Blog Outloud

Design Tips For Your Blog

2011-08-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick and easy tips to remember when designing your own blog!
1. Width. When customizing the width of your layout, keep in mind that people who come to your blog have different screen sizes. You don’t want your layout to be the default Blogger 660px wide and look tiny on a huge screen, but you also don’t want a 1300px layout that readers must scroll to the right t0 view. A good “in between” size is from 900-1000 pixels.
2. Header size. The width of your header should be the width of the rest of your content (usually) so 900-1000px wide is great. But what about height? It all depends on what you put in your header! Do you have a nice iStockphoto image that takes up a lot of space? Or is it just text? Photos? If it’s just text – stick with around 150-200px tall. If you have graphics, go 250-300. I wouldn’t suggest ever going above 300. The header isn’t the most important part of a blog – the posts and content are. So always be sure to highlight the content with an attractive design instead of letting the design take over the blog. (Good examples: The Mommy Matters, The Happenstance Housewife.)
3. Font choice. With the new Google Web Fonts being released, it’s tempting to pick really cute fonts for your paragraphs and blog content. No matter how legible the font seemingly is, it’s an eyesore for people who want to really read your blog. Pick Arial, Times, Georgia, Century Gothic, Helvetica, or find a good “paragraph” font in the Google web fonts directory. (Or use a good paragraph font with Typekit and @font-face if you are on WordPress.) Scripty, handwritten, cutesy fonts, are best reserved for headings and larger text. (Good examples: Serif font: 2711 Designs, Sans-Serif font: November Girl and Family.)
5. Layout. Three columns, or posts on the left are the most favorable layout styles. We naturally read left to right, so having the most interesting content (blog posts) on the left, the more comfortable your readers will feel.
6. Colors: Dark text on a light background is usually the best way to go. You can vary this and use darker colored text on a light background, but on computer screens – dark text on a light background is the easiest to read. With regard to your design, you can pretty much go crazy with colors! Let your personal style shine through! I like to use kuler.adobe.com to make swatches, and Pinterest.com is great for inspiration. Here are a few color tips too!

Reds, yellows, browns, greens: Great for food blogs, as these warmer colors are more “appetizing.” (Note: McDonald’s, Applebees, most restaurants use red.) Also good for blogs about reading and money.
Blues, grays: Use on informational sites, business sites, and professional blogs. (Note: Wal-Mart, Studiopress.com) Did you know that BLUE is the least appetizing color? Pastel blues obviously provide a feminine touch, and pale grays evoke professionalism.
Black: Excellent for photography sites and portfolios, black makes your photos stand out against the background and creates contrast between the photos and design.
White: Great for any site, especially as a backdrop. Feelings of cleanliness, simplicity, purity, and optimism can be created with the careful use of white in your blog. White text on darker backgrounds are okay for headings, but harder to read in paragraph form.

7. Backgrounds: There are a lot of choices for free backgrounds around the internet for your blog. Choosing your background carefully can determine whether your readers stay or quickly leave because it’s the largest image (or pattern) on your site. The background should compliment your layout – not be the center of attention. Choose a background with a subtle pattern, or a few pops of color. Avoid highly contrasted, busy, and loud background images. (Good Examples: Theta Mom Media, Mom and Wife.)
Hope these tips help!

Blogger Features

2011-07-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

We created Blogger to give you an easy way to share your thoughts — about current events, what's going on in your life, or anything else you'd care to discuss — with the world. We've developed a host of features to make blogging as simple and effective as possible.
Getting Started | More Features | Advanced Features

Getting Started

New! Customize your design

The Blogger Template Designer offers many templates, making it simple for you to create a professional-looking blog. In addition, the Template Designer lets you customize your template. Choose from hundreds of background images, tens of flexible layouts, and rearrange widgets through a drag and drop interface. Add gadgets such as slideshows, user polls, or even AdSense ads. Changing fonts and colors is easy too. And if that’s not enough control, you can even edit your blog’s CSS and HTML.

Publishing your voice is easy and free

Creating your blog with Blogger takes just a few easy steps. In a matter of minutes you can start posting text, photos, videos, and more to your blog. Post as often as you want; it's free. Check out this article on How to get started or watch the How to create a blog with Blogger video.

Simple-to-use interface

Follow a few basic steps to start posting to your blog. Our simple-to-use interface lets you change fonts, bold or italicize your text, adjust text color and alignment, and more. As you compose each new blog post, Blogger saves it automatically, without interrupting your typing. There's also an easy-to-use spell-check feature and a simple way to add labels to your posts. In addition, Blogger includes an HTML editor that lets you fully customize the look and feel of your posts.

Your free website

When you create your blog, you can host it for free on Blog*Spot. Just choose an available URL and you're ready to go. If you change your mind and want a different URL later, making the change is easy. Blogger also includes a custom domain option; you can have a domain name, like example.com, and we'll still host your blog there, giving you all of Blogger's great features.

Add photos and videos to your post

You can easily add a photo to your blog post by clicking on the image icon in the post editor toolbar. Your photos are then hosted in your free Picasa Web Albums account, where you can order prints and organize photos into albums. Adding a video to your post is just as easy; just click on the film-strip icon on the post editor toolbar to get started. Videos uploaded through Blogger are hosted on Google Video.

More Features

New! Earn money

With Blogger, you can earn money just by posting high quality original content on your favorite topics. Blogger has a dedicated Monetize tab that allows you to easily place AdSense ads on your blog. Also, through Blogger’s Amazon Associates program, you can search Amazon’s product catalog and add links to products you recommend that earn you commission when your readers buy these products.

Develop your community

Let your readers follow your blog by adding the Followers gadget to your layout. With this gadget, your readers can click the "Follow This Blog" link to add your blog to their Blogger Dashboard and Google Reader account. They also have the option to add their image and profile to your blog to tell the world that they're a fan.

Feedback from your readers

It's easy for readers to leave comments on any of your blog posts, giving you useful, timely feedback. They can leave comments right below the post, in a pop-up window, or on a separate page. You can also use Reactions to let your readers quickly provide feedback with just one click.

New post notifications

Your readers can choose to subscribe to your blog's feeds, so they're notified whenever you publish a new blog post. You can also customize what's shared in your blog's feed, and set up your blog to email new posts automatically to specific email addresses or mailing lists.

One simple ID

Because you can login to Blogger with your Google Account — which also gives you access to Gmail, iGoogle, orkut, etc. — you have one less username and password to remember. Your blog's address can also be used as an OpenID to give you a single digital identity across the web. Since your blog can accept comments from OpenID users in addition to registered Blogger members, it'll be easier for all your readers to leave feedback and participate in your conversations.

Languages of the world

Blogger is currently available in 41 languages including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian speakers can use Blogger with Right-to-Left display and formatting. And transliteration is available for five Indic languages.

Advanced Features

New! Pages

With Blogger’s Pages feature, you can create new pages that are linked from your blog. For example, you can create an “About This Blog” or a “Contact Me” page, in a similar way you write a new blog post, and provide links to those pages as tabs at the top of your blog or in the sidebar.

Posting on the go

Blogger has many additional ways for you to post to your blog. You can post to your blog from your mobile phone or through a secret Mail-to-Blogger email address. Or use the Blogger Post Gadget to edit and publish posts directly from your custom iGoogle homepage. With these options, it's easy to post to your blog whenever you want, from wherever you may be.

Group blogging

With Blogger, it's easy to create a team blog, allowing multiple bloggers to contribute to a single blog. You select which team members have administrative authority and those who are just authors. You can also choose to make your blog private and restrict who can view it. This puts you in full control of your blog.

Third-party applications

You can choose among a host of third-party applications that integrate with Blogger to make it even easier for you to blog. Be sure to check out code.blogger.com if you're a developer and want to create your own great app.

Even more features...

We're constantly developing new features for Blogger; check out Blogger Buzz to stay on top of all the latest additions and changes. If you want to try some of our experimental features, check out Blogger in draft. And if you need more information about any of Blogger's features, be sure to visit the Blogger Help site or discussion group. To see what others are posting, check out Blogs of Note. We hope you like what we've created.

Tutorials

2011-07-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

Reinstalling Google Analytics

Installing Google Analytics

Moderating your Blog's Comments

Adding Labels to your Blog Posts

Granting Admin Privileges

Add the Link Withing Gadget to your Blog

Adding and Configuring a Sticky Welcome Post

How to Apply a Watermark to Photos

DIY Custom Blog Fonts

Unlocking Wordpress

Creating a Webs Account

Adding a Polaroid Effect to your Post Images

Changing your Password in Blogger

Using Free Backgrounds in the Watermark Template

Setting up a Photobucket Account

Expandable Post Summaries

Fancy Up your Footer

Making your Images Unclickable

Backing Up Your Template

Transferring a Domain Using GoDaddy.com

Spice up your Blog with Gadgets

How to Change the Color/Style of your Blogger Nav Bar

Finding the Old Blogger Templates

Adding Pages to your Blog

How to Right Click Disable Your Blog

Uploading Larger Pictures in Blogger

Importance of Fonts

2011-05-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

Found this at onthespotstudio... You will love this blog.. Make sure you comment on it.. Enjoy the content...

Fonts:

Fonts are one of the most important parts of your logo design. If your designer asks YOUR input on the type of font you like, be as specific as possible using links to the font(s) and other logo designs to guide them.
(check out sites like myfonts.com and fonts.com and give examples. The more detailed you are, the better)
A few tips while picking out fonts:
DONT go too handwritten/rough edged. Not only do these fonts not usually look professional but nine times out of ten: they do not print well either.
DONT choose a font that is either:
a) OVERUSED (ie: Scriptina, Corinthia, Passions Conflict, Inspiration, dear joe, pea fonts)
b) FREE (most free fonts are NOT okay to use for logo design)
c) hard to read/rough edged (dear joe, susies hand, etc.)
DO choose a font that is:
a) clean, sans serif ( Marlowe, Harry Thin, Le Havre, MrEaves)
b) clean serif (Garamond, Filosofia, Perpetua, Century)
c) Legible Script ( PF Champion Script Pro®, Liza, Dolce, Eye Catching, Feel Script)
Some fonts are NOT cheap. It’s nothing for me to spend well over $100 a week on JUST fonts for clients. This guarantees the design to be unique, timeless, clean and “you”.
When deciding on the type of font you want, be sure to let your designer KNOW that way they are not buying fonts you “think” you may like, as well as wasting money on fonts they may never use again. A good designer stays up to date on new release fonts and has an “eye” for what will and will not work on logo designs. If your designer informs you that they will have to purchase the font that you want, be absolutely positive, no doubt in your mind that that is the font you want. You will also have to purchase the font if you want your branding to be consistent. The designer can NOT give you the font file with your final designs, as it is against many font designers TOU. If the TOU are questionable, be sure to email the FONT DESIGNER yourself to find out if a special commercial license is needed for use on logo design. If so, let your designer know so that he/she can purchase the correct licenses for your designwork.
Remember: when designing your own logo or having a designer do it for you, sometimes, simple is better. The more legible your font on your logo is, the better chance of someone recognizing it.

