Life Imitating Design

Your website needs a few cuts. Give it a trim and make it work for you!

Spam Magnets

If you have a link that opens a new email for you (in Outlook, Thunderbird, Mail, etc) then the chances are you spend most mornings deleting invites from foreign dignitaries and shady pharmaceutical companies. The reason for this is that people building spam contact lists will scour websites using mailto links. Talk to your designer and get him/her to use the contact form instead, or just use an image of your email address.

Blur

Damon Albarn can stay, but that lack of focus is going to – hey look, it’s raining outside. I bet the grass will – is that the time, or did I forget to put new batteries in my mouse? Lack of focus will confuse your visitors. Where are they meant to go? What should they click on next? How do they buy right now?

Fake Budgets

Stock libraries are great for adding clean, well lit images of exactly what you need to illustrate your point. But they have to fit! If you are a one person business, it is really obvious that you are not likely to spend thousands of dollars hiring models, renting or scouting a location, hiring lighting and a photographer for one tiny little image. That office space full of beautiful people doesn’t make your website look more professional. It’s just a lie.

Glory Days

You went to school where? I googled it and I don’t think it’s there any more. The chances are pretty good that most of your prospects care less about your schooling than you do. OK, you went to school. What have you done since then?*

You WILL Read the Ad

Many sites, particularly the most prominent technology blogs, feature ads that very cleverly pop-up right over where I’m trying to read. I want to read the article. If I wanted an Audi, I would read the ad in the sidebar. Now, let me read the article!

Bigger is Badder

Websites are clever little fellas! You can upload pictures straight from your 8MP camera onto your computer, upload them to your site and just tell the  browser to display it really small, so it’s fits on your web page. Brilliant. Now you have a picture the size of your dining table being squished into a tiny little space that is going to take the time it takes to read this entire sentence to load. By the time it loads, I’ve forgotten why I was even at this site. All pictures on your site should be ACTUAL size.

Your ‘Puter Sucks

The site looks great. But, the designer only tested it in Internet Explorer because that’s what most people use anyway. Market share says that the vast majority of people use Windows, and all those people have Internet Explorer. So, he/she put a note at the bottom saying ‘This site is optimized for use on Internet Explorer’. Not only does this exclude a LOT of people, it makes users feel that they need a new browser just to view one site. But worse than that, it makes the designer/developer look super lazy.

Web design is not just about making a site aesthetically pleasing. It’s also about knowing what to avoid, and what to include in your site. These are just a few ways you can make your website more honest, clean, efficient and happier in general. If you have any questions about web design and how your site (new or existing) can be build to help your business (rather than hinder it), email me.

*By the way, if you want to know where I went to school and what I studied, just ask. It’s no secret!

Ask me anything. Except whatever just popped into your head.

If I had a dollar for every site that enabled login, profile setup and connectivity with social media sites, I would be signing up for a lot more. But I found one that I think could be interesting.

Formspring allows visitors to ask others questions. About anything. Yes anything! Now, this opens up a whole can of something that could either smell like last week’s diapers (I’m sure I have some somewhere – no, wait, the garbage has already been collected) or be incredibly useful in a social networking kind of way.

What better way to find out what someone is like than asking them questions? We get asked questions everywhere we go, and it’s a great way to understand someone.
People like questionnaires and people like giving their opinions.

So with this perfect recipe of what people like, I have decided to join Formspring to allow anyone (yes even you) to ask questions.See that box on the right, labelled Ask me anything ? If not, click on the logo on the left (the big orange bit) to take you to the home page. There. Now you’ll see the question box.

Relevance and milage will vary, I’m sure. But please, ask away!

Content Management Systems (CMS) are wonderful.
OK, some are.
But they do, at least, allow you to control the content in your website. You can add your own photographs, write as much copy as you want, edit the copy, add pages – in fact, you are completely free to ruin that fantastic design that made your site look so great when it was first launched! Ah, freedom…

So if your site is not exactly doing what you wanted it to do (most commonly, send customers do your door/inbox inundating you with business), what can you do?

