Monday, August 31st, 2009 368 views
Creating a web design is not as easy as 1-2-3. Even the most skilled designers need some time to carefully plan and execute their vision for the design. They will need a lot of information, which you only you can provide, before they can come up with something you will like. There is a research process that needs to be done first.
For web designers who find themselves in a rut when it comes to coming up with a good web design, here are some helpful tips.
Gather information from your client. The client will have to provide you with the necessary materials to help you create/improve their website. Information like company profile, target audience, mission and vision statements, even consumer feedback will greatly help you in your work.
Decide on the style. With the information you gathered from doing step 1, it’s now time to decide on the web page’s style. You can ask the client upfront if there is a particular style they want for their site. If they are not able to provide you with one, then you better get those thinking caps on. The nature of the company will surely come helpful to this stage study what these companies believe in, their products, demographics, etc. Most of the times, these can be the basis for several styles.
Color schemes should be carefully thought of. As a web designer, you know the importance of using the right color for a website. Effective color schemes can lure visitors to the site. Make sure that the colors you use compliment the overall design as well.
Use the right photos. It’s a no-brainer. Photos contribute a lot to a web design’s effectiveness. Basically, there are two sources of photos in the Internet: free and paid stock photo sites. Free stock photos are, obviously, free; though they are limited unlike paid photos. But it would be better if your client has their own photo catalogue.
Look for inspiration and references. When nothing is coming to you, you may want to search for company websites that has the similar background. See how their sites are made. Take inspiration from them. But make sure you don′t copy!
It’s not easy to come up with a web design. Even the simplest designs require a lot of time and effort. You can follow these steps and make your task a lot easier to complete.
The Web Design Guyz is a Utah Web Design firm that is on a mission to provide high quality yet affordable web design for businesses of all sizes. Visit our web design blog to see our work and to read about web design principles and techniques in general.
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Monday, August 31st, 2009 119 views
Roxanne Emmerich is America’s most sought-after workplace transformation expert. She has built a career on her unique ability to transform negative workplace environments into positive and productive work cultures. As a speaker and coach, she has been able to help workplaces get unstuck and achieve radically improved results quickly.
Roxanne has written many articles for leading publications on the subject of workplace issues. In addition to articles, she has just written a bestselling new book called Thank God It’s Monday! When asked to share why she wrote the book, she describes the desire to reconnect with that first-day-at-work feeling at a new job. There is a period of time when the newness and potential are still present, before the mediocrity of other employees begins to run off on you.
Can people be shifted from less to more, from mediocrity to aspiration? Roxanne says yes! And she can do it in ways that are both fun and easy. She is driven by a passion to assist people to create more abundance, have more fun, and have more power in their lives. What she really wants to do is to help everybody regain that first-day-at-work feeling.
In fact, it has nothing to do with the work. It’s really about getting people to understand that we choose our attitudes. We choose to be amazing or we choose to shoot wildly for mediocrity. It’s about mindset. It’s about belief. And it’s about vision. For example, Roxanne tells her clients, “You’re going to be hearing a lot about recession over the next couple of years. Make sure to tell your employees, ‘We didn’t sign up and we’re not participating!” You can hear the passion and abundance evident in her words.
How do you see your obstacles? All of our lives have them. How we view them is a choice. Years ago, Roxanne read about a mindset that intrigued her. The condensed version is this: whenever bad things happen in your life, remember they are creating space for good things to follow. When we embrace this philosophy in our life, we cease being victims. We choose our reactions to obstacles and challenges.
Visions play a vital role in our lives, and they come from our strongest values and from what is most important to us as individual s. That’s key. When we live from that vision in our business and personal lives, remarkable things will happen. This is why Roxanne encourages all of us to develop our vision.
Living in serious times, it’s easy to take ourselves too seriously. We can make another choice, though. We can choose to live a lighter, more joyful life. We can choose to give instead of take. We can choose to open up to life. We can decide to be happy. Roxanne speaks about the world’s accounting system: givers get and takers lose. The choice is ours. With a mindset of abundance and gratitude, we can choose to life with joy and generosity.
Are you interested in learning how Roxanne Emmerich transforms mediocre workplace performances and environments into profit-rich growth and results? Click here to listen to the Roxanne Emmerich interview.
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Monday, August 31st, 2009 124 views
I lowered my energy bill without solar panels. Almost everyone thinks that the only way to lower your energy bill is with solar panels. This is not true. I was about to lower my energy bill by 23% and now I’m going to share with you exactly how I did it.
