tips, tricks and tutorials

General Graphic Design Tutorials

Print and Web Resolution: What's the Difference?

The misunderstanding of print and web resolution causes all sorts of mayhem for printers and web designers. The good news is that it isn't that complicated once you understand pixels.

There are two ways to calculate image resolution: pixel dimension and spatial resolution.

Pixel dimensions

Pixel dimensions are the height and width of an image in pixels. For example 800 x 600. You'll see resolutions calculated as pixel dimensions in most digital cameras.
Spatial resolution

Spatial resolution is image resolution as defined by a number of pixels per inch. This is what we'll use for this tutorial. Pixels (or dots) are what create digital images for both print and web. For print, there are more pixels, for web, there are less. These pixels are calculated as pixels or dots per inch (ppi or dpi). The more pixels per inch, the higher the resolution and the better the image quality should be. Higher resolutions also mean bigger files.

Ideal resolutions:

Print-300 ppi-1200 ppi (high resolution)-300 ppi is usually fine for most print jobs. If you're having your project professionally printed ask your printer what resolution the graphics need to be in. Resolutions may be higher or lower for unusual formats like billboards (30 ppi).

Web & E-mail-72-96 ppi (low resolution). Web resolution cannot be seen any higher than our computer monitors. Right now most new monitors can only go to a resolution of 96 ppi/dpi, so it doesn't make sense to have your online photos and graphics at a higher resolution slowing down loading and taking up space. Most online graphics should be at 72 ppi, leave the 96 ppi size for special photographs and use them sparingly.

Tip: Take digital images (such as photos or scans) at a high resolution, then size them down for the web because it doesn't work the other way around.

How do I choose the right graphic or web designer?

There's no magic formula here, but when you are shopping around for a web or graphic designer ask them these questions:

How many years of experience do you have?
Can I see samples of your work? (look at samples for the project you need designed-for example if you want a logo, look at their logo samples)
How do you price your services? Most designers either bill at a per project or per hour rate. There may be different rates for different services.
Can you provide me with 3 references from recent clients? This is so important! Check the references. Many designers require a deposit to start work, so you want to make sure you are working with someone who is reputable.
Can you write a design agreement with the scope of what your estimated cost and turnaround time is?
The final thing is a personal preference. If you feel comfortable with the person, that goes a long way. But make sure that the likable designer also answers your first 5 questions.

Website q&A

Do I need a website?

If you are doing business or trying to promote yourself in some way, you need a website. It is an absolute necessity these days. If you need more reasons, here you go:

Web users can access your site 24/7 whether you are in your studio or not
Prospective client feels no sales pressure and can browse your work and information on you at their leisure
It serves as an online portfolio
You can collect email addresses (ask first) and create a database of clients
The best way to reach your targeted buyers

How much does a website cost?

I'm afraid there's no easy answer here. There are no standard rules or regulations for the web design industry and prices change depending on what features you want on your website (animation, sound, video, etc.) To give you a ballpark figure, a small site (5-8 pages) should be about $2,000 just for the design, SEO and search engine submissions and maybe another $1,000 if you have the web content professionally written (which I highly recommend). A good web designer will talk to you about your needs and come up with a quote or estimate of what your site will cost.

Can't I design a website myself?

That's like asking, "Can I fix my own car?" The answer depends on the person. If you are computer savvy and learn new technical things quickly, then the answer may be yes. But designing a website is only the beginning. You need to understand online marketing, SEO (search engine optimization), and a heck of a lot of other things if you want your website to make you money and attract customers. As a professional web designer, developer and content writer I can tell you in all honesty that most people are not prepared to do all it takes to properly create their website. That's why I recommend hiring a professional for commercial websites (i.e. anything that isn't a personal website).

Can I maintain a website myself?

Yes! In my 12 years of experience designing websites, I'd say about 85-90% of people with some computer skills can maintain their website once a designer has set it up in a way that will allow them to make changes to the text without messing with the site's design template. Free programs like Mambo or Joomla are popular web content editors. For about $150 you can use Adobe Contribute which is very easy to work with (looks like a combination between Word and Internet Explorer.)

What are the steps and costs involved in getting a website?

First, you need a name for your site. Your website name comes from people called domain registrars. Popular registrars are namecheap.com and networksolutions.com.

