C.R.A.P. (terrible name, infinitely useful) is an initialism which stands for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. The term was coined by Robin Williams (author of The Non-Designer’s Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice) and has become a basic principle of design. Utilizing the C.R.A.P. principles allows even the most inexperienced amateur designers to avoid the dreaded wall of text and instead create dynamic and attractive web content.

The basics of the C.R.A.P. principles are:

Contrast – Elements that aren’t supposed to be the same should be very different. Making the only slightly different confuses the eye and causes … Continue Reading

Videos and video content are one of the most popular rich media formats in the web world. If you are not getting the traffic that you would like to for your videos, the search engines are probably ignoring your video content. There are millions and millions of videos on the web already.  So how do you get yours to get indexed in video searches?

Similar to XML Sitemaps,  a video sitemap gives the search engines, specifically Google, more information about the video content in your web pages. By submitting this video-specific sitemap in addition to your standard XML Sitemaps, you can … Continue Reading

The very words Trade Show make some small business owners shudder. A Trade Show can take a lot of time and most of the time that’s something a small business owner just doesn’t have. With some careful planning however, a trade show can not only be fun they can be profitable as well.

Here are 10 tips we’ve picked up from attending a lot of shows, not only as vendors but participants as well. They may be basic but the best tips usually are pretty basic.

1. … Continue Reading

For us PC users, there is no pre-loaded software application that allows us to turn any document into a PDF. I’ve heard that this is easy to do on a Mac, but have not verified it (any Mac users out there who wish to post the instructions here would be thanked profusely). The easiest application I have found to turn any document (Word Docs, Publisher files, PowerPoint Files, Images, etc.) into a PDF is a Free download call CutePDF. Once you have downloaded and installed CutePDF creating the document … Continue Reading

We frequently get asked how to add a Favicon (favorites icon) to the Ultra IS. Unfortunately, adding a Favicon is not somethng you can do directly from the application as it requires FTP access to the Root directory. If you send us your .ICO file via the support center we will place it for you. Your Favicon should be no larger than 16 x 16 pixels. You may want to check out the following link if you are unsure about how to create .ICO files: http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/jennifer/favicon.html

The Favicon appears as … Continue Reading

Depending on the type of person you are, it is possible, you may find updating your website exciting or just part of the job. One thing that any style of person can agree on is finding images that match your written word can often be extremely difficult. As a matter of fact, finding the right image can often take exponentially longer than writing the content itself.

Lucky for all of us, there are numerous websites that make finding images just a little bit easier. When I am writing a blog post, I am often thinking about what type … Continue Reading

Making an avatar for a forum, blog, or other application is actually a pretty easy process once you know the site requirements.

Basically, an avatar is a small image of you, or something representative of you. Often times people use avatars as an iconic representation of how they manifest themselves in reality. However, regardless of how you see yourself, often the forum or the environment will control what type of avatar is appropriate. If you are on a business forum, perhaps an image of yourself, or professional photo is appropriate, but if you are on a social forum … Continue Reading

A question came in the other day as to why we did not have Macs in our offices so we could see the problems Mac users have when designing graphics for our application. After I got past the initial, knee jerk reaction of because we are an application development company not a graphic arts company; I then decided the question has real merit and should be respond to.

Our ProFusion Ultra IS and associated products … Continue Reading

Search Engine Optimization Experts can be like the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz. Scary until you find out who they are and what they can do for you. Below is a list of questions I am asked nearly every day by my cleints, hopefully this can answer a few of the questions you have regarding SEO.

1. What does SEO stand for?

SEO means different things to different people, but the acronym SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

2. What is SEO?

Defining SEO five years ago would have … Continue Reading

With the New Year comes new marketing strategies. If you are considering starting up an email marketing campaign, you’ll want to follow the 7 rules below to make sure that you are CAN-SPAM compliant.

1. Don’t use false or misleading header information. Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.
2. Don’t use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
3. Identify the message as an ad. The law … Continue Reading