I decided to make a list of the Top 50 Apps on my iPhone. These are really fun and I use most every day.

1. BeejiveIM (IM App handles Facebook, MySpace and popular IM clients)
2. Camera Genius (iPhone Only, gives your iPhone Camera a lot of awesome features)
3. Twinkle (Great free Twitter app that also handles facebook. lets you see tweets from nearby users)
4. IMDB (Internet Movie Database in you pocket)
5. N.O.V.A (Basically Halo for iPhone it even has multiplayer!)
6. Movies Flixter (A great movie app that shows you info on movies and connects with Facebook also shows you nearby theaters and movie times.)
7.iPhlix (The best Netflix app out there)
8. Photoshop Mobile (Mini version of Photoshop by Adobe for iPhone/iPod Touch)
9. Screenplay (Screenplay writing app for movie makers)
10. Midomi Soundhound (Amazing music app that does to much to write down just search it)
11. ReelDirector (For iPhone 3GS lets you take recorded videos and edit them)
12. Speak it! (Fun text to speech app)
13. iTV (TV Guide in your pocket works with many TV providers, many other features)
14. Doodle Jump (fun addictive game that gets updated often always for free)
15. Call of Duty Zombies (Exact replica of the PS3/Xbox 360 Game from Call of Duty World at War)
16. Asphalt 5 (Amazing racing game)
17. The Sims 3 (The Sims games are always fun and addicting now you wont be able to get away)
18. Rock Band (Thats right Rock Band not a cheap ripoff but an actual Rock Band game for iPhone/iPod Touch it even has a music store for more songs)
19. Ustream Viewer (Ustream is a popular live video stream site and you can view streams from your device)
20. Ustream Broadcaster (not only can you view streams but on an iPhone 3GS you can actually stream live video to the world)
21. AOL Radio (The amazing AOL Radio from the internet to your device)
22. Pandora (Same thing as AOL with different Stations)
23. Top Gun (Best plane combat game out there with a great soundtrack)
24. Pocket God (I have to say the most updated game ever and great stress reducer)
25. Brick Breaker Deluxe (Most polished brick breaker game out there)
26. Assassins Creed (The Amazing PS3/Xbox 360 action game now on iPhone IPod Touch)
27. GangStar (Basically a GTA Rip off no... exactly a GTA ripoff and a good one to)
28. Hero of Sparta (God of War 'PS3' Rip off and very well done.)
29. Flick Fishing (Fun fishing game)
30. Flick Bowling (This is the best bowling game out there)
31. iTip (Tip Calculator)
32. Days Until (good countdown app very useful for you seniors out there this year)
33. Discovery Channel (Fun app with unseen videos from the discovery channel. Did someone say Shark Week?)
34. Fake a Call (These aren't in any order but if they were this would be close to the top, you can Fake a call! there are so many features it is so realistic its gotten me out of some tight spots and boring conversations)
35. My Lists (One of the best list making apps available)
36. TouchGrind (A fun skateboarding app, just like playing with those mini skateboards)
37. iOwn (An inventory keeping app, sounds boring but just wait until your robbed or your house burns down, did I have two copies of Twilight or 3?)
38. WebMD (Medical App for determining symptoms and illnesses very handy.. you should get that checked out....)
39. Sonic Vox (Voice changing apps, fun for prank calls or kidnappings..eh..hehe...)
40. Tap Tap Revenge (Very fun series, I never play it but I know a lot of people do)
41. Star Wars Force Unleashed (It is an amazing game for major consoles and the iPhone/iPod Touch version gives its own spin making it worth while)
42. Lonely Planet Spanish (Well any of the language apps really, has a lot of useful phrases)
43. Resident Evil 4 (Actually more fun on iPhone then other consoles in my opinion)
44. Virtual Pool (Im talking billiards here, its a very fun app with good controls)
45. Spawn (A very weird yet visually stunning entertainment app that allows you to create an amazing light show never the same twice, good for custom wallpapers)
46. Blades of Fury (A fighting game for iPhone and iPod touch the best I have seen)
47. Game Box (For 1 dollar you get 19 games and counting, they add more all the time free of charge)
48. Touch Hockey (There isnt an iPod or iPhone I have seen without this game, its free air hockey you can play alone or with a friend)
49. Star Defense (A fun strategy game)
50. Jaadu VNC (I always put this one, you can actually control your computer from your iPhone or iPod Touch (Wifi Required)

Bonus! The Best App Development Company for the iPhone and iPod Touch of 2009 goes to Gameloft. They made a good collection of the games on this list and many more not on the list. They have the most style and really have made the iPhone and iPod Touch feel like a true gaming machine! I suggest downloading all of their apps and giving them good ratings.

Thank you, I hope you enjoyed my list of the Top 50 Apps I own for 2009. I hope to do another list next year to see whats changed.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Apple announces a new product line, including the anticipated new Magic Mouse. It’s available for pre-order now at $69. I can’t wait to trying it when it arrives in 5-7 days.

The Multi-Touch area covers the top surface of Magic Mouse, and the mouse itself is the button. Scroll in any direction with one finger, swipe through web pages and photos with two, and click and double-click anywhere. Inside Magic Mouse is a chip that tells it exactly what you want to do. Which means Magic Mouse won’t confuse a scroll with a swipe. It even knows when you’re just resting your hand on it.

Magic Mouse uses powerful laser tracking that’s far more sensitive and responsive on more surfaces than traditional optical tracking. That means it tracks with precision on nearly every surface — whether it’s a table at your favorite cafe or the desk in your home office — without the need for a mousepad.

The Wordpress version 2 iPhone app (iTunes link) is now available at the App Store. There’s also a new blog focused on the iPhone app. The app, just like Wordpress itself, is open source so anyone can contribute to it. This is a community effort!

From the Wordpress iPhone blog

So, what’s new in version 2?

* A new, more efficient user interface that makes it faster to switch between comments, posts, and pages.
* Various user interface refinements and bug fixes
* New Comments interface, with Gravatars and the author URL shown in the comment list
* Passwords are now stored in the keychain
* Posts are now automatically saved and restored if network connection is lost during publishing
* Added persistence, so the app re-opens in the blog you last used
* Added an interface for manually entering the XMLRPC endpoint for non-standard setups
* Fixed rotation-related visual glitches
* Fixed errors where malformed XML prevented access to XMLRPC endpoint
* Fixed edge case where local drafts were sometimes not saved
* Fixed the order of photos so that they’re displayed in the order they’re uploaded

Google demonstrated Google Chrome OS for the first time on Thursday in Mountain View.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Since the early stages of the world wide web, search engines have developed different methods to rank web pages. Until today, the occurence of a search phrase within a document is one major factor within ranking techniques of virtually any search engine. The occurence of a search phrase can thereby be weighted by the length of a document (ranking by keyword density) or by its accentuation within a document by HTML tags.

For the purpose of better search results and especially to make search engines resistant against automatically generated web pages based upon the analysis of content specific ranking criteria (doorway pages), the concept of link popularity was developed. Following this concept, the number of inbound links for a document measures its general importance. Hence, a web page is generally more important, if many other web pages link to it. The concept of link popularity often avoids good rankings for pages which are only created to deceive search engines and which don't have any significance within the web, but numerous webmasters elude it by creating masses of inbound links for doorway pages from just as insignificant other web pages.

Contrary to the concept of link popularity, PageRank is not simply based upon the total number of inbound links. The basic approach of PageRank is that a document is in fact considered the more important the more other documents link to it, but those inbound links do not count equally. First of all, a document ranks high in terms of PageRank, if other high ranking documents link to it.

So, within the PageRank concept, the rank of a document is given by the rank of those documents which link to it. Their rank again is given by the rank of documents which link to them. Hence, the PageRank of a document is always determined recursively by the PageRank of other documents. Since - even if marginal and via many links - the rank of any document influences the rank of any other, PageRank is, in the end, based on the linking structure of the whole web. Although this approach seems to be very broad and complex, Page and Brin were able to put it into practice by a relatively trivial algorithm.

Why should you have a corporate blog?

A corporate blog (web log) offers an easy platform for communicating information about your company, events, services, and products to media, business partners, current customers, and prospective clients. Having a corporate blog enables informal, two-way communication between you and your readers, because the blog system contains a feedback feature that allows the readers to comment on your articles.

A blog can also help your company receive better Internet exposure by containing articles that will be indexed by the major search engines, thus making them searchable and capable of attracting more traffic to both your blog and your corporate website.
Let us get you up and running with a new corporate blog

We can design, install, and customize your new corporate blog in just a matter of a few working days. The new blog will be based on the open-source system WordPress, which is used by millions of blogs on the Internet today. Many blog templates are available for WordPress, and we can either base your new blog on an existing template or create a unique design for your company. The following tasks are involved in setting up a blog:

* Choosing an existing blog template or designing a unique template
* Installing the open-source system WordPress
* Customizing the template to fit your exact needs
* Training to get you quickly up and blogging

Depending on your requirements, we can have your blog online a few days after you submit your request to us. We will handle the design, technical installation, and customization, and we will deliver a ready-to-use blog environment.

