Catha For Council Blog

When you’re a web designer, there are lots of little programs
that you’ll gradually accumulate to make your life that little
bit easier. When you’ve spent hours doing something by hand and
you’re dreading ever having to do it again, it can be a big
relief to learn that there’s a free program out there that can
do it quickly and effectively for you the next time

Colour Programs

One of the thorniest issues you’ll run into as a web designer is
colour. Because web colours are all expressed in the somewhat
mysterious HTML colour (#000000 to #FFFFFF), it can be hard to
get the exact colours you want in your design. Don’t be fooled
into thinking there aren’t many to choose from: those colours
are in hexadecimal, meaning that each one of those six numbers
can have a value anywhere from 0-F (that is, 0-9, A-F). 16
possible values to the power of 6 makes over 16 million possible
colours - that’s 24-bit colour, not bad at all.

So, really, instead of trying out millions of colours by hand to
see which you like best, it’s much better to download an HTML
colour picker tool - an essential part of every web designers
toolbox. It might sound like they’d be very simple, but there
are all sorts of features they can have: suggesting
‘complementary colours’ to the one you’ve chosen, for example.
Some let you take a picture of your screen and click on parts of
it to see which HTML colour is being used - useful when you see
a colour somewhere that you think would work great on your
website.

My personal favourite colour program is Color Schemer, available
at www.colorschemer.com - it has all the features you could
really want in an HTML colour picker. If you’re after something
free, though, you might like to try the more compact Pixie, from
www.nattyware.com/pixie.html, which sits in the corner of your
screen and tells you the colour code of any colour you hover
over.

HTML Checkers

There’s not much competition when it comes to HTML checking:
what you really need is the W3C’s HTML Tidy, or one of the many
programs based on it (see http://tidy.sourceforge.net/). Tidy
can clean up truly disastrous HTML, including the kind of thing
produced by many of the more popular editor programs like
Dreamweaver, and applications like Microsoft Word. Even if you
think your code is great, the chances are that Tidy will be able
to make it smaller and better.

Mozilla Firefox Extensions

When you use Firefox as your web browser, you gain access to
lots of extensions that you can install quickly and easily.
Since so many people using the browser are web designers, there
are more extensions available for web development tasks than
there are for anything else. This makes Firefox an ideal browser
to use when you’re writing a website.

Which extensions are most useful? Here’s a quick list:

Web Developer’s Toolbar
(http://chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/). This is
the most useful Firefox extension out there for web designers.
Its best feature is that it lets you experiment with CSS styles
‘live’, so the style of your page changes as you do it - a great
way to write CSS.

LinkChecker
(http://www.kevinfreitas.net/extensions/linkchecker/). You
absolutely must check your website for broken links, but it’s
usually quite a chore. Because LinkChecker integrates with the
browser, it can check your links for you on-the-fly. It
highlights working links in green and broken ones in red.
Simple, but very effective.

HTML Validator (http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/). Lets
you check whether your pages are valid HTML without having to
type all their URLs into an online validity checker. Takes a lot
of the pain out of code validation, which makes you more likely
to actually bother to do it!

SearchStatus (http://quirk.co.za/searchstatus/). When you’re
trying to monitor your site’s position in search engines, this
extension is indispensible. It shows you the Google PageRank and
Alexa ranking for your site, giving you an idea of both the link
popularity and traffic the site gets. It also lets you check who
links to your site, and whether the search engines have added it
to their index yet.

Comments Off

Get What You Pay For

Why bother paying for hosting when there are plenty of companies offering free hosting? Well, in web hosting, when you pay nothing, you often end up with nothing.

Most free web hosts offer limited services. Even though they are not charging you to host your website, they still need to make money. The most common way to do this to place advertising on your site. You probably will have no control over what kind of ads show up. You won’t be consulted when those decisions are made.

Sometimes free hosts will place restrictions on the content you place on your site. For example, you may not be allowed to sell things or have certain types of content, such as videos or music. Worst of all, your web site could disappear overnight. New companies offering free hosting pop up almost everyday, but they also vanish with astonishing regularity. When your hosting company vanishes, your web site goes with it.

Do You Need A High-Priced Web Host?

You’ll need to use a reliable web host if you are serious about having a web site. Prices range considerably — some companies offer rates as low as $2 a month, while others charge over $100. The highest rates don’t always translate into the best service. Some of the lower-priced hosts offer a reliable, stable environment that allows your website to be accessed around the clock for years.

Generally speaking, though, the more you pay the more you get. Higher rates should bring you services such as more storage space, more bandwidth to handle Internet traffic, and extras such as databases, email accounts, mass mailers, and the ability to add custom scripts. Higher rates can also mean better technical support, in the unlikely event you have problems with your website.

