B-Time

B-Time is time for or with Bianca – Big Time that is!!! Especially needed after a hefty Ycademy Seminar with eyes and ears glued to the screen and something else to the chair… So the South African sun is calling and as ‘Bee’ is and has always been my nickname… my winged family is calling and I could capture some magnificent digital pictures in the afternoon light yesterday, right here in Noordhoek, South Africa ! Nothing like B-Time!

How to resize thumbnails

Jokes aside… (…and it’s not a joke even…) – I need to test how to resize thumbnails for my new mobile web conversion for Bianca Gubalke Mobile. Of course, one can edit the WPtouch Settings in the Dashboard of the website where the current default size is 92 x 92px. But it did not move despite me changing the size here. So I changed the thumbnail sizes in the Media Settings on my Blog (General/Media) as well to 180px to 135px – but no go.

However, we work in a more precise way if changing and adapting our stylesheet. The stylesheet of our Child Theme in terms of Semiomantics XO that is. And that’s what I did now… all part of normal Website Development with a view of bringing our blogs up to the latest and most modern cutting-edge of technology standard.

Let’s see if I could manage to change the size of the thumbnail display. . . otherwise it’s back to the drawing board with a heavy thinking cap finding ways until “it works” . . . here we go, first shot!

Bianca Gubalke on Semiomantics Thesis

Yesterday, I speculated that I might have taken the last screenshot of my ‘old’ yet spectacularly efficient Author Blog on Semiomantics XO, posting it HERE – today I am writing my first lines as Bianca Gubalke on Semiomantics Thesis!

May it climb to flaming heights! I just captured a wise fairy in my magic garden… leading the way to the top for the Semiomantics Team:

Bianca Gubalke on Semiomantics Thesis

What will change for my Author Blog “Bianca Gubalke” on Semiomantics Thesis?

It’s said that Thesis is powerful… that it has a ‘remarkably efficient HTML, CSS and PHP framework’, easy-to-use controls that allow us more fine-tuning and precision than ever before… and that our job as authors should be to “… just add killer content”.

That’s WordPress Thesis.

Add to this Semiomantics… and let’s see where this baby flies… I will check it right away after posting to see how efficient it is from its very beginning!

Ycademy Seminar October 2010

Congratulations to all authors and Ycademy Seminar October 2010 participants on Semiomantics XO who have opted to take off to new heights in their knowledge and skills in Website Development.

The brand-new Semiomantics Thesis Author Blog is currently being setup by hand by Internet wizzard Yorgo Nestoridis! Fasten seatbelts – this weekend will change your virtual reality!

South Africa Newspapers

After this weekend’s Ycademy Seminar, we will see a couple of  highly performing South Africa Newspapers re-appearing on top Google rankings – focusing on themes like Tourism, the Gardenroute, Childrens’ Books, Gemstones and – in my case – TouchVisionTalk… about Web Design South Africa. It will predominantly include all forms of media – photography, graphics, videos. That’s where I come from, that’s what I love doing… and the Internet is fast evolving into a highly media-oriented tool with streaming capacities we only dreamt of years ago… delivering an incredibly high quality today. It’s almost a revolution and very exciting and motivating for anyone in the Arts and Media.

Yes – I like to see and create an elegant, attractive and captivating website – something that attracts, touches, stands out and is highly professional – that’s for the look.

However, there’s the hidden side to a blog or website, responsible for high performance on search engines like Google etc… in combination with skillful Editing and Publishing.  This professional knowledge and expertise is acquired over many years, but that’s what brings viewers, readers, potential customers – called “traffic”. A good SEO specialist earns from U$250 upwards an hour… calculate that in South African Rand! – his job being to bring  websites to the top 10 to 20 positions on Google. That’s what he’s paid for.

Equally, Semiomantics Experts are not paid for selling a highly performing script, license or web design… We are paid for results. Results on Google Top 10 that is. That’s why we show and proove it daily, adapting constantly to a fast changing Internet, new technologies and obviously also new trends.

Websites need to appear where the masses – or targeted audiences – are looking for them – otherwise they don’t serve their purpose. As they are simply not visible.

Obviously there are Google Ads – but to be really covered in terms of 24/7/365 marketing this means heavy daily budgets – and they are increasing all the time and ensuring dependance shortterm, medium term and long term. There’s also the combination of both – but on tight budgets and with a clear vision of one’s targets, there’s nothing more efficient and cost-effective than a dynamic, high-performing and attractive blog on a Semiomantics Script.

Newspapers from South Africa on Google

When checking what yesterday’s article on “Newspapers from South Africa” did on Google, we see a smashing result in terms of search engine optimization: within less than 24 hours we reached Google Top 10 on 13,7 Million search returns and stiff competition as one can imagine! Ahead even of southafrica.info ! It doesn’t stop to amaze me… Click on the above screenshot to enlarge it.