We will then teach you how to use your new blog: how to submit new articles, how to insert pictures and links, and so on. Our Quick Start manual will guide you, and our team will be ready to assist you if you run into any problems while using your blog.

We also offer the hosting of your new blog in our efficient hosting environment.
Need content for your new blog?

inWrite can provide skilled writers who can produce quality content for your blog. Our writers can handle information gathering (such as interviews) and the writing of articles based on your input and requirements. For example, we can write articles about company news, events, products services, market developments, and so on. We can produce blog content for your company on a project basis or a regular basis.

More Details on
http://www.inwrite.org

At first glance “title” seems very small things for any website. I have observed that many web development companies are not giving proper title to any web pages. Title tag is one of the most important parts in onsite search engine optimization. Here I will teach you how to write effective search engine friendly title for any webpage as it is one of the most important part of onsite SEO techniques.

Step 1.
Do proper keyword research and make group of 4-5 keyword phrases for each page. This is called keyword grouping, in which keywords are distributed according to relevancy and competition of the keywords in search engines.

Step 2.
Once keyword grouping is done, ask your content writer to write content by targeting those keywords. Once content is ready, do content optimization (I will post article for content optimization in next few days).

Step 3.
Title writing will start once content optimization is done for particular page. Let’s say page is about jobs for IT engineer in India and targeted keywords are…

Asp.net programmer jobs
Php programmer jobs
Java programmer jobs
SEO expert jobs

By targeting above four technical jobs related keywords title should written as…

Asp.net, Php, Java programmer and SEO expert jobs for IT engineer in India | Websitename

After reviewing above title many questions may raise in your mind like…

Is there any specific format to write title?
Ans. No, there is no specific format to write title for any page. Title should contain keywords which are covered in content on that page and it should describe what the page is about.

Can we put only targeted keywords rather than descriptive sentence?
Ans. Yes you can put only targeted keywords but as per my experience I will not recommend to put only keywords. It will look like spamming and not professional. Let me explain how…

Search engine will list only 10 website in one page, now whenever a person search for any query he/she will click only on single site listed in that page. Now our aim is to attract those visitors to click on our link. If we provide description title than click through rate will increase.

What is the recommended length of title tag?
Ans. Google will display only 65 characters with spaces in search engine result. Still we can write title containing 75 to 85 characters. Try to cover most important keywords at the beginning of your title.

Many SEO related questions may raised in your mind but it is not possible to cover all stuff here. You can ask any doubt regarding to SEO related topics by drop comment here or write me an email at info(at)eltalearning.com

Iphone application development process is similar to that of Mac OS X application at higher level of development process. Both application developments need same tools and many of the same basic libraries. However there is significant difference in both the applications application development process. Iphone is not a desktop computer, iphone application have different purpose than Mac application and require different design approach. That approach needs to take advantage of the strengths of iPhone OS and forego features that might be irrelevant or impractical in a mobile environment.

Iphone was launched in the US in June 2007 by Apple and they have sold more than 8 millions iphones since its launch and counter is still clocking. Analysts predict that apples have huge market of iphone in India and it is essential for them to join hands with the biggest GSM operators in India. Airtel and Vodafone combined subscriber base is over 111 millions in India and mobile density in India is just 22% right now. Apple can get maximum benefits to this opportunity by target Indian customers by providing extraordinary featured in their iphones.

The most important is, apple allow developers to develop iphone application as per the requirement of users. Now a day iphone application development becomes latest trends in IT industries. You will find millions of Iphone application ready to use in Apple store.
Iphone application development process is easy and any one having good experience on Objective C, can develop iphone applications effectively. We will discuss, how to develop iphone applications and tools which required to work on Iphone applications in our next session.

Your suggestion and feedback are always welcome.

Microsoft Corporation had launched Windows 7 operating system in India. Best new for Indian is, Windows 7 will be available at least 20% cheaper than in the US. The main purpose to offer Windows 7 Operating system at lower rate is to reduce piracy of windows operating system in India. It is believed that around 85% of Indians are using the pirated version of Windows operating systems. Windows 7 can, however, hit stores only after the firm resolves a tax dispute with the customs department over the interpretation of tax rules introduced in July on imported packaged software.

“Some emerging countries have a differential price, basically to tackle piracy. The new software is being priced one-third lower than Vista in India. We have launched Windows 7 in six editions, targeted at specific user groups,” says Ravi Venkatesan, Microsoft India chairman during the launch of Windows 7 in New Delhi on Thursday.

Windows 7 Price In India:
Windows 7 Home Basic – Rs. 5,899
Windows 7 Home Premium – Rs. 6,799
Windows 7 Professional – Rs. 11,199
Windows 7 Ultimate – Rs. 11,799

Out of these, here are my top 10 Firefox extensions:

1. Adblock Plus. If you have ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on a site that often take longer to download than everything else on the page, install Adblock Plus and get rid of them. Right-click on a banner and choose "Adblock" from the context menu, and the banner won't be downloaded again.

2. Colorful Tabs. This simple add-on makes a strong colorful appeal. It sets each tab to a different color and makes them easy to distinguish while beautifying the overall appearance of the interface. After a long day of research when you have lots of browser windows open, this makes online page viewing easier on the eyes.

3. ColorZilla. ColorZilla puts an eyedropper icon in your status bar. Click it and you'll get a crosshair cursor. As you run this over a Web page, the RGB values of the pixel under the crosshair will display in the status bar, both as three separate values and as a hex value (e.g., R:255, G:255, B:255 | #FFFFFF). I use this all the time if I'm trying to match colors; i.e. a font color to an the primary background on an image, for example.

4. GMail Manager. This Gmail notifier is great if you have multiple Gmail accounts. It allows you to receive new mail notifications along with viewing account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets.

5. MeasureIt. After installing this extension, you'll have a small ruler icon on the left side of your status bar. When you click on it, your browser window will fade out a little, and you'll have a crosshair cursor. Drag the cursor over a section of the screen that you want to measure. Next to the box is its height and width, measured in pixels. I use this all the time when trying to measure the size of images. When you're finished, just hit the Escape key to turn it off and return to normal viewing of the page.

6. Quirk Search Status. Search Status allows you to see how any web site you visit is performing. When you land on a page, SearchStatus lets you view its Google PageRank, Google Category, Alexa popularity ranking, Compete.com ranking, SEOmoz Linkscape mozRank, Alexa incoming links, Alexa related links and backward links from Google, Yahoo! and MSN. This combined search-related information means you can view not only the link importance of a site (according to Google and Linkscape), but also its traffic importance (according to Alexa and Compete), so providing a balanced view of site efficacy. I use this all the time to determine whether a site has enough traffic to warrant accepting a joint venture proposal.

7. Scrapbook. ScrapBook helps you to save Web pages and easily manage your saved collections. Major features are: saving web pages or snippets of a page, saving a web site, organizing the collection in the same way you do bookmarks, full text search and quick filtering search of the collection, and editing of your collected pages.

8. Session Manager. Session Manager helps you manage your Firefox tabs. If you visit the same sites every day, all you need do is open all the sites in separate tabs and/or windows, and then use Session Manager to save the session with a distinct name. Then, you simply go to Tools > Session Manager, pick your session, and all the windows and tabs open up just as you saved them. And, Session Manager tracks your sessions as you surf, and if Firefox (or your system) crashes, you can recover the selection of tabs you had open when it crashed.

9. Tabs Open Relative. Tabs Open Relative makes all new tabs open to the right of the current tab, rather than at the far right of the tab bar. This reduced a huge annoyance I had with how the Firefox browser worked.

10. XMarks. XMarks (formerly Foxmarks) provides seamless bookmark synchronization between your computers and browsers via their synchronization server. Your bookmark (and optionally password) data is securely stored and backed up on their servers and is available online, as well. After you install the add-on, click on the notification to set up Xmarks and start backing up and synchronizing your bookmarks. Install Xmarks on each computer you use, and it seamlessly integrates with your web browser and keeps your bookmarks safely backed up and in sync across all of your computers. Secure Password Sync is an optional Xmarks feature.

1. Speed Up Windows Vista Start Menu Search

As you execute a search you will be using the search box located in the start panel. Then Vista will start searching the file index without any prompting. Keep in mind that the file index will be very big due to the fact that it has all files included on your hard drive. If you are looking to speed up your searching methods then you can try this. Go to your Start Menu and narrow down the scope of the search. In other words try to narrow down what you are looking for. Instead of a general term use something more specific. There are two ways in which you can do this.

The first way is called the Registry hack and for that this is what you have to do.

Step one: Open up the registry editor using the word regedit.
Step Two: Guide to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer and then choose the Advanced key.
Step Three: Locate and then right click on the Start_Search Files and then select the Modify key.
Step Four:You now have to change the Value to Zero.
Step Five: Then restart your Explorer.exe or you can simply just reboot the computer.
If this method does not work for you then you can try this:

Step One:
Using your mouse right click on the Start button and then choose the Properties key.
Step Two: then click on the button that says Customize.
Step Three: Then see all of the checked items, uncheck the Search Communications.
Step Four: Then reset the search files to the setting Don’t Search for files.
Step Five: Click the Ok button.