What is a Web Server?

When you’re ready to make your move, it helps to understand some of the technical details about the service you’re buying. Every host has dedicated computers known as servers, which connect to the internet and “serve” pages any time they are requested. So, whenever anyone wants to see a certain web page by clicking on a link, the request is sent to the particular server where that web page is stored. The server responds by sending HTML data across the internet, and eventually back to the person who requested it.

A web server must have fast connections to be able to serve pages quickly. For the greatest speed and reliability, try to find a host that has multiple high-speed connections, as well as reliable back-up power supplies in case of power outages.

Remember, you are trying to build a business, so you’d better be prepared to pay to keep the other business in business. Otherwise you may both soon be out of business.

Visit Hosting Solutions to learn more. Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer with a Website Here.

Copyright 2005 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact.

Comments Off

I am often asked “Jason, I get people to my website, but nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?” Is this you? Did you build a website only to have people come and leave? If so, you can still save your website. By following some tried and true rules, your website can become supercharged and be all that you envisioned.

First, we need to dispel one myth. The Internet amazes almost no one anymore. When I started in the early 1990’s it was a whole different story. Today, the Internet is a major force in our lives. Instead of saying things like “Wow! Look at that!” we are saying “Been there, done that.” However, some people know this and go to the wrong extreme by over complicating their website.

Rule One: You are not an artist.

Ok, maybe you are, but you still don’t need to use every available color and font in the known universe on your website. Take a look at any newspaper. How many colors and fonts do you see? Many are black and white print with a splash of color here and there. Their type is sure and steady. The USA Today is one of the more colorful papers out there and even they don’t go nuts with color.

If your website is a visual car wreck, your visitors will end up leaving. Your website could look like a piece of art, but if the message gets lost, it is a waste of space. Keep your colors simple and pleasing to the eye. If you look at some of the most successful websites, you will notice they usually have a simple color scheme.

Rule Two: Your website is not a puzzle.

Have you ever been to a website for the first time and seen information all over your screen? If so, you most likely felt overwhelmed and you probably left. Here is a fact. The more orderly your website is in regards to content layout, the more focused your visitor will become on the content. Content that is not in an orderly fashion is sometimes coined as “hip”, but the end result is a less focused visitor.

Does this mean you need a plain boring website? Of course not. However, due care is warranted when laying out content. I would like to direct your attention to the newspaper again. Most newspapers use grids to layout their content. Look at the newspaper. Even though it has a wealth of information, you feel right at home. This is the same effect your website should have.

Spend the extra time and figure out how you can best lay out your content. Always design with the first time user in mind. Keep navigation as a top concern. You don’t need fancy flash buttons and other doodads. If the visitor can not use your website with ease and minimal distractions, all is lost.

Rule Three: Keep your focus.

How many websites have you went to that spend valuable homepage space welcoming you to the website? Think about this for a moment. Why is this necessary? What could be put into its place? When a new user goes to your website, you have literally seconds to interest them enough so they stay. Do you want to waste that valuable time with a welcome message?

When you turn on TV to watch your favorite show, does the show start off by welcoming you to Channel X and Show X? Of course it doesn’t. The whole point of this section is to illustrate just how important space is. You do not have the luxury of time to have fluff on your website. Your ad copy (text/images) must be lean and mean.

Another common mistake I see on ecommerce oriented websites is the whole “who we are” speech on the homepage. When a new visitor comes to your website, they don’t care who you are. They care about what you can do for them. Keep your focus on the visitor’s needs and not your own. Before you spend time talking about yourself, you need to give the visitor a reason to care. Because of this, it is best to put all your text about your company on other pages. There is nothing wrong with putting a blurb about your company on the homepage, but it should be limited and to the point.

If you find yourself at wits end, it is time to call in the experts. My company, MarketJunction.com, can help you. Are there more than three rules you ask? Yes, but I selected three very important ones for you in this article. My website, JasonAMartin.com, has more informative articles. Follow these three rules and you will be well on your way to a supercharged website.

Copyright 2005 Jason Andrew Martin LLC

Jason A. Martin is a Journalism major and has over a decade of successful Internet business experience. His informational articles can be found at www.JasonAMartin.com. He owns www.MarketJunction.com , a marketing company that specializes in copywriting & copyediting, article writing & editing and search engine optimization & marketing.

Comments Off

A common misconception is that usability and accessibility are one in the same. These terms are quite different, yet the importance of one is usually seen as not as important concerning the other. It’s true that many ideals surrounding accessibility still apply to usability and vice versa, though both should be taken seriously.

