As the site rolls through the end of January, there has been a lot of updates.

• Re-organizing of pages within the site
• Two scripts: PHPads and PHPurl
• One emoticon extra images set for my 15 x 15 round smilies
• Backgrounds that are great for Twitter
• Open of Re-URL.me
• Major tweaks on Host Solutions
• Blog daily and sometimes twice a day
• Opening of The Listing (to replace Pixelled Listings)

Throughout the month I have notices the rise in traffic and there are a few I want to thank.

• 1. My Twitter followers that have retweeted or visited about my site of their own accord.
• 2. Charity – She has a couple sites and has been blogging for some time. She has also kept up with my site and I have to give her kudos lately since I blog almost every day. I recommend that you all visit her sites and read what she has. She has a network of sites and a very good person to know. She also has other sites called Gothic Peach and Basically Geeky. Gothic Peach is a site that is one of her personal sites. Basically Geeky is a tech site that involves SEO, gadgets, blogging, and other tech stuff that will help others.

There are a lot of other new things to come in literature, graphics, and articles in February. However there are just a few left in January to reveal too! In fact, I will be blogging quite soon about a vector tutorial. Some of my visitors have been begging me to at least completed one, so I have decided to oblige.

Web Design, uses your creativity and can run low from time to time, just like a writer can experience ‘writer’s block.’ However as much as that can be an excuse, there really is no such thing as a creative block. It is all in the designer’s mind. Some of this can be spurred on from the following:

• Physical limitations due to lifestyle choices (ex: stress, sleep problems)
• Lack of confidence in your own work
• Too busy or too much on your plate
• Not enough knowledge in field to complete certain projects
• Lack of motivation.

These are things that can be changed by taking a positive approach. I love to write as much as I love to design. I design like I write, which means I do the following: make sure I keep focused with the design before doing anything else.

• 1. Write down in notebook or type in notepad what you do not know in my field. Once this list is made, go out and search for books, and online resources to help teach myself how to do something.
• 2. Look around the internet for web trends and take notes. A lot of clients like to give example sites for something that they have in mind. These also can help you learn different tools that you can design for websites even if you code it your own way.
• 3. Keep designing. Do something, even simple stuff. You will find that if you work with one photo, you could discover dozens of ways to change or enhance it. Look for sites that offer graphic challenges. Some might offer a prize (even a small graphic), but the prize is not the goal. The goal is to keep designing and create something. A prompt sometimes helps and these challenges, even ridiculous ones can help. Here is a site called Graphic Competitions that may be handy for helping you get in the design mood.
• 4. Try joining forums for graphic and web designers to share pointers or visit blogs of these genre to get in touch with your field better.
• 5. Try drawing offline. Make mockups of layout ideas without the graphics on paper.
• When designing, try designate a time. Occasional breaks are great, but distractions can be a nuisance. If you are a mother, perhaps during naptime, during school hours, or after the kids go to bed might be the best times to design without being distracted.
• 6. Be confident in your work. Yes, rejection might hit hard for you, but you can always change the work. Take your client’s constructive criticism seriously and try to apply. You are working with a client which is a partnership. Most of the time, it is communication failure that breaks the partnership. The client chose you because they liked your past work and believe you can do the job because you said you could, so think about your past work and what your client wants. Do not let fear get in the way. You got the job, so you can do it
• 7. Be honest about your work. In the case that you cannot complete a project for some reason, be up front with your client. However, try to be resourceful and refer them to a possible web design buddy you may have met according to my 4th suggestion.
• 8. Keep a positive attitude. It is not the end of the world if your first proof is rejected. Persevere and you will definitely come up with something better second time around.

Remember, even if you design professionally, have some fun. It will help keep you motivated.

I always love nifty things, especially when it comes to more opportunities to check out other search engines. I came across LeapFish, which I thought was pretty cool. When I typed in ‘blondish’ a drop down appeared with possible results and immediately the search engine pulled information from Google. I also noticed that users can select to have their information pulled from other blogs, Yahoo!, Ebay, YouTube, and MSN as a single query. Not only did my own site appear near the top by the time I completed typing, but also other searchs like Yahoo! Answers and possible images and videos. I did all of this without even having to click a button!

LeapFish is boasted to be one of the fastest search engines and has been blogged about by places like MSNBC. With my search being conducted as I type it in, I am convinced it is a great resource, especially when you can also get results from other search engines there too. For anyone else interested in search engines, you can follow LeapFish’s official blog. Is this the next step in search engines? And for those who like it, I wanted to mention that they have a toolbar you can install as well. If you need more information, take a look at their LeapFish about page.

