Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

Make Your Site Grow With The Times

How do you ensure the continuous flow of sales and other positive aspects that your site gives you? Go on with your usual distribution and promotion of your print ads. As with these prints, your site should be updated in order to have people coming back for recent information. It would be a waste of time and a disappointment for them to go to your site to see the latest and get the read the sam. . .

Get To Know Your Clipart

Before the inventions of the more modern graphic designs, pictures and animations, everybody loves using clipart. Why clipart? They can quite convenient up to now. They are already there ready whenever you need them in your prints. All you have to do is click on them and copy paste. Along with this, there are cd-roms offering thousands of clipart to choose from. Different assortments and accord. . .

Photocopying or Printing?

There was a time when photocopying is something you do not consider an option for your printing materials. That you would rather have them printed and spend more money in order to have a presentable print result. It cannot be denied though that copiers are getting more sophisticated and going digital as time goes on. This development is indeed creating a thin line between photocopying and print. . .

Using Robots.txt Files To Feed The Spiderbots

It's a Thursday evening. You are looking at your website logs to determine where your hits are coming from. You notice you are getting a ton of 404 errors records for a robots.txt file.You might not even know what a robots.txt file is, let alone why it is missing from your website. Let take a look at this mysterious file that seems to be missing and why it's important to have it.Search engines . . .

Ways Not To Look Like An Amateur

Nothing can compare to the proud feeling you get when you see your own design, with your signature, on print. These would be for the trying-hard-to-be-good-designers point of view, anyway.If you are one of these beginners, chances are you would be committing mistakes on the process of making your design. But do not fret! These are common mistakes that others like you have gone through also. As . . .

Let Your Brochures Do The Work For You

Brochures are not created just to have your company or business displayed. Like other print jobs, they have a deeper intent that is in favor of you. By giving people your brochures; you display what you have to make them want to have them themselves. If they get it, you get yours. That is, in terms of sales and not to mention, money. Your brochures should have the proper presentation that can m. . .

The Critical Importance of Good Web Graphics to Internet ...

There’s an old saying: ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, but this hardly applies to the science of designing web graphics. Everybody judges web sites by their ‘cover’ or home page, have no doubt. Is your site giving out a professional, visual aura, or is it telling visitors that you built it yourself, because of bad design?Ask yourself: Of the many thousands of web pages trying to sell you so. . .

Why Choose A Professional Web Designer?

It seems that almost every Tom Dick and Harry do web design in one form or another. Everyone seems to know a friends' brother's son who can build websites for real cheap. Why choose to pay the sometimes high fees that web designers charge?There's a right way to build websites and there's a wrong way to build them.There are a number of considerations when building a website. The first is that th. . .

3 Essential Tools Every Website Designer and Marketer Needs

Appealing to others is really important when you have a web page. This is because you will not have any personal contact with visitors and cannot persuade them to buy from you or come into your store, not personally that is. Your web page is your medium for persuasion so you need to put as much thought and effort into the design of your website and how it will appeal to potential customers as y. . .

10 Sensible Steps To Take Before Choosing Your Domain Name

With such a huge growth in the number of websites and the resulting difficulty in finding an available domain name, it is tempting to grab the first one that sounds like it might do the trick. However, a small amount of homework will pay big dividends – follow the ten steps below to obtain the optimal domain:1. AVAILABILITYIf it’s not available you can’t have it – simple!2. COPYRIGHTEnsure that. . .

Design Myths

It is said that in designing, there are certain rules that these designers have to know. These rules were designed to be followed but not necessarily at all times. Sometimes the need arises for them to break them. But it is always best to know them first before breaking them. Knowing the rules would be useful when the time comes when you are questioned why you broke them in the first place.Neve. . .

The Best Of The Best In Postcards

There are some learning in life that people have to go through with in order to learn the lessons that come with it. This may sound dramatic but it really helps people in getting things right and knowing the best of the best.This is also true in printing. People getting printing materials that tend to be informational or is into marketing certain products and services are clearly becoming an ex. . .

Shifting to Digital

If you ever get to see photos that were not done digitally, you would begin to wonder why it isn’t so. With digital cameras now being used everyday, photography has been taken to another level. Digital cameras have just begun its reign in the printing industry for some years. But digital has been used in the printing industry for quite sometime. Many processing laboratories have been printing d. . .

