Part of having a cohesive blog design is to choose one or two fonts and two to four colors and stick with them on your site. The best looking sites are minimalist in design. A site that has too many different types of fonts and colors on it just looks unprofessional.
It is also helps to choose colors that suit your subject areas. Cooler colors such as blues and grays tend to suit blogs that are of a technical, political or authoritative nature. Warmer colors seem to suit more casual subjects. For instance a pink and yellow themed site is more suited to a blog about baby showers than it is to a rant about human rights abuses in Africa.
In general the smaller and more classic your font is, the more it implies authority and respect. An example is Times New Roman or Bookman. Arial, Verdana and Helvetica are middle of the road fonts that are offered with most blog templates as a standard font. The shorter, squatter and larger the font, the less professional your blog will look.
Additionally it is best to stick with fonts that most people would have on their computers. Keep in mind that if a computer cannot read a font it will put your site on a default font so it can be read. This can knock your layout out of alignment and give it an unattractive appearance on other people’s computers. Fonts that any computer can read include Arial, Verdana, Times Roman, Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino and Tahoma. Keep your layout as simple as possible to avoid distortion of it on other people’s computers as well.
One warning is to stay away from the black hat SEO technique of making your keywords the same color as a web page. The search engine spiders are on to this technique and will penalize your site for it.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
Becoming a website designer
Are you looking to get into website design for the first time? This overview is really aimed at people who want to adopt this as a pastime or perhaps those of you who are looking to move your career in that direction. But this is a complex subject, right? Well yes it can be, but it is actually quite simple if you want to develop a straightforward website for personal use and you have no aspirations to try and sell your services in the future.
In my opinion, you shouldn't begin to think about starting out as a web designer unless you are reasonably technical or at least you have more than a passing interest in the Internet. My own interest started out because I am passionate about the Internet as a communication medium. One important thing it is worth flagging up from the outset is that web design can be addictive and don't even think about it if you don't have an understanding partner! It can become an all-consuming activity very quickly as you begin to master the technologies.
So what do you need to start out in web design? Well for sure you need a computer and Internet connection - your first tick in the box! Secondly, you need some software to 'code' your web design. For starters, you can get all sorts of freeware and shareware off the web and you can begin by searching for 'HTML Editors'. Don't worry about what this stands for, as it's irrelevant. You will need a HTML Editor to create the code for your website. As you move up the website learning curve, you will more than likely want to invest in commercial software such as Microsoft's FrontPage or something like Dreamweaver. "So that's all I need?" I hear you ask. Well, it would be handy to start out with a few reference books to get you started. Getting your first rung on the web design ladder is probably the hardest part and it can be quite frustrating in the early stages as you try and figure out the technicalities. However, there are masses of help on the Web, but I cannot recommend highly enough that you at least get a reference book like "Website Design for Dummies" to make things a little easier.
Most of the HTML Editors are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), so this will make life so much easier for you. As your skills progress you will inevitably start to look at other people's web design techniques and study the code they have used to develop certain things that catch your eye as you browse the Web. At this point you will need to begin to understand how the code works and things will begin to get more complicated. In a matter of weeks you will be talking knowledgably about Tables, CSS, Java Script etc. You will become the 'office bore' before you know it!
Finally, you will need to think about how you will get your fledgling website out in front of the unsuspecting public i.e. on the Internet. You're unlikely to want to go and buy a domain name and a hosting package from day one, so it's probably best if you check out what your Internet Service Provider offers you for free. Most of the larger companies offer limited facilities to publish your web pages at no cost and this is a great starting point. One thing is for sure. If and when you actually get to the point of publishing your work of art so you can access it via the Web, you will be glowing with pride and fascination. I certainly did and it's quite an addictive feeling. Then the fun begins trying to attract visitors to your website, but that can wait for another day. Good luck!
