Web Design Competition

In the “What You Need” article of this group, I discuss how you can get a cheap web design without sacrificing quality by providing the right tools. Give your web designer attractive graphics, a presentable layout, and interesting text to work with, and you can get a highly respectable website for a low cost. But then comes the question: why bother with a web designer in the first place? If you’re doing all the graphics and text yourself, aren’t there a bunch of free templates that you can use to get them up on the web just as well? In short, what do you get from a web designer when you’re already providing most of what will be going into the site?

The first and most important thing that you get from a designer is knowledge and experience. Although the designer is not likely to create things for you if you want a very low-cost website, a reputable web designer won’t just throw your site together and call it a day. These professionals can provide advice ranging from telling you how the size or file type of your graphics might affect the website, if your text is decently optimized for the search engines (assuming you provide the keywords you are trying to optimize for), and if the layout is likely to be too busy or cluttered. In some cases, the designer may even be willing to make minor edits and modifications to save you some time tweaking things. You can also get advice on using your website to its fullest, things like choosing a good hosting company and ideas for improving your layout.

Second, you get a website built using the tools and tricks of the trade, not just the pre-formatted, possibly out-of-date code of a template. This means a professional stylesheet that can make editing the layout much easier, properly optimized title and meta tags, maybe even some simple scripting functions such as buttons that change on mouseover. Some web designers may even incorporate more advanced code when creating a site just to make it easier for them. For example, even when a website doesn’t quite rate the advanced server-side coding that php usually entails, the designer may still use include functions in conjunction with a stylesheet to get the same layout on all pages, further easing future changes.

And never forget that this means that you have a professionally-designed website made by a skilled creator who now knows your project and your product. If you later choose to expand your site, you already know where to find someone to do it; and this time, you can have your designer go all-out with more advanced coding and features.

Simple websites can be boons to a web designer; they may not pay much in and of themselves, but they likely pay the most for the time spent, and they don’t come with the hassles of more advanced coding. As such, a designer worth its salt will do its best to provide its clients with every possible advantage for their cheap web designs. Elaborate graphics and powerful code may be beyond your budget, but you can do worse than having a professional’s knowledge augmenting your site. When you hire a website designer to create a simple site, rather than slapping it together with a template, skill and experience are what you pay for, and those are exactly what you get.

By: Dustin Schwerman

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Kansieo.com

Every web master running JavaScript should be aware of the HTML level tag . Many web sites these days are running Javascript in order to have fancy drop down menus. If the surfer has Javascript turned off, those menus can disappear entirely, leaving the surfer with the belief that he has stumbled upon an unfinished web site that only has a home page and no other pages. A web site that has rich content and many pages may seem to have only one page! I’ve seen it happen. The surfer will probably be clueless as to what has occurred and will hit the back arrow on his browser and will go elsewhere to obtain the information/product.

The authoritative w3schools.com web site reports an 11% rate of surfers that are browsing with Javascript turned off in January 2005. Because of virus scares, and the advice of companies like Microsoft, that rate is increasing. If most of your web site ‘disappears’ for 11% of the browsers that load your home page, doesn’t that translate into a rough loss of 11% of your business sales?

Fortunately there are some very simple things you can do to remedy the situation. The HTML level tag is activated when a browser with Javascript turned off visits the page. Whatever HTML code you put between those tags will appear when Javascript is turned off and will show nothing when it is turned on.

In the case of Javascript drop down menus, the simplest fix you can do is to go to the place in your HTML source code where the Javascript drop down menus would display and add this code:

Javascript is turned off in your browser. You need Javascript turned on in your browser to use the menu systems of this web site.

If Javascript is turned off, that code would show a message in red warning the user that turning on Javascript is necessary, and optionally might link to a page explaining how to do that on different browsers. Small fix to potentially increase sales by 11%!

