The following list of websites is the best compilation of sites on the web where you can download many different fonts totally free. Also, there are a variety of different types of fonts and styles you can download from the following sites so start searching today. Keep in mind that these sites are not listed in any particular order.
#1 www.1001freefonts.com/links.htm
Great site because it ranks other font websites in order of popularity as well as having more than 1,000 different fonts to download for free. This website is certainly a great resource if you need a lot of fonts and don’t want to pay for them!
#2 www.acidfonts.com
This is also a great website if you simply want to visit one site and download fonts without having to search multiple websites. At acidfonts.com you will be able to download a variety of different fonts for your PC and even convert the fonts over to your Mac if you want. This website will certainly provide you with the fonts you need for your website and business.
#3 www.1001fonts.com
This website may easily be confused with the first website listed, however it is completely different and also has a great selection for free font downloads. There are fonts available for the PC as well as Macs, so anyone can get the fonts they need from this website for free.
#4 www.coolarchive.com
This website is really cool, as it says in its name, because not only can you download over 1000 fonts completely free, there is also clipart, sounds, icons, applications, bars, bullets, and arrows. Most anything you need to design your website just the way you want is available on this site. If you are not sure how to download and install a font then read the FAQs to find out how.
#5 www.fontfreak.com
This is an amazing website with literally thousands upon thousands of fonts to download and dingbats as well. This is a highly rated website and completely free.
#6 www.downloadfreefonts.com
This is another great website because when you enter you can either choose Mac or PC or the top 20 font websites. From either Mac or PC you will be able to download the fonts you like most or you can visit all of the different top websites to check out the font availability and diversity.
#7 free.sinoa.com/FreeFonts/index.htm?29
Check out the different fonts available and then download the ones you like best or that suit your purposes best all for free!
#8 www.highfonts.com
A wide variety of fonts are available on this website, not to mention over 1001 free fonts to choose from. This site has a lot to offer and directs you to some good free font links as well.
#9 www.abstractfonts.com/fonts/
Great website for free fonts as well as other font related information you might find helpful.
#10 www.freefontsnow.com
This website has fonts for both Mac and PC and is yet another great way to search for fonts as well. You can either search categories to look for particular styles of fonts, or you can search by first letter if you already know the name of your font.
Michael Turner reveals his foolproof way to increase website traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it free right now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Turner
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
Use Of Graphic Design To Increase Website Useability
There can be no argument about the importance of design in attracting Internet users to a particular web site. No one would bother to explore the contents of a site if it does not contain eye-catching graphics that can please the visual sense of the users. With so many kinds of web sites existing online, it is extremely challenging to attract users and keep them interested in the site.
But a web site developer does not simply apply graphics freely on a site. Graphics should be used in the correct manner, or else, users might get turned off because the graphics featured just overwhelmed or confused them.
While it is true that attractive design is important for reasons that need not be explained, the choice of design must be carefully considered against the fulfilling the needs of users. When done successfully, it could be safely said that the web site has achieved its goals.
Graphics used in the Internet is inextricably linked to multimedia. Multimedia is a combination of graphics, text, sound, and animation to express a message to users. The multimedia features that will be incorporated to a web site should be dependent on the content. In general, multimedia and graphics should serve as supports to content, and should have precise, instructional purpose.
According to research, animated images can facilitate the transfer of learning in a positive way if it is utilized to show a vital part of the concept that is being illustrated. On the other hand, animation can serve as a barrier to user recall and performance.
Here are the guidelines in incorporating graphics to web sites:
1. Justify the usage of the graphics
The most obvious problem that can be seen on web pages is the over-usage of graphics. The main downside of this is that complicated, unnecessary graphics can take a long time to download, and this, of course, will not sit well with users. The graphics to be applied should support the transfer of data and should also be in relation to the accompanying text.
2. The difference between graphics with text-redundant data and those containing information that is non-redundant is that the former facilitates and ushers in the learning process, while the latter does not either help or slow down learning.
3. Consistency should be a priority in graphic design
4. Web pages should be marked up so that text will be downloaded before the graphics. In this way, the users will know immediately if the page has the information that they are looking for, and if not, they will be able to save precious waiting time knowing that they do not need that certain page.