And think about it:

Fresh regular and consistent content in form of news are the food a newspaper lives on… and certainly nowhere else there is more being fed into any website or blog than on a Newspaper. Have a look at the screenshot above or click directly on the link to Google HERE – which is obviously constantly changing, but in view of setting up our Online Newspapers on a brand-new aggressive Semiomantics Script and pumping new Chi into our Online Publishing network as individual publishers as well as a Network, the “Online Newspaper” topic is hot – although obviously not my personal main topic. That’s why such a good and fast result is just … well, sort of cool!

Web Design and Results on Google

My main topic and passion is Web Design and results on Google – namely to offer our customers not only a professional and attractive website per se but to ensure that Google Top 10 results are achieved fast for optimum visibility and traffic on the specific keywords supplied…

Amazingly, even the recently completed blog on Semiomantics Evolution has made it to Google Top 10 – and this with Flash! It’s an extraordinary result given the fact that Google does not read Flash!

Have a look at Monkey Valley Resort – enjoy the virtual journey!

More after the first day of the Ycademy Seminar September 2010.

Online Newspapers South Africa

One would think there are sufficient Online Newspapers in South Africa, but there certainly is nothing like YORGOO Press – at the moment.

Once our Online Newspapers are back up after a thorough revamp and adaptation to new conditions on the Internet… and implemented at this month’s Ycademy Seminar this coming weekend – there will be 4 highly performant Online Ne3wspapers alone in South Africa – all with their own content, touch and style – in my case “TouchVisionTalk”, which always focused a lot on the South African market.

Planning your Online Newspaper on Google

Above you see a screenshot of my article “Planning your Online Newspaper” on Google – yesterday, shortly after publication! Spots 1 and 2 straight away on over 32 Million search returns! Today, there are slight changes – except to the number one position – and more entries on Google Top 10! WOW!

That’s the power of Semiomantics XO – the script my Author Blog at biancagubalke.com is based on. Plus smart Editing and Publishing acquired over a continuous period of 5 years!

Getting to Google Top 10 is not done overnight – even if it seems so effortlessly now. Just as Pablo Picasso needed decades to become a famous painter that allowed him to present a blanc canvas with only his signature on it. We’re still working on the Semiomantics signature deal…and we haven’t been around for decades yet… but it will happen :)

Semiomantics XO for Top Performance

Get your Semiomantics XO for Top Performance on search engines including a Semiomantics Expert setup here: shop.biancagubalke.net – there’s nothing like it!

Post Editing of Digital Photography

Before… we spent hours on measuring and adapting to shoot the best picture with our photo cameras, using different lenses and filters and seeing the actual results only once the pictures came back from the photo developer – unless we got into the darkroom ourselves… which I thoroughly enjoyed for my black & white pictures at the time.

Today, it’s the Post Editing of Digital Photography that takes up our time – and that makes all the difference … as you can see below as this is not what I saw after downloading the photo from my digital camera!

The photo below is what I saw!

A bit disappointing as it did not reflect the luminosity of the evening light reflecting on the majestic mountains above a lush, darkening garden… with a white pillar – a couple of meters high – on a perfect lawn… to measure the unmeasurable… and white clouds drifting past a blue sky…

Ycademy Seminar on Post Editing for Photo Media Stock

Clearly, the past Ycademy Seminar on Post Editing for Photo Media Stock in Lightroom 3 taught me many valuable lessons… and I invested the past weekend taking pictures in the garden here in Noordhoek, South Africa, and then applying my presets and filters painstakingly…yes, running through them again and again, making notes – and finding that there are certain items I always come back to – almost blindly.

The same picture – the same blue… but different lighting! One could call it a different stage (theater) alltogether! Amazing difference and definitely we touch the stuff movies are being made of!

I always imagine and associate sound and music with an image… and while these two rather monochromatic pictures seem to be the same, they are worlds apart in terms of emotional triggering and impact.

Post Editing of Digital Photography

In Post Editing of Digital Photography the basic picture has to be optimized first. Once that’s achieved, we can let our imagination fly. It’s not done overnight but a continuous process… but well worth the journey in order to come to a point where one can develop one’s style.

It was actually interesting to see how this surreal white pillar ‘behaved’ in the changing light and tinting. It was – and still is – a very challenging item in itself: how not to appear ridiculous within such grandeur?

All I can say is that one has to study, experiment, compare and “do” in order to see and understand… and that it’s pretty addictive!

Photo Media Stock Preparation

Preparation is key to results and success; in this sense I have prepared for tonight’s important Ycademy Seminar Precall as laid out HERE.

If you click on the picture here – or on GALLERY HERE – you will see a slideshow consisting of a few pictures I selected under different testing aspects.

Photo Media Stock Preparation

As requested for calibration purposes of our Lightroom Pro we have to determine the weaknesses of our individual cameras… be it in the color, tone, contrast, sharpness for example …

I added a couple of pictures as follows:

~ Daylight inside, no flash

~ Daylight outside

~ Daylight outside in the shadow

~ Low light – before sunrise, at sunset, after sunset

~ Stills where I used a Flash inside.

