T2 Icon Design - Keywords
Logo Magnified
Kenichi Yoshida, who is doing the application icon design work for T2, starts his design process by asking for keywords which describe the purpose and utility of the application.
This was a good exercise for me. I am used to describing Bee Docs' Timeline with many words ("Timeline makes it easy and quick to create beautiful timeline charts worthy of..."). However, using single words was a challenge. I think the ones I ended up with get to the heart and soul of the application:
* Visualization
* Presentation
* Charting
* Understanding
* Communication
I'm glad I have begun to pursue the icon design early in the development process. As an icon is a symbol that quickly conveys the utility of an application, I can use this design process as an opportunity to think through all the issues that will guide the design of the application itself.
Labels: icon design, t2, timeline software
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Blog Interface Design 2.0
Blog Interface Design 2.0
by Luke Wroblewski & Jed Wood
Blogs have permeated just about every corner of human interest from arphids to zoology and continue to grow at a furious pace. Despite their popularity, many blogs suffer from interface design shortcomings. Unlike issues of spam and authority, these problems have relatively straightforward solutions that could considerably increase the utility of blog content.
Assuming a blog is not filled with spam content (splogs), spam comments, or spam trackbacks, there’s often a wealth of information to be found therein: information that is frequently buried deep within archives and comments. This article looks at ways to bring that information forward.
Archives
Most blog archives are represented by either a listing of dates, titles, or at best both. This lack of context makes it quite difficult to find or discover relevant content “buried” in the archives.
To address this issue, Jakob Nielsen recently recommended employing a categorization of blog posts (so users can find content related by subject matter), using clear titles, and including a list of popular (and thereby potentially valuable) posts. Solid suggestions, but there’s ample opportunity to go further.
Effective ways to filter blog archives and contextual links included with blog posts can go a long way toward exposing valuable content to readers. Archives can be accessed by:
* Headline (title)
* Subject (tags and/or categories)
* Time (time, day, month, year)
* Author (of post, of comments)
* Format (links, reviews, articles)
* Popularity (incoming links, comments, trackbacks, traffic, ratings)
* Editorial Selection
* Continuum (how an idea develops over time)
Let’s see some of these concepts in action.
Tags
Browsing by subject matter (categories) can be enriched through the use of tagging. Due to its flexibility, tagging enables entries to appear within multiple “categories”. Simply assign multiple tags (keywords) to a single blog post and enable visitors to browse blog archives by tags.
Tags also provide a compelling entry point into archives when surfaced where they are contextually relevant (at the end of a related blog post). Multiple tags in this location are more likely than a single category to provide a path of interest for readers.
It’s worth noting that a local collection of tags should be actively managed. Because unique tags are so simple to create, it’s relatively easy to end up with a large number of tags that are used only once, which doesn’t help readers find more content. Nielsen made this point when discussing categories:
“Categories must be sufficiently detailed to lead users to a thoroughly winnowed list of postings. At the same time, they shouldn't be so detailed that users face a category menu that's overly long and difficult to scan. Do use categorization, but avoid the common mistake of tagging a posting with almost all of your categories. Be selective. Decide on a few places where a posting most belongs.” - Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes
An effective way to keep your local tag cloud under control is to display the tags you’ve already utilized on the “create post” page. This list lets you pick from already existing tags and can even be used to pre-fill tag input fields.
Formats
Blog posts usually fall into several distinct formats. Some posts are full-fledged articles with substantial content, some are simply pointers (links) to content found elsewhere, some are announcements, some are reviews (of books, movies, events, etc.), and some are compilations of content published in various locations. These formats can be identified with particular tags (announcement, article, review, link, etc,) or a consistent data field that may be used to filter a blog archive down to a specific format of interest. For instance: “I only want to see articles.”
Continuums
Blog continuums add a contextually relevant path for readers interested in seeing how a particular idea has continued to evolve. They look forward and see if any posts dated after the current post reference it. These links can then be displayed alongside the referenced post providing direct access to a continuation of an idea.
A fuller story can be told graphically. Blog continuum sparklines plot the current post a reader is viewing, the previous posts it references, and the later posts that reference it. This paints a picture of where the current post originated (what ideas it draws from), and where it went (how those ideas evolved).
Comments
Enhancing the interface design of a blog’s archives enables the author’s content to extend its shelf life and provides compelling content-specific browse experiences for readers. Improving the interactions found within blog comments, on the other hand, enables smoother navigation through the conversations generated by a post and surfaces ideas and content found therein.
Filters
Blog comments are a chronologically organized list of author praise, tangential discussions, flame wars, personal anecdotes, link dissemination, points and counterpoints, and valuable additions to the original post’s content. Just like blog archives, however, there’s rarely a good way to separate the signal from the noise.
In many cases, simply traversing comments chronologically adds a lot of overhead to basic information retrieval. For example, when viewing a technical “how-to” post, readers often scan the comments for corrections, alternative tips and techniques, or pointers to other helpful references. In most cases, they have to explicitly dig these valuable comments out of a vat of irrelevance.
As a result, it could be quite helpful to filter a long list of comments by:
* Quality (the most useful, insightful, or relevant comments)
* Contains links (pointers to additional reference or related information)
* History (skip what I read last time I visited)
* Favorites (revisit comments I found valuable)
* Format (opinions, questions, modifications, etc.)
As an example, Boxes & Arrows recently implemented a comment rating system. Direct inline actions enable readers to flag comments as useful (+), not useful (-), and offensive (!). The most useful comments “rise to the top” of the comments list.
Conversational Flow
Sometimes the value within comments can’t be made visible through filtering. It exists within back and forth conversations between comment authors and/or the author of the original post. Unfortunately, this discussion is also likely to be interwoven between praise, flame, and tangent so following the conversation can become difficult.
This challenge is multiplied by a lack of visual assistance. Standard online discussion forums often display conversational threads visually (through indentation). This gives readers a sense of the depth and progression of a discussion. The free-form commenting style on blogs forgoes this structure in an effort to make discussion as simple as possible (there’s no need to consider which thread a new comment belongs to).
Though developing threaded visualizations from a set of blog comments would be quite challenging, it may be possible to introduce basic sorting or navigation controls that reveal something about the structure of conversations found within comments. These could include:
* Discussion about a specific portion of the post
* Discussion about a specific comment
* Comments by the author of the post
As an example. Dunstan Orchard developed a feature that enabled readers to directly reference the specific comments to which they were responding. These relationships were then included in the context of each comment. In the example below, Dunstan was responding to an earlier comment by Papuass and two readers (Kev & Ian) later responded to his comment.
The direct links within the comment allow readers to bypass unrelated content and thereby more accurately follow conversational flow within comments.
Similarly, comments that quote specific portions of a post, could be referenced within the original post and lead directly to a filtered list of comments.
Getting the Data
There’s much to be said about how the archiving and commenting features described here can be implemented both by blog authors and readers. The creation and management of the metadata required to expose valuable content within blog archives and comments is not a trivial task.
Automated processes can help, but effective classification is often best left to real people. This doesn’t mean the burden needs to fall entirely on a blogger’s shoulders. Metadata creation could be:
* Entirely author controlled. All decisions about post categories, tags, related links, etc. come from the author. This has the advantage of eliminating malicious rating or tagging and puts the author’s perspective front and center.
* Author initiated and approved, but incorporate reader input through public systems for rating and tagging. Advantages include less work for the author (assuming no spam), and a greater sense of community around the blog if everyone can rate, tag, and categorize for the rest of the blog’s readers to use.
* Purely reader driven, no blog author involvement required.
Each approach can provide a foundation for the interface design concepts discussed in this article: concepts that get valuable content out of blog archives and comments and into the hands of readers -where they belong.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
by Luke Wroblewski & Jed Wood
Blogs have permeated just about every corner of human interest from arphids to zoology and continue to grow at a furious pace. Despite their popularity, many blogs suffer from interface design shortcomings. Unlike issues of spam and authority, these problems have relatively straightforward solutions that could considerably increase the utility of blog content.
Assuming a blog is not filled with spam content (splogs), spam comments, or spam trackbacks, there’s often a wealth of information to be found therein: information that is frequently buried deep within archives and comments. This article looks at ways to bring that information forward.
Archives
Most blog archives are represented by either a listing of dates, titles, or at best both. This lack of context makes it quite difficult to find or discover relevant content “buried” in the archives.
To address this issue, Jakob Nielsen recently recommended employing a categorization of blog posts (so users can find content related by subject matter), using clear titles, and including a list of popular (and thereby potentially valuable) posts. Solid suggestions, but there’s ample opportunity to go further.
Effective ways to filter blog archives and contextual links included with blog posts can go a long way toward exposing valuable content to readers. Archives can be accessed by:
* Headline (title)
* Subject (tags and/or categories)
* Time (time, day, month, year)
* Author (of post, of comments)
* Format (links, reviews, articles)
* Popularity (incoming links, comments, trackbacks, traffic, ratings)
* Editorial Selection
* Continuum (how an idea develops over time)
Let’s see some of these concepts in action.
Tags
Browsing by subject matter (categories) can be enriched through the use of tagging. Due to its flexibility, tagging enables entries to appear within multiple “categories”. Simply assign multiple tags (keywords) to a single blog post and enable visitors to browse blog archives by tags.
Tags also provide a compelling entry point into archives when surfaced where they are contextually relevant (at the end of a related blog post). Multiple tags in this location are more likely than a single category to provide a path of interest for readers.
It’s worth noting that a local collection of tags should be actively managed. Because unique tags are so simple to create, it’s relatively easy to end up with a large number of tags that are used only once, which doesn’t help readers find more content. Nielsen made this point when discussing categories:
“Categories must be sufficiently detailed to lead users to a thoroughly winnowed list of postings. At the same time, they shouldn't be so detailed that users face a category menu that's overly long and difficult to scan. Do use categorization, but avoid the common mistake of tagging a posting with almost all of your categories. Be selective. Decide on a few places where a posting most belongs.” - Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes
An effective way to keep your local tag cloud under control is to display the tags you’ve already utilized on the “create post” page. This list lets you pick from already existing tags and can even be used to pre-fill tag input fields.
Formats
Blog posts usually fall into several distinct formats. Some posts are full-fledged articles with substantial content, some are simply pointers (links) to content found elsewhere, some are announcements, some are reviews (of books, movies, events, etc.), and some are compilations of content published in various locations. These formats can be identified with particular tags (announcement, article, review, link, etc,) or a consistent data field that may be used to filter a blog archive down to a specific format of interest. For instance: “I only want to see articles.”
Continuums
Blog continuums add a contextually relevant path for readers interested in seeing how a particular idea has continued to evolve. They look forward and see if any posts dated after the current post reference it. These links can then be displayed alongside the referenced post providing direct access to a continuation of an idea.
A fuller story can be told graphically. Blog continuum sparklines plot the current post a reader is viewing, the previous posts it references, and the later posts that reference it. This paints a picture of where the current post originated (what ideas it draws from), and where it went (how those ideas evolved).
Comments
Enhancing the interface design of a blog’s archives enables the author’s content to extend its shelf life and provides compelling content-specific browse experiences for readers. Improving the interactions found within blog comments, on the other hand, enables smoother navigation through the conversations generated by a post and surfaces ideas and content found therein.
Filters
Blog comments are a chronologically organized list of author praise, tangential discussions, flame wars, personal anecdotes, link dissemination, points and counterpoints, and valuable additions to the original post’s content. Just like blog archives, however, there’s rarely a good way to separate the signal from the noise.
In many cases, simply traversing comments chronologically adds a lot of overhead to basic information retrieval. For example, when viewing a technical “how-to” post, readers often scan the comments for corrections, alternative tips and techniques, or pointers to other helpful references. In most cases, they have to explicitly dig these valuable comments out of a vat of irrelevance.
As a result, it could be quite helpful to filter a long list of comments by:
* Quality (the most useful, insightful, or relevant comments)
* Contains links (pointers to additional reference or related information)
* History (skip what I read last time I visited)
* Favorites (revisit comments I found valuable)
* Format (opinions, questions, modifications, etc.)
As an example, Boxes & Arrows recently implemented a comment rating system. Direct inline actions enable readers to flag comments as useful (+), not useful (-), and offensive (!). The most useful comments “rise to the top” of the comments list.
Conversational Flow
Sometimes the value within comments can’t be made visible through filtering. It exists within back and forth conversations between comment authors and/or the author of the original post. Unfortunately, this discussion is also likely to be interwoven between praise, flame, and tangent so following the conversation can become difficult.
This challenge is multiplied by a lack of visual assistance. Standard online discussion forums often display conversational threads visually (through indentation). This gives readers a sense of the depth and progression of a discussion. The free-form commenting style on blogs forgoes this structure in an effort to make discussion as simple as possible (there’s no need to consider which thread a new comment belongs to).
Though developing threaded visualizations from a set of blog comments would be quite challenging, it may be possible to introduce basic sorting or navigation controls that reveal something about the structure of conversations found within comments. These could include:
* Discussion about a specific portion of the post
* Discussion about a specific comment
* Comments by the author of the post
As an example. Dunstan Orchard developed a feature that enabled readers to directly reference the specific comments to which they were responding. These relationships were then included in the context of each comment. In the example below, Dunstan was responding to an earlier comment by Papuass and two readers (Kev & Ian) later responded to his comment.
The direct links within the comment allow readers to bypass unrelated content and thereby more accurately follow conversational flow within comments.
Similarly, comments that quote specific portions of a post, could be referenced within the original post and lead directly to a filtered list of comments.
Getting the Data
There’s much to be said about how the archiving and commenting features described here can be implemented both by blog authors and readers. The creation and management of the metadata required to expose valuable content within blog archives and comments is not a trivial task.
Automated processes can help, but effective classification is often best left to real people. This doesn’t mean the burden needs to fall entirely on a blogger’s shoulders. Metadata creation could be:
* Entirely author controlled. All decisions about post categories, tags, related links, etc. come from the author. This has the advantage of eliminating malicious rating or tagging and puts the author’s perspective front and center.
* Author initiated and approved, but incorporate reader input through public systems for rating and tagging. Advantages include less work for the author (assuming no spam), and a greater sense of community around the blog if everyone can rate, tag, and categorize for the rest of the blog’s readers to use.
* Purely reader driven, no blog author involvement required.
Each approach can provide a foundation for the interface design concepts discussed in this article: concepts that get valuable content out of blog archives and comments and into the hands of readers -where they belong.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Keyword Cannibalization
Keyword Cannibalization
posted by Brian Word of the Day May 14th, 2007
Keyword FightToday, you’re getting two words for the price of one, because the word of the day is really more of what you’d call a phrase. I’m not sure where this phrase originated, but I suspect that Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz might have coined it.
Keyword cannibalization refers to the practice of competing with yourself for the same keywords or key phrases when optimizing your site for the search engines. That seems like a pretty stupid thing to do, but the fact is that a lot of people do it unintentionally and in some cases even think they’re helping themselves. To understand why it might hurt you, it will help to briefly review some factors that search engines use to rank web sites.
Search engines use ”on page factors” and “off page factors” to figure out what each individual web page is about, and to then rank web pages relative to one another in the search engine results pages. On page factors include things like the title tag (the words that appear in the usually blue bar at the top of the web browser) and the text on the page. Off page factors include things like the number of links to the page, the anchor text of those links (the words you actually click on to follow the link), and the “authority” of the sites linking to a page.
Now, if you have two or three pages using the same keywords, a search engine has to decide which of those pages is most important for those keywords. Generally search engines don’t like to display multiple pages from a single site in a given set of results. It’s not as useful for the user as displaying results from several different sites. So, now the search engine is only picking one of your pages to “represent” your site in the results.
“That’s fine,” you might say, “as long as my site is ranked on the first page, preferably number 1?.
That’s where the problem comes in. Links from other sites play a big role in where your page ranks relative to other pages about the same topic (also known as your competition). If those links, and the internal links from your own site are spread over three different pages, instead of concentrated on one page, then your page is less likely to rank as well as your competition.
Make each page of your website about one thing, and make the content on that page great content about whatever that one thing is. Look at each page as though it were a specialist in the one thing that it is about. I’ll end with an example of how one might construct a jewelry website without cannibalizing keywords.
Homepage - “jewelry”
Subpage 1 - “bracelets”
1a) “Gold bracelets”
1b) “Silver bracelets”
1c) “Plastic bracelets”
Subpage 2 - “Necklaces”
2a) “Gold Necklaces”
2b) “Silver Necklaces”
2c) “Pearl Necklaces”
In this case, we have four pages about necklaces. One is the main necklace page with general information about the necklaces offered, and the other three are subpages about specific types of necklaces. In theory, when someone searches for “necklaces”, the necklace page (subpage 2) should be well placed in the search engine results. If someone searches for “gold necklaces”, the page specifically about gold necklaces (2A) should be well placed in the search engine results. That’s good for the user because they get just what they’re looking for. It’s good for the site owner because the user is more likely to convert to a buyer when they don’t have to navigate through a maze of pages to find what they’re looking for. Finally, it’s good from a search engine standpoint because the search engines aim to rank sites that will provide the best user experience for a given search phrase.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
posted by Brian Word of the Day May 14th, 2007
Keyword FightToday, you’re getting two words for the price of one, because the word of the day is really more of what you’d call a phrase. I’m not sure where this phrase originated, but I suspect that Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz might have coined it.
Keyword cannibalization refers to the practice of competing with yourself for the same keywords or key phrases when optimizing your site for the search engines. That seems like a pretty stupid thing to do, but the fact is that a lot of people do it unintentionally and in some cases even think they’re helping themselves. To understand why it might hurt you, it will help to briefly review some factors that search engines use to rank web sites.
Search engines use ”on page factors” and “off page factors” to figure out what each individual web page is about, and to then rank web pages relative to one another in the search engine results pages. On page factors include things like the title tag (the words that appear in the usually blue bar at the top of the web browser) and the text on the page. Off page factors include things like the number of links to the page, the anchor text of those links (the words you actually click on to follow the link), and the “authority” of the sites linking to a page.
Now, if you have two or three pages using the same keywords, a search engine has to decide which of those pages is most important for those keywords. Generally search engines don’t like to display multiple pages from a single site in a given set of results. It’s not as useful for the user as displaying results from several different sites. So, now the search engine is only picking one of your pages to “represent” your site in the results.
“That’s fine,” you might say, “as long as my site is ranked on the first page, preferably number 1?.
That’s where the problem comes in. Links from other sites play a big role in where your page ranks relative to other pages about the same topic (also known as your competition). If those links, and the internal links from your own site are spread over three different pages, instead of concentrated on one page, then your page is less likely to rank as well as your competition.
Make each page of your website about one thing, and make the content on that page great content about whatever that one thing is. Look at each page as though it were a specialist in the one thing that it is about. I’ll end with an example of how one might construct a jewelry website without cannibalizing keywords.