Ustream ~ Broadcast video LIVE... Branding you!

2011-05-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Broadcast video LIVE to the world from a computer, mobile or iPhone in minutes, or watch thousands of shows from News to Entertainment to celebrities, 24/7.

Overview
Ustream is the leading live interactive broadcast platform. Anyone with an internet connection and a camera can start engaging with their family, friends or fans anytime, anywhere. Millions of Ustream users view and broadcast a wide variety of content, from high school sporting events to red carpet movie premieres. Notable Ustream broadcasts include major political events, concerts, conferences, movie premieres, talk shows, sporting events, interactive games, and personal milestones.
Our Mission
Ustream’s mission is to bring people together around shared interests for amazing live, interactive experiences that build and maintain relationships.
Company Background
After meeting at West Point in 2007, founders John Ham and Brad Hunstable joined with Gyula Feher to create a service that would allow service men to communicate with their families and friends live, all at once. The founders launched Ustream in March 2007, and the service has since found worldwide adoption, becoming the leading live interactive broadcast platform. Ustream has offices in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Budapest.

SKYPE:Technologies inside and outside the classroom

2011-05-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

ion, pamela, pretty may, skype, teaching

http://straubroland.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/skypes-the-answer/Skype is a free web tool where you can make and receive free calls and video calls only with an internet connection. I’ve already shown a short presentation on Skype in my previous post about Prezi so what I’m just going to give some tips on how to use it in your classroom as well as outside
Sorry for writing so much but I did this while on the train and I didn’t have my microphone with me and it would’ve been kind of awkward recoding this post with 8 people sitting around you

Inside the classroom:

Let’s say you want to invite a guest to talk to the class but this person is in another country and can’t make it to your class (transport, expenses, time, etc. – for all these reasons and maybe others). What you could do is to organize a live video stream through Skype.

You could ask your students then to interview the person, take notes on his/her answers and write an article about him/her

You could start a call with a person (important for your lesson) on Skype without video feature. Ask him/her to hold a short speech on a certain topic and ask you students to speculate on the persons characteristics and appearance just by listening to his/her voice – for using adjectives; speculating language; language for prediction. In the end show the person by activating the video feature and ask your students to compare their predictions with the true identity.
I don’t know how many of you do this but I have some classes where I teach my students how to make phone calls, how to start a phone conversation, how to end it when calling for different reasons (personal or professional). In these lessons I like to use real examples. This means that I actually give them a phone or ask them if we can use theirs. Some might not want to pay extra costs for phone conversations on their phone in the English lesson and maybe you don’t want to do this either (mainly if you have a large class). Do you see where I’m heading with this? Yes, Skype is an alternative – in case you have at least 2 laptops at hand. You can use one laptop in the classroom for the incoming call and place the other one outside the classroom for the outgoing call. In this way they can not only practice phone conversations (such as reporting a crime or calling for help and describing what happened) but also video conferencing. Of course, keep in mind that you cannot have more than 2 videos running at the same time on one laptop. You can have a phone conversation with more people at once but not with video on.
Students record their conversations on Skype, send you the saved recording on email and you can give them feedback on it. I always strive to give a feedback as good as possible to my students and this might be sometimes difficult when in the classroom. I’m not saying it’s impossible….I’m just saying that processed information is easier to assess.

Outside the classroom:

I might want to practice the Speaking part for the IELTS, TOEFL or Cambridge (FCE, CAE, CPE) exams in the class and I see that my students still need practice. If I don’t have enough time in the class for further practice then I can tell them to practise their speaking skills at home. How do they do this?
Well there are more options:
o    You can ask them to record themselves using their phone while talking about a topic. However, not everyone has a phone with a recorder on it.
o    You can tell them to use a microphone and install a specific software on their computer to record what they’re saying. However, they have to buy a microphone in case they don’t have one and they have to install the proper software on their computer…something that not everyone is willing to do.
o    IF they have a laptop with an incorporated microphone, they could use that. However, not every Windows OS supports a recorder although Windows 7 has one and is free for use in the Accessories section. You just have to open it and push the big red button to start recording.