Insulate Windows - Making sure that your windows insulate correctly is probably the single best thing you can do to lower your monthly energy bill. If you have single pane windows your money is literally going out the window. Single pane windows are really bad insulators. Changing to double pane windows will save you a ton of money but they are expensive. You can put up heat sealing drapes in the summer and storm windows in the winter. This will save you a ton of money. You may want to take a room by room approach. The first room you should do this in is the family room.
Ventilate Your Attic - Hot air needs to escape from your attic. If your attic air vents become clogged, which they will over time with dust, your attic will hold the hot air and ultimately making your air conditioner work too hard. You must clean your attic vents to allow the hot air to escape from your house (remember, hot air rises). If your attic does not have air vents you need to go down to your hardware store right now and buy some ventilation kits and put a few in.
Air Conditioner Filters - A dirty air filter makes your air conditioner work much harder which means it takes more energy to do its job. Changing your air conditioner filters once a month will save you money off your monthly energy bill.
Filter In Your Range - Hardly anyone knows about the filter in the fan above their range. This fan uses a ton of electricity. These fans get clogged with grease quickly and a clogged fan will make it work twice as hard costing you a ton of money. You need to change your filter every 9 to 12 weeks depending on how much you use it. Most people never change this filter until the fan motor burns out and it actually stops working.
Save Money By Turning Off Lights - You should go around to all your lights and lower the wattage on all your bulbs. Do not leave lights on when you leave the room. Do not use outside lights. A single outside light that uses a standard 60-watt bulb will cost you about $10 a month. Forget using dimmer lights as they don′t save you very much. Use fluorescent lights whenever and wherever possible.
Appliances Power Usage - If you want to understand how the solar power calculate works or you want to calculate this manually you first need to estimate how many hours per day you use the appliance. You then use this formula: Wattage / 1,000 x hrs/day x $/kWh / 30 days/month = total cost per month. A refrigerator uses 540 watts per hour. If your refrigerator runs for 125 hours a week, that’s 125 hours / 7 days = 17.9 hours per day. Here’s what a month’s worth of use costs you: 540 / 1,000 x 17.9 x 0.15 x 30 = $43.50 per month. If you are using a central air conditioner (for 10 hours a day during the hot summer months) it’s costing you: 4000 / 1,000 x 10 x 0.15 x 30 = $180.00 per month.
By Todd Dornan. To read more ways you can save money off your monthly power bill go to solar panels
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Monday, August 31st, 2009 119 views
I’ve got my monthly energy bill down big time and I did it without solar panels. My energy bill is 25% less than the previous month. Here is how I did it.
Insulate Those Windows - I always laugh when I see someone with solar panels and single pane windows. Talk about swallowing a camel! Single pane windows are horrible. The average person loses about $2 a day in cool air or heat escaping out their single pane windows. You need to have double pane windows. Double pane windows cost a lot of money so just focus on doing one room at a time. Start with your living room and slowly work through every window in your house.
Ventilate Your Attic - Hot air needs to escape from your attic. If your attic air vents become clogged, which they will over time with dust, your attic will hold the hot air and ultimately making your air conditioner work too hard. You must clean your attic vents to allow the hot air to escape from your house (remember, hot air rises). If your attic does not have air vents you need to go down to your hardware store right now and buy some ventilation kits and put a few in.
Change Those Air Filters - Dirty air filters will cost you a lot of money because it will make your air conditioner work too hard to keep your home cool. You need to change your air filters once a month if you want to save money off your monthly energy bill.
Change Your Stove Fan Filter - The fan that is located above your stove will get backed up with grease quickly. Fortunately, there is a filter in this fan that catches all that grease. The problem is that most people do not know that this fan even has a filter so they never change it. When this filter is clogged with grease, your fan has to work twice as hard costing you even more money.
Watch Those Lights - Lower the wattage of all the light bulbs in your home. Turn off lights when you are not in the room. Do not leave lights on at night. Just one outside light that is 60-watts will cost you about $10 a month. Dimmer lights do not save you very much. The best lights to use are fluorescent lights.
Learn How To Calculate Energy Costs - You need to learn how much the things in your home are costing you in terms of energy cost each month. The formula is wattage / 1000 x hours used per day x your kWh charge (found on your monthly bill) / 30 days in a month = total cost of energy per month for that appliance. Let us do an example problem. If you are using a central air conditioner for 10 hours per day during the summer, it is costing you: 4000 / 1000 x 10 x 0.15 x 30 = $180 a month.
Written by Todd Dornan. To see the secrets of saving money off your power bill please visit solar panels
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