5. The loading of graphics should be controlled as such that loading will commence from top to bottom, and the users scrolling down the page will encounter said graphics.
6. The downloading of pages should be fast in order to save users waiting time, and in order to reduce the chances that they will get frustrated that they will abandon plans to download. Here are several ways to achieve fast download periods:
-Keep the physical size of the graphics to a minimum
-Images should be combined in order to minimize the number of server connections. Remember, the more connections that exists, the slower the download time will be
-Decrease image resolution
-Limit the colors that will be used for the images
-Limit the use of animation
Animation is very much a part of web graphic design. The primary difference between web text and graphics and contents that are print-based is the dynamics. Moving displays attract the attention of users as long as the frequency of the display is regulated. Too much animation display can irritate and distract users. An animation that is perpetually moving can destroy the readable quality of the web page.
The usage of blinking texts should be avoided. It has long been regarded as an overused feature and the latest browsers no longer support it.
In designing a web site, there always exists a conflict between the desire to have total control over the appearance of a page and the need to permit users to establish their own preferences. The general appearance of the page should be made by the designer, but there are certain elements that users should have control over, such as color and text background, and the option whether to display graphics or not.
It takes a considerable amount of effort to establish and maintain the attractiveness and efficiency of a web site. If the guidelines above will be followed, all the efforts of web designers will bear desirable results. They only have to remember that the benefit of the users will always be the basis for everything.
Author Resource:- 5 Shades Hosting is a successful web hosting provider that has been providing website design and affordable web hosting services for individuals and businesses for almost a decade now. Dollar-for-dollar, feature-for-feature, you'll find the best web hosting plans right here plus a full Money Back Guarantee.
Article From Niche Article Directory
But a web site developer does not simply apply graphics freely on a site. Graphics should be used in the correct manner, or else, users might get turned off because the graphics featured just overwhelmed or confused them.
While it is true that attractive design is important for reasons that need not be explained, the choice of design must be carefully considered against the fulfilling the needs of users. When done successfully, it could be safely said that the web site has achieved its goals.
Graphics used in the Internet is inextricably linked to multimedia. Multimedia is a combination of graphics, text, sound, and animation to express a message to users. The multimedia features that will be incorporated to a web site should be dependent on the content. In general, multimedia and graphics should serve as supports to content, and should have precise, instructional purpose.
According to research, animated images can facilitate the transfer of learning in a positive way if it is utilized to show a vital part of the concept that is being illustrated. On the other hand, animation can serve as a barrier to user recall and performance.
Here are the guidelines in incorporating graphics to web sites:
1. Justify the usage of the graphics
The most obvious problem that can be seen on web pages is the over-usage of graphics. The main downside of this is that complicated, unnecessary graphics can take a long time to download, and this, of course, will not sit well with users. The graphics to be applied should support the transfer of data and should also be in relation to the accompanying text.
2. The difference between graphics with text-redundant data and those containing information that is non-redundant is that the former facilitates and ushers in the learning process, while the latter does not either help or slow down learning.
3. Consistency should be a priority in graphic design
4. Web pages should be marked up so that text will be downloaded before the graphics. In this way, the users will know immediately if the page has the information that they are looking for, and if not, they will be able to save precious waiting time knowing that they do not need that certain page.
5. The loading of graphics should be controlled as such that loading will commence from top to bottom, and the users scrolling down the page will encounter said graphics.
6. The downloading of pages should be fast in order to save users waiting time, and in order to reduce the chances that they will get frustrated that they will abandon plans to download. Here are several ways to achieve fast download periods:
-Keep the physical size of the graphics to a minimum
-Images should be combined in order to minimize the number of server connections. Remember, the more connections that exists, the slower the download time will be
-Decrease image resolution
-Limit the colors that will be used for the images
-Limit the use of animation
Animation is very much a part of web graphic design. The primary difference between web text and graphics and contents that are print-based is the dynamics. Moving displays attract the attention of users as long as the frequency of the display is regulated. Too much animation display can irritate and distract users. An animation that is perpetually moving can destroy the readable quality of the web page.