By: David Malia

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web coding advice

Most of the web designers or web site owners will be quite familiar with this kind of problem.
Your images, pictures, designs etc., are ready with you, most probably in Photoshop as Photoshop saves your source files as PSD files. When you double click these files, you will be able to continue working on the images again.

Some designers prefer Photoshop so much that they design entire websites in this application. Sometimes, designs can be really complex and this is the point from where trouble may start popping.

It is a nice software to design your website, but the problem with PSD files is that you cannot upload them directly to show your work to others. In short, PSD file formats are designers friendly, but can not be uploaded into web site directly. If you want to bring out your PSD files on the web, you will need to convert the files into a language that is used for web publishing. For example, you will have to convert your files in HTML or CSS. Once the conversions are done, you will be able to upload them into your web server.

The actual conversion process is not difficult, but it may require more attention and focus than routine work, especially when you are not very good at it. If you see yourself in the same situation, perhaps you may wish to outsource the job to the one who has the skills to code in XHTML/HTML/CSS. Ensure this, when you get the files back, the coding should be neat and clean. If there will be some coding errors, your web pages may not display correctly on the browsers.

It is also important that the coding must be cross browser compatible. As the number of browsers is increasing and the popularity is shared by Firefox and IE, it is evident that one cannot afford to perform carelessly on any browser. Now there is Google Chrome, which is a new (free) browser released by the giant search engine. Make sure that your files run correctly on all the different browsers.

By: Manish Rawat

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Create a video blog

5: NEOSTREAM Interactive

This is a great multimedia company with very nice animations. The preloader is great to watch and when it’s finished the fun really begins. The main figure on the page waits when you press a button but it’s so much fun to wait a second and hit the figure with your mouse a few times. If you’re ready (after a few minutes hitting), press a button and watch all the different animations. Because of the nice animations I had to click all the links one by one. A very nice flash website which deserves a number 5 place.

4: 2Advanced Studios

Who doesn’t know this website. I guess this is the most discussed website ever. Maybe most people think this is number 1 ever but I think differently because they didn’t update the site graphics for a long time. I think they need a new update with a complete new style and layout. Still, the idea and graphics are fabulous. Also the scripting behind it is advanced and nicely done. It loads very fast for a huge site like this one. Love this one, definitely a number 4 position in my top 5 best flash websites ever.

3: IamStudios

Yeah a dutch company in the list. Welcome to iamstudios.nl, a really original concept and layout. When you enter the website, you see a fun 3d animation of a dog with a speakerhead. After you clicked on the button that you use to enter the flash website, the dog starts animating (very smooth). When the site is loaded, each button gives you a wonderful animation. I really love the 3d work here and the beautiful “white” look. I’m really proud this site comes from the Netherlands. The overall look is very impressive so a number 3 for this doggy.

2: DerBauer Audio Visual Media

Welcome to DerBauer, a website from Marcus Bussejahn. This classic website is one of the best websites I’ve ever seen, actually THE BEST but unfortunately I don’t really like the latest layout. Especially the menu doesn’t look great in my opinion. 5 years ago derbauer was unique and original. Nowadays there are much better ones but because of it’s history and quality it’s for sure a number 2 position. BTW, when you opened the site, there is an Easter egg when you do nothing for a few minutes, very nice! Are you afraid?

1: MGM Grand Entertainment

I know….this site is not famous and perhaps you don’t like it but I think this site is so original that I had to put it on number one! Enter the world of MGM Grand. Press the “Enter Maximum Vegas” button and start the tour. This is not really a flash animation site but a flash video site. With Adobe Flash 8 and later, it’s easy to integrate video in your website. MGM did it in a special way. They shot one video animation and loops it. You can stop the video with the navigation on the lower right corner. When you do that, the video fast forward to the certain location and stops the video there. Then the flash animation comes into place and you can read the information. I never saw this concept before. This is my best site ever, a really 2008 website made with the latest technology available for websites these days.

