right place for hype creation. People who have already landed on your website are now looking for some matter, they are wanting to learn something from your website, hence make sure that you have some informative stuff added in there, so that the user is satisfied to visit your website. In the same way it is also important to keep adding newer stuffs to your website content so that the re-visitors have something to look forward to.
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Web Designing Project - Designing and Development of lunch Service Website
ITMatchOnline.com is the easiest way to find right partners across the world.
Project Details:
Type : Project
Id : 14878091
Category : Web Design and Development
Title : Designing and Development of lunch Service Website
Estimated Budget :2000 USD
Description :
Country : Russian Federation
Status : Closed
Are you interested to work on this project? Post your contact details Now! Click Here
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
For a Global Presence You need a Quality Web Design
Web design denotes the designing and graphical production of contents in a web site form, appearing on net. The language of designing used in most of these cases are, HTML, CSS, XHTML, java etc. Designing a web site is collection, accumulation, arrangement and presentation of important information in a fascinating and attractive manner. A web site basically contains various web pages providing different sections of information about the company, individuals, products and services are that sold.
Creating a web site is not tough job. Creating a good one is of course another matter. To create a web site which best upholstery cleaning quality information and also has high ranking in all Search listings is a definite challenge. This is where one needs the perfect combination of quality web design and specialized expertise of the virtual business world.
A quality web design does not only mean to get a workable site registered, but it is a 24 hours’, 365 days’ and an unfaltering time’s tool for marketing, advertising, sales and promotion. and upholstery cleaning in web design places much importance on structure, visual appeal, corporate identity and user-friendly interactivity.
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Web design Tender - Develop Three Websites
ITMatchOnline.com is the easiest way to find right partners across the world.
Project Details:
Type : Tender
Id : 11129269
Category : Web Design and Development
Title : Develop Three Websites
Estimated Budget :Expression of Interest
Description :
We invite responses from a supplier that can provide specialized services in the following two areas:
1.) Web Site Concept and Design
a.) Site conceptualization
b.) Design of site structure, navigation and page flow
c.) Information design and wireframes
d.) Visual interface design
e.) Content management templates
f.) Site functional requirements
g.) Prototype/mock-up creation
h.) Usability testing
i.) Advice on appropriate technical tool sets
j.) Hosting of prototypes and concept illustrations
2.) Web Site Build and Implementation
a.) Graphic optimization, HTML production and scripting
b.) Server side technical development and database integration
c.) Configuration of technical tool sets
d.) Testing (QA, functional, cross-browser, standards compliance)
e.) Training (train-the-trainer basis)
g.) Search term development and search engine optimization
h.) Compliance with relevant government web standards including accessibility and Government Shared Login
Interested providers are requested to send their Expression of Interest (EOI) on or before 22nd August, 2008. For more details have a look on attachment.
Country : New Zealand
Status : Closed
Are you interested to work on this project? Post your contact details Now! Click Here
Monday, August 25, 2008
10 Tips on designing a fast loading web site
Tips and tricks on effective web design
The Number 1 rule that every web designer should follow is to create a fast loading web site. You might have a great design but very few people are going to see it if it takes a long time to load. While designing a web site always think about how long it will take to load. Try out our tips to build a great looking web site that also loads fast.
- Minimize the use of images - The key to a fast loading web site is to minimize the use of images. Images do enhance a page but don't make 80% of your web site only images. Instead break it down as much as possible to simple HTML. Notice the popular sites like Yahoo, Google, Ebay, Amazon etc., they have very few images because the load time is more important. Very often simple designs are the best.
- Optimize images for the web - Once you have decided on the images that you need on your site, make sure that it is optimized for the web. They should be in the gif or jpeg format. You can also minimize the size of the image by choosing the number of colors you need, from the color palette. The less the colors you choose, the less the size of the image. You can also use online tools like Gif Wizard to optimize your images or to get a recommendation on how to cut down the size of an image.
- Use Tables creatively - You can get some great looking designs by using tables creatively . Tables load very fast because it is just HTML code. Tables can be used in the homepage, menus or anywhere you like. Check out our homepage and our menus to see how we have used tables in our site.
- Cut down the use of animated gifs - Don't use animated gifs unless it is necessary. Animated gifs take a long time to load and can also be very irritating. But since they catch your attention you could use small animated gifs to draw a visitor's attention to a particular section of your site.
- Design simple icons - Instead of using big, bulky images use simple and small icons that add a little color and draw the attention of a visitor. We have used small icons in our homepage to highlight the main sections of our site.
