Great Online Resources for Web Designers
A growing list of Web services make it easy to add specialized options to your Web site, without having to spend a lot of time or money. That’s why I added this section, to introduce you my favorite list of online resources that can help you take your site beyond the basics without breaking the bank.
Recommend your favorite sites by emailing janine@digitalfamily.com. Thanks!
What the Font? (An Online Matchmaker)
If you’ve ever tried to identify an unusual font, you know how challenging it can be and you’ll likely appreciate the character recognition software offered at WhatTheFont.com. Using this free online service, you can upload any graphic or enter the URL to any image on the Web, and the program will analyze the image and try to identify the font.
It’s not a perfect system, but even if WhatTheFont can’t identify the font exactly, it will give you the closest matches it can find, which can at least get you pointed in the right direction. You can also opt for the “human” service and have your graphic further reviewed by expert font matchers.
And if you want to buy the font after you’ve used this service to identify it, the site’s creators will be happy to sell you fonts that you download to your own computer.
Protect Your Email Address From Spammers
Spammers gather millions of email addresses from Web sites every day by collecting email addresses from links on Web pages. It’s common practice for Web designers to include an email link to make it easy for visitors to contact them. Unfortunately, those simple email links make it even easier for spammers to gather email addresses automatically.
To help counter this problem, the programmers at AddressMunger.com have come up with a special way of “hiding” email addresses from the automated bots that spammers use. When you add this special code to your Web pages and use AddressMunger to create the email links on your Web pages, your visitors can still email you easily, but spammer’s can’t read your email address. It’s easy way to cut down on all that spam in your inbox.
Highlighting Links with Pop-Ups is a Snap
This innovative online service creates a small pop-up preview of any page you link to on your site. You simply sign up (for free) at Snap.com and use their online tool to generate special code you can copy and paste into the code in your Web pages.
With Snap.com’s unique pop-ups, anytime your visitors roll their cursors over a link, a small pop-up window appears with a preview that displays the page or site that you’ve linked to from your site. It’s a great way to give visitors a little more information as they peruse your pages and to highlight the links on your site.
Surveying Your Visitors
Want to know what your visitors really think? Ask them.
Online surveys are a great to way to gauge the experience of your audience and to invite reviews. You can also use online surveys as planning tools to poll your audience about how and where they might want an event, for example, or what new features they’re most interested in.
You can create a free, online survey at SurveyMonkey.com and link to it from your Web site. Survey Monkey makes it easy to create the survey by simply filling out a form in a Web browser and then automatically tallies the results and presents them in a series of reports and pie charts. It’s a great way to impress your board of directors at the next annual meeting.
Dressing Up the Address Bar with a Favicon
http://www.htmlkit.com/services/favicon/
Have you ever wondered how some sites add those little custom graphics to the address bar at the top of the browser? Google adds a capital G, Adobe adds their logo, and you can add any image to your site, too. You just have to get it in the right format.
Fortunately, turning a graphic into a Favicon is easy, and free, at http://www.htmlkit.com/services/favicon/. Just upload any graphic and this online tool automatically converts it into a Favicon you can use on your site. Once the image is saved in the .ico format, you simply upload the image to the main root folder of your Web site, and your image will automatically displays in the address bar of a browser.
Win the Search Engine Game (SEO)
One of the best ways to drive traffic to your Web site is by making sure your Web site scores high when potential visitor search for you (or your topic or expertise). Achieving a high ranking in popular search engines, such as Google, is both an art and a science, and if you want to score high on a popular search term, the competition can be fierce.
To help you learn the ins and outs of this complex process, known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), here are a few Web sites that offer tips, tricks, and other guidance to winning the search engine game.
- Search Engine Watch
- Google Webmaster Help Center
- SEO Consultants.com
- SEOChat.com
- HighRankings.com
- Association of Search Engine Professionals
Downloading Professional Images for Less
Professional photographs and graphics can transform a simple page design into a professional showcase. But high quality images can be pricey. For professional, royalty free images without the high price tag, visit iStockPhoto where you can buy (and sell) high quality photos and other images for $1 to $5 (depending on the resolution).
This searchable site makes it easy to find all kinds of photographs, illustrations, and even animated graphics and videos. Search for “Germain Shepard” and you’ll find nearly a thousand photos of those lovely beasts; search for “dogs” and you’ll find more than 16,000. You can even use general terms like “smile” or “raised hands” to find images to fit almost any design idea or Web site.
Even if you’re not a photographer or don’t have photos of your own business, services, or the vacation spot you traveled to recently, you can find professional images, at an affordable price, at iStockPhoto.
Who’s Visiting My Site?
Keeping Track with Stat Counter
Most Web hosting services provide basic log reports and traffic information, but if you want to really know how people are finding your Web site and what they’re doing once they get there, consider using a service such as StatCounter.com. You can start with a free, limited level of service at StatCounter, and upgrade for a fee to view more data.
To use the service, you set up an account and fill out a few forms to create a custom set up for your site. Then just copy a bit of code from the StatCounter site into the code in your Web pages. StatCounter then uses that invisible bit of code to track your traffic and generate reports you can view to learn more about your visitors.
Visit StatCounter.com for a demo and sample report with all the different kinds of information you can collect, including what keywords people use to find your site through search engines, what browsers they use to visit your pages, and how long they stay once they get there. Studying how people use your Web site is one of the best ways to determine how you should continue to develop your content and your design and where you’re likely to achieve the greatest success with your Web site.
Watching traffic with Webstat
If you’re looking for the best services for your site, you’ll find another online traffic reporting system Webstat. Similar to StatCounter, you set up an account with Webstat and then insert a snippet of code from their system into your pages.
With Webstat you can include a web counter that displays on your pages for visitors to see, or you can keep your traffic numbers private by using their invisible service. Sign up for a limited free account, or consider one of their paid levels of service for more detailed reports.
Create a Teleconference
Setting Up Free Conference Calls
Conference calling services capable of hosting dozens or even thousands of callers used to be costly and complicated systems. Now, thanks to the online services at FreeConference.com, you can set up conference calls for free. For specialized services, such as a conference call with an 800 number or a recording of the call once it’s completed, you’ll have to pay a fee, but it’s still highly competitive.
To use the service, simply visit www.FreeConference.com, sign up for a free account and you can immediately start scheduling conference calls.
Many people are now providing online training and teleconferences by setting up a conference call with a service like FreeConference and then providing an online component, such as a PowerPoint presentation on a Web site like slideshare.
Sharing PowerPoint Presentations
Online training, teleconferences, and virtual seminars are increasingly popular thanks to services like SlideShare.net. To use this innovative service, just upload your presentation to the site and point your visitors to your special address where they can view your slides and use the simple controls at SlideShare to move forward and back through your presentation.
Combine SlideShare with a service like FreeConference and you’re ready to host a professional teleconference or online seminar – without spending a cent.
Can I use that Photo?
You'll find a handy guide to copyright and when photos and other content become public domain at http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm
