Teak Outdoor and Indoor Furniture Articles

By: - March 30th, 2011  Filed under: Design Articles

Outdoor pieces of furniture, implemented to gorgeously the outside zones surrounding a house, can be made of different metals, like iron, steel, bamboo, and teakwood. Even although Tectona grandis outdoor furniture is greater expensive than other hardwood furniture, most customers select teakwood to another material. Tectona wood outdoor can hold its strength and attractiveness for decades. It has the power to withstand rust and corroding when in contact with metal. Benches, boards, leads, lamps, planters and other decorations for the garden, poolside, backyard, deck, and park decoration are counted among teak outdoor furniture.Wood garden articles of furniture is best acceptable for rising garden backgrounds.Wood patio accepts benches, dining boards, dining leads, bar table, bar leads, steamers, and more.

The natural color of teakwood furniture may pass if is constantly open to wind. A annual covering of teak oil helps to keep the natural color.

Teak furniture is endure and long-term resistant. Although it requires a lot of maintenance and attention, it is in high require among clients. In previous years,wood garden furniture has advanced popularity. Garden benches, and colorful perennial garden borders gain the charm of gardens. Wood patio furniture is classically smooth for outdoor places.

Style, cost, material, comfort, and size are the elements to study when buying teak articles. An large collection of fine, attractive, different teak furniture is available, and can be found at reasonable costs. Custom designed articles can also be placed from different seeds. Teak is perfect for hotels and banks. Teakwood outdoor leads, tables, benches, steamer chairs, stacking chairs, folding chairs, folding tables, rectangular boards, and other garden accessories impart an smooth and classy look to any place.

Country Casual, Kingsley Bate, Rock Wood, and Wood Classics are some of the leading producers of teak outdoor furniture. Significant artistic dexterity is required to create greatest teak furniture. Well-designed, chic teakwood furniture is possibly the greatest option in outdoor furnishings.

Wonderfully crafted teakwood furniture adds beauty to the house, floor or poolside. Today, teak furniture is much more easily available and much more inexpensive. When shopping for teak furniture, greatest craftsmanship and simple finish are the important characteristics to look for.

A large range of high-quality teakwood furniture, accepting teak outdoor furniture, teakwood terrace furniture, and teakwood lawn furniture are easy to decorate the house, garden, restaurants, and hotels.

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Web Design Articles – Do-it-yourself Accessibility

By: - January 3rd, 2011  Filed under: Design Articles

Accessibility – Who Cares?

Accessibility simply means providing flexibility to accommodate each user’s needs and preferences. In an Internet context, accessibility is making computer technology and Internet resources useful to more and people. We need Internet accessibility because it expands a Website’s potential audience to the millions who are required to use alternative browsing technologies.

But even for people who do not have any specific physical or mental characteristics that affect computer use, it has been found that the adoption of universal design principles can:


reduce fatigue,
increase speed,
decrease errors, and
Decrease learning time for all users.

In many ways, universal design addresses the larger issues of usability and makes things easier for everyone.


Get with the Guidelines

On May 5, 2000, the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, known as WCAG for short. The WCAG have been implemented on many sites and can be used very effectively to develop an accessible Website.

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes>
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple
>

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions>
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple
>

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully>
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully>
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence>
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content>
don’t rely on color alone>
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces>
design for device independence>
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information>
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple
/SPAN>

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly/SPAN>
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines
provide context and orientation information
provide clear navigation mechanisms
ensure that documents are clear and simple

Do-It-Yourself Accessibility

The Content Accessibility Guidelines designated as high priority items are:


provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
don’t rely on color alone
use mark-up and style sheets properly
clarify natural language use
create tables that transform gracefully
ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
design for device independence
use interim solutions
use W3C technologies and guidelines

Head SEO, Marketing at AIT India


Article from articlesbase.com

Tags: , , ,

Web Design Articles – Web Designing Tips: Using Photoshop

By: - November 13th, 2010  Filed under: Design Articles

First up, we’ll cover the fundamentals that every Photoshop user needs to know. Then we’ll dedicate ourselves to learning all there is to know about creating cool button effects. We’ll cover a wide range of various effects, so we hope you’re ready for some interesting and exciting Photoshop action!