- Use background images instead of big images whenever possible - Use background images whenever possible. This is usually a very useful tip for headers and footers. Instead of using an image of width 580 which is a uniform design you can use just a part of that as a background fill. This reduces the size of the web page as the image is small. The code will look like this :
- Try out CSS Styles - Have fun with CSS styles to get some cool text effects. Again, a CSS Style is simple HTML code so it loads very fast. You can create cool rollovers using CSS Styles.
Rollover the text on the right menu to see how we have used CSS Styles to get a simple but nice text effect.- Use Flash sparingly - There seems to be a lot of hype about Flash but I recommend that you minimize the use of Flash on a site. Don't make entire sites using Flash. It may look great but it takes hours to load and can really put off visitors. If you do want to use Flash use it within an HTML site and make sure it loads fast.
- Design most of your site in HTML - As much as possible try to design your site using HTML. You can create great designs by just using HTML code. Use tables, CSS Styles and simple fonts to design your site. Minimize the use of animated gifs, Flash, bulky images etc.
- Keep checking your load time - Last but not least, before you decide on the final design of your web site, check its load time on NetMechanic. This site gives you a free analysis of your web site which is extremely useful. We kept using it to improve our site till we got a report that said good loading time!
We learnt these tips while building our web site. We've enjoyed sharing them with you and hope that you found them useful.
Source : http://www.entheosweb.com/Sunday, August 24, 2008
Useful tips for writing efficient CSS
Jonathan Snook has posted a few great CSS coding tips in Top CSS Tips. Several of them come down to personal preferences, and it seems my preferences differ a bit from Jonathan’s in some cases, so I thought I’d go through his tips and note my take on each of them.
px for font sizes
Jonathan’s arguments for using px make sense, but I always use em. I’ve learned how to use a combination of percentages and ems and feel comfortable sizing text that way.
CSS declarations on one line
Unlike Jonathan I use a single line for rules that only contain one declaration, but multiple lines for rules with multiple declarations. TextMate’s code folding takes care of the rest for me. Jonathan makes a valid comment about file size savings with single line declarations though.
Read More Article...Thursday, August 21, 2008
Can I host my web site on my home/office computer?
That's an interesting question...
Let me first give you a quick answer before I bore you with details.
Yes, you CAN host a web site on your home/office computer.
And why do I think it is an interesting question - Because, unfailingly, at least one student from my beginners class throws this at me and so I guess it's something that everyone wants to know. Also the answer to this question helps us to know, in a little bit more detail, what web servers are and how they work.
Let me rephrase the question - Why can't our home computers with broadband internet and 24/7 connectivity be used as web Servers and host web sites? Actually, our home computers CAN act like web servers. Here are a few things we need:
Read More Article...Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Some useful CSS Layout Tips
The most difficult thing in CSS to get right is the layout of your site. Here are a couple of tips dealing just with that.
Tip 1 : Clear out the default padding and margin settings before you start working. Different browsers have different default margins so you want to start with a clean slate, so to speak. Use this command:
*
{
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
border: 0;
}
to clear all margins. Also note the border, which is set to 0. Please note that if you do this, you will also get rid of the pesky purple border round clickable images, although some people argue that the purple border is neccessary for accessibility and usability. But lots of people do not like the purple border round images, and this is one way that you can get rid of it in one fell swoop.
Tip 2 : To center your layout, use a container div to contain all your content. Declare it as follows:
#container
{
margin: 0 auto;
width: xyzpx;
}
There are a couple of points here to take note of. DO NOT declare the width to be 100%. This defeats the whole object since you will just have to declare the sub elements within the container and then center THEM using margin : 0 auto. This is VERY BAD since it means that instead of declaring the central layout once, you will have to declare it in multiple places
Read More Article...Tuesday, August 19, 2008
3 Things You MUST Know Before Buying Web Hosting
Back in 2005, I purchased shared server space from a well-known hosting company. In an attempt to “save” money, I paid for two years up front, and $268 later, I had my first real home on the Web.
Two short months after that, I came to the harsh realization that my server package was completely inadequate for my needs.
Ouch. Ultimately, a few key details made the difference, and although I learned this stuff the hard (read: the expensive) way, the good news is that you can avoid these same mistakes. You simply need to know where the potential traps are, and that’s precisely what I want to share with you today.
Buying Web hosting is a lot like buying a new car. The sleazebag car salesman wants to sell you on all the crazy new features of a particular model, but all you really care about is whether or not your venti latte will fit in the damn cupholder.
Read More Article...Monday, August 18, 2008
Designing a Web Site Takes Planning
Building a website can be a fairly cheap process, If you type “free Web site” into a search engine, you will be given plenty of cheap options. However, if you want a high-quality Web site that you fully control it’s probably going to cost you something.
“You can really spend very little money,” said Chris Black, owner of Go Now Web Design in Quincy, Mass., “but a lot of times with that kind of product, you’re going to get what you pay for.”
For those looking to build a Web site that’s going to look somewhat professional, Black suggests starting by determining for what purpose you plan to use it. Do you plan to use it to market an existing business? Are you looking to sell products through your Web site? Are you just looking for a place to share your photos with relatives?
Read More Article...Web Designing Project - Freelancer Programmer Required
Looking to work on Web design Project? Find here new projects everyday.
ITMatchOnline.com is the easiest way to find right partners across the world.Project Details:
Type :Project
Id : 16015238Category : Web Design and Development
Title : Freelancer Programmer Required
Estimated Budget : Need Quotation
Total Requirement : Ongoing - Will sign a NDADescription :
We are Australia based looking for Freelancer Programmer for Website Development. We need a programmer for our ongoing requirement who can assist us in management and development of our site. We will pay on per project and will be by PayPal . Service provider needs to sign a NDA with us for the rights of the work. Interested service providers are requested to contact us as soon as possible.
Country : Australia
Status : ClosedAre you interested to work on this project? Post your contact details Now! Click Here
Sunday, August 17, 2008
How to Design a Website for Beginners
A webmaster, you say? Me? Yes, I did say web design master ...
A few years ago, when I was first introduced to the world of Internet site design, I thought it would be impossible to learn everything there is to know about building a website from scratch.
It all seemed so overwhelming! I still haven't learned "all the facts" about Web design or the Internet, but I did make one important discovery on this journey - I didn't have to know everything about designing websites to build a very effective and intriguing Internet presence.
The Webmaster Course website is living online proof that, with minimum Internet knowledge, beginners can design an efficient Internet site in just a short period of time. Throughout these web pages, you'll find the resources and step by step instructions you will need to design your own complete business or personal Website.
Read More Article...Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Finding the Web Hosting Service that's right for You
With so many webhosting companies all vying for your business, how can you be sure the one you choose is the best one for you?
When looking into webhosting services for your website the first thing to do is to assess your own personal needs as they pertain to those hosting services you'll want to consider. Small homepages will have vastly different web hosting criteria from the website of a large company for instance. It is also important to take into consideration anything you are planning on hosting in the near future as well and to take any potential growth into account so that you are not caught off guard by unexpected costs.
The next step in finding web hosting services for your needs is to compare the rates of different hosting companies. While many companies will offer temptingly low rates it's crucial to know how much the prices will grow if your services and customer base expand.
Good technical support from your web hosting company is also critical to success. The ability to solve any problems quickly with the least disruption possible is key to the growth of your website. The best technical support you can hope for from a web hosting company is an in house 24 hours a day, seven days a week, phone & email, based in your home country service. It's also worth finding out if the technical support is free or comes with a charge. Also, make sure the hosting company clearly defines "consulting" versus "technical support" as technical support will most likely be free while consulting may have a price tag.
You also need to know how fast your internet hosting company can provide access to anyone visiting your website. This is easily researchable, with the most obvious way being to visit other websites hosted by your potential web host, perhaps varying the time of day you visit the website and focussing on the times when you think your target audience will visit your website. The best webhosting services will offer high levels of uptime which should be a guarantee to motivate the company to keep servers up all the time, while providing impetus to act quickly if anything goes wrong.
You should also ensure that any web hosting companies you are considering doing business with offers the services your website will need in order to run smoothly. You may require services such as visitor counting, e-mail forwarding options, real-time chat and shopping cart functions among others and it’s a good idea to make a full list of your needs so as to not forget to ask important questions during your research of web hosts. You may also want to consider webhosts which offer unlimited bandwidth, in case you have a website with a lot of visitors daily. Also ensure that any potential web hosting company offers some sort of control panel to allow you to make changes to the way your website is hosted so you won't have to work through customer service every time you need to modify a password or change an e-mail address, which can be an inconvenient and time consuming pursuit.