Let's say your business is called Cakes by Jane. Ideally, your domain name (web URL) should be cakesbyjane.com. But if that name is already taken you may need to get creative with the domain name. You might try cakesbyjaneonline.com or cakesbyjanebakery.com or cakesbyjanecaterers.com. You get the picture. Even though you can buy names with different extensions (.net, .biz, .us, etc.) I recommend staying with .com and .net only if you can get away with it. Use .org only if you are a not for profit organization.
Try to keep the domain name as short as possible and easy for people to remember. You may want to buy both the .com and .net extensions of that name to keep any "clones" from stealing your business.
The name can cost anywhere from $0-$45 a year. Stay away from anything over $10 a year and ask questions if it is free. Many times a web host (next section) will give you a free domain name for the first year, then charge you afterwards. Find out what that cost will be before you make a commitment. And if this is a new business, only buy the name for one year. It is easy to renew (believe me your domain registrar will make sure you remember) and you don't want to get stuck with a name if your business no longer exists or if you decide to change your name. Now if you are an established business, go ahead and buy it for 3 or 5 years if you like.

Next, you need a web host. Think of a web host as a parking garage where you pay to park your car (your website). You can per month, per quarter, bi-annually or annually. If you have never worked with this host before or haven't had a friend or website designer recommend them, try to make the commitment as short as possible (monthly, for example) so you can easily switch hosts if these people do not meet your needs. Hosting costs from $4-$100 a month depending on the features they offer and the type of host you get.

There are 3 different types of hosting:

Shared Hosting-You website is uploaded (saved) to a web server (large computer) with other websites. This is the least expensive hosting type and the most popular. Shared hosting is usually $4-20/month unless you add e-commerce features to your site which usually makes it at least $30/month. Shared hosting is like living in an apartment building. If one of the other tenants has a fire, you are also at risk. So if another one of the websites on your shared server has a virus, then you'll get it too. The good news is that web hosts are usually good at keeping these problems at bay. I recommend shared hosting to most clients.
Virtual Server Hosting (VPS or VDS)-is the same as shared hosting except websites on the server are in separate "partitions." VPS hosts partition one server into multiple servers so that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. Each "virtual" server can run its own operating system and can be rebooted independently. Think of this as a townhouse instead of an apartment building. You share some things, but have more independence than living in an apartment. VPS hosts are good for people who need extra security and piece of mind or technies who want to install their own software to the system root. Most VPS also allow you to add several websites (or even an unlimited amount of sites) under just one account. If you have several different domain names or need extra security, this may be the best choice for you. Costs are usually $30-$100/month and are often guaranteed.
Dedicated Server Hosting-this is a physical computer just for your websites. Security is usually the biggest advantage of dedicated server hosting, but the price takes it out of most consumer's reach. The costs start from $150-$500/month and usually include a setup charge at about the same rate as the monthly rate.

My Recommendations:

If you are new the world of website hosting and don't know what you need, chances are you will do just fine with Shared Hosting from reputable companies like FatCow, GoDaddy or Apollo Hosting. The only reason I've chosen VPS over Shared Hosts in the past is the e-mail features. Because your site is partitioned with VPS hosting, your e-mails will not be scrutinized as much as they are with Shared Hosting. One shared host I use won't let me send any e-mails with the word "proposal" in it because it is flagged as SPAM. If I upgrade to VPS host, I wouldn't have that problem.

Questions to Ask Your Web Host:

Web hosts prices differ usually because of what they offer. So make sure you see a list of what is included and compare it to other hosts. Or ask your web designer for their suggestions.

Find out setup and monthly fees (shared hosts should not charge you a set up fee, but some do)
Ask for customer & tech support hours (24/7 is what you want)
Are you going to accept money online?

Shopping Cart
SSL Secure Socket Layer

Database or secure forms management?

Need MySQL, PHP, CGI

Website Tutorials for Beginning Web Designers or Do-It-Yourselfers

Why does my site look great in every browser except Internet Explorer?

All major browsers follow certain web standards EXCEPT for Microsoft Internet Explorer. I guess they think they're so popular they don't have to comply to them. And sometimes what works in Internet Explorer doesn't work in any other browser. Fun, huh? That's why it takes a pro to make sure that comments are written in the code that tell Microsoft Internet Explorer how to interpret certain things.

What's the best software for designing websites?

Adobe Dreamweaver. It has the best features, but it does have a learning curve. At a close second is Mozilla's KompoZer which is open source (free).

Can't I just use a template?

Templates are tricky. Sites like templatemonster.com show absolutely gorgeous site templates that sell for about $60-100. Sounds great, except that these are very sophisticated templates that most people do not know how to manage, much less edit. You must be well versed in CSS and HTML or you'll be wasting your money. Plus, the site is not unique since anyone can use that same template. All the templates are create are custom one-of-a-kind templates. Other templates like those available from your web host may be much easier to work with, but may not allow you to customize the site the way you need for SEO, etc.

Photoshop Tutorials

Coming soon!

Reflected Text
Metal Effects
Photo Retouching
Transluscent water drops

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