Let’s get a solid foundation in Photoshop.

>

Placing a Graphic in your File

Often you’ll want to import existing graphics and artwork into your Photoshop document. Do you find this complicated? Not at all — in fact, there are several ways you can do this!

External graphics can be placed in Photoshop as raster layers or Smart Objects. First, we will show you how to place these graphics, and then we’ll talk about the difference between raster layers and Smart Objects.

 

Solution

Placing Artwork from a Web Page

Copy the artwork from the web page, then select Edit > Paste or press Ctrl-V (Command-V on a Mac) to paste it into your Photoshop document. Photoshop will create a new layer containing the artwork, or place it into a selected empty layer. The artwork will be on a raster layer.

Placing Artwork from Flattened Image Files

A flattened image file — such as a GIF, JPEG or PNG — contains artwork on a single layer. Open the file in Photoshop and use Select > All or press Ctrl-A (Command-A) to create a selection of the entire document. Click on your Photoshop document then select Edit > Paste or press Ctrl-V (Command-V) to paste it. Photoshop will paste the document into a new or selected empty layer as it does when pasting artwork from a web page. The artwork will be on a raster layer.

Placing Layers from a Different Photoshop Document

Position the document windows so that both are visible. Select the window of the document you wish to import from, to bring up its Layers palette. Select and drag the necessary layers over to the new window and release the mouse button when you see a thick, black outline around the window. This will copy the layers across as shown in the example at the top of the next page. The copied layers will retain their original properties.

Copying a layer from one Photoshop document to another

Placing Artwork from Illustrator

Open Illustrator and select the artwork you wish to export to Photoshop. Copy the artwork using Ctrl-C (Command-C on a Mac). Switch to Photoshop while Illustrator is still open and paste your copied artwork using Ctrl-V (Command-V). A dialog box will appear, asking you whether you wish to paste the artwork as a Smart Object, Pixels, Path or a Shape Layer.

Paste dialog box

Placing Artwork as a Smart Object

Select File > Place and choose the file you wish to import. Click Place to import the file into your Photoshop document as a Smart Object. For PDF and Illustrator files, Photoshop will display a dialog box that asks you to select the pages you wish to place. Choose the pages you want and click OK.

The bounding box for an image pasted as a Smart Object

The Smart Object will initially be placed with a bounding box surrounding it, as shown here. You can use this bounding box to move, rotate, scale, or make other transformations to the object. When you’re done, double-click inside the bounding box to commit the Smart Object to its layer.

Discussion

Smart Objects

A Smart Object is an embedded file that appears in its own layer in Photoshop. A Smart Object layer is distinguished by an icon that overlays the thumbnail image displayed in the Layers palette, as shown in the example below.

Smart Objects are different from other layers because they are linked to a source file (e.g., an Illustrator file, JPEG, GIF or other Photoshop file). If you make changes to the source file, the Smart Object layer will also be updated with those changes.

Raster layer vs Smart Object layer

In contrast, raster layers (or regular layers) are fully editable, so you can draw and paint on them, fill them with colors, or erase pixels. Unlike Smart Objects, where you retain image quality, if you resize a raster layer smaller, you will lose information.

This is demonstrated in the example on the next page, which shows the result of a Smart Object that has been decreased in size, and then resized back to its original dimensions. The same steps, when applied to a raster layer, produce an image that is blurred and of lower quality.

The difference in image quality when resizing a Smart Object compared to a raster layer

Because Smart Objects are linked to an outside document, you can resize them without losing the original image data. While you can apply layer effects and some transformations to Smart Object layers, you cannot actually manipulate (paint, draw, erase) their pixels because they are not editable from external documents. You can open the original source file for editing by double-clicking on the Smart Object icon.

