October 28th, 2009 admin Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Ok so the latest I have discovered in this crazy world of SEO is that Google is now testing a little utility that allows you to fetch pages with GoogleBot. You heard it right.
So you might be thinking: “I want that”. Perhaps your second thought is: “How?” Ok here it is:
Just visit the webmaster tools platform. How? Oh ok, go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/googlebot-fetch and if you don’t yet have an account with Google you will have to create one. Once inside you need to verify the ownership of your site. Finally just ask GoogleBot to fetch the page that you want him to go get. Then as the best Golden Retriever he runs fast and comes back with a “Pending” status. Fortunately pending was for only seconds. Then he comes back to you and in his mouth has a success message. When you click on the “success” link you get your page. Just like that. Can you believe it? Once GoogleBot was this upscale pet that belonged to the most highest society of the internet. Only a ring of people could ask him to fetch and he would even think about it.
Now, almost anybody can ask him to go fetch and he does it. He goes and comes back with it.
Is there any benefit from this? The most important one is that you would have immediate understanding of your indexing capabilities. If your page can’t be retrieved for whatever reason you will know almost instantaniously.
Enjoy guys enjoy.
Alex_ @ merkados
Merkados: “We help small business owners double the money they currently make online”.
October 28th, 2009 admin Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
You are probably either thinking that you are in the wrong place or that we changed the design completely right? Well, it is the second one. We decided to change the look and feel of our blog because we think that we can improve our marketing position by doing so. I like the design better because it reads better. The font is more comfortable and the white background makes it very easy to read. On top we have now the chance of promoting our sponsors in a completely new way and therefore we can generate more income from that front. More income for our blog means more frequent postings and more free information for you.
So we hope that you like the blog and please make sure to send us any suggestions that you may think are necessary to bring it to the next level. Perhaps your suggestions will make it to our next design.
October 26th, 2009 admin Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
I don’t know what the guys at Adobe are eating but I want some of that! The physics engine in Flash CS5 is just ridiculously awesome. One click here and one click there and you have animated behavior with gravity, pull, mass calculations and a lot more. This is insane. Flash is becoming such a powerful tool that web designers won’t be able to ignore it for too long.
In today’s world, web designers are mostly thinking in terms of graphic design for the web. In other words, they use shapes, type, space and other elements to create a compelling and beautiful interface. The times are changing and they are changing fast. Interactive websites are here to stay. And I am not talking about the old “move everything in the page” kind of deal. The real interactive web is here. Broadband has made it possible.
Many things have to change in the next 2 years. I am sure Flash is going to be used a lot more. However at the same time I see the problems that Apple is having to adopt it in its iPhone.
Priority number one for Flash guys is to get Flash to the iPhone. No matter the cost. EVEN IF IT IS FREE! Why? Well, why wouldn’t Apple want to create a similar application that is native? Honestly with all the knowledge they have from Motion? I would say, priority number one is get Flash to the iPhone sooner rather than later. Otherwise you risk too much market share in the future.
October 22nd, 2009 admin Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Hi guys. This is a very quick post about a topic that I am sure interests most for-hire web designers. Job postings. Places like monster.com and Career Builder often send all these emails trying to catch the right candidate for the right position. The companies get high quality talent and the people get jobs. It is great, isn’t it?
Well, kind of. One thing I have noticed as a trend is that companies using this services are coming up with an outrageous number of requirements to hire. You may think that is because of the bad economy, but I don’t think so. I think is more a matter of not wanting the job listing to look empty or un-professional.
In any case, the reason behind is not so important. The real problem is what they are causing in the minds of talented web designers and developers out there.
Take a quick look at this snippet:
- 4 Year Degree in IT
Required Skills and Experience
.Net
C#, C++
Drupal
Photoshop
Flash
Illustrator
HTML
PHP
JavaScript
Linux
MySQL
All I have to say is wow. First of all: .Net is a Microsoft based platform (which is not free). PHP is a similar platform (which is open source, in other words is free). C# and C++ are two separate high level derivatives of C which use compiling and runtime. Drupal is an Open Source content management system based on php. Drupal is primarily seen as a CMS of preference for social-type websites. Photoshop is obviously the weapon of choice for website design, color correction image manipulation and Raster-based content. Flash is the world of interactivity and animation for both the desktop (AIR) and online. Illustrator is the most powerful vector-based application there is (as opposed to raster). HTML is full online markup language. PHP is the most well known server scripting language for building dynamic websites. Javascript is a client-based scripting language as opposed to the server-side of PHP. Linux is the operating system that runs in most web servers in the world, however it doesn’t run Photoshop, Illustrator or Flash as applications. Finally MYSQL for database storage.
In the notes section they state this:
At least 3 years of interactive (front-end and back-end) experience.
HTML; JavaScript; Linux; mySQL; PHP; XHTML; XML
On top of all this please make sure that you completed a 4 year degree in IT.
And finally, they top it with this sentence:
Experience with 3D apps, video editing and/or sound design, a PLUS!!!!
A Plus? Are you kidding? Getting an expert in half of the requirements is a plus. Getting an expert in all these things and on top of that having video and sound design experience is not a PLUS.
Why am I fired up? Well, I take this as an insult to our profession. Imagine what would happen if a hospital wanted to hire only doctors that are experts in oncology, brain surgery, heart surgery, microsurgery and if you can also do Eye surgery then is a PLUS!
The moral of this post is this: As a designer, don’t feel bad about this kind of job postings. Believe me, I have spend much of my life learning on a PC, LINUX and a MAC how to design in Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, InDesign, Fireworks and others, how to code in TextMate, Dreamweaver, Coda and others. How to Build in XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, Jquery, Mootols, XML and others. How to program in C, Objective-C (for the iPhone and MAC OS X). How to port to Drupal, Joomla, WordPress and others. I have plenty of experience with sound recording, mixing, editing and mastering. I have experience in Video recording in both SD and HD and I also read constantly about Digital Photography and HDR. I have my bachelors (4 year schooling) and I have a masters in business. All this time I have spent in this and when I see this kind of posting I feel the same way that people with less background do.
Don’t feel bad when you see a post like that. Feel good. Make sure that you don’t apply for a position like that. Why? Because the company that has the audacity to request that from you is also going to request more than what they can afford. They will force you into surrendering your free time, the one they don’t pay for. They will take away your self-esteem as a designer and they will take your creative kid away.
When you see a job posting like that, look at it and then walk away knowing that thankfully you saw their true colors before you stepped into their office. I don’t really know why they don’t ask you to run 100meters under 10seconds too. They probably should.
Today’s fast post is about Website Typography. For the longest time type online has been just an absolute chaos. The reason is pretty simple. Every browser has a different set of fonts installed. Some of them come standard in most computers, however you can’t get to fancy or otherwise some of your visitors may see your websites in a different light.
Many people have tried to relieve the pressure and used some solutions with different degrees of success.
Is TypeKit the final answer that web developers where searching for? Well, I don’t know yet, cause I haven’t gotten a beta invite. So why am I writing about this? Well, regardless of if this is the real deal. The real deal at some point will show up. The web is the perfect canvas for professional and controlled design. The next generation of publishers are going to be online first and print second.
Browsers are definitely going in that direction and I can’t wait what the IE10 or the Firefox 6 have to offer. Perhaps finally whatever typography you want to use?
October 17th, 2009 admin Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
You might be wondering what is the purpose of this post. And let me explain where I am coming from before I start. Lately I have seen that a lot of design tutorials focus on teaching technique, not decision of technique. In other words, they teach you how to do something, but they don’t teach you why they decided to use that technique in the first place.That’s what this post is for.
Obviously, the reasoning behind design is a very large topic and can’t be covered completely here. But this should be taken as an introduction to meaningful design.
White Space
Design usually is associated with several elements like shape/type, size, placement, etc. One of the most important decisions for a designer is white space. Many designers have a lot of trouble not filling up the canvas. Why? Well, I guess some feel that if the canvas is not full that the client is going to think that they are lazy. And this is true sometimes. However, is harder for a designer to abstain from adding more and more.
The main question that I try to answer in regards to white space is: Is this the most minimal way of powerfully presenting the idea?
Lets take a look at an example:
I am trying to illustrate the word Design in a white square.
First Example
So far so good. It looks good and it seems like indeed is minimal enough however I feel like the white space itself is not adding to the design. So lets go ahead and iterate in order to modify the white-space:
Example 2
Can you tell what changed from example 1? First, the right margin length is equal to the height of the font. That gives the sense of order and purpose for that margin. Second, the bottom margin is equal to double the distance of the right margin. This creates a point of interest while keeping it organized. Finally, the spacing between characters of the word Design (the kerning) has been adjusted to make the word appear more as a cluster – an object. Now, we have a background and a subject that are clearly defined and separated and they have a relationship.
To finalize this example I decided to replicate the overall white-space shape, invert it and add it to the corner of the word Design to add balance to the message.
Example 3
Now, in this example we have very little background to make design decisions. But in real life examples, as a graphic designer, you would have a client that has a market to satisfy and a product to sale. That should strongly drive your design decisions.
Final thoughts: How can this translate into an active recommendation that makes your design better? Ok, next time that you sit down to layout ask the final question about your white space and how it is adding to your design and if it could do a better job.
October 4th, 2009 admin Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
So, my wife and I just got back from the U2 concert. The first thing I have to say is that the stage is huge! Apart from the mere size of the stage, the whole experience from digital media to lighting to sound was absolutely first class.
Is that why that stadium was full? I don;t think so. Hence the purpose of this post. I think that all U2 success is based on one concept of one man. The man’s name is Bono. The concept is simple to know, however is incredibly difficult to execute:
Do whatever you want in life, but whatever you choose to do, do it boldly
What does that mean? Well, all of us are very good at being half-hearted at most things. However a life lived in this fasion takes away more value than it gives. We are truly like sheep that need direction. If you feel like somebody is bold, I believe that mentally you think that they know better than you what the right direction is.
Thousands of people payed a good ticket price to listen to U2 in concert. They did so thanks to the fact that Bono decided to make U2′s music as bold as he could. He makes their music more than a concert. Is a political-social-spiritual experience. He shares his views with the audience. Those views by the way are pretty bold as well. In fact I feel that he is past the point of being afraid of what people are going to say about them. He is past the point of caring about media and about public opinion. He has arrived at the higher place where now he has a true voice.
I believe we are all called to that place. Voicing our beliefs and our direction without fear or regret. Sharing who you really are is key in living a life of purpose and meaning. And the only way of getting there is to be bold.
Next time you are presented with the opportunity of doing your something, do it boldly. Don’t just half-do it. Don’t do an ok job. Go full blast. Give your all. Give your life. Be relentless and do it with the intensity that you would expect from the best at it. That would give you a voice. Once you have it, use it for good.