Homepage - “jewelry”
Subpage 1 - “bracelets”
1a) “Gold bracelets”
1b) “Silver bracelets”
1c) “Plastic bracelets”
Subpage 2 - “Necklaces”
2a) “Gold Necklaces”
2b) “Silver Necklaces”
2c) “Pearl Necklaces”
In this case, we have four pages about necklaces. One is the main necklace page with general information about the necklaces offered, and the other three are subpages about specific types of necklaces. In theory, when someone searches for “necklaces”, the necklace page (subpage 2) should be well placed in the search engine results. If someone searches for “gold necklaces”, the page specifically about gold necklaces (2A) should be well placed in the search engine results. That’s good for the user because they get just what they’re looking for. It’s good for the site owner because the user is more likely to convert to a buyer when they don’t have to navigate through a maze of pages to find what they’re looking for. Finally, it’s good from a search engine standpoint because the search engines aim to rank sites that will provide the best user experience for a given search phrase.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Pros and Cons of Freelancing, Contracting, and Consulting
Pros and Cons of Freelancing, Contracting, and Consulting
by Attorney Stephen Fishman
The benefits -- and drawbacks -- of working as an independent contractor rather than as an employee.
An independent contractor (IC) is a person who contracts to perform services for others without having the legal status of an employee. Most people who qualify as independent contractors follow their own trade, business, or profession -- that is, they are in business for themselves. This is why they are called "independent" contractors: They earn their livelihoods from their own businesses instead of depending upon an employer for a paycheck.
Good examples of ICs are professionals or tradespeople with their own practices such as doctors, graphic artists, accountants, plumbers, and carpenters. Independent contracting is also common in highly specialized or technical fields such as computer programming, engineering, and accounting. You can find ICs in almost every field, from construction to marketing to nursing. Any person who is in business for himself or herself qualifies as an IC.
Some people seek to become ICs, while others have the status thrust upon them. Whichever group you fall into, working as an IC has benefits and drawbacks.
Advantages of Working as an Independent Contractor
Independent contractors reap many rewards that regular wage earners may never experience.
You are your own boss.
When you're an IC, you're your own boss, with all of the risks and rewards that entails. Most ICs bask in the freedom that comes from being in business for themselves. They would doubtless agree with the following sentiment expressed by one IC: "I can choose how, when, and where to work, for as much or little time as I want. In short, I enjoy working for myself."
Do independent contractors need business licenses?
ICs are masters of their economic fate. The amount of money you make is directly related to the quantity and quality of your work. This is not necessarily the case for employees. ICs don't have to ask their bosses for a raise -- if they want to earn more, they just have to go out and find more work. And, because most ICs are not dependent upon a single company for their livelihood, the hiring or firing decisions of any one company don't impact ICs as they do employees.
You may earn more than employees.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
by Attorney Stephen Fishman
The benefits -- and drawbacks -- of working as an independent contractor rather than as an employee.
An independent contractor (IC) is a person who contracts to perform services for others without having the legal status of an employee. Most people who qualify as independent contractors follow their own trade, business, or profession -- that is, they are in business for themselves. This is why they are called "independent" contractors: They earn their livelihoods from their own businesses instead of depending upon an employer for a paycheck.
Good examples of ICs are professionals or tradespeople with their own practices such as doctors, graphic artists, accountants, plumbers, and carpenters. Independent contracting is also common in highly specialized or technical fields such as computer programming, engineering, and accounting. You can find ICs in almost every field, from construction to marketing to nursing. Any person who is in business for himself or herself qualifies as an IC.
Some people seek to become ICs, while others have the status thrust upon them. Whichever group you fall into, working as an IC has benefits and drawbacks.
Advantages of Working as an Independent Contractor
Independent contractors reap many rewards that regular wage earners may never experience.
You are your own boss.
When you're an IC, you're your own boss, with all of the risks and rewards that entails. Most ICs bask in the freedom that comes from being in business for themselves. They would doubtless agree with the following sentiment expressed by one IC: "I can choose how, when, and where to work, for as much or little time as I want. In short, I enjoy working for myself."
Do independent contractors need business licenses?
ICs are masters of their economic fate. The amount of money you make is directly related to the quantity and quality of your work. This is not necessarily the case for employees. ICs don't have to ask their bosses for a raise -- if they want to earn more, they just have to go out and find more work. And, because most ICs are not dependent upon a single company for their livelihood, the hiring or firing decisions of any one company don't impact ICs as they do employees.
You may earn more than employees.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Halloween Craft Project Templates
Halloween Craft Project Templates
From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Aug 22 2007
Free Halloween printables for cards, decorations, pumpkin carving
Invite friends and neighbors to your pumpkin patch with cards and invitations featuring a a scary or fun pumpkin face, ghosts, goblins, or ghouls. Print your own Halloween party decorations, get templates to carve a pumpkin. Download free templates for spooky t-shirt transfers, trick or treat bags, costumes and other Halloween craft projects.
Design Tip: Don't clutter your cards with too many cute graphics. Repeat one good image several times to add impact rather than throwing in every witch, pumpkin, bat, or ghost that you find. When using different images, keep the style similar — woodcut, modern, sketched, etc.
* Print these Halloween cards on your color printer directly from the Adobe Acrobat PDF files you download from Hewlett-Packard.
Sponsored Links
HalloweenSlideshow Of Easy Halloween Crafts & Activities For Kidswww.FamilyEducation.com
Halloween Templates100's of Free Layouts, Add Music, Video, Graphics & More. All Free!www.spacefetti.com
Learn to Sculpt PumpkinsOnline, interactive lessons. Learn from a top Disney Sculptor!www.fugu.com/pumpkin
There are ghosts, bats, monsters, and more spooky themes. They also have a Halloween Photo Card project.
* If you have Ulead Photo Express 4.0, Platinum 2000, 3.0 or 2.0, download one of their free Halloween Card Templates.
* HP also has a few Halloween invitation projects featuring ghosts, witches, and a skeleton.
Invitation/Card Idea: Turn a map of your neighborhood into a Halloween maze — where the only correct solution leads right to your haunted house.
* Go beyond cards and decorations - use your computer and printer to help you carve a pumpkin. HP has pumpkin carving templates in PDF format. Swan Pumpkin Farm has carving tips as well as printable templates for your Jack-o-Lantern face as well as pumpkin carving tips. And About New England for Visitors Guide Kim Knox has rounded up even more pumpkin carving template resources.
* All these free HP Halloween craft project templates are in PDF format. Download and print.
o Doorbell Decorations to transform your doorbell into a ghost or black cat or other Halloween character.
o Day of the Dead party kit for the day after Halloween has invitations and decorations.
Invitation/Card Idea: Don't fret over finding the right clip art. Use pre-designed holiday papers. Want to make your party a bit more dignified than the usual Halloween bash? Use color paper in warm fall colors and pick a not too outrageous typeface. Put your time and effort into writing a nice invite and having a fun party. Or, try this Fall Harvest Stationary template from HP.
Get free Halloween Pictures and Fonts to make your own custom Halloween project.
Design Tip: Many of the Halloween fonts that are so fun to use are also difficult to read. Choose and use these decorative fonts carefully. Use them at large sizes for short headlines and easy to recognize words (Boo! Happy Halloween). Choose a nice, easy to read serif or sans serif font for body copy — and especially for important information like dates, times, and locations for your Halloween festivities.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Aug 22 2007
Free Halloween printables for cards, decorations, pumpkin carving
Invite friends and neighbors to your pumpkin patch with cards and invitations featuring a a scary or fun pumpkin face, ghosts, goblins, or ghouls. Print your own Halloween party decorations, get templates to carve a pumpkin. Download free templates for spooky t-shirt transfers, trick or treat bags, costumes and other Halloween craft projects.
Design Tip: Don't clutter your cards with too many cute graphics. Repeat one good image several times to add impact rather than throwing in every witch, pumpkin, bat, or ghost that you find. When using different images, keep the style similar — woodcut, modern, sketched, etc.
* Print these Halloween cards on your color printer directly from the Adobe Acrobat PDF files you download from Hewlett-Packard.
Sponsored Links
HalloweenSlideshow Of Easy Halloween Crafts & Activities For Kidswww.FamilyEducation.com
Halloween Templates100's of Free Layouts, Add Music, Video, Graphics & More. All Free!www.spacefetti.com
Learn to Sculpt PumpkinsOnline, interactive lessons. Learn from a top Disney Sculptor!www.fugu.com/pumpkin
There are ghosts, bats, monsters, and more spooky themes. They also have a Halloween Photo Card project.
* If you have Ulead Photo Express 4.0, Platinum 2000, 3.0 or 2.0, download one of their free Halloween Card Templates.
* HP also has a few Halloween invitation projects featuring ghosts, witches, and a skeleton.
Invitation/Card Idea: Turn a map of your neighborhood into a Halloween maze — where the only correct solution leads right to your haunted house.
* Go beyond cards and decorations - use your computer and printer to help you carve a pumpkin. HP has pumpkin carving templates in PDF format. Swan Pumpkin Farm has carving tips as well as printable templates for your Jack-o-Lantern face as well as pumpkin carving tips. And About New England for Visitors Guide Kim Knox has rounded up even more pumpkin carving template resources.
* All these free HP Halloween craft project templates are in PDF format. Download and print.
o Doorbell Decorations to transform your doorbell into a ghost or black cat or other Halloween character.
o Day of the Dead party kit for the day after Halloween has invitations and decorations.
Invitation/Card Idea: Don't fret over finding the right clip art. Use pre-designed holiday papers. Want to make your party a bit more dignified than the usual Halloween bash? Use color paper in warm fall colors and pick a not too outrageous typeface. Put your time and effort into writing a nice invite and having a fun party. Or, try this Fall Harvest Stationary template from HP.
Get free Halloween Pictures and Fonts to make your own custom Halloween project.
Design Tip: Many of the Halloween fonts that are so fun to use are also difficult to read. Choose and use these decorative fonts carefully. Use them at large sizes for short headlines and easy to recognize words (Boo! Happy Halloween). Choose a nice, easy to read serif or sans serif font for body copy — and especially for important information like dates, times, and locations for your Halloween festivities.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Halloween Pictures & Fonts
Halloween Pictures & Fonts
From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Sep 20 2006
Create your own Halloween projects with these free fonts and clip art
Halloween is one of the biggest holidays on the Web. Whether you are searching for clip art to spook up your Web page or creepy fonts for your party invitations, we've got the free Halloween clip art and fonts you seek. Here are free dripping blood fonts, Halloween dingbat fonts, some free clip art for the Web and for iron-on transfers, and Halloween project ideas.
Bloody Halloween fonts
Each of these fonts has the dripping blood look going for it. Some have more drip than others. Remember, although the graphics may show the fonts in color, these are digital TrueType fonts. They are black and white. To get color, use your graphics programs or change the font color in your word processor or desktop publishing software.
* Blood of Dracula
* BloodFeast
* Bloodgutter 99
* Bloody
* Double Feature
* Manson Nights
* Rocky
* Shlop
Also see the free flaming fonts to put a little sizzle in your Halloween message.
Sponsored Links
HalloweenSlideshow Of Easy Halloween Crafts & Activities For Kidswww.FamilyEducation.com
Scary Halloween PicturesFind The Top Sites For Scary Halloween Pictures Here.Pictures.CluedUpSearch.net
Free Images & Backgrounds720 Cool jpgs to Use on Your Pages Totally Free, Download them Now!Powerbacks.com/FreeDownloads_ForYou
Halloween Picture Fonts - Dingbats
These free TrueType dingbat fonts of ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and other Halloween pictures provide dozens of holiday images from the scary to the goofy.
* 10 Lil' Ghosts
The name of the font says it all. More would be nice, but they are cute.
* Gargoyles de France
These aren't your typical gargoyles of stone. Find fun images of grotesque characters.
* GroovyGhosties
Some of the ghosts-shaped-liked-letters are difficult to decipher but on the plus side there are numbers and several common marks of punctuation.
* Halloween Borders
A nicely drawn collection of jack-o-lanterns, skulls, and tombstones that work well individually as well as put together for spooky borders and frames.
* iLL oCtoBer
Nice selection of traditional Halloween images including witch, black cat, skulls, tombstone, ghosts, and bats in a cut-out style. Also has devilish faces, shapes, and symbols.
* iLL oCtoBer 98
Lots of nice simple cut-outs of classic Halloween images and more symbols. If you already have the earlier iLL oCtoBer, you'll find only a few different dings.
* MonsterParty
These are some nicely rendered images of classic monsters, creatures, and actors from the movies and TV.
* Pumpkinese
Not a particularly exciting font, but readable. Could appeal to young children with its clear letters and simple pumpkin shapes.
* Skullz
There's more here than just a skull and crossbones, although there are several of those to choose from. It's a nice collection of skulls and bones in several styles.
* Hidden Halloween Dingbats
Because they are not strictly Halloween-themed it can be hard to know if a general purpose dingbat font contains any useful Halloween images. Browse this collection of free dingbat fonts that do contain hidden Halloween images of familiar symbols, scary monsters, and real people.
Halloween Clip Art
These clip art images are primarily designed for use on the Web. You can try printing them, but the results may not be great (but it doesn't hurt to try). I drew all these images several years ago.
* Bats! Bats! Bats!
There are six images of black and gray stylized bats, alone and in groups.
* Trick or Treat Candy
Satisfy your sweet tooth with virtual peppermint, bowls of candy, lollipops, and wrapped candies.
* Jack-o-Lanterns Plus!
This page includes images for iron-on transfers (in reverse).
* Dripping Blood Caps
These are Web graphics, not a digital font. Includes some punctuation.
Halloween Printables
This two-part article includes hints and tips for your printable Halloween projects along with links to free Halloween templates for party invitations, decorations, costumes, and pumpkin carving templates. Page 2 is especially for kids.
Halloween and Fall Holidays Fun
Fall/Winter Holidays Clip Art & FontsHalloween Project TemplatesMore Holiday Fonts
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Sep 20 2006
Create your own Halloween projects with these free fonts and clip art
Halloween is one of the biggest holidays on the Web. Whether you are searching for clip art to spook up your Web page or creepy fonts for your party invitations, we've got the free Halloween clip art and fonts you seek. Here are free dripping blood fonts, Halloween dingbat fonts, some free clip art for the Web and for iron-on transfers, and Halloween project ideas.
Bloody Halloween fonts
Each of these fonts has the dripping blood look going for it. Some have more drip than others. Remember, although the graphics may show the fonts in color, these are digital TrueType fonts. They are black and white. To get color, use your graphics programs or change the font color in your word processor or desktop publishing software.
* Blood of Dracula
* BloodFeast
* Bloodgutter 99
* Bloody
* Double Feature
* Manson Nights
* Rocky
* Shlop
Also see the free flaming fonts to put a little sizzle in your Halloween message.
Sponsored Links
HalloweenSlideshow Of Easy Halloween Crafts & Activities For Kidswww.FamilyEducation.com
Scary Halloween PicturesFind The Top Sites For Scary Halloween Pictures Here.Pictures.CluedUpSearch.net
Free Images & Backgrounds720 Cool jpgs to Use on Your Pages Totally Free, Download them Now!Powerbacks.com/FreeDownloads_ForYou
Halloween Picture Fonts - Dingbats
These free TrueType dingbat fonts of ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and other Halloween pictures provide dozens of holiday images from the scary to the goofy.
* 10 Lil' Ghosts
The name of the font says it all. More would be nice, but they are cute.
* Gargoyles de France
These aren't your typical gargoyles of stone. Find fun images of grotesque characters.
* GroovyGhosties
Some of the ghosts-shaped-liked-letters are difficult to decipher but on the plus side there are numbers and several common marks of punctuation.
* Halloween Borders
A nicely drawn collection of jack-o-lanterns, skulls, and tombstones that work well individually as well as put together for spooky borders and frames.
* iLL oCtoBer
Nice selection of traditional Halloween images including witch, black cat, skulls, tombstone, ghosts, and bats in a cut-out style. Also has devilish faces, shapes, and symbols.
* iLL oCtoBer 98
Lots of nice simple cut-outs of classic Halloween images and more symbols. If you already have the earlier iLL oCtoBer, you'll find only a few different dings.
* MonsterParty
These are some nicely rendered images of classic monsters, creatures, and actors from the movies and TV.
* Pumpkinese
Not a particularly exciting font, but readable. Could appeal to young children with its clear letters and simple pumpkin shapes.
* Skullz
There's more here than just a skull and crossbones, although there are several of those to choose from. It's a nice collection of skulls and bones in several styles.
* Hidden Halloween Dingbats
Because they are not strictly Halloween-themed it can be hard to know if a general purpose dingbat font contains any useful Halloween images. Browse this collection of free dingbat fonts that do contain hidden Halloween images of familiar symbols, scary monsters, and real people.
Halloween Clip Art
These clip art images are primarily designed for use on the Web. You can try printing them, but the results may not be great (but it doesn't hurt to try). I drew all these images several years ago.
* Bats! Bats! Bats!
There are six images of black and gray stylized bats, alone and in groups.
* Trick or Treat Candy
Satisfy your sweet tooth with virtual peppermint, bowls of candy, lollipops, and wrapped candies.
* Jack-o-Lanterns Plus!
This page includes images for iron-on transfers (in reverse).
* Dripping Blood Caps
These are Web graphics, not a digital font. Includes some punctuation.
Halloween Printables
This two-part article includes hints and tips for your printable Halloween projects along with links to free Halloween templates for party invitations, decorations, costumes, and pumpkin carving templates. Page 2 is especially for kids.
Halloween and Fall Holidays Fun
Fall/Winter Holidays Clip Art & FontsHalloween Project TemplatesMore Holiday Fonts
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Do You Have the Time to Do Freelance Design?
Do You Have the Time to Do Freelance Design?
From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
(Continued from Page 1)
Reading about what it takes to do freelance design is all well and good but to help it sink in, let's put it in writing and take some action too.
Your Assignment
Answer these questions and try out some of the exercises. Be realistic when answering questions or making estimates about time or money.
Exercise #1: Time Commitment. Estimate how much time you'll devote to each of these typical daily tasks (let's assume you already have a few clients and you have some marketing materials distributed already and an ad in the newspaper that's bringing in clients):
* Answering telephone inquiries about "how much do you charge?"
Try this: Pick out a few names from the phone book and make some calls as if you were the client seeking design services.
Sponsored Links
Freelance and OutsourceWorkBuggy.com - Membership is free Post Projects or Look for Workwww.workbuggy.com
Book Cover DesignDon't hire that cover designer. Do it yourself. Amazing software.www.bookcoverpro.com
Graphic Designing Jobs.1000's of Graphic Designing Jobs. Submit Your Resume Free. Now!MonsterIndia.com
See how long the calls take.
* Answering email inquiries about "how much do you charge?"
Do this: Have a friend send you an email asking you about your services and how much you'd charge to "do a few business cards" or "put up a Web site." Compose your own reply as if that email were from a real client. How much time does it take to read and reply?
* Opening mail, filing the keepers and tossing the junk.
Do this: Time yourself doing the mail for a few days. If all you get is junk mail, pretend some of it is from clients and pretend to read and file. Feel silly? Hey, no one has to know but you!
* Paying the phone bill, paying for the printer supplies you had delivered last week, filling out deposit slips for the checks you received in the day's mail, sending out a handful of invoices, and recording all these transactions in the appropriate places.
Do this: Time how long it takes you to balance your checkbook, pay a few household bills. You'll be doing that for your business as well and it will probably take about the same amount of time.
