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A blog full of graphic design and web resources, tutorials, reviews, and more!


Learning to listen and fill a need.

Posted on 8th December, by Anne in Succeeding, Web. No Comments

This week I launched my very first for-sale product that I built from the grounds up, all by myself.

It turns out that you need to pull together a few skills to pull off a product launch! And I don’t think I even did everything I should have.

Yet, even in my amateur state of being a true “sales person” for myself, I’ve managed to make sales in my first week.

You must listen.

The plugin I just launched is a very, very niche product. It’s not going to let me retire, and in fact will probably not even cover half of my bills.

However, it’s something that people have asked me for repetitively over the last couple of years.

I wrote a simple tutorial on how I hacked together a WordPress Dictionary, and people just wanted me … Read More »



Using Your Small Business for Personal Growth

Posted on 1st December, by Anne in Web. No Comments

I’m not really sure whether it’s acceptable to suggest that you use your small business for personal growth, but I’m going to say it now.

Figure out how to use your small business for personal growth.

I’ve had a hard time sleeping at night because I have so many wonderful and exciting ideas flying through my head, and I think you can shift your burnt out feeling to that same excitement if only you learn how.

The Holidays are about the spirit of things.

This is about getting in the right mindset and being happy with what you’re doing. I believe it’s possible to get excited and channel that into your small business for genuine happiness and success.

Watch the video to learn more about what’s been working for me:



Stuff your small business customers!

Posted on 25th November, by Anne in Web. No Comments

Okay, I admit it.

As much as I have personally felt happier and more productive this week on products I’m working really hard on for you, I’ve felt distracted when it comes to creating free content that will make you and your business rock stars right now.

Also, it’s the holidays, which sneaks up on me like nothing else. I’ll be minding my own business, when all of a sudden everyone is in a flurry because tomorrow (or today) is ________ holiday! My birthday does that to me too.

Which makes me realize I focus on topical, seasonal posts like 49 reasons your small business should be saying thank you to its customers.

Thanksgiving is delicious!

If you celebrate Thanksgiving and you’re anything like me, you went into a food coma from eating so much delicious … Read More »



49 Reasons To Say Thank You in Small Business

Posted on 17th November, by Anne in Web. No Comments

In a week from today, it’s going to Thanksgiving. It only seemed appropriate to help you realize how many ways being thankful is beneficial to both you and your small business.



I Just Fired My Boss …And I’m Introducing Small Business Chats

Posted on 10th November, by Anne in Announcements. No Comments

You read the title right – I fired my boss. Whether I just became jobless or self-employed now rests in your hands (not asking for money – all I need is for you to participate!)



Does anticipation kill all potential? #VIDEO

Posted on 4th November, by Anne in Web Tips Video. No Comments

Web Tip #2

This is Web Tip #2 for the Small Business Web Tips archives.

In your small business, you may realize that there’s a lot on your to learn list and a lot on your wish list of things that you could handle without hiring out a lot of help. You just don’t have money to fund that.

So, what is stopping you? Your anticipation.

As one of my biggest inspirations Seth Godin says:
“Go. Make something happen.”

Can’t see the video? Watch by clicking here.

This is some of the best small business advice I have to offer.

S8EFPJ7534R9



Obsessive Learning for Small Business

Posted on 3rd November, by Anne in Web. No Comments

Ever wonder what the secret is to being able to handle any situation? This is my secret sauce.



The Power of KISSing Your Business #VIDEO

Posted on 28th October, by Anne in Web Tips Video. No Comments

Welcome to the first Web Tips video, ever! Learn about why you should be KISSing your website every day.



3 Easy Steps To Getting “Social” In Social Media

Posted on 27th October, by Anne in Social Media. 1 Comment

Enough with the excuses. Social media is not hard to get into. Just do it!



It’s all been said before. Nothing is original.

Posted on 25th October, by Anne in Web. No Comments

It’s all been said before. Nothing is original. Wait a minute…



How to maintain a database for a dynamic site.

Posted on 20th October, by Anne in Website Maintenance Guide for Business Owners. No Comments

Some people don’t even know they have a database, let alone know how to go about optimizing it!



Must have tools for scheduling website maintenance.

Posted on 18th October, by Anne in Website Maintenance Guide for Business Owners. No Comments

What are the absolute essentials for scheduling maintenance for your website?



Imitation is powerful but limiting. Adapt to thrive.

