Archive for May, 2009
PowePoint Templates: The Event We’ve All Been Waiting For!
Posted on 25. May, 2009 by Dave.
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In other words, PowerPoint Templates are basically the ready-made presentations that only require texts changes. A professional designer does everything and they have huge variety of flavors – for example there are PowerPoint presentations for Business Plan, Marketing Plan and much more.
Besides that, you are free to change or leave the images provided within each presentation as long as they are within that presentation. In case you wish to modify the backgrounds and other design elements the .PSD source files are also included (Adobe Photoshop required). Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 or later is required for editing the presentation itself.
In sum, if you thought Power Point was easy before – Wait Till You Get a Load of This!
Finally, if you are like me, and you still feel a little sketchy going into a presentation – take a look at this – this article was written by Jeff Wuorio, he is an author and consultant who writes about small business and personal finance, and offers good advice on this topic at Microsoft’s Small Business Center Internet site. The entire thing is about PowerPoint but all his suggestions really in general apply to any good presentation that uses graphics and illustrations in general to make a message more compelling.
And, as always, should you wish to acquire more information about our template customization services simply get in touch and tell us what you think.
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Blogging: What’s All That About Eh?
Posted on 25. May, 2009 by Dave.
In the past you’ve probably heard me mention that one way to instantly add some of those fundamental features of Web 2.0 on your site is to set up a Blog to run your site. In this article, we revisit the idea of running a full website using WordPress. And explore some of the possibilities that go a long way towards building you traffic – and hopefully get you more comfortable around the whole idea of interactivity and collaboration.
Having a professional looking WordPress theme is simple and I’ll get to that, but first off I just wan to clarify what I mean by setting up WordPress to run your site or using a Blog as your actual website. What’s All That About Eh?I know for some when they hear the word Blog, they immediately link it with having a personal journal or online diary, so in that setting I could understand how one might think their website “doesn’t constitutes the bases for a Blog” or simply feel the website “doesn’t fall under such a heading” – so, what really is a Blog and what could you use it for? And not only that, but also how can you get it looking professional and still escape all the coding and paying a graphic designer?
Generally speaking a Blog is just a website – the difference is that a Blog works like a CMS (Content Management Systems). The great advantage in that is that it makes it so you never have to call a webmaster for every little edit and then wait a week for him to get around to it.
Similarly, when you update your website, you want to be able to do it quickly and easily without worrying about HTML formatting and layout. A good blogging platform will take the worrying out of having to do any of that.
Personally I prefer WordPress – Basically, WordPress is what my site runs off of, and that is also what I recommend my customers to use whenever they want a website that is both search engine friendly and easy to maintain. WordPress is so easy to maintain in fact, that it even lets me post new entries/content by e-mail. How easy is that?
To learn how to configure WordPress to use e-mail to post to your blog, please read the following article.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Blog_by_Email
The fact that a Blog gives you the freedom to make your own updates quickly and easily is great, but what are the real benefits of having a Blog?
Let me tell you a little story. Since the end of the last ice age, Coca Cola has been an international household name – how do they do that? One way they have manage to do it is by keeping the customer well informed on everything from new releases and future offerings to the shape and size of the bottle – one more thing that has benefited them enormously is that they have been zealously working at gathering feedback – listening to customers and reacting accordingly to stay ahead the trend.
Your company Blog can do just that – in fact, due to the interactive nature of blogging, Blogs are literally custom made to allow your customers to post comments and let you gather that information. Great way to get feedback on what your next move should be!
Likewise you can use your Blog as a product or service update center where customers know to check in for status. Also you can share your expertise and become a hub for useful posts on your particular niche. And finally, you can also take full advantage of RSS (Really Simple Syndication); this gives your readers the ability to subscribe to your feed and receive regularly updated content automatically.
So that’s really the basis for doing any business blogging – later this week I’ll tell you how to get your Blog looking professional and not have to do any coding and pay practically nothing for the graphic design and overall look and feel – I will be introducing you to 50 plus professional WordPress themes – I’ll tell you a little bit about each one and let you see a live preview…
Resources:
Is Your Site Search Engine and Users Friendly?
How to Analyze, Optimize, Publicize, Monetize and Troubleshotize the Ideal Web 2.0 Site in a Nutshell.
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Flash vs. Silverlight: Move Over Bacon Now There’s Something Meatier.
Posted on 18. May, 2009 by Dave.
To read more about Silverlight vs. Flash, please read the following articles:
Silverlight vs. Flash – An Analysis Report
Flash vs. Silverlight: What Suits Your Needs Best?
Developers in particular have a lot riding on Flash, personally I would hate to have to choose. Nevertheless, I would have to say, the most convincing argument I’ve heard is that Silverlight has XAMLbased presentation layer for SEO, which means Textual content created with Silverlight is searchable and indexable by search engines as it is not compiled, but represented as text (XAML).
Take into perspective that developers can continue to provide experiences that were formerly possible only with Adobe Flash technology without the trade-off of a loss in search indexing and that’s a huge plus – Flash, regardless of what they say, just isn’t SEO compatible yet.
To read more about how it may be possible to make Flash SEO friendly, please read the following articles:
Future Proof Your Flash For Google And Enhance Your SWF File’s Potential
Flash Technology Enhances Search Results (I Don’t Think So!)
Top 10 Flash Questions and Answers for Newbies & Wannabies
Top 10 things Flash developers don’t want you to hear
On the other hand, performance wise, while Flash and Silverlight appear to be about the same a practical study on the implementation of components noted that the “size of Silverlight component is approximately 10-20 times larger than Flash component”.