2. Increase your SATA Disk Drive Performance

If you are looking to increase your SATA Disk Drive Performance you can definitely do so. What your first step is in doing so is setting up your write caching. But keep in mind as you do that there is a risk of data loss and corruption in the event of a power loss. This loss is only significant in a personal computer, the risk is a lot less in a lap top because, it runs on batteries.

To increase the SATA Disk Drive performance you can follow these simple steps:

Step One: Start by clicking on the Start Button and then enter the Device Manager and then hit the enter key.
Step Two: Expand the Disk Drives so they are not carrying too much information which will slow them down.
Step Three: Then right clock on the hard disk drive and then choose the Properties key.
Step Four: Then where it says Policies, you want to have checked off the Enabled Advanced Performance key.
Step Five: The click the Ok button and then close the device manager and you are all set.

3. Speed Up your Windows Vista Aero

The way Windows Vista is set up is really just for show. But because it is a new systems it can decrease the speed of your system. There are really only two ways to increase the speed of the Aero interface that is on your Vista system.

The first way is to Disable the Transparent Glass Effect:

Step One: Click on the Desktop icon on your screen and then choose Personalize.
Step Two: Choose the Windows Color and Appearance of your choice.
Step Three: Make sure you remove the check from the enable Transparency key.
The second way to speed up the Aero is to remove the Windows Minimum and Maximize the Animation key. You can do this by:

Step One: Start by clicking the Start Menu and then enter the System Properties Performance and then hit the enter key.
Step Two: When you see the Visual Effects section, remove the check mark from the Animate Windows When Minimizing and Maximizing.
Step three: Click Ok.

4. Windows Powered Smart Display

What is the Windows Powered Smart Display ?
What this is, is part of the Windows XP Professional Desktop. It is used in conjunction with the Remote Desktop Connection which is used through a wireless LAN link. This link is then used to get into your XP desktop from anywhere in the wireless range. So in other words, it is a remote wireless connection that your computer can use as along as the computer sits in the range of the wireless access.

Here are some other features that the Smart Display has:
The Smart Display has some great features, there is an on the screen keyboard which actually uses handwriting recognition software. It will allow you to use a USB mouse and keyboard if you are not used to the onscreen device yet . It can be used with a docking station and a mouse and keyboard. It is like using a small desktop computer from anywhere in the house or office. You have to keep in mind that the Smart Display itself does not have any file storage at all but the information that you use on the Smart Display will actually be stored on your desktop.

5. User Access Control

The User Access Control, this does not have to be used and can be turned off by simply clicking the Start button and then click the new Tools Menu and then scroll down and then when you see the access control key click it off. Then reboot your system.

6. Run as Administrator

You have to check because there is some software that you will not be able to install, even though you are logged in as an Admin. Simply right click in the mouse in the setup file and simply choose the Run as Administrator.

7. Added Wi-Fi Security

Added Wi-Fi Security, When you are looking for more security, go into the Network and Sharing menu and then click on Customize and choose the Public key . This will tighten up your Wi-Fi security when you are on public Wi-Fi.

8. Add Copy as Path

Simply hitting the shift key and then right click on a folder or you can choose any icon adds Copy as path and Open as command window here, you can edit them to the Windows Defender. Open up the Windows Defender and then click on the Tools key and then click on the Software Explorer and then take off the programs that you don’t want to run.

9. Keyboard short cut secret

Using a left to right format give the icons on your Quick Launch bar a number, this way you can launch the icons in order of preference.

10. Free Up More Space on your computer

In order to do this you can use the Windows Disk Cleanup . This will get rid of files that you don’t use, it will also get rid of memory and other operating system that contain files of unwanted material. By getting rid of the junk you can free up a lot of space for the important things you need.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt is one of the best user driven art community, where you can find several pieces of art, including wallpapers, desktop styles, logon screens and more.

The best part of DeviantArt is that the community members are really skilled, you can definitely keep your expectations high here.


InterfaceLIFT

InterfaceLIFT is another artist driven community website, where several artists upload their works to the site, the wallpapers can be downloaded for free in the most popular resolutions supported by monitors.

Smashing Magazine

Though Smashing Magazine is not a direct resource for high res wallpapers, it is definitely a good resource for finding really nice wallpapers.


The editors from Smashing Magazine frequently publish several list posts containing superb high quality wallpapers, in addition you will also find links to several other graphics resources.

Minty White

Minty White is another great site to find several high quality wallpapers, though once again its a resource gatherer, but the quality of the wallpapers are pretty high and we are sure you will find lots of them.

The folks at Minty White publish regular top 100 wallpapers list, so be sure to visit them regularly to get high resolution wallpapers.

Graphics.com

Graphics.com is another place where you can find high resolution wallpapers submitted by the user community. There are several wallpapers out there which are simply stunning.

The wallpaper gallery is divided into different months, to make you navigation more easier.

Flickr Wallpaper Exchange

Flickr Wallpaper Exchange is a community where users upload their wallpapers, and like we have seen user driven communities always result in you finding high resolution wallpapers.

Well this is not the end of the list as we are eager to learn about the websites you download wallpapers from. Do let us know about them, we would love to increase our wallpaper collection.

We are going to look at 7 Basics of SEO below. These aren't the only things you want to know about SEO, but are the areas you should learn first. Some topics will only take you a minute, some will take a little longer, and others will become an ongoing process. But after reading through this list you should have a good handle on where to start and where to proceed next.

SEO Basic 1: Let's start off with a definition. SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization" and is the process by which you Optimize your web site so that it is positioned well in the search engines. This is not the same thing as designing a site so that it attracts customers and entices them to buy.

SEO is what you do specifically on your site to improve your Search Engine Position. If you do a search on Google for any search term you will be presented with a list of links. At the top of the page and along the right side will be PPC links where someone pays an amount per click to get positioned. With PPC the more you pay the better your position. Most people only glance at these listings. You don't need SEO to get one of these positions, just lots of money.

Top Positions in the Web's Largest Article Directory

The body of the page contains "organic" listings. These links are listed in the order that Google determined best fit your search, with the best match first. There are only 10 listings per page, most people will only look at the 1st page, maybe the 2nd. So your site needs to be listed within the top 10 and at the worst within the top 20 for any useful exposure. With SEO you will be adjusting your site code so that your site will rank highly. This can be a daunting process as there may be thousands of sites competing for the same top listing. A trick is to aim your pages at less popular search terms to get higher placement. It is better to be on page one for a term that gets 1,000 searches per month than to be on page three for a search term that gets millions of visits.

SEO Basic 2: Your web site must be search engine friendly. The search engines send out "spiders" or "bots" cataloging web pages they come across. If the search engine has trouble getting through to your pages it will either rank your page poorly, or skip your site all together. Making your site Search Engine Friendly means having the code easily accessible, no errors in the code, and guiding the search engine through your site.

Try to steer away from complicated coding when possible. Check your site for coding errors. This is fairly easy to do with web programs like Dreamweaver which do this for you automatically. Plan on having text based navigation on every page. This is usually placed at the bottom of the pages. You may also want to have a "Site Map" page with easy to follow text based links to all of your important pages. Search Engines will look for a Site Map and will use that to navigate a site if available.

SEO Basic 3: The Most Important SEO Aspect is Keywords. Keywords are the terms you type into a search engine to find interesting web sites. You need to know what search terms people are likely to use to find your site, then use those terms as your Keywords. Make a list of the keyword combinations you can think of that you would use to find your site. Try them all on a search engine and see the results.

You need to see how these search terms perform on the web and what other search terms could be used. A great free tool to help with this research is available at Google:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

You type in a search term, then you are given a list of similar search terms, how often they were searched and some advertiser comparison figures. You can quickly find additional keywords and to see how well they perform. A good idea is to optimize your site for a less frequently used keyword combinations so that you can achieve a higher placement. The Google Keyword Tool will help you figure this out.

Forget Expensive PPC Advertising - There is an Alternative!

Focus on keyword groups with 3 or 4 keywords. Many times keywords will overlap, so you can focus on a longer keyword combination and cover many other combinations at the same time. For instance, if you are designing a page to sell Photoshop Training, you can optimize for this keyword phrase "Adobe Photoshop Training Video". This will not only give you optimized performance for this keyword combination but also for these other keywords and combinations as well:

Adobe
Photoshop
Training
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop Training
Adobe Photoshop Training
Photoshop Training Video

So try to come up with a multiple keyword combination that will contain several other keyword combinations as well.

Once you know what keywords you want to use you are ready to place those keywords on your page. The main places you want to use the keywords are:

In the meta title of the page
In the meta description of the page
In the first sentence on the page
In all of the image alt tags
In links to and from the page
Well represented in the body text of the page

Make sure you Pick the right keywords, and make sure they cover more than 5% of the word usage on the page. An easy way to get more keywords onto a page is by using lists such as:

We carry:
Adobe Photoshop Training Video Sets for Educators
Adobe Photoshop Training Video Sets for Students
Adobe Photoshop Training Video Sets for Business

Keep in mind that your page text should still be user friendly. If you use your keywords too frequently or in strange ways on your page, it may rank better in the search engines, but it will drive away visitors. Who wants to read a poorly written page?

