Hi [[firstname]],

Welcome to all the new members who joined our group during this last week.
The subject of designing a website is a rather extensive one. The most important aspect of designing a website is to keep it simple. Make sure that it is very simple to move through the website from page to page - and don't forget the return links. They say that graphics are essential, but again don't overdo this, especially the flash elements. Too many will detract from the basic message that the website is trying to convey.

This week's article goes into improving your website with improved graphics design.

This week's contents:

1. This week's article entitled "Simple Steps to Great Web Design "
2. If you need a resource on web design - this should be your next port of call.
3. The ultimate web design reference book
4. A free WYSIWYG HTML editor
5. This week's tip.

1. This week's article

Many amateur web designers marvel at the skills of other designers without realizing that there are some simple tricks for creating great looking web sites.
HTML is not a friendly language for laying out text and graphics. The advent of Cascading Style Sheets improved this, but a simple solution to the problem of layout is to use tables without borders. Within HTML, this can be done by adding the attribute BORDER="0" to the TABLE tag. However, most HTML editors, such as Dreamweaver and Front Page, allow you to set the border to 0 as one of the properties of the table.

Perhaps the biggest problem newcomers face is in finding appropriate images that look good. In many cases, images are found using a simple Google image search. More often that not, these images will be under copyright and using them risks potential legal action. One way around this is to purchase royalty-free images on CD / DVD or directly from the Web. Of course, you need to be careful to check the license agreement. For example, the images may only be royalty-free for non-commercial uses. Another solution is to take your own images using a digital camera (or scanning in your own photos). Again, to minimize the risk of legal action you should obtain permission from people shown in the photos before placing them on the web.

Even after locating or creating images, a good design may still be difficult given the 'blocky' nature of the photos that are typically in a rectangular shape. This leads to the major tip for improving your web site design. If using stock photos, look for 'photo-objects' rather than photos. These are photos which have had the background removed. Where the background should be is actually transparent, which means you can put the photo-objects on any background.

When using your own images, you can easily create photo-objects by using a 'green screen' behind the subject you are photographing. You can load the image into any piece of imaging software that has a magic wand tool. Then simply click on a section of the green screen and press delete to remove the background.

There is nothing 'magical' about a green screen. Any piece of material that has a consistent color and is fairly flat will do. Green or blue work best because these are very different from skin tones that won't disappear when you use the magic wand. (Of course, if they are wearing green clothes these may suddenly become transparent).

Backgrounds can be removed using a magic wand tool (and eraser for fine details) from photos with a normal background, but expect to take many steps and more time. Even if you can't remove the background you can add some spice to your images with simple steps such as adding a drop shadow or adding a frame like a photograph.

With these simple steps you should be able to develop web sites that look far more professional.

2. If you need a resource on web design - this should be your next port of call.

Did you decide that you needed a website and are a little concerned about how to get going with it? This program really is the A to Z of "How to" in website design. This program takes the pain out of the learning curve with step-by-step screen captures, supported by videos where needed. It's a massive time saver. It covers web sites - Sales pages - Mini sites - Blog graphics - Affiliate pre-sell pages - Landing pages - even simple instructions on modifying graphics - just point and click. You follow the big blue numbers. What could be simpler? I use this program as a help resource, and since Marlon Sanders is continually upgrading and adding content to it, it is an expanding source of information on designing and building your website. I wholeheartedly recommend this product, so take a look:

3. The ultimate web design reference book

If you are looking for a reference book on website design, then look no further. Web design expert and author Shelley Lowery reveals all of her professional web design secrets in her book "Web Design Mastery". It is a complete web design system that makes professional web design easy...with 100s of copy and paste codes. An excellent reference, "Web Design Mastery" has become one of my main web design reference books.....check it out:-

4. A free WYSIWYG HTML editor

This editor includes the facility to edit pages, making web creation as easy as typing a letter with your word processor. It is a very powerful tool and is free. I could go through the details, but you need to see it for yourself at:

This week's tip.

Survey your web site visitors or current customers. Ask them what type of articles or content they would like to see published on your web site or in your ezine. Do it with a survey form on your site, or in your weekly newsletter, or even a special email issue asking the specific question.

I hope that this week's issue was of interest to you, and maybe you found something that would be helpful in your own business. If so, I would appreciate any feedback you may have so that I can align future content to better suit your needs. Send them to newsletter@newbieshelp.com

Sincerely,
Derek Jones
Newbies Help - Editor

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