1. Call to Action.

This may have been discussed when your site was designed. A call to action is what visitors are to do with your site. Sure, they can marvel at the beauty in the photographs you shot on your family vacation, and spend hours pondering the complex sentence structure in your beautifully written prose, but are they compelled to do something about it?
Look at your home page (or other landing page) and squint. What do you see? A grey blur? What jumps out at you? If it isn’t immediately obvious with a quick (unfocussed) glance, your visitors won’t know either.
Make sure there is a clear, prominent and obvious next step, usually a button that the visitor will click. If you want them to email you right away, make that button take them to a contact form. If your gallery of services or products is what you want them to see, make the link take them to your showcase.

2. Less Copy is More Copy.

People don’t read thousands of words. They read fewer words. You read this point first, didn’t you?

3. The Customer is The Customer.

Why are you writing about you? Visitors, or customers, are only interested in one person, the one in the mirror. Customers don’t want to read an autobiography, they want to read what is in it for them. What will your product do for them? Why is your service the one they need? Tell the visitor about them, engage them, and they will feel compelled to buy.

4. More Choices Delay Choices.

If you have ever sat down in a restaurant with a ten page menu and ordered the first time the server came to your table, you were either very hungry or not terribly adventurous. If you are like most people, you will need time to decide. Simple enough isn’t it? So why does your website have fourteen menu items, with 36 drop down options and 112 text links on the bottom of each page? Wow, that’s going to take me all day to sort through all that to find what I need. I’m going back to Google.

Keep your menu items to about six to make it easier to choose. Choice is good, decision is better!

5. Design is your friend.

Yes, content is important. Without it, websites would just be pretty outlines. But the design is what leads the eye and introduces the brand a lot quicker than words ever can. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it is also quicker to read. So make sure the design of your site is consistent from page to page. Your CMS may allow you to choose different templates or choose from a rainbow of colours. Consistency in design will not only make visitors feel like they are still at the same site, it will make your business appear consistent, clean, polished and professional.

Keep it simple. Be direct. Get the job done.

We have all had those discussions. Your shirt is blue and she thinks your tie clashes. You argue that it has blue in it – she says that isn’t blue, it’s green. I can’t settle all your relationship issues. For those you are on your own, but I would like to make some suggestions when it comes to talking about colour.

First, a test. I know, very unfair, because I didn’t give you time to study. Can you accurately name these colours?

Fortunately, for the sake of my illustration, your monitor, operating system and lighting conditions will make this particularly difficult. I also happened to choose colours are are in between others on the colour scale.

For some, no. 1 will be grey. Some will see green. Number 2 could be purple or blue. Some will look great on your wall, others will clash with your logo, while the others will either be soothing or sickening.

What makes colour description even more complicated is how we name colours. What colour is grape? At what angle are you looking up when you see sky blue? And is ocean blue Pacific, Atlantic or Indian?

There are a few ways around this issue. One is to ask your designer (hi!) to submit a reference colour chart. Your logo or stationery has probably been designed with a colour palette which your designer has used between various applications to maintain colour consistency. With a copy of this chart, you can both see exactly which grey/blue you might be referring to.

Another way is to download a Pantone chart and refer to colours by their code. Pantone colours are extremely accurate and essential for print colours.

You can also refer to colours by their RGB (red green blue, or on-screen) values, or CMYK (Cyan, magenta, yellow and black, or print) values. For the colours the RGB values would be 1. #E0E6D8, 2. #7523E7, 3. #076297, 4. #E32471 and 5. #E6D24B. Yes, now you know. CMYK colours are expressed as percentages. # 1 would be 12% 4% 15% 0%, or C=12, M=4, M=15, K=0. I’m sure you don’t want me to list off the other codes, so we’ll leave it at that.

When it comes to describing colours, using terms that suggest the combinations you see is also helpful. For example, blue/green is more helpful than ‘mid ocean greenish’.

I hope this helps you communicate with your designer exactly what colour you are seeing on your monitor or in your head.

Getting a professional, updatable website is now easier than ever.

Manage it Yourself

NBurman Design is proud to be a reseller for SiteCM, the content management system by ideaLEVER.