SEO Basic 4: Don't try anything funny. There are lots of "tricky" things you can do to cram more keywords into a page without annoying your visitors. The problem is that the search engines know about these tricks and will penalize your site if you use them. So don't do any of the following or you may find your web site disappear completely from the search engine listings.

White letters on white background, or any other similar text coloring trick. Even using a very light gray text on a white background, or very dark gray text on a black background can get you bumped from the search engines.

Don't repeat your keyword over and over again. People used to do things like this at the top or bottom of their pages: Photoshop Photoshop Photoshop. This worked in the early days of search engine optimization, but no longer. You should also not try this trick in alt tags, image names, links or other places in your code. The search engines will spot this and you will be penalized.

Don't put keywords into comment tags. Also don't put keywords in hidden form fields. The search engines will spot these and mark you down accordingly.

Even though putting keywords into image names and alt tags is a great idea, don't think that you can just create a bunch of clear gif images sized at 1x1 and fill those with keywords. The search engines are very good at spotting tricks like this as well.

So use your keywords appropriately, don't try to sneak one past the search engines and you should do just fine. Just keep in mind, if you think that you need to hide the keywords to trick the search engine you can rest assured that they have already thought of that and will do their best to devalue your site accordingly if you use these "black hat" tricks.

SEO Basic 5: All pages should have links to other pages. The main search engines like links. They like outside sites linking into yours, but they also like links within your site going to other pages. So in this case having more pages can be useful. Also since you now have all these pages that you are linking to it gives you a great place to use some more keywords. Make sure that your links include your keywords.

But, and this could have been in section 4 above, don't create "doorway pages" that redirect you to another page. It used to be common SEO practice to create lots of doorway pages, each one stuffed with specific keywords, all of which would redirect the visitor to the actual page they were looking for. This would give your site lots of pages, with lots of internal links and would allow you to tightly optimize these doorway pages for specific keywords, but the search engines have gotten wise to this trick and now penalize the use of redirect pages. So don't use redirects unless you absolutely need to and never use doorway pages.

SEO Basic 6: Only optimize a page for one or two keyword groups. More than that just dilutes your keyword ratio. The search engines will analyze your web page to determine which words are used as keywords. They do this by looking at the title, the description, the page heading and the words used on the page. They then determine how relevant your keywords are to your page. So, if you try to use too many different keywords on a page, it will only bring down the percentage of any individual keyword or group for that page. It is better to optimize for a larger keyword group as discussed above than to try to optimize a page for a lot of individual keywords that can't be easily used in one sentence. If you need to have a page optimized for several different, unrelated keywords you are better off creating several different pages and re-writing the body text on each page to match the keywords you are optimizing for. This will make each page relevant for the specific keyword and will get a better placement in the search engines.

SEO Basic 7: Be patient. Even with a perfectly optimized web site it can take several months for it to rise in the search engine standings. I usually recommend waiting at least 90 days and up to 6 months to see how well a web page is doing in the search engines. Also, even though you have gone to great lengths to target a specific keyword or keyword combination keep in mind that the search engines aren't required to agree with you. So when checking your standings look at several different search terms that you discovered in your research and see how well your page is placing. Hopefully you will find that your chosen keywords are getting your page listed the way you want, showing that your SEO has worked properly.

If you find that your page is ranking better for a different keyword, you should examine your page code to see why and make adjustments as needed. Maybe your page is placing higher for a keyword combination you weren't focusing on, but it is still a good combination for your goals. This gives you an ideal opportunity to go with that new combination to achieve even higher placing.

So, get started right now on your SEO. The longer you wait, the longer it will be before your web site is showing well up in the search engines.

In Closing

There is a lot more to SEO than just these 7 quick points, but this will get you started on the right path. Go through these steps and your web pages will be well positioned for any other SEO you may want to perform on your site in the future.

Here are 10 work habits that you should try to break:

1. Procrastination

A lot of people work best under pressure, or at least they say so. With everyone having a different personality, you can't say a strict schedule works best for all employees. Putting tasks off until the last minute, however, invites plenty of problems, even if you think the final result will be glorious.

When you leave yourself no wiggle room to complete a task, you run the risk of encountering an unexpected obstacle that makes you miss the deadline. Even if the situation is out of your hands, everyone will be left wondering why you didn't plan better and account for last-minute emergencies.

2. Being a sloppy e-mailer

E-mails are second nature to most people these days, and in informal communications they've become a digital Post-it note. We type out a message and send it without proofreading or double-checking the recipients. That's a recipe for disaster.
If you haven't learned your lesson by now, the day will soon come when you accidentally "Reply All" to an e-mail and a slew of unintended readers receive a silly note you intended only your co-worker to read.

3. Confusing informal with disrespectful

In many workplaces, the boss might be the decision maker, but he or she isn't the stern, humorless caricature you saw on TV. Using your supervisor's first name and going for some drinks after work are common in many industries. Still, you are the employee and the boss is the boss -- the one who can fire you and tell you what to do. Don't cross the line by talking to her as if you're talking to one of your direct reports or even your best friend. You need to show some respect for her authority.

4. Taking advantage of leeway

Some companies are strict about the time you clock in and out. Others have guidelines but no hard rules, so you can arrive at 8:35 a.m. and no one cares. If over time you're arriving at 9:10 a.m. and leaving at 4 p.m. (with plenty of breaks in between), your reputation will suffer.

This also goes for dress codes. Business casual is up to interpretation, but ripped jeans and concert tees probably don't fall under your company's accepted definition.

5. Refusing to mingle

Plenty of wisdom lies in the advice not to mix personal and professional lives. However, refusing to take part in any social activity -- such as the office potluck or a happy hour -- will not help your career. You don't need to be the resident party animal, but being personable with your

colleagues helps build camaraderie. You get to know other people better and they get to know you as more than the person they pass in the halls.

6. Always running late

This isn't the same as abusing leeway; this is a matter of trust. If you're late to work, to meetings and with projects, your boss and colleagues will associate that trait with you. When it's time for a promotion or to deal with an important client, everyone will think twice before giving you the opportunity. Who wants to trust the person who can't manage his or her time?

7. Being rigid

One of the unfair aspects of the working world is that sometimes it seems you can't win. If you're hired to do a job, most bosses don't want you passing the day by reading your favorite book. The reason: You were hired to do a job, so do it. But if the boss comes to you with a new project that's outside the parameters of your usual duties, it's still yours to do. "You don't pay me to do that" isn't something you want to tell your supervisor.

8. Acting as the resident contrarian

We all love your spirited personality, but try not to be the person in the meeting who always has a better idea and can tell you why everyone else's idea is dumb. Voices of opposition are often missing in many workplaces because too many eager employees want to be "yes" men and women. But too much negativity grates on nerves and makes people dread hearing your voice. Continue to be a critical thinker, but make sure you're doing what's best for the company and not just trying to be the loudest voice in the room.

9. Badmouthing the company

With blogs, Facebook, Twitter and a host of other sites, you have plenty of opportunity to vent your frustration with life. If you're going to complain about how dumb your boss is and how much you hate your job, keep those rants private. The Internet is public domain and comments have a way of finding their way back to all the wrong people. If you wouldn't stand outside your boss's office and tell a co-worker how ready you are to quit, don't express the same thoughts in an open forum.

10. Politicking

Office politics are often unavoidable, and sometimes having a grasp on what's going on can benefit you, but you shouldn't spend more time masterminding office warfare than you do working. Getting caught in the crosshairs of a workplace controversy can be out of your control, but if you're the one instigating the drama, you're earning a bad reputation. You're the person who starts trouble and whom no one trusts. That's the kind of notoriety that follows you from one workplace to another.

Google's new calculator is a fun diversion, with several undocumented new features. Here's a few.

- How long can you play a 30GB iPod without repeating a song? Answer: 18.2 days
- How much hard drive space does one hour of 128kbps MP3s consume? Answer: 56.25 megabytes
- How many seconds in a decade? Answer: 315,569,260
- 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius? Answer: 37 degrees
- How many feet in a smoot? Answer: 5.58 (via Ryan)
- What's the answer to life, the universe and everything? Answer: 42
- What's the answer to life, the universe and everything multiplied by the speed of light divided by three teaspoons? Answer: 8.51523871 × 1014 m-2 s-1
- What's the speed of a Delorean going back in time? Answer: 47,600,819,200 m3 kg/s4 (via Cam)

1. Goto 'System & Increse virtual memory'.
2. Use Memory Optimizers.
3. Use Pen Drive as RAM.

Checkbox and Radio Buttons

1) FancyForm
2) CRIR: Checkbox & Radio Input Replacement
3) Ryan Fait’s Custom Checkboxes & Radio Buttons
4) ARC - Adam’s Radio/Checkbox Customization
5) prettyCheckboxes
6) jQuery checkbox
7) Articles & Tutorials On Customizing Checkbox and Radio Buttons

Select / Dropdown Box

1) JavaScript Image Combobox
2) jQuery Dropdown Check List
3) Custom Select With Icons
4) ComboBoxes Using MooTools
5) Select Replacement
6) Additional Select Box Customization (Won’t Work If JavaScript Disabled)