The more usable a site is, the easier it is to make it more accessible and, thus, it provides a better foundation upon with to build. 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.

In many web design courses and schools accessibility is a very important step because Internet is a medium made for people and with the web 2.0 technology this is everyday more true.

You should begin with the idea of creating a page for people to use and plan the Web design based on that premise. Minimize the use of Flash applications for users with lower bandwidth to create excellent content delivery. Web design isn’t about how fancy you can design the site, but instead is about how easily the information within can be accessed and used. Remember that designing anything from shoes to sites is judged on how the final product performs.

Comments Off

MOSAIC HAS COME A LONG WAY

>From ancient times staining glass has challenged the abilities
and imaginations of the great alchemists. From East to West the
sheer beauty of stained glass won the hearts of Kings, emperors,
sultans and nobles. For a millennium architects have designed
Palaces, Castles, Villas, and Spas and graced them with mosaics
and stained glass interior and exterior elements.

Today meshglass combines the sumptuous colours of stained glass
in a myriad of patterns. The meshglass system lets you
customize stained glass and mirror designs to order - at no
“extra” for the privilege. The design tool visuals are
great-very true to life.

SEE the preview > www.meshglass.com/builder.htm

Duncan’s inspiration was born of digital technologies and a
creative desire to invent a totally new and eco friendly
product… Linda Garlands Bamboo ideas were inspiring him at a
time when mosaic was having new décor interest in “Home and
garden” sections of the media. Duncan wanted color design
flexibility, utilitarian and safety benefits and the product to
consist of freely available eco friendly materials.

meshglass - alchemy by design Using a stained glass palette we
“color by number” into 20 patterns. See / design a huge
combination of patterns in interior decoration colours. Design
tools were created to display life like visual and be user
friendly. Try our tools at meshglass online.
www.meshglass.com/builder.htm

Versatile in appearance and application, meshglass now offers
over 30,000 design combinations - using our unique process.

meshglass is a décor design solution for interior and exterior
surfaces including walls, ceilings, pools, fountains, bathrooms,
spas, showers, kitchens, bars, and resort décor. Ideal for
interiors - weatherproof for exterior décor; fade free colours
and high resistance to fire and water.

We intend to keep improving our design systems and process and
would greatly appreciate any ideas, comments, and suggestions.
Please feel free to write to us at PR@meshglass.com

meshglass is displayed in three showrooms and distributed by
Nemo Tile Company Inc, locations are Manhattan, Hicksville,and
Jamaica. Founded in 1921 at 177th St. and Jamaica Ave Nemo has
supplied the Waldorf Astoria hotel, the American Airlines
terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport and the Grand
Concourse in the Bronx.

A walk through any of Nemo’s three warehouses offers a capsule
tour of the mosaic tile industry. - (Telephone 212 505 0009)

Duncan M Kirk - President - Meshglass Ltd - December 05

Comments Off

Avoid these mistakes and your site will be steps ahead of your competition.

1. Not planning your site

Before you even have a website, you must have an idea, a focus. Why do you want a website? What are your plans and goals for the site? Sit down and draw out a map of possible pages and ideas for your site. Include your site’s purpose –whether it is to sell more product or make the public more aware of your issue — whatever it may be. Build your site from it’s strong foundation (your goals) and you’ll have a better, more solid site.

2. Failing to put contact information in a plainly seen location.

This could be disastrous. If a customer doesn’t see this information, they can’t contact you. You should consider a ‘Contact Us’ button or link from your Home page. Even better, make a link to your email address in your header or footer, somewhere that will show up on every page. Even if no one ever contacts you this way, just the presence of this information comforts edgy customers.

3. Broken Links

Do you enjoy clicking on a search result only to get a Page Not Found Error? No one likes them. Check your site statistics at least once a month (if not more) to make sure you don’t have bad or broken links.

4. Outdated Information

A sure turn-off to a potential customer is the presence of old information. If it’s July and your website is announcing the ‘new’ products available in February, your site just lost major credibility. Make sure your information is up-to-date. Consider adding a ‘Whats New’ button or a Business Blog.

5. Too Many Font Styles and Colors

This is a huge pet-peeve of my company. I’ve had people ask me to review their website and the first thing I notice is 4 different fonts. It looks bad, unorganized and unappealing. Different colors may attract the eye for a short time, but constant flashing or otherwise bright fonts (and graphics!) become annoying. Beware, this is a sure-fire way to scare people away from your site!