The usage of blinking texts should be avoided. It has long been regarded as an overused feature and the latest browsers no longer support it.
In designing a web site, there always exists a conflict between the desire to have total control over the appearance of a page and the need to permit users to establish their own preferences. The general appearance of the page should be made by the designer, but there are certain elements that users should have control over, such as color and text background, and the option whether to display graphics or not.
It takes a considerable amount of effort to establish and maintain the attractiveness and efficiency of a web site. If the guidelines above will be followed, all the efforts of web designers will bear desirable results. They only have to remember that the benefit of the users will always be the basis for everything.
Author Resource:- 5 Shades Hosting is a successful web hosting provider that has been providing website design and affordable web hosting services for individuals and businesses for almost a decade now. Dollar-for-dollar, feature-for-feature, you'll find the best web hosting plans right here plus a full Money Back Guarantee.
Article From Niche Article Directory
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Avoid These Web Site Design And Writing No-Nos
Is your website doomed before it even gets off the ground?
A badly-designed website can turn off potential customers before they even think about buying your product. Here are some website design mistakes that you should avoid.
1. Don't load your web site with a lot of high tech
clutter. As a rule, avoid using fancy animation or script
code unless it is absolutely necessary.. Those things only serve to distract from your sales message.
2. A website that loads slowly is just about the most
annoying thing on the Internet. Don't use large graphics
or anything else that dramatically increases your site's
load time.
3. Don't make the mistake that everyone will totally
understand your web site message. Use descriptive words and examples to get your point across.
4. Don't write your strongest point or benefit only once.
You should repeat it at least 3 times because some people
may miss it.
5. Don't push all your words together on your web site.
People like to skim; use plenty of headings and sub
headings.
6. Stay focused. Don't use site content your target
audience isn't interested in. If people are coming to your
site to find info about fishing, then don't include soccer content.
7. Keep a unified theme. Don't use 50 different content formats all over your web site. Use the same fonts, text sizes, text colors, etc.
8. Stick to the basics. Don't use words your web site
visitors might not understand. People are not going to stop
and look in a dictionary, they will just go to another site.
9. Don't let your selling words and phrases go unnoticed. Highlight important words and phrases with color, bolding, italics, underlining, etc.
10. Don't forget to use words that create emotion. All
people have emotions, people will have more interest when
they are emotionally attached.
11. Don't use unnecessary words or phrases on your site.
You only have so much time to get your visitor's attention
and interest; so make ever word count.
12. Stay organized by avoiding the "cluttered" look. I see plenty of websites that have banners and graphics strewn all over the place with no rhyme or reason. These sites look awful and , needless to say, I click away from them as quickly as possible.
By avoiding these website design mistakes, you increase the odds that visitors will stay on your site long enough to make that purchase.
Ronald Gibson is a Web Designer and Internet Marketer. He
is the Webmaster of AffiliateUtopia.com, which offers information about some of the best money making opportunities on the Web. For more information, visit: http://www.affiliateutopia.com/
A badly-designed website can turn off potential customers before they even think about buying your product. Here are some website design mistakes that you should avoid.
1. Don't load your web site with a lot of high tech
clutter. As a rule, avoid using fancy animation or script
code unless it is absolutely necessary.. Those things only serve to distract from your sales message.
2. A website that loads slowly is just about the most
annoying thing on the Internet. Don't use large graphics
or anything else that dramatically increases your site's
load time.
3. Don't make the mistake that everyone will totally
understand your web site message. Use descriptive words and examples to get your point across.
4. Don't write your strongest point or benefit only once.
You should repeat it at least 3 times because some people
may miss it.
5. Don't push all your words together on your web site.
People like to skim; use plenty of headings and sub
headings.
6. Stay focused. Don't use site content your target
audience isn't interested in. If people are coming to your
site to find info about fishing, then don't include soccer content.
7. Keep a unified theme. Don't use 50 different content formats all over your web site. Use the same fonts, text sizes, text colors, etc.
