Archive for css
How Content Management Systems affect Web Designers
Posted by: | CommentsContent Management Systems (CMS) are growing extensively around the internet. They allow a vast amount of storage with the addition of tremendous functionality and customization. CMS is the next step in separating design from structure. The system began with cascading style sheets (CSS) and advanced further as a result of XML. In the years ahead billions of dollars are expected to be spent on the implementation of CMS into businesses.
Excellent Customization
A CMS are available in small or large and simple or complicated depending on business need. The price runs from very expensive (in the millions) to free with open-source CMS. Regardless, they are all based on the idea that content management allows web designers to focus on design. In the meantime, subject professionals built in a completely separate environment. The server then acquires the content, inserts it into a template and transfers it to the user.
CMS Workflow
The typical content management workflow by a web design consists of a designer creating something in whatever environment they feel comfortable with. Once the wrinkles are ironed out, it is sent to the server. If there are issues, notes are sent back in the content management environment. Concurrently, on the content side, the same process occurs. In the end, there are strict controls to prevent issues and ensure it goes to the server.
Web Designers and Content Experts
Designers are given the freedom to specialize within the content management environment. As content professionals add websites in a WYSIWYG platform, designers do what they do best: design. Content experts can add the content in a simplified manner, not using FrontPage or other website creation programs.
The good news for designers is content management systems remove most of the non-design tasks found in the standard process. Designers spend their time building templates building templates for various parts of the website. Due to the template-based environment of a CMS, changes can be made and seen by end-users almost instantly. All changes go through the typical workflow process and end in a publishing.
Content Management Systems were built to make everyone’s lives easier. Designers and content experts now have the ability to focus on their specialization and not have to concern themselves with non-value added tasks. This increases productivity while releasing various websites in a timely fashion. As content management systems become easier to use, the result will be an improved experience by the end user.
19 Links to Help Stimulate Your Inner Designer
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Finding design inspiration, for any webmaster, can sometimes be tough. We have searched the Web, far and wide, for some of the most inspirational design web sites out there – to help you find your creative muse. From art galleries to tutorials, there is a little something here for both design newbies to advanced design professionals.
Here are our top picks when it comes to finding the best ideas and inspirations for designs of all natures.
DeviantArt.com
Where ART meets application!
Design Solutions on Flickr
A great collection of site parts and ideas, for design inspiration.
BrowserShots.org
Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers.
PatternTap.com
Interface collection for design inspiration!
Getting Started with HTML
Great six part series, to help introduce you to the world of HTML.
Tagul.com
Awesome looking tag cloud designs!
ScrnShots.com
ScrnShots is the best way to take, find, and share screenshots of web and screen based design.
Toondoo.com
ToonDoo is a unique way to get creative and expressive with comic strips.
99designs.com
Designer Marketplace for Logo Designs and More…
Webdosanddonts.com
Snack-sized web design tips and tricks!
IconBuffet.com
Free Icons, Stock Icons, Custom Icon Design.
img4me.com
A free text to image service.
So, what do you do?
Really funny web designer flow chart!
WooThemes.com
Great quality premium WordPress themes!
fontstruct.fontshop.com
Build, share and download tons of custom fonts!
DesignFloat.com
A Digg-like social news web site for designers!
Flash-Template-Design.com
Great professional looking flash and non-flash templates for web sites!
RedBubble.com
RedBubble is an online art gallery and creative community that makes it easy to buy and sell art as high-quality framed prints, greeting cards, posters, designer T-Shirts and more.
TV.Adobe.com
Your online source for expert insight and inspiration.
So there are our picks, now which web sites would you add to the list? Let us know your favorite design web sites in the comments!
The Value of Content Management Systems and Site Design
Posted by: | CommentsHaving a website that is easy on the eyes, and appears to be deigned by a professional is very important in the eCommerce business, especially when you’re trying to be successful in a difficult niche. The internet industry is driven by appearance, as the first thing a person judges when they come to your site is the visual appearance of the site. The best way to boost your sales and bring in repeat traffic is to give your site visitors something good to look at.
Unfortunately, many people are not proficient in web design, and do not have the money to pay for a competent web designer. Luckily there are content management systems like Joomla and WordPress that simplify the task of creating and developing a professional website.
Starting with a Template
The best way to easily transform your site into a professional and lucrative online business is to simply upload a theme or template. Themes are essentially site-wide designs that are instantly applied when uploaded to the user interface. Uploading a theme is very simple, even for those that have no experience with web design. There are thousands of themes available online at any given time and you can even have custom themes made for you.
In addition, there are many freelancing websites that provide access to a plethora of professional web developers. You can hire web designers inexpensively and have a professional and customized template created.
Choosing a Customizable Theme
Instead of hiring a web developer to help you with the creation of your site, you can simply choose a theme that is customizable. These themes have a user interface that will let you customize various aspects of your site with ease. You can also adjust the font, color, dimensions and other aspects of the site that would otherwise need to be changed by a WordPress professional. Alternatively you could learn some simple CSS styling, and edit your theme’s CSS sheet to change the appearance of your site’s pages.
Creating Your Own Theme
In the past you had to posses coding and web development skills to create your own site them, however now there are software available that let you create quality themes in drag and drop interfaces, such as Dreamweaver and Artisteer. The latter of the two – Artisteer, will actually convert your entire site into a ready-to-upload theme that can be used with ease. Using Artisteer is as simple as using the Microsoft Paint interface, and there is even a button within the software that will let you create a random theme instantly! Once this random theme is generated you can customize as you’d like, using the buttons and options at the top of the user interface. After you have created your custom theme, you can then edit it later on when you feel the need to do so.