6. Orphan Pages

Every website has a heirarchy, a sort of tree that branches out from the Home Page. While most of your visitors visit you through your home page, there are times when a page further down interests someone, and they may copy that link and send it to a friend. This is where you need to pay attention. That friend may like what you have to offer, but they can’t find out how to contact you, or how to get back to your Home Page. That’s an orphan page. Every page on your site should, at a minimum, have a link back to your Home page. I would suggest adding a contact link at minimum.

7. Frames

Frames at one time were the talk of the industry. They were the original Content Management System (CMS) for your site. Nowadays they are few and far between. If you are designing a site, don’t use frames. Newer technologies such as server-side includes are much more common and accepted. Your pages look fresher and those silly bars don’t get in the way.

8. Disabling the BACK button and excessive Pop-Ups

Have you been to a website and decided that it wasn’t the information you were looking for? When you clicked the BACK button, did you suddenly get a barrage of windows (or, pop-ups) to your dismay? These things rarely actually work, and worse off, the reason you hit the BACK button is because you DIDN’T want any more information from that site. Don’t break the BACK button. There are other ways to get your user’s attention.

9. Slow loading pages

While personal and hobby sites may normally be slow, there should be no reason for your business or other professional website to be slow loading. Today’s Internet surfer won’t wait long for information from your site - there are too many others with the same thing! Make sure your pages load quickly. If the server is slow, consider a different host. If your webpages are full of applets or large graphics, consider a page/site redesign.

10. Using Leading-Edge Technology

While the Internet is all about new and fancy stuff, don’t be the first to do it. While it may ‘look cool’ to you, you ultimately need to decide if it actually enhances your user’s experience. Do the flashy cartoons make your customer more apt to buy from you? Probably not. How many of your customers have to install a Plug-In just to see your page right? Do they have to upgrade their browser to contact you? Not good. Wait until the technology is either more of a standard or gone - you’ll save face with potential and future customers.

About the Author

Will Hanke is a self-proclaimed geek who owns and operates Lighthouse Technologies (www.techlh.com), a web development and hosting company based in ArnoldMissouri. For questions or comments, email him at will@techlh.com. And buy yourself a good virus program so he doesn’t have to fight your emails with anti-virus spray.

Comments Off

More and more non-profit organizations are developing websites to help share information about their mission and programs. This involves strategic planning about the best way to present your image and message online. Once your site is up, your organization also has to be ready to keep information current and to maintain consistent outreach activities. If your group is planning a Web site, consider:

1. How does your organization plan to use your site? Is it for marketing your organization, raising funds, providing information, announcing events, attracting volunteers, starting a discussion group, or something else? Answering this question will help you to develop a site that best suits your group’s needs.

2. Who is your group trying to reach? Think strategically about the audience you are trying to target. Are they current or potential clients? Are they donors? Volunteers? A particular group in the community? Tailor your website to speak to that audience.

3. What information do you want to include? Some of the components you can incorporate on your site include: your mission, a list of programs and goals, contact information (staff list, e-mail addresses, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and directions to your organization), list of special events and dates, organizational history, links to other websites, volunteer opportunities, and press releases.

4. If your NPO wants to engage in online fundraising (and you should!), then carefully consider the following: How will online giving be managed internally? What online forms will you use to gather donor information? How will you ensure security for donor information and credit cards? What offline options will donors have who do not want to give online? Which giving options will be included on the site (ex: planned giving, current campaigns, future projects, etc.)?

Once you’ve decided on your content, speak to a web designer about the “look” of the piece. The impression that you give offline should be carried into your online presence. Your website is an important tool to reinforce your identity, image, and credibility. In addition to text, you can include full-color photography, your logo, and graphic images. Keep the copy simple and include interesting visual images that show the work you are doing in the community and the audiences you serve.

Marketing your site is as important as designing it. There are many ways to promote your website, both online and offline. Most people who visit your site learn about it from printed material, not from looking it up on a search engine.

For offline marketing, add your URL address to business cards, stationery, newsletters, brochures, fax cover sheets, and so on. List your website on any materials that you hand out at conferences, seminars, and workshops. Put it next to your organization’s mailing address and phone number. Send out a card or letter to announce the launch of your site and include an article about it in your newsletter. Send press releases to the local newspapers and to professional publications announcing your website. Make sure that your staff, Board, and volunteers know the site address and can discuss the content.

Online, you can register your home page with Web announce sites, directories, and search engines. Send e-mails to other related websites asking for a link. Send an e-mail to your clients, donors, partner organizations, and volunteers with a link to your URL address. Have staff and board members include this link at the end of the e-mails they send. Announce your site on relevant Internet newsgroups and lists - if you participate in these groups on a regular basis, you will help build an online reputation for your organization.