7 Reasons Why Using CSS is a Must

CSS is a new option for website designers that have been using HTML and tables for most of their web designing careers. Of course, it is a huge change and requires learning a new language and skill, however most people are saying CSS is worth it and it will give you more control, options, and is easier to edit. Consider the following 7 reasons why using CSS is a must and see if it convinces you. . .

7 Tips for Choosing the Right Blog Software for Your New ...

Choosing the right blog software for your new blog requires that you ask yourself some questions and make a list of all of the features and tools you need as well as your budget. Once you have this information written down you will be prepared to start shopping for blog software. However, keep in mind the following seven tips for choosing the best software for you.Tip #1 Ping UpdatesThese allow. . .

10 Website Blunders Guaranteed to Send Your Visitors Else...

When you build your website you need to have a plan first. The reason for this is if you do not have a plan you will likely make mistakes, forget to include information, and overall have an unorganized and not a well thought out page. While you might read the page and completely understand everything, remember that your website visitor did not design the page and needs a little more direction. . . .

7 Key Ingredients for Rock Solid Website Hosting

Every website needs a great web host, however when you are looking online for a host you may be overwhelmed with the wide variety available ranging from absolutely free to relatively expensive. How do you know what you need and what is the best choice? The answer to this depends on your business and whether you will have a lot of business or none at all, however you always want to have more spa. . .

Design Your Own Website - My Easy Five Step Formula For C...

For me to demonstrate this, I will lead off with a little story, dating back a couple years.Two years ago, when I first started online, my biggest nightmare was trying to figure out what program to use to build my websites, and which hosting company to house my web pages at.I was always chasing the fast highway to riches. Finally, I could see why they call it the Internet Highway, I was on a hi. . .

3 Website Positioning Tactics Guaranteed to Boost Your Tr...

There are many tactics you can use to increase traffic to your website. However, three particularly effective suggestions include search engine optimization, keyword articles, and trading links with other web pages. When you incorporate these three strategies into your overall Web site strategy you will be sure to increase your traffic. Tip #1 Search Engines and OptimizationYou need to be sure . . .

5 Powerful Ways to Make Money Online with a Website

There are many ways to make money online and the best way for you is to simply be creative with your skills, knowledge, and abilities. However, the following five options are powerful ways to make money online with a website and definite something you should consider. #1 KnowledgeYou can always sell your knowledge, which many times is the best way if you are an “expert” of any type or subject m. . .

A Pretty Site Equates to Fewer Sales – Is it a Fact or a ...

One that is pretty is very tempting. Thus, a book with fabulous cover and catchy title will likely to generate more sales, the same way that the dish with luscious presentation and extra-ordinary garnishing will be the first to be tasted. The product with captivating packaging will be the first to be reached out from its shelf and a website with arresting layout and design will be the first to . . .

Sitemaps 101 - Back To SEO School

Sitemaps are without doubt one of the most often ignored and undervalued aspects of search engine optimization. You've probably spent a huge amount of time working on pages of original content, keyword density and getting incoming links but never once spared a thought for a sitemap for your new creation.What is a sitemap?Put simply it's a page or pages that contain a list of and link to all the. . .

Web Site Optimization: How to Optimize PDF Files for Web ...

Portable Document Format (PDF) is the defacto file format for presenting device-independent documents on and off the Web. While PDFs have become quite popular on the Web, many PDFs used in web sites are designed for high quality print output and are not optimized for the Web. Even PDFs designed for Web use can have a wait problem, weighed down with excess fonts, change histories, and unoptimize. . .

Cheap Web Hosting – Choose The Right Company

You have carried out the hard part and that’s creating the web site. The next step is to get it hosted as to allow the public find your site. So why do so many first time web host seekers fall into the trap of a bad web host company? Well there are a number of factors to consider and none bigger than the price. We all want cheap web hosting but unfortunately price is not always what you should . . .

When Your Graphic Designer Costs You Money…

So how do you know when your graphic designer costs you financially and emotionally? When a file is not prepared correctly… When you go to press and have your media material produced in prints, and find out that the file was built incorrectly, then that's the time when your graphic designer will cost you money.Many pre-press operators have complained about having to correct graphic designers wo. . .

Content Management Systems (CMS): What They Are And Why W...