In many cases, particularly in business, your website can be your only opportunity to make a first impression and, as such, your web hosting company should be reliable, both for you and your customers. Once you have a detailed list of web hosts that can take care of the basic needs of your website, contact each of them for a more detailed discussion.
After all, careful consideration can save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
Paul McIndoe writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
Source : http://www.bestsyndication.com/Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Nine design tips to help turn browsers into buyers.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, online consumer sales in 2002 topped $45.5 billion dollars, an increase of more than 30 percent over the previous year. While many people look at those figures and be impressed, especially in this economy, I can’t help but wonder what if? What if online sellers made it easier for consumers to actually purchase products from them?
The fact is many online sellers would do well to remember the plight of Hansel and Gretel. They were taken deep into the forest with nothing to guide them, and wandered around for days before finally finding their way home. In the meantime, they were nearly eaten by the wicked witch.
That’s the way many consumers feel when they use the Internet to shop – lost in the woods with little to guide them. It’s no wonder that shopping cart abandonment rates are still hovering between 98 and 99 percent.
All is not lost however. There are some simple, proven ways to help consumers find their way through the eCommerce forest. Follow these steps and you’ll have a happy ending – namely the purchase of your products.
Read More Article...Monday, August 11, 2008
Web design Tender -Redevelopment of Website & Related Services
Looking to work on Web design tender? Find here new projects everyday.
ITMatchOnline.com is the easiest way to find right partners across the world.Project Details:
Type : Tender
Id : 14878939Category : Web Design and Development
Title : Redevelopment of Website & Related Services
Estimated Budget :$30000 (Canadian Dollars)Description :
We are Canada based organization. We are looking for reputed and experienced firm for our requirement of Web Development Services. We are looking to redevelop our website. The estimated cost of this work is $30000 (Canadian Dollars). In order to accommodate the growing demands we are looking to utilize new technologies to offer timely and effective service to our residents, industry and developers.
We are seeking hosting technologies which will bring content management of the website in-house. We desire a website that is cost effective in the long run, and which provides greater accessibility to our rural population. The redeveloped website will also need to incorporate design elements from our new Corporate Identity.
Website Redevelopment:- Ability for users to be able to access the site, whether on high-speed or dial-up.
- Addition of a “dark page” to be activated in the event of an emergency.
- Technology permitting content management to be done in-house by our staff.
- The content management system should allow for multiple-user configuration, with specific rights granted to users for restricted access to portions of the site.
- Website needs to be cost-effective- content management system should permit changes to be made easily both internally and externally.
- The site should be designed as to allow external pages to be incorporated as though they were local (ie. E-Government, Virtual City Hall) at a future date.
- Basic landing page directing the user to either the high speed, or dial up page.
- The home page should be designed so as to not require scrolling with a 1024x768 screen resolution.
- Simple graphic site for high speed users & ability to turn off graphics for dial-up/ rural users.
- All pages must work without pictures so as to allow for “text-only” version.
- Provider shall ensure 24/ 7/ 365 telephone and internet support.
- Maintenance should be provided via a contract which includes all costs relevant to the maintenance of the site.
Country : Canada
Status : ClosedAre you interested to work on this project? Post your contact details Now! Click Here
Sunday, August 10, 2008
10 Usability Principles to guide you
- Motivate
Design your site to meet specific user needs and goals. Use motivators to draw different user "personae" into specific parts of your site. - User task flow
Who are your users? What are their tasks and online environment? For a site to be usable, page flow must match workflow. - Architecture – it's 80% of usability
Build an efficient navigational structure. Remember – if they can't find it in 3 clicks, they're gone. - Affordance means obvious
Make controls understandable. Avoid confusion between emblems, banners, and buttons. - Replicate
Why reinvent the wheel? Use ergonomically designed templates for the most common 8-12 pages. - Usability test along the way
Test early in design using low-fidelity prototypes. Don't wait until the end when it's too late.Know the technology limitations Identify and optimize for target browsers and user hardware. Test HTML, JavaScript, etc. for compatibility. - Know the technology limitations
Identify and optimize for target browsers and user hardware.Test HTML, JavaScript, etc for compatibility. - Know user tolerances
Users are impatient. Design for a 2-10 second maximum download. Reuse header graphics so they can load from cache. Avoid excessive scrolling. - Multimedia – be discriminating
Good animation attracts attention to specific information, then stops. Too much movement distracts, slowing reading and comprehension. - Use a stats package
Monitor traffic through your site. Which pages pique user interest? Which pages make users leave? Adjust your site accordingly.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Web Designing Project - Website Development with 20% Advance payment
Looking to work on Web design project? Find here new projects everyday.
