Web Design Tutorials Made Easy

As a web designer often times I run into a stock photo that has one element that I’d really like to utilize. The problem is that it is usually surrounded with some kind of background and/or other elements I’d rather not be part of my image. You can use a variety of tools to remove them including the Eraser, Magic Wand, the Lasso Tool, and many other combinations.

Each of those tools have their uses, but I have a new found favorite I’ll share with you today. The extract tool/filter is my newest obsession. It is easy to use and gives great results if correctly wielded.

Enough with the chatter, on with the tutorial.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you have any kind of experience in SEM (Search Engine Marketing) you may have heard Web Guru’s say the phrase “the long tail” before. So what exactly is it? And how can it benefit you and your site?

In the following I will explain in depth what ‘the long tail’ is and how it can help you increase your search engine ranking and sales. For the purpose of this article I will be using a fictional site to show how this is all put into practice.

Read the rest of this entry »

A contact form is likely one of the most basic elements every website has and needs. If you do not have one or do not know how to use the one you have this simple contact form is just what you need. I won’t go into too much detail for the code itself, but will post the demo, download link, and explain what you need to edit in each file.

Demo url: http://www.focusedtutorials.com/contact-form/
Download link: http://www.focusedtutorials.com/downloads/contact.zip

The following is how you customize this form for yourself.

Read the rest of this entry »

With Microsoft Windows applications you have something called “dll hell”. Anyone who has tried to deploy a app knows what I am talking about when I say “dll hell”. PHP has its own version of “dll hell” called “include hell”. “Include hell” comes when you are including multiple versions of a particular php file in one php script that wants a particular version, this usually happens with PEAR, for example; a older version is installed by the host and included in php.ini; the customer rolls their own version of PEAR and includes in it via .htaccess; and a package comes with its own version of PEAR and includes it by file. Thus we have three different versions of PEAR floating around and causing function creation errors.

Read the rest of this entry »

What do I need to know?

In order to complete the tutorials I write on PHP and have any idea what happened, you will need to have a basic understanding of what HTML/XHTML is and a little previous experience using it. If you don’t have the experience required you are still welcome to try, but I can’t be held responsible for any hair loss that results from such an action ~_^.

Read the rest of this entry »

Often times a designer tends to think that they need to stick to one style or one type of design. I mean come on, we all do it, we all get in a rut and start designing mini clones of previous sites. Sure it’s good to use the cool things from one site, the sweet things from another site, and of course your trademark type styles. However, we need to get creative, we need to incorporate and utilize all the technologies to our advantage. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying anyone is doing anything wrong. What I am saying is that we need to challange ourselves if we should expect to get better and start producing sites that leave a visitor thinking, “WOW, who made that site.”

Read the rest of this entry »

When a lot of people hear the term “SEO” (Search Engine Optimization), they start thinking about how they could “outsmart” Google or any of the other search engines in order to get their page to the top. In fact, many so-called “SEO experts” try to do this very thing.

Google even warns about this:

SEO is an abbreviation for “search engine optimizer.” Many SEOs provide useful services for website owners, from writing copy to giving advice on site architecture and helping to find relevant directories to which a site can be submitted. However, a few unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to unfairly manipulate search engine results.

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems like every person that has a hand in web design/development is into something called AJAX. It seems everywhere I turn I hear, “we could ajax it and save time on server requests”. So what is Ajax? What does it do? How can it help me? What are the pros and cons?

So what is Ajax?

Simply put Ajax is a branded cleaner from Colgate-Palmolive. (link)

It claims to be able to clean anywhere in your house, with a new “easy rinse formula”. Ajax is also bleach-based so that the toughest stains are a little easier to remove.

Read the rest of this entry »

Question:
In Google, if a number of once published and indexed pages no longer show on a ’site:’ request, are they truly purged from all of Google’s data centers? What is the actual wait period? (Johngroup)

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m a stats freak.

I’ll check out my stats for elliotswan.com several times a day, and I’ll check the stats for my other sites now and then as well. If you own a site, I’m sure you love looking through your stats too. Whatever your reason, be it for fun, money, or pure ego, admit it—your site’s stats are quite helpful and just plain fun to look through.

Read the rest of this entry »