o    Using a proper recorder is of course a good way also but once again they need to buy one if they don’t have one yet. For most this might be a pain in the neck and might demotivate them to practice the speaking part.
And if you think about it, talking to oneself is not really what happens at exam…or in real life… Practising speaking on your own might be good if you’re practising for a speech and still you don’t have an audience…something that you do have in reality.
So without further a do….In my opinion, the best way of practising speaking at home on a phone with a partner is using Skype.
Skype not only offers you free calls but also free live video chat feature thus making it able for anyone who has a laptop with a webcam and a microphone (built in or external) to have a real conversation while practising some speaking skills. Yes, you do have to have a microphone…luckily most of the laptops nowadays on the market offer you a built in webcam as well a microphone thus making the purchase of an external microphone unnecessary.
So how do we give feedback on a conversation that our students have had at home with another person? The answer is simple…we ask them to record the conversation and send it email it to us:)
How do we do this? On Skype of course Skype has many plug-ins which give us the possibility to record not only the voice but also the video calls.
You might not want to ask your students to record their video calls…I think asking them to record their voice calls is enough for you and for them. They might be shy enough to listen to their own voices and sending it to you could be something they might not be keen on.

Top widgets for your website [Part - 1]

2011-04-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers,
After so long time I’m writing an article. Today we will see some cool gadgets, widgets for blogs/websites. The widgets like weather info, visitors map/location, local time, Facebook connect, Twitter tweets etc. You can also have these kind of widgets on your blog or website. You just need a code sinnpet to get these widgets. Today we will some useful widgets that you should have on your website or blog.

Visitors Map / Location
1. Cluster Map : Cluster Map provides the visitor location and count of visits from specific region. This is free widgets. You just need to register your self on this websites. Cluster map represents visitor location by red dot. The dot size depends on the traffic of your website. The dot size gets bigger when your website gets massive hits.

2. Feedjit (Live traffic feed) : Feedjit provides a Live traffic feed. Its a very good option to get the details about website visitors. This is a free widget. You can get the details like from which part of the world the visitor arrives on your blog and on which page with the exact time. Here you can see the details about visitor’s OS, browser and Country. You can pause the feedjit service if you want. I like this widget, so I’m using this in my blog.
Social Networking
1. Facebook Like box : Today everyone is crazy for facebook. Faceboook plays a key role in social networking. You can create a page on Facebook, where you and your followers can share thoughts. You should have the like box in to your website. If a new user see your website and he wants to follow you then he can simply click on like button provided there to become a fan on facebook. This widgets is provided by Facebook.

Click here to get your own Facebook Like box : http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like-box
2. Twitter Button: Twitter is very popular website among netizens. Almost all of us use Twitter daily to share, read the information. If someone likes something then he share it on twitter so other people can also know about this. The same funda you can use via giving the twitter button to user. They can share it on twitter if they like.
Click here to get your own twitter button : http://twitter.com/about/resources/tweetbutton

Weather
Yahoo! Weather Badge : Yahoo Weather badge is a really cool widget. It shows the current temperature of the specified location. You can customize this as per your need. It shows almost all important cities weather. You just need to select city and set other 2-3 things, that’s all your weather badge is ready. I will recommend this widget for websites which gives information about Regional and Travel.
We will some other cool gadgets in our next Part of “Top widgets for your website”.

How To Create a Soft Fade Vignette Effect in Photoshop Elements

2011-04-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

Soft Fade Vignette Effect

A vignette, or soft fade, is a popular photo effect where the photo gradually fades into the background, usually in an oval shape. Elements has a built in vignette effect, but this method gives you more control. New: See my updated tutorial on how to create a vignette effect non-destructively.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 1 minute

Here's How:

Open a photo.
Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool.
Click and drag across the image to select the area of the photo you want to keep.
Go to Select > Feather and enter a radius amount. A value between 20-50 works well. The higher the value, the softer the fade will be.
Go to Select > Inverse.
If you want a background color other than white, black or gray, choose the color in the toolbox now.
Go to Edit > Fill and select a color or pattern to fill in the background.
Go to Select > Deselect.

Tips:

Be sure to save under a different name so you don't overwrite your original.
After step 4, you can optionally copy and paste the feathered selection to another image.
There is a one-click Vignette in the effects palette of Photoshop Elements, but by learning the manual method, you have control over the softness of the fade and the background contents.
New: See my updated tutorial on how to create a vignette effect non-destructively.

Pick A Glitter Template To Personalize

2011-01-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

Over 750 animated sparkly glitter background effects (glitter fills) to select from! 1,000s of combinations. Change the background color.
Over 200 font styles to choose from!
Click a logo to left for the glitter logo maker or click HERE for the previews of the special effects.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8

2011-01-29T15:12:00.000-08:00

For more instructional and troubleshooting information, visit Photoshop Elements Help & Support.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 8

Elements 8 Help

Elements Organizer
Photoshop Elements Editor
Premiere Elements Editor
Using Photoshop Elements 8 Editor