I am looking forward to finding those little common denominators that would improve the quality of each picture automatically as we pull them into Lightroom.

Stock Photography

For Photo Media Stock we need sharp, well focused and attractive photos that buyers then turn into works of art or integrate parts of them according to their priorities, for instance in Advertising. That’s what they pay for.

It’s really important to differentiate clearly between these two caps: am I the seller or the buyer?

I am aware that as creative people and web designers we have to switch between both. This, however, is only possible if we understand and master the basic techniques – and that’s why tonight’s Training Call and the upcoming Ycademy Seminar are so critically important for all those with a passion for Digital Photography and a willingness to enter the competitive field of Stock Photography – even without being professional photographers.

Semiomantics Web Design

Semiomantics Web Design includes the laborious creation of SEO optimized Semiomantics Scripts that reach Google Top 10 positions in a fast and reliable way – if set up and run correctly.

This is the invisible part, the awe-inspiring coding, so to speak the powerful engine of our unique and time-proven online Ferrari called “Semiomantics”.

Please click on the (compressed) picture above to enlarge it for optimal viewing.

Semiomantics Web Design

The other part of our Semiomantics Web Design is an elegant, expressive and in any way eye-catching Web Design with captivating Web Graphics and pulling Ads that has to ensure that once a visitor, a reader or a potential customer has reached our website he’s magnetized, glued to it and will happily follow whatever pipeline we have foreseen.

Best Look

After last night’s Ycademy Workshop on the introduction, setup and application of Expression Web, I created some designs on my personal topic “BEST LOOK” in Adobe Photoshop in preparation of the Ycademy Seminar this coming weekend… where I count on heavy connectivity problems given the general FIFA 2010 Soccer Worldcup fever in sunny, vibrant and simply the best South Africa…

The Ycademy Seminar will be focusing on the changed Facebook with its many features and possibilities as well as its restrictions and limitations, and our obligation as online Service and/or Product providers to have a professional and efficient online presence – not only on Google Top 10 but also in Social Networks like Facebook, meaning the place where most of the people online like to hang out these days – and this without spending (… and losing…) the precious time that we want to invest in our business – in my case Semiomantics Web Design.

More on “Best Look” to come, stay tuned . . .

3D Animation follows Flash

When one studies the exciting Flash features and especially Flash Components in our Ycademy Workshops and in Adobe Flash Tutorials and Manuals, it becomes clear that knowing Flash is a good foundation when looking at 3D Animation.

From my professional background as an artist and moviemaker, it becomes more and more apparant that 3D Animation follows Flash.

Bookcover Design on Semiomantics Flash Evolution

My above Bookcover Design on Semiomantics Flash Evolution was just the first step into the direction of Flash – just click the picture for the whole show – , much more has followed in the past and I am aware that Flash is essential to enhance our Web Design and offer more value to our Customers.

This is also why Flash – especially also in combination with Semiomantics Evolution – is the topic of this month’s Ycademy Seminar that will take place this coming weekend.

Please visit WP Best eShop for more information.

3D Animation follows Flash

With the optic on “3D Animation follows Flash” or how Adobe Flash and 3D Animation are related – I will be asking the big Pro’s of Autodesk and Adobe at today’s Autodesk Launch about their professional opinion, on how the two are related even while being two totally different stand-alone disciplines, what combines them and especially where they differentiate – and how learning Flash advances us on the path to understanding 3D Animation… especially when having a fair understanding of Adobe Photoshop.

I’m sure I will be meeting with my friends from Toonboom Animation as well and get some conclusive answers.

So while the storms are hurling across the mountain range with heavy rains in their wake and workers cutting up the wood of fallen trees for the Church…, while transport strikes are still causing havoc all over the city… and on top we have to deal with destructive threats… just when we all should stand as one and welcome the world to the fairest of all Cape with its famous abundance of fresh creativity, musical vibes and talents, I’m off to share that cherished atmosphere of creative independent people of all ages, full of ideas, gifted with many accomplishments and  with big dreams… sort of an offline open-source format.

Never mind the chaos outside and around… if we have a Big Dream… it expands without limits and encompasses all that is!

I will be back with news…

Flash Drawing Tools

Once ‘symbols’ and ‘instances’ are understood in ADOBE Flash CS4, it’s well worth spending some time exploring the drawing tools in the tool bar – to the right in the Essentials workspace and to the left in the Classic workspace. It’s just a matter of personal choice… I am fine with both.

Flash Drawing Tools

Flash Drawing Tools ressemble very much to what we know from Adobe Photoshop, however, there are differences and it’s worth getting familiar with them.

ADOBE Flash at Ycademy Workshops

I will reduce my posts in terms of text for the time being as very busy on a Flash Evolution Script for a client with another waiting to see the results, plus I focus on learning Flash following our Ycademy Workshops and Adobe Flash Tutorials.