ITMatchOnline.com is the easiest way to find right partners across the world.Project Details:
Type : Project
Id : 77110168Category : Web Design and Development
Title : Website Development with 20% Advance payment
Estimated Budget :More than 2000 USDDescription :
We are US based need Service Provider to maintenance or upgrade our existing E-commerce website. The site is built using Rayzz engine. We are looking for a Developer or Company with experience customizing Rayzz platform. We will provide layout and site map with design requirements and page mockups. Our estimated budget is more than 2000 USD and we will pay 20% advance payment and the rest will be paid after completion of the work by Pay pal or any other mode as per agreed.Interested Service Providers are requested to contact us with their profile as soon as possible.
Country : United States
Status : ClosedAre you interested to work on this project? Post your contact details Now! Click Here
5 Web design tips you should know about
Let's face it, we've all seen Web sites that make us dizzy there's so much going on. Or sites that may offer exactly what we're looking for, but may require a private eye to find it.
One of the biggest problems people have when designing Web sites is keeping it simple. They think Empire State Building when they should be thinking split-level home.
What happens when they create these big, busy Web sites is people get overwhelmed. There is so much going on—so much to absorb—that they may quickly decide it's easier to give up and go elsewhere.
If you're ready to start building your Microsoft Office Live Small Business site, please take a few really basic tips from a Web marketing guy (me) who gets really cranky when Web site design interferes with my ability to use a site.- Put your contact information in a prominent location. People shouldn't have to hunt for something so basic. Plus, being up front about how people can get in touch with you suggests you're a legitimate business. It increases your credibility in the eyes of potential customers who may know nothing about you.
You might think about the contact information on your Web site like an electronic version of your business card that you would hand someone when you want to make it easy for them to get in touch with you. Be sure to include a:Phone number E-mail address Physical address Fax number - Restrain yourself when it comes to graphics. I like eye candy as much as anyone. But if I want art, I'll go to a gallery. Like everyone else these days, I'm usually in a hurry. So when I'm looking for information on the Web, what's most important to me is being able to find it quickly. Slow-loading graphics or distracting animations often hinder rather than help visitors find what they need quickly. Avoid using them.
However, you don't want to just put a bunch of words on a page and call it a Web site. Some color, your logo, and an image or two along with your text can make your site appealing, without being distracting. Consider using the pre-formatted "themes" included in the Site Designer tool in Office Live Small Business to create a design look and feel that matches your business. Whether you fix cars or sell furniture, chances are you can find a theme that will fit and save you some time. - Keep text focused and friendly. Just as too many graphics can lead to sensory overload, too much text can have the same effect. Respect your visitor's time and keep text focused—and brief.
Since people tend to scan Web pages rather than read word-for-word, things like bulleted lists, boxes, and boldface lead-in sentences make Web content more scannable and reader-friendly. - Keep your customer top-of-mind. Too many Web site designers think that once someone has landed on their site, they've got them. But that's simply not the case. You've got to give the visitor what they want—immediately. If you sell shoes, and they came to your Web site looking for shoes, don't sidetrack them with the story of your great-grandfather who started your business or—worse yet—your mission statement. Give them shoes!
That's not to say there's no place for a page on your company's roots or your mission statement if you think your customers would be interested in them. But make them secondary to your primary reason for having a Web site, which is to sell shoes. - Keep your navigation simple. Your Web site should scream out to people how easy it is to do business with you. When they come to your site they shouldn't have to guess what you had in mind when you put an image of Abe Lincoln next to your discount merchandise or why there's a little duck icon at the bottom of every page.
To avoid confusion, stick with commonly understood Web standards when it comes to navigation and directive icons. The Web works pretty well and there's no reason to try to re-invent it. The Site Designer tool I mentioned earlier offers some tried-and-true navigation options you can experiment with.
Just keep in mind that you can get a basic site up quickly and then, with the Web site traffic reports you get as part of Office Live Small Business, you can monitor what people are doing on your site and make adjustments or add pages as needed.
If you do the five things I've listed above, you should have a nice-looking Web site that is easy for visitors to use—and one they'll happily return to.
Source : http://office.microsoft.com/Thursday, August 7, 2008
Website Design - Usability Versus Accessibility
A big mistake many people make is to confuse usability with accessibility. Not only are the two very different, but the tendency seems to be that one is deemed less important than the other. Although they must both be taken seriously, it's true that many of the ideals surrounding accessibility still apply to usability and vice versa.