Getting started with Adobe Photoshop Elements
Photoshop Elements workspace
Working in the Editor
Using layers
Camera raw files
Selecting parts of an image
Color and tonal correction
Cropping, resizing, retouching, and transforming photos
Understanding color
Filters, effects, styles, and artwork
Effects
Filters
Artistic filters
Blur filters
Brush Stroke filters
Distort filters
Noise filters
Pixelate filters
Render filters
Sketch filters
Stylize filters
Diffuse
Emboss
Extrude
Find Edges
Glowing Edges
Solarize
Tiles
Trace Contour
Wind
Texture filters
Video filters
Other filters
Painting
Adding text and shapes
Creating projects in the Editor
Optimizing for the web
Printing and sharing photos
Photoshop Elements Editor keyboard shortcuts
Glossary
Legal notices

About 10Steps.SG

2011-01-29T14:56:00.000-08:00

Hi there, thanks for visiting 10Steps.SG. I am Johnson Koh, from Singapore. Currently am working full-time as an Art Director in Garena, a gaming software developing company. I always enjoy doing and reading anything that is design related. This blog was started in August 2008, where the purpose is to share my random experiments with Adobe Photoshop and some interesting design articles I come across daily.
Writing tutorials is really new to me but I am enjoying it so far and always trying to improve myself. Hope everyone will enjoy your stay here and get some useful tips and resources.

Stores Templates: 25 Best Free Online

2011-01-29T14:40:00.000-08:00

Stores Templates: 25 Best Free Online

Beautiful Life is online magazine dedicated to all aspects of design. Beautiful Life is full of interesting and unique info about creative design, beautiful art and luxury lifestyle. There are many things in the world that are interesting, beautiful and worthy to tell everybody.
Do you like beautiful, unusual and luxury stuff? Do you want always be the first who will be known about design news? Then our site is for you. If you haven't become our subscriber yet - do it right now via RSS.

We continue to show you collection of best free templates all over the Internet. If you’re our loyal reader you should remember our previous collections for example like 15 Best Free Hotel Templates or 15 Best Free Real Estate Templates. This time we want to show high quality free templates that can be used for creating online stores in any niche. Listed further online shop templates are developed by various design studios and companies and will surely come in handy if you want to start you online business. The collection contains free css templates as well as free osCommerce templates. We hope that here you will find website template that will suit you perfectly. Also don’t forget to check other online stores templates.

My Recommended Business Tools

2011-01-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

The main reason i now recommend this business tools is simply because my mentors and I found success with them. They tested and tried other systems and choosen this as one of the best to work with. As I have made my journey into internet marketing I have found for myselves and other people have introduced me to some fantastic tools that have made my life so much easier so i thought that i would help you by telling you about them. If you think they’ll be useful for your start-up online business or existing one, feel free to give it a try. You’ll be glad you did.

This suite of tools is online marketers’ dream come true. At My Express Site you can host and build websites, wordpress blogs, lead capture pages, buy domain names, track statistics, and tons more stuff. And you don’t need to be a “techie”. It’s all so simple to use – just choose a template and off you go! Click Here

Or a Free Website with Weebly

Once upon a time to build a website you had to be a HTML whizz kid, not any more. You’ll find it is the easiest way to build websites in a flash. Best of all it is FREE. You can create websites with a click of a mouse and within minutes your site is up and running and hosted FREE. Have a go! Create your websites today!

Email Marketing

Aweber is an autoresponder and is an essential tool for building an internet business. It allows you to keep in contact with your prospects and your team easily and automatically. Click Here
Search Engine Marketing

which is marketing a website online via search engines, either by improving the site’s natural (organic) ranking through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories, which are similar to offline yellow page listings. Use single strategy or a combination of three for top search ranking. Using Linksvana blog marketing service exclusively – no other link building too can triple traffic to your website and increase your online presence. Create one way quality permanent backlinks with great page raking (PR2-PR5) Click here.
Press Release

Online press releases, which involve placing a newsworthy story about a company, its website, its people, and/or its products/services with on online wire service. I used to say that using press release were one of the most feared methods for promoting a website. These days i’d say it depends on the person. Yes, people are still quite scared of these things, but some people find video far more. Whether or not you’re scared of then (fraidy cat), you’re going to want to use them. The bottom line is that they’re great way to get traffic to your website. Click here
Video Marketing

Million dollar businesses have been built using Youtube alone as the only video site you use, but with so many other video sites out there looking for your videos, you may as well upload them to those other sites too. The issue becomes the time it takes to upload a video over and over again. It’s a tedious job and not one that’s really worth your time. Instead, I recommend you use a video distribution service to get your videos on multiple sites. This way you only have to upload your video once and they take care of the multiple uploads from their end. My favorite service for distributing video across 25 or so different video sharing sites is Traffic Geyser. Click here
Article Marketing

Article marketing, which involves writing articles related to your business and having them published online on syndicated article sites. These articles then have a tendency to spread around the Internet since the article services permit re-publication provided that all of the links in the article are maintained. Article marketing can result in a traffic boost for your website, and the distribution of syndicated articles can promote your brand to a wide audience. Click here

HTML Forms and Input

2010-12-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

Try-It-Yourself Examples

Create text fields
How to create text fields. The user can write text in a text field.
Create password field
How to create a password field.
(You can find more examples at the bottom of this page)

FoxTab FLV Player

2010-11-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

FoxTab FLV Player

FoxTab FLV Player (Flash Video Player) is a free video player that lets you play Flash FLV and H.264 (MPEG-4) videos files downloaded from YouTube and other video sites.
The FLV Player supports all of the video formats available by the Adobe Flash platform.

