Ideas to Make Your Website Work Harder for You

“What can I do to make my Web site better?” I get this question a lot. In many cases, the short answer is “plenty”. Here is a checklist of items I use to help clients determine what items would be helpful to them to improve their website. (We’ll call the following, “the long answer”.) Content…

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How do I sample colors from my computer screen?

Question I have a sample from a client that has this color they want to use on their website and their brochure. How can I figure out what color it is? And, how would I figure out the corresponding Pantone color? Answer There are several ways you can approach this. Since you are needing the…

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A List of 9 Website Mistakes

Very few of us have the time to spend worrying about yet another demand on our hours and resources… playing around with the website. You were told you needed one, so you got one with your business name and phone number and email like an electronic business card… and forgot about it. But unlike a…

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Recommendations for Teaching Yourself Web Design

Question I’ve been planning on talking to an IT counselor at my local college about taking a class or two, or three… in web design. I don’t want to take the wrong classes and in the wrong order, but quite a lot can be learned for free via web. Much of what I know now…

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The future of magazines: Sports Illustrated

Here is this great demo of a Sports Illustrated magazine. With the popularity of reading media on computers and mobile devices like the iPad, you can see what the near future might look like. Already many of my magazines offer versions that are digital and full of search capabilities.

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Quick DIY Search Engine Optimization

So, you have a website. You are wondering how it’s working? After all, you don’t know a thing about programming and you did have the site done a few years ago. Is it outdated? Did your designer do anything thing with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? The more money you throw at SEO, the better…

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Design Contests: The Ugly Truth

Will Work for Cash Let’s say you have a successful company and want to do a little updating. You’ve decided that old logo is looking dated, and head to a design agency you know and trust for something new. They quote you $1,000 for a design, tell you that they’ll be researching your business and…

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Firebug: Firefox CSS Addon

Firebug is an addon for Firefox and is a really nice little tool if you are doing web development. It gives you a great way to see what CSS is being used and view changes on the fly! See Kristarella’s 6.5 minute video below. It’s a great little tutorial!

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Php Date Function Cheater List

Can’t remember all the different date formats for php when making time stamps? I found that I needed to look these up frequently enough that I thought it would be handy to make a post. Now I always know where to go. Maybe it will help one of you too. Formats d – The day…

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How to protect a directory using .htaccess

Adding Folder Password Protection Sometimes you need to protect a directory with a login and password. Here is how to accomplish this. You will need ssh access. Create or upload a file named: .htaccess in the directory you are wanting to protect. The .htaccess file should contain the following 4 lines: AuthType Basic AuthName “Some…

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