Optimising a site's usability will help to make it more accessible, or at least provide a better frame to build upon. If your wider audience finds the site hard to use, it'll almost certainly be problematic for those with disabilities or learning difficulties. By the same token, the degree of consideration that goes into addressing accessibility is just as valid when it comes to usability.
Putting The User First
If you strip all the fancy stuff away from Web design, pages are ultimately being built for people to use. Forget showcasing every Flash gimmick you can muster from your repertoire or bombarding people's browsers with bandwidth busting images, and you're left with providing the best content delivery service you can offer. Before you even start formulating ideas or beginning to think about firing up Dreamweaver, you should have it clear in your mind that usability is about putting the needs of the user first. Remember that designing anything from shoes to sites is judged on how the final product performs.
This will then help you conduct one of the most important stages in most design processes and especially software engineering: requirements elicitation. Most professional new media agencies will already be familiar with this procedure, and will use it to establish a stable understanding of what it is the user expects to see, with project success dependent upon meeting it. Whether you are being commissioned to create a site for a specific client or hope to launch something that will more directly attract traffic, it will be an essential exercise to acknowledge what the end user's expectations are.
Requirements Elicitation
The key point to remember about understanding user requirements is that you're unlikely to get them spot on first time. This means that a consistent stream of communication throughout the design process is paramount to getting as close to their expectations as possible. Talking to the users, recording what they say and trying to pin down exactly what they mean is the only sure-fire way to meet their needs.
It's also important to bear in mind that the people you're designing for are not necessarily privy to the kind of 'developer speak' you might be comfortable using. This is where the production of graphical diagrams or descriptive case studies can be effectively used to portray how you see the project going. Navigational flowcharts, example site maps and perhaps data flow diagrams for eCommerce solutions are all good ways of presenting complex info without bewildering others with technical jargon.
Similarly, there's no reason why a shared direction for the way visual elements are going can't be achieved with page mock ups. Flat digital drawings of possible template designs can be put forward and scrutinised, before a period of prototyping more sophisticated page elements, interfaces and navigational structures gets under way.
Professional Help
if you're not overly keen on conducting widespread usability studies yourself, or perhaps realise that it isn't viable, you can always rely on the services of others.
Professional consultancies or specialist agencies are common, and offer a range of complete solutions that span all the major processes. Usually they will also give your site a preliminary evaluation to ascertain whether it really requires the full usability treatment, and how best to pursue everything. it then really comes down to identifying what needs and goals are motivating the Web site, or establishing what it's expected to achieve. This can lead to a detailed analysis of what the target demographic will be, so a cross section of the audience group can be studied.
A sample of 'typical users' will usually be asked to attend testing sessions that will observe participants as they experience the site. This can range from simply asking them to navigate through the content freely for a certain length of time, to setting them certain tasks and scenarios.
While encouraged to 'think aloud' at all times, their feedback is monitored and recorded either by sophisticated tracking software or by video. Designers are encouraged to sit in on the sessions and hear how users perceive the site, and perhaps whatever improvements they might suggest. At the finish, all participants are asked to submit their overall impressions of the site during thorough interview sessions. All the findings are then compiled into detailed reports that will form the foundation of any future design revisions and new projects that arise from the findings.
Conducting User Surveys
When rounding together a sample of your users isn't a realistic option, there are other ways of getting feedback. Many sites will include email addresses or contact forms so visitors can submit their thoughts, but this doesn't ensure that you'll receive the kind of valuable response you want. it can be more useful to provide electronic questionnaires that will gauge user opinion more effectively.
Using a specialist program will allow you to publish sophisticated interactive surveys quickly and easily. The benefit here is that the results can be logged to a server before a more detailed statistical analysis can be processed and interpreted when administering any practical improvements. There are some off the shelf software solutions that will perform remote evaluations of user actions as they happen in real time. This kind of approach must be made clearly known to visitors before they participate, as tracking their behaviours covertly would compromise areas of the data protection act, and certainly result in mistrust if it were discovered.
However, some interesting data pertaining to areas of the site or the actual interface would be revealed from the way different people approach the content. Just by tracking link paths or cursor activity, you would be able to ascertain how navigation was perceived, and perhaps how effective the visual signposts such as menus, buttons, and anchors are at directing the actions of your audience.
This provides one of the truest pictures of user perception, because the subject is likely to behave as they naturally would when casually surfing the Web. When under more strict 'lab' conditions they may feel pressured by the environment or the presence of an examiner, or feel conscious of the time they are taking to perform. It would also have an adverse effect if they expected to use hardware, peripherals, operating systems or browsing software that they may not be acquainted with.
By making judgments on how typical visitors interact the site in their own homes of workplaces, it will help to differentiate how the novice or experienced user fares without any disruptions.
Magnetic Code website design favours clean code, usability and accessibility in all its designs. ExpertFound.com is in their portfolio, and includes this Fat Loss 4 Idiots review and this review of Paid Surveys Etc
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/Wednesday, August 6, 2008
7 Simple Steps For Choosing A Great Web Host
There are thousands of web hosts around today with thousands of plans to choose from making what was once a simple procedure seem like a daunting task for both newbie and pro alike.
Whether you're looking for your first host or looking to move on to a better one there are 7 simple steps you must follow to succeed in choosing a great host.
1. Platform
The first and most crucial step in choosing a web host is determining the platform the web server should run, usually a choice between Unix/Linux and Windows.
Your choice is largely determined by your website and the technologies used to create it, generally a website created with Microsoft technologies (ASP, VB) will run on Windows servers while most other sites using open source technologies (PHP, Perl, Python etc) will run on Linux based systems.
2. Features
Once you've chosen your platform the next step is determining the features you'll need from your web host. Take your time with this step as the feature lists of web hosts are getting longer and longer every day and while some plans may look similar on the surface, a good look at the feature lists may tell another story.
Only you can determine the specific features you'll need, but some key things to keep an eye on are:- Disk Space
- Bandwidth
- Backups
- Uptime
- Money Back Guarantee
- Domains Allowed
- Databases (Number & type)
- CGI, PHP, Perl, Python, SSI
- Cron
- Email accounts
3. Cost
Often this is the only thing people consider when choosing their first web host, funds are usually tight and on the surface most hosts look very similar. Sometimes you get lucky and choose a good host, but more often than not it turns out to be a horror story.
I can't stress enough that choosing a web host based on price alone is asking for trouble, remember that the cost of your web hosting is more than just the monthly fee, think about the total cost of ownership. TCO includes lost sales due to downtime & slow speeds, downtime rebates, extra bandwidth charges, setup costs, extra feature costs, and your monthly fee.
Many hosts will require you to pay yearly to get the best price available though there are some that allow you to pay by the month and still get the best price, it's really a matter of personal choice as to what payment method works best for you.
4. Customer Service
Customer service is another aspect that is often forgotten about until it is too late, something breaks and you need it fixed and those wonderfully handy sales people who were more than helpful in taking your money are now nowhere to be seen, all the while you're losing out on sales every minute.
You shouldn't settle for anything less than 24/7/365 service, your website needs to be running all the time so it's no good if your hosting company doesn't work during the holidays. Don't take the web hosting companies word for it, they all claim 24/7 support but few back it up with consistent performance. Be sure to test them out at various times of the day and night via phone, email and live chat if they offer it.
5. Support
An extensive knowledge base or faq can be a real time saver as well as being an indication of the level of customer service support and expertise you can expect to receive. Spend some time browsing the support sections of the website and see for yourself the level of support provided.
Are questions in the knowledge base answered thoroughly? Are real solutions provided or are they just “cut and paste†replies?
6. Longevity
Do a whois on the web host's domain name and find out the creation date, anything less than a year ago and the risk that they won't be around next year increases. They could be a great host, but considering more then 95% of new hosts go out of business within a year that really isn't something you should be taking a chance on.
7. Uptime
It's a fact of life that a web host cannot be online 100% of the time, servers need to be rebooted for security and software updates and any web host that doesn't get updated faces the increased risk of being successfully hacked.
99.9% uptime guarantees are pretty standard in the industry however a guarantee is only as good as how it is defined and the company behind it. Look for no less than a full months free hosting should they not meet their guarantee, a prorated refund based on the amount of downtime is virtually worthless. Say you pay $10 for a month of hosting and your site is down for 24 hours. They will refund you for one day of downtime which ends up being about 33 cents.
There you go, 7 simple steps for choosing a great web host. It's not rocket science, just a little research and investigating that can save a lot of heartache in the future.