8. Stick to the basics. Don't use words your web site
visitors might not understand. People are not going to stop
and look in a dictionary, they will just go to another site.
9. Don't let your selling words and phrases go unnoticed. Highlight important words and phrases with color, bolding, italics, underlining, etc.
10. Don't forget to use words that create emotion. All
people have emotions, people will have more interest when
they are emotionally attached.
11. Don't use unnecessary words or phrases on your site.
You only have so much time to get your visitor's attention
and interest; so make ever word count.
12. Stay organized by avoiding the "cluttered" look. I see plenty of websites that have banners and graphics strewn all over the place with no rhyme or reason. These sites look awful and , needless to say, I click away from them as quickly as possible.
By avoiding these website design mistakes, you increase the odds that visitors will stay on your site long enough to make that purchase.
Ronald Gibson is a Web Designer and Internet Marketer. He
is the Webmaster of AffiliateUtopia.com, which offers information about some of the best money making opportunities on the Web. For more information, visit: http://www.affiliateutopia.com/
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
11 Web Design Tips
Before you start design on a website step back a minute – or two. Think about what a website is REALLY supposed to do for the client as well as the visitor. In its simplest form, a website is there to facilitate a transaction of information between it and the visitor. With this in mind, here are some tips for designing useful web sites:
1. Font Free for All: Keep the number of font families you use on a page to a minimum. Using many different fonts on a page communicates a sense of disorganization. Use different fonts only to assist in organizing the page in a clear manner; however you can usually achieve this by changing font sizes and font weight.
2. Put it on my tab: Check your forms to be sure the tab key proceeds to the next expected (and logical) field on a form. For example, if your form is collecting address information and you are on the city field the next tab should go to state, not the 2nd address line field.
3. Dump the landing page: In this day and age that extra click the user has to make on that cool splash page that you spent 2 hours on in Photoshop is not going to impress them - well maybe the first visit; it will most likely be viewed as a nuisance and irritate them by the 2nd or 3rd visit. The visitor wants to get to the information they need ASAP – concentrate on using that graphics savvy to help support the content within the site (i.e. navigation, organized layout).
4. Don’t be too Flashy: There are some sites out there (they know who they are) that use Flash in a really creative but useful manner (http://www.2advanced.com). There are others that use it with the creativity in mind but let the concept of usability fall by the way side. For instance, putting a flash segment on a splash page can compound the annoyance in tip 3. Not only does the visitor have to click just to get to the meat of the site but now he may have to wait for a flash movie to load on top of it.
In addition be careful when creating navigation systems with Flash. I have been to many sites where you almost have to chase after the link because it is spinning around in some sphere or only appears when you hover over some other section just right. I am certainly not against the use of Flash at all – just gratuitous use of it. I liken it to the gratuitous show of female skin in a bad sci-fi movie which has absolutely no bearing on the plot - although I find this a lot easier to accept.
5. No Bouncing Balls: Keep animation to a minimum unless it truly supports the site. Bouncing balls, moving smiley faces, spinning text in most cases is not going to help support the site and usually becomes distracting and sometimes annoying.
6. Background and Readability: Be careful when using backgrounds to choose or create one that will keep a good contrast with the text that sits on top of it. Too much texture in a background can also wreak havoc on the readability of a site.
7. CSS = Yes: Be sure to use CSS (Cascading Style sheets) to separate the content from the presentation. Using inline styles makes things tough when want to change to presentation attributes of a site. There is tons of free material on CSS all over the web.
8. Read up on colors and the emotions/moods they tend to evoke: Note that colors do convey different meanings in different cultures. Also, utilize a good color scheme generator to help you in creating an overall color scheme of the site. Here is a link to a free online one - http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html.
9. But it worked on my machine!: Be sure to test in as many browsers as possible. Things that look great in Internet Explorer may soon be transformed to a collection of HTML elements in complete disarray in another browser or even another version of IE – especially when using a tableless layout approach.
10. You sunk my JavaScript!: Keep the “Display a notification about every script error” checked in IE if you use it as your main browser during development especially when using JavaScript – which I try to keep to a minimum anyway. IE has a habit of overlooking JavaScript errors otherwise leading you to believe that all is well – until you start getting phone calls! Remember though to test in MANY browsers which brings, me to the next tip.
