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Hi, Ahh ... that would explain your earlier confusion - you need to upload this template into Wordpress for it to work. Eddie's instructions seem to be dead on. Stef

Well, one tip I give you is to not link spam forums. ... I've already helped you out there. Generally speaking, the top three things: Content Content Content Stef

PHP can be used for very complex web applications - have you heard of Facebook? That's just one example of a PHP based system. We created StudioWeb with PHP and we do some interesting things in that interactive training application. Java is great (was my primary language for years) but it is really something you should learn if you want to get into the enterprise development game - that's means working for huge corporations. Otherwise, for server-side programming, stick to PHP or Ruby. Stefan

Agree. People who try to game the search engines eventually get burned. Ask the countless sites that got nailed with the recent Penguin Google update. Stef

LOL. Don't go there! That was also a consideration ... but so far, no complaints! Stefan

Yep. But I can see it from the point of view of the school boards - they don't want the headaches of some irate parents coming into their offices offended. ... So, we do what we can to make their lives easier and everyone is happy! Stef

You have two options: 1. Install Wordpress and create theme that matches the static site and then recreate it in wordpress. You can keep the same page names and URLs using Wordpress pages functionality. If your original site is not too big, this is doable. But even with a small site, to do this just to make two pages editable, seems a waste of time perhaps. 2. Just install Wordpress for that section. So for instance, if you were going to have a 'news' section as in: www.yoursites.com/news/ ... I would just install Wordpress in the news sub directory. You then create editor accounts for your clients and they can then add all the news items they want! If you need Wordpress training (my shameless plug!) ...: Wordpress Training Videos Hope that helps, Stefan

Many times is it outside influences that effect on where you show up in the search engines. So yes, you have to have the proper keywords in place, but you also have to be sure that other sites recognize you within the context of those keywords. So for example, if you want Google to show you as a North Jersey salon, be sure that other sites point that out about you. Hint: try google places for example. From Google about Google Places: The link: https://support.google.com/places/answer/143059?hl=en Stefan

The design/aesthetics of web design are constantly shifting. So yes, these days flat design, big fonts and lots of white space are in. But this will change over time as the general mood changes and the technology advances. That is to say, that technological limitations impact the look of web pages is a big way. If you go back to the 1990's when there was no highspeed Internet, page sizes had to be less than 100k and the video cards people had, limited page sizes to 640x480 pixels - not much to work with! Stef

I have found that Google updates their index really, really fast these days. What used to take months to come out, now happens in hours! I've seen blog posts I've made on KillerSites.com appear within an hour on Google. ... It's pretty amazing to see. About Google's Hummingbird update to their search engine - from the London Telegraph:

Hi, Just look to basic design principles to begin with: alignment. whitespace font use color use If you have your page elements nicely lined up, don't use more than two fonts on the page, keep the colors properly matched (no clashing colors) and give the page a lot of breathing room (good use of whitespace) ... that will go a long of making the website look good. That all said, design is something that requires a good eye. It is something you can develop to a certain extent, but like a singing voice ... if you don't got it, you don't got it. So what is the solution? Use templates, follow the above principles and keep your designs simple and elegant because they are generally easier to maintain. Hope that helps. Stef

Yea, I heard that. It's going to be interesting to see how the webstats reflect that. Wow. Stef

Here's a funny story related to this - at first I called the system the 'killerSites Tutor' ... and the URL was tutor.killerSites.com. Seemed good enough. Well, I soon found out there was a problem with the name: a school board was all ready to go with the software and then they realized there was the word 'killer' in the name! Because of that, they could not accept it in the school! Soon enough, another school expressed concern with the word killer ... and so I decided to resurrect my old business name and domain studioWeb.com for this project. ... I think we are safe with this new name! Stef

Thanks!

Thanks!

Hi, I just wanted to announce that our new interactive video training system (www.studioWeb.com) is now being used by k12 schools to teach students the fundamentals of web design and programming: HTML CSS PHP JavaScript StudioWeb was originally the name my web design & development studio ran under - I registered that name in 1998! Stef

Hi, First, congratulations on your first paid job! Ok, this is what you need to do: Get a list of the visual elements your client wants for the site. Get a list of the functional elements he/she wants - do they need any special capabilities, like a contact form for example? Armed with this knowledge, look around the web, check out sites of a similar nature and also go to template collections .. for ideas. Once you have a few ideas, just quickly mock up something in Word (any program you are basically familiar with) using placeholder dummy text and images. Just let the client know that this is for feedback only … just in case they get nervous that you are bringing them pdf's or screenshots of the layouts. Don't try to learn Photoshop and web design at the same time - you are just making headaches for yourself for no good reason. Final tip: for your first web design job, don't expect to make much money per hour. In fact, you are a lucky one who is being paid to learn. So consider it an opportunity to develop your skills. Stef

Sorry for the delay. I think I can sum up the advantages of Laravel over CodeIgniter in two words: less code. Based on we've seen, Laravel will reduce you code by as much as 60% over Codeigniter. Stef

Hi, SEO is totally changed since the last two Google updates. Links matter much, much less ... and if you start doing a bunch of traditional link building, that might actually hurt your rankings. The key to ranking is activity on the Web about your site - that means social. Stef

Hi, SEO is totally changed since the last two Google updates. Links matter much, much less ... and if you start doing a bunch of traditional link building, that might actually hurt your rankings. The key to ranking is activity on the Web about your site - that means social. Stef

Hi, If you are trying to learn web design at the same time you are trying to learn Dreamweaver - you are trying to learn two things at the same time. That will make it much harder. I would suggest taking a step back from Dreamweaver and just basic web design. I would suggest my tutorial site for total beginners: www.how-to-build-websites.com What you will find is that once you understand basic web design, Dreamweaver will come much more easily. Stefan

You might want to try our site: www.csstutorial.net Myself and Andrea have put up a lot of material there. It is geared toward the beginner. Another option, is some of our video tutorials on CSS ... for example: CSS Layouts Stef

Hi, Just use Youtube ... create an account upload your video and YT will convert it. Stefan

SEO has changed drastically and the importance of URL structures in terms of how the engines will rank your site is greatly diminished. URL's should be clean and simple for usability purposes only ... for the most part. Stef