Another important online marketing strategy for non-profits is to list your organization with Internet charity portals. These websites offer a directory of non-profit organizations. Charity portals include CharityNavigator.com, GreaterGood.com, FreeDonation.com, NetworkForGood.org, 4charity.com, and WorkingForChange. Donors often peruse these sites to help them with their research, so it’s important to keep your listing up to date.

Internet marketing is a never-ending process. It requires a commitment to send out regular e-mails, keep your site information timely and accurate, update your staff on the latest Internet technologies, and learn about other Internet resources that can benefit your staff and clients. There are countless ways to use your website to bring in and send out new information. As you learn more, you can also use your website as a means to recruit volunteers, raise funds for your current campaign, and encourage activism.

Wendy Gray Maynard is the co-owner of Kinesis. Kinesis specializes in marketing, graphic design, and business writing. Visit http://www.kinesisinc.com for more articles and free marketing wisdom.

Want to harness the power of kinetic marketing? Sign up for Kinesis Quickies, a free bi-monthly marketing e-newsletter: http://www.news.kinesisinc.com

Comments Off

Paper used in printing is one of the considerations now that
there are already many environmentalist taking strides to
protect some of the natural resources that are already fast
diminishing. For those who use these papers everyday in their
lives, they would think that they are using naturally friendly
materials. With papers coming form trees and all that, nothing
can be wrong in using a most natural product.

But is the paper being used really made from virgin natural
materials? If you take some time to research on these things,
you will find out that the papers being used in printing
nowadays are not anymore natural products made from nature. They
are already engineered product or better called as farmed
product. The lessening numbers of trees being used for
commercial purposes, manufacturers do not anymore have the
option of using them. Rather than be succumbed to the illegal
means of obtaining their sources, they did the next much better
thing. They created man-made “forests” that are specifically
inclined to produce paper and other lumber products. The trees
today are grown to meet the needs of the printing industry and
other purposes and other paper needing purposes. There is no
doubt that what people are using are newly grown trees, not the
naturally grown types, but still tress nonetheless. The good
thing about this kind of paper production is that they are
renewable and people do not have to worry about them getting
extinct in the near future.

Environmentalists are definitely grinning well from ear to ear
because of this style of paper production is not only
nature-friendly but also one way of recycling the use of nature.
These environmentalists are not the only one enjoying these
benefits. Economists are getting big bucks out of this mass
production. Paper needs in the printing industry will not likely
become difficult to attain if they consider the minimal natural
resources that people have today.

Some consumers, though, are not too happy about paying for
recycled products. They would think that the paper quality is
not something that they want to spend their money on. There is
nothing wrong with recycled products and using them is one way
of adhering to preserving nature, if they only think about it.
Besides, people can never tell if their paper is made from
natural or recycled materials. As long as the printing quality
is still in its finest, who cares about the paper sources?

For comments and inquiries about the article visit
http://www.uprinting.com

Comments Off

You have created your custom error page so now all of that traffic that use to go into the World Wide Web black hole now stays on your web page. But if you don’t do the following 15 Minute exercise once or twice a month you are not Maximizing those Lost visitors

Custom error pages are a crucial part of your web page but they are just not enough. They are a failsafe. If you knew every bad address your surfers would type you could display a page that was more closely related to what the surfers was expecting then a catch all error page.

Most Web Hosts will provide you with a Cpanel, where you can create E-mail Accounts, Upload Web Pages and check your stats. Most of the Cpanel’s are very similar if not identical to the one my Hosts uses.

When it is time to check my web page traffic statistics I click on Log and then Web/FTP Stats and finally AWStats. I am now presented with a List of Stats to look at. This Article will discuss the stat related to Http Error Codes.

If you click on the Pages not Found link under the HTTP Error code you will see a list of all Required but not found URLs. This list will be sorted in order with the most requested on top and the least requested on the bottom. Start at the top of the list and work your way to the bottom. Simply create a web page for each URL that is listed with a significant amount of traffic.

You would create a custom error page that redirects the user to the proper web page. As an Example if the error page is http://mydomain.com/page1.htm (missing the l in html) and you have a page called http://mydomain.com/page1.html you simply create a page called http://mydomain.com/page1.htm (missing the l in html) and set up a redirect to the right page http://mydomain.com/page1.html

About The Author:
Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built
an Organization of over 100,000 Members

Get Mike’s Newsletter:
http://ewguru.com/newsletter

More Articles by Mike:
http://ewguru.com/tips

Permission Based E_Mail Marketing Methods
http://ewguru.com/hbiz/amazingoffer.html

Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest Guy in the Universe

Comments Off