Almost All Form Elements

1) Custom Form Elements (CFE)
2) Emblematiq Niceforms
3) jQuery Plugin: jNicex

Checkbox and Radio Buttons

1) FancyForm
2) CRIR: Checkbox & Radio Input Replacement
3) Ryan Fait’s Custom Checkboxes & Radio Buttons
4) ARC - Adam’s Radio/Checkbox Customization
5) prettyCheckboxes
6) jQuery checkbox
7) Articles & Tutorials On Customizing Checkbox and Radio Buttons

Select / Dropdown Box

1) JavaScript Image Combobox
2) jQuery Dropdown Check List
3) Custom Select With Icons
4) ComboBoxes Using MooTools
5) Select Replacement
6) Additional Select Box Customization (Won’t Work If JavaScript Disabled)

Almost All Form Elements

1) Custom Form Elements (CFE)
2) Emblematiq Niceforms
3) jQuery Plugin: jNicex

1. Vertical align div
http://stylizedweb.com/2008/02/01/vertical-align-div/

2. Min-Height

selector {
min-height:500px;
height:auto; !important
height:500px;
}
3. PNG transparency

http://stylizedweb.com/2007/12/30/png-transparency-issues/

4. Autoclear

.container:after {
content: ".";
display: block;
height: 0;
clear: both;
visibility: hidden;
}

.container {display: inline-table;}
/* Hides from IE-mac \*/
* html .container {height: 1%;}
.container {display: block;}
/* End hide from IE-mac */

5. Reset CSS

html, body, div, span, applet, object, iframe, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, blockquote, pre, a, abbr, acronym, address, big, cite, code, del, dfn, em, font, img, ins, kbd, q, s, samp, small, strike, strong, sub, sup, tt, var, dl, dt, dd, ol, ul, li, fieldset, form, label, legend, table, caption, tbody, tfoot, thead, tr, th, td {
border:0pt none;
font-family:inherit;
font-size:100%;
font-style:inherit;
font-weight:inherit;
margin:0pt;
outline-color:invert;
outline-style:none;
outline-width:0pt;
padding:0pt;
vertical-align:baseline;
}
table {
border-collapse:separate;
border-spacing:0pt;
}
caption, th, td {
font-weight:normal;
text-align:left;
}
blockquote:before, blockquote:after, q:before, q:after {
content:"";
}
blockquote, q {
quotes:"" "";
}
strong {
font-weight:bold;
}
em {
font-style:italic;
}
* {
margin:0pt;
padding:0pt;
}

6. Scrolling Render IE

html {
background : url(null) fixed no-repeat;
}

7. Opacity

#transdiv {
filter:alpha(opacity=75);
-moz-opacity:.75;
opacity:.75;
}

8. PRE Tag

pre {
white-space: pre-wrap; /* css-3 */
white-space: -moz-pre-wrap !important; /* Mozilla, since 1999 */
white-space: -pre-wrap; /* Opera 4-6 */
white-space: -o-pre-wrap; /* Opera 7 */
word-wrap: break-word; /* Internet Explorer 5.5+ */
}

9. Li Background Repeat IE



10. Good to know

@charset "UTF-8";

/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
WinIE7
---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
*:first-child+html selector{property:value;}

/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
WinIE6 & Mac IE
---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
* html selector{property:value;}

/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
WinIE6
---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
/*\*/
* html selector{property:value;}
/**/

/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
MacIE
---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
/*\*//*/
selector{property:value;}
/**/

The title tag is critical
The title tag is the single most important piece of content for people who search.
Keep it short: Don’t have more than 60 characters (with spaces), which is roughly 8-10 words.
Lead with the most important careword for that particular page. Always start off with what is specific about the page and move to what is general. Many websites begin their title with their brand or organization name, and then follow with what is unique about the page. (This is a very common mistake, so check out your website.)
The description tag is recommended
The description tag is not nearly as important as the title. However, it does have some value. Write it as a summary and keep it under thirty words. It should be written in a compelling, clear manner.

Light pages, and lean, quality HTML
The less HTML code you have, the better, as it makes it easier and faster for the search engine to index your page. Aim for a total page weight of 50 KB for any page (that’s including graphics). Certainly, anything over 100 KB is going to be slow, and some search engines don’t like pages that are over 100 KB.

Have a site map/index
People like site maps/indexes, and so do search engines. Make sure that the site map is available from the homepage, that it is presented in a text-based format, and that it is kept up to date.

Avoid Flash
I’ve nothing against Flash design except for the fact that I generally detest it. It’s such a waste of time; fourth rate TV advertising by people who will never get the chance to do a real TV ad. Search engines don’t like Flash either, and find it very hard to index Flash-based pages.

Build your website in static HTML
You don’t need a “dynamic” website unless you have dynamic content, such as airline seat availability and pricing which needs to be dynamically published from a database because it constantly changes. You may store your website in a database but you’re better off publishing it as a static HTML website. It’s cheaper, the pages will download faster, and search engines will find it easier to comprehensively index your website.

Avoid PDFs
One of the sure signs of a badly managed website is that it has lots of PDFs. Publishing content in PDF is usually a shortcut. Search engines have got better at indexing PDFs but it is still recommended that you publish a heading and summary in HTML.

Avoid frames
Frames are a very bad idea.

Watch your JavaScript
Any links that you have in JavaScript should also be published in HTML, otherwise the search engine won’t be able to follow those links. Rollovers are cool but they cause nothing but problems, so unless you have a brilliant technical team, avoid them.

Alternative text
As a rule you should have alternative text for every single image. However, the only alternative text that search engines recognize is for those images that are linked. Make sure you use descriptive, careword-rich text.

Keyword tags
Over the years, some websites tried to trick search engines by stuffing keyword tags with lots of popular words. Because of this, most search engines give very little value to keyword tags

A Survey of Google’s PageRank
Calculation of Page Rank, Page Rank Implementation, Inbound Links, Outbound Links, Number of Pages, PageRank Distribution, Additional Factors and more.
The Lineal Algebra Behind Google
The $25,000,000,000 Eigenvector - The Linear Algebra Behind Google. Google’s success derives in large part from its PageRank algorithm, which ranks the importance of webpages according to an eigenvector of a weighted link matrix. Analysis of the PageRank formula provides a wonderful applied topic for a linear algebra course.
The Intelligent Surfer: Probabilistic Combination of Link and Content Information in PageRank

We propose to improve Page-Rank by using a more intelligent surfer, one that is guided by a probabilistic model of the relevance of a page to a query. Efficient execution of our algorithm at query time is made possible by precomputing at crawl time (and thus once for all queries) the necessary terms.

Topic-Sensitive PageRank
To yield more accurate search results, we propose computing a set of PageRank vectors, biased using a set of representative topics, to capture more accurately the notion of importance with respect to a particular topic. By using these (precomputed) biased PageRank vectors to generate query-specific importance scores for pages at query time, we show that we can generate more accurate rankings than with a single, generic PageRank vector.

Method for node ranking in a linked database
A method assigns importance ranks to nodes in a linked database, such as any database of documents containing citations, the world wide web or any other hypermedia database. The rank assigned to a document is calculated from the ranks of documents citing it. In addition, the rank of a document is calculated from a constant representing the probability that a browser through the database will randomly jump to the document. By Page and Lawrence.

How Google Finds Your Needle in the Web’s Haystack
Mathematical Background of Google PageRank. By David Austin, Grand Valley State University
A Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine
Original Slides, by Larry Page.
Wikipedia: PageRank
Mathematical Theory Behind Google PageRank

Official Name: Academy Award® of Merit

Height: 13½ inches

Weight: 8½ pounds

Number of Awards Presented: 2,701

First Recipient: Emil Jannings, named Best Actor for his performances in “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh” in 1929

Design: A knight holding a crusader’s sword, standing on a reel of film. The film reel features five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the

Academy (actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers).

Designer: Cedric Gibbons, chief art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Sculptor: Los Angeles artist George Stanley

Manufacturer: R. S. Owens & Company in Chicago

Manufacturing Time: 3–4 weeks for 50 statuettes

As designers and developers we are all responsible for the product we produce, and cross browser testing is a must in our line of work. Although the W3C statistics show about 7 browsers that people tend to use most, in my opinion, two of them are the most important and should be given special attention to perfecting (Firefox and Internet Explorer).

Below are some commonly used browsers, tools, solutions, and hacks to overcome your daily issues.

Commonly Used Browsers
Firefox - (Download)
Internet Explorer - (Download)
Safari - (Download)
Google Chrome - (Download)
Opera - (Download)
Want to find more? Checkout Smashing Magazine’s article.

Cross Browsing Tools
Sometimes its not possible to have a running browser with multiple versions (example: IE7 + IE6 on Same PC) so its useful to have standalone browsers to help you debug and test. Here are some tools below that may be helpful for you.

IE Tester
Browser Camp
Browser Shots
Want to find more? Checkout Smashing Magazine’s article.