Lunarpages April Newsletter
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you are a customer with Lunarpages, everything on the Web is just a little ‘bit better. Your web sites are social, your visitors are more plentiful, and your designs are top notch. How can this be? Well, we provide every client with this great monthly round up of some of the best tutorials, tips, and web design knowledge all wrapped together by this great web hosting web site.
So what is new this month in the April 2010 edition of the Lunarpages Newsletter?
It is time to stop and smell the web development roses. We have some of the most recent news from around the Lunar-verse to share with you, including the web design giveaway results, from last month.
Have you ever wondered how people change their link colors on a web site? We are here to help with this very basic CSS tutorial covering what you need to know to dress up and style your web site links.
Google AdWords & Your Search Engine Marketing Odyssey
Our search engine marketing friends at LocalDirective have some Google AdWords tips to share with you all, and announce the winner of the free online marking program contest.
Want to temporarily or permanently redirect links on your web site? Thanks to this new LPCP web hosting feature, you can now do so right from your control panel.
Lunar Picks – Favorite Programs and Web Sites
The Lunar Crew is back to share with you some of their own favorite programs and web sites they use on a daily basis. There are a lot of great software suggestions shared, and you can leave your own in the comments too!
We hope you really enjoy Issue 30 of our Lunarpages web hosting newsletter. We always enjoy hearing your reaction, so please feel free to leave a comment or send your opinions to news@lunarpages.com.
How to Change Links with CSS
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Links, like just about any other part of a web page, can also be made to look different with some CSS code. Using a CSS, you can easily change the color of link, the size, the background and much more.
Before we get started though, there are four different link states that you may want modify. They are:
- a:link – just your run-of-the-mill regular link
- a:visited – a link that somebody has visited
- a:hover – the effect to the link when somebody mouses over it
- a:active – how a link looks the moment it is clicked
Now that you know the four different link states, how can you modify them?
When adding CSS code to modify the way your links look in a page, you can use just about any CSS property out there. Here are some common link styles you may want to play with.
Take Away the Underline for Links with CSS
If you want to take away the underline from links, try setting the text-decoration CSS property to “none”.
a:link {text-decoration:none;}
a:visited {text-decoration:none;}
a:hover {text-decoration:underline;}
a:active {text-decoration:underline;}
Change the Colors of Links with CSS
Another quick and easy styling tip would be to change the background color or the color of the links themselves. You can do that by using the “color” and “background-color” link properties. Here is an example:
a:link {color:#336699; background-color:#B2FF99;}
a:visited {color:#336699; background-color:#FFFF85;}
a:hover {color:#003366; background-color:#FF704D;}
a:active {color:#003366; background-color:#FF704D;}
Using More Than One Link Style on the Same Page
As an example, let us say you want the box on the left to have blue links, and the box on the right to have red links, all on the same web page. You can do that by using context dependent selectors. The thing to remember is to put the section’s id, class, or span name before the link code like so:
.box1 a:link {color:#336699;}
.box2 a:link {color:#335544;}
I hope that serves a a good introduction into the basics of styling links using cascading style sheet code. This will help you make your links on your web sites more unique to the look and feel that you want your own web site to have.
Tip: When setting the style for several link states, there are some order rules:
- a:hover MUST come after a:link and a:visited
- a:active MUST come after a:hover
Setting Up an eCommerce Website With Ease
Posted by: | CommentsBuilding and maintaining a successful ecommerce site can be a difficult task for the average internet user, especially if you have never even set up a regular website before. Nonetheless it is a very wise idea to expand your business endeavors to the internet, and failing to do so would only result in an inevitable loss of potential revenue. If you want your eCommerce site to be as successful as possible, then you’ll need to understand the process of setting up an eCommerce site with maximum efficiency. Similar to every other project on the internet, there are tools to help you zoom through the entire process of creating your eCommerce site. However, without knowledge of these tools, they are of little purpose to you. The following information should help you get started building a quality eCommerce site that converts to sales for your business.
Using Templates
Perhaps one of the best ways to begin setting up your eCommerce website is to take a shortcut by using templates. Many people spend a lot of money trying to pay a web developer or learn how to set up a website four scratch themselves. Instead of taking this long and drawn out approach, you could easily download an eCommerce site template online and customize it to fit your needs using CSS coding. While it may sound as if CSS coding is complex, it is a lot easier and a lot faster than setting up a website from scratch, and many times you can end up with a better website than if you would have payed someone to do it for you. Templates are basically predesigned websites that you can set up in just a couple minutes time.
Installing a Shopping Cart In Your Site’s Control Panel
A shopping cart is easily one of the most important parts of an eCommerce site. By using a shopping cart your customers can quickly and conveniently add all of the items they’d like to buy and checkout without having to deal with any of the unnecessary problems that could possibly be associated shopping online such as having to checkout several times in a row to buy several different items. Many people will not shop on your online website without shopping cart functionality. The easiest way to install a shopping cart on your eCommerce site is to use your hosting control panel to access a one-click installation utility. Before you purchase an eCommerce hosting plan make sure your hosting includes such an installation utility in their control panel. It would also be optimal to purchase an eCommerce hosting plan which would usually come with a shopping cart.
Uploading Product Catalogs
Perhaps the most time consuming part of setting up an ecommerce site is the actual process of uploading the product descriptions and other information that is associated with the products such as images and prices. The product catalog will undoubtedly consume most of your website’s resources, and therefore it usually takes a lot of time to upload it and optimize it for your customer’s convenience. After the products are uploaded you will then need to organize them into the proper categories so that your customers ca easily find what they are looking for. Although this may seem as if it will take days or even weeks, it can be done fairly quickly using mass catalog uploading utilities that will let you upload your products in bulk and then organize them in a drag and drop interface.