Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar!

As internet users are finding rss feeds very convenient to catch the latest news of their favorite sites, I thought that making some creative RSS icons would be great to add to the site. Here are but a few examples:

There are 59 total rss icons available. Please, if you do use any, please remember to not direct link the images and to save them to your own computer before using.

Of course, If you have any ideas for more, feel free to leave a comment on this blog post and I will see if I can get more done soon. Since I am blogging from the library (phone is down due to someone running into the poll and taking down the line), I have had plenty of time offline to get a few fun things finished.

It seems I am always falling behind on some updates, but I did not forget the requests to try to make more avatar icons. Previous to March 2008, I had over 100, but due to the fact that some of them used celebrity images, I had to take them down. That left me with 35 that I could use.

I took the time to make 30 new icons for use. They can be used as avatars in forums or any other place. No real credit it needed, but if someone asks, be sure to link them here. All of the avatars are in GIF format. If you need it in PNG to retain the richness of the image, drop an email and I will send a copy in that format. I will probably put each in a zip file that will include a GIF, JPEG, and PNG formats. Of course, if you use them, save it to your computer. Do not direct link.

The new total is now 65 icons! I do take requests too, so feel free to email me if you have an idea for one.

Here are just some examples:

I added 2 more Computer Desktop Wallpapers to Blondish.net. Both are simple, but I think they are cute. They are offered for download in 3 resolution sizes (800×600, 1024x768x and 1280×1024), and are free to use. If you cut them up and use for graphics, please remember to give credit back.

One wallpaper is called ‘Ice Cream Cone’, and the other is ‘Paper And Markers’. So far Blondish.net offers 5 wallpapers, but since the beginning of February 2009, I have added the majority of them.

If you have any ideas for wallpapers, I can do requests, even fanart for celebrities, but only if they are using my vector method. I will not use the photos and do blends. I know most are girly, but most of the people who do visit Blondish.net are between 14 to 45. If you are a guy visiting, do comment here and make a request. I would like to face the challenge of making other types of graphics too. Again, just in case you missed it, you can view and download these wallpapers in the Wallpaper section.

As for more site news, there are a few WordPress Tutorials in the articles section of Blondish.net for your perusal.

The vectors tutorials I mentioned on the way will be ready this week. As usual, if you would like me to try to take a stab at creating a tutorial, I would be happy to hear about it.

Also, I may soon be a guest blogger over at WPThoughts. I encourage you to check it out as I think it is a promising site. I answer more han a dozen questions about WordPress in Twitter on a daily basis. Might as well write more about it, right?

As for Blogrity.com, I am thinking of making it a Blog directory. However, it will be using WordPress and submissions will be hand done. I would like to make a page on each site and then the page have stats like Google PR, Alexa Rank, and Technorati rank, Ability to leave a comment about the site and possibly a site rank and maybe editor rating. That is just the beginning of my ideas for it. I am thinking that perhaps the first 500 links would be free and the rest would be $5 submission fee. I just renewed it for its 2nd year and until now, I did not know what I wanted to do. What do you think?

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.

Freelancing is becoming a popular thing with the internet especially for web and graphic designers. There are many places for individuals to place their own semi- portfolio for a fee and be privy to bid on projects listed by people needing a job completed. iFreelance, and Guru are just some of the sites that welcome freelancers like web and graphic designers.

What is a Freelancer?

Freelance is:
A person who sells services to employers without a long-term commitment to any of them.

taken from Free Online Dictionary

Being a freelancer takes someone who is tenacious and is confident in their work. A freelancer also must be honest with what they know, yet be resourceful to get the job done. With websites like the above, you also have to be willing to invest money and the time in bidding for available projects.