Great Articles For Your Everyday CSS Fix
Using CSS to Fix Anything 20 Common Bugs and Fixes
IE CSS Bugs That’ll Get You Every Time
Solving 5 Common CSS Headaches
Using Javascript to Fix 12 Common Browser Headaches
CSS Hacks
I hesitate sharing these hacks, because most beginners have tendencies to want to hack everything up, which leads to a nightmare in the long run. I have come a cross a few of them which I would like to share, but please use them wisely. With good XHTML/CSS structure, hacks are not needed. If all else fails, go ahead and check some of the options below.

IE Conditional Tags

Checkout Site Point’s Article on conditional tags for IE

IE 6 Hack

*html .classname {}IE 6 ‘!important’ Hack

.classname {
float: left;
margin: 200px !important; /*--The !important; hack tells IE6 to skip this line.--*/
margin: 220px;
}IE 7 Hack

*+html .classname {}Safari Hack

html:lang(en)>body .classname {}Opera 7 Hack

@media all and (min-width: 0px){
.classname {}
}CSS Hack Resources
Opera CSS Hack
Google Chrome Hack
http://www.stylegala.com/resources/css_hacks.htm
http://www.centricle.com/ref/css/filters/
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/browser-specific-css-hacks/
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
http://www.webdevout.net/css-hacks
Conclusion
As you can see, testing and making your design work in all browsers can be a pain at times, but the more you get the hang of this the smoother your work flow will be. If you have any other solutions, tools, or tricks of your own, I would love to hear about it!

* Do not use more than three colors.
* Get rid of everything that is not absolutely necessary. \
* Type must be easy enough for your grandma to read.
* The logo must be recognizable.
* Create a unique shape or layout for the logo.
* Completely ignore what your parents and/or spouse think about the design.
* Confirm that the logo looks appealing to more than just three (3) individuals.
* Do not combine elements from popular logos and claim it as original work.
* Do not use clipart under any circumstances.
* The logo should look good in black and white.
* Make sure that the logo is recognizable when inverted.
* Make sure that the logo is recognizable when resized.
* If the logo contains an icon or symbol, as well as text, place each so that they complement one another.
* Avoid recent logo design trends. Instead, make the logo look timeless.
* Do not use special effects (including, but not limited to: gradients, drop shadows, reflections, and light bursts).
* Fit the logo into a square layout if possible, avoid obscure layouts.
Avoid intricate details.
* Consider the different places and ways that the logo will be presented.
* Invoke feelings of being bold and confident, never dull and weak.
* Realize that you will not create a perfect logo.
* Use sharp lines for sharp businesses, smooth lines for smooth businesses.
* The logo must have some connection to what it is representing.
* A photo does not make a logo.
* You must surprise customers with presentation.
* Do not use more than two fonts.
* Each element of the logo needs to be aligned. Left, center, right, top, or bottom.
* The logo should look solid, with no trailing elements.
* Know who is going to be looking at the logo before you think of ideas for it.
* Always choose function over innovation.
* If the brand name is memorable, the brand name should be the logo.
* The logo should be recognizable when mirrored.
* Even large companies need small logos.
* Everyone should like the logo design, not just the business that will use it.
* Create variations. The more variations, the more likely you are to get it right.
* The logo must look consistent across multiple platforms.
* The logo must be easy to describe.
* Do not use taglines in the logo.
* Sketch out ideas using paper and pencil before working on a computer. \
* Keep the design simple.
* Do not use any “swoosh” or “globe”symbols.
* The logo should not be distracting.
* It should be honest in its representation.
* The logo should be balanced visually.
* Avoid bright, neon colors and dark, dull colors.
* The logo must not break any of the above rules.

Thanks Regards,
Karthick

Here are a few tips on how to get that perfect candle light portrait!

1. Turn off Your Flash

Lets start with the obvious ones and work our way back. We’ve all taken shots using a flash in low light situations and have been disappointed by the way it totally destroys any ambient light in a shot. If you want to get the warm glow of candles it’s essential that you switch your flash completely off. There is of course an exception - see point 15 below.

2. Use a Tripod

Stating the obvious again - but shooting by candlelight means you’re shooting with very little light which in turn means you’ll almost certainly be shooting with slower shutter speeds that increase the impact of camera shake on your shots. Make sure your camera is as secure and as still as possible during shots by using a tripod and by considering the use of a remote shutter release to take out any vibrations from hitting the shutter.

3. Extra Candles

The biggest challenge with candlelight photography is the lack of light you have to work with. Using more candles will obviously produce more light which gives you a little more flexibility when it comes to shutter speed, ISO and aperture settings.




4. Spread Your Candles

Using a single candle or positioning multiple candles all closely together in one position will cause there to be harsher shadows cast upon your subject’s face. This might be the look you’re going for, however in most cases you’ll want a more even spread of light on their face. This can be achieved simply by spreading the candles out a little. I would still recommend more candles on one side than the other as this will create a nice side lighting impact - however don’t get the sides too uneven unless you’re after a pretty dramatic impact.


5. Natural ‘Reflectors’

The few times that I I shot by candlelight I made an accidental discovery that has been helpful since. I noticed that those times I shot my subject sitting at a table with a white table cloth that the shots were better exposed than those without a white table cloth. Obviously the table cloth reflected light back up into the face of my subject. Similarly white walls and ceilings can have this type of effect also (it’s slight - but everything helps when you’re shooting in such low light situations).

6. Fast Lenses

If you’re shooting with a DSLR and have multiple lenses choose the ‘fastest’ one you’ve got as this will allow you to use a larger aperture and let more light into your camera. My personal preference for this type of shot would be one of my 50mm lenses (f/1.8 or f/1.4). I would then generally shoot with the fastest aperture setting possible (or close to it) which enables a faster shutter speed and lower ISO. Keep in mind however that the larger your aperture the smaller your depth of field will be and the more spot on you focussing will need to be.

7. Zooms and Aperture

Keep in mind that when you’re shooting with many zoom lenses that the maximum aperture changes throughout the focal length range. ie shooting at the widest setting on many zooms will give you a larger aperture than when you zoom in. As a result it might be better to move in closer to your subject with a wider angle focal range than using the zoom.

8. Context and Backgrounds

Compositionally I like to keep these types of shots as uncluttered and simple as possible. I will generally shoot in front of a white background (keep an eye on harsh shadows cast by your subject and consider one or two behind them) and with minimal props. It might be appropriate to include a glass of wine and some basic table settings if you’re going for a shot at a table - but the less distractions that you have in the shot the better.

9. Shutter Speed

An obvious way to let more light into your camera is to choose a slower shutter speed. Keep in mind that as you decrease shutter speed you increase the chances of capturing any movement (both of your subject, the flames of candles and movement of your camera). If the environment is completely still (so flames are not flickering) and with a subject keeping as still as possible you might set your shutter speed as slow as 1/15th of a second - but any slower and you might be asking too much of your subject.

10. ISO Settings

Another way to compensate for low light environments is to increase the ISO settings on your camera. Of course the trade off of doing this is shots with more grain (noise) in them. Attempt to keep your ISO under 400 if you can and you should get reasonably clean shots. Any higher and you’ll start noticing the noise - especially if you’re blowing shots up to larger sizes.


OK - so now it’s over to you to experiment with Candlelight Photography! Post your results over in our forum’s Share Your Shots section.

Happy BirthDay To Charles Robert Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist[I] who realised and demonstrated that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and much of the general public in his lifetime, while his theory of natural selection came to be widely seen as the primary explanation of the process of evolution in the 1930s,[1] and now forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory. In modified form, Darwin’s scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, providing logical explanation for the diversity of life.[2]

At Edinburgh University Darwin neglected medical studies to investigate marine invertebrates, then the University of Cambridge encouraged a passion for natural science.[3] His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell’s uniformitarian ideas, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author. Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin investigated the transmutation of species and conceived his theory of natural selection in 1838.[4] Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and his geological work had priority.[5] He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories.[6]

His 1859 book On the Origin of Species established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature.[1] He examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.[7]

In recognition of Darwin’s pre-eminence, he was one of only five 19th-century UK non-royal personages to be honoured by a state funeral,[8] and was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton.[9]

Thanks To WikiPedia

If you are thinking of creating your own web site but do not have the budget to do so, let me show you how to create your own web site with the cheapest ways available

without breaking your bank account!

To create a web site requires 3 components as follows:

1. domain name registration (this is the web site address that we use to locate a web site e.g. www.microsoft.com)

2. Web design for the site

3. web hosting for the web site design

(although there are other ways to shorten this process, I will not be covering here because the main purpose of this article is to help you create a web site with the lowest cost

possible)

Domain Name Registration

Register your domain with www.hostway.com or www.godaddy.com for under USD$10 per year. Sometimes you can get a domain cheaper whenever there is a promotion.
Hostway.com offers one of the cheapest domain name registration services available online globally.
Alternatively, you can register your own domain name with www.godaddy.com, the number 1 domain registrar in the world.

It is very simple to register a domain. Just go to www.hostway.com or www.godaddy.com and search for the domain that you want to see if it is available.
If the domain name is not taken up, simply follow the on-screen instructions to buy the domain for yourself. You will need your debit or credit card to buy the domain.
For alternative payment modes, please check with the respective domain name registrar.