* Calling the newspaper and arranging to have your ad run another 4 weeks.
* Preparing (or ordering) and eating lunch.
* Getting dressed in nicer clothes and straightening up the office for an in-home meeting with a prospective client.
* Greeting the prospective client, showing your portfolio, discussing their project.
* Preparing a written estimate (including getting bids from three printers and doing some online research because the job includes some things you've never done before) and getting a contract ready in case the prospective client decides to hire you.
Do this: Make up a possible project you might be asked to do. Pick a number for an hourly rate you might charge ($50-$100, perhaps) then write up a simple estimate. It might help you see how much time this type of nonbillable work might take.
* Working on another project that you've already started. Today you're scanning a couple of photos and doing a little image editing. (Hey, this is billable time!)
Remember, only that last item in the list was something billable to a client. The rest of the time you're doing necessary work related to doing business but it's not always fun, playing with the computer and making cool stuff work that directly results in money from a client.
Now let's pretend you can get an average of 3 billable hours out of every work day. Let's also pretend that all that money goes straight into your pocket - no taxes, no rent, no supplies, just pure profit. How many days will you have to work to earn $40,000 a year? If you're charging $50 an hour that's $150 per day and about 266 days out of the year (at 3 hrs per day). Hey, that doesn't sound bad. 365 days with about 104 days off for weekends, a 2 week vacation, 5 days of "calling in sick" (why not, you're the boss!), another week's worth of holidays (why should you work through Christmas?) leaves you with 235 working days. Oops, not enough. OK, you can cut back on the sick days, work a few weekends. But of course that $50 an hour isn't really pure profit. You really will have to pay rent, pay taxes, and buy supplies so you're going to need earn a lot more than $40,000 or charge a lot more than $50 an hour or find a lot more than 365 days in the year (which one do you think you can change?).
I'm not trying to discourage you. I just want you to take the time to run a few numbers. Have a good idea going in how long things will take and how much time you can realistically except to devote to making money as a freelance designer.
Next page > Your Assignment: Money Commitment
Careers in Graphics & Design > Freelance Design > Choosing
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
(Continued from Page 1)
Reading about what it takes to do freelance design is all well and good but to help it sink in, let's put it in writing and take some action too.
Your Assignment
Answer these questions and try out some of the exercises. Be realistic when answering questions or making estimates about time or money.
Exercise #1: Time Commitment. Estimate how much time you'll devote to each of these typical daily tasks (let's assume you already have a few clients and you have some marketing materials distributed already and an ad in the newspaper that's bringing in clients):
* Answering telephone inquiries about "how much do you charge?"
Try this: Pick out a few names from the phone book and make some calls as if you were the client seeking design services.
Sponsored Links
Freelance and OutsourceWorkBuggy.com - Membership is free Post Projects or Look for Workwww.workbuggy.com
Book Cover DesignDon't hire that cover designer. Do it yourself. Amazing software.www.bookcoverpro.com
Graphic Designing Jobs.1000's of Graphic Designing Jobs. Submit Your Resume Free. Now!MonsterIndia.com
See how long the calls take.
* Answering email inquiries about "how much do you charge?"
Do this: Have a friend send you an email asking you about your services and how much you'd charge to "do a few business cards" or "put up a Web site." Compose your own reply as if that email were from a real client. How much time does it take to read and reply?
* Opening mail, filing the keepers and tossing the junk.
Do this: Time yourself doing the mail for a few days. If all you get is junk mail, pretend some of it is from clients and pretend to read and file. Feel silly? Hey, no one has to know but you!
* Paying the phone bill, paying for the printer supplies you had delivered last week, filling out deposit slips for the checks you received in the day's mail, sending out a handful of invoices, and recording all these transactions in the appropriate places.
Do this: Time how long it takes you to balance your checkbook, pay a few household bills. You'll be doing that for your business as well and it will probably take about the same amount of time.
* Calling the newspaper and arranging to have your ad run another 4 weeks.
* Preparing (or ordering) and eating lunch.
* Getting dressed in nicer clothes and straightening up the office for an in-home meeting with a prospective client.
* Greeting the prospective client, showing your portfolio, discussing their project.
* Preparing a written estimate (including getting bids from three printers and doing some online research because the job includes some things you've never done before) and getting a contract ready in case the prospective client decides to hire you.
Do this: Make up a possible project you might be asked to do. Pick a number for an hourly rate you might charge ($50-$100, perhaps) then write up a simple estimate. It might help you see how much time this type of nonbillable work might take.
* Working on another project that you've already started. Today you're scanning a couple of photos and doing a little image editing. (Hey, this is billable time!)
Remember, only that last item in the list was something billable to a client. The rest of the time you're doing necessary work related to doing business but it's not always fun, playing with the computer and making cool stuff work that directly results in money from a client.
Now let's pretend you can get an average of 3 billable hours out of every work day. Let's also pretend that all that money goes straight into your pocket - no taxes, no rent, no supplies, just pure profit. How many days will you have to work to earn $40,000 a year? If you're charging $50 an hour that's $150 per day and about 266 days out of the year (at 3 hrs per day). Hey, that doesn't sound bad. 365 days with about 104 days off for weekends, a 2 week vacation, 5 days of "calling in sick" (why not, you're the boss!), another week's worth of holidays (why should you work through Christmas?) leaves you with 235 working days. Oops, not enough. OK, you can cut back on the sick days, work a few weekends. But of course that $50 an hour isn't really pure profit. You really will have to pay rent, pay taxes, and buy supplies so you're going to need earn a lot more than $40,000 or charge a lot more than $50 an hour or find a lot more than 365 days in the year (which one do you think you can change?).
I'm not trying to discourage you. I just want you to take the time to run a few numbers. Have a good idea going in how long things will take and how much time you can realistically except to devote to making money as a freelance designer.
Next page > Your Assignment: Money Commitment
Careers in Graphics & Design > Freelance Design > Choosing
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
s Freelance Design and Publishing the Right Career for You?
s Freelance Design and Publishing the Right Career for You?
From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Entrepreneurship requires more than design talent
So you think you want to start your own business? Friends tell you that you've got a flair for making good-looking business cards and fliers. You've got an inkjet printer and an old copy of QuarkXPress. You're ready to start getting paid for doing something you enjoy. Wait! First, find out if a freelance business is the right move for you.
Successful freelancing requires more than artistic talent or software proficiency. If a desktop publishing or graphic design business are your goal those are needed skills; but, first determine that you have the personality required to work for yourself.
Do you work well on your own, without direct supervision? Are you willing to get away from the computer and go hustle up clients? Can you sustain the level of productivity necessary to make a living doing what you enjoy (design) while also tackling the jobs you might not enjoy (bookkeeping, sales)?
Working from home is typically how most freelance designers start out.
Sponsored Links
Freelance and OutsourceWorkBuggy.com - Membership is free Post Projects or Look for Workwww.workbuggy.com
Graphic Designing JobsMNC's Hiring for India & Abroad Submit Your Resume Free. Now!MonsterIndia.com
Data Entry from HomeNo Experience Required - Data Entry from Home. Earn $200-$400 per Day!iNetDataEntry.com
Home businesses require special talents too. Like any freelancer, you must be self-motivated, organized, and able to maintain a professional work environment in your home.
Working for yourself has many rewards. Just don't go into it blindly. Here's a short reality checklist:
* You don't get to spend all your time doing design. You have to go out and find your own clients and you have to work at keeping those clients. In addition to marketing yourself you'll also likely be doing all your own bookkeeping as well as acting as your own purchasing agent, receptionist, advertising department, and mail room clerk. These jobs all take up significant amounts of time.
* Self-employment doesn't mean you keep all the money for yourself. Checks from clients may add up to a bigger amount than the paycheck you got from your employer, but it has to cover your operating expenses and self-employment taxes too. You can't charge the hourly rate you made as an employee or even just a little bit more and expect to make money. You have to be confident enough to charge what you're worth and what you need in order to have enough money to pay your expenses and pay yourself.
* Business expenses are not money in the bank. Uncle Sam (US-IRS) doesn't give you back all your business expenses at the end of the year. Your expenses are deductions from your profits so you pay taxes on a lesser amount. That's a good thing, yes. But it's not the same as "getting back everything you spent." And, you must keep good records of business expenses.
* You can't take off whenever you want. If you want to do freelance work because it allows you to take a vacation whenever you want, sleep late, or close up shop on a whim, think again. Certainly you are able to do those things more freely than with an employer but you must remember that you don't work in a vacuum. You must keep reasonable hours in order to be available to meet with clients and prospects. You can't take off on the spur of the moment when you have a major job at the print shop requiring your supervision. Freelance work offers flexibility but it doesn't give you carte blanche to only work when you feel like it. The business depends on you. There's no one in the next cubicle to take up the slack when you decide to call in sick.
On the next two pages you'll find some exercises designed to help you put your commitment to doing freelance design in real terms.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Entrepreneurship requires more than design talent
So you think you want to start your own business? Friends tell you that you've got a flair for making good-looking business cards and fliers. You've got an inkjet printer and an old copy of QuarkXPress. You're ready to start getting paid for doing something you enjoy. Wait! First, find out if a freelance business is the right move for you.
Successful freelancing requires more than artistic talent or software proficiency. If a desktop publishing or graphic design business are your goal those are needed skills; but, first determine that you have the personality required to work for yourself.
Do you work well on your own, without direct supervision? Are you willing to get away from the computer and go hustle up clients? Can you sustain the level of productivity necessary to make a living doing what you enjoy (design) while also tackling the jobs you might not enjoy (bookkeeping, sales)?
Working from home is typically how most freelance designers start out.
Sponsored Links
Freelance and OutsourceWorkBuggy.com - Membership is free Post Projects or Look for Workwww.workbuggy.com
Graphic Designing JobsMNC's Hiring for India & Abroad Submit Your Resume Free. Now!MonsterIndia.com
Data Entry from HomeNo Experience Required - Data Entry from Home. Earn $200-$400 per Day!iNetDataEntry.com
Home businesses require special talents too. Like any freelancer, you must be self-motivated, organized, and able to maintain a professional work environment in your home.
Working for yourself has many rewards. Just don't go into it blindly. Here's a short reality checklist:
* You don't get to spend all your time doing design. You have to go out and find your own clients and you have to work at keeping those clients. In addition to marketing yourself you'll also likely be doing all your own bookkeeping as well as acting as your own purchasing agent, receptionist, advertising department, and mail room clerk. These jobs all take up significant amounts of time.
* Self-employment doesn't mean you keep all the money for yourself. Checks from clients may add up to a bigger amount than the paycheck you got from your employer, but it has to cover your operating expenses and self-employment taxes too. You can't charge the hourly rate you made as an employee or even just a little bit more and expect to make money. You have to be confident enough to charge what you're worth and what you need in order to have enough money to pay your expenses and pay yourself.
* Business expenses are not money in the bank. Uncle Sam (US-IRS) doesn't give you back all your business expenses at the end of the year. Your expenses are deductions from your profits so you pay taxes on a lesser amount. That's a good thing, yes. But it's not the same as "getting back everything you spent." And, you must keep good records of business expenses.
* You can't take off whenever you want. If you want to do freelance work because it allows you to take a vacation whenever you want, sleep late, or close up shop on a whim, think again. Certainly you are able to do those things more freely than with an employer but you must remember that you don't work in a vacuum. You must keep reasonable hours in order to be available to meet with clients and prospects. You can't take off on the spur of the moment when you have a major job at the print shop requiring your supervision. Freelance work offers flexibility but it doesn't give you carte blanche to only work when you feel like it. The business depends on you. There's no one in the next cubicle to take up the slack when you decide to call in sick.
On the next two pages you'll find some exercises designed to help you put your commitment to doing freelance design in real terms.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Famous graphic designers, typographers and creatives
Famous graphic designers, typographers and creatives
Whilst most designers slave away with little recognition, other than our clients cheque or the occasional award, there are some designers that have gained international fame for their work. Are we bitter and twisted?
Well... possibly. But to show that we harbour no hard feelings, we focus on some of them here.
In all seriousness, few of these designers are celebrities, in the normal sense of the word - certainly outside of the design community (with the possible exception of Jonathan Ives - Apple's designer of the iPod and the recent iMacs). And most of these designers have become famous for the influence of their work, rather than as the result of any kind of personality cult.
Indeed, some of them are important enough to have had an influence on the very meaning and interpretation of the history of design itself. If you have any suggestions or comments about any of our featured artists, please feel free to let us know.
Ron Arad
Ron Arad is a well known furniture designer, artist and architectural designer. Ron Arad's work has been exhibited at many major museums and galleries throughout the world and his work is in many public collections.
Giambattista Bodoni
Giambattista Bodoni was an Italian typographer, engraver, type designer and printer who lived between 1740 and 1813. Giambattista Bodoni gave his name to the series of fonts that he designed.
Neville Brody
Neville Brody became famous in the 1980's for his typographic design work on numerous British magazines, in particular The Face and Arena. Brody used newly invented desktop publishing tools to the fullest and continues to be influential as a type designer for both print and web.
David Carson
Like Neville Brody, typographer and graphic designer David Carson became influential in the late 1980's and 1990s for experimental typeface designs. David Carson's designs were featured heavily in surfing and skateboarding magazines.
A tribute to other self-taught designers, David Carson broke most of the rules of design and typography, a process that was made easy with the use of desk top publishing programs, such as Pagemaker, QuarkXpress and Illustrator. He experimented with overlapping and distorted fonts and intermixed these with striking photographic images.
There is an ongoing discussion of David Carson in the Design Talkboard forums.
David Carson's web site
William Caslon
A typeface designer and engraver, William Caslon lived in England between 1692 and 1766. William Caslon's typefaces became extremely popular in the mid-to-late 18th century and were used for many important printed works. A version of Caslon typeface was used for printing the first edition of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser is one of the most famous American graphic designers of the 20 century. Milton Glaser is the designer behind some of the most famous popular icons, including the 'I love New York' campaign for the New York State Department of Commerce and, in particular, numerous advertising posters, record covers and soup cans.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Whilst most designers slave away with little recognition, other than our clients cheque or the occasional award, there are some designers that have gained international fame for their work. Are we bitter and twisted?
Well... possibly. But to show that we harbour no hard feelings, we focus on some of them here.
In all seriousness, few of these designers are celebrities, in the normal sense of the word - certainly outside of the design community (with the possible exception of Jonathan Ives - Apple's designer of the iPod and the recent iMacs). And most of these designers have become famous for the influence of their work, rather than as the result of any kind of personality cult.
Indeed, some of them are important enough to have had an influence on the very meaning and interpretation of the history of design itself. If you have any suggestions or comments about any of our featured artists, please feel free to let us know.
Ron Arad
Ron Arad is a well known furniture designer, artist and architectural designer. Ron Arad's work has been exhibited at many major museums and galleries throughout the world and his work is in many public collections.
Giambattista Bodoni
Giambattista Bodoni was an Italian typographer, engraver, type designer and printer who lived between 1740 and 1813. Giambattista Bodoni gave his name to the series of fonts that he designed.
Neville Brody
Neville Brody became famous in the 1980's for his typographic design work on numerous British magazines, in particular The Face and Arena. Brody used newly invented desktop publishing tools to the fullest and continues to be influential as a type designer for both print and web.
David Carson
Like Neville Brody, typographer and graphic designer David Carson became influential in the late 1980's and 1990s for experimental typeface designs. David Carson's designs were featured heavily in surfing and skateboarding magazines.
A tribute to other self-taught designers, David Carson broke most of the rules of design and typography, a process that was made easy with the use of desk top publishing programs, such as Pagemaker, QuarkXpress and Illustrator. He experimented with overlapping and distorted fonts and intermixed these with striking photographic images.
There is an ongoing discussion of David Carson in the Design Talkboard forums.
David Carson's web site
William Caslon
A typeface designer and engraver, William Caslon lived in England between 1692 and 1766. William Caslon's typefaces became extremely popular in the mid-to-late 18th century and were used for many important printed works. A version of Caslon typeface was used for printing the first edition of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser is one of the most famous American graphic designers of the 20 century. Milton Glaser is the designer behind some of the most famous popular icons, including the 'I love New York' campaign for the New York State Department of Commerce and, in particular, numerous advertising posters, record covers and soup cans.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Confused about graphic design job descriptions?
Confused about graphic design job descriptions?
Well step no further, as Design : Talkboard takes you through the maze of job titles and graphic design careers specifications. Soon, you too could have a fancy name on your business card and an impressive title on your door!
Are you new to design? A graphic design student looking for jobs or career advice? Or a professional graphic designer trying to further your prospects? Perhaps you are confused about the various job descriptions and design career specifications in the creative industry? On the other hand, maybe you are just trying to work out what to put on your business card?
Well, never fear, because help is at hand. The following is the Design : Talkboard primer of the specifications and roles of some of the many varied job descriptions that you may come across in, what can be loosely described as, the design industry.
We can't promise that every description will be identical for every single graphic design company - jobs and roles can vary dramatically between companies - but they will pretty close. Some design agencies will only have one or two Art Directors and a team of Artworkers implementing their ideas. Whilst others may have a ‘flatter' company structure, where everyone (in theory) has input into the design process.
Some of these job titles also vary depending on the country, so it's worth bearing that in mind when looking for advice on a design career. And it's also worth remembering that the industry is constantly changing. In particular, ever since graphic designers have been involved in the interactive and web design industry, most creative job descriptions have had to be re-evaluated several times. But that's the subject for another discussion – watch this pace.
Anyway, let's press on. This article will cover the following job descriptions;
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Well step no further, as Design : Talkboard takes you through the maze of job titles and graphic design careers specifications. Soon, you too could have a fancy name on your business card and an impressive title on your door!
Are you new to design? A graphic design student looking for jobs or career advice? Or a professional graphic designer trying to further your prospects? Perhaps you are confused about the various job descriptions and design career specifications in the creative industry? On the other hand, maybe you are just trying to work out what to put on your business card?
Well, never fear, because help is at hand. The following is the Design : Talkboard primer of the specifications and roles of some of the many varied job descriptions that you may come across in, what can be loosely described as, the design industry.
We can't promise that every description will be identical for every single graphic design company - jobs and roles can vary dramatically between companies - but they will pretty close. Some design agencies will only have one or two Art Directors and a team of Artworkers implementing their ideas. Whilst others may have a ‘flatter' company structure, where everyone (in theory) has input into the design process.
Some of these job titles also vary depending on the country, so it's worth bearing that in mind when looking for advice on a design career. And it's also worth remembering that the industry is constantly changing. In particular, ever since graphic designers have been involved in the interactive and web design industry, most creative job descriptions have had to be re-evaluated several times. But that's the subject for another discussion – watch this pace.
Anyway, let's press on. This article will cover the following job descriptions;
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Computers and technology
Computers and technology
Apple Macintosh or Windows PC (and what about Linux)?
There was a time when Apple Macs were the immediate choice for any professional graphic designer or pre-press studio. But times have changed and the Mac Vs PC argument is not so clear cut.
When desk top publishing (DTP) and WYSIWYG were first developed in the 1980s, along with the graphical user interface (GUI), Macs were really the only option for the design and printing industry.
