To Redesign or to Refresh that is the question?

There comes a time when you realize that your site has become stale. At this point, you can do a drastic change or you can do simple changes.

Simple changes are good for the user as it allows you to make a small impact on the user experience that doesn't throw your user off from the way the are accustomed to navigating your site.

Drastic changes are great for search engines, they appreciate your effort and requires the spiders to rescan your entire site gaining you page rank and better search results. However, it has the drawback of sending your user to oblivion on the way they are accustomed to browsing for information. This kind of change is only recommended for sites that need a better architecture to accommodate their growth or to provide a better user experience.

Either way, change is good as long as change is for the better. This is the case for the ever popular Cnet.com who is in the beta stages of redesigned. Check out their progress. I like that they have drop the black background which makes it very difficult to focus on the content, but they have dropped their very impressive tabs. They have also removed the video player at a time when video is the new wave of the online experience. Hmmm, or is it?

Advertising your site to death.

Death, the end, or is it? Well, for your site, advertising can be a great thing or it can lead to its demise. Advertising forms the number one source of revenues for Web sites. Whether you have google ads, eBay ads, yahoo ads, or privately bought ads, you must be sure you have the traffic to support your ad pools.

So what does this all add up to? You must maintain a good balance between paid ads, revenue ads and house ads. In other words, you must be aware of your traffic count at all times or you can find your site oversold. Once your site becomes a Mecca for a great number of visitors you must hire an online traffic manager to keep their eyes on your inventory. However, you cannot just hire any youngster of the street, if you want to succeed you must hire someone with the drive to succeed, someone who can forecast as well as realize the traffic of each sector, homepage and ROS (run of site) traffic your Web site receives. This individual is key to serve as a liaison between your sales staff and the space available on your site.

The bottom line is that you must make sure your sale staff doesn't oversell your site. That is, they cannot go over the number of impressions your site receives over a finite period of time. If you promise more eyeballs than you truly have you will soon see advertisers dropping like flies during the winter time.

What, Who, Say What?

Yesterday our power grid was overloaded and this cause all machines to go down for about half an hour until all servers were rebooted, firewall and exchange servers were restored, etc.

What was really disturbing is that working for a technology company, I was baffled that most people, especially those in sales, don't understand technology. How could someone be in the business of selling technology and not know the technology terms. Let me elaborate a bit to try and make it a bit more clear, when we told our staff that due to a small power surge the servers went down, they could not understand why the "internet" wasn't available, further, they didn't get that email wouldn't work either.

Once the servers were put back on the grid, we made an announcement that "the internet" was back on, but that the exchange server was still powering on so there would be a small delay in getting email to work. The office went into a rampage, they could not understand why the could access the net but not their email.

Baffling and confusing, but it was funny how work came to a halt eventhough most don't rely on the internet to perform their duties. It was pretty amussing to see a staff of 50 stop to whine about internet access for a good half hour.

Ahh, the era of technology! BTW- check out this article it was sent over to me by a co-worker, he writes a good technology blog over at http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/ it reference a survey of technology lingo.

KISS Still king

I been developing a dynamic flash menu purely in actionscript. I got the whole thing done in one day, with the exception of how to keep the roll out part of the menu showing up. I thought really hard about this and it wasn't until now that I been away from it for a few hours that it hit me.

The answer was there all along, why hide the menu until the user rolls over another menu again? See I was looking at it the other way, hide the menu then show the menu. When I should have look at it as, hide all the menus if the user mouses over a different button than the one that was showing.

If you stumble onto a problem, the best thing to do is to walk away from it for a couple of hours. Let the problem sink in, but stop thinking about solutions, when you least expect it, something will trigger the answer for you.

Keep Simple, really simple.

Rockstar INXS, A Scam?

So after I told you about my feelings in regards to JD winning the lead singer spot, I read an article today on yahoo that stated that Pretty Vegas was co-written with a member of INXS. Now if they were helping JD, why weren't they helping the other contestants. Is this a scam they are trying to put over us?

Was JD they winner all along and they were just growing controversy by placing him in the bottom 3 so many times?

Recently, I have lost faith in the world and this proves it. The world is a scam, everybody scams, money rules, is time to stop scamming and get the world back on track.

Rockstar INXS - JD Fortune everybody!!!!

