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Ubuntu, pronounced, is a predominantly desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux. It is sponsored by Canonical Ltd (owned by Mark Shuttleworth), and the name of the distribution comes from the South African concept of ubuntu—roughly, “humanity towards others”. It is released roughly every six months, more frequently than Debian. Each release comes shortly after new GNOME editions. It also has a stronger focus on usability than Debian.

Ubuntu version 6.06 LTS, codenamed “Dapper Drake”, was released on June 1, 2006, and will be supported for 3 years on the desktop and 5 years on the server, instead of the usual 18 months. Ubuntu aims to use only free software to provide an up-to-date yet stable operating system for the average user. Ubuntu has a lively user and support community.

Kubuntu and Xubuntu are official subprojects of the Ubuntu project to bring the KDE and Xfce desktop environments to the Ubuntu core, respectively. Edubuntu is an official subproject “designed for school environments, and should be equally suitable for kids to use at home.”

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Webmasters are practitioners of web communication. They are responsible for all aspects of an organization’s web presence, including getting content from Web producers & Graphic Artists; maintaining technical operations, and managing other web related business matters.

They may have specific areas of expertise, but are most valuable as generalists who can manage all aspects of web operations. On a smaller site, the webmaster will typically be the owner, developer and/or programmer, in addition to the author of the content. On larger sites, the webmaster will act as a coordinator and overseer to the activities of other people working on the site and is usually an employee of the owner of the website, hence webmaster can also be listed as an occupation.

If the webmaster is hired by a larger website, or promoted to the position, he could be doing things ranging from system administrating work, to managing large projects, and making sure everyone is doing their job(s) correctly. The webmaster of a large site may have many of the duties of an Information Architect, including ensuring site usability, user experience and menu taxonomy. The goal of the duties is to ensure that the site is easy for users to navigate and use. Another, broader, definition of webmaster is a businessperson who uses online media to sell products and/or services. This broader definition of webmaster covers not just the technical aspects of overseeing website construction and maintenance but also management of content, advertising, marketing, and order fulfillment for the website.

Core responsibilities of the webmaster include the regulation and management of access rights of different users of a website, the appearance, and setting up website navigation. Content placement can be part of a webmaster’s responsibilities, while content creation is typically regarded as something that is not part of what a webmaster does. But on a site the webmaster is creating independently, the webmaster is usually the person who creates the content. The webmaster usually also looks to improve his current web properties, or websites, by reading user reviews and complaints. There is usually a page to email the webmaster or site administrator.

The webmaster’s e-mail address often acts as the point of contact for a website, mainly if you want to notify the website of a problem, or flaw in the design or system, but not as a sales contact. The webmaster’s email usually contains the word webmaster or admin. ie. webmaster@example.com or admin@example.com. The email is usually found in the footer of the website, or on a contact us pages.

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web published a website in August 1991, making him also the first web designer.[1] His first was to use hypertext with an existing email link.

Early on, websites were written in basic HTML, a markup language giving websites basic structure (headings and paragraphs), and the ability to link using hypertext. This was new and different to existing forms of communication - users could easily open other pages.

As the Web and web design progressed, the markup language used to make it, known as Hypertext Mark-up Language or HTML, became more complex and flexible. Things like tables, which could be used to display tabular information, were soon subverted for use as invisible layout devices. With the advent of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), table based layout is increasingly regarded as outdated. Database integration technologies such as server-side scripting and design standards like CSS further changed and enhanced the way the Web is made.

The introduction of Macromedia Flash into an already interactivity-ready scene has further changed the face of the Web, giving new power to designers and media creators, and offering new interactivity features to users. Flash is much more restrictive than the open HTML format, though, requiring a proprietary plugin to be seen, and it does not integrate with most web browser UI features like the “Back” button.