By: Mark Baselier

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Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress

With the advent inheritance of the internet technology from the past decade, promoting the business, products, ideas are known as the best marketing strategies for every business around the world. And also it is observed that so many companies around the world are interested in promoting their products through their esteemed web sites. Some of them are interested to maintain online transactions, and it is an important task to survive in this competitive business world.

However, there are so many web design companies are available throughout the world and providing some fine services to their clients. And the career for web designers is also best in the industry. You need to consider so many things before selecting a best web designer for your company needs. If you are hiring an unprofessional web designer for your company, that would cost a serious damage to your brand reputation. And also it shows a negative impact on your visitors of your web sites and volume of sales also. If you are investing a few dollars as an investment for web design, then you can get a maximum return in the form of sales. And now a questing rose in your mind that how to find a web designer for your company needs.

Hiring a professional for your company could be in several ways. One of the best is Web design classifieds. There are so many classifieds regarding this web design in various web sites, news papers and many more ways. Select the best one for your needs. You need to hire an expertise web company having vast experience in the industry. And also you need to consider that the web designer must provide a high quality end product which is truly reflective of your brand. The web designer must use the latest technology and state of the art and also innovative technology to your web site. And also it is a better idea to have clean images in your web site that reflect the brand image of your product in the industry.

Every company has their own unique ideas; the web designers must offer an esteemed first class service, which suite your needs. If you have already a website, please make sure that your web site must be able to reach your business goals. An also it is a best idea to ask your web designer to enhance your online presence with search engine optimization services. For this instance, please ask your web designer to how some portfolios must have their brand perception and enhance a client relationship as well. And also please make sure that the web page design must fulfill your company deals. This type of scenarios will help you to generate more leads and provide a highly interactive interface to your clients with some fine traffic to your web site.

Finally, there are some well established and well experienced web page designers; web site hosting service providers are providing their valuable services to their clients. With the web page directory services, every business can reach maximum goals and full fill their customer needs. For more information and details, please visit their web site.

By: Meill Caelyn

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Caffeinated Content

It is no longer enough to ‘just’ have a website, and to expect people to suddenly flock there and buy all of your stock because of the convenience and ease of buying online. Buying online is no longer a novelty and is now speeding towards normal retail behavior for many.

For many small businesses, growing an online presence can be daunting and a lot like stepping into the unknown. Websites have evolved from their humble beginnings as flat HTML documents to now include ever advancing web technologies including JavaScript, Flash as well as advanced design techniques using CSS. However, unless you are a web expert or have a keen interest in the Internet it is unlikely that any of these technologies will mean anything to you.

That is why the first piece of advice is to pick a web design company who you think you will be able to trust. Ideally one who has a solid portfolio of work, appear professional and are prepared to understand your business and what the purpose of the website is.

Clear, concise websites that demonstrate what the business does or sells will usually suffice for small businesses forging their way online. It can be an easy trap to fall into to end up with a website that has over the top graphics and animations. To help avoid such a situation, at each stage of sign off ask yourself, is this making it easier to find the information about my products and services, will it make my customers want to buy from me or will it put them off? Answering those simple questions will often make a lot of the design decisions easier.

Closing the sale – The ultimate success or failure of any transactional website can be measured by how much money it makes and business it generates. Ensure your site has a clear path to the checkout and a smooth transaction process. You wouldn’t put rows of products directly in front of the till in a bricks and mortar shop, nor would you hide it in a corner behind a display, so don’t do the same online. Make it as easy as possible for your site’s visitors to convert and there is an increased chance that they will, make it difficult and there’s a good chance they won’t and that they won’t come back.

Taking the basic principles of off-line business on-line can have benefits when a new site is to be launched. Know your audience, what they want and what it is that has made your off-line business such a success. As the sites grow there is always time to add on new features, but starting with an accessible, usable site from the beginning can save possible re-designs in the future.