As a web designer, I sometimes have a rough time with a few clients on getting the project done. Whether it is a lost email or playing cat and mouse on instant messenger, it can be frustrating. Since I have been looking for tools, giveaways and more to feature here at Blondish.net, I came across Nandinih (Twitter User -@nandinih) who sent me to Deskaway. Deskaway is an online task management software site. It allows a group of people who are collaborating on any project to track progress and communicate. This is especially a great tool for web designers and their clients as they can store files and get projects done more efficiently. For those that are freelancers, this might ease the pain of having to sift through spam or check the junk email or worry if you might have lost email.

It is also secure with SSL so your work will not be stolen easily. Deskaway offers several different types of accounts. For those who cannot afford to pay anything, it is free to sign up and there is a free account that allows you to conduct at least 3 projects with a max of 5 users. The free account gives a 15 day project history. The only downfall is that the free account does not come with the SSL Security, and no email reminders to keep you on task.

Before reading the rest of this entry, please try my poll as it relates somewhat to the blog:

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Social bookmarking is defined as:

Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata.

taken from Wikipedia

The idea of Social bookmarking is to share plugworthy material with the public whether is it links to pages, links to pictures, links to music and more. Social bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, and Delicious (aka Del.icio.us) allow internet users to receive the traffic they need by submitting their sites to the proper categories related to their post and seek out others with similar interests.

Benefits of social bookmarking:

• More traffic
• More links directing to the site/ post/ page
• Ability to find out more on same subject
• Ability to actively bookmark other websites you enjoy

In using social bookmarking, it is somewhat like a super link exchange that you can automatically add to. Think about it, the more you bookmark a link, the easier it can be found. However, do not abuse the system and submit a link one too many times. For your friends, you would be able to use it as a way to share your favorite sites. You blog, then bookmark the post, and the site allows others to be able to find your entry. You can bookmark other sites, which is great! I recommend that if you bookmark the site, then do not forget to tell the blogger that you did and why you did it. It is always nice to know a reader’s feedback on anything within their site! Try it! There are tools for blog content management systems like WordPress and even regular code (whether javascript or php) you can place on your site to allow people to bookmark your content.

Well, for those who love contests, Kitty Bradshaw (twitter user: @KittyBradshaw is holding one for a $25 gift certificate to Luv Seals. The contest is comment-based, where the winner will be the person with the most comments on her site between January 26, 2009 and February 9, 2009. Seems pretty easy, right?Go on and try it out!

Kitty Bradshaw’s site is a personal site written through her perspective from her own lifestyle to special interests like movies, food, the news, New York life, and more.

By the way, if you have a contest going on, tell me about it. I like to plug contests and perhaps yours could be featured too. A little help goes a long way!

Today is the official opening of The Listing, a Webdirectory. The only real requirement is that you at least give a text link back to the directory. I appreciate all who will try it out. Those who have a webdirectory, I am looking to affiliate.

For those who did not know, I run Pixelled Listings (please do not submit here as it will be closing) and I host Pamela’s Acid Lemon Listings. However I am finding that I do not like the directory link scripts for either anymore. Also, my hostee Pamela never contacts me, rarely updates, and the script she uses which is SimpleDir is highly unsecure. I also wanted to get away from the long named web directory.

Instead, I created The Listing, A Web Directory. I will be adding all the listees from both lists and contacting them on the update. Pamela, wherever you are, sorry, but I cannot have an outdated script on my server and have been footing the bill for the site and your hostees (which I had not approved) for the last 4 years. I cleaned out 20K spams last night that were in my server mail queue. It was tedious and not the first time I had to do that.

I appreciate those who I have spoken with on the project. I am using Jem’s NinjaLinks. It is simple and easy to configure. Plus, I think Jem is a gal who knows what she is doing when it comes to coding. My only concern is the lack of a captcha, but whether Jem does or I get a chance, eventually that will be a feature I will add.

A while back during a blog update, I mentioned the nifty tool create by Snap.com that allows anyone to sign up their site and install a code to allow a small screenshot to appear when you however over any hyperlink. Of course, I had installed and after a time, I stopped. I found it quite intrusive for blogs that have quite a bit of linkage spread about the page. I had many experiences where I clicked a link too close to another and it set off the preview. I had a hard time getting to the page I wanted. It was almost as frustrating with sites that have bulky pop-ups.

Now, the tool is not a total loss, as it gives a dynamic feel to sites and allows people to get a bit of a visual preview of a site before clicking through to it. The tool also shows up as valid when you put your page code through W3. However, It might be intrusive for those on dial-up who may have to wait or for those days that Snap.com is running a little bit too slow.

My suggestion is when using this tool is to consider the following questions before installing:

• Will it add or detract from your website’s value?
• Do you truly like the tool or are you just going to use it because it is trendy?
• Will your visitor’s like the addition?