Posted on 11th October, by Anne in Web. No Comments

Imitation is a great tool, but do you know how to take something and make it your own?



Discovering website maintenance schedules.

Posted on 6th October, by Anne in Website Maintenance Guide for Business Owners. No Comments

It’s time to start discovering what it takes to schedule website maintenance.



Method over madness.

Posted on 4th October, by Anne in Web. No Comments

Why are we so focused on all the trending tools instead of concerning ourselves with the methods behind how we use them?



This is exactly how to improve your website.

Posted on 29th September, by Anne in Website Maintenance Guide for Business Owners. No Comments

This post contains the (not so) magic trick to fixing everything about your website. Care to find out? Read on!



Why getting naked at work is the best policy.

Posted on 27th September, by Anne in Web. No Comments

You’ve heard of working at home in your pajamas, but no one really talks about doing it in the nude. That’s just weird.



Your website is too confusing. Let’s fix it.

Posted on 22nd September, by Anne in Website Maintenance Guide for Business Owners. No Comments

Figure out exactly what makes your website too confusing.



Bite sized web tips for small business owners.

Posted on 20th September, by Anne in Web Tips Video. No Comments

Have you every wished you could just sit down and learn a simple concept about the web in a short video? Your wish just came true.



Getting started with website maintenance.

Posted on 15th September, by Anne in Guide, Website Maintenance Guide for Business Owners. No Comments

Let’s talk about your website and how you maintain it. What areas do you need to maintain? Get started by working on your content.



When to invest in a paid theme for a website?

Posted on 13th September, by Anne in Round Ups, Web. No Comments

It can be tricky to decide when it’s time to plunk down some hard, cold cash (or plastic) for a design. This will walk you through your design options so you can make an educated decision.



Website Emergency Survival Plan

Posted on 9th September, by Anne in Web. No Comments

What do you do when the power goes out on your website? What happens when things go wrong with your site? Do you have a backup plan?



Your website sucks because you don’t maintain it.

Posted on 8th September, by Anne in Announcements, Guide. No Comments

Do you think it’s a good strategy to just put up your website the way it is and hope for the best? If you do, then you better read this – RIGHT NOW.



How much a website actually costs.

Posted on 6th September, by Anne in Web. No Comments

It doesn’t take much to get a professional website up and running. How much exactly, you ask? Less than you think – click through to find out.



Beginning SEO: the Essential Link Round-up

Posted on 1st September, by Anne in Round Ups. 2 Comments

Just getting started with SEO? Tired of sorting through ridiculously long lists of links? Here is the essentials-only list of articles and tools to get you going.



Reader Highlight: Loren Wade of Zionic Life

Posted on 30th August, by Anne in Blogging, Interviews, Succeeding. No Comments

Loren Wade is starting out, just like you. Learn how he’s making things work and join the discussion around how to get started!



The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

Have you ever started reading a How To guide for websites, only to discover that you feel like you’re reading a foreign language? This is for you.



6 Tips to Conquer the Fear of Permanent Content

Posted on 18th August, by Anne in Blogging. No Comments

Ever felt hesitation to start a blog because you’re afraid of posting something you’ll regret? Then read on, my friend. These tips will help you learn to overcome that fear.



Why Paid Advertising Isn’t Worth Your Money

Paid advertising isn’t worth your time. Okay, perhaps I’m exaggerating. Paid advertising has its place – but as far as I’m concerned, it has no place in your beginning marketing efforts.



Launching: Small business web tips newsletter (with free download)

Posted on 15th August, by Anne in Web. No Comments

Today I would like to introduce my email newsletter titled Small Business Web Tips.

Why do you care?

Free Where Do I Start? Worksheet is sent to you the day after you subscribe
Extra strategies, downloads and tips will be sent in the newsletter
I will only be sending great content that you will be excited to read
Doubly special downloads and special treats will be sent to members on my list who give the most interaction (read the emails, click the links, and take action on the missions I’ll be sending you)

This newsletter is great for anyone who wants to be awesome and do really well online.

Go sign up and get small business web tips with your free worksheet!



How to Make a Website From Scratch (MP3 & PDF)

Posted on 13th August, by Anne in Guide, Store. No Comments

Learn the way that websites work (and how to put one together).

If you just can’t get your head around the technical aspect, but you really need to get one online – this is the answer.

Buy Now

The number one question I receive from people is “how do I get my website set up?”

Even a quick search on Twitter shows the dire need for an answer:

Finally, an answer to the question “How do I make a website?”