Web Design for the Site

Now, it is time to create your web site design. Do not be intimidated by the thought of it because creating a web site is as easy as using Microsoft Word. The web design

software nowadays offer you WYSISYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) mode of design. The most popular web authoring software will be Microsoft Frontpage and Macromedia Dreamweaver

but they will cost you a big hole in your pocket to purchase them.

Fortunately, there are many FREE web design software available on the market now which are totally free to download and use for your web site. Some recommendations are

http://www.nvu.com and http://www.evrsoft.com. Go ahead and download them, play around with them, and choose the one you prefer.

If you want to learn more about HTML, go to http://www.w3schools.com for tons of online tutorials but it is not mandatory to do so now before you can start to design your

web site.

Or if you prefer, you can engage a professional web designer do the web site design for you.

Web Hosting for the Site

After your domain name has been successfully registered and your web site design completed, you will need a web hosting plan to upload your web site design onto a web

server so that people can locate your web site when they typed your domain name into a browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox etc. There are tons of web hosting providers on

the Internet if you do a search online.

We do not recommend free web hosting services available online because they will create lots of trouble for you as you go along marketing your Internet business or web

site. Also, it will look unprofessional for your web site with those sponsored ads all over your own web sites.

If cost is a major cost to you, you can try out this cheap web hosting (USD$1.00 per month) company http://www.3ix.org/sys/aff.php?aff=1768
Alternatively, if you are looking for value-for-money hosting, then please visit http://www.bluehost.com/track/donaldlim/goart
Common requests when creating a web site: If you need free and quality graphics/images for use on your web site, go to http://www.sxc.hu
To shorten the development process, I highly recommend you to go to http://www.dynamicdrive.com where you can find and download for free scripts that you can use on your web site!

Last but not least, if you need to accept online credit card payments but you do not have the budget to get a merchant account, you can try http://www.paypal.com, an

online payment gateway trusted by more than 100 millions worldwide.


Please take the time to check out the above resources if you are serious about Internet Marketing or starting a new Internet business. The resources above have easily save

you a few hundred dollars for your startup costs for your new web site.

Your domain name is the center of your Internet identity. So what type of things should you take into consideration when choosing the name that will represent you on the Web? Jumpline.com offers these 8 handy tips.

1. Keep it short
Although some places allow you to register a name with up to 63 characters, you have to keep in mind that people need to be able to remember it, and easily type it into their browser. Try to register the shortest name that your customers and visitors will associate with your Website. The general rule of thumb is, keep it under seven characters if possible. (Not including the suffix.)

2. Dot What?
There are many different extensions available right now. For businesses, we recommend a .com suffix. It is the first extension that most people try when searching for a Website. Also, since it is one of the oldest extensions, .com shows that your business has been around for a while and that you have a well-established presence on the Web.

3. Avoid Trademarked Names
There are two really good reasons for this. First, it’s not very nice. We have all heard the stories about the zany guy who thought ahead and bought "some-huge-multi-million-dollar-company.com" and sold it to the company for enough money to retire on. But, remember that those companies, like yours, have spent lots of time and money creating their brand, and what goes around comes around. Also, companies are no longer opening their pocketbooks to get their names back. They are calling their lawyers.

4. Register Your Domain NOW
Domain names are being snatched up faster than candy at the St. Patrick’s Day parade. You must register soon unless you want to get stuck with "the-domain-name-that-no-one-wanted.net". You do not have to have a Webmaster or an ecommerce department or a Web design consultant or... Heck, you don’t even need a Web page. Just get out there and register before you loose the opportunity to get the name you really want.

5. One May Not Be Enough
Sometimes, it isn’t a bad idea to register several similar domain names. If you have "yourname.com", register "yourname.net" so no one else takes it. You can register your full company name and a shorter, easier to remember version. Some people even register common misspellings of their company’s name. (You don’t need a separate Web page for each. Several domains can point to the same Website.)

6. Character Types
Just a reminder. Domain names can only use letters, numbers, and dashes. Spaces and symbols are not allowed. Also, domain names are not case sensitive.

7. Ask Around
When you have settled on several available name choices, see what your friends and clients have to say. A name that may make perfect sense to you may be too hard for other people to remember. Is your domain easy to say? Is it hard to spell? Do you have to explain why you chose the name?

8. Don’t Shell Out Large Amounts of $$$
At one time, companies were able to get away with charging reservation fees plus a "mandatory" $70 InterNIC fee. Recently, it was decided that other companies should be able to compete to sell domain names. This has lowered prices dramatically.

And remember, if you think that if you have found the right domain name, but you're not quite sure if it's the one... register it anyway before someone else does!

Here are 30 of the Best Fonts / Typefaces that every designer must own sorted by alphabetical order. There are 15 serif fonts and 15 sans-serif fonts. These fonts will last you your whole career!

A brief description of what each font is best suited for is provided however are not limited to this.

There are some top free cool fonts that are downloadable in this collection and some that come with your operating system… the others are not so free but they sure will help you improve your typography! They include original PC, Mac and Truetype fonts.

You may also be interested in How To Choose A Font or the Top 5 Typography Resources of all time. Also don’t forget to subscribe!

15 Serif Fonts
What does serif mean?

1. Adobe Caslon
Magazines, journals, text books, corporate communication.



2. Adobe Garamond
Textbooks and magazines



3. Bembo
Posters, packaging, textbooks.



4. Bodoni
Headlines, text, logos. (I couldn’t get big preview for this font.)



5. Clarendon
Dictionaries and headlines.



6. Courier
Tabular materials, technical documentation, word processing.



7. Excelsior
Newsletters, Reports, Proposals.



8. Lucida
Low resolution printing, small point sizes, reversed out half tones.



9. Minion
Limited edition books, newsletters, packaging.



10. Perpetua
For displays with fine lettering, long pages of text, chiseled text.



11. Sabon
Books and corporate communication.



12. Stempel Schneidler
For displays and fine publications that need a legible text type.



13. Times New Roman
Newspapers, magazines, corporate communication.



14. Trajan
Books, magazines, posters, billboards, anything to do with the ages or religion.



15. Walbaum
Magazines, journals, text books, corporate communication.





15 Sans-Serif Fonts
What does sans-serif mean?

1. Akzidenz Grotesk
Large Signage, all purpose for print media.



2. Avenir
For books with large amounts of text



3. Bell Centennial
For listings and very poor printing conditions.



4. Bell Gothic
For very small amounts of text that contains large amounts of information.



5. DIN
For signage, posters and displays.



6. Franklin Gothic
Newspapers and where available space is limited.



7. Frutiger
Large signage, all purpose font for print media.



8. Futura
Large displays, small text in books.



9. Gill Sans
Signage, all purpose font for print media.



10. Helvetica
Large or small text, all purpose type figure.



11. Meta
Text, number, especially corporate communication.



12. Myriad
Large displays, all purpose media.



13. Trade Gothic
Newspapers and classified ads, advertising, multimedia.



14. Univers
Packaging, signage, text books.

15. Vag Rounded
Instruction manuals and print advertising.



Source: From the book “30 Essential Typefaces for a Lifetime” by Imin Pao and Joshya Berger. A history of typography is also found in this book as well as more information on each font and the designer.

http://www.freelogovector.com/
http://www.lalogotheque.com/
http://www.logotypes.lv/
http://www.free-logotypes.com/
http://vectorlogo.blogspot.com/
http://logotypes.designer.am/
http://logos-vector.com/
http://www.vectorism.blogspot.com/
http://www.vectorlogo.net/
http://www.vector-logos.com/

Thanks Regards,
Karthick

Google Analytics Tracking Module is a simple module for Joomla! 1.0.x. and Joomla! 1.5 (legacy mode) used for inserting Google Analytics tracking code to the Joomla site as a module.

This module makes it possible to add the tracking code before the closing body tag in template, which is recommended by Google. Module tracks all pages of Joomla cms including 3rd party components.

Module track also Virtuemart transactions. Supported payment methods are at the moment: Paypal, Cash on delivery, credit card and purchase order.

Features

The use of ssl is optional
subdomain tracking is optional
user tracking with __utmSetVar is optional
VirtueMart E-commerce Tracking
Setting Joomla! registration as a Google Analytics goal is optional

How will the Web of today evolve into the Web of tomorrow? The way we think of web development -- as HTML pages on a server being accessed by desktop browsers -- is about to change. The way we'll access the Web, the way we replicate and accept data, even the formats in which the data is passed, are all changing.


I'm not a betting man, so don't put all your chips down on one of my predictions, but this article details how I see the Web trending in the coming year. Much of this technology is available now, but it's used among small pockets of smart, revolutionary people. As they cut their teeth on these new ideas and products, the technology will make its way to the masses. It's my prediction for 2008 that these innovations will become understandable, both commercially and socially, and easy enough for anyone to use and access.


Some of these predictions already exist today for the alpha-geeks who are riding that cutting edge of technology. There are many ideas on that leading crest, and though some will fall away, others will prosper. This list represents the nine items I see emerging into the mainstream and becoming more mature in 2008. They'll move from the hands of the alpha-geeks to the lives of everyday people.