Nearly all design layout and graphics software was either Mac only, or was far more reliable on a Mac than it was on a Microsoft Windows PC. Moreover, Macs were so closely linked to the various technologies used in the prepress and printing industry, such as scanners, RIPs and imagesetters, that to use a Windows PC was simply not a viable option.
But this has not been the case for some time and now there are many design studios, publishers and printers that have either standardized on Windows PCs or, at the very least, are happy to deal with files supplied from PC users. Along with the advert of web design, the reliance on Apple Macs for print reproduction has become even less.
Despite this, it is important to acknowledge that most print-based graphic designers still use Apple Macs and many graphic artists and pre-press bureaus still prefer dealing with documents created on the Macintosh platform. It is also generally accepted that color calibration is more reliable on the Macintosh platform.
Of course with modern versions of Mac OS X and Windows, there is no reason why designers have to choose between Macintosh or Windows computers. Both will happily coexist on the same network and, within reason, open the same file types.
Those designers who choose new Apple Macs can now have the best of both worlds, as the Intel-based Macs can now boot up into both Mac OS X and Windows XP.
Linux for graphic design?
With the increase in popularity for open source software solutions, some designers may be tempted to investigate whether Linux is a viable option. And there are some open source graphics applications, including DTP packages, vector drawing programs and photo editors. However, for professional print design, few designers will currently trust their business to these programs.
Mac v PC - are there actually any differences now?
There are, of course, some differences when it comes to using Macs and PCs for graphic design work. The the gap between general usability, between Macs and Windows PCs, has narrowed dramatically. Indeed Windows, since version 2000, has been a very stable operating system and some designers have argued that Apple's latest operating system, OS X, is somewhat less user friendly than its previous operating systems.
Many designers have also grown up the Apple Mac GUI and believe it to be more focused on creative aspects than other operating systems. In particular color calibration and WYSIWYG issues are often thought to have been dealt with more favorably on Macs than PCs.
Proprietary hardware – good or bad?
Apple make their own hardware and software and this is often given as a reason for higher build quality and hardware compatibility. The Windows operating system will run on any variety of PCs and Mac enthusiasts sometimes argue that this can give rise to driver software issues and compatibility problems. Windows users may counter that this allows far more choice and value for money. As ever, it's horses for courses and most designers will choose the platform that works best for them for their particular purpose.
Working together in a cross platform environment
These days a graphic designer is very likely to be working in a mixed Mac and PC environment. This is much less of an issue than it used to be, with either platform being able to open documents created on the other. However, there are potential problems to be aware of and issues such as fonts matching and text overflows can cause all sorts of problems – even when using the same piece of software and fonts from the same foundry. For this reason alone, many studios will standardize on one platform.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Apple Macintosh or Windows PC (and what about Linux)?
There was a time when Apple Macs were the immediate choice for any professional graphic designer or pre-press studio. But times have changed and the Mac Vs PC argument is not so clear cut.
When desk top publishing (DTP) and WYSIWYG were first developed in the 1980s, along with the graphical user interface (GUI), Macs were really the only option for the design and printing industry.
Nearly all design layout and graphics software was either Mac only, or was far more reliable on a Mac than it was on a Microsoft Windows PC. Moreover, Macs were so closely linked to the various technologies used in the prepress and printing industry, such as scanners, RIPs and imagesetters, that to use a Windows PC was simply not a viable option.
But this has not been the case for some time and now there are many design studios, publishers and printers that have either standardized on Windows PCs or, at the very least, are happy to deal with files supplied from PC users. Along with the advert of web design, the reliance on Apple Macs for print reproduction has become even less.
Despite this, it is important to acknowledge that most print-based graphic designers still use Apple Macs and many graphic artists and pre-press bureaus still prefer dealing with documents created on the Macintosh platform. It is also generally accepted that color calibration is more reliable on the Macintosh platform.
Of course with modern versions of Mac OS X and Windows, there is no reason why designers have to choose between Macintosh or Windows computers. Both will happily coexist on the same network and, within reason, open the same file types.
Those designers who choose new Apple Macs can now have the best of both worlds, as the Intel-based Macs can now boot up into both Mac OS X and Windows XP.
Linux for graphic design?
With the increase in popularity for open source software solutions, some designers may be tempted to investigate whether Linux is a viable option. And there are some open source graphics applications, including DTP packages, vector drawing programs and photo editors. However, for professional print design, few designers will currently trust their business to these programs.
Mac v PC - are there actually any differences now?
There are, of course, some differences when it comes to using Macs and PCs for graphic design work. The the gap between general usability, between Macs and Windows PCs, has narrowed dramatically. Indeed Windows, since version 2000, has been a very stable operating system and some designers have argued that Apple's latest operating system, OS X, is somewhat less user friendly than its previous operating systems.
Many designers have also grown up the Apple Mac GUI and believe it to be more focused on creative aspects than other operating systems. In particular color calibration and WYSIWYG issues are often thought to have been dealt with more favorably on Macs than PCs.
Proprietary hardware – good or bad?
Apple make their own hardware and software and this is often given as a reason for higher build quality and hardware compatibility. The Windows operating system will run on any variety of PCs and Mac enthusiasts sometimes argue that this can give rise to driver software issues and compatibility problems. Windows users may counter that this allows far more choice and value for money. As ever, it's horses for courses and most designers will choose the platform that works best for them for their particular purpose.
Working together in a cross platform environment
These days a graphic designer is very likely to be working in a mixed Mac and PC environment. This is much less of an issue than it used to be, with either platform being able to open documents created on the other. However, there are potential problems to be aware of and issues such as fonts matching and text overflows can cause all sorts of problems – even when using the same piece of software and fonts from the same foundry. For this reason alone, many studios will standardize on one platform.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
I used to spend several month to get online and freelance jobs, them I came to GAF and in only one month I was able to get such a lot of work!!! th
Job descriptions for graphic designers
There are junior designers, middleweight designers, senior designers and bantam weight designers (we may be wrong about one of those). Then we get onto art directors and creative directors. All of this bunch are involved in the creative process somehow. So if you are looking for advice on graphic design careers, read on.
Junior Designers
Junior Designers are usually employed straight from college and will generally be considered ‘junior' for up to two years. Junior Designers will lay out pages, draw logos, redraw logos, do text corrections and generally all the stuff that the middleweight and senior designers don't want to do. Unless they are really lucky and they have the help of a Mac Operator.
Middleweight Designers
Middleweight Designers should usually already have some kind of professional portfolio. They will probably have mainly worked on parts of larger campaigns and a few smaller projects of their own. They will be able to take design briefs and implement them, but will still generally be overseen creatively by a Senior Designer or Art Director.
Senior Designers
It gets complicated here. Most Junior Designers don't mind being junior for a while. But many Middleweight Designers can't wait to become Senior Designers or Art Directors. There are graphic designers with two years professional experience, who have ‘Senior Designer' or even ‘Art Director' on their business cards.
But generally, it would seem sensible that three to five years working experience will have been clocked up, before a ‘senior' tag is applied. Senior Designers will ideally be adept at taking briefs and may well have a lot more client liaison experience. A senior designer should have developed those famous problem solving abilities to a degree where each design project is not seen in isolation. But rather, they will also be able to look at the ‘bigger picture' in a creative or advertising campaign.
Art Directors
Try Googling the phrase “What is an Art Director” and you can get some bizarrely differing results. But it is fair to say that an Art Director should, at the very least, direct some art. Although, it is also true that an Art Director in a graphic design agency, fulfills a very different role to that of one in an above the line advertising agency, which deals predominantly with television advertising.
The Art Directors role is to brainstorm and come up with ideas. Other than the Creative Director, an Art Director will generally be the most senior ‘hands-on' creative for a design project or creative campaign. They will understand branding and also oversee the correct briefing and supervision of the rest of the design team. Often this will be in conjunction with the Studio Manager. There is an interesting description of the role of an Art Director in a web environment here.
Creative Directors
Creative Directors will often have come through the same route as Art Directors. But, more and more they are coming in from a marketing background and certainly this would be beneficial in a corporate design environment. Often, this would not be a ‘hands-on' design position. Or rather, there are few Creative Directors that would sit down in front of a Macintosh and bash out concepts in Illustrator or QuarkXpress on a daily basis. although there are certainly some that do. Creative Directors will be concerned with the higher level issues of branding and marketing and would have a lot more direct contact with the client.
Web Designers
So where do Web Designers fit in with all of this? Once again, this varies from company to company. At one point the term ‘web designer' meant an HTML developer, or JavaScript coder who could use a bit of Photoshop. Currently, certainly amongst many graphic design agencies, web designers tend to have similar titles and roles to their colleagues in the print design industry. Some web designers are expected to be able to code as well, others are required to at least be able to use WYSIWYG web design software, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive. Others are only responsible for creating the concepts in Photoshop, before handing over the graphics to web developers to hand code.
Obviously, a close working relationship would be required between a creative graphic designer and a web developer. Moreover, a graphic designer, working on interactive design or web site design projects, should have a good understanding of interactive design principles, usability and online branding issues.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
There are junior designers, middleweight designers, senior designers and bantam weight designers (we may be wrong about one of those). Then we get onto art directors and creative directors. All of this bunch are involved in the creative process somehow. So if you are looking for advice on graphic design careers, read on.
Junior Designers
Junior Designers are usually employed straight from college and will generally be considered ‘junior' for up to two years. Junior Designers will lay out pages, draw logos, redraw logos, do text corrections and generally all the stuff that the middleweight and senior designers don't want to do. Unless they are really lucky and they have the help of a Mac Operator.
Middleweight Designers
Middleweight Designers should usually already have some kind of professional portfolio. They will probably have mainly worked on parts of larger campaigns and a few smaller projects of their own. They will be able to take design briefs and implement them, but will still generally be overseen creatively by a Senior Designer or Art Director.
Senior Designers
It gets complicated here. Most Junior Designers don't mind being junior for a while. But many Middleweight Designers can't wait to become Senior Designers or Art Directors. There are graphic designers with two years professional experience, who have ‘Senior Designer' or even ‘Art Director' on their business cards.
But generally, it would seem sensible that three to five years working experience will have been clocked up, before a ‘senior' tag is applied. Senior Designers will ideally be adept at taking briefs and may well have a lot more client liaison experience. A senior designer should have developed those famous problem solving abilities to a degree where each design project is not seen in isolation. But rather, they will also be able to look at the ‘bigger picture' in a creative or advertising campaign.
Art Directors
Try Googling the phrase “What is an Art Director” and you can get some bizarrely differing results. But it is fair to say that an Art Director should, at the very least, direct some art. Although, it is also true that an Art Director in a graphic design agency, fulfills a very different role to that of one in an above the line advertising agency, which deals predominantly with television advertising.
The Art Directors role is to brainstorm and come up with ideas. Other than the Creative Director, an Art Director will generally be the most senior ‘hands-on' creative for a design project or creative campaign. They will understand branding and also oversee the correct briefing and supervision of the rest of the design team. Often this will be in conjunction with the Studio Manager. There is an interesting description of the role of an Art Director in a web environment here.
Creative Directors
Creative Directors will often have come through the same route as Art Directors. But, more and more they are coming in from a marketing background and certainly this would be beneficial in a corporate design environment. Often, this would not be a ‘hands-on' design position. Or rather, there are few Creative Directors that would sit down in front of a Macintosh and bash out concepts in Illustrator or QuarkXpress on a daily basis. although there are certainly some that do. Creative Directors will be concerned with the higher level issues of branding and marketing and would have a lot more direct contact with the client.
Web Designers
So where do Web Designers fit in with all of this? Once again, this varies from company to company. At one point the term ‘web designer' meant an HTML developer, or JavaScript coder who could use a bit of Photoshop. Currently, certainly amongst many graphic design agencies, web designers tend to have similar titles and roles to their colleagues in the print design industry. Some web designers are expected to be able to code as well, others are required to at least be able to use WYSIWYG web design software, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive. Others are only responsible for creating the concepts in Photoshop, before handing over the graphics to web developers to hand code.
Obviously, a close working relationship would be required between a creative graphic designer and a web developer. Moreover, a graphic designer, working on interactive design or web site design projects, should have a good understanding of interactive design principles, usability and online branding issues.
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
I used to spend several month to get online and freelance jobs, them I came to GAF and in only one month I was able to get such a lot of work!!! th
Job descriptions for graphic designers
There are junior designers, middleweight designers, senior designers and bantam weight designers (we may be wrong about one of those). Then we get onto art directors and creative directors. All of this bunch are involved in the creative process somehow. So if you are looking for advice on graphic design careers, read on.
Junior Designers
Junior Designers are usually employed straight from college and will generally be considered ‘junior' for up to two years. Junior Designers will lay out pages, draw logos, redraw logos, do text corrections and generally all the stuff that the middleweight and senior designers don't want to do. Unless they are really lucky and they have the help of a Mac Operator.
Middleweight Designers
Middleweight Designers should usually already have some kind of professional portfolio. They will probably have mainly worked on parts of larger campaigns and a few smaller projects of their own. They will be able to take design briefs and implement them, but will still generally be overseen creatively by a Senior Designer or Art Director.
Senior Designers
It gets complicated here. Most Junior Designers don't mind being junior for a while. But many Middleweight Designers can't wait to become Senior Designers or Art Directors. There are graphic designers with two years professional experience, who have ‘Senior Designer' or even ‘Art Director' on their business cards.
But generally, it would seem sensible that three to five years working experience will have been clocked up, before a ‘senior' tag is applied. Senior Designers will ideally be adept at taking briefs and may well have a lot more client liaison experience. A senior designer should have developed those famous problem solving abilities to a degree where each design project is not seen in isolation. But rather, they will also be able to look at the ‘bigger picture' in a creative or advertising campaign.
Art Directors
Try Googling the phrase “What is an Art Director” and you can get some bizarrely differing results. But it is fair to say that an Art Director should, at the very least, direct some art. Although, it is also true that an Art Director in a graphic design agency, fulfills a very different role to that of one in an above the line advertising agency, which deals predominantly with television advertising.
The Art Directors role is to brainstorm and come up with ideas. Other than the Creative Director, an Art Director will generally be the most senior ‘hands-on' creative for a design project or creative campaign. They will understand branding and also oversee the correct briefing and supervision of the rest of the design team. Often this will be in conjunction with the Studio Manager. There is an interesting description of the role of an Art Director in a web environment here.
Creative Directors
Creative Directors will often have come through the same route as Art Directors. But, more and more they are coming in from a marketing background and certainly this would be beneficial in a corporate design environment. Often, this would not be a ‘hands-on' design position. Or rather, there are few Creative Directors that would sit down in front of a Macintosh and bash out concepts in Illustrator or QuarkXpress on a daily basis. although there are certainly some that do. Creative Directors will be concerned with the higher level issues of branding and marketing and would have a lot more direct contact with the client.
Web Designers
So where do Web Designers fit in with all of this? Once again, this varies from company to company. At one point the term ‘web designer' meant an HTML developer, or JavaScript coder who could use a bit of Photoshop. Currently, certainly amongst many graphic design agencies, web designers tend to have similar titles and roles to their colleagues in the print design industry. Some web designers are expected to be able to code as well, others are required to at least be able to use WYSIWYG web design software, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive. Others are only responsible for creating the concepts in Photoshop, before handing over the graphics to web developers to hand code.
Obviously, a close working relationship would be required between a creative graphic designer and a web developer. Moreover, a graphic designer, working on interactive design or web site design projects, should have a good understanding of interactive design principles, usability and online branding issues.
There are junior designers, middleweight designers, senior designers and bantam weight designers (we may be wrong about one of those). Then we get onto art directors and creative directors. All of this bunch are involved in the creative process somehow. So if you are looking for advice on graphic design careers, read on.
Junior Designers
Junior Designers are usually employed straight from college and will generally be considered ‘junior' for up to two years. Junior Designers will lay out pages, draw logos, redraw logos, do text corrections and generally all the stuff that the middleweight and senior designers don't want to do. Unless they are really lucky and they have the help of a Mac Operator.
Middleweight Designers
Middleweight Designers should usually already have some kind of professional portfolio. They will probably have mainly worked on parts of larger campaigns and a few smaller projects of their own. They will be able to take design briefs and implement them, but will still generally be overseen creatively by a Senior Designer or Art Director.
Senior Designers
It gets complicated here. Most Junior Designers don't mind being junior for a while. But many Middleweight Designers can't wait to become Senior Designers or Art Directors. There are graphic designers with two years professional experience, who have ‘Senior Designer' or even ‘Art Director' on their business cards.
But generally, it would seem sensible that three to five years working experience will have been clocked up, before a ‘senior' tag is applied. Senior Designers will ideally be adept at taking briefs and may well have a lot more client liaison experience. A senior designer should have developed those famous problem solving abilities to a degree where each design project is not seen in isolation. But rather, they will also be able to look at the ‘bigger picture' in a creative or advertising campaign.
Art Directors
Try Googling the phrase “What is an Art Director” and you can get some bizarrely differing results. But it is fair to say that an Art Director should, at the very least, direct some art. Although, it is also true that an Art Director in a graphic design agency, fulfills a very different role to that of one in an above the line advertising agency, which deals predominantly with television advertising.
The Art Directors role is to brainstorm and come up with ideas. Other than the Creative Director, an Art Director will generally be the most senior ‘hands-on' creative for a design project or creative campaign. They will understand branding and also oversee the correct briefing and supervision of the rest of the design team. Often this will be in conjunction with the Studio Manager. There is an interesting description of the role of an Art Director in a web environment here.
Creative Directors
Creative Directors will often have come through the same route as Art Directors. But, more and more they are coming in from a marketing background and certainly this would be beneficial in a corporate design environment. Often, this would not be a ‘hands-on' design position. Or rather, there are few Creative Directors that would sit down in front of a Macintosh and bash out concepts in Illustrator or QuarkXpress on a daily basis. although there are certainly some that do. Creative Directors will be concerned with the higher level issues of branding and marketing and would have a lot more direct contact with the client.
Web Designers
So where do Web Designers fit in with all of this? Once again, this varies from company to company. At one point the term ‘web designer' meant an HTML developer, or JavaScript coder who could use a bit of Photoshop. Currently, certainly amongst many graphic design agencies, web designers tend to have similar titles and roles to their colleagues in the print design industry. Some web designers are expected to be able to code as well, others are required to at least be able to use WYSIWYG web design software, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive. Others are only responsible for creating the concepts in Photoshop, before handing over the graphics to web developers to hand code.
Obviously, a close working relationship would be required between a creative graphic designer and a web developer. Moreover, a graphic designer, working on interactive design or web site design projects, should have a good understanding of interactive design principles, usability and online branding issues.
Glossary of terms for fonts and typography
Glossary of terms for fonts and typography
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Search for a font term:
glossary home
design
software
fonts
web
pre-press
print
There are hundreds and thousands of different font families and typefaces and we have no intention of listing them all here. This section of the design glossary is for defining and explaining the many terms specifically related to font and typography usage.