The field of web design is a vast area, including disciplines such as graphic design, information architecture, interface design, advertising, marketing and programming. Recently there has been a hype within these areas, created by a new technology called Macromedia Flash 1, a multimedia authoring tool based on memory-efficient vector graphics rendering that has been released in version 5 a few days ago.

Flash has not only created a new industry of skilled artists and web developers, but seems to have revolutionised the world of e-business and corporate websites. In a time when online marketing strategies have evolved from banner advertising to creating compelling user experiences on corporate sites, Flash has become THE “tool of the trade”.

The following essay will describe the Flash phenomenon in more detail, analyse Flash’s aesthetics and discuss Macromedia’s business strategies for its success. Developments towards a more corporate and controllable internet will be contrasted with an analysis of the internet’s underlying economic structures, followed by a discourse of possible outcomes and expectations for online experiences in the future.

The Role of Flash Today Disney, Volkswagen, Nike, The New York Times, Cisco, and IBM are just a sampling of the thousands of sites that use Flash to create an enhanced user experience on their corporate websites. From being an insider’s tool used by some web designers for experimentation in their online design portfolios, Flash grew to become an influential tool as well as created the state-of-the-art aesthetic style during the past two years, and has successfully entered the corporate business world online. An established community of so-called “Flash artists” pushes the boundaries of the software and received early support and reputation through Macromedia’s developer web site 2 , which showcases experiments and profiles case studies.

This way a whole new industry branch was set up within new media workplaces. Experienced Flash-artists are amongst the most looked-after talents in the new media industry, both by recruitment- and design agencies. Looking back at the history of the internet from the viewpoint of a designer, working for the web has always been a struggle. Limitations in file sizes, typographic choice and specifications, interface standards, etc. have left little space for innovation and expression for designers. With the advent of Flash and its widespread as a Plug-in, designers are finally able to literally “do everything” - put animations and full-screen transitions on a website without the cost of heavy image sizes. Anti-aliased typography, as it has been used in CD-rom design before, is finally available for the web.

Simple animation techniques like rotations, blending transitions and zooms were the first imminent features of Flash websites and have since been used to an excessive amount. Smooth edges, zoomable type, fixed-size presentations opening in new browser windows, and accompanying ambient sounds being further Flash features that spring to mind.
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Days when the Internet was considered a new communication medium are long over. It is currently estimated that are that there are over 950 million people with access to the World Wide Web, with several hundred million web pages and web sites online. All this makes the Internet a business resource you simply cannot afford to ignore.
By going online both large and small corporate organizations have become conscious of the fact that the World Wide Web gives them instant availability to their corporate clients. You can operate your business with total flexibility and efficiency, all with the single click of a mouse. One of the best reasons for going online is to provide your clientele with customized web page information to meet all their needs at the same time.

With fifty-one percent of corporate businesses indicating that the internet has improved their profitability and helped their business expand; going online is a great way to not only improve your business, but make it more versatile and adaptable in today’s fast paced world as well.

Common web design features of Corporate Organizations

Some common and poplar web design features of corporate organizations include:

Photo Albums

Here corporate organizations can put photos and images of their company and employees on this page.

Guest Books

Site visitors post entries in an online guest book providing you with useful information about your site and its features.

Message Boards

Visitors and staff alike can post messages on an online message board or discussion forum.

Contact Page

This page includes a list of high level staff such as CEO’s, CFO’s, MD’s, HRM’s and members of the Board of Directors that clients can contact within your organization along with a phone number and/or email address.

Links Page

Link pages in and out of your corporate website and organize the pages under headings.

Site Map/ Table of contents

This map or table of contents of the site will help clients to easily navigate their way around the website as it lists the pages in the index along with a description of those pages.

Area Map

Link to online maps showing your office locations on a national and global scale.

Multimedia area

An embedded audio, video or flash file, which is usually about your company, its history and achievements and your work in the community.

FAQ page

This page is a list of questions with links to the answers frequently asked about your organization it its inner workings. FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions page.