About The Author:
Kyle Tully is the Founder of Web Host Critique - http://www.webhostcritique.org
Source : http://www.selfseo.com/Flash Website Designs - To Flash or Not To Flash
What you see above is known as Flash animation. It is a design element developed by Macromedia Inc. (now owned by Adobe, Inc.) as an alternative method of bringing motion to static websites. Prior to the development of Flash, the only way to do that was using animated GIF files which were the equivalent of how old-time cartoons were made. A series of frames grouped together and displayed in sequence where each frame has a slight change to the subject. Because animated GIFs were comprised of a series of individual frames, the end result would always be a very large file size that took forever to download unless the dimension of the animation was very small and limited to just a few frames.
Flash changed all that and made it possible to create larger animations that incorporated more detail and more style while still maintaining a relatively low file size for downloading over regular dial up connections. That was many years ago.
To view Flash animation, your computer must have a special plugin or program installed on it called the Flash Player. When it was first developed everybody had to go to Macromedia's website and download the player. Nowadays it is already installed on your computer when you buy it.
Read More Article...Monday, August 4, 2008
20 colour tips for website design
Choosing the right colours when designing a website is something that requires a lot of patience and experimentation, and – ideally – a minimum of guesswork.
Thankfully there are some useful rules of thumb to follow when it comes to working with colours, as well as some truly excellent sources of inspiration out there to help you make the right colour choices for your brand, website, and audience.
Let's start off by considering why colour matters, then I’ll list 20 colour recommendations for web professionals, followed by some pointers to my favourite tools at the end of this article.
Why is colour so important?
Psychologists have for many years studied the effects of colour on the brain / emotions. There don't seem to be any absolutes truths here. People’s perception of colour is largely subjective so I don’t think we can be too instructive in this area. Red doesn’t always mean danger, and blue doesn’t always mean calm.
Yellow is pretty much bi-polar, as far as I can tell. Somebody I used to work with once told me that it was ‘the colour of suicide’ and steadfastly refused to have our office painted yellow. Yet it is also said that yellow conveys optimism, confidence and emotional strength. So which is it?
Read More Article...Sunday, August 3, 2008
Web sites give small businesses needed exposure
When prospective entrepreneurs ask small-business consultant John Maynard whether they should develop a Web site for their planned enterprises, Maynard responds with a question of his own.
"When ... they ask me that, I (ask) them if they would consider operating a business without a telephone," said Maynard, who serves as the director of program development with the Small Business Development Center in Athens.
Sarah Van Ophuijsen, a Web services project manager for Digital Insight in Athens, reinforced Maynard's observation.
"There is an entire generation of people that will never pick up the Yellow Pages," she said. "When I sit at my desk to make plans for lunch, I use instant messaging with my friends about where to go, and I need to be able to go online to pick a restaurant's menu and link my friends to that."
Setting up a Web site for a small business, whether for a restaurant, retailer or service company, is a crucial aspect of promotion for a small venture, Maynard said.
Read More Article...Saturday, August 2, 2008
Amazon Mechanical Turk Launches New Web-Based Tools That Bring the Power of an On-Demand Workforce to Businesses Worldwide
Amazon Web Services LLC ("AWS"), a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), today launched a new set of web-based tools for Amazon Mechanical Turk that make it easy for businesses to use Mechanical Turk to outsource work to an on-demand, scalable workforce via a simple graphical interface--in just a few minutes and without writing any code. The new web-based interface guides business users through the process of designing Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs), publishing up to hundreds of thousands of HITs simultaneously, monitoring worker activity, and retrieving work results. Previously, businesses without software development expertise or who didn't have software development resources to spare either needed to individually enter and retrieve each HIT (which was time-consuming) or could not leverage Mechanical Turk for the thousands of tasks they needed done. These new web-based tools are now available in addition to the existing set of APIs software developers have been using to integrate Mechanical Turk into their applications. Businesses can take advantage of these new tools by visiting http://www.mturk.com.
"Until today many businesses were unable to take advantage of Mechanical Turk's on-demand, scalable workforce because they did not have programming skills or their developer resources were committed elsewhere. With these new web-based tools, any business, in just a few minutes, can submit work that requires human intelligence to a workforce of hundreds of thousands workers from over one hundred countries," said Sharon Chiarella, Vice President of Amazon Mechanical Turk. "This is an opportunity for businesses to get important work done quickly, inexpensively, and with quality."
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- Try out CSS Styles - Have fun with CSS styles to get some cool text effects. Again, a CSS Style is simple HTML code so it loads very fast. You can create cool rollovers using CSS Styles.