With the very violent Cape winter storms and rains I just hope my connections last… not to speak of the electricity :)

What are Applications?

The more technical we get on the Internet, the more we encounter expressions or a certain form of terminology we may be acquainted with in certain areas of our life but that don’t immediately make sense in the Internet context. I will always remember and smile when our dear MG’s wrote that – when they started out on the net at 60, a web was a spider’s nest to them… and to surf was something that happened in the sea !!! Things today are so complex and so confusing at times, that often people don’t dare to ask as they don’t want to be taken for stupid or appear outdated. Maybe… one day the young generation knows how to surf on the Internet but has no clue where the ‘real’ thing comes from… something I did and loved myself ! Just like Laetitia hears from kids in France today that milk comes from the Super market – fullstop!

Jokes aside (well, actually this isn’t funny at all…), to advance we have to dig in and learn what things mean. It’s about Semantics… and as Semiomantics Consultants we should know!

In yesterday’s Ycademy Workshop on Flash, we heard the word “application” and I went for more information – so what are Applications in the Adobe Flash context?

What are Applications?

The best answer to “What are Applications” I just discovered on the Adobe Developer Center:

“…individual pieces of content made with Flash Professional are called applications (or SWF applications), even though they might only be a basic animation. You can make media-rich applications by including pictures, sound, video, and special effects.”

In view of the importance applications will have for us in our future development, we need to learn the terminology.

As we proceed with our Flash Workshops, I will continue to explain certain expressions that are assumed to be known by all… but if that’s not the case there can be a serious gap that hinders or blocks progress.

More at tonight’s Ycademy Workshop . . .

Digital Photography 2010 – Light Workshop

No Light – no Shadow – no Photography?

Think about it… and when you find the answer and especially if you are one of the privileged Ycademy Seminar participants on the go for ‘higher’, ‘better’, ‘more’, go look for light… discover it, see it, feel it and observe what it does, how it changes, what changes it and how it appears on and through what it falls. Light is Energy and all around us, even on a misty day, even when we don’t see the sun.

For our Digital Photography 2010 – Light Workshop the exercise is to take about 20-30 shots focusing on Light. With this idea in mind, paint with Light! Of course, that means color too… and yesterday I briefly went into the Color Workshop – both are intrinsically connected. As we are having our first wonderful autumn rains, I went into my picture archive and selected photos I had taken over the last 2 months – including my little friend above, who I caught day-dreaming with his icecream.

The idea is to use pictures as they come out of our digital camera – ideally as raw format – but I also just get the jpg format from my NIKON Coolpix P90. Definitely a drawback as I already lose quality, but for the time being I live with it.

No manipulation whatsoever – just crop the whole picture to 600 px hi and ideally 800 px wide (it automatically goes there if you have a 3×4 format coming down… we want to avoid cropping as well as here too we lose quality.) No Photoshop work, no Lightroom – nothing. We want to first look at the pure results, discuss, compare, and then be very conscious in what we are doing when we go back and improve the quality through post-editing methodology.

Digital Photography 2010 - Light & Shadow

So while I try to get high quality pictures right away, there are clearly situations that need post editing, giving more contrast or depth or adding a blur. It takes courage to go out without ‘make-up’ – but that’s part of the exercise and just shows us what wonderful tools we have to improve fast on our production output.

As an example: I just added a bit of contrast and adapted the light – and within no time the picture already looks better while we still have the velvet skin, the little red cheeks  and the deep dreamy look. I can do much more…

The Art is to become SENSITIVE TO SEE THE LIGHT even if it’s hardly visible… so we capture it and, if we have the wrong camera settings because because because… we can still catch up afterwards. As I did…  the moment he saw me with the lens he was gone, icecream en al :)

Digital Photography 2010 – Light Workshop

Our Digital Photography 2010 – Light Workshop leads up to a comprehensive Ycademy Seminar this coming weekend. It’s not how good we are… it’s about how good we can become … and definitely, after this Seminar and especially the thorough preparation both before and behind the scenes… it’s clear all dedicated participants will leap a step ahead. This is important as what wasn’t possible just a year ago is rapidly becoming the norm: fast streaming even to remoter areas like down here at the tip of Africa… and fantastic… breath-taking technological developments.

And for the Ycademy Seminar we will need good photo material; there is no running out and doing pictures then – just do it now and load it up to your Semiomantics Evolution for the Workshop tonight.

Adobe Photoshop CS5

Adobe Photoshop CS5 has just been launched and it all directs towards more user-friendliness and a strong focus on Media.

This means more people making better pictures and graphics, meaning more competition. The better the basic material we are working with – original digital photos that is – the better we can serve our customers on a media-oriented Internet – and stay ahead of the crowd.

We better do!

Digital Photography 2010 Workshop 2

At today’s Digital Photography 2010 Workshop 2 we will be looking into how post-editing raw, untouched pictures in Lightroom can give us better results with the Landscape and/or Portrait pictures we have been taking – in my case I took a quick landscape shot at lunch today: a peacock at Clovelly Golf Club near Noordhoek, South Africa.