1. Facebook Plateaus, and No One Cares



Social networking sites aren't going to disappear, but I think the most popular, Facebook, won't continue on its current trajectory. If you look at the graph of MySpace vs. Facebook popularity below
If we compare several popular social network sites -- Friendster and Hi5, Facebook and MySpace -- on the graph below (or online), we see that trend again: a slow start, substantial growth, and then a plateau. And 2008 will see either a new competitor enter into this crowded field, or the social networks will begin to chip away at each other's customers. Facebook seems to the biggest on the block so, everyone's championing the under-dogs. With recent privacy blunders, a general lack of trust in Facebook, and campaigns run to encourage users to close their Facebook pages, many users are beginning to realize that the best social network is just the Web itself.
Alexa Traffic Report for various popular social networks (click to view image)
In this last graph (which you can also view online), we see a comparison of the various social networks with Blogger.com, a free blogging platform.
Alexa Traffic Report for various social networks compared to Blogger.com (click to view image)

The Blogger.com platform alone is bigger than the biggest social network. If you add all the other free blogging platforms -- Wordpress, LiveJournal, and so on -- to the mix, you can see that the hype of social networks just doesn't compare to that of individuals with their own blogs.
As people get tired of fighting with corporate advertising, and money-hungry companies who are all too happy to put their own interests ahead of their customers, users will move to their own blogs and web sites. Social networks might be good for finding old friends, but so are search engines. If you want to get in contact with an old friend, blog his or her name, or try searching for your own name -- you might just find that an old friend is looking for you.


2. Data, Data Everywhere ... and Not a Drop to Drink



O is the new i is the new e. Years ago, when traditional technology started to move online, it be came e-everything -- e for electronic. Email, Ecommerce, eMachines -- you've heard 'em all. Then Apple started to make iMacs, and i was the new e. I stood for Internet, then the iPod appeared and i didn't really stand for anything. 2008 is the year of the O. O is for open. Open will be the hot buzzword: OpenID, OAuth, OpenSocial, and more.
In this new era of openness, data ownership will become an issue. Most people are unaware of the rights they have -- or lose -- when dealing with social network sites. Think about the comments you make, and the images you upload, who owns those? You spend months and years adding all that data. It should be yours, but this is not always the case.
Data portability is another key issue associated with open data. When you join a site, you should ask yourself, "how much of my data can I get back out?" It's your data, your words, and your property. You should have the right to take all that with you if you leave. You spend valuable time and effort building it up, but guess what? Often, it isn't yours -- if you quit the site, you can't take it with you. This situation is known as vendor lock-in, and 2008 will see more of these walls begin to come down.
Before you join yet another site, demanded that you can quit at any time and take everything with you. Sites that honor your rights will excel, and sites that don't are doomed to collapse under the weight of their own unhappy customers.


3. Pull is Dead! It Was Killed by the Push


Services like Twitter, Jaiku, and others make it easier and easier for us to generate data almost in real time. That's both a blessing and a crutch. We want that data to be open -- to be able to freely move around -- but at the same time, we don't want various services requesting our RSS feed every 10 minutes and killing our bandwidth.
When a service requests your HTML, RSS, or any other file, that action's called a pull -- the service is pulling the data from your server to theirs. Pulling is pretty easy and straightforward, but the requester has to keep asking the source to see if the file has changed. This alone doesn't require a lot of bandwidth in cases involving a small group of clients and vendors, and caching is not important. But pull doesn't scale to the size of the Internet when you're dealing with near-real-time data. Can you image what would happen if a site like Facebook pulled your Twitter feed every 10 minutes? Now imagine millions of Facebook customers pulling millions of Twitter feeds every 10 minutes. Even if nothing's been updated, the service needs to make the pull request to find out, and that amounts to tremendous bandwidth usage!


The solution to this problem is to PUSH data between federated systems. A push system allows the customer to inform other sites only when an update is available. So instead of Facebook polling Twitter every 10 minutes, Twitter pushes an update to Facebook only when something new is added. The by-product of this approach is a huge bandwidth savings and a reduction in the delay between services. Previously, Facebook could be as much as 10 minutes behind your Twitter account, but with a PUSH system, Facebook is informed of the presence of new data at the same moment that the post is made to Twitter. Another advantage of this approach is that you can PUSH to multiple services at once. So when you update your Twitter feed, you could inform your Facebook/MySpace page, your Jaiku, lifestrea.ms, and other accounts, thus saving bandwidth exponentially.


The other byproduct of a push system is that it requires us to federate the systems and agree on a standard end-point and format. This promotes data portability and the strange side-effect of mixing and matching systems. I personally like Flickr for my photos, but some of my friends use Picasa. In a federated system Picasa could push an alert to Flickr to indicate that my friends have added images. Then, in my Flickr stream of friends' photos, I'd see images that were hosted not by Flickr, but by Picasa -- and vice versa. This scenario allows each person to use the system they're familiar with, and at the same time, interact with friends on other systems.
One group working to solve this problem is the team creating Instant Syndicating Standards. In 2008, more groups like this will emerge to tackle this problem.


4. It's a Bird, it's a Plane ... What is That Thing?


Be on the lookout for the introduction of more nontraditional connected devices. Cell phones or expensive PCMCIA cellular cards used to be the only truly connected mobile devices, but now, more and more devices will use cellular technology, but they won't be phones that we recognize. The new Amazon Kindle has a cellular modem built in, which allows it to phone the Amazon mothership so you can download more ebooks. It uses a traditional cellular connection like a regular phone, but it isn't a phone you could use to make a regular call.
The cellular world is morphing into something new to facilitate this evolution. We can see already that the iPhone is not just a phone -- it's a small computer with a cellular/WiFi "always on" connection. Nokia has been building similar dedicated WiFi devices for awhile, with its N770, N800, and N810 Internet tablets.


Even telecoms are getting into this new market. In the US, Verizon agreed to open device and software access to let any device that meets its specs onto the company's network. As such, any home-brew hardware hacker can now begin to build something that connects to the Verizon network and passes data around. This facility allows for even more non-traditional devices to benefit from the existing cellular infrastructure.
Companies like Nabaztag have been working along these lines for awhile. In 2008 we'll see more hybrid devices hit the mass market. People will become aware and rethink what they use to "be connected".
Thanks to

Letterhead
Ordering your letterhead from letterhead.com is the most cost-efficient and reliable way to be sure your company’s image is presented in the best possible light. Attractive stationery products express a lot about you company, and letterhead.com offers over 10,000 design templates which are fully customizable. You can also upload your own artwork to our user-friendly website. Our customer service representatives are ready to assist you in making most of your letterhead design.
Letterhead Templates
Letterhead.com’s easy-to-use website contains ove4 10,000 letterhead templates from which you can choose. They are all professionally designed to accommodate every business model. You have the capability of changing font, position and even color if you choose. Every business gives a lot of thought to the way they envision their letterhead and other stationery items, and if your planning includes original digital artwork, simply upload them to the site and create letterhead templates that you can access at any time. Ordering through letterhead.com gives you the flexibility that office administrators and business owners need to compete in the marketplace.
Letterhead Printing
Letterhead.com offers great letterhead at great prices, and makes it easy to get your letterhead printing done quickly and easily. We have a sophisticated website that processes your quality letterhead orders, and a 100,000 square foot factory and distribution facility to keep your costs at a minimum. Letterhead.com will meet all your small or large business letterhead printing needs quickly, efficiently and professionally. You will be proud to communicate with your clients and associates on our products.
Letterhead Samples
Your company letterhead can feature a sample design, with the company logo and your address information. But wouldn't you rather have something special? Letterhead.com you can create something that is attractive, eye-catching and easy on the bottom line. With our easy to use design tools, you can design anything you have in mind. You can see your letterhead samples online and customize them any way you like. Use our design templates or upload your logo and let your imagination do the rest
Letterhead Examples
Letterhead examples from letterhead.com include formal business letterhead, celebration/event letterhead, bulletin letterhead and personal letterhead. We feature more than 10,000 different design templates that can be accessed through our state-of-the-art website, or you can create individualized letterhead featuring your logo. Letterhead.com offers the latest in technology and cost-efficiency, making our product perfect for anyone searching for the best in letterhead.
Business Cards and Letterhead
If you are ordering online business cards and letterhead, letterhead.com offers a wide-ranging choice of designs and paper stock from which you can choose. We have thousands of design templates that will fit any business or personal requirements and they are all fully customizable. Our website is extremely easy to use and accommodates your own digital artwork as well.
Letterhead Designs
If you are looking for letterhead designs, look no further than letterhead.com. We have advanced technology, which is accessible by graphic designers, business owners and even the internet novice. Begin by browsing the 10,000 templates at letterhead.com. We have such a plethora of styles and colors that you'll find creating your perfect letterhead is easier and quicker than you would ever have imagined. Special letterhead designs will make you feel confident about presenting your business to your customers and colleagues.
Corporate Letterhead
Your corporate letterhead is a vital ingredient to your business. Letterhead.com provides the ability to design, modify and send your print order online. You can also produce announcements, flyers and even holiday greetings that are individual to your own company. When you attend a trade show, order bulletins and sales sheets from letterhead.com that you will feature in your booth as handouts. Letterhead.com brings professional, inexpensive and fast results to your corporate marketing efforts.