By: Guy Levine

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Caffeinated Content

Medical coding courses could be your key to an exciting new career. However, take your time to do careful research before you sign up for a course. When you Google “medical coding courses”, you will be amazed to see the number of web sites directing you to online courses. However, if you access the AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders) web site, you will find a lot of good advice about medical coding courses. You will see that making medical coding a career requires not just training, but certification.

What is a medical coder? This is a person who finds the correct codes to use on an insurance claim form, reading a patient’s record and knowing how to translate the procedures and tests performed into universally accepted medical codes and levels. The medical coder needs to be knowledgeable about insurance plans, regulations and the code standards: CPT, HCPCS Level II and ICD-9-CM.

Coders, while they might specialize in medical coding, are often medical billers as well. Again, if you are interested in pursuing medical billing, you need to do careful research to be sure you apply to an accredited school. AMBA, the medical billing professional association, has a web site that offers a lot of advice about how to select a medical billing course.

Medical billers submit claims to insurance companies, track the claims, collect the payments, produce invoices, make needed adjustments to claims, and handle denied claims and process appeals. Usually, the medical biller uses computer software to complete the claim. Often, the medical biller submits claims electronically.

Perhaps the most prudent thing to do is to enroll in the courses that these two professional associations provide. AAPC offers online and classroom classes. AMBA offers two mini medical coding courses. You can view demos of these courses, allowing you to make the decision about whether you want to pursue this training further. AMBA also offers a set of medical billing courses along with demos for each course.

AMBA provides advise warning you about scammers in this field – online training courses that promise training, software and package deals that would facilitate your starting your own medical billing business.

Yes, medical billing can be a business where you work from home instead of working in a medical office. You would be responsible for finding your own clients. You can also work from home for a billing center.

Although medical coding courses and medical billing courses are in abundance, so make sure you check the professional associations first.

By: Shawn Manaher

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Create a video blog…instantly.

If more photographers knew how to build a photography website, they would easily take their photography business to the next level. Most photographers know that without a website, they aren’t taken seriously. A photographer that is not taken seriously is simply not successful. This is known and understood by most. What isn’t known as well is “how to build a photography website.”

Building websites is like riding a bicycle and like driving a car. Both are methods of transportation that require specific knowledge and specific skills for each. For the most part, the specific “how-to” knowledge is very simple and very easy – for those who already “know!” If you don’t know the specific skills required (regardless of how “easy” and “simple” they are), it might as well be “rocket science!”

Knowing how to build a photography website has been a serious challenge for many photographers, until now.

The Myth of “Web-Designers”

Similar to transportation options, someone else can be hired to do the work. Usually, this is a “web-designer.” This isn’t the best option for the long term. Web-designers can design, build and publish your website – but they don’t (can’t) “drive it” for you. Besides, building and publishing a website is only about 10% of what it takes to have a successful and profitable photography website.

The Myth of “Simple and Easy”

There are many website building products available. A great many of them are very, very good. Quite a few of them are actually “great!” However, too many of them have their instructions and directions written by people that already “know” how to build a photography website (and wrongly assume that the rest of us “know” what they know).

Often the “simple and easy” products require us to take the tedious time to learn far more than we really wanted to know. And we still find that “simple and easy” is relative. It isn’t a matter of intelligence or being smart. Photographers would rather spend their time “doing” photography – not becoming an “internet-techno-wizard!”

Also, many of the “simple and easy” photography websites wrongly assume that “one-size-fits-all.”

Website Builders To The Rescue

The advancement of technology has, once again, come to the rescue of photographers. “Website Builders” are the tools that put the full capacity and control of how to build a photography website totally in our hands! Really! And, many of the great website builders are FREE! As you may know, on the internet, free has value. Many vendors are so confident in the superior quality of their products that they offer them for free. They are convinced that once we try their free tools we will want to pay for continued use of the tools and/or other products that they sell. Some vendors even provide full versions of fully functioning website building tools for free and allow use of the free tools forever!