License: Freeware Free
Requirements: No special requirements
Operating system: Windows XP/Vista/7/2000

Description:

A simple, lite and fast FLV Player to play FLV videos files.
The easiest way to play FLV (Flash Video) files.
The beauty of this player lies in its simple set up and clear interface:

The FLV Player has simple controls - play, stop and open file buttons, navigate backward and forward through the video progress bar, adjust the volume and the size of the player (supports full screen).

The FLV Video Player is compatible with Win XP, Vista and Windows 7.

What can you do?

Play FLV and H.264 (MPEG-4) videos files
Full Screen enabled.
Easy-to-use!
Free

Supported OS:

Windows XP/Vista/7

Free Hit Counters, Trackers & Stats

2010-11-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

Counter Services
Globel Free Counters - All original styles. Your counter will not expire and never costs you a dime.

eXTReMe Tracking Service - From a simple counter to tracking the keywords people use to find your site.

Cam's Dynamic Counter - Java Hit Counter. Dynamic Counter Applet. It's as easy as inserting a little code into your web page.

Site Meter - Stats include the number of visitors to your website, statistics on the number of visits each hour and each day.

This page is designed to provide our guests with providers of free counters, trackers and stats. It is our goal to link to those sites that do not ask for an excessive burden for the use of their services. All free counters available from this page have been providing services for many years.

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African Art
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Camping Clipart
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Christmas Animations
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Top Software Downloads

2010-11-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

Create your own graphics, personal or professional.

CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5
Vector illustration, page layout, photo editing, tracing, Web graphics and animation in one tightly integrated suite. Designed for professional and aspiring designers alike, it offers a quick, intuitive workflow, high-value digital content, market-leading file compatibility and graphic design tools that let you do more than you thought possible.
Video tutorials and online guidebook.
10,000 high-quality clipart and digital images
1,000 professional, high-resolution digital photos

Free Trial Download

PaintShop Photo Pro X3
Enhance your photos and create professional-looking images. Corel graphics software is everything you need for digital photography. Photo Pro image editor delivers professional results easily and affordably.
Digital Photography - Quality Photo Enhancement - Camera Filters - Easy Photo Sharing
Batch Processing - Make adjustments to one photo, then simply apply the same changes to multiple photos.
HD Video - import, make edits then export HD video
Free Trial Download

CoffeeCup Firestarter
CoffeeCup Firestarter - one of the the fastest and easiest ways to make Flash™ Effects for your Website. This graphics software quickly creates complex text and image effects with just a few clicks. You can make Flash™ Intro pages, navigation systems, graphic logos and much more.

Ready to use effects like Assemble, Explode, Fade, and more, a collection of cool MP3 Sounds, plus it's all in an easy to use interface. No more struggling with expensive, complex software, with CoffeeCup Firestarter you will making really cool Effects in a Flash. Trial Download

Animation Software

2010-11-12T07:53:00.000-08:00

Ulead Animation Software
3D Production Studio - 3D text and graphics with advanced tools to produce professional-looking animation. Design sophisticated 3D objects with intuitive tools. You can use pre-made shapes and styles or create animations from scratch.
Dynamic 3D Titles, Path and Lathe Object Editors, Import 2D and 3D Formats, FreeForm Tool, Pre-made Objects and Models, Text Effects, Particle Effects, Create Complete Movies, Export Video Overlays, Export 3D Models, Create Web Animation, Create Image Files - Trial Download
Ulead GIF Animator 5 - robust and affordable animation software. Easily create fast-loading animation for your web site and PowerPoint presentations.

Compatible with:
Microsoft PowerPoint: Add cool animation
Macromedia Flash: Use in raster-based Flash projects
Image Editors: Integration with Ulead PhotoImpact®, Adobe Photoshop® and Jasc Paint Shop Pro™
E-mail: Send self-playing animated greetings
Trial Download

CoffeeCup Animation Software
CoffeeCup GIF Animator - create animations for your Web pages easily. CoffeeCup GIF Animator can convert JPEG and BMP graphics to GIFs automatically, as well as import and export AVI files.
Save your animations as Flash (.swf). HTML source is generated for easy insertion into Web pages. CoffeeCup GIF Animator can also create favorite folders for quick recall, view both frames and animation simultaneously, export frames to single images, and view thumbnails with size and dimension information. Trial Download

CoffeeCup Firestarter - one of the the fastest and easiest ways to make Flash™ Effects for your Website. It quickly creates complex text and image animation with just a few clicks. You can make Flash™ Intro pages, navigation systems, graphic logos and more.

Firestarter has over 50 built in ready to use effects like Assemble, Explode, Fade, a collection of MP3 Sounds, plus it's all in an easy to use interface. No more struggling with expensive, complex animation software, with Firestarter you will making really cool Effects in a Flash.
Trial Download

Best Writing Blogs

2010-11-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

Top 10 blogs in the Writing category. Writing is at the core of everything we do. From writing marketing copy, to blogging, to shooting an email to a client, being a competent writer is essential for getting the results you desire. Everyone can benefit by improving their writing skills.