So Rockstar is over. What great perfomances were heard in tonight's show. The show, being the season final, was sensational. I was however dissapointed both with the winner and with the music selection.

Mig gave, what I thought, the performance of his life. He looked like a professional onstage; I would pay money to see that. Where did JD get this new voice? I was glad to see that he dropped the Elvis voice and look and finally settle into what INXS recognized as their lead singer.

Marty, oh Marty, you were a lost soul in the fish bowl. I think that wielding out the conductor caused your doom. I think Marty was the most talented performer, but his usual madness let to his demise. Oh well, I'm positive he will have at least one major hit, In the Trees, I can't seem to get this osng out of mind, it is simply Awsome!!!

I can't wait to see who the band will be next season, until then I'll be standing in line for tickets for the World Tour.

Don't be afraid to show off

So you decided that you want to stand out from the crowd, be your own person, time to impress the boss. Here is how to do it:

1. Open up your mouth and start speaking, if you have bright ideas don't be afraid to share with your company. Use every opportunity to let someone know that you have a great idea and eventually you will hit the right ear.

2. Put your money were your mouth is, that is, do the work you say you can do. Many people out there have great ideas but fail to deliver them. A lot of folks start something and soon after drop the ball to move on to the next big thing, well, don't. If you want to get notice you must see your project from beginning to completion.

3. Encourage others to follow suit... What, huh, you are saying encourage competition? Yes, that is what I am saying. If someone is following on your footsteps, it means you are a leader and companies like leaders. It also means that you have shown off enough that others want to do the same.

If you do this, you will suceed - time to stop reading and head back to creation.

When did I become an Online Traffic Guy?

Recently my company lost its Traffic manager, for those of you who are not familiar with this position, a Traffic Manager, is the person responsible for tracking impressions and click thrus for a Web site who holds advertisements.

What I have found out in the past couple of weeks is that our site was poorly organized and further needs to be broken into smaller sections in order to maximize on sales and profits. In other words if you have a fairly large site, you must break it down into its lowest commom denominator if you are to maximize your gains. This allows you to sell certain sections of your site or offer a combined deal giving an advertiser more value for their buck. This combination of pages is what you can then classify as your run of site or ROS for short.

As a Web designer you must always look at designing a site which is readable, manageable, and most important profitable. Profits is the bottom line, you could create the best artwork in the world, but it is worthless if it can't be sold.

OCC - bigger, better, and edited

I have been a fan of American Choppers on the discovery channel for quite some time now. One of the first things I did when I started watching the show was visit their Site. It was pretty cool, I have always like their logo and was very impressed with the animation on the show's logo as well. The way they make the logo appear from the welds is pretty nifty.

After last watching last weeks episode, I was very impressed with the guy's from OCC. These guys are custom making and designing two bikes to be auction off on eBay with all proceeds going to charity. So what you say, a lot of companies do this already -- Yeah, but these bikes usually run for around $150K, so that is $300K they are donating. I wanted to learn more about this donation so I headed to their site. To my surprise, they are not advertising this, but I did notice that they redesigned their site.

Bravo I say, although they had a lot of cool flash stuff in the old site, they seemed to have traded off flashiness for usefulness, not always a great trade off. I am glad to report that the site is very user friendly and contemporarily designed. It is almost as cool as their bike designs... Check it out

First there was the telegraph, then we had the telephone, now we got VoIP, where did the tele go?

So eBay acquired Skype, what are they going to do with this you may ask? Looks like they are going to connect their auction users via VoIP to help aid communications. Well for 4.1 billion, I hope they are going to get a little more than that.

Yes, Skype is good, actually it is the most widely used VoIP software provider; an although it has its share of competitors, Vonage, Peerio, and a whole slew of wannabies, Skype surpases them in users by far.

I still don't get the connection with online auctions, but we are just going to have to wait to see what eBay has in store for us.

Honoring our fallen heroes

Just because some fight back, doesn't necesarily makes them heroes. I think heroes are those who sacrifice themselves at all cost for others.

I just finished watching the discovery channel's "the flight that fought back", and in my mind these are heroes. They not only fought for their lives, but for others as they prevented the plane from reaching it's target. This is a fantastic effort on people's part, I know I would have acted the same way. I'm a stand up guy who always fights for what I believe.

Please consider donating to their cause and the FLIGHT 93 NATIONAL MEMORIAL.