SiteCM is a professional, solid and supported system that allows you to make all changes to the site after it is built. No more update charges – you make the changes when you need them done. It’s simple to use, but ideaLEVER will still provide training at site launch, plus provide support for the life of the site.

Get a demo of SiteCM here.

Real Training

When the site is complete, you get real, live training from a real, live person. No more forum hunting, Googling questions or bugging your IT department (who have no idea about webdesign anyhow).

You will learn how to login to your site, update the text, images, contact forms – even the rotating images in the head can be easily edited.

If you’ve used a word processor, you’ll have no trouble with SiteCM. And even if you haven’t, after the training is done, you’ll practically be an expert!

Real Support

With open source (so-called Free) content management systems, there is no one to call. If you have a problem, you find a nice, friendly forum, post your message and wait for somebody with a name like L33t_R4id3r1987 to quit playing Doom and reply to your post.

NBurman Design doesn’t believe in open source content management, because businesses need real solutions.

That’s why there is a toll-free hotline for all SiteCM customers, which is answered by the person who will actually help you.

No number pushing, no waiting on hold.

The Site You Get is Yours.

Looking good on the web doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. At NBurman Design, we design all our sites from scratch. No templates, and no cookie cutters.

Easy to Buy

NBurman Design takes the guesswork out of pricing and ordering websites. You choose the size of site you need – no surprise endings here!

All sites include:

• research of competition so that you fit in the industry, yet stand out from the rest.
• clean, SEO friendly code makes your site easy to maintain and easier to find online.
• three designs. We may be the pros, but it’s still your site. You still get some input!
• photo preparation. All images are made to load fast in any browser.
• no templates. The site you get is yours.

If you have questions about how websites are built,
contact us. We will be glad to answer any questions about workflow, procedure, technologies and results.

Camcorders are great for recording video for blogs and online use.

Posting video on YouTube and adding appropriate tags is not only a great way to add value to your own site or blog, but also to attract traffic. In one bold step, you can impress your audience, educate clients, show off your new wares AND draw traffic to your website. Optimizing the video with the right keywords (the ones you are already using in your copy) is always a good idea too. Adding Multimedia to your site doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. This time around, I’ll show you how to record and light video.

Lighting

Standard 3-point lighting. Use for blog videos and interviews.

First and foremost is lighting. Lighting is the most important aspect of any multimedia project, but more so with video. Photographers may be used to using one flash (maybe with a reflector) or available light, particularly sunlight. But video requires some extra attention when it comes to lighting. Thankfully there are some budget methods for lighting, for those of us without unlimited budgets. Remember to look at the scene before shooting. Examine where the light is strong and where the shadows lie. Lighting is not something you are going to correct later very easily, if at all. You will need to get this right first.
Start with a key light and add a lower powered fill light if possible. If you have a third light, add the backing light. A fourth light can also be used to light the background.

Halogen Work Lamp

Like all good ingredients of a budget DIY solution, these are available at any hardware store. They are rated between 150-500 and can be used as a key flood light for lighting large areas. For example, Rona have halogen work lamps for about $15 without a stand; $50 with a stand. The light from these can be rather yellow, so to make it more pleasing (ie closer to white), either purchase a 32K white bulb (ask the friendly people at Rona) or place a blue gel or clear plastic in front of the bulb. Your camera’s white balance will help too,but it’s always best to get things right at the source instead of correcting them later.

Reflectors

To fill in shadows, particularly on the opposite side of a key light, in place of the fill light (see diagram). Almost anything that is white or silver can be used. A quick tour around the house/office/garage/neighbour’s house/neighbour’s garage will probably yield all you need. Some suggestions:

• Windshield sunshade – used to reflect sun in the summer, if you’re lucky enough to live in an area that gets that much sun. If you live in England, try something else.
• Polystyrene sheet or tiles. You may find these in your ceiling. Put them back when you’re done. Don’t say you weren’t reminded.
• Foamcore – available at stationery stores (and some stationary stores too).
• Cardboard with aluminium foil coated on one side.  Baking foil can be easily applied with stick glue or white glue.