Digital Photography 2010 - Workshop 2

We see the peacock in the foreground… behind it sweeping views across the really beautiful Golf Course… right across Fish Hoek a few kilometers away and up the mountains at the dizzy horizon. We were having heavy fog clouds rolling through the valley all morning, pierced now and then by magnificent light – all this is in the air… and I am looking forward to improving the background of this absolutely untouched picture.

Digital Photography 2010

Ycademy Workshops on Digital Photography 2010 provide students with a pool of knowledge that goes far beyond technical setups and practical orientation; they embed the activity of taking digital pictures within the bigger context.

Pictures have been emotion triggers since their existence, however, today – where everybody possesses a digital camera and technology has evolved to a point where everybody can take a reasonably good photo – images have become the preferred means of expression for the masses on the Internet.

Words are out – visuals are in… facilitating Communication, relationship building and ways of Expression irrespectively of most cultural backgrounds.

As such, pictures have become a new way of talking online – Internet hieroglyphics … I am tempted to call them Internet hieros . . . :)  – shaping the Media and forcing us to adapt to the fact that they are now an integral part of our online language, perhaps even ‘body-language’?… and definitely a form of pre-conditioning and ultimately of . . . mind control.

Every Picture Tells a Story

As we see on YouTube, there is a lot of popular interest in Digital Photography. Does it save us the inconvenience of having to … think? Do we translate what shoots through our minds faster by means of digital photography? I mentioned it a few days ago: a mental copy/paste?

“…Every Picture Tells a Story” – and yes… behind each picture there is a feeling, maybe a thought, a moment that wants to be expressed, a purpose, definitely something… more.

Pictures are a language and we have to find the right vocabulary to express ourselves in this language, and we have to hit the right Semantics… so that the message we send out is received and… understood. It’s an Art that is often intuitively expressed by creative people in the Fine Arts, Music, Dance, Fashion etc… or discovered in the streets…. and today? Yes today it’s happening on the Internet… on MySpace and YOuTube… where it will be discovered by spiffy marketers and then mastered in high-end Advertising where it lashes back to control us!!!

Ycademy Seminar on Digital Photography

The Ycademy Seminars on Digital Photography looks at the bigger picture, evaluates trends and teaches the right ‘language’ when it comes to online Publishing and Business Building. The next Seminar will be taking place on 24 and 25 April 2010, another step forward on the famous “Path to Profitability”.

To be continued . . .

Volcanoes of the Auvergne by Laetitia Paris

If you ever go to France and you love Nature and you want to experience something special and be guided by someone special, then I would recommend to book an exclusive… and explosive! trip “Volcanoes of the Auvergne by Laetitia Paris” !

See an excerpt of the Evolution Flash Laetitia is developing at the current Ycademy Seminar March 2010 here:

Volcanoes of the Auvergne by Laetitia Paris

Besides being passionate about volcanoes of the Auvergne, France, Laetitia Paris is a brilliant painter of her environment – with her digital camera! Here’s just an amazing picture she integrated into her Semiomantics Evolution Flash . . . more to come as the second day of the Ycademy Seminar takes its course in a few minutes:

Smashing Results at Ycademy Seminar March 2010

We are just about half through the course, but there are already smashing results at the current Ycademy Seminar March 2010 focusing on creating a Flash Introduction to our websites and/or blogs – based on Semiomantics Evolution, the new script by Yorgo Nestoridis.

It’s all about images, images, images… and while these are the first tentative steps, once the technique is under control all seminar participants – who are already smiling – will absolutely fly!

Of course, a unique and very efficient addition to our SHOP can be expected in due course!

]]> http://biancagubalke.com/ycademy-seminars/volcanoes-of-the-auvergne-by-laetitia-paris/feed/ 2 http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/resizing-pictures-for-noordhoek-evolution-flash/ http://biancagubalke.com/south-africa/resizing-pictures-for-noordhoek-evolution-flash/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:18:07 +0000 Bianca Gubalke http://biancagubalke.com/?p=3894

Resizing Pictures for Noordhoek Evolution Flash

Resizing Pictures for my new Noordhoek Evolution Flash under construction is a crucial undertaking when it comes to creating large, screenfilling background images that are light – meaning around 100k and opening rapidly – and yet still of reasonably good quality.

A background picture is what it says: it’s in the background, sort of a framework or a support. It sets a mood, an ambience, even a style… it can be a stage, a scene, an overall setting – but it still is and has to remain in the background and basically showcase whatever is the main center of interest, eg. smaller pictures, slideshows, sliders, videos or of course text boxes in semi-transparent overlays.

If you think that we start with a 3000 x 4000 px x 300 resolution digital picture from our camera that is so large that it exceeds memory when you even try to save it for web and devices, then getting it down to around 100k without sitting with no picture at all or vague nothingness seems like almost impossible – unless you know how to get there… and get the results you want and need for your purpose.