11. Get Firefox 2.0 and download the free utlilites Firebug and Webdeveloper: On top of being another browser to test with, the add-ons Firebug and Webdeveloper are extremely helpful.
John LaSpina's 12 year system development career has spanned many different system development factions including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Financial, Billing, Engineering applications, Intranets, Extranets, and Web Sites.
The development languages/tools John uses includes VB, C#, HTML, DHTML, CSS, PHP, Perl, Javascript, MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, and Photoshop
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_LaSpina
1. Font Free for All: Keep the number of font families you use on a page to a minimum. Using many different fonts on a page communicates a sense of disorganization. Use different fonts only to assist in organizing the page in a clear manner; however you can usually achieve this by changing font sizes and font weight.
2. Put it on my tab: Check your forms to be sure the tab key proceeds to the next expected (and logical) field on a form. For example, if your form is collecting address information and you are on the city field the next tab should go to state, not the 2nd address line field.
3. Dump the landing page: In this day and age that extra click the user has to make on that cool splash page that you spent 2 hours on in Photoshop is not going to impress them - well maybe the first visit; it will most likely be viewed as a nuisance and irritate them by the 2nd or 3rd visit. The visitor wants to get to the information they need ASAP – concentrate on using that graphics savvy to help support the content within the site (i.e. navigation, organized layout).
4. Don’t be too Flashy: There are some sites out there (they know who they are) that use Flash in a really creative but useful manner (http://www.2advanced.com). There are others that use it with the creativity in mind but let the concept of usability fall by the way side. For instance, putting a flash segment on a splash page can compound the annoyance in tip 3. Not only does the visitor have to click just to get to the meat of the site but now he may have to wait for a flash movie to load on top of it.
In addition be careful when creating navigation systems with Flash. I have been to many sites where you almost have to chase after the link because it is spinning around in some sphere or only appears when you hover over some other section just right. I am certainly not against the use of Flash at all – just gratuitous use of it. I liken it to the gratuitous show of female skin in a bad sci-fi movie which has absolutely no bearing on the plot - although I find this a lot easier to accept.
5. No Bouncing Balls: Keep animation to a minimum unless it truly supports the site. Bouncing balls, moving smiley faces, spinning text in most cases is not going to help support the site and usually becomes distracting and sometimes annoying.
6. Background and Readability: Be careful when using backgrounds to choose or create one that will keep a good contrast with the text that sits on top of it. Too much texture in a background can also wreak havoc on the readability of a site.
7. CSS = Yes: Be sure to use CSS (Cascading Style sheets) to separate the content from the presentation. Using inline styles makes things tough when want to change to presentation attributes of a site. There is tons of free material on CSS all over the web.
8. Read up on colors and the emotions/moods they tend to evoke: Note that colors do convey different meanings in different cultures. Also, utilize a good color scheme generator to help you in creating an overall color scheme of the site. Here is a link to a free online one - http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html.
9. But it worked on my machine!: Be sure to test in as many browsers as possible. Things that look great in Internet Explorer may soon be transformed to a collection of HTML elements in complete disarray in another browser or even another version of IE – especially when using a tableless layout approach.
10. You sunk my JavaScript!: Keep the “Display a notification about every script error” checked in IE if you use it as your main browser during development especially when using JavaScript – which I try to keep to a minimum anyway. IE has a habit of overlooking JavaScript errors otherwise leading you to believe that all is well – until you start getting phone calls! Remember though to test in MANY browsers which brings, me to the next tip.
11. Get Firefox 2.0 and download the free utlilites Firebug and Webdeveloper: On top of being another browser to test with, the add-ons Firebug and Webdeveloper are extremely helpful.
John LaSpina's 12 year system development career has spanned many different system development factions including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Financial, Billing, Engineering applications, Intranets, Extranets, and Web Sites.
The development languages/tools John uses includes VB, C#, HTML, DHTML, CSS, PHP, Perl, Javascript, MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, and Photoshop
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_LaSpina
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