Corporate reports

Here clients can download or view corporate reports and reviews of your organization.

Custom Feedback Form

Ask questions about your site and get clientele feedback if any improvements or revisions should be made.

Auto responder

A page that lets visitors enter their email address and have a message mailed to them automatically.

Mailing List / Newsletters

Allows clients to subscribe and unsubscribe from a mailing list or newsletter.

Calendar

Post special events on an online calendar.

Articles & Press Releases

Post articles and press releases online about your organization and its achievements.

Careers

A page about career opportunities in your organization.

Products & Services

This page lists and discuss the product and services offered by your organization.

Every significant Web project poses unique challenges, but the overall process of developing a complex Web site generally follows six major stages:

1. Site definition and planning
2. Information architecture
3. Site design
4. Site construction
5. Site marketing
6. Tracking, evaluation, and maintenance

Developing a large Web site is a process that may have far-reaching budgetary, personnel, and public relations consequences for an organization, both during the development of the site and long after its successful deployment. Too many Web sites begin life as ad hoc efforts, created by small interest groups working in isolation from their peers elsewhere in the organization and without fully considering the site’s goals within the context of the organization’s overall mission. The result of poorly planned, hasty development efforts often is an “orphan site,” starved of resources and attention.

As you consider the development process outlined below, note that the construction of the pages that make up the Web site is one of the last things that takes place in a well-designed project. Consider each step in the process, and its impact on your developing site specification plan. Think before you act, and make sure you have the organizational backing, budget, and personnel resources you’ll need to make the project a success.

Web sites are developed by groups of people to meet the needs of other groups of people. Unfortunately, Web projects are often approached as a “technology problem,” and projects are colored from the beginning by enthusiasms for particular Web techniques or browser plug-ins (Flash, digital media, XML, databases, etc.), not by real human or business needs. People are the key to successful Web projects. To create a substantial site you’ll need content experts, writers, information architects, graphic designers, technical experts, and a producer or committee chair responsible for seeing the project to completion. If your site is successful it will have to be genuinely useful to your target audience, meeting their needs and expectations without being too hard to use.

Although the people who will actually use your site will determine whether the project is a success, ironically, those very users are the people least likely to be present and involved when your site is designed and built. Remember that the site development team should always function as an active, committed advocate for the users and their needs. Experienced committee warriors may be skeptical here: these are fine sentiments, but can you really do this in the face of management pressures, budget limitations, and divergent stakeholder interests? Yes, you can — because you have no choice if you really want your Web project to succeed. If you listen only to management directives, keep the process sealed tightly within your development team, and dictate to imagined users what the team imagines is best for them, be prepared for failure. Involve real users, listen and respond to what they say, test your designs with them, and keep the site easy to use, and the project will be a success.

What are your goals?

A short statement identifying two or three goals should be the foundation of your Web site design. The statement should include specific strategies around which the Web site will be designed, how long the site design, construction, and evaluation periods will be, and specific quantitative and qualitative measures of how the success of the site will be evaluated. Building a Web site is an ongoing process, not a one-time project with static content. Long-term editorial management and technical maintenance must be covered in your budget and production plans for the site. Without this perspective your electronic publication will suffer the same fate as many corporate communications initiatives — an enthusiastic start without lasting accomplishments.

Know your audience

The next step is to identify the potential readers of your Web site so that you can structure the site design to meet their needs and expectations. The knowledge, background, interests, and needs of users will vary from tentative novices who need a carefully structured introduction to expert “power users” who may chafe at anything that seems to patronize them or delay their access to information. A well-designed system should be able to accommodate a range of users’ skills and interests. For example, if the goal of your Web site is to deliver internal corporate information, human resources documents, or other information formerly published in paper manuals, your audience will range from those who will visit the site many times every day to those who refer only occasionally to the site.