Having said that, I didn't loose anyone during this attacks and I also don't know anyone who lost somebody, but when I watch this memorials on TV year after year on September 11, I can't help but wonder do these people who lost their loved ones really want this type of events to keep going. All I can think is that I would want to move on with my life and remember in my own way, I don't need America to grieve with me. I think remembering is a very personal thing and I wouldn't want it publicize as a method for politicans to get votes, or TV stations to get ratings.

We should never forget the events that took place on September 11, 2001, but we also need to move on as a people and just learn from these events as to prevent the same from happening again.

They say that history repeats itself, but this doesn't have to repeat again...

0% APR and More - hmm does it really pay to discover?

Yesterday I finally received my new discover card, you may remember how I wrote about the hazzles to obtain this card a week or two ago. Well, today I went online to sign up for online billing acces. To my surpise the process was painless and took about two minutes - not bad after the four days it took to complete the application process.

I like their "dashboard" and while exploring it came to a few options such as custom emails to let you know when a purchase exceeds a certain amount and a reminder that your payment date is approaching, etc... I know some other credit card providers offer services like this, it was just nice to be able to pick and choose. This "dashboard" is well designed and very user friendly, but what really impressed me was this new browser add-on that masks your real credit card number and substitutes with a fake number that links to your one time purchase. Not only does it provide a fake number, but it fills in the mailing and personal info for you with that on the discover database.

Now that is customer options to the max!!!!!!!

Who needs help?

We were all born with a empty head. A brain lacking thoughts, ideas, or memories, but that quickly changed. As we grew so did our minds; until that day, you remember that day when you decided that you didn't need anyone, I think you might call it the teenage years, the years in which you know it all and you are done.

Well sir, how quickly did you realize that you needed someone to help you, someone to guide you, someone to care?

I have always been a fan of offering help, but it isn't often I ask for it. Today was one of those rare days in which I felt useless, until I went to Actionscript.org

At first I was poking around looking for a quick answer to my problem, but realizing that my queries where hard to answer, I turn to the forums. This is a great community for flash designers and developers. I took some time to answer a question or two, but I finally broke down and asked away. Within minutes I had an answer, and after two more postings I had the answer I needed.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. I am a professor of multimedia animation and I know I don't have all the answers. The day I have all the answers is the day I cease to exist.

Help is only around the corner when you need it.

A well Oil Machine

Just as the Roman Empire became an empire by uniting armies and conquering the world, a designer succeeds by joining others in the design battle.

Most likely you are working for a manager within a group of designers and developers. This is corporate America as we know it. You have join the legions of the workforce to find yourself lost within a vast corporation, a lone soul desperately looking to be acknowledge.

If this is the case, there is only one thing left to do, realize that you are not alone. It is time for you to stop worrying about your world and realize that the world is running whether you choose to join it or not. Once you admit that there is more to the world than just you, then and only then, can you be ready to become the best there is at what you do!

So you are ready, how do you get there, simple, join your fellow designers and together as a well oil machine start producing the best that you can. If you are truly the best there is at what you do, you will soon get noticed by the upper management and the rest of the world. Your to do list will start growing you will soon find yourself innundated with work, questions, and to no avail you will find yourself lost in a sea of tasks, ready to cry.

If you can climb out of this virtual hole then you, my friend, have truly succeded and you best prepare yourself as the challenges ahead will lead to true greatness and wealth.

Start preparing to be part of a succesful team who will conquer the virtual world we call the World Wide Web.

Lost for ideas?

If you are feeling blue and seem to lack inspiration go through your archive material. Today I was lucky enough to be given the task of posting some old graphics on to a page in the hopes for better SEO and traffic within google.

At first I was bug down seaking for software that could automatically peform the task for me. I found a good freebie at downloads.com It turned out to be a good program, it automatically generated and html page for me of all the graphics in a folder. The program is very good, it is very customizable. It even adds its own CSS and javascript if so desired.

After setting the few options needed, the software ran very quickly. I uploaded the html file top our Web server and sat there enjoying my previous work. As I enjoyed and remenisce, I came to realize that this was a good way for someone who is constantly designing to get ideas from the past. Retro is always in, so why not reuse your work?

Look out for yourself as others might not

With some many deals and bankrupcies you can easily be left hung out to dry. I'm speaking of course in corporation terms. It seems that now a days, big corporations are merging, a lot of buyouts have come disolutions, and although I work at a very solid privately owned company, I fear that someday the corporation might get bought out.