As ever, this is not to say that typographic, fonts or typesetting design issues are not listed elsewhere in the glossary. So please do have a look through other sections and we encourage you to make full use of the glossary search function.
fonts glossary
glossary home
design
software
fonts
web
pre-press
print
Fonts and typography talk
If you really have a passion for fonts and typography, you may wish to join in some of the discussions in the Design Talkboard discussion forums. For example, some members are discussing what their favourite fonts are. Whilst others are talking about the way that desktop publishing has affected how designers use fonts.
Reviews of font management software tools
Three of the top professional font management software applications are put to the test and reviewed. Includes Suitcase, Font Agent Pro and Master Juggler.
Something missing? Something incorrect? Got a suggestion? - Tell us about it!
The dictionary of typographic terms is an ever evolving project. If there is a typography concept or definition that you are searching for that we haven't included, then please tell us! Also, if you feel that we have made a mistake, or have been unclear in any way, we welcome your comments!
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X Y Z
Search for a font term:
glossary home
design
software
fonts
web
pre-press
There are hundreds and thousands of different font families and typefaces and we have no intention of listing them all here. This section of the design glossary is for defining and explaining the many terms specifically related to font and typography usage.
As ever, this is not to say that typographic, fonts or typesetting design issues are not listed elsewhere in the glossary. So please do have a look through other sections and we encourage you to make full use of the glossary search function.
fonts glossary
glossary home
design
software
fonts
web
pre-press
Fonts and typography talk
If you really have a passion for fonts and typography, you may wish to join in some of the discussions in the Design Talkboard discussion forums. For example, some members are discussing what their favourite fonts are. Whilst others are talking about the way that desktop publishing has affected how designers use fonts.
Reviews of font management software tools
Three of the top professional font management software applications are put to the test and reviewed. Includes Suitcase, Font Agent Pro and Master Juggler.
Something missing? Something incorrect? Got a suggestion? - Tell us about it!
The dictionary of typographic terms is an ever evolving project. If there is a typography concept or definition that you are searching for that we haven't included, then please tell us! Also, if you feel that we have made a mistake, or have been unclear in any way, we welcome your comments!
Posted By You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Online design tutorials
Online design tutorials
quark photoshop montage
Design Talkboard has taken a look at some of the free graphic design software tutorials web sites, to try and separate the wheat from the chaff.
Learning any kind of graphics software can be a chore. Let's face it, graphic designers just want to get on and create stuff. But not knowing the best, or quickest, way to achieve a desired result can be frustrating. That's when it can be time to stop experimenting and get some professional design training.
Wading through the supplied software manual can also be more bother than it is worth. Especially as, these days, even some of the biggest graphics software publishers only supply the manuals in PDF format on the software CD or DVD.
Hands on software training is obviously one of the best methods to learn a new product. But that is not cheap, and often doesn't leave enough room to learn in your own time.
There are numerous other methods of learning graphics software, for example third party books, training CDs, videos and tutorial DVDs. But once again, these can be expensive. So what is the cheapest method of learning design applications? Well, there's the internet, of course.
There are numerous web sites that cater for the keen design student. Some only provide tutorials for one software application, for example Photoshop training, or InDesign tutorials - whilst other may provide a broad range of design software training resources.
This section of Design Talkboard is dedicated to tracking down and reviewing those web design training sites. Many of these web sites also provide paid for tutorial resources, but we will make sure that the sites that we review also, at the very least, provide an extensive free tutorial section.
Reviews of online training resources
InDesign tutorials - Sources of Adobe InDesign training resources.
Photoshop tutorials - Free web resources for learning Adobe Photoshop.
QuarkXpress training - Web sites devoted to teaching QuarkXpress online.
Online tutorials
Illustrator tips - Learning Adobe Illustrator online.
Photoshop help – Tips and tricks for Adobe Photoshop users.
Coming soon
Freehand tutorials - Macromedia's vector drawing program.
Dreamweaver tutorials - Learning the Macromedia premier WYSIWYG web design application.
Flash tutorials - Web sites devoted to providing online training in Macromedia Flash.
And don't forget, the Design Talkboard software forums are always an invaluable resource for tips and tricks and graphics software troubleshooting.
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
quark photoshop montage
Design Talkboard has taken a look at some of the free graphic design software tutorials web sites, to try and separate the wheat from the chaff.
Learning any kind of graphics software can be a chore. Let's face it, graphic designers just want to get on and create stuff. But not knowing the best, or quickest, way to achieve a desired result can be frustrating. That's when it can be time to stop experimenting and get some professional design training.
Wading through the supplied software manual can also be more bother than it is worth. Especially as, these days, even some of the biggest graphics software publishers only supply the manuals in PDF format on the software CD or DVD.
Hands on software training is obviously one of the best methods to learn a new product. But that is not cheap, and often doesn't leave enough room to learn in your own time.
There are numerous other methods of learning graphics software, for example third party books, training CDs, videos and tutorial DVDs. But once again, these can be expensive. So what is the cheapest method of learning design applications? Well, there's the internet, of course.
There are numerous web sites that cater for the keen design student. Some only provide tutorials for one software application, for example Photoshop training, or InDesign tutorials - whilst other may provide a broad range of design software training resources.
This section of Design Talkboard is dedicated to tracking down and reviewing those web design training sites. Many of these web sites also provide paid for tutorial resources, but we will make sure that the sites that we review also, at the very least, provide an extensive free tutorial section.
Reviews of online training resources
InDesign tutorials - Sources of Adobe InDesign training resources.
Photoshop tutorials - Free web resources for learning Adobe Photoshop.
QuarkXpress training - Web sites devoted to teaching QuarkXpress online.
Online tutorials
Illustrator tips - Learning Adobe Illustrator online.
Photoshop help – Tips and tricks for Adobe Photoshop users.
Coming soon
Freehand tutorials - Macromedia's vector drawing program.
Dreamweaver tutorials - Learning the Macromedia premier WYSIWYG web design application.
Flash tutorials - Web sites devoted to providing online training in Macromedia Flash.
And don't forget, the Design Talkboard software forums are always an invaluable resource for tips and tricks and graphics software troubleshooting.
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Online Photoshop tutorials and training
Online Photoshop tutorials and training
Learning Adobe Photoshop is no easy task. Design Talkboard has taken a look at some of the Adobe Photoshop training web sites, to try and separate the wheat from the chaff. As ever, each course has its own approach.
Adobe Photoshop is the world's premier digital graphics editing application. Unlike any other design tool, it is probably the only one that has an almost endless learning curve and there are few, if any, graphic designers that can truly say that they know all there is to know about it.
For beginners, Adobe Photoshop can sometimes seem like a frustratingly complex program and many are tempted to give up, or pay for expensive class-based training programs. But there are other options.
Teaching yourself, with the aid of online Photoshop tutorials, can be a very useful way to get the most out of the program. With this in mind, the following are Design Talkboard's selected Photoshop training resources. As with our other software training resources, all of these sites offer free tutorials - although some may well also offer paid services.
Also check out our new Photoshop tips & tutorials section.
Adobe
Photoshop training from Adobe
Adobe photoshop courses
From the makers of the program themselves. Adobe have their own series of Photoshop training resources, available as books on CD and DVD. However, very little of it is free. Users have to register as a student and they are then allowed to sample a free course.
Planet Photoshop
Planet Photoshop tutorials
Planet Photoshop graphic
A well organised and clearly laid out Photoshop training resource. The tutorials are divided up into logical subsections, such as 'Effects', 'Photography' and 'image correction'. Helpfully, there is also a section for older versions of Photoshop. A very useful resource.
Coffee and pixels
Photoshop Cafe
Photoshop cafe image
Photoshop Cafe's training resources are mainly in the realm of special effects and textures. If you like creating glassy orbs and 3D style frames for your artwork, then Photoshop Cafe should be a port of call.
Evangelising Photoshop
Adobe Evangelists
Adobe tutorials
A series of downloadable Photoshop tutorials in PDF format. This site has tutorials that cover a number of Photoshop versions, ranging from version 6, through to Photoshop CS2. Adobe Evangelists also have training tips for a number of other Sodobe products, such as InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere and After Effects.
Photoshop tutorials
Good Tutorials web site
Photoshop tutorials images
Good tutorials claim to have, the last time we looked, 7,423 Photoshop tutorials. The home page loads with a daily tutorials section and the rest of the site is simple to navigate, divided into sections ranging from 'Text Effects' to 'Buttons'. The tutorials are basic and you need to register to get access to some of them. Good for beginners.
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Learning Adobe Photoshop is no easy task. Design Talkboard has taken a look at some of the Adobe Photoshop training web sites, to try and separate the wheat from the chaff. As ever, each course has its own approach.
Adobe Photoshop is the world's premier digital graphics editing application. Unlike any other design tool, it is probably the only one that has an almost endless learning curve and there are few, if any, graphic designers that can truly say that they know all there is to know about it.
For beginners, Adobe Photoshop can sometimes seem like a frustratingly complex program and many are tempted to give up, or pay for expensive class-based training programs. But there are other options.
Teaching yourself, with the aid of online Photoshop tutorials, can be a very useful way to get the most out of the program. With this in mind, the following are Design Talkboard's selected Photoshop training resources. As with our other software training resources, all of these sites offer free tutorials - although some may well also offer paid services.
Also check out our new Photoshop tips & tutorials section.
Adobe
Photoshop training from Adobe
Adobe photoshop courses
From the makers of the program themselves. Adobe have their own series of Photoshop training resources, available as books on CD and DVD. However, very little of it is free. Users have to register as a student and they are then allowed to sample a free course.
Planet Photoshop
Planet Photoshop tutorials
Planet Photoshop graphic
A well organised and clearly laid out Photoshop training resource. The tutorials are divided up into logical subsections, such as 'Effects', 'Photography' and 'image correction'. Helpfully, there is also a section for older versions of Photoshop. A very useful resource.
Coffee and pixels
Photoshop Cafe
Photoshop cafe image
Photoshop Cafe's training resources are mainly in the realm of special effects and textures. If you like creating glassy orbs and 3D style frames for your artwork, then Photoshop Cafe should be a port of call.
Evangelising Photoshop
Adobe Evangelists
Adobe tutorials
A series of downloadable Photoshop tutorials in PDF format. This site has tutorials that cover a number of Photoshop versions, ranging from version 6, through to Photoshop CS2. Adobe Evangelists also have training tips for a number of other Sodobe products, such as InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere and After Effects.
Photoshop tutorials
Good Tutorials web site
Photoshop tutorials images
Good tutorials claim to have, the last time we looked, 7,423 Photoshop tutorials. The home page loads with a daily tutorials section and the rest of the site is simple to navigate, divided into sections ranging from 'Text Effects' to 'Buttons'. The tutorials are basic and you need to register to get access to some of them. Good for beginners.
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Becoming a freelance graphic designer
Becoming a freelance graphic designer
Graphic designers work in a variety of environments. There are in-house designers, agency creatives and, of course, self-employed designers.
Many designers see self-employment as a goal which will allow them more creative control, recognition of their talents and also the freedom to concentrate on the projects that they prefer to work on. But starting out as a freelance graphic designer can also be a daunting prospect.
Pros and cons
The advantages of being self-employed are many and graphic designers become self employed for a variety of reasons. Many give up paid jobs, some voluntarily whilst others have taken advantage of redundancy packages to set up on their own.
Of course freelancing has many pitfalls and responsibilities that paid employment does not. Issues such as sales and marketing, self promotion, taxes and invoicing all become an every day part of the self employed designers lot.
Sales and self promotion
Graphic designers are experts at promoting other people's businesses, but many soon find that promoting themselves is much harder than it seems. For the first time many creatives will find themselves in the ironic position of struggling to design their own logos, business cards and web sites. And of course there is the fun, yet difficult, task of choosing a name for your design business.
There is also the question of finding the time for self promotion and marketing. It is interesting to note how many graphic designers (including some established agencies) have yet to find the time to even design their own web site portfolio.
Freelance contracting, self employment, partnerships?
There are a number of business models that designers can choose when deciding to work for themselves. Some creatives specialize in working at client's premises – usually on a short term contract basis. Others will set up their own studios - either at home or in a small office. Whilst others may form partnerships with other creatives to share skills, office rent, equipment and utility bills.
Work space, hardware and equipment
A graphic designer's working environment is not like most other office-based professions. Graphic designers need much more than simply a desk and a cheap personal computer. Equipment such as light boxes, cutting tables, spray booths and storage space for paper, boards and other presentation materials are also a requirement. It is for these reasons that many small office /home office (SOHO) designers eventually decide to find premises away from their living environment.
Creatives who are planning to meet clients on their own premises may also want to investigate the availability of meeting room space. Many shared office environments have 'board rooms' that can be booked for meetings.
And when it comes to technology, designers also have to be very careful about choosing which computer they will be using. Lots of processing power, RAM memory, large monitors and fast hard disks are all a crucial part of the graphic designers' tool-set. Deciding whether to standardize on Apple Macs or Windows PCs may also be consideration. Traditionally print designers tended to prefer Macs, but is no longer such a crucial factor.
Web designers may decide to budget for both operating systems, if only for testing purposes. Although now that Intel-based Macs can run Windows natively, this may be easier to achieve than previously.
Choosing graphic design software
Finding the right DTP software to standardize on is not an easy decision for new graphic design businesses. Graphics software is not cheap and so it is crucial for design professionals to make the right choices early on. There are software tools for converting layout files from one applications file format to another – such as Quark to InDesign – but these are never 100% successful.
The right choice of design software tools and utilities is especially crucial as a business grows and the industry changes. For example the recent merger between Macromedia and Adobe has led to the demise of Freehand and Adobe GoLive which has left many creative companies needing to re-evaluate their software strategy.
Some kind of studio management software, job timing utilities and accounting packages are also recommended. There are numerous tools available, both simple and complex. Although some freelancers find that even a well organized Excel spreadsheet does the job for them.
Keeping up to date
It is also important to keep up to date with the graphics industry. Changes in printing and web technology are frequent and so trade magazines, design forums and keeping in contact with design industry associations is always recommended.
Some time should also be allowed for researching new computer hardware technology and keeping up to date with the latest software releases and developments. Obviously keeping skills up to date with training and self education is also a necessity.
Limits of the business
Some creatives like to take the multidisciplinary design approach, exploring many diverse avenues of the industry. Others will define their terms of trade much more strictly and specialize in a niche area, either of design market itself, or a particular client industry. The first approach is obviously more involved and may require partnerships or third party contractors to achieve successfully.
Defining and promoting a unique selling point (USP) is crucial for setting a business apart from its competitors. However, sometimes circumstances dictate that self-employed designers branch out into new areas. For example a print designer may impress a client so much that they ask if they can build them a web site. And if you specialize in designing movie posters, are you going to turn down an annual report design project?
Finally, this article is only an introduction intended to give some pointers to graphic designers looking to set up on their own and should certainly not be used a 'set-in-stone' blueprint. Freelance design can be a very rewarding occupation, but it does need to be researched carefully and every designer does things their own way, with varying degrees of success. Please feel free to look through the suggested articles below and also at sources on other web sites.
And, of course, talk to other graphic designers. Most will be more than happy to give advice and personal experiences and this can sometimes be the most useful source of 'real world' advice.
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Graphic designers work in a variety of environments. There are in-house designers, agency creatives and, of course, self-employed designers.
Many designers see self-employment as a goal which will allow them more creative control, recognition of their talents and also the freedom to concentrate on the projects that they prefer to work on. But starting out as a freelance graphic designer can also be a daunting prospect.
Pros and cons
The advantages of being self-employed are many and graphic designers become self employed for a variety of reasons. Many give up paid jobs, some voluntarily whilst others have taken advantage of redundancy packages to set up on their own.
Of course freelancing has many pitfalls and responsibilities that paid employment does not. Issues such as sales and marketing, self promotion, taxes and invoicing all become an every day part of the self employed designers lot.
Sales and self promotion
Graphic designers are experts at promoting other people's businesses, but many soon find that promoting themselves is much harder than it seems. For the first time many creatives will find themselves in the ironic position of struggling to design their own logos, business cards and web sites. And of course there is the fun, yet difficult, task of choosing a name for your design business.
There is also the question of finding the time for self promotion and marketing. It is interesting to note how many graphic designers (including some established agencies) have yet to find the time to even design their own web site portfolio.
Freelance contracting, self employment, partnerships?
There are a number of business models that designers can choose when deciding to work for themselves. Some creatives specialize in working at client's premises – usually on a short term contract basis. Others will set up their own studios - either at home or in a small office. Whilst others may form partnerships with other creatives to share skills, office rent, equipment and utility bills.
Work space, hardware and equipment
A graphic designer's working environment is not like most other office-based professions. Graphic designers need much more than simply a desk and a cheap personal computer. Equipment such as light boxes, cutting tables, spray booths and storage space for paper, boards and other presentation materials are also a requirement. It is for these reasons that many small office /home office (SOHO) designers eventually decide to find premises away from their living environment.
Creatives who are planning to meet clients on their own premises may also want to investigate the availability of meeting room space. Many shared office environments have 'board rooms' that can be booked for meetings.
And when it comes to technology, designers also have to be very careful about choosing which computer they will be using. Lots of processing power, RAM memory, large monitors and fast hard disks are all a crucial part of the graphic designers' tool-set. Deciding whether to standardize on Apple Macs or Windows PCs may also be consideration. Traditionally print designers tended to prefer Macs, but is no longer such a crucial factor.
Web designers may decide to budget for both operating systems, if only for testing purposes. Although now that Intel-based Macs can run Windows natively, this may be easier to achieve than previously.
Choosing graphic design software
Finding the right DTP software to standardize on is not an easy decision for new graphic design businesses. Graphics software is not cheap and so it is crucial for design professionals to make the right choices early on. There are software tools for converting layout files from one applications file format to another – such as Quark to InDesign – but these are never 100% successful.
The right choice of design software tools and utilities is especially crucial as a business grows and the industry changes. For example the recent merger between Macromedia and Adobe has led to the demise of Freehand and Adobe GoLive which has left many creative companies needing to re-evaluate their software strategy.
Some kind of studio management software, job timing utilities and accounting packages are also recommended. There are numerous tools available, both simple and complex. Although some freelancers find that even a well organized Excel spreadsheet does the job for them.
Keeping up to date
It is also important to keep up to date with the graphics industry. Changes in printing and web technology are frequent and so trade magazines, design forums and keeping in contact with design industry associations is always recommended.
Some time should also be allowed for researching new computer hardware technology and keeping up to date with the latest software releases and developments. Obviously keeping skills up to date with training and self education is also a necessity.
Limits of the business
Some creatives like to take the multidisciplinary design approach, exploring many diverse avenues of the industry. Others will define their terms of trade much more strictly and specialize in a niche area, either of design market itself, or a particular client industry. The first approach is obviously more involved and may require partnerships or third party contractors to achieve successfully.
Defining and promoting a unique selling point (USP) is crucial for setting a business apart from its competitors. However, sometimes circumstances dictate that self-employed designers branch out into new areas. For example a print designer may impress a client so much that they ask if they can build them a web site. And if you specialize in designing movie posters, are you going to turn down an annual report design project?
Finally, this article is only an introduction intended to give some pointers to graphic designers looking to set up on their own and should certainly not be used a 'set-in-stone' blueprint. Freelance design can be a very rewarding occupation, but it does need to be researched carefully and every designer does things their own way, with varying degrees of success. Please feel free to look through the suggested articles below and also at sources on other web sites.