 

Rasterizing

You can rasterize Smart Objects by right-clicking on the name of the Smart Object layer and choosing Rasterize Layer. This will break the link to the original source file and treat the layer as an ordinary raster layer.

In the next article in these series we shall discuss about ‘Resizing the document’ and ‘Resizing a layer or selection’ for you to use photoshop effectively while designing your web site….

Head SEO, Marketing at AIT India


Article from articlesbase.com

Putting Articles on the Front Page and Uploading Pictures to embed in your articles: Making a web site using a Content Management System. A step-by-step web design tutorial using the worlds favorite database driven web design system, Joomla!

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Web Design Articles – Mercator

By: - October 30th, 2010  Filed under: Design Articles

Creating Mercator Effects

Now we’re going to apply some different effects to our original wireframe sphere. There are innumerous options to do this, but we shall discuss a few for your use. This header image to the right is just one good example of how far you can develop a simple Mercator, toward creating a more complex graphic.

Note to Mac Users: The PC key Ctrl = the Mac key Cmd. And the PC key Alt = the Mac key Option.

Even though ‘Style 2′ is the more frequently used style, we want you to use ‘Style 1′ here, so we can show you how to create the inner wireframe sphere of the graphic above. So, save and close your ‘Style 2′ document, and re-open your ‘Style 1′ document. Don’t forget to Save after every 2 or 3 steps!

Your ‘Style 1′ document should have only 2 layers — the Mercator layer and the document Background layer. If it doesn’t, then do whatever you have to in order to achieve this.

Then… if you didn’t rotate your Mercator at the end of the session, do that now. Press Ctrl+T, and in the settings box for the Rotate function put -30. In PS6 and 7, look for this symbol along the Option Bar for the Transform tools.

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the ‘Mercator’ layer. Name this layer ’1′. Then press Ctrl+I to invert the colour to white. Amazing! Now we have a pencil outline of the Mercator.

Now this next part will depend on how closely you followed the instructions from the first part of the tutorial. But we are showing you an example here so you can see exactly what we will explain. Under the FILTER menu, choose ‘Other>Maximum’ and set it to 3. Then look at the example image here.

 

If the white lines don’t look like ours, then either increase or decrease the value until they look the same. You want very thin lines, with small dots at the line intersections. Once you have the right setting, click OK to apply it. Then change the Blend Mode to Exclusion. And to help make these lines and dots stand out better against this busy image (you’ll see the effect of this later on), press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer.

Name this new layer ’2′. Now move this layer right below layer ’1′. Press Ctrl+I to invert the white to black, and set this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay.

Now duplicate the ‘Mercator’ layer again, and make sure this layer is below layer ’2′. Name this layer ’3′. Press Ctrl+I to invert the black lines to white, and change the Blend Mode to Exclusion.

 

 

 

Create another new layer and move it so that it’s right above the bottom ‘Mercator’ layer. Name this new layer ’4′. Then create a circular selection that’s the exact same size as the Mercator. The easiest way to do this is to hold the ALT and SHIFT keys down, click in the center of the Mercator, and drag outward until you reach the desired size.

Now fill the selection with a white-to-black Radial gradient, starting at the top right, and ending at the bottom left. Your image should look similar to the one shown here. Now change the Blend Mode of the gradient sphere layer to ‘Overlay’. Leave the selection going. And don’t worry — we’ll get this look back again in a few more steps.

Duplicate layer ’3′. Name this duplicate layer ’5′. Now change your colour swatches to be white and a medium sky blue — not too dark, not too light. Ctrl-click on the layer to select the Mercator shape, and run the Clouds filter on the selection. Then Deselect, and change the Blend Mode to Multiply. Also, turn down the Opacity of this layer to 25%. This next part is a bit complex, but it shouldn’t take long. Create a new layer above the original ‘Mercator’ layer. Name this new layer ’6′. Hide the other layers above this by clicking on their eye icons; we need to see the contents of just this layer while we work on it.