About the author: Nigel Robinson is a marketing manager with http://www.fetcher.co.uk/ the UK’s products and services directory. He is also a freelance web designer with http://www.webaffinity.net/
In my opinion, you shouldn't begin to think about starting out as a web designer unless you are reasonably technical or at least you have more than a passing interest in the Internet. My own interest started out because I am passionate about the Internet as a communication medium. One important thing it is worth flagging up from the outset is that web design can be addictive and don't even think about it if you don't have an understanding partner! It can become an all-consuming activity very quickly as you begin to master the technologies.
So what do you need to start out in web design? Well for sure you need a computer and Internet connection - your first tick in the box! Secondly, you need some software to 'code' your web design. For starters, you can get all sorts of freeware and shareware off the web and you can begin by searching for 'HTML Editors'. Don't worry about what this stands for, as it's irrelevant. You will need a HTML Editor to create the code for your website. As you move up the website learning curve, you will more than likely want to invest in commercial software such as Microsoft's FrontPage or something like Dreamweaver. "So that's all I need?" I hear you ask. Well, it would be handy to start out with a few reference books to get you started. Getting your first rung on the web design ladder is probably the hardest part and it can be quite frustrating in the early stages as you try and figure out the technicalities. However, there are masses of help on the Web, but I cannot recommend highly enough that you at least get a reference book like "Website Design for Dummies" to make things a little easier.
Most of the HTML Editors are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), so this will make life so much easier for you. As your skills progress you will inevitably start to look at other people's web design techniques and study the code they have used to develop certain things that catch your eye as you browse the Web. At this point you will need to begin to understand how the code works and things will begin to get more complicated. In a matter of weeks you will be talking knowledgably about Tables, CSS, Java Script etc. You will become the 'office bore' before you know it!
Finally, you will need to think about how you will get your fledgling website out in front of the unsuspecting public i.e. on the Internet. You're unlikely to want to go and buy a domain name and a hosting package from day one, so it's probably best if you check out what your Internet Service Provider offers you for free. Most of the larger companies offer limited facilities to publish your web pages at no cost and this is a great starting point. One thing is for sure. If and when you actually get to the point of publishing your work of art so you can access it via the Web, you will be glowing with pride and fascination. I certainly did and it's quite an addictive feeling. Then the fun begins trying to attract visitors to your website, but that can wait for another day. Good luck!
About the author: Nigel Robinson is a marketing manager with http://www.fetcher.co.uk/ the UK’s products and services directory. He is also a freelance web designer with http://www.webaffinity.net/
Sunday, January 21, 2007
The First Website Review
Finally, i finish to cerate this blog. I'm not a writer, jurnalist or the other. But i like to review many kind of website that are createed by balinese people. As we know, bali island are the central of art.
For the first time, i would like to give my opinion to a www.indographs-printing.com . As far i know, in Bali there is no company that creating a website like this. Indographs is belong to PT. Indografika Kreasitama that Design by BitsWebDesign.
I this website, i can upload my printing job. I don't need to come to their company that are located in Kuta Bali. I Just klik the button in that website, choose my print job thats all. The website will give the response to my email to make it sure.
Not long after that, Indographs staff give me a confirmation about my job. Beside that, if you want to compare the printing price with the other company, you can request a quotation in that website. So very fast and easy.
After submiting my print job (Business Card) by Indographs Website, Now im affraid with the printed material. But after i get my Business Card, there no worry again. Good website, good website servise, good printing result.
For the first time, i would like to give my opinion to a www.indographs-printing.com . As far i know, in Bali there is no company that creating a website like this. Indographs is belong to PT. Indografika Kreasitama that Design by BitsWebDesign.
I this website, i can upload my printing job. I don't need to come to their company that are located in Kuta Bali. I Just klik the button in that website, choose my print job thats all. The website will give the response to my email to make it sure.
Not long after that, Indographs staff give me a confirmation about my job. Beside that, if you want to compare the printing price with the other company, you can request a quotation in that website. So very fast and easy.
After submiting my print job (Business Card) by Indographs Website, Now im affraid with the printed material. But after i get my Business Card, there no worry again. Good website, good website servise, good printing result.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