Design critiques

Each member of a site development team will bring different goals, preferences, and skills to the project. Once the team has reached agreement on the mission and goals of the project, consensus on the overall design approach for the Web site needs to be established. The goal at this stage is to identify potential successful models in other Web sites and to begin to see the design problem from the site user’s point of view.

Unfortunately, production teams rarely include members of the target audience for the Web site. And it is often difficult for team members who are not already experienced site designers to articulate their specific preferences, except in reference to existing sites. Group critiques are a great way to explore what makes a Web site successful, because everyone on the team sees each site from a user’s point of view. Have each team member bring a list of a few favorite sites to the critique, and ask them to introduce their sites and comment on the successful elements of each design. In this way you will learn one another’s design sensibilities and begin to build consensus on the experience that your audience will have when they visit the finished site.

Content inventory

Once you have an idea of your Web site’s mission and general structure, you can begin to assess the content you will need to realize your plans. Building an inventory or database of existing and needed content will force you to take a hard look at your existing content resources and to make a detailed outline of your needs. Once you know where you are short on content you can concentrate on those deficits and avoid wasting time on areas with existing resources that are ready to use. A clear grasp of your needs will also help you develop a realistic schedule and budget for the project. Content development is the hardest, most time-consuming part of any Web site development project. Starting early with a firm plan in hand will help ensure that you won’t be caught later with a well-structured but empty Web site.

Before you start building your site you will need to decide what type of site you will run. There are two main types of sites on the Internet, e-commerce sites and content-driven sites. E-commerce sites are those that sell products and content sites are those that provide information or other content. Despite programming and design similarities these two types of sites of fundamentally different in almost every way, be it promotion or revenue generation. This guide will only focus on content sites, sites that provide information. However much of the advice, especially in the realm of search engine optimization, will be applicable to all sites.

There are different types of content sites and which type of site you choose to run will greatly affect the type of work you need to do to create it and the type of work required to maintain it. Also some topics may lend themselves to a certain type of site so when you decide what topic you want your site to be on in the next section that decision may influence your site type choice.

The two most common content sites are online magazines and reference sites. An online magazine can be a site about any topic and it is mostly article driven. This type has both a steep traffic curve at first and great traffic potential once you get established, the typical growth curve of such a site is usually exponential. Online magazines, like traditional magazines, require lots of content on a regular basis thus the maintenance requirements for such a site are high, the good thing is that you can often get article submissions from your loyal userbase. That loyal userbase is another asset of an online magazine. Your frequently updated content creates loyal and repeat visitors thus enabling you to expand your site to include a community and or newsletters. As discussed later in this guide your community can also be a source of content for your site.

A reference site is very similar to an online magazine in how it provides information but it differs in that it does not offer frequently updated content. In many ways a reference site is similar to a book, whereas an online magazine is obviously similar to a magazine. A magazine will emphasize new article’s on it’s cover, whereas a Book will contain a simple table of contents, or an index, directing the user to the information they are looking for. The corresponding websites for these two types follow similar trends. Your reference site will emphasize a content catalog, index, or menu in it’s design and navigation structure, your online magazine will instead give recent articles top billing. The reason is that a reference site has a higher number of unique or first-time visitors, while an online magazine has a higher number of repeat or loyal visitors. Reference sites have as high of a traffic potential as an online magazine but their growth is typically more linear. Also, as a book is thicker than a magazine, reference sites usually start out with more content than a online magazine. In fact if you’re making a reference site you usually get most of your content before you even publish the site, however eventually it may be possible for an online magazine to grow to the size where it has more content in it’s archives than a reference site. The major upside to a reference site is that it will usually run itself, making your maintenance work much lower and your potential for residual income much higher. However startup work is often greater as you must obtain a large amount of content before initial publication and the lower number of repeat or loyal visitors makes starting a community much harder.

