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Showing posts from November, 2012

Tips for Creating Compelling Web Copy

You are the most important person in the world. Wow, I got you to read the second sentence. Your interest is now piqued and you want to read more. If you do read this article, you will learn exactly how important it is to create compelling web copy. Between you and me, most readers just scan, but if you find a way to hook them in the first sentence and reel them in on the second sentence, you have a good chance that they will read the third. They may even read the entire article. Don’t listen to those naysayers who tell you that website visitors only scan headlines and look at cute pictures. It’s a fact that visitors are more interested in what you write than every other aspect on the page. The problem is that most web writing is dreadfully boring, and oddly self-gratifying. Under the premise of helping you, the visitor, the writing is geared more towards establishing the writer as some sort of authority. Most web writing is very didactic, or teacher-student. I’m the first to adm

Tips Effective Communication with Your Clients

Communicating effectively  with your clients is key to the success of  your projects and the structure of your freelance business. The process of communication begins before the client even agrees to have you work on their project, and it should remain as a constant throughout your entire relationship. When a client expresses their needs and wants, you should convey concern, attentiveness, and assurance. You will need to understand that there are clients with whom you can minimize communication as their not interested in updates every single hour of the day, while others want you to hold their hands throughout the entire design process. Know which clients deserve what amount of attention and degree of communication. Within this article we’ll take the time to break down  a few points that will help you effectively communicate  with clients. Please note that there is not one set of rules for communication that can be used for all clients. Every single client is different in their o

Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Web Typography

In a previous article here on Web Design Ledger, I broke down  20 do’s and don’ts of effective web design  and today I would like to keep up with that topic and go over 20 do’s and don’ts of effective web typography. It’s an important part of designing for the web, yet it’s often overlooked (even by me previously). Below are the 20 do’s and don’ts and in the comments section, you’re free to let us know of any of the items we might have missed. DO NOT use too many different font faces on the page You may have 1,000+ fonts downloaded on your computer, but when they’re being displayed all on the screen at the same time, you’re not going to have many people impressed. Not only will this cause your website visitors to have a hard time reading, it’s also going to just make you look tacky. DO NOT switch from serif and sans serif fonts multiple times Sticking with the theme from above, switching from Serif and Sans Serif fonts multiple times per page will do you more harm than go

Tips for Writing Better CSS

Writing your first piece of css code can seem really weird if you’re used to working with tables, or just haven’t written code before. In this article I want to talk about 10 different ways you can write proper and clean css code as well as streamline the process and ensure you’re getting the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. 1. Always start with a CSS Reset Writing CSS code can become a bit mundane when you’re having to write specific code over and over again just to get various browsers to display your layout the same. That is where CSS Reset’s come into play. With industry leaders like  Eric Meyer  releasing a pretty kick ass css reset stylesheet, there’s really no reason to not get all of your browsers ‘back to zero’ and build off of it. Some people have said that css reset stylesheets aren’t needed ( Jonathan Snook being one of them ), but once you get used to the reset and what items you’re coding, it becomes much easier to ensure that every browser is disp

The U.S. GDP rose with the fastest pace since

Euro :  The euro rose against its competitors as the yield of Spanish and Italian bonds dropped to the very low values ??for the first time in last eight months. The news provided some optimism that the debt crisis in the region is weakening. Also, the euro established its new high against the dollar on increased demand for risky assets on optimism about that that the U.S. lawmakers will reach an agreement to avoid the so-called "financial cliff". The EUR / USD couple approached very closely to the level of $1.30 during the European session showing significant growth. U . S .  Dollar : The  dollar traded lower against its rivals ??in anticipation of today meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and top representatives of the Congress on the “fiscal cliff " issue. Also the pressure on dynamics of the currency was provided by the speculations on results of a report on U.S. GDP, which, as it was expected was going to show that the gross domestic pro

Sharp decline in gold prices

Euro : Demand for the euro was limited during the Asian session amid worsening of the economic situation in Europe. The EUR / USD pair sat down to yesterday's lows. The euro got pushed lower against the publication of the report of performance of the German Consumer Price Index, which showed that consumer prices fell in November by 0.1%, resulting in line with economists’ forecasts. Also, the released today data on the euro area showed that the growth rate of the monetary aggregate M3, compared with a revised downward estimates for the previous month at around 2.8 % and economists’ expectations of drop to 2.8% level, rose in October to a level of 3.9%. The ECB uses this indicator as a measure of future inflation level. The EUR / USD pair dropped sharply and set the new low of $ 1.2882. U . S .  Dollar :  The dollar index rose by 0.1% during the sessions, registering growth to 80.50 areas. Japanese Yen:  The yen rose against all major currencies on increased demand f

The launch of the next tranche

Euro :  The euro rose on the background of the decision made by the finance ministers of eurozone and the International Monetary Fund to lower the borrowing costs and extend the repayment period for Greece. After 10 hours of debate in Brussels they finally agreed on launching the next tranche of loans the 43.7 billion euros to the country. The EUR / USD pair rose to $ 1.3010 during the Asian session, however dropped sharply at the European one, setting the low at $ 1.2935 area. The euro retreated on concerns that the deal on repurchasing its own bonds by Greece may fail and lead to an increase of the amount of payments from the rescue fund. British Pound:   The pound strengthened today during the European session on speculations that the agreement, which was aimed for easing conditions of payments for Greece will not be able to stop the spread of debt crisis in Euro zone. The sterling also gained support and grew against almost all its major counterparts after publication of th