There is a buzz in the online community about a technology that empowers the average computer user with the ability to create and maintain their very own web presence. In the past, individuals who took interest in having and operating their own websites were burdened with the task of learning HTML, DHTML, and other web-based technologies such as JavaScript and CSS. The only alternative to this . . .

Mastering Regular Expressions in PHP

What are Regular Expressions?A regular expression is a pattern that can match various text strings. Using regular expressions you can find (and replace) certain text patterns, for example "all the words that begin with the letter A" or "find only telephone numbers". Regular expressions are often used in validation classes, because they are a really powerful tool to verify e-mail addresses, tele. . .

A Great Banner Only Needs Simple Things…

To create your own great banner, you only need five (5) simple things:1. Size according to standards. Always keep to the standards. Having a bold, huge banner would look good and attract more attention than any graphic design ever would. Nevertheless, if everybody is doing it, what would be different about you then? As one designer have said: "I know that if your ad is slightly larger it may ge. . .

Tell me what your website does!

You know exactly what your organisation does and what your website offers its users. This information has probably become second nature to you, but first-time visitors to your site won't know this. As such, make sure you don't forget to tell them what you do.As soon as new site visitors arrive at your website the first thing they need to know, before anything else, is what you do. You can talk . . .

Your Website Hurts My Eyes: 7 Reasons to Tone Down Your A...

So you're on the computer, as usual. Your eyes are smarting. Your back hurts. You want to jump in the car and sail down the highway with all the windows down and your hair flapping in the wind. But before you call it quits for the day, you have to look up just one more thing. Maybe it's web marketing, maybe you want to buy some artwork to hang in your office. Off to Google you go.You type in th. . .

How You Pay More for Unused Web Space and Traffic

"2GB web space with 50GB traffic for $5.95 per month!" A luring ad—definitely. In fact this ad makes many small business owners feel cheated by their present web hosts. This is how the small business owners, who have taken small amount of space (say, 5, 10 or 25mb) calculate and feel that they are paying more : "If 2000MB (2GB) costs $5.95 per month, then 5MB should cost (5.95 x 5 / 2000) = $. . .

Writing Effective ALT Text For Images

Anyone who knows anything about web accessibility knows that images need alternative, or ALT, text assigned to them. This is because screen readers can't understand images, but rather read aloud the alternative text assigned to them. In Internet Explorer we can see this ALT text, simply by mousing over the image and looking at the yellow tooltip that appears. Other browsers (correctly) don't do. . .

Create and Deploy a Website From Start To Finish!

Need a website for small business, church, sports team, or community but don’t know where to start? Don’t have the time or maybe even the knowledge on how to build and or publish a website? Well let me say it’s really know big deal. I will try to give you the basics to get started. Ok let’s get to it. Here are some steps you can follow in no particular order.-Step one, create some pages.You pro. . .

You, too can Have Fun with Sepia Images!

If you are one of those who wonder how people come up with the cool looking sepia tone prints that you admire so much. If you are doubling up with jealousy over a sepia tone, here, we will give you tips on how you could achieve this sepia tone, too. Ready up your Photoshop software program, your PC and prepare to have fun with sepia! It’s time that they envy you, too. First of all it is importa. . .

A Crash Course on Graphic Philosophy 101

Novice and professional graphic designers, we are aware that you know the basic principles of graphic philosophy. But then, as workers of art – though digital and graphic art already borders in commercial arts, there’s no harm in continuously improving our craft through constant study and practice, is there? Really great graphic designers I know have come to their status because of painstaking . . .

Review: Swish

Are you in a busy office and need to get web design jobs with complex text effects done immediately? Want to speed up your productivity but avoid working until Saturday afternoons breaking up text and hand tweening? Then, SWiSH, the new standalone tool that creates great font effects and more by David Mitchie, presented during the Flash Forward 2000 conference, is for you!. So what’s new with S. . .

Tools of the Trade: Photo Editing

With digital cameras becoming a hit not only to professional photographers, it is understandable that creations of digital image files are also increasing. It is actually the magic of being able to manipulate your photos – edit and organize them and make certain special effects that digital image files become interesting and essential. In order to keep in line with the best and easiest ways of . . .