And, of course, talk to other graphic designers. Most will be more than happy to give advice and personal experiences and this can sometimes be the most useful source of 'real world' advice.
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Setting up a graphic design business
Setting up a graphic design business
Becoming a freelance graphic designer
Graphic designers work in a variety of environments. There are in-house designers, agency creatives and, of course, self-employed designers.
Many designers see self-employment as a goal which will allow them more creative control, recognition of their talents and also the freedom to concentrate on the projects that they prefer to work on. But starting out as a freelance graphic designer can also be a daunting prospect.
Pros and cons
The advantages of being self-employed are many and graphic designers become self employed for a variety of reasons. Many give up paid jobs, some voluntarily whilst others have taken advantage of redundancy packages to set up on their own.
Of course freelancing has many pitfalls and responsibilities that paid employment does not. Issues such as sales and marketing, self promotion, taxes and invoicing all become an every day part of the self employed designers lot.
Sales and self promotion
Graphic designers are experts at promoting other people's businesses, but many soon find that promoting themselves is much harder than it seems. For the first time many creatives will find themselves in the ironic position of struggling to design their own logos, business cards and web sites. And of course there is the fun, yet difficult, task of choosing a name for your design business.
There is also the question of finding the time for self promotion and marketing. It is interesting to note how many graphic designers (including some established agencies) have yet to find the time to even design their own web site portfolio.
Freelance contracting, self employment, partnerships?
There are a number of business models that designers can choose when deciding to work for themselves. Some creatives specialize in working at client's premises – usually on a short term contract basis. Others will set up their own studios - either at home or in a small office. Whilst others may form partnerships with other creatives to share skills, office rent, equipment and utility bills.
Work space, hardware and equipment
A graphic designer's working environment is not like most other office-based professions. Graphic designers need much more than simply a desk and a cheap personal computer. Equipment such as light boxes, cutting tables, spray booths and storage space for paper, boards and other presentation materials are also a requirement. It is for these reasons that many small office /home office (SOHO) designers eventually decide to find premises away from their living environment.
Creatives who are planning to meet clients on their own premises may also want to investigate the availability of meeting room space. Many shared office environments have 'board rooms' that can be booked for meetings.
And when it comes to technology, designers also have to be very careful about choosing which computer they will be using. Lots of processing power, RAM memory, large monitors and fast hard disks are all a crucial part of the graphic designers' tool-set. Deciding whether to standardize on Apple Macs or Windows PCs may also be consideration. Traditionally print designers tended to prefer Macs, but is no longer such a crucial factor.
Web designers may decide to budget for both operating systems, if only for testing purposes. Although now that Intel-based Macs can run Windows natively, this may be easier to achieve than previously.
Choosing graphic design software
Finding the right DTP software to standardize on is not an easy decision for new graphic design businesses. Graphics software is not cheap and so it is crucial for design professionals to make the right choices early on. There are software tools for converting layout files from one applications file format to another – such as Quark to InDesign – but these are never 100% successful.
The right choice of design software tools and utilities is especially crucial as a business grows and the industry changes. For example the recent merger between Macromedia and Adobe has led to the demise of Freehand and Adobe GoLive which has left many creative companies needing to re-evaluate their software strategy.
Some kind of studio management software, job timing utilities and accounting packages are also recommended. There are numerous tools available, both simple and complex. Although some freelancers find that even a well organized Excel spreadsheet does the job for them.
Keeping up to date
It is also important to keep up to date with the graphics industry. Changes in printing and web technology are frequent and so trade magazines, design forums and keeping in contact with design industry associations is always recommended.
Some time should also be allowed for researching new computer hardware technology and keeping up to date with the latest software releases and developments. Obviously keeping skills up to date with training and self education is also a necessity.
Limits of the business
Some creatives like to take the multidisciplinary design approach, exploring many diverse avenues of the industry. Others will define their terms of trade much more strictly and specialize in a niche area, either of design market itself, or a particular client industry. The first approach is obviously more involved and may require partnerships or third party contractors to achieve successfully.
Defining and promoting a unique selling point (USP) is crucial for setting a business apart from its competitors. However, sometimes circumstances dictate that self-employed designers branch out into new areas. For example a print designer may impress a client so much that they ask if they can build them a web site. And if you specialize in designing movie posters, are you going to turn down an annual report design project?
Finally, this article is only an introduction intended to give some pointers to graphic designers looking to set up on their own and should certainly not be used a 'set-in-stone' blueprint. Freelance design can be a very rewarding occupation, but it does need to be researched carefully and every designer does things their own way, with varying degrees of success. Please feel free to look through the suggested articles below and also at sources on other web sites.
And, of course, talk to other graphic designers. Most will be more than happy to give advice and personal experiences and this can sometimes be the most useful source of 'real world' advice.
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Becoming a freelance graphic designer
Graphic designers work in a variety of environments. There are in-house designers, agency creatives and, of course, self-employed designers.
Many designers see self-employment as a goal which will allow them more creative control, recognition of their talents and also the freedom to concentrate on the projects that they prefer to work on. But starting out as a freelance graphic designer can also be a daunting prospect.
Pros and cons
The advantages of being self-employed are many and graphic designers become self employed for a variety of reasons. Many give up paid jobs, some voluntarily whilst others have taken advantage of redundancy packages to set up on their own.
Of course freelancing has many pitfalls and responsibilities that paid employment does not. Issues such as sales and marketing, self promotion, taxes and invoicing all become an every day part of the self employed designers lot.
Sales and self promotion
Graphic designers are experts at promoting other people's businesses, but many soon find that promoting themselves is much harder than it seems. For the first time many creatives will find themselves in the ironic position of struggling to design their own logos, business cards and web sites. And of course there is the fun, yet difficult, task of choosing a name for your design business.
There is also the question of finding the time for self promotion and marketing. It is interesting to note how many graphic designers (including some established agencies) have yet to find the time to even design their own web site portfolio.
Freelance contracting, self employment, partnerships?
There are a number of business models that designers can choose when deciding to work for themselves. Some creatives specialize in working at client's premises – usually on a short term contract basis. Others will set up their own studios - either at home or in a small office. Whilst others may form partnerships with other creatives to share skills, office rent, equipment and utility bills.
Work space, hardware and equipment
A graphic designer's working environment is not like most other office-based professions. Graphic designers need much more than simply a desk and a cheap personal computer. Equipment such as light boxes, cutting tables, spray booths and storage space for paper, boards and other presentation materials are also a requirement. It is for these reasons that many small office /home office (SOHO) designers eventually decide to find premises away from their living environment.
Creatives who are planning to meet clients on their own premises may also want to investigate the availability of meeting room space. Many shared office environments have 'board rooms' that can be booked for meetings.
And when it comes to technology, designers also have to be very careful about choosing which computer they will be using. Lots of processing power, RAM memory, large monitors and fast hard disks are all a crucial part of the graphic designers' tool-set. Deciding whether to standardize on Apple Macs or Windows PCs may also be consideration. Traditionally print designers tended to prefer Macs, but is no longer such a crucial factor.
Web designers may decide to budget for both operating systems, if only for testing purposes. Although now that Intel-based Macs can run Windows natively, this may be easier to achieve than previously.
Choosing graphic design software
Finding the right DTP software to standardize on is not an easy decision for new graphic design businesses. Graphics software is not cheap and so it is crucial for design professionals to make the right choices early on. There are software tools for converting layout files from one applications file format to another – such as Quark to InDesign – but these are never 100% successful.
The right choice of design software tools and utilities is especially crucial as a business grows and the industry changes. For example the recent merger between Macromedia and Adobe has led to the demise of Freehand and Adobe GoLive which has left many creative companies needing to re-evaluate their software strategy.
Some kind of studio management software, job timing utilities and accounting packages are also recommended. There are numerous tools available, both simple and complex. Although some freelancers find that even a well organized Excel spreadsheet does the job for them.
Keeping up to date
It is also important to keep up to date with the graphics industry. Changes in printing and web technology are frequent and so trade magazines, design forums and keeping in contact with design industry associations is always recommended.
Some time should also be allowed for researching new computer hardware technology and keeping up to date with the latest software releases and developments. Obviously keeping skills up to date with training and self education is also a necessity.
Limits of the business
Some creatives like to take the multidisciplinary design approach, exploring many diverse avenues of the industry. Others will define their terms of trade much more strictly and specialize in a niche area, either of design market itself, or a particular client industry. The first approach is obviously more involved and may require partnerships or third party contractors to achieve successfully.
Defining and promoting a unique selling point (USP) is crucial for setting a business apart from its competitors. However, sometimes circumstances dictate that self-employed designers branch out into new areas. For example a print designer may impress a client so much that they ask if they can build them a web site. And if you specialize in designing movie posters, are you going to turn down an annual report design project?
Finally, this article is only an introduction intended to give some pointers to graphic designers looking to set up on their own and should certainly not be used a 'set-in-stone' blueprint. Freelance design can be a very rewarding occupation, but it does need to be researched carefully and every designer does things their own way, with varying degrees of success. Please feel free to look through the suggested articles below and also at sources on other web sites.
And, of course, talk to other graphic designers. Most will be more than happy to give advice and personal experiences and this can sometimes be the most useful source of 'real world' advice.
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Fun with forms – customized input elements
Fun with forms – customized input elements
By Søren Madsen
Ever wanted to match the look of your HTML forms with the rest of your website? This article demonstrates how to apply customized backgrounds to HTML forms, while preserving stucturally clean markup and accesibility.
Illustration that compares unstyled forms, with CSS styled forms proposed in this article
A few considerations before we begin
Before you throw yourself at this, there are some important considerations you have be aware of.
Usability
Users trust their credit card and personal information with forms on the internet, and that trust is sacred. So changing the appearance of well-known and recognizable browser elements like the basic input elements, may therefore not always be advisable. If you know your audience well enough, and you're confident that changing the appearance of form elements won't confuse or distract said audience from ie. an online purchase, please read on.
Differences in user agents
The techniques we're about to demonstrate are not generic. Form elements are "replaced elements", which means they come directly from the heart of your OS, and not the browser itself. The CSS specifications do therefore not require that form elements should be able to receive styling.
Most popular browsers have however provided us with options to do so, but not all of them. In fact, the following won't work at all in browsers like Safari , since eg. Safaris form elements are tied closely to the Mac OS presentation system, and therefore doesn't allow styling form elements much more than basic height and width. (Update: The following technique does indeed work in the new Safari 1.2 - Argh, I received contradictory reports! No, it doesn't)
So what are we left with? Well — from what yours truly has been able to test, the following works in IE5+, partially in Opera, and gecko-based browsers (Netscape, Mozilla/Firebirdfox).
Logical restrictions
With this technique, we basically hide the given form element, and replace it with graphic backgrounds. Since that doesn't really make sense with all form elements like select, file fields, radio buttons and check boxes due to their behaviour and functions, I've restricted the scope of this article to work with input fields, text areas and submit buttons, and if you're fine with that — by all means, read on.
Some form basics
– the
By Søren Madsen
Ever wanted to match the look of your HTML forms with the rest of your website? This article demonstrates how to apply customized backgrounds to HTML forms, while preserving stucturally clean markup and accesibility.
Illustration that compares unstyled forms, with CSS styled forms proposed in this article
A few considerations before we begin
Before you throw yourself at this, there are some important considerations you have be aware of.
Usability
Users trust their credit card and personal information with forms on the internet, and that trust is sacred. So changing the appearance of well-known and recognizable browser elements like the basic input elements, may therefore not always be advisable. If you know your audience well enough, and you're confident that changing the appearance of form elements won't confuse or distract said audience from ie. an online purchase, please read on.
Differences in user agents
The techniques we're about to demonstrate are not generic. Form elements are "replaced elements", which means they come directly from the heart of your OS, and not the browser itself. The CSS specifications do therefore not require that form elements should be able to receive styling.
Most popular browsers have however provided us with options to do so, but not all of them. In fact, the following won't work at all in browsers like Safari , since eg. Safaris form elements are tied closely to the Mac OS presentation system, and therefore doesn't allow styling form elements much more than basic height and width. (Update: The following technique does indeed work in the new Safari 1.2 - Argh, I received contradictory reports! No, it doesn't)
So what are we left with? Well — from what yours truly has been able to test, the following works in IE5+, partially in Opera, and gecko-based browsers (Netscape, Mozilla/Firebirdfox).
Logical restrictions
With this technique, we basically hide the given form element, and replace it with graphic backgrounds. Since that doesn't really make sense with all form elements like select, file fields, radio buttons and check boxes due to their behaviour and functions, I've restricted the scope of this article to work with input fields, text areas and submit buttons, and if you're fine with that — by all means, read on.
Some form basics
– the
The Elusive CSS Footer
The Elusive CSS Footer
Yesterday while crunching, munching, belching, and...well, typing a bunch of CSS code and template markup for a project I'm working on, I was smacked upside the head with one of the greatest weakness of using CSS (and not tables) for element positioning - those blasted footers.
Don't know what I'm talking about? Take a look at this collection of CSS layout templates provided by The Noodle Incident. Notice anything missing? None have a horizontal DIV below a set of columns. The three column + top box template comes close - very close - but fails to provide space for content that needs to appear after the columns.
On this site, which is completely controlled by CSS (typography, positioning and all), I have to cheat. Instead of placing my "So now you know" footer inside the global parent DIV, I have to break it out of the whole structure, center it, and fake the look of it actually appearing after the two long columns.
Wired.com ran into the same problem with their totally-CSS driven web site. The footer wouldn't work in any way, shape, or form, without being placed at the bottom of the middle DIV - a solution nowhere near as elegant as it could be if set flush left and separate from the columnar content.
So in my own aforementioned project, I am being forced into dropping pure CSS for the layout, and will have to use tables in order to accomplish the conceptual intent. Which, for those of us who preach the merits of CSS / XHTML, is an acrid pill to swallow.
Unless additional properties are added to CSS, including the ability to overflow textual content and have it resize sibling DIVs in the same parent (just like a table does when you put more stuff into one cell than another), using CSS as a complete replacement for tables will never take off in the mainstream -- unless of course said business is comfortable with their web site looking like every other columnar CSS/XHTML 1.0 strict weblog on the planet.
This isn't rant per se against using CSS for positioning - which I am a hard core advocate of over the bloated, messy, slow, structurally ridiculous method of nested tables. But something clearly needs to change in order to move forward. And at the pace we're moving, with the lag time between browser revisions as an additional factor, it could be years before we have a proper solution. Sob.
Comments
why not just use one table for a "shell" (three column, fluid two columns, etc) per say, and use CSS for the rest? I have used this technique in a couple of sites and no one noticed a performance difference and the code is super clean....
Posted by: barry at February 21, 2003 10:16 AM
Mark Newhouse has a 3-column layout with header and footer that even works in Netscape 4. It is pure CSS.
Are there some ways of breaking this layout that you already know about? If so I would be keen to know them too, because I use it on some of my pages.
Posted by: Guy McCusker at February 21, 2003 10:43 AM
RE: Why not a "shell" table?
Yes, that's exactly the route I'm taking. I guess I'm splitting hairs here, and what I'm visualizing doesn't even exist (yet), but my inner CSS purist would like to see NO tables used at all for layout markup. If DIVs can be absolutely positioned, and do things tables cannot do, you'd hope they would eventually grow "smarter" with time to surpass tables once and for all.
Posted by: Todd Dominey at February 21, 2003 10:43 AM
Thanks Guy for the link. The problem with that layout, while a fantastic solution for some people, is that the footer is positioned relative to the middle, main content column. If either the left or right column were to surpass the length of the middle column, the DIV would overflow over or under (depending on the z-index) the footer DIV instead of "pushing" it lower on the page like the middle column does.
Posted by: Todd Dominey at February 21, 2003 10:56 AM
i've had the same frickin problem...CSS is good and i use it for almost every site now, but it still can't do *everything* tables can.
Posted by: paul at February 21, 2003 11:07 AM
This has always been my biggest problem with going completely CSS. When you deal with sites with dynamic content, or content producers with no CSS experience, you can't be sure the footer will work. It's unfortunate. You no anyone working on the CSS group with the W3?
Posted by: Clint at February 21, 2003 11:08 AM
You can check my personal website http://www.minid.net I've coded a good css layout wich works well for standard browsers.
IE Mac bad results, but i don't care anymore for crossbrowsings... ;D
ANyways my layout is well sight in IE's win, Moz, Ns 6, and Opera some gaps but not that much..
Safari i've got nice results, some little gaps.
It does looks good in Konqueror linux too, maybe i need to polish some stuff but it's a decent layout for supporting standards and really nice for develop new shapes and positions.
Posted by: mini-d at February 21, 2003 11:10 AM
We can make "invisible" airplanes.
We can make computers more powerful and smaller than those released last month.
We've made huge advances with the human genome.
You wouldn't think we'd still have these !#$% problems with CSS.
Posted by: Ian Evans at February 21, 2003 11:15 AM
Would this work?:
3-column layout with footer.
It's somewhat in progress, but it does seem to work on Mac IE5+ and Mozilla/Chimera. I haven't yet tested it on the PC.
Posted by: SU at February 21, 2003 11:20 AM
I’m working on a client project right now and facing some of the same issues. The compromise we made on Wired News for the footer was a big visual bummer IMO.
Big John’s recent explorations with floats (instead of the absolute positioning we used for Wired) have provided considerable inspiration to push further on the matter:
Source Ordered Columns
Posted by: doug bowman at February 21, 2003 11:53 AM
CSS totally changed my professional life for the better, but like they say, “What have you done for me lately?”
The footer bug stinks, but really, I’ve had to put footer notices and links in a solid dark bar at the bottom of our corp. pages for so long, that the Wired.com footer seems like a breath of fresh air.
The “must have an obvious footer” layout seems outdated and lazy, and it’s almost as annoying as the “check out our network of sites” banners found on the Lycos network (webmonkey.com, wired.com) and the Netscape Network (cnn.com, fortune.com, any AOL property…)
Posted by: nathan at February 21, 2003 1:42 PM
I use a div with "clear: both" for the footer on my site.
Admittedly, most of my layouts (there are 6 to choose from) involve just two columns so I'm not sure how a third would affect this.
Also "clear:both" causes some problems in Safari. A bug report is winging its way to Apple as we speak.
Posted by: Jeremy Keith at February 21, 2003 2:01 PM
Scott,
3-column layout with footer collapses in ie6pc, but looks good in ns7pc.
Posted by: jon at February 21, 2003 2:24 PM
Ah ha! Jeremy, that's the same problem I have on my blog (linked) -- the footer gets all mashed up and for the life of me I couldn't see why it was getting that way in only Safari.
I've also reported it as a bug, but I thought it may have been related to the content being aligned-right (other issues in Safari with right alignment). Interesting to hear it's the clear: both; that's the problem.
Posted by: Suzanne at February 21, 2003 2:29 PM
I used a clear:both -but only a two column lay out.... What about wrapping the three divs inside an outer div (instead of a table) which would contain them and then placing the footer after that? I saw that somewhere once... If I can find the link I'll post it.
What browsers are you coding for?