In that sense, I am sure last night’s Ycademy Workshop on “Resizing Pictures in Photoshop” was not only extremely useful but also an eye-opener for many… and it’s just the beginning!

Meanwhile, I studied Yorgo’s great explanation on Resizing Pictures in Photoshop – which I only discovered this morning – and I am very grateful for clarifying this important chapter that remains a mystery unless understood through direct application.

Resizing Pictures for Noordhoek Evolution Flash

Based on all the new knowledge and understanding, there is no more guesswork and resizing Pictures for my Noordhoek Evolution Flash became real fast and efficient – and still amazes me!

The secret to remember is that resizing the image means that we intervene on the number of pixels per square inch; while resizing the document means that we intervene on the dimensions of the image.

Our goal is to optimize the relation between the number of pixels per square inch. . . and the size of the document. . . to obtain the best possible full-screen view in our Semiomantics Evolution. Also remember the comparison with the apples and strawberries per inch/cm! I always preferred strawberries anyway. . .

Web Graphics Design

For all those who attend the Ycademy Seminar March 2010 (this coming weekend) and could not attend or follow our Web Graphics Design Workshop on Photoshop last night, the resizing of pictures and photos is elementary for your Evolution Flash – so get to grips with it by reading Yorgo’s explanation and follow the steps for resizing your own background images in preparation of the Seminar.

I got to exactly the results I wanted as you see on the comparison above. Yes, there obviously is a difference in quality and sharpness between the two… however, it’s so minimal in terms of my purpose that it’s negligible for getting a great, expressive background picture . . . that’s opening real fast and is simply awesome when it comes to lightness!

Do join tonight’s Ycademy Workshop for the next preparatory step! Surprise! Our Evolution Flash will rock – with Noordhoek or without it!

How to Create Rounded Corners

When creating a look that stands out a bit from the rest on a website – like we did for our new Semiomantics Shop at the smashing Ycademy Business Building Seminar this past weekend -, it’s all about details… even if it’s just about whether a corner is sharp at 90 degrees or rounded or swung in a decorative fashion.

With all Seminar participants professionally equipped with Adobe Photoshop, everything becomes possible for the knowledgeable web graphic designer, and here is a brief Web Graphics Tutorial as to “How to Create Rounded Corners” – ending with a picture like this:

How to Create Rounded Corners

Here is a step-by-step guide for you to follow and get the exact same result as I do – just click the images to get a bigger view in the overlay and simply observed what I have done… it should be really clear… :

1.

Open your Photoshop and pull in an image that you want to give some rounded corners, say at 15 degrees.

Open … and browse to your Pictures and select one.

2.
On the left side Tools bar, click the ROUNDED RECTANGLE TOOL.

3.
On the top horizontal bar, set the Radius to 15 px and see to it that you also select the rounded corner rectangle here of course.
Now place the cursor – which is a little cross now – a little to the inside of the top right corner and pull it over your picture, so that you have equal distances and a fine ‘frame’.

4.
Now you’ll be shocked that your picture disappears – duh! What happened?
No stress! Right-click on the layer – which now shows a Shape – and the Layer Styles with the BLENDING OPTIONS at the top open. Scale down the Blend Mode Opacity to 0… and you will see your picture appears again – like magic!

5.
Go to PATHS. If you don’t find them on the right side of your screen, click on Windows at the top, tick Paths and you have it. Whenever you miss a tool, chances are big you find them here.
Now right-click on the highlighted (blue) Shape 1 Vector Mask.
The Make Selection Popup opens – just as you see it on the picture here.

6.

Give it the values as on the screenshot – i.e. :

Rendering: Feather Radius : 0
Tick anti-aliased
Operation: New Selection
OK

You see the ‘marching ants’ now…

7.
At the top, go Edit > Copy Merged

8.
Then go File > New and open a new transparent picture; its size should be big enough for the picture you just worked on.

9.
Then go File > Paste

HOPPLA! Your picture with the rounded corners waits for you!

Now you can save it and use as you intended to!

Ycademy Workshop

I hope this was of help; if I missed something or wasn’t explicit enough, or you get lost somewhere… let me know! We will do this exercise and more about creating Web Graphics and Images at tomorrow’s Ycademy Workshop at 7 pm London time in yorGOtalk, our brilliant Conference Room by Microsoft!

I wish you much success in Creating your own Web Graphics!

New Semiomantics Shop

The New Semiomantics Shop will be the hot topic of the first Ycademy Business Building Seminar of a cycle of 12 (one Seminar per month) starting today, Saturday 23rd, 2010. It presents an extension of the Ycademy December Seminar 2009, where Seminar participants set up individual IT Consulting Blogs as the example featured below (click on the image; it will lead you to the original Web Design Consulting Blog).

The Ycademy Seminar January 2010 was booked out within days.

