Scribus similar to Indesign

Indesign and other programs may be out of reach for many aspiring graphic designers. I found a similar open source program called Scribus which is very similar to Indesign. This is a good program without having to spend 200-400 dollars.

Don't take my recommendation. Google it.

Downloading youtube Videos with Mozilla

I find myself finding videos on youtube or on other video websites but sometimes not all the time you go back to that video and its no longer there. I found an add on plugin called download helper. I found it a while back and its a small plugin that installs on your mozilla fire fox browser which essentially allows you to click the icon to download the video onto your computer.

The minus side to this is that some not all videos do not download. If you do download this plugin you will need what is called a video converter which essentially converts the video to play on your computer.

Although there are other download applications but I like this one because it does not have a ad pop up program.

http://www.downloadhelper.net/tutorial.php?id=x1U3B_IlPmM

The cool thing is if you have usb connection you can upload them onto your e-reader if you choose to view them later offline which for me is a plus.

PayPal going Square up?

I've been using square up for sometime and I would have to say its one of the best things since slice bread. If you don't know what I am talking about, its a phone ap that allows a user to accept credit cards via phone using a small square device to scan credit cards.

Paypal has developed their own version of square which should be interesting to see how it compares to Squares application. I tried to sign up to receive one but so far the Paypal website has only sent me invite only.

Once I get it I will post a photo of the new swiper and do a comparison.

Facebook advertising and my thoughts on NPRs article

I remember watching a posting by NPR news on a local pizza place in New Orleans who took a stab at using Facebook to draw customers to its new location.

They used the facebook fan recommends method with very little success. They spent around 240 dollars and only got back in customer return around 20 dollars.

So question comes up does Facebook advertising work for small businesses?

Here is the article if you would  like to listen in on the conversation from NPR news interview on the Pizza Delicious article.

I have done a few campaigns with some success and some with not much success. A lot of what has to happen on any type of advertising is that there needs to be a way to track your advertising budget.

For example their ad could of been something like; "Visit our store location for a free slice of Pizza. " Since it was the first time that they opened they need people to come by and try their pizza.

So my two cents for their facebook ad is just posting that your business is open is not enough to draw people to your small business.

You have to ask the question from their perspective: What is in it for me?

Google and Panda what it means to bloggers

If you are a blogger or someone who promotes products online via website then you may have seen a decline in website rankings. If not then you are in the right track. Panda if your not familiar is a Google program that learns daily on how websites interact with its searchers. So what this means if you have a site with low quality information chances are if you were on the top search your ratings may decrease.

Nothing to fear about the new Panda protocol it just means as bloggers we must provide useful information.  Google is cracking down on link website farms and spam websites so this is why many bloggers are seeing rankings changes.

Got Milk Font for your font lovers.

This is one of my favorite fonts that I have used from time to time for shirts in the past.

The font name for the Got Milk font is Phenix American

http://fontzone.net/font-download/Phenix+American/

Make sure you back up your fonts. This was a hard lesson I learned when my computer had gotten a nasty virus and essentially wiped my computer to a craw.

New Time line and what it means to small business

The new Facebook timeline has if you know changed how people create their Facebook fan pages for their business. Although I am not a big fan of the new timeline it, the new timeline offers a few features that for any business provides something more. It allows a business owner to tell their story and it features those who provide comments about your product as well.

I'm still doing more research on what other companies have done with the new layout but I'm sure many who had custom landing pages were very upset that one could no longer change the default page or at least that I know of.

Until then Facebook page has been bar none the best way to engage with your audience and see what they like about your business.

How to do a screen capture.

A screen capture is essentially a way to capture your entire screen as you are viewing it.

Prt Scr button

To do a screen capture you hold your Ctrl button key on your keyboard and then hit the key the should say on most keyboards Prt Scr which means print screen.

Now it won't print the screen but it will capture an image in the temporary memory of your computer until you paste it.

For example if you want to go into your MS word you would open up MS Word

To paste your screen capture you can go to the edit tab on the top left and click the edit tab.

You will then scroll and click the paste tab.

There you have it your screen capture.

Khan Academy - free tutorials on arithmetic to physics

I found this website watching 60 mins and its a non profit website which offers free classes on different forms of math to art history and chemistry course. I viewed a few of them and they seem very easy to follow.

I'm posting this as not only a reference for those who are reading but also a reference for myself as well.

Anyway check out  the site.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Godaddy shared hosting review

I have used Godaddy for many years and for the most part I would say I was satisfied to some degree with the use of the hosting services. The price for hosting was competitive for most hosting sites and useful for a any aspiring computer geek.  It was the first service which I used to ftp my first website but sadly it would be my last.

As I became busy I needed a website where I didn't have to tinker to much with the HTML or CSS coding so my solution was an open source CMS. If your not familiar with the coined term CMS it stands for content management system which is essentially a database driven website which runs off a template of your choosing.

The plus side about using a content management system is that you can remotely access your CMS and add delete content and pictures on your site. I built a template for one of my photographer friends but later only to find out that many of the CMS that you can install on godaddy seem to be very sluggish or stop to a craw.

It was very disappointing since I knew my friend wanted a website where she could go and add and change information and photos.

In summary the shared hosting is not a good solution if your looking to build a content management system on the shared godaddy platform.

Let me know of any hosting that offers a good price and can run a content management system with no problem I would love to know.

Facebook's new timeline and what it means to publishers

If you like many online have a facebook landing page for your business, the rules may change on what the default is to what your customers will see when they click the facebook icon on your website. I believe the change will take place this month when all pages even personal ones will take on the timeline look.

Google Plus Ap

I just uploaded the Google plus ap onto my phone which allows the phone user to upload photos to the Google cloud automatically. I remember having lost my phone with all the photos I have taken how I wish I had this feature.

Time will tell and see if this feature is something I can use in the future. The back up of photos I'm sure is well worth it.

Interesting spin on a blog I found on Google Plus

I sometimes struggle with coming up with ideas on what to write about and sometimes I really don't have to write anything such as posting a picture.

This blog is called Running from Camera which is a simple blog on running from the camera. He sets the camera for a self timer and runs away from the camera. Thats the blog.

Running from the Camera check it out.

Inkscape vector software

I love to draw but even more on the computer. I knew Illustrator was way to expensive for my budget and the learning curve can be steep if you are not familiar with Adobe products. Corel draw is a less expensive alternative if your looking for a vector program and to be honest I believe it is easier to learn in comparison to Illustrator.

If you are familiar with Corel Draw then your in luck. You can get the power of Corel Draw without having to pay for the program. No I'm not going to refer you to a boot leg but an alternative vector program 90 percent similar to Corel Draw.

Inkscape which is a an open source program offers many of the features Corel Draw without the price tag. I have used Inkscape in my part time business to create business cards, and mainly to design t shirts.

If your not familiar with what vector drawing is, here is a simple explanation. I vector drawing will not become pixalated such as a photograph that that has been blown up 10 to 15 times its original size. What this means a vector design no matter how large or small will not lose its original design.

Google Inkscape and see for yourself. I will be posting in the future tutorials on how to use Inkscape