Categories that was used to judge these blogs.

* Visual Aesthetics—Let’s face it: It’s hard to get into a blog that still uses the default WordPress theme. Design matters, and it’s important for making new visitors feel comfortable. We looked for blogs that were easy on the eyes.
* Quality & Consistent Content—Our favorite blogs are the ones that produce great content on a regular basis, rather than one good post to several filler posts.
* Overall Experience—The overall experience includes everything from how the author interacts in the comments to how well posts are categorized so you can easily find the content you’re looking for.

Copyblogger
Copyblogger - Yes, Copyblogger also received a Top Blog Award in our Marketing category, but there’s just no way we could leave them off the list for best writing blogs. Whether you’re a blogger, copywriter, freelancer, or any other type of writer, this blog has something for you. Every day, there are new posts with great tips and strategies for communicating more effectively with the written word. Like we said last time, this blog is an absolute must read. Twitter: @copyblogger

Grammar Girl
Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing - Do you ever find yourself wondering whether to use “affect” or “effect”? Have a hard time remembering the difference between “lie” versus “lay”? Well, you’re not alone, and Grammar Girl’s QDT blog was created just for you. Being a better writer just got much easier. Twitter: @GrammarGirl

Part Time Writer
Part Time Writer - Almost every freelance writer starts out as a part timer, writing around their 9-5 work schedule. Part Time Writer is a blog specifically for this type of writer. It shares tips on finding more writing gigs, being a more productive writer, making more money, and eventually becoming a full-time freelance writer if that’s what you want to do. Twitter: @Eric_Brantner, @Chris_HELP

Well-Fed Writer
Well-Fed Writer - The Well-Fed Writer books have helped many aspiring writers thrive in the commercial world, and now this blog by Peter Bowerman is doing the same online. Peter teaches writers have to thrive in the freelancing business so they can quit their 9-5 jobs to do something they love. Twitter: @wellfedwriter

The Write Blog
The Write Blog - This copywriting blog tends to be a bit more diverse than others of its type, and that’s why we love it. Not only will you learn how to pen copy that makes customers buy, but you’ll also discover simple bits of grammar trivia and tips that apply to all styles of writing. Twitter: @writers4hire

Daily Writing Tips
Daily Writing Tips - It’s the writing blog that’s for everyone. Every day, a grammar, spelling, punctuation, or vocabulary tip is published to help you write better than ever before. Simple concept. Great blog. Twitter: @writing_tips

Grammar Blog
Grammar Blog – Don’t let its name fool you. This isn’t a boring, tedious blog about grammar. Instead, it’s a blog that mocks poor grammar. You’ll see snapshot of grammar abuse in signage, invitations, letters, and so much more. You’re always sure to get a good laugh from this blog. We just wish they’d update a bit more frequently. Twitter: @GrammarBlog

Men With Pens
Men With Pens - Backed by the web design and copywriting agency of the same name, the Men With Pens blog is a leading resource for creatives. In addition to learning writing skills, you’ll also get a well-rounded education in all areas of marketing. Twitter: @MenWithPens

Freelance Writing Jobs
Freelance Writing Jobs - If you’re a freelance writer, chances are that you’ve visited this website at least a hundred times by now. In addition to having the best freelance writing job board online, this blog also shares great tips on running a successful freelancing business and becoming a better writer. Twitter: @FreelanceWJ

Bad Language
Bad Language - Everything you need to know about writing is right here. From exposing mistakes bad writers make to sharing tips for staying focused while writing, this blog has it all. Another must-read blog if you ask us. Twitter: @mstibbe

What are some other great writing blogs you’d like to see receive a Top Blog Award next year? Share your favorites by leaving a comment!

Amazon Kindle Creates A Revenue Stream for Your Blog

2010-07-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Check this out. Amazon has dropped the cost for a Kindle by $70.00, making the price now $189.00. I have wanted one so badly. In fact I wanted one for me, for my dad, and for my mother. They both love to read. Any way.... The Kindle is the #1 best selling product on Amazon today. I am so tempted to buy one.

I decided to go online and do some more research on it, as I had been curious for some time about the electronic reading gadget. When went to the Kindle Store, I noticed that there is an option to subscribe to thousands of blogs, each for $.99 month.

I have no idea how many people actually read blogs on the Kindle or if anyone is making money from their blog being available on Kindle, but why not list it? Can you imagine?

Finding out how to submit your blog is not obvious. I did a search, found a forum post asking that very question and followed the thread to find the answer.https://kindlepublishing.amazon.com

You must set up a publishing account (different from your Amazon account), fill out a few fields, upload a couple of images and submit. Easy.

Here's the info you need to have in order to submit your blog in just a few minutes:

RSS feed for blog
Blog Title
Blog Tagline
Blog Description
Blog author
Screen shot of blog home page
Blog banner image
Blog author name
Web address
blog language
Keywords
Categories
Frequency of posting

Save. Preview. Publish.

Your blog will be reviewed and added to the Kindle Store in 48-72 hours (so they say).
Even if no one ever subscribes to my blog on the Kindle, it doesn't really matter. It's there when people search both on the Kindle AND on Amazon - a great place to get more visibility for your blog and your business! Plus people can get a 14 day free trial and may get hooked on your great content.