New Semiomantics Shop

The new Semiomantics Shop is a basic Semiomantics WP Ecommerce based Shop solution that can be adapted to any WordPress Theme. It is an especially interesting approach as each product and each brand requires customized solutions.
We will be reporting on this exciting new Semiomantics Shop Workshop that equips our Web Design Consulting Team with a very efficient way to not only sell own products and services, but to provide customers with a user-friendly store that connects to the whole sales pipeline requirements plus follow-up and customer care.

The cherry on top: an Affiliate Program hooked to the new Semiomantics Shop!

To be continued. . .

Ycademy Seminars and Trainings Schedule

2009 is drawing to an end and we herewith finalize the Ycademy Seminars and Trainings Schedule for the rest of 2009 and into the new year 2010!

WOW! It’s again the time to change the year and let it be as golden and promising as this magnificent sunset over Noordhoek in South Africa, taken from my garden yesterday evening while my IP migrated my account to their new server and authentication problems caused a total collapse of my Internet connection for at least 5 hours.

Ycademy Seminars and Trainings Schedule

Our Ycademy Seminars and Trainings Schedule looks as follows:

1.

Ycademy Business Building Seminar on 12 and 13 December (12/12)

Depending on whether or not our Seminar participants from the far South – like South Africa and New Zealand – have received their CD material in the post by today latest, we will either do the planned Seminar on MS Office Enterprise (see my mail yesterday) or we have to switch over to the IT Consultant Agenda as you can see in today’s post HERE.

We will decide this at tonight’s WebMaster Call at 7 pm London time.

2.

Ycademy MS Office Workshops 14 to 18 December 2009

In case the CDs did not yet arrive but do so by Monday 14 December – hopefully -, we will use our normal calls for a MS Office Basics Crash Course (2 hours daily).

Please keep an eye on our communication on Monday for further directions.

3.

Final Xmas Call 2009 on Tuesday, 22 December 2009

Let’s finish an astonishing year with music and champagne!

While we will be available for Support if needed, this will be the last ‘call’ this year.

Yes… believe it or not, for once we can really go “… to the beach!”

4.

Semiomantics XO Special License Only Seminar on Saturday, 9 January 2010

All those who purchased this special license will get a One Day Crash Course to achieve high standards and get results. So we start the new year on a high performance and responsibility fast lane.

5.

Official start of the new year with Daily Calls as of Monday, 11 January 2010

I still have problems writing that new date… but yes, this gives us all a well-deserved break to rest and spend value time with family and friends.

6.

Ycademy Seminar January 2010 (1/12) on 23 and 24 January 2010

See the planned Agenda on How to become a professional IT Consultant on the paragraph above.

7.

Ycademy Seminar February 2010 (2/12) on 27 and 28 February 2010

See the planned Agenda on How to become a professional IT Consultant on the paragraph above.

8.

Ycademy Seminar March 2010 (3/12) on 27 and 28 March 2010

See the planned Agenda on How to become a professional IT Consultant on the paragraph above.

Let’s get 2009 to a grand Finale to end the year the way we want to start the next one!

Jim Rohn Went Home

Jim Rohn went home. . . the man who has touched many lives through his eloquent personality and wisdom in speeches, seminars, books, CDs, quotes, articles and more . . . passed away on Saturday, 5th December 2009, encircled by his close family and friends.

Jim Rohn Went Home

Jim Rohn had a big influence on many people who wanted to improve their performance and financial results through personal growth and development. He will be dearly missed by distributors and sales forces of large MLMs like Herbalife and many others.

Having attended several Workshops with this great teacher myself, I remember us both waiting in the tiny airport in Sun City with the afternoon sun glittering through the windows and his eyes sparkling with a sudden happiness to be able to return home where his grand children were awaiting him. I am sure they have many happy memories together and my thoughts go out to his partner and two daughters.

For things to Change, YOU have to Change

Strangely enough, I had one of Jim Rohn’s most famous sayings tinkling in my ears and almost pursuing me over the last few days: “For Things to Change, You have to Change”… and while we may all agree that there are so many things in the world we’d love to change, it definitely starts with us… and there can be a new start at any time. It’s good to go quietly inside for a moment from time to time and reflect on whether or not we are on our purposeful path, fulfilling what we came to do? Of course, we need to first know what that is… our main purpose in life… and here it’s again all about our “Secret Garden” … our honest WHY and WHAT FOR… taught in Ycademy Seminars… the final one in 2009 taking place this coming weekend.

Seen from a higher level, Jim Rohn went for the ultimate Change, passing from his material experience back into his spiritual reality as part of all that is and that some of us call “home”.

Good bye Jim Rohn, we will remember you!

Design a professional looking Website

In the recent posts we have gone into many of the requirements and  intricacies when we design a professional looking website or blog – or when entrusted with this task by a client.

Design a professional looking Website on Google Top 10

One thing we have to bear in mind though – and make the client aware of : it doesn’t end here! Very much to the contrary!