Being freelancer for some might not means making a lot of money. That comes with time and building a reputation with clientele. It is also not always a glamorous job. You will come on projects that people will want to only pay a price that is below the time and effort given. However, below are a few tips to consider if you are currently a freelancer, about to jumpstart yourself, or are considering to freelancr:

• 1. Make sure to build a portfolio that has your best work. It does not have to be just layout and theme screenshots, but anything like graphics that could give a potential client how versatile you are as a web and graphic designer.
• 2. Try as many freelance groups for a bit (a month or two) and then eliminate those that are not giving out enough projects to bid on. You may not get awarded any project, but you will at least have a steady flow of choices to bid.
• 3. If you do get a bid, conducting via Instant Messenger is okay. Playing cat and mouse with a client that is halfway across the world is better just by email. It is hard enough to get a decent time to meet up due to time zone issues.
• 4. If a client is wishy-washy and the project seems to not be progressing in a timely manner, be polite but tell the client that your time is money and you are losing money for a project half done or partially done and not even paid.
• 5. Consider requiring a partial non-refundable deposit for projects over a certain amount of dollars. I usually have exercised a 50% of projects over $1000 or $200 deposit for under $1000. There will be schemers you come across, but I hope not. However, you could be left with a completed project and pranked. If you do and it is with a website, report it.
• 6. Make a pre-made site and offer full support for your layouts. Make sure that you charge decently. Some premium WordPress themes are being sold over $50. To give an idea of what I would charge, the current layout at Blondish if it were for someone else would have been $50 for a supported theme (which is my standard quote.)
• 7. Keep on top of bids. If you use the internet daily, give your freelance sites a lookover at least once.
• 8. Join tech, web design, and graphic design forums that allow pluggage, but you must try to be active. Some forums have a required amount of posts that must be met before you can plug yourself. These forums will help you learn as well as set yourself apart from others. Try Twitter. There are plenty of people at Twitter that use the site for business and personal use. My advice is to join in hopes of attracting your visitors to your site (which should also be a class act example of your growing and/or existing portfolio.) Like forums, you might be able to learn more things like web tools and design tips.
• 9. Ask friends if they might be able to exchange a shout out on their blog for your portfolio or if they can just do you a favor. You never no, they just might do it.
• 10. If you have a portfolio, think about doing affiliation with a few web designers or pooling some together on a site to showcase their work and entice clients. What you might not know, may be something your affiliate/ web design team might know. It also might help with the ‘power in numbers’ rule where each can market one website.

Remember, above all, do not sell yourself short by underbidding, but in the same breath, do not overbid. Some stats out there in the market put web designers averaging 80K and graphic designers 40K. Obviously, this is from places that have done the statistics on businesses that hire these type of people. I am sure there are freelancers who make a lot of money, but it takes money, work, and time. If you can invest some of each, then it could be for you.

Web design ‘dos’ and ‘do nots’ have be a thing to talk about in the past, but as usual, it boils down to personal preference (whether layout trend, color trend, or browser trend.) I have been around for a long time and despite remaking myself through each subdomain and domain I have moved to, I have learned quite a bit. Well, that and I have been paid to design for over eight years. Also, one of my degrees that I hold is Web Site Design. That would make me a professional, even as cocky as that might read. However I took the time to go through the course and passed, so I am. I will say that I do not know it all nor ever claimed to have said, but I just have developed my own opinion that has been developed client by client, and layout by layout. For those who are wonderful with their W3 compliant sites (Note: Even though they lack some color and design. However you should try to have a balance between the coding and design.), that is fine. However, here are some things I have picked up.

• 1. Do not design your site around bulky flash sites. They might be eye-catching, but they still take forever to load. Remember, some people who live out in the boonies only have access to dial-up. Shoot for under 100 kilobytes if you are looking for a max load time.
• 2. Celebrity layouts unless they are fanart and credited properly (meaning you say they are fanart and are not selling them to others in another layout even for $1) are not allowed.
• 3. If your site has more advertisement than content, then consider yourself a commercial site. Sure it is okay to try to make money, but at least provide some content. Even if you want to make money or even try to have a decent rank in Google or Alexa, you have to have some valuable content.
• 4. If have purchased a domain (.com, .net, .org, .etc on domain TLDs) and your last update was over a month ago, why did you waste your money? Why am I looking at a nearly blank page that reads that you are on hiatus and will be back (and the hiatus started 4 weeks ago.) It was better that you either freehost or be a subdomain hostees under a generous host. If you bought a domain, why did you want to start a website in the first place? Of course, real life should be focused on, but remember, it can take 5 minutes to blog even 100- 300 words if you are average at typing. Try to blog and update instead of putting up a hiatus and leaving your site stagnant.
• 5. I get kind of confused if someone changes their layouts more than two times a month. Try instead to offer themes. WordPress users can do this and add the simple php theme include to their layout.
• 6. Please stop using Cute News. It is not cute and no longer secure, just like that annoying, slow, and definitely unsecure Greymatter. If you are a paid hostee of mine with Host Solutions, both scripts have been banned for the past 4 years. In fact, many hosts have banned both scripts.
• 7. If you want to be strict with code, great! However, if that means you feel better that your site is as plain as Cheerios and your content only contain so much (other than bashing people who are not as dull as you), I am not interested and others should not be fooled. Get in the know and brand yourself properly. As shallow as it seems, there are people who are far more visual when deciding to frequent one site versus another.
• 8. Using blinkies all over your layout is great if you are under 15. If you use a blinkie, try to use them sparingly and in places that might be interesting (example: connecting a graphic to what you have blogged for visual reaction.) I will say as a note that using them as a signature is not bad, but as a second note, use in good taste.
• 9. Using brushes can be nice, but I prefer the over-use to be for the t-shirts I buy in the store. Otherwise they look like ugly graffiti not even gang member might spray paint on train overpasses. Be tasteful and use them sparingly as accents.
• 10. If your website looks like a very bad past experience with getting very drunk and vomitting, or looking into a very bright light during a hangover, I am definitely clicking myself out of the page. I am pretty sure others feel the same. Try ColourLovers to get ideas on colors that might look well with each other on a layout.

Again, as I said, I am not some expert, but I have had a lot of experience. Take a good look at your site and see what you can do to spruce it. Fixing it up does not totally mean doing away with a layout. If you are not sure, ask someone. I have no problem. I encourage you to ask me for a review. I even give out graphics for excellent sites.

Well, I still am going to do a theme with a vexeled guitar, but on spur of the moment, I decided to do a bottle. I like the general setup of my theme so I kept it and altered the graphics from the Mustang layout. I did want to mention that although I love beer, I did not want to portray that the vexeled bottle was filled with it. Instead, I used a peppy plethora of gradient layers in pink. I am thrilled with it.

For those who enjoyed the Mustang theme, I will be doing some modifications to it, but it is still available. I have added a Theme dropdown near the footer of the page.

I still keep getting asked if I design custom layouts. Yes, I do. They are a fairly good deal.

Also, as a mention, Host Solutions has a new design as well. Some of the content still needs to be added from the old, but over 90% of the site is completed.

As a last thing, I want to plug three things:

1. Shameless Plug – You can plug your site for free here. Yes, it is still open and has been since December 2004.

2. Twitter – If you have not joined this social venue, you really should. It is a good place to network, find friends, even make money, and much more. If you have or will be, come on over to my account and follow me!

3. Big thank you to Computer Tech Blog for writing about my script PHPads. Computer Tech Blog has many subjects that encompass hardware, softwares, computer tips. I have always been an advocate of places that are really helpful for webmasters and for general internet users.

I have been planning to put this section up for Background Tiles, but I have been shoving it off to the site. I finally got it done. I actually introduced it to the Tweeps at Twitter as it is nice to have something to decorate your page there. One of the backgrounds offered can be see on my Twitter page. Currently there are ten, and I am pretty sure that in the future, there will only be 10 on a page as the previews are 200×150 pixels.

Each preview has a desciption and title. All of the backgrounds are in PNG format to retain quality and have been zipped up. I am trying to monitor how many times some of my items on my site, especially graphics. I am also trying to crack down on possible hotlinkers.

As a final note, the background tiles can be used for layout backgrounds. No credit is needed, but it is appreciated. However, no claiming these as your own.

Enjoy!