The Camera

Most laptops come with webcams built-in, which can be surprisingly high in quality. There is also a large number of after-market, external webcams available. Each will have the resolution stated and the compatibility with operating systems. Stay away from budget models as the frame rate can often be lower. HD video at 7fps (frames per second) is impossible to watch; if you’re posting online, lower resolutions at higher frame rates are preferred. Aim for between 15 and 30fps.
You can also use a camcorder with either a USB 2.0 or Firewire (IEEE1394) connection. Simply plugging it in, switching it to record mode and starting your software will be all you need to do. Naturally, refer to the manual to iron this step out, but once it’s connected it will be able to record straight to your computer. I have had great success with a Sony camcorder, even though it is a few years old. True plug-n-play, for once!

Audio

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard about poor quality video is the standard of the audio. Microphones come in a variety of styles for different applications, but for video you will want to stick to one or two.

Lapel mic

Radioshack sell inexpensive solutions like this tie clip mic. Wireless options will be more pricey, but will make the experience much smoother.

Boom mic

While most handheld mics will be cardioids, a boom mic is usually a condenser attached to a boom. You may see these in DVD outtakes, where the operator has accidentally waved the thing into the shot. Positioned above the actor, these will stay (usually) out of the way and provide high quality audio. This may not exactly be a budget method, but if you have access to one, by all means make use of it.

Copy

Perhaps you don’t have time to memorize your entire script. An easy option is to put it all in a Powerpoint presentation on a laptop positioned near the camera. A remote control held out of camera shot will allow you to switch pages.

Renting Equipment

Alternatively, if you are particularly interested in higher quality video, renting equipment from time to time is an option. For roughly the same price as buying all this lower budget equipment, you could rent a professional rig for a day. Plan the day, get the location and other equipment ready ahead of time, and you’ll be able to shoot a number of short videos that you can then release periodically online.

Software

The most efficient way to record video (on either Windows or Mac platforms) is to use one of the best and easiest to use multimedia applications Quicktime Pro. For $29.99, you will be able to record, edit, encode and upload your video. It also has options for rerecording audio and embedding the finished product into your website or exporting in a format to upload to your blog. If you are a Mac OS X user, Photobooth is a very easy way to record video. For Windows, any software store will have an array of products that will do the job. Remember to look for ease of use and editing capabilites. Forget the list of effects – you won’t need them. And hopefully you won’t use them!
You’re not creating a Lord of the Rings sequel here, simply giving your business some motion, excitement, and a way to spread the word about what you do more efficiently to a wider audience.

Questions

If you have any questions about how to set up your lights, or camera, please ask away. I would be glad to help or at least point you in the right direction. I may be a multimedia expert, but remember that equipment and operating systems vary, as will your mileage.

COMING SOON

How to embed that video using Quicktime, YouTube and maybe some Ductape (keep it handy anyway, you never know when you’ll need it.)

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When you need to send piles (or gigabytes) of files, there are better and more friendly ways to do it than sending inbox cramming attachments. Here are a few that will make you popular with your unwitting recipient.

1. iDisk

iDisk is part of the Mobile Me service from Apple, which includes a me.com email address, 20GB of server space (upgradeable), syncing with iCal, Address Book, Safari and other OS X applications and iPhone services. iDisk can be used for backups, storage and file transfer via a public folder accessed with a browser. iDisk can also act just like a drive on your desktop. Don’t think of iDisk as a Mac app. It’s Windows friendly too.

Limit: 20GB Storage / 200 GB Monthly Data Transfer $109 CAN / year (twice the storage/transfer for $50/yr extra)
Cost: $109 CAN Platforms: Mac OSX, Windows More Information

2. Picasa

Picasa is Google’s photo sharing/storing/editing app.

Store and sort you photos on your desktop or phone and upload to online space with the app or browser.

Once online, you can share your photo libraries with email recipients and give them the option to download or comment on your photos. Great for sending clients or friends contact sheets to choose from.

Limit: 1GB (more available) Cost: Free (upgrade to 10GB for $20/yr). Platforms: Mac OSX, Windows, Linux 
More Information

3. FTP

FIle Transfer Protocol requires server space, like the one used to host your website. As long as you have username and password access you can use the space to up and download files and give others access for sharing. For security, it’s always a good idea to have a separate folder and user access for people that you don’t want to be able to poke around your precious HTML. If you only have one username or don’t have permission to create new folders, contact your web developer or hosting company.