I have put together the ultimate beginner’s guide to understanding how websites work and how to get one up and running in under 20 minutes.

This includes a 17 minute long MP3 and a PDF guide in which I walk you through:

Understanding how websites work
Explaining how the elements of a website come together
Understanding what open-source is
Step-by-step … Read More »



How to Use Social Media for Small Business Marketing

Part Eight of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

You have come a long way! In our series you learned: why websites are important, how to plan for a website, how much websites cost, whether you should build your own website and what a successful website is made of. You also learned how to make your website search engine friendly, how to write powerful content for the web and how you can use a blog for marketing. Today you’re going to learn how to use social media for small business marketing.

Here’s a brief look at what we’re looking at today and how to use social media for your small business marketing plan: 

Back to basics: What is social media?
Why the big players of social media don’t matter
Social media marketing is relationship marketing
How to write content for social media
Keeping social media … Read More »



How to Use a Blog for Small Business Website Marketing

Part Seven of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

We’ve reached the final leg of the Small Business Website Guide: learning how to market your new small business website. We’ve come a long way – you now know how to think about a website, how to prepare for one, how to handle the creation process and finally, how to prepare for search engines to show you off just right.

Are you ready for the last stretch?

Here is a quick look at Part Seven, which covers how to use a blog for your small business marketing strategy:

Back to basics: What is a blog?
The pitfalls of having a blog
Blogs are great for search engine optimization
Blogs are great for growing traffic
Blogs are great for building community
Blogs are great for giving you focus
Blogs are great for driving conversions
You are stupid to not even try having … Read More »



6 Lessons To Powerful Content For The Web and Small Business SEO.

Part Six of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

Welcome to part 6 of the Small Business Website Guide. In the past we’ve reviewed why websites are important for your small business and how you can plan for a great website. We’ve talked about what you should do on your own and when to hire a designer. You’ve also learned what a successful site consists of and how to get started in keyword research. Today you’re going to learn the essentials of how to write content which is both visitor friendly and search engine friendly!

Here’s an overview of today’s lessons in writing search engine friendly content for small business web:

Lesson 1: Users don’t read
Lesson 2: Think like a searcher
Lesson 3: Simplify
Lesson 4: Simplify
Lesson 5: Would you read it?
Lesson 6: Writing 101

Lesson 1: You don’t read the web, and neither does … Read More »



Keyword Research: How to get started with small business SEO (for free).

Part Five of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

This is the fifth installment from the Small Business Website Guide series. Here we’ve covered why websites are important for small business, how to plan for the best website ever, and whether you should hire a designer (or do it yourself). We’ve also talked about what a successful site is made of. Today we’ll be going over the intro to small business search optimization: researching keywords.

Here’s an overview of today’s crash course in small business SEO, how to research search engine optimization keywords for your small business (free!):

What is search engine optimization?
Reviewing the target audience
Reviewing the purpose of your website
Using free tools to research beneficial keywords
What to do with your keywords

What is search engine optimization? How can I use it for my small business?

That is a great question! You may … Read More »



Successful website design for small business as shown in Back to the Future.

Part Four of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

This is the fourth episode from the Small Business Website Guide series. The series talks about why websites are important, how to plan for a website, whether you should hire a designer (or do it yourself) – and today we’ll be talking about what a successful website is made of. Later in the guide we’ll be going over other fun things like how to get started with online marketing.

Here is a quick overview of Part Four, which covers how to have a successful small business website design:

Defining the word “Success”
Discovering your flux capacitor (what makes Success happen)
Building your flux capacitor (preparing for Success)
Modifying your flux capacitor (improve your Success)
Ignoring anything but the flux capacitor

You already know why having a website is important. You’ve gone through and Read More »


What does a web designer do? Making your own website free VS hiring a website designer

Part Three (B) of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

Welcome to the second installment of the third episode of this Guide series teaching small business owners handle a website project. This Guide has outlined why websites are so important, how to plan for a great website, how much you can get within your budget, and will continue to cover important choices you’ll be making as well as how to get started with online marketing that won’t break the bank.

Here’s a quick overview on choosing whether to make your own website or hire a web designer:

Setting a budget and knowing what it can get you (covered in a previous post)
Knowing what you need
Comparing the pro’s and con’s
Understanding the benefit of getting involved
Taking the first steps

In the beginning of this section we went over budgets and … Read More »


Website Budget Guide – When to do it yourself or hire a designer.