Posted by: Marty at February 21, 2003 2:40 PM
how about this??? http://www.donkeyontheedge.com/ala.html
Posted by: Marty at February 21, 2003 2:43 PM
3-column layout with footer now works fine in Chimera, IE6/PC and IE5/Mac.
Posted by: SU at February 21, 2003 2:57 PM
Getting off topic I know, but I'm puzzled:
Check out the css for the main layout at 37 signals:
http://www.37signals.com/sophisto.css
I was comparing the css for the main 37 signals site with the other link in # 13 above.
Why is the ie box model hack around the other way on the main site?
That is,
.ThreeColTextFixed {
float: none;
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px;
width:240px;
voice-family: "\"}\"";
voice-family: inherit;
width: 240px; }
html>body .ThreeColTextFixed { width:200px; }
Shouldn't the width after voice-family: inherit; be set to 200px?
Posted by: BongoMan at February 21, 2003 4:09 PM
37 Signals has the same problem with the footer -- all squashed to one side -- in Safari. Interesting! It also has the oodles of scroll problem I'm having.
Posted by: Suzanne at February 21, 2003 4:29 PM
BongoMan... The difference is because we included the XML information in the header of the 37signals site:
xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"
I'll eventually remove it and change the code, but as a result of that bit above, it makes IE6/PC behave differently. The CSS compensates for that.
Posted by: SU at February 21, 2003 4:51 PM
As for Safari... You've got to draw the line somewhere and a beta browser that 0.01% of the population uses is a pretty good line right now ;)
Posted by: SU at February 21, 2003 4:53 PM
Thanks Scott - just when i thought I was understanding css layout!
I now remember reading about this at tantek.com - that the xml prolog forces IE6/win to use quirky model and that the prolog can simply be omitted?
Cheers
BongoMan
Posted by: BongoMan at February 21, 2003 5:12 PM
since little boxes was my fault, and since i wasn't expecting to hit this during my morning reading, let me ad lib a quick disclaimer that i think the upper end css crowd here can grok: little boxes is *old*. the thing came out right on the heels of the import trick to block nn4, just when we were figuring out how to get colums to work at all. i need to rewrite it. meanwhile it stays up as robust beginner templates.
but yeah, proper footers is a problem. i think it may have been properly solved by now and want to review and add it, and add a proper discussion of how flow works. since everybody links to little boxes (this was never expected) i need to make it a much better beginner's foundation, rather than the hurried "illustrated problems" it was at the time.
thanks for the nudge, todd.
Posted by: owen at February 21, 2003 5:53 PM
Oh, Scott, I don't mean that 37 Signals is wrong for it, or should even adjust to compensate, just that the more pages we find with the same issue, the better a bug report can be placed and hopefully they will be able to fix it. Since it uses the same engine as Konqueror, and arguably has a specific audience that would be affected by this error in display, I think it's a nice idea to figure out what's causing it.
I'm not going to code around it, but I'd like to know why it's happening so the Safari developers can fix it.
Posted by: Suzanne at February 21, 2003 6:44 PM
Hey Owen - just to clarify, I wasn't necessarily saying that your page needed to be updated. I pointed to it b/c it was the clearest illustration of the variety of layouts possible with CSS - with, of course, the one footerless omission. Your page is a big help, I'm sure, for those getting used to CSS for the first time.
Posted by: Todd Dominey at February 21, 2003 7:27 PM
I think Wired's solution is the best one available at this point, and personally I don't think it looks bad. The only time it doesn't really work is when the middle column is shorter than the flanking two. That's an issue I'm trying to deal with as well. Like the saying goes though, a 90% solution now...
Posted by: Dan at February 21, 2003 7:34 PM
this is interesting - just this week, I gave up on adding an auto-footer to a client site. I’ll go through the samples and see how they work. And put the, “damn footer,” chapter of my, “confessions of a table user,” book on hold.
Posted by: -b- at February 21, 2003 8:25 PM
Wouldn't ( br clear="all" ) work for this after the three columns of code? Thats how I achieved something very similar to what this sounds like. Although I'm not sure how browser friendly it is...
Posted by: Jake at February 21, 2003 11:08 PM
Could someone please tell me what is the visable benefit to the user of a full CSS layout vs. a three column table with two fluid columns?
I personally could give a flying F* if i have to use a table and even one or two nested tables in my sites.
Maybe its just that i am so busy chasing down leads, creating proposals, selling clients, designing, coding, and maintaining sites, that i have no time for the finer fine points of the fine points of css.
But then again, my code is pretty sloppy, i have yet to create a full site to XHTML 1.0 complience , and i currently need to mop my floor.
Posted by: rob rhyne at February 22, 2003 2:30 AM
Rob: The benefits may be subtle, but they are there -and some of the benefits may be more for you.
1) It's easier to maintain a tableless site -especially the content areas. Once you drop tables you never want to go back (however for forms they are little more than necessary.)
2)You can arrange the content in any order you want in the code, but then position it alternatively. ie...in the code you could have 3 divs: Maincontent, left nav, right nav - but when you present it to your browser then it shows left nav, Maincontent, right nav. What the lay out in the code does is allow search engines to find the most relevant information first - and it will render in the browser the most relevant information first - but ultimately will render as you've laid it out.
3) Your code is cleaner and easier to access (potentially) by multiple other devices.
Hope this helps.
Posted by: Marty at February 22, 2003 11:10 AM
Rob,
Using CSS and XHTML (and, prefrebly; semantic markup) is to ensure the future of the web. Also, it makes your job easier, and the vistors stay a better one. Even if their browser doesn't support the latest and greatest CSS-technique, a good CSS-based layout can degrade so they can at least use the site.
A table-based layout cannot do that. A table-based layout is also a hell to code, and maintain. Try returning to anything you've coded in the last two years and you'll see what I mean.
CSS and XHTML fixes those issues and more. The only problem now, is that we aren't always seeing the results we want. The footer-example being one of the main gripes at the moment.
Posted by: Andreas at February 22, 2003 11:30 AM
Todd, you find a solution? Does the Donkey on the edge variant work for you?
Posted by: Marty at February 23, 2003 12:20 AM
Rob: We've been working with CSS only layouts for a while now, and for me, the main reason is futureproofing.
In Europe, we're about to have a flood of devices reading traditional http served stuff onto tiny screens (sub 640x480). CSS lets you compromise intelligently with these devices. You can have graphics neatly partially disappear, columns reposition themselves without breaking their neighbours and so on. My personal experiments at http://donkeyontheedge.com have come out of this.
Right now we're looking at two or three acceptable compromises (the shell table with CSS and XHTML is a reasonably sensible one) but for me, I want total control over handheld stuff without having to filter or rewrite everything:-)
Posted by: Dug Falby at February 23, 2003 8:20 AM
Just wanted to say thanks to those who suggested clear:both as a way to fix my formerly kludgy footer. The footer is now within the parent instead of the centered-cheat deal I wrote about in the post. That said, it is appearing after the two columns, with the main right one pushing the footer down to where it should be. If the smaller left column (or right on my "About" page) were to ever grow larger than the main column, I'd be in trouble. But it works fine with the current design.
Posted by: Todd Dominey at February 23, 2003 12:15 PM
I thinking,looking and seeing 34 comments...
please stop, look around.
http://www.cinnamon.dl
comments anyone?
Posted by: keith at February 23, 2003 5:01 PM
I am seeing 34 comments, please look around and perhaps once your heads pop out of that cloud, sell, sell and sell, perhaps than we can see it as it really is...
A gain http://www.cinnamon.dl
For your benefit!!
Posted by: keith at February 23, 2003 5:04 PM
Keith, I get nothing but a "server not found" error.
Posted by: Jay at February 24, 2003 5:56 AM
my apologies gentlemen
to many hours at work
the correct address
http://www.cinnamon.nl
Posted by: keith at February 24, 2003 9:46 AM
My site (www.guyweb.co.uk) uses the 'float' to do footers. I have a wrapper containing everything followed by a header, 2 cols and a footer. Everything floats left of everything else. Seems to work OK.
Header and footer are both set to 100% of the wrapper. This seems to keep everything in order.
Posted by: Guy at February 24, 2003 11:22 AM
Just thought that I should add that I found a site which demonstrates how to use footers in CSS2:
http://scott.sauyet.name/CSS/Demo/FooterDemo1.html
It doesn't work in Opera.
I am currently working to adapt the footer to a three-column site:
http://www.kayodeok.btinternet.co.uk/test/CSS-Template.htm
Posted by: Kayode at February 24, 2003 1:58 PM
Kayode, the example on the first link doesn't work in Safari either. The footer rides up above the window bottom to the bottom of the text.
Posted by: Jay at February 24, 2003 2:25 PM
Thanks Jay,
Not sure if a three-column design can be floated but clear:both seems to work on a two-column design so I will look into this.
Posted by: Kayode at February 24, 2003 4:24 PM
"my apologies gentlemen" ~ Keith
*ahem*
Regardless of the slight, Cinnamon is a lovely site, and works great in Safari, Mozilla, and others tested, consistently as far as I can tell? The id="feet" I find very charming for some reason.
It's not quite a true footer, as it resides within a larger DIV element, though?
Posted by: Suzanne at February 24, 2003 8:53 PM
gotya people, and i like your answers to my miller highlife induced question.
i will humbly step aside and let you work it out, while i fumble around with as few tables as i can get away with and still sleep on a regular basis. :)
Posted by: rob rhyne at February 24, 2003 9:27 PM
Best I've managed is this, which works okay but also sucks a lot because unless the center column is long enough to push the footer below the left and right (fixed-height) columns, it will fall underneath them, as they use absolute positioning.
Frankly, I'm still convinced that absolute positioning is the way to go (rather than floats), but a truly elegant solution for fluid sites remains elusive.
Posted by: Brandon at February 26, 2003 1:30 AM
Of course the holy grail of footers is one which sits at the bottom of the viewport (browser window) or, if the content is longer than the viewport, it simply comes after the content.
The other kind of footer to strive for is the kind we get with 'paged' media'. The kind of footer we're all used to seeing when we print out a Word document; one which sits at the bottom of the page with a page number, a logo, maybe a chapter name, etc. And what about footnotes? They will need to sit at the bottom of a printed page too. Well these are being addressed by CSS3 as we speak (although they haven't got much past the conceptual stage with printed media).
Posted by: RIch at February 26, 2003 5:36 AM
"Ladies & Gentlemen" ~ Suzanne
Like I had said earlier, to many hours and not enough sleep, my apologies...
Posted by: keith at February 26, 2003 9:04 PM
i've found another example of the header/multi-column/footer design for you to critique:
Position Is Everything
http://users.rraz.net/mc_on_the_rocks/testpage/thr.col.stretch.html
Gerhard Schoening has a template, but I only have a localized version. i'll ask him to post it on his site for everyone.
Posted by: Jason at March 1, 2003 12:35 PM
now on Gerhard's site:
http://www.gerhard-schoening.de/test/CPW/cp3col01.html
and
http://www.gerhard-schoening.de/test/CPW/cp2col01.html
which use a common (@import!) CSS
http://www.gerhard-schoening.de/test/CPW/cp23col01.css
Posted by: Jason at March 1, 2003 2:23 PM
http://webctr.com/css-footer.html
It may be similar to what others have posted here; I haven't looked at them all yet.
It would seem a simple matter to make the central block - id 'content' - relative so positioning could be used within t, if required...
Posted by: Darrell King at May 1, 2003 7:22 PM
I agree this is a huge problem. Out of one side of its mouth, the W3C committee is marketing the power of CSS absolute positioning...but then in order to make CSS work with footers, you're pretty much forced to use relative positioning and a series of floats to attempt the look you want, like the example the person above provided. So much for total control of your look and feel.
When you have a site that involves more than just a header line, main content line and footer line, then you'll begin to see that this trick doesn't work well and it's a true nightmare to try to get it to look right in both IE 6.x and Netscape 7x.
Posted by: Jordan at May 12, 2003 10:43 AM
I'm trying to do a footer, for site copyright and static one-liner nfo on a particular site. Seems that so far, I'm having problems with IE 5.01. My intention is to make it floating and fixed to the bottom of the page, but without using iframe. Seems to work in ALMOST every browser I've tried - with the exception of IE 5.01 under Windows (and me with no Windows systems available...).
Help.
Posted by: John Morrison at June 11, 2003 2:49 PM
Forgot to post the site in queston...
http://www.muonwave.com/jon/resources.html
thanks
Posted by: John Morrison at June 11, 2003 2:52 PM
We have the same problems with a dynamic three-column-layout with a footer, where either one of the three columns can be the longest, according to the page content. If only the middle column would always be the longest, then a additional around the tree columns would help. But that isn't the case.
I wish the W3C and the Browsers would come up a solution in the near future.
Posted by: Cordt Rott at June 26, 2003 6:41 AM
I am having this problem with a footer too. I have tried clear:both; and it is not working. *pulls hair out*
I have a header, left and right column and the footer.
If the left column though ends up longer than the right it overlaps the footer.
However if the right column is longer than the left everything is fine.
*sigh*
I can see there is no easy answer. I will just have to keep searching and toying with it. I searched CSS footer and this was the second result on the page. Glad I found it. :)
Posted by: Heidi at June 29, 2003 8:05 PM
This trick makes an image sticky at the bottom of a page using css. The image stays at the bottom of the page independent of whether the content flows past one screen's viewable area and induces vertical scrolling.
A little javascript/css trickery...something i ran across a long time ago and has solved the 'footer' issue for me.
create a class Footer in your stlye sheet...
#Footer {
margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
position: absolute;
top: expression(document.documentElement.scrollTop + document.documentElement.clientHeight - offsetHeight);
}
then place a div named Footer in the html containg your image...
it stays at the bottom of screen and scrolls with the page...it naturally is on top of everything else, but you can use z-layer and pageflow tecniques to change this.
anyway, hopefully enlightening to someone. you can see an example of this on one of my sites... http://www.pangeafoundation.org/v2/mission.html
Mike Carnohan
Posted by: Cantedview at October 24, 2003 9:35 PM
"Ooooh, you must use CSS, it's so much better and it's compliant. No Java or other nasty stuff our users can't see".
Well I was going great guns until I got to the bottom bit. I've spent all week trying to get a footer to work, then I find you guys and you can't do it either. Cripes! What idiot at W3C managed to ignore footers! Just about every site on the web has them. I give up!
I've decided to redesign the thing with no footer. If that fails I'm going back to my shared border until someone finds something better.
Posted by: Gilly at December 19, 2003 5:46 PM
Have I found the holy grail here?
Looks like you get headers and footers, all in the right place and all at the touch of a button. Well, OK, a few buttons but I've got my layout!
So, experts..... what have I missed?
Oh yeah, you'll want the link
http://www.csscreator.com/version2/pagelayout.php
Posted by: Gilly at December 20, 2003 8:31 PM
Wow. I can't believe how difficult this has been. I've been having the same problem with the footer not being pushed down by longer columns on the left and right side.
The solution I've come up with so far is to use the min-height hack in conjunction with the fluid 3 column holy grail template. It works for us because we know the left and right columns stay at a specified height. It works on IE and Mozilla browsers but not Safari, which breaks my heart since it's what i use at home.
Going to try and use a container tag to see if I can solve the safari incompatibility. Tsk.
Posted by: Kevin Hale at December 30, 2003 10:37 AM
Hi Guys;
I'm a stranger here but I had to write to give you my thanks. I've been struggling with a CSS problem for many weeks now... just couldn't fix it. I was considering changing to a table layout when I thought I'd do one more search on Google and I found this post. Well thanks to the tips here it's all sorted and I can't be thankful enough. Thanks guys.... keep on posting you never know who you are going to help. Many many many thanks.
Nicky
Posted by: Nicky at April 28, 2004 2:10 AM
Just browsing this discussion and I found this site:
http://www.pmob.co.uk/temp/3colfixedtest_pob.htm
Posted by: Dale at June 11, 2004 9:21 PM
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Dominey Design
You can see my Online work (Graphic/Multimedia/ WebDesigner):http://lifewithoutcolour.blogspot.com/
Yesterday while crunching, munching, belching, and...well, typing a bunch of CSS code and template markup for a project I'm working on, I was smacked upside the head with one of the greatest weakness of using CSS (and not tables) for element positioning - those blasted footers.
Don't know what I'm talking about? Take a look at this collection of CSS layout templates provided by The Noodle Incident. Notice anything missing? None have a horizontal DIV below a set of columns. The three column + top box template comes close - very close - but fails to provide space for content that needs to appear after the columns.
On this site, which is completely controlled by CSS (typography, positioning and all), I have to cheat. Instead of placing my "So now you know" footer inside the global parent DIV, I have to break it out of the whole structure, center it, and fake the look of it actually appearing after the two long columns.
Wired.com ran into the same problem with their totally-CSS driven web site. The footer wouldn't work in any way, shape, or form, without being placed at the bottom of the middle DIV - a solution nowhere near as elegant as it could be if set flush left and separate from the columnar content.
So in my own aforementioned project, I am being forced into dropping pure CSS for the layout, and will have to use tables in order to accomplish the conceptual intent. Which, for those of us who preach the merits of CSS / XHTML, is an acrid pill to swallow.
Unless additional properties are added to CSS, including the ability to overflow textual content and have it resize sibling DIVs in the same parent (just like a table does when you put more stuff into one cell than another), using CSS as a complete replacement for tables will never take off in the mainstream -- unless of course said business is comfortable with their web site looking like every other columnar CSS/XHTML 1.0 strict weblog on the planet.
This isn't rant per se against using CSS for positioning - which I am a hard core advocate of over the bloated, messy, slow, structurally ridiculous method of nested tables. But something clearly needs to change in order to move forward. And at the pace we're moving, with the lag time between browser revisions as an additional factor, it could be years before we have a proper solution. Sob.
Comments
why not just use one table for a "shell" (three column, fluid two columns, etc) per say, and use CSS for the rest? I have used this technique in a couple of sites and no one noticed a performance difference and the code is super clean....
Posted by: barry at February 21, 2003 10:16 AM
Mark Newhouse has a 3-column layout with header and footer that even works in Netscape 4. It is pure CSS.
Are there some ways of breaking this layout that you already know about? If so I would be keen to know them too, because I use it on some of my pages.
Posted by: Guy McCusker at February 21, 2003 10:43 AM
RE: Why not a "shell" table?
Yes, that's exactly the route I'm taking. I guess I'm splitting hairs here, and what I'm visualizing doesn't even exist (yet), but my inner CSS purist would like to see NO tables used at all for layout markup. If DIVs can be absolutely positioned, and do things tables cannot do, you'd hope they would eventually grow "smarter" with time to surpass tables once and for all.
Posted by: Todd Dominey at February 21, 2003 10:43 AM
Thanks Guy for the link. The problem with that layout, while a fantastic solution for some people, is that the footer is positioned relative to the middle, main content column. If either the left or right column were to surpass the length of the middle column, the DIV would overflow over or under (depending on the z-index) the footer DIV instead of "pushing" it lower on the page like the middle column does.
Posted by: Todd Dominey at February 21, 2003 10:56 AM
i've had the same frickin problem...CSS is good and i use it for almost every site now, but it still can't do *everything* tables can.
Posted by: paul at February 21, 2003 11:07 AM
This has always been my biggest problem with going completely CSS. When you deal with sites with dynamic content, or content producers with no CSS experience, you can't be sure the footer will work. It's unfortunate. You no anyone working on the CSS group with the W3?
Posted by: Clint at February 21, 2003 11:08 AM
You can check my personal website http://www.minid.net I've coded a good css layout wich works well for standard browsers.
IE Mac bad results, but i don't care anymore for crossbrowsings... ;D
ANyways my layout is well sight in IE's win, Moz, Ns 6, and Opera some gaps but not that much..
Safari i've got nice results, some little gaps.
It does looks good in Konqueror linux too, maybe i need to polish some stuff but it's a decent layout for supporting standards and really nice for develop new shapes and positions.
Posted by: mini-d at February 21, 2003 11:10 AM
We can make "invisible" airplanes.
We can make computers more powerful and smaller than those released last month.
We've made huge advances with the human genome.
You wouldn't think we'd still have these !#$% problems with CSS.
Posted by: Ian Evans at February 21, 2003 11:15 AM
Would this work?:
3-column layout with footer.
It's somewhat in progress, but it does seem to work on Mac IE5+ and Mozilla/Chimera. I haven't yet tested it on the PC.
Posted by: SU at February 21, 2003 11:20 AM
I’m working on a client project right now and facing some of the same issues. The compromise we made on Wired News for the footer was a big visual bummer IMO.
Big John’s recent explorations with floats (instead of the absolute positioning we used for Wired) have provided considerable inspiration to push further on the matter:
Source Ordered Columns
Posted by: doug bowman at February 21, 2003 11:53 AM
CSS totally changed my professional life for the better, but like they say, “What have you done for me lately?”
The footer bug stinks, but really, I’ve had to put footer notices and links in a solid dark bar at the bottom of our corp. pages for so long, that the Wired.com footer seems like a breath of fresh air.
The “must have an obvious footer” layout seems outdated and lazy, and it’s almost as annoying as the “check out our network of sites” banners found on the Lycos network (webmonkey.com, wired.com) and the Netscape Network (cnn.com, fortune.com, any AOL property…)
Posted by: nathan at February 21, 2003 1:42 PM
I use a div with "clear: both" for the footer on my site.
Admittedly, most of my layouts (there are 6 to choose from) involve just two columns so I'm not sure how a third would affect this.
Also "clear:both" causes some problems in Safari. A bug report is winging its way to Apple as we speak.
Posted by: Jeremy Keith at February 21, 2003 2:01 PM
Scott,
3-column layout with footer collapses in ie6pc, but looks good in ns7pc.
Posted by: jon at February 21, 2003 2:24 PM
Ah ha! Jeremy, that's the same problem I have on my blog (linked) -- the footer gets all mashed up and for the life of me I couldn't see why it was getting that way in only Safari.
I've also reported it as a bug, but I thought it may have been related to the content being aligned-right (other issues in Safari with right alignment). Interesting to hear it's the clear: both; that's the problem.
Posted by: Suzanne at February 21, 2003 2:29 PM
I used a clear:both -but only a two column lay out.... What about wrapping the three divs inside an outer div (instead of a table) which would contain them and then placing the footer after that? I saw that somewhere once... If I can find the link I'll post it.
What browsers are you coding for?
Posted by: Marty at February 21, 2003 2:40 PM
how about this??? http://www.donkeyontheedge.com/ala.html
Posted by: Marty at February 21, 2003 2:43 PM
3-column layout with footer now works fine in Chimera, IE6/PC and IE5/Mac.
Posted by: SU at February 21, 2003 2:57 PM
Getting off topic I know, but I'm puzzled:
Check out the css for the main layout at 37 signals:
http://www.37signals.com/sophisto.css
I was comparing the css for the main 37 signals site with the other link in # 13 above.
Why is the ie box model hack around the other way on the main site?
That is,
.ThreeColTextFixed {
float: none;
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding: 0px 20px 0px 20px;
width:240px;
voice-family: "\"}\"";
voice-family: inherit;
width: 240px; }
html>body .ThreeColTextFixed { width:200px; }
Shouldn't the width after voice-family: inherit; be set to 200px?
Posted by: BongoMan at February 21, 2003 4:09 PM
37 Signals has the same problem with the footer -- all squashed to one side -- in Safari. Interesting! It also has the oodles of scroll problem I'm having.
Posted by: Suzanne at February 21, 2003 4:29 PM
BongoMan... The difference is because we included the XML information in the header of the 37signals site:
xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"
I'll eventually remove it and change the code, but as a result of that bit above, it makes IE6/PC behave differently. The CSS compensates for that.
Posted by: SU at February 21, 2003 4:51 PM
As for Safari... You've got to draw the line somewhere and a beta browser that 0.01% of the population uses is a pretty good line right now ;)
Posted by: SU at February 21, 2003 4:53 PM
Thanks Scott - just when i thought I was understanding css layout!
I now remember reading about this at tantek.com - that the xml prolog forces IE6/win to use quirky model and that the prolog can simply be omitted?
Cheers
BongoMan
Posted by: BongoMan at February 21, 2003 5:12 PM
since little boxes was my fault, and since i wasn't expecting to hit this during my morning reading, let me ad lib a quick disclaimer that i think the upper end css crowd here can grok: little boxes is *old*. the thing came out right on the heels of the import trick to block nn4, just when we were figuring out how to get colums to work at all. i need to rewrite it. meanwhile it stays up as robust beginner templates.
but yeah, proper footers is a problem. i think it may have been properly solved by now and want to review and add it, and add a proper discussion of how flow works. since everybody links to little boxes (this was never expected) i need to make it a much better beginner's foundation, rather than the hurried "illustrated problems" it was at the time.
thanks for the nudge, todd.
Posted by: owen at February 21, 2003 5:53 PM
Oh, Scott, I don't mean that 37 Signals is wrong for it, or should even adjust to compensate, just that the more pages we find with the same issue, the better a bug report can be placed and hopefully they will be able to fix it. Since it uses the same engine as Konqueror, and arguably has a specific audience that would be affected by this error in display, I think it's a nice idea to figure out what's causing it.
I'm not going to code around it, but I'd like to know why it's happening so the Safari developers can fix it.
Posted by: Suzanne at February 21, 2003 6:44 PM
Hey Owen - just to clarify, I wasn't necessarily saying that your page needed to be updated. I pointed to it b/c it was the clearest illustration of the variety of layouts possible with CSS - with, of course, the one footerless omission. Your page is a big help, I'm sure, for those getting used to CSS for the first time.
Posted by: Todd Dominey at February 21, 2003 7:27 PM
I think Wired's solution is the best one available at this point, and personally I don't think it looks bad. The only time it doesn't really work is when the middle column is shorter than the flanking two. That's an issue I'm trying to deal with as well. Like the saying goes though, a 90% solution now...
Posted by: Dan at February 21, 2003 7:34 PM
this is interesting - just this week, I gave up on adding an auto-footer to a client site. I’ll go through the samples and see how they work. And put the, “damn footer,” chapter of my, “confessions of a table user,” book on hold.
Posted by: -b- at February 21, 2003 8:25 PM
Wouldn't ( br clear="all" ) work for this after the three columns of code? Thats how I achieved something very similar to what this sounds like. Although I'm not sure how browser friendly it is...
Posted by: Jake at February 21, 2003 11:08 PM
Could someone please tell me what is the visable benefit to the user of a full CSS layout vs. a three column table with two fluid columns?
I personally could give a flying F* if i have to use a table and even one or two nested tables in my sites.
Maybe its just that i am so busy chasing down leads, creating proposals, selling clients, designing, coding, and maintaining sites, that i have no time for the finer fine points of the fine points of css.
But then again, my code is pretty sloppy, i have yet to create a full site to XHTML 1.0 complience , and i currently need to mop my floor.
Posted by: rob rhyne at February 22, 2003 2:30 AM
Rob: The benefits may be subtle, but they are there -and some of the benefits may be more for you.
1) It's easier to maintain a tableless site -especially the content areas. Once you drop tables you never want to go back (however for forms they are little more than necessary.)
2)You can arrange the content in any order you want in the code, but then position it alternatively. ie...in the code you could have 3 divs: Maincontent, left nav, right nav - but when you present it to your browser then it shows left nav, Maincontent, right nav. What the lay out in the code does is allow search engines to find the most relevant information first - and it will render in the browser the most relevant information first - but ultimately will render as you've laid it out.
3) Your code is cleaner and easier to access (potentially) by multiple other devices.
Hope this helps.
Posted by: Marty at February 22, 2003 11:10 AM
Rob,
Using CSS and XHTML (and, prefrebly; semantic markup) is to ensure the future of the web. Also, it makes your job easier, and the vistors stay a better one. Even if their browser doesn't support the latest and greatest CSS-technique, a good CSS-based layout can degrade so they can at least use the site.
A table-based layout cannot do that. A table-based layout is also a hell to code, and maintain. Try returning to anything you've coded in the last two years and you'll see what I mean.
CSS and XHTML fixes those issues and more. The only problem now, is that we aren't always seeing the results we want. The footer-example being one of the main gripes at the moment.
Posted by: Andreas at February 22, 2003 11:30 AM
Todd, you find a solution? Does the Donkey on the edge variant work for you?
Posted by: Marty at February 23, 2003 12:20 AM
Rob: We've been working with CSS only layouts for a while now, and for me, the main reason is futureproofing.
In Europe, we're about to have a flood of devices reading traditional http served stuff onto tiny screens (sub 640x480). CSS lets you compromise intelligently with these devices. You can have graphics neatly partially disappear, columns reposition themselves without breaking their neighbours and so on. My personal experiments at http://donkeyontheedge.com have come out of this.
Right now we're looking at two or three acceptable compromises (the shell table with CSS and XHTML is a reasonably sensible one) but for me, I want total control over handheld stuff without having to filter or rewrite everything:-)
Posted by: Dug Falby at February 23, 2003 8:20 AM
Just wanted to say thanks to those who suggested clear:both as a way to fix my formerly kludgy footer. The footer is now within the parent instead of the centered-cheat deal I wrote about in the post. That said, it is appearing after the two columns, with the main right one pushing the footer down to where it should be. If the smaller left column (or right on my "About" page) were to ever grow larger than the main column, I'd be in trouble. But it works fine with the current design.
Posted by: Todd Dominey at February 23, 2003 12:15 PM
I thinking,looking and seeing 34 comments...
please stop, look around.
http://www.cinnamon.dl
comments anyone?
Posted by: keith at February 23, 2003 5:01 PM
I am seeing 34 comments, please look around and perhaps once your heads pop out of that cloud, sell, sell and sell, perhaps than we can see it as it really is...
A gain http://www.cinnamon.dl
For your benefit!!
Posted by: keith at February 23, 2003 5:04 PM
Keith, I get nothing but a "server not found" error.
Posted by: Jay at February 24, 2003 5:56 AM
my apologies gentlemen
to many hours at work
the correct address
http://www.cinnamon.nl
Posted by: keith at February 24, 2003 9:46 AM
My site (www.guyweb.co.uk) uses the 'float' to do footers. I have a wrapper containing everything followed by a header, 2 cols and a footer. Everything floats left of everything else. Seems to work OK.
Header and footer are both set to 100% of the wrapper. This seems to keep everything in order.
Posted by: Guy at February 24, 2003 11:22 AM
Just thought that I should add that I found a site which demonstrates how to use footers in CSS2:
http://scott.sauyet.name/CSS/Demo/FooterDemo1.html
It doesn't work in Opera.
I am currently working to adapt the footer to a three-column site:
http://www.kayodeok.btinternet.co.uk/test/CSS-Template.htm
Posted by: Kayode at February 24, 2003 1:58 PM
Kayode, the example on the first link doesn't work in Safari either. The footer rides up above the window bottom to the bottom of the text.
Posted by: Jay at February 24, 2003 2:25 PM
Thanks Jay,
Not sure if a three-column design can be floated but clear:both seems to work on a two-column design so I will look into this.
Posted by: Kayode at February 24, 2003 4:24 PM
"my apologies gentlemen" ~ Keith
*ahem*
Regardless of the slight, Cinnamon is a lovely site, and works great in Safari, Mozilla, and others tested, consistently as far as I can tell? The id="feet" I find very charming for some reason.
It's not quite a true footer, as it resides within a larger DIV element, though?
Posted by: Suzanne at February 24, 2003 8:53 PM
gotya people, and i like your answers to my miller highlife induced question.
i will humbly step aside and let you work it out, while i fumble around with as few tables as i can get away with and still sleep on a regular basis. :)
Posted by: rob rhyne at February 24, 2003 9:27 PM
Best I've managed is this, which works okay but also sucks a lot because unless the center column is long enough to push the footer below the left and right (fixed-height) columns, it will fall underneath them, as they use absolute positioning.
Frankly, I'm still convinced that absolute positioning is the way to go (rather than floats), but a truly elegant solution for fluid sites remains elusive.
Posted by: Brandon at February 26, 2003 1:30 AM
Of course the holy grail of footers is one which sits at the bottom of the viewport (browser window) or, if the content is longer than the viewport, it simply comes after the content.
The other kind of footer to strive for is the kind we get with 'paged' media'. The kind of footer we're all used to seeing when we print out a Word document; one which sits at the bottom of the page with a page number, a logo, maybe a chapter name, etc. And what about footnotes? They will need to sit at the bottom of a printed page too. Well these are being addressed by CSS3 as we speak (although they haven't got much past the conceptual stage with printed media).
Posted by: RIch at February 26, 2003 5:36 AM
"Ladies & Gentlemen" ~ Suzanne
Like I had said earlier, to many hours and not enough sleep, my apologies...
Posted by: keith at February 26, 2003 9:04 PM
i've found another example of the header/multi-column/footer design for you to critique:
Position Is Everything
http://users.rraz.net/mc_on_the_rocks/testpage/thr.col.stretch.html
Gerhard Schoening has a template, but I only have a localized version. i'll ask him to post it on his site for everyone.
Posted by: Jason at March 1, 2003 12:35 PM
now on Gerhard's site:
http://www.gerhard-schoening.de/test/CPW/cp3col01.html
and
http://www.gerhard-schoening.de/test/CPW/cp2col01.html
which use a common (@import!) CSS
http://www.gerhard-schoening.de/test/CPW/cp23col01.css
Posted by: Jason at March 1, 2003 2:23 PM
http://webctr.com/css-footer.html
It may be similar to what others have posted here; I haven't looked at them all yet.
It would seem a simple matter to make the central block - id 'content' - relative so positioning could be used within t, if required...
Posted by: Darrell King at May 1, 2003 7:22 PM
I agree this is a huge problem. Out of one side of its mouth, the W3C committee is marketing the power of CSS absolute positioning...but then in order to make CSS work with footers, you're pretty much forced to use relative positioning and a series of floats to attempt the look you want, like the example the person above provided. So much for total control of your look and feel.
When you have a site that involves more than just a header line, main content line and footer line, then you'll begin to see that this trick doesn't work well and it's a true nightmare to try to get it to look right in both IE 6.x and Netscape 7x.
Posted by: Jordan at May 12, 2003 10:43 AM
I'm trying to do a footer, for site copyright and static one-liner nfo on a particular site. Seems that so far, I'm having problems with IE 5.01. My intention is to make it floating and fixed to the bottom of the page, but without using iframe. Seems to work in ALMOST every browser I've tried - with the exception of IE 5.01 under Windows (and me with no Windows systems available...).
Help.
Posted by: John Morrison at June 11, 2003 2:49 PM
Forgot to post the site in queston...
http://www.muonwave.com/jon/resources.html
thanks
Posted by: John Morrison at June 11, 2003 2:52 PM
We have the same problems with a dynamic three-column-layout with a footer, where either one of the three columns can be the longest, according to the page content. If only the middle column would always be the longest, then a additional around the tree columns would help. But that isn't the case.
I wish the W3C and the Browsers would come up a solution in the near future.
Posted by: Cordt Rott at June 26, 2003 6:41 AM
I am having this problem with a footer too. I have tried clear:both; and it is not working. *pulls hair out*
I have a header, left and right column and the footer.
If the left column though ends up longer than the right it overlaps the footer.
However if the right column is longer than the left everything is fine.
*sigh*
I can see there is no easy answer. I will just have to keep searching and toying with it. I searched CSS footer and this was the second result on the page. Glad I found it. :)
Posted by: Heidi at June 29, 2003 8:05 PM
This trick makes an image sticky at the bottom of a page using css. The image stays at the bottom of the page independent of whether the content flows past one screen's viewable area and induces vertical scrolling.
A little javascript/css trickery...something i ran across a long time ago and has solved the 'footer' issue for me.
create a class Footer in your stlye sheet...
#Footer {
margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;
padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
position: absolute;
top: expression(document.documentElement.scrollTop + document.documentElement.clientHeight - offsetHeight);
}
then place a div named Footer in the html containg your image...
it stays at the bottom of screen and scrolls with the page...it naturally is on top of everything else, but you can use z-layer and pageflow tecniques to change this.
anyway, hopefully enlightening to someone. you can see an example of this on one of my sites... http://www.pangeafoundation.org/v2/mission.html
Mike Carnohan
Posted by: Cantedview at October 24, 2003 9:35 PM
"Ooooh, you must use CSS, it's so much better and it's compliant. No Java or other nasty stuff our users can't see".
Well I was going great guns until I got to the bottom bit. I've spent all week trying to get a footer to work, then I find you guys and you can't do it either. Cripes! What idiot at W3C managed to ignore footers! Just about every site on the web has them. I give up!
I've decided to redesign the thing with no footer. If that fails I'm going back to my shared border until someone finds something better.
Posted by: Gilly at December 19, 2003 5:46 PM
Have I found the holy grail here?
Looks like you get headers and footers, all in the right place and all at the touch of a button. Well, OK, a few buttons but I've got my layout!
So, experts..... what have I missed?
Oh yeah, you'll want the link
http://www.csscreator.com/version2/pagelayout.php
Posted by: Gilly at December 20, 2003 8:31 PM
Wow. I can't believe how difficult this has been. I've been having the same problem with the footer not being pushed down by longer columns on the left and right side.
The solution I've come up with so far is to use the min-height hack in conjunction with the fluid 3 column holy grail template. It works for us because we know the left and right columns stay at a specified height. It works on IE and Mozilla browsers but not Safari, which breaks my heart since it's what i use at home.
Going to try and use a container tag to see if I can solve the safari incompatibility. Tsk.
Posted by: Kevin Hale at December 30, 2003 10:37 AM
Hi Guys;
I'm a stranger here but I had to write to give you my thanks. I've been struggling with a CSS problem for many weeks now... just couldn't fix it. I was considering changing to a table layout when I thought I'd do one more search on Google and I found this post. Well thanks to the tips here it's all sorted and I can't be thankful enough. Thanks guys.... keep on posting you never know who you are going to help. Many many many thanks.
Nicky
Posted by: Nicky at April 28, 2004 2:10 AM
Just browsing this discussion and I found this site:
http://www.pmob.co.uk/temp/3colfixedtest_pob.htm
Posted by: Dale at June 11, 2004 9:21 PM
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