NOTE: Just found the easy way to submit your blog >> On Amazon, go to the Kindle Store, then click on Blogs. You'll see a link to take you to the publishing site in the left column.

Blogger and WordPress

2010-06-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Comparing the two: Blogger and WordPress

Bloggers usually ask themselves if they should use Blogger.com or WordPress.

Blogger.com or Blogspot and WordPress are the two most widely used blogging platforms. Today, the number of bloggers they’re accommodating continues to grow in millions and continues to update their versions continuously.

The Blogger setup requires your blog be hosted on their servers. In contrast, blogs running on WordPress’ platform can be hosted at WordPress.com, or the software can simply be downloaded and configured to the desires of the user.

Here are some key features of Blogger.com comparing the two versions of WordPress setups:

Blogger.com Features:
-1 GB worth of space is allowed for free hosting
-Blog content is kept at Blogger.com
-Choosing and customizing templates is allowed (limited flexibility)
-Easy to start with and utilize
-Image and video files can be uploaded and stored

WordPress.com Features:
-3 GB worth of space is allowed for free hosting
-Blog content is kept at WordPress.com
-Choosing and customizing templates is allowed (limited flexibility
- Easy to start with and utilize
- Image and video files can be uploaded and stored (limited file formats)

WordPress Self-Hosted Features:
-Blog content is kept at user’s preferred web host
-Almost unlimited ability to choose and customize templates and widgets
- technical ability is needed to setup and configure
-Web server filters the type of file supported (almost unlimited)

However, as each have their own good factors, some thorough analysis of the blog platforms indicates that Blogspot.com is frequently used by people who blog about their lives and other topics. Compared to WordPress users, Blogger.com users are usually not “professional” bloggers, however there are some who work hard on their blogs there and make it a source of living.

Self-hosted WordPress blogs are likely to be professional entities that have IT specialists that handle the maintenance. Blogs using WordPress.com are somewhat similar to Blogger blogs in content, naturally more casual or personal than self-hosted WordPress blogs.

Cost
Blogspot and WordPress accounts are free. However, doing any significant customization of your WordPress.com-hosted blog can cost you some additional expenditure. Certain upgrades and customization can cost you accordingly to the size of your upgrade. If your blog runs on the WordPress platform downloadable from WordPress.org, your costs are dependent upon your hosting account. Be watchful in these upgrades and customizations because they can be vey costly at times.

Flexibility
Because WordPress is open source software, gives more flexibility when it comes to customization. Upon downloading and installing WordPress, you gain access to the database and the PHP, CSS, and image files that comprise the platform. In contrast to Blogger’s platform, having development access to the system lets users be creative as they want to be. One bonus that WordPress.com gives is the ability to host a wide variety of files and their format.

As Blogger encourages users in customizing their blogs and adding Google gadgets, although there’s a lot of guesswork involved in trying to figure out how to manipulate the XML schema, which is used to customize templates beyond adding gadgets and changing layouts. When customizing a Blogspot blog, that process can be really hard and tedious.

A noteworthy comparison the two is the ability to categorize posts. Greater flexibility exists with both WordPress.com-hosted blogs and self-hosted ones with the use of WordPress software than with Blogger.com. Categories are made using Labels on Blogger.com blogs. Sub-categories are natural for both WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress blogs.

For the layman blogger, getting started with Blogger’s platform is rather simple. Just create an account, choose a template, and start writing. The interface is straight forward for the users. WordPress.com are similar, only a bit more complicated. WordPress self-hosted blogs require a user to download the software, uploading it to a server, configure its settings, and run the installation program of the software. It can be simple for others and intimidating for some.

After setting up a blog platform, using it can be very simple as well. However, Blogger.com is probably the easiest to understand and use.

Updates are very important. Though platforms can be vulnerable to hacks, to minimize that risk, it’s recommended that users of WordPress be watchful of their sites, especially WordPress blog owners hosting their own blogs.

Users can allow the Blogger development team to worry about hacks. Because the blog data is kept on the servers, there a thin chance that Blogger sites can be hacked.

2010-05-19T10:08:00.001-07:00

Blog Outloud

Design Tips For Your Blog

Blogger Features

Getting Started

New! Customize your design

Publishing your voice is easy and free

Simple-to-use interface

Your free website

Add photos and videos to your post

More Features

New! Earn money

Develop your community

Feedback from your readers

New post notifications

One simple ID

Languages of the world

Advanced Features

New! Pages

Posting on the go

Group blogging

Third-party applications

Even more features...

Tutorials

Importance of Fonts

Fonts:

Ustream ~ Broadcast video LIVE... Branding you!

Overview

Our Mission

Company Background

SKYPE:Technologies inside and outside the classroom

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Top widgets for your website [Part - 1]

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FoxTab FLV Player

FoxTab FLV Player

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Supported OS:

Free Hit Counters, Trackers & Stats

Top Software Downloads

Animation Software

Best Writing Blogs

Amazon Kindle Creates A Revenue Stream for Your Blog

Blogger and WordPress

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