Similarly SL does not support Linux, so anyone using Linux cannot run it on their machine and will have to stick to Windows or MAC OS. No doubt, of course, these are just minor drawbacks and come next version all of these little quirks will be history.
Yet, one might argue, partially due to the age difference and huge popularity of Flash that it would be almost unfathable for SL to ever catch up. Nevertheless, a little competition is always good, and in the end; it’ll be the content publishers, developers, and end users who’ll ultimately benefit.
What is Silverlight 1.0
A Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 project is a collection of website files that use some features of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) to create rich interactive applications and media experiences for the web.
You can use Microsoft Expression Blend 2 to quickly design a stunning user interface for your Silverlight 1.0 projects. Silverlight 1.0 projects that are created in Microsoft Expression Blend 2 include a XAML file (Page.xaml), a default HTML file that loads the starting XAML file when it is opened in a browser, together with supporting JavaScript files.
What is XAML?
Extensible Application Markup Language, or XAML (pronounced “zammel”), is an XML-based markup language developed by Microsoft. XAML is the language behind the visual presentation of an application that you develop in Microsoft Expression Blend, just as HTML is the language behind the visual presentation of a Web page. Creating an application in Expression Blend means writing XAML code, either by hand or visually by working in the Design view of Expression Blend.
NOTE: You do not need to understand XAML to create applications in Expression Blend if you work in Design view.
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10 Custom Fields Hacks For WordPress
Posted on 13. May, 2009 by Dave.
You may not know this but WordPress has a neat little feature called custom fields – this feature is found at the bottom of the page where you go to make/edit your post, and it just another one of those things that makes WordPress so practical and so very easy to use.
Custom fields let users create variables and add custom values to them – this article has compiled 10 of the most popular custom fields hacks and their usages. Among them are adding a “Digg This” button only when you need it…
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Hundreds of Resources for Finding Content for Your Blog
Posted on 12. May, 2009 by Dave.
Thought this post might be very helpful for anyone experiencing writers block – if you are having a little difficultly coming up with original content for your blog – this blogger has put together for you Hundreds of Resources for Finding Content for Your Blog all on one post – Boneappetite!
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Mobile Template For Handheld Devices
Posted on 11. May, 2009 by Dave.
Hello everyone! I’m writing today to announce the launch of Template Monster’s Mobile templates for handheld devices. This will enable you to properly present your website to billions of mobile Internet users world wide.
Similarly, the layout is very basic and arranged to look perfect, even on those tiny screens in handheld devices – so beautiful, so lightweight and so optimized for handheld devices!
Not convinced you should go mobile?
Did you know that the number of users accessing the Internet from their handheld devices has experienced a 107% growth during the period of January 2008 to January 2009? And, that the number of RIM’s BlackBerry users alone has reached 25 million with an additional 3.9 million in the last quarter of 2008. Aahhh! Bet you did not know that…
Similarly, Apple is expected to triple it’s sales on the IPhone 3G for 2009 and as if there weren’t enough, almost half of Earth’s population has access to some type of mobile device such as cell phones. That’s about 3 billion potential mobile Internet users.
First of all, test your site.
The first thing you should probably go do is test your website on a pocket device – maybe your own PDA or a Pocket PC layout simulator like the one found here at http://www.g-site.com/ppc/.
Are you going? You really should go… I don’t hear that mouse clicking!
What the PPC emulator does is simulates the approximate viewable area of a typical 240×320 PPC screen – the simulation is not 100% accurate of course, but does provide a general idea of what your site might look like on a Pocket PC Screen.
Does your website need to be adapted to the small screen?
If you want to discuss a mobile template, if you need a quote, or anything else, just drop us a line. Be as specific as possible, it will help us to understand your needs better so we are be able to give you our accurate price. Mobile Templates from foamers.net are optimized for being perfectly displayed with 98% mobile device platforms. Including these major ones:
What are you waiting for? Start browsing them now!
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Just Finished Another Customization Project – SCI
Posted on 05. May, 2009 by Dave.
Just finished this basic little website for Mr. Brian Stoeckert, over at http://stoeckertconsulting.com. Based in Los Angeles, California, the firm’s practice provides creative solutions to complex money laundering schemes, terrorist financing typologies, and high-risk fraud investigations.
Brian is also a leading authority on permuta bond swaps and is the co-author of “Moving Money North: Currency Exchange in Venezuela via the Permuta.” – very interesting stuff
Template customization duration: 24 hours
Budget: - $380 USD (template price is not included).
Job description:
Changing the logo and menu, inserting the content into 9 pages – contact form and sign up page integration – inserting title and meta description tags.
Project consultant – Dave Collado.
Should you wish to acquire more information about our template customization services simply get in touch
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Behind the Scenes With Premium Templates
Posted on 03. May, 2009 by Dave.
Did you know that a premium template’s production process always involves a whole teem of professionals? – Yes friends, even the most basic premium template requires a minimum team of 5 professionals – in fact, the whole project takes a lot of time – you get the work of 7 professionals X 8 hours for as little as $120 – That’s awesome!
In this video you’ll get an exclusive behind the scene look at the miracle – the whole process of how premium templates are done, everything from the topic choosing and initial design process to layout and Flash conversion –
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50 Vectors To Liven Up Your Web Design
Posted on 03. May, 2009 by Dave.
Foamers understands that not everyone is a graphic designer. Yet we can all appreciate the importance and benefits of having good graphics – particularly if its free stuff – personally I enjoy finding trendy little graphics such as arrows or badges – stuff that will immediately attract the visitor’s attention and that I’ll reuse.
This is actually one of my most decent finds – 50 Fantastic Vectors for web design – all awesome stuff very cool I particularly like the arrows – check out the original post for downloads
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