The beauty of “website builders” is that users can “test-drive” the tools again and again until the users are completely and fully satisfied that the tools are user-friendly and can help them to be successful! These tools continue to get better and more powerful. Competition among the website builder companies is fierce. Improvements are always taking place. All of them want you and me to use their product to learn how to build a photography website. No knowledge of HTML or coding is required! Most website builders let us drag-and-drop what we want on our website. All of them allow 1-2-3 publishing. Your competition and customers will be stunned by the professionalism and quality of your website. You can make changes when you want to by a couple of clicks.

And it even gets better! Many of these “website builders” are FREE! Do an internet search for “free website builders” in Google, MSN Live, Yahoo, etc. and you will have the choice of thousands and thousands of free website builders. You may have to spend some time trying them out. But, you will spend significantly much less time trying them out and finding a great website builder for yourself than you would be spending trying to use one of those “easy and simple to use”

Your quest for how to build a photography website has found the answer: website builders. Do yourself a favor and take your photography to the next level – find a website builder that meets your style and works for you. Test-drive them and be more profitable.

By: Kalem Aquil

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Website content

Everyone knows by now how important it is to have an accessible website both from a legal and a usability point of view, however this article looks at website accessibility from another angle. This article examines the commercial aspects of websites accessibility and states why it is also financially beneficial to have an accessible website.

First of all let’s stop and think about what goal you are trying to achieve with your website and then we will take a look at an example. Whether you are trying to generate leads from your website of sell directly over the web using an online shopping website, the more accessible you can make your content, the more users will succeed in finding the appropriate pages and doing whatever you want them to do when they get there. So it stands to reason that you should do whatever you can to make your site more accessible and easy to navigate for all users.

Let’s take a step back for a moment and think how users actually get to your site in the first place. They come from search engine results pages of course! Now there are many guidelines for creating accessible web pages, far too many in fact to list in this article. Instead let’s take a look at just a few notable examples of how website accessibility guidelines can also help your website rank well in search engines and therefore create more orders, enquiries and more profit!

One common website usability guideline is that you should use descriptive text to form links on your website. This is so that users have a better understanding of the type of web page that the link leads to. This in itself is a good idea. When you also consider that search engines essentially do the same thing – look at the words used to form the links to web pages, you can see that using keyword rich, descriptive link text is a very beneficial thing to to. Not only will it make your site much more user friendly but it will boost your rankings in search engines which will ultimately lead to more users and more profits.

Another cornerstone of website accessibility is the suggestion that you should use CSS (cascading style sheets) to lay out web pages and keep the amount of HTML markup in your web pages to a minimum. When you consider that the very reason search engines are visiting your site is to find and index its textual content then I’m sure you can appreciate that the more HTML markup and Javascript code that you put into your web pages simply hinders that search engines because they can’t find your textual content as easily. By following the website accessibility suggestion that you should use CSS (cascading style sheets) to lay out web pages you can make it as easy as possible for search engines to find and index the content on your web pages. They will then rank you more highly and send more visitors your way!

The final accessibility guideline that I would like to discuss is one that states that your opening paragraph on all your pages should describe the following content of the web page. This is obviously good from a usability standpoint as it means you can get the general idea of what the page is about by just reading the summary paragraph, rather than having to trudge through all the content to find out. Search engines also appear to work on the same principal – they give priority to content that is found higher up the code in each webpage. This means that the opening paragraph is given a greater weighting by search engines. If you can get your target keywords and keyphrases into your opening paragraph then this is an ideal situation for search engines as it helps them to quickly figure out what your web page is about and which keywords it is relevant to. Help the search engines to do their job and you will be rewarded with good rankings and if better website accessibility is a by-product of this then that’s even better!

Conclusion:

By using simple website accessibility guidelines not only can be make our sites easier to use, we can effectively optimise them for search engines in the process. To make more profits from our websites and achieve our online objectives we can safely assume that the more users that we can get to our site the better and the more of those users that can find their way to doing whatever we want them while they are on the site is even better!

By: Stuart Mortimer

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Website content