Now Fill the circular selection with white. Keep the selection going. Under the FILTER menu, choose “Sketch”, then “Halftone Pattern…”. Set the ‘Pattern Type’ to LINE. Then set the Contrast to full, and the line thickness to 2px. Press OK to apply. Now under the FILTER menu choose ‘Other>Maximum’. Set it to 2 pixels, and press OK.

Press Ctrl+J to duplicate this layer, and then, from the EDIT menu, choose ‘Transform>Rotate 90 CW’. Now change this layer’s Blend Mode to multiply, and press Ctrl+E to merge these 2 striped layers together.

Merging layers deactivates a selection, so Ctrl-click the grid layer to select it again. Then Contract the selection by 50 pixels. Users with older versions of PS should just create a new selection over the middle of the Mercator that’s 50×50 pixels. Now Feather the selection by 2 pixels. Run the Spherize filter on the selected area, using the settings +100% and ‘Normal’ mode.

 

 

 

Expand the selection by 25 pixels — users with older versions of PhotoShop will have to do this in 2 stages. Now invert the selection by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I. Next, we need to intersect our selection with the main circle shape. Do this by holding down the Alt, Shift, and Ctrl keys at the same time, and clicking on the layer. You should now have a donut-shaped selection like the one shown here. If you don’t get this result, press Ctrl+Z to Undo, and try it again.

Now under the FILTER menu, choose ‘Distort>Pinch’. Set it to +100% and apply it. Next, Ctrl-click layer ’4′, so you’ve fully selected the grid circle, and run the Spherize filter on the selected area. This time, set the filter to -100% and ‘Normal’ mode. Now Feather this selection by 10 pixels, invert the selection, and press the Delete key 3 times. Then Deselect. And finally, change this layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply.

 

 

 

Ok we’ve almost finished the effect. Now we have just few steps to go. Click on the original ‘Mercator’ layer, and create a new layer above it that you’ll call layer ’7′. Press the D key to reset your Fore and Background colours, and run the Clouds filter. Ctrl-click layer ’4′, to get a circular selection and, from the FILTER menu, choose ‘Pixelate>Mosaic’. Set it to 15, apply it, and then run the Unsharp Mask with the settings 150% / .5 / 0. Run the Spherize filter twice, with the settings +100% and ‘Normal’ mode. Now press Ctrl+Shift+I to invert the selection, press the Delete key, and then Deselect.

Under the EDIT menu, choose ‘Transform>Rotate’. Rotate the sphere -30 degrees to match the lines on this layer up with all the other lines.

And, last but not least, change the layer’s Blend Mode to Exclusion. You should now have an image similar to the one shown here. The variable that can have a visible impact on the look of the image is the Clouds filter. As it’s a random filter effect, everyone’s results will look different.

We hope you found this article an interesting and one which you can utilize for your needs. There are a lot of things that can be learned from the steps for this effect, only one of which is the final result shown here.

Extra Tips

One step where you can affect the final look of the Mercator is to alter the colours used — these should be in the 3rd layer from the top. Also, try setting that layer on Exclusion blend mode for a different look. Another way to alter this effect is to turn off layer ’4′. This produces an interesting outlined effect. Play around with turning off and on some of the other layers, and see what different options you can find for the look.

 

Have a nice time!

Head SEO, Marketing at AIT India


Article from articlesbase.com

Complete video at: fora.tv Philosopher Daniel Dennett argues that it is immoral for pastors to teach intelligent design. Theologian John Haught criticizes Dennett’s language but expresses agreement with his position, identifying creationism as “not only bad science, but horrible theology.” —– The Forum’s year-long exploration of religion launches with a program featuring distinguished philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett and noted evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson. They are joined by additional participants to discuss questions such as: What is the nature and purpose of religion? Is it a product of our evolution and something we can now do without? Is it a system of belief and practice that humans require in order to build communities and construct meaning for their lives? What in human make-up renders religion possible? How has religious belief developed and changed over the years, and how does it continue to do so? – CUNY Born in Boston, Dr. Daniel Dennett received his BA in Philosophy from Harvard University in 1963, and earned his Doctorate in Philosophy at Oxford University in 1965. After teaching at UC Irvine for six years, Dennett joined the faculty at Tufts University in 1971, where he is now a Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. Dennett has written extensively about the mind, consciousness, and evolution. He published his first book, Content and Consciousness, in 1969 and is …