Part Three of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

Welcome to the beginning of the third episode of the Guide series I am working on to help small biz owners learn the ins and outs of having a website. This Guide walks you through the why a website is so important, how to plan for a great business website, picking the right method of designing a website, and how to handle things during the project. Once we’ve learned how to get started, we’ll be going over internet marketing 101.

Here’s a quick overview on choosing whether to make your own website or hire a web designer:

Setting a budget and knowing what it can get you (Covered in this post)
Knowing what you need
Comparing the pro’s and con’s
Understanding the benefit of getting involved
Taking the first steps

Quick note: This article covers the budget it takes to … Read More »



How to plan for the best small business website ever.

Part Two of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

Welcome to the second episode of the Guide series I am working on to help business owners learn what their website is (or should be) all about. This Guide walks you through the why you need a website, how to plan ahead before starting your business website, what to look for when choosing a website design, and how to handle things during the project. We will also be going over basics for getting started in internet marketing.

Here’s a quick overview of our chapter on how to prepare to have the best website for small business:

Define your website’s purpose
Define your target audience
Choose your voice based on your target audience
Design your website workflow
Write your content to suit your purpose, audience and workflow

Planning for the best … Read More »



Why websites are important for small business.

This Guide will walk you through the correct mental approach, how to prepare before starting the business website, what to look for in a website design, and what to do during the project. We will also be setting the outlook for getting started in internet marketing.



An example of great Twitter marketing (by the best online printing company)

Posted on 10th November, by Anne in Succeeding. No Comments

In some ways, I am the best kind of customer. If I like your product, I am going to do all but shout it from the rooftops that I have fallen in love with your product.

I call what I do product evangelizing.

At any rate, the best online printer I have ever used is GotPrint.net – their process is simple, their prices are great and they have always delivered before the (already reasonable) promised delivery date. So when I saw that @kauf had tweeted about comparing online printing services, I told him exactly my thoughts on GotPrint.net and how they are awesome.

Shortly thereafter, I get this:

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/GotPrint/status/2417214498021376"]

Woah.

I was not expecting that! My own shout-out? An offer of open communication should I ever have any need?

This is how Twitter should be used by companies. Making individual connections. Opening the lines … Read More »


The art of doing (and succeeding)

Posted on 6th November, by Anne in Succeeding. No Comments

Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the “what if” of horrible outcomes.

Sometimes it is so easy to decide that what you could do now should be done later, because honestly, you just have better things to be doing right now.

What if you just did?

Just did… what?

Take for example, this story:

October 2008. I am itching to do a new design. My younger sister keeps having brilliant thoughts on politics. I put two and two together and ask her if she’d like to start a blog. She says “sure”, but is hesitant to dedicate to posting regularly. I don’t care, and I put up a blog for her – custom domain and all.

She puts up her first post. It’s a good post, to be sure, but it makes her nervous.

January … Read More »


Design Boot Camp: Episode 1

Posted on 6th October, by Anne in Web. 2 Comments

I want to start a series called Design Boot Camp.

It’s simple: I will post a list of parameters to follow. I will create my own version following the parameters.

You are welcome to post comments and questions, but most of all I hope that you will post links to your own published version of the exercise.

Design Exercise

Dimensions:
500px by 500px
Colors:
3 colors only
Text:
Must include the word “Inspire”
Time:
10 minutes

What I came up with:

What did you come up with?

Post your results in the comments! I might just make a post of all the best ones later on.



New motto for life: Plan less, do more.

Posted on 5th October, by Anne in Web. 2 Comments

I recently had the wonderful opportunity of listening to Fabio Sasso of Abduzeedo. Not only did I get to hear him speak, but I got the pleasure of hanging out with him for drinks afterward – where he spoke of many crazy experiences life had given him.

What did I get out of it? It came down to this quote from Fabio’s presentation:

Plan less, do more.

Everything Fabio has accomplished happened because he didn’t overthink anything – he just did them. He has now designed for Wired Magazine, MSNBC and other huge brands. He gets to travel every year. He is making a living doing what he loves.

Does that sound good to you?

Quit dreaming.

Go do something about it.


Facebook Status RSS feed: How to find it, and what to do with it

Posted on 27th January, by Anne in Web, Web Apps. 38 Comments

Today, I discovered Wordle. It’s this neat app that allows you to create beautiful word clouds using custom text input, an RSS feed, or your Delicious account. Well, I wanted to input my Facebook status feed, but alas – I could not find it!

After a little research, I finally found a useful post about finding your Facebook Status RSS feed at Tech Life Web, and I wanted to share my findings with you guys.

*** UPDATE 6/22/2010: Thanks to Shirish, I have learned that this only works if you’re a long time Facebook user. If these instructions aren’t working for you, it may be because you were late to the party!

*** UPDATE 6/24/2011: It would appear there’s some Facebook apps available to provide this functionality if you search for them. Anyone want to … Read More »



Tutorial: How to make a custom (memorable) profile icon for Twitter

Posted on 26th January, by Anne in Photoshop. 2 Comments

Recently I’ve been making a bigger effort at being an active member of Twitter. Doing so made me realize that I wanted a cute, memorable icon as my profile picture. I wanted people to see me, as well as get an idea of what my focus is on Twitter (which lately has been photography).

Step One: Create the canvas

You have 73×73 pixels to work with. Using Photoshop (or whatever image editor you use that can save transparent PNGs), create a new document 73×73 at 72DPI.

This is what 73×73 pixels looks like:

Step Two: Choose your elements

Since I wanted to show both my niche (photography) and myself, I decided to look for some icons to work with. I found the icons I wanted in the free “Function Icon Set” package.

These are the items I chose to work with for my picture:

1. … Read More »



More news: Kasumi Shimizu has published a blog

Posted on 20th January, by Anne in Announcements. No Comments

My friend Kasumi Shimizu has recently decided to start a blog at her own website: KasumiShimizu.com

She is an aspiring model from LA, and has more to present than just the images you see in her pictures.

You can read her blog or follow her on Twitter: @kasumishimizu

If you’re not following me already, you should follow me while you’re at it!


Setting up WordPress as a dictionary site

Posted on 8th October, by Anne in Development, Web Apps. 49 Comments

Updated on 12/05/2011

I just launched the WordPress Dictionary Plugin you asked for!

Check it out here:

Original Post:

Recently, I helped launch a website that served as a silly custom dictionary.

The concept was simple enough: create an online dictionary using only custom definitions. At first, I did some Google searches to see if there were any open-source dictionary apps. No such luck!

Then it occurred to me I should try WordPress. Searching the plugins, I realized that there was no dictionary plugin there either. That’s when I realized that I could set up WordPress itself to run the dictionary entirely.

Organization

I laid out a plan to make sure this would all run smoothly. I would use:

Posts: for definition entries
Custom Fields: to separate definitions, emphasis, etc. (made useful in combination with the “Get Custom Field Values” plugin)
Read More »



Toggle (enable and disable) a form field with a checkbox: JavaScript 101

Posted on 23rd July, by Anne in Development, JavaScript. 7 Comments

EDIT: First and foremost I am a small business web consultant. If you are a small business owner or know a small business owner, be sure to check out my new blog series called The Small Business Website Guide for Small Business Owners or follow me on Twitter or Facebook for free updates and tips on how to create, shape and grow a small business website.

Today at work I was creating a form. I’m not a big JavaScript buff, but one of my tasks was to use a checkbox to toggle a form field between “enabled” and “disabled”. So, after browsing the web for a solution, I decided it would be simpler to roll up my sleeves and get dirty writing my own function.

Here is what I came up … Read More »


3 Simple Free Fonts You Should Be Using

Posted on 14th July, by Anne in Design, Typography. 6 Comments

Having a good array of fonts to choose from is important. These 3 fonts have met my needs in many situations, and I’m sure they’ll help you too! The best part about them is that they’re free.

Aller

If you’ve been paying attention, you might have noticed that this is the font I use on the home page of my site. It has a few flavors, including a more blocky display version (also featured on my site).

More information
Download

Qlassik

I first found classic for a project that ended up being scrapped, but I am glad it happened because otherwise this gem may have gone unnoticed. Qlassik is a great font to add a little flair to a simple look. It’s clean, and looks great.

More information & Download

Fontin

I actually found this one when I was designing birthday party invitations. … Read More »



Using WordPress to create your page-based website

Posted on 1st July, by Anne in Development. 18 Comments

You’re a web designer, and you want to create a website – and like a lot of sites these days, it will be based around the pages, yet include a blog or news section. Congratulations! I am now going to give you a quick tutorial on making a page-based site using WordPress. This will make editing the pages easy, yet make it look like the blog is a separate installation.

If you have never touched PHP, roll up your sleeves and get ready to get dirty. I will try to make this relatively painless.

What you need!

WordPress

WordPress Plugins (Optional):

All In One SEO Pack
Contact Form 7
NexGen Gallery
PageMash
WP Google Analytics

Programs

You’ll need to BYOP but here are the ones I use:

TextMate OR any text editor
Transmit OR any FTP program

Services

Read More »



Must-have tools for the freelance web designer (PC and Mac)

Posted on 22nd August, by Anne in Design. 3 Comments

Now that I have been at the freelance web-design business for the last several years, I have had some experience with a variety different programs. Some of them are very expensive, others are free. Here I have tried to make it easy for you and compiled a list with links to their respective locations:

Design & Image Editing:

Adobe Photoshop – $649 or $999 for the extended version

Photoshop is the most expensive program you need- but you will want this piece of software. There are a lot of different image editing tool but this is the industry standard. Sometimes you can get a student discount, or even get your company to buy it for you.

Text/Code Editing:

Mac

TextWrangler – Free: This is a great piece of software for writing your code if you don’t want to spend any money.
Read More »


Photoshop Tutorial: Getting rid of red eye

Posted on 6th April, by Anne in Photoshop. No Comments

There are a lot of ways to get rid of red eye from photos, and in Photoshop you can be a little more particular about it to get a natural looking result. Here is a quick tutorial of one way to go about it.

Here is the image we will work with:

[singlepic id=4 w=200 h=200 float=]

To start, create a new layer. Next, select the red parts of the eyes using the circle marquee tool.

[singlepic id=6 w=320 h=240 float=]

Using the fill (bucket) tool, fill the new layer with black in this area and switch the layer style to Hue. This will get rid of our red eye but will leave her looking a little freaky.

[singlepic id=5 w=320 h=240 float=]

To fix this we’re going to add a little bit of color the gray-scale eyes we just created. If there is a good color … Read More »


Designing to the Point- 4 Steps to an Effective Website

Posted on 28th March, by Anne in Design. 3 Comments

People – especially people of business – want websites. If you asked them why, most would say that they want to “Attract more clients”, “Generate customers”, or “Show off my business”.

Imagine that you are an architect. Someone asks you to build them an office. You ask, well, what do you want in an office? The equivalent answer to “Attract more clients” is: “I want to be able to put my employees there so they can work.”

As you can see, this is not a helpful answer. How many employees do you have? What kind of resources do they need? What kind of environment should they be provided?

The same goes for a website. The following are some basic steps to designing a better and more focused website that will accomplish the goal of your client.

Step One: Define a specific goal.

Some good example … Read More »


Tutorial: How to display short blog title in WordPress

Posted on 24th December, by Anne in Development. 13 Comments

As was recently pointed out to me by Andy in the comments, this post was quite out of date. I was fairly new to WordPress and had found a hacked way to modify the core of WordPress to return a short version of wp_title(); — but this is a method far from necessary and will always get removed when you update WordPress.

I opted to delete the out-of-date method, so that you only get the stuff that makes sense!

There is a simple script you can use to implement a short blog title without modifying the base WordPress code. Open up your functions.php file within your theme and add the following:

[php]function short_title() {
$title = get_the_title();
$count = strlen($title);
if ($count >= 25) {
$title = substr($title, 0, 25);
$title .= ‘…’;
}
echo $title;
}[/php]

You can now reference short_title(); anywhere within the … Read More »


SplashUp: Image Manipulation Online

Posted on 26th November, by Anne in Reviews, Web Apps. No Comments

I literally just Stumbled across this nifty little website called SplashUp.com. I must say, I was really impressed! Sites like these really have me looking forward to the future of the web. What if we could edit and share all our images online everywhere we went?

About SplashUp

SplashUp currently holds a “beta” on it’s logo, indicating we can expect a lot of development and improvement as time gos on.

It’s meta description is as follows:

Splashup is the only full-featured, free range, image editor online. Create new images, edit existing images and manipulate layers with filters, layer effects and myriad other drawing and image editing tools.

According to its WhoIs page it is registered privately through Domains by Proxy.

I didn’t have time to extensively test the site for bugs, but upon … Read More »



I found the secret to being listed on Wikipedia

Posted on 26th November, by Anne in Web. No Comments

By the way, I have run across various articles before on DoshDosh.com and I have absolutely loved every single one. A special thanks to DoshDosh for all the great information you have provided me!

So it is DoshDosh that has the credits for this information. Here are some of the coolest points from the article I liked:

First of all, we point out the importance of being listed on Wikipedia. Targeted content, as well as credibility and branding- and hey- we all know that this is the ultimate source of information for students. Welcome .edu links! Great for PageRank.

It goes so far to say that people will trust you more if you are listed on Wikipedia. True? Probably. “Credibility… increases customer and visitor trust”, which may lead to more traffic and a larger audience.

Secondly, it is important to note that … Read More »


Choosing Keywords and Blog topics

Posted on 16th October, by Anne in Blogging. 1 Comment

A friend gave me a tip the other day- when you are creating a website or writing a blog you should know what people are actually looking for.

My question: How do you know what people are looking for?

For bloggers:

Out of ideas? Want to write about the latest buzz? Check out google.com/trends and see for yourself just what’s hot! A sweet graphic shows you whether the search rates are still going up or if people have stopped searching for a term so much.

For website developers/designers:

So you’re working for a client who wants an SEO website for their main key terms. You don’t want to spam the whole site with the same exact phrases and you want to phrases you choose to use to be solid terms. How do you find out? Check out Read More »


CSS Tutorial: How to create CSS image rollovers with a single background image

Posted on 13th June, by Anne in Design. 2 Comments

Everybody is looking for lightweight code with a maximum effect. JavaScript rollovers just don’t cut it anymore- they take too long to load, they’re kinky the first time you rollover, etc. etc. and CSS using multiple images can be kinky if you aren’t using an image pre-load. The solution? CSS image rollovers using only a single background image.

If you don’t have a solid understanding of using lists for navigation, then you may want to review that concept before tackling the single-background-image rollover.

Download the example to follow along.

The concept

You have, for instance, a navigation bar (vertical or horizontal, it doesn’t matter). Very simple. There are only four buttons but you can obviously change and edit this concept to fit your own site.

How is it done?

Well this is what the HTML in the example … Read More »


CSS Tutorial: How to use lists for navigation

Posted on 8th June, by Anne in Design. No Comments

One of the most revolutionizing things I ever learned about building websites with HTML and CSS was the concept of using lists for my navigation. I was flabbergasted! Using lists for navigation? Why, that would look horrible! But then my eyes were opened to the real power that you have to control the way your navigation looks and behaves, as well as the very SEO friendly navigation the list will provide.

The HTML

If you are following along with me in your own document, you will need to make a list, much like the one below (depending on your file structure):

<ul id=”nav”>
<li><a href=”index.html” >Home</a></li>
<li><a href=”about.html” >About</a></li>
<li><a href=”contact.html” >Contact</a></li>
</ul>

And that is your basic list for navigation. It looks kind of ugly in the browser right now, but that’s alright because we’re going to fix that in a minute.

Now there are two ways to … Read More »


CSS 101: The basics of CSS

Posted on 5th June, by Anne in Design. No Comments

CSS is pretty much my favorite thing about the web. What is CSS? It styles the HTML that contains the structure and content. With CSS you can move, position, color, and change almost every aspect of almost every HTML tag that there is.

What are the benefits of CSS?

The benefits of CSS are phenomenal and I could never possibly list them all here. The main reason that CSS is so great is because of the power it gives you to control the entire site with one document (to be elaborated on).

Three ways to implement CSS

There are three ways to make the CSS communicate with the HTML: inline, embedded, and external. The best, most powerful way is external, for several reasons- you only have one fileto edit CSS. If you have all your CSS inline and embedded, you are almost defeating the … Read More »


How to write HTML: the right way!

Posted on 24th May, by Anne in Design. No Comments

So you want to make a website. That’s all cheese and crackers, but do you really know what you’re getting into?

If you don’t know any HTML, I suggest you go do some research before this article will be of help to you. If you know the basic idea of HTML and the tags then read on!

First things first- semantic code. The concept is simple, and the results benefit not only you but also anybody who will inherit your site should it ever be passed on.

What is semantic code?

Semantic code sounds easy to write, but so many people pass it by. Suppose you’re writing a simple web page. What does the code look like to begin with? Well something like this:

<body>
<h1>Heading 1</h1>
<p>Some paragraph content.</p>
<h2>Heading 2</h2>
<p>Some sub-paragraph content</p>
</body>

See how it’s in order? The h1 tag comes first, and then some content, followed … Read More »