There is another type of site very similar to a reference site and that is a resource site. A resource site is often structured like a reference site but instead of providing the actual information it instead just links to it. A resource site is in many ways just a directory. The traffic potential for such a site is only so-so, the problem is that while you may get many unique visitors each visitor may only visit one or two pages before they leave your site. However the profitability of such a site can be very high, almost higher than any other type of site. The reason lies in affiliate programs, which are discussed later in the guide. But suffice it to say that if you can work it out so you get paid when someone follows one of those links from your site then you will end up making a good deal of money.

There are two other main types of content-driven sites, however this book will mostly focus on the ones mentioned above. The first is a community site. A community site is one that revolves around a bulletin board. This type of site is ripe with difficulty, the major issue is that it is hard to get off the ground. People come to a community site for discussion, and when you first start off you have no discussion. In may way’s it’s a “Catch 22″ issue, a later article will present tips for getting a community off the ground. Another issue is that due to their number of page views per unique visitor community sites are relatively unattractive to advertisers and in general make the least amount of money per visitor than any other type of site. There are some benefits to running a community though. The first is that if you use a commercially available script you should be able to setup your entire site in less than a day, and then you will just need to get traffic and discussions going. The second benefit is that the site provides it’s own content, so maintenance - other than moderating the forum and keeping things running smoothly, is relatively minor. You can also usually recruit trustworthy members to help with moderation.

The final type of site is an entertainment site. Any of the above sites could provide entertainment but an actual entertainment site is a little different. An entertainment site usually provides little in the way of textual content and instead what it offers are interactive programs or little widgets that are entertaining. Any type of site where visitors go to play with something could be categorized as an entertainment site. Entertainment sites are usually very easy to promote and they are the type of sites that can grow virally. Viral growth is when your visitors promote your site for you by telling their friends about it. However entertainment sites, like community sites, generally create very little revenue per unique visitor, however once your script or game is made there is generally little maintenance to do. Often with an entertainment site the highest cost is going to be your bandwidth, due to large amounts of traffic that generate little revenue and the fact that games often include pictures or movies that use up large amounts of bandwidth.

Say LESS

This is the most important thing about writing for the web.

Because web users are generally scanning, not reading, the more concise the content, the easier it is to scan.

A good approach is to write concisely, then cut, edit, boil down, paraphrase and finally trim.

The Inverted Pyramid reverses the workflow, by putting the essential information first, which it follows with further detail. The quick overview helps the reader get the point and purpose of a page instantly, letting the user make a quick judgement whether to read on for a bit more detail. (Note on the intro block at the top of each page on WDFS.)

It is important to have a good brochure because it is a good way to be known to the customers worldwide. It can help you with a lot of gains and profits that are countless and priceless. Brochures are used as a main strategy to market your printed stuffs and help you expand the business that you have worked hard for.

Your brochure can provide you several benefits far more than what you are thinking. It plays an exquisite role of inviting customers to be drawn to your services and maintaining the promotion that you have. Profits are important in a business and brochures can help you increase it.

What you need to do is to have a stunning design that will make your customers crave for your services or be attracted with your brochures. If they become attracted to your brochures, it will not just be an attraction but there is a way that they can get to you and your services.

Now if you wish to make brochures, you have to understand that you have to deliver your customers with the type of brochure that is elegant and with top quality. it should have an outstanding message that will give your customers a sense of attention that no other brochures can.

When you have been handed two kinds of brochures, one of which has no standard design, and the other with full color designs, which do you think would be opened first? Of course, the brochure with full color will not be left unread for a while.

If they like your brochure, your products will simply be rendered in their minds and they will think of buying it. There are customers that once attracted; they will surely buy with no questions asked. You need to hit those types of customers and to do that; you have to run with the greatest brochure printing company.

You might think it is expensive to have them printed but that was a long time mistake many customers are faced with. if you haven’t been involved with a brochure printing company, you can ask details regarding the prices and the services they are offering.

After having your prints, surely, you will be coming back for more and you are going to keep it going with the different services that you need. You just need to trust them and stop worrying on how your prints will look.