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Web Design Articles – Creating Effective Designing Icons

By: - October 18th, 2010  Filed under: Design Articles

Following Standards:

Most of us are familiar with the usual set of computer icons. A symbol of a printer denotes that you can print the given page with a single click. An open folder allows you to retrieve a document from within your hard drive. Icons such as these are straightforward symbols of easy maneuverability and help their users with simple day to day computer tasks. On the Internet however, icons have taken a more absurd turn, and thus may confuse their users, rather than helping them. Could your graphical links be causing your visitors to leave your site as quickly as they came? Could this be detrimental to the visibility of your site?

Let’s examine the causes of these drawbacks.

People are naturally drawn to symbols they are familiar with. Therefore, you should carefully consider the choice of icons you will use to direct your users through your site. The most favored choices are also some of the most well-known: icons of arrows, mail and folders are widely used to help visitors browse through a site, no matter what the topic. Resist the urge to use any obscure graphics, such as bright, highly-textured designs. Despite the fact that you may have slaved for hours on that search icon of a jumping green frog, your visitors simply want to see what your site has to offer, and not on the philosophy behind your odd choice of graphics. Use graphics that match the theme of your pages, and be consistent with their use throughout your site.

Where can I find themed icons?

“Dingbat” or “Wing Dings” fonts often make icon-navigation a sure bet. Sites such as the ‘DingBat’ Pages offer professionally designed fonts that are perfectly suited for web site navigation. Other famous font sites such as The ‘Fontpool’ and the ‘Font Addict’ have extensive collections of “themed” dingbats for your site. If you’d like to try your hand at creating your own icons however, you’ll find that there is a variety of options of tools available to aid you in your design efforts.

Inventing Icons:

Many free and shareware graphic editors exist to help you edit or create new icons for your site. You can browse the most up-to-date selection of these editors, and view their ratings, at TuCows Edit Icon. While designing more specifically for editing desktop themes, these will allow you to create and save icons for the web as well. Customizable options include different icon sizes, 3D renderings and the ability to create animated versions. One of the most highly recommended programs is Microangelo. This program comes with an entire suite of tools to help you create and publish your icons online.

Including Text with your Icons:

Now that you’ve created an impressive plethora of graphical guides, you should decide whether or not to include text alongside them. In most cases, it would be more beneficial to your visitors, who may be visiting your site for the first time, to have a textual guide near your graphics. In all cases, you should include your tags with descriptions of your icons. This not only helps your visitors become familiar with your site, but also assists those with visual impairments, who may not be able to see your icons, but will instead have them “read” to find out their meaning.

Tips and Tricks:

Before you finally publish your new miniature magic pieces, you’ll want to remember these tips to help avoid visitor confusion and frustration while navigating your site!

Visit your site through the eyes of a layman visitor. Check a particular route to certain content on your pages. Is the site difficult to follow? Does it shift navigational patterns? Are the icons hard to see or decipher? Is the process cumbersome or irritating? Your icons should be large enough to visualize and comprehend.

*Visitors hate to guess the meaning of your icons. In most cases, if they want to search the page, they’ll look for a magnifying glass symbol or a picture of binoculars. If they want to print it, they’ll seek out a printer picture. Unusual graphics in place of these modern symbols will only cause them needless frustration and endless searching. Make it easy for them to find the information they want. If they can find what they want, it’s more likely that they’ll return.

*Accompany your images with text if possible, even if your icons follow the standards above. Visitors are more likely to browse more pages and spend more time on your site if they can easily move from one section to another, just by reading the heading of your links.

So don’t wait. Just start creating your own miniature masterpieces!

Head SEO, Marketing at AIT India


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