What does this mean? It simply implies that you must do your best to shine. If you want to be somebody within your organization you must take risks and chances. Remember opportunity only knocks a few times, an the early bird gets the worm.

If you are offered an opportunity that seems a bit beyond your grasp, grab it. You might be having doubts in regards to your skills, but people around you don't see these doubts they only see your accomplishments. You wouldn't be getting an offer if you didn't impressed them.

Jump at the opportunity and you will shine beyond any company restructuring!

Inspiration comes standard

Whether you are a graphic, Web, or simply a designer, inspiration comes to us from what is around us. As I watched the food network this evening, I came to realize that inspiration is all around us. We are always seeing things, but what exactly inspires us to our creations, simple, a subject.

We as designers are given a subject, keyword, or simply a phrase and we immediateldy paint a picture on our head that we then bring to life. If someone approches me and says the word beach, I immediatedly think of a summer day by the ocean, people all around, sunny, and warm caribbean water and I can paint a picture based on this. Others might think of a cool summer evening as the sun sets and clouds are painted with orange and cool blue shadows and the water appears to have a gradient within it.

The point is, no matter what the subject, think of the few keywords that come to mind based on the subject and inspiration will come.

Google Ads - Beyond the Web

It seems that google has decided to take over yet another medium, printed magazines. Yes, you read that right, magazines!

Apparently, Google has decided to launch a test program by which they buy ad space on several large popular technology related magazines, such as PC World. They then resell small spaces on these pages thereby allowing small businesses to have ads on publications they would normally not be able to afford advertising with.

This is a brilliant move on Google's behalf, but will other publications allow the online giant to resell space they are only renting?

Stay tuned to find out!

Discover Card Hell

About two weeks ago I received an offer from Discover Card, it promised 0% apr, no yearly fee, yadda yadda yadda, you know how it goes. I receive this offers daily as I'm sure you do as well.

I don't exaclty know what prompted me to do this, but I decided to apply. It might have been the many designs they offer, or I could have been pissed off at my current credit card bank, I just don't recall, but I decided to go ahead and filed for an application online. This is were the fun began.

About a week ago I received a call from Discover saying they need to verify some information. After ignoring the first two messages, I thought, hmm, and decided to call them back and verify away. That was yesterday. A very nice lady answered, after a no wait period and no transfer (I know , I'm as surprised as you are), I chatted with her, laugh a little, confirmed my information, she told me I was all set.

Today, I received another call from them, this time in my cell phone, which by law they are not supposed to do, the bitch at the end of the line said, we need to verify some more. Turns out that because I have VoIP phone, my information cannot be verified and I had to either mail or fax an utility bill or bank statement. I, being a Web person and all, have gone paperless, so I don't have any paper bills to show. Turns out I'm not completely paperless as I was able to secure a bank statement to fax. At this point, however, I have become leary that this might be a scam.

After a big hazzle, I get transfer to a supervisor who tells me I can call 1800-Discover to verify who they are. After verification was done, I was told I could mask all account information. Well I did, some security. Me been a Web Designer could have easily done this electronically and since it was a faxed they would never be able to tell. I mean the copy I sent was simply a 8/12 x 6 with the bank logo (I could obtain this from the bank Web Site) , my address which could be the impersonated one, and the date.

Wow, how secure do I feel about my information now? To scam Discover card all you need to do is come up with someone's information and plug in your address, then call them up and fax them your made up bank statement. Happy Designing.

Save on Gas, work from home.

With all this weather problems and now gas prices going to $4 a gallon, who has time to think about work, when you are worried about how much is it going to cost to get to work.

As Web designers we have the ability to work remotedly, I urged you to plead to your employers to allow you to work from home. Not only will this reduce the cost of your commute, but allow you to be more productive in time as you won't have to get up, get dress and get to work.

However, you must remember to maintain integrity as you work from home, you have to be as productive as if you were actually at your place of employment. There are a few bad apples, you know who you are, who have deteer employers from allowing hard working bees from telecommuting. Let's take this opportunity to prove to America's employers that we can be responsible to work from home and be just as productive or even more productive than when we are at the office.

Working from home does not mean watching Oprah or Ellen all day, it means saving fuel and time, while producing great work.