Limit: Depends on server. Cost: see hosting company Platforms: All.More Information (Netfirms)

4. Ubuntu One

Ubuntu is a version of Linux (an alternative operating system to Windows or MacOS) that now includes a file sharing service called OneUbuntu. 2GB of space is included for free, with additional space available for purchase.

No extra software is required since all you need is a browser.

Limit: 2GB / 50GB Cost: Free/ $10 per month Platforms: Ubuntu
More Information

5. gDisk

gDisk is software that turns your GMail account into a portable hard drive so you can always have your important files accessible accross the Internet.

Another way to make Google and GMail more useful!

Limit: Approx. 7GB
Cost: Free
Platforms: Mac with GMail account 
More Information

6. Box.Net

Another Free/Upgrade for a fee service, Box.net is also accessible from mobile devices app and has options for business applications.

An extensive and expandable service with a very impressive clientele list.

Limit: 1GB storage.
Cost: Free. Upgrades from $10/month.
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, iPhone, Blackberry

More Information

7. Accellion

Selling itself on the problems caused by email attachments jamming up email servers, Accellion is available as a service for business, small business and enterprise solutions. They also offer a level of security for all file transfers and storage options. At nearly $4000 per year, this is not an option to chuck a PDF your friend’s way when their email account is full. Designed for scalability, Accellion provides corporations from less than 100 users to more than 100,000 users with flexible deployment options that can grow from a single office to global distributed deployment integrating both on-premise and off-premise in-the-cloud installations.

Limit: 50GB Storage, 100GB Transfer Cost: starting at $3990 More Information

It might not come as much of a surprise to learn (or read) that eye sight is very important to a graphic designer. I hear that it is important to other people too, so no matter which category you fall into (I’m sure it would be one or the other), keep reading.
Ok, now take a break.
Where was I ? Oh yes, eye sight. According to my optometrist, there is 20/20/20 rule when it comes to sitting (living) in front of a computer. Every twenty minutes, look twenty feet away for 20 seconds.
Nothing to it. When the big hand hits the four, I look across the room, count to twenty and get back to burning 72dpi typography and bezier curves into my retinas.
This would be easy if I could only remember to look at the clock every twenty minutes. So I found a little application to do the thinking for me. Or is that nagging? Same thing.

FlexTime from Red Sweater

FlexTime from Red Sweater Software lets you set reminders at any interval you choose. They can repeat, or run once, and alert you with pop-ups or sounds. I have it set to alert me every twenty minutes with a ‘ping’ and pop-up message that says ’20 Second Break’. Naturally, you can ignore it, but it will be back. Another twenty minutes and I’m prompted again.

FlexTime, like anything good, is not free although it does come with a 30-day free trial. $18.95 is pretty close to free when you consider that the alternative is pain, weakened eye muscles and glasses. There are alternatives out there, but this is the one that I found to be the best, cheapest and easiest to use.

So far, this is working very well. I have noticed a marked difference in my eyesight, and no longer get that eyeballs-on-fire feeling after screen-staring for several hours. I suppose I could set another alarm to remind me to blink…

When you are using Microsoft Word (or Excel) to draft documents and are planning on sharing them with others, remember that not everyone has MS Office on their computers.

While some word processors can be compatible with Word documents (identified by the .doc suffix), to see the document as the author intended, a fully working Word clone is needed.

OpenOffice is an open-source version of Microsoft Office, offering full compatibility with all MS documents. Available on Mac, Windows and Linux platforms from Sunn Microsystems.

OpenOffice is a must-have suite of programs. Get it here

Where do you go when you want your beautiful (you’re welcome!) artwork printed in Calgary AB?
Here are some suggestions. Ask about ftp access to upload your files directly.

Sure Print & Copy Centre
www.printcalgary.com
4010 – 17 Ave. S.E.
Calgary AB T2A 0S7
ph: 403 235 1616

Arcprint
www.arcprint.com/
#101, 255 17th Ave. SW
Calgary AB T2S 2T8
ph: 403 228 5155