From now onwards it’s all about getting that captivating and professional looking Website on Google Top 10! Like my post yesterday on the keyword phrase “Creating a new Look for a website” :  spot 2 on 246 MILLION Search returns – amazing… plus spot 5 and I think it was spot 8 as well – just too far down for the screenshot… :

Everything on the Internet is in constant flux and we are moving on ‘shifting sands’, at least that’s the best way I feel it myself and can describe it. What’s in today may be completely out tomorrow, programs update all the time – for instance WordPress, where our unique Semiomantics Scripts are based upon… followed obviously by the plugins we use and besides we have to follow market trends and be aware of what people are looking for in general and in particular as concerns the business niche we are in and need to generate our daily bread from.

So what remains to be done once the Website or Blog is properly configured and optimized for search engines, namely Google, as well as Social Networks, genre Facebook and Twitter. . . once it has a professional look… and the categories and keywords have been thoroughly researched – once all this is under control, we still have to:

1. post original content daily, meaning articles – ideally with at least one image, alternatively a video etc – pertaining to our topic, categories and keywords;

2. monitor the performance of our posts on Google and improve for better rankings;

3. maintain, update and keep our blogs running at high speed;

4. create new images, photos and/or videos etc to make our content more attractive and captivating;

5. respond to inquiries, comments and activities in our shop where applicable… well that’s a whole additional ballgame I am not going into here as it deserves an exclusive article;

6. find, select and monitor possible co-authors, contributors, feeds and links;

7. promote our blogs to people we know for more visibility and business opportunities;

8. add new features as they become available and make sense within our context;

9. keep an eye on Google Ads – or any other form of external advertising – if we include it;

10. …and all the rest of what I may not be thinking of right away.

Brief: it’s a daily routine we need to take care of as part of the development of our online business.

The moment we stop doing these essentials – daily that is until we’ve reached the rankings we aspire to – Google forgets us, our potential clients never get to meet us, our existing customers go elsewhere and we lose what we worked for as our visibility drops to next to nothing if at all.

Yes, all this can be revived as we have seen with our recent example… but it takes a serious investment in terms of time, money and efforts – so if you are sure you want a professional looking Website or Blog and you finally have it, take good care of it as it is an important arm on your “Path to Profitability” on the Internet.

Ycademy Seminar, Workshops and Trainings

As the year draws to an end, we are preparing a smashing finale for the last Ycademy Seminar 2009 (12/12) on 12 and 13 December 2009 – don’t miss it.

For all those who follow the Ycademy Training Schedule for serious Business Builders as planned for the first half year 2010: an incredible series of  Ycademy Seminars, Workshops and Trainings for the most professional and fully organized and integrated Business setup – offline and online – awaits you! It’s truly second to none! The equipment and materials are almost on the way to you… and I know you can’t wait for it! I hope the Christmas rush in terms of snail mail hasn’t started yet. . . but you’ll absolutely love it!

Lastly, please attend as many Daily Calls in our new Conference Center as possible, starting at 8 pm London time (9 pm Paris/Berlin and 10 pm South Africa/Greece) – with our exclusive Ycademy Calls starting one hour earlier as usual… which is 7 pm London or 8 pm Paris/Berlin or 10 pm South Africa/Greece. Sorry all the other time zones and hemispheres… please check it out as I may get lost in time!

Let’s end the year on a super wave that guarantees a fantastic start for 2010!

Monkey Valley Beach Nature Resort

Splendid sunshine and what a day to spend at Monkey Valley Beach Nature Resort in Noordhoek, South Africa, just about 25 km from the city center of Cape Town… or even the entire weekend, walking or lazing on Noordhoek Beach, sipping a latte with one of those decadent croissants in the “tree-tops” of Thorfynns Restaurant, hugged by the cool and fragrant shade of syringas… or listening to African Live Music as of 5 pm and watching the red hot sun sinking into liquid gold and eventually disappearing behind the distant horizon… a delicious cocktail in hand or a cool glass wine from the surrounding vineyards?

Monkey Valley Beach Nature Resort

Well, Monkey Valley Beach has to be skipped this weekend because a major Ycademy Seminar lies ahead for Internet Marketers who are following the “Path to Profitability” and are investing in their online Knowledge and Skills.

Social Network Publishing at Ycademy Seminar

The Ycademy Seminar on 21 and 22 November 2009 will be focusing on Social Network Publishing and how Internet Marketers will be achieving more Visibility on Social Networks by streamlining their activities for a higher impact in terms of reaching out for people, networking and triggering conversations – while staying in control of the information flow and without spending the day on Social Networks, genre Facebook, Picase, Google Wave or Twitter.

The Ycademy Seminar will be largely held like a Workshop where Seminar participants not only learn and understand the theory of new concepts but also directly implement and apply what’s needed within their Blogs and Social Network accounts – all the way with direct personal assistance and support.

This will be another exciting, highly informative and important Seminar to complete the 2009 cycle – the grand finale being on 12 and 13 December 2009!