The Modern Day Search Engine

The first task most netizens do when they log on to the internet is to visit their favorite search engine to find information on various topics. Over the past few years the search engine has evolved to do more than list available websites on an entered subject. The modern day search engine has tools to help the user accomplish a vast array of everyday task.Search engine is a common term to desc. . .

What’s a Design Dinosaur

Are you fond of applying and scrambling old and new design clichés in one helpless web page? Are you one of the thousands not yet enlightened that ‘too much of a good thing is bad’? Are you too engrossed in improvising other designs and not coming up with your own? Being a design dinosaur is a common sickness among designers who tend to be exposed and awed in latest design clichés coming out an. . .

Blogging Advice - Give Your Readers What They Want

Web gives a lot of exposure; weblog stabilizes the exposure with a profound purpose. The purpose of a Weblog is to complement e-newsletters, serving readers in a way that extends a blogger's expertise and leadership in the market. So, what is it that is expected from a blog? A blog is considered to be a place to inform and to be informed. Straight talk is what readers consider to be an ideal bl. . .

Make Your E-Commerce Website More Than An Electronic Catalog

Everyday thousands of people are purchasing products on-line from the comfort of their homes. This “arm chair” shopping has become the most popular way for thousands and thousands of consumers to purchase everything from vitamins to luxury automobiles. The Internet is the greatest marketing opportunity ever. If you do not have your business on-line, you are missing a golden opportunity to reac. . .

Set up Your Online Portfolio

Planning to set up your very own online portfolio? Very well, then you have to know first what’s an online portfolio and its uses. Of course, you also have to know how to take lay out you portfolio online in order to take advantage of it more. Online portfolios are collections of pictures and information about individuals or companies which are posted in the web. These portfolios are a showcase. . .

The Psychology of Color in Web Design

Persons engaged in website design, here’s a scoop for you! Would you just like to know that by understanding the basics of cognitive psychology around color and patterns, we could further improve our Web design! Designing a Web site does not only concentrate on making web pages of a certain site interesting and impressive. This skill and talent must also be used to ensure the user-friendliness. . .

How To Write Web Articles

Since online articles can be an additional source of contract leads, it is important that you write them in such a way that they are "web friendly"-and thus more accessible to your readers. This is especially important for articles you published previously in magazines, journals or other print media. While long paragraphs are visually acceptable in print magazines, they are a bane to Web users.. . .

Winning Words for the Web

Give Your Web Site The Verbal AdvantageHave you ever sat down to create that winning ad, publicity release or newsletter and couldn't come up with the right words or phrases? You will never make your fortune until you cure this dialog dilemma. You must enlarge your powers of expression, acquire precision and persuasion. You need a powerhouse of color, flavor and tone to highlight your message. . . .

Understand Your Color

Any design on a web application involves the effective input of color scheme in order to impress web surfers, instill a certain image or identity associated with the kind of web site it represents, and add impact to the web pages. However, very few possess the talent and skill of developing a harmonious color scheme. There are even very talented Web programmers who can develop just about any k. . .

The New Google Ad Links

You know about Google Adsense, now it's Google Ad Links for Google Adsense publishers. [ For who do not yet know what Google Adsense is : "Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant, unobtrusive Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money," — says Google. To open a Google Adsense account, please visit: https://www.google.com/adse. . .

How to Create an Enjoyable Web Page Design

Novice and professional designers alike – you may probably be skilled enough of any one or all of the techniques in creating a Web page and designing them. However, not all designs, even those made by authorities in the field, prove to be enjoyable and entertaining enough for the users. This is a fact that we hope does not irk some of our design enthusiasts and discourage them from honing their. . .

On Copying and Stealing Designs

The notion on the great artist, Pablo Picasso’s quote, "Bad artists copy. Good artists steal" is lost on many. And revolving around the graphic designer circles is the quote “Good artists copy, great artists steal” known as Picasso’s quote, still. Anyway, it might just be safe to assume that Picasso have not quoted this words exactly but he did have an “expert’s assessment and statement” regar. . .

Search Engines And Your Website

You've built a great website for your business and are waiting for the visitors to come. Your return on investment research shows that if you get X number of visitors to your site this will lead to Y new clients or sales. You put the garage on standby to deliver your dream car.You wait and wait and wait…. Some visitors do come to your site but only in small numbers. The feedback is positive fro. . .