Wordpress on Dreamweaver - The nightmare is over!

Last week I spent an entire day trying to work out how to get MAMP and wordpress to talk to each other so I could start designing wordpress websites and blogs directly on dreamweaver cs5.

Today - at long last - I found a combination of two videos that did the trick.

First, the MAMP and Wordpress installation video I used by MacAppGuide.com:


Second, the easy Wordpress Themes for Dreamweaver CS5 video I used by MediaTricks.net:


Thank you to the two organizations that put these together. I finally can move on to the real fun - DESIGNING! Perhaps now I can get myself switched over to wordpress instead of blogger.

Savage Chicken iMugs

A friend passed this on to me and I couldn't resist posting it here. It's by Doug Savage of Savage Chickens. Gotta love it ... and if you do, you can order a mug.


My personal favorite: Hands-Free Mode! Or on a really bad day I might need to use the Built-in GPS.

Black Boxes in Place of Images in Microsoft Word

I recently had a client who asked for some business cards using Avery Template 8371. Although the images showed up fine on my Windows 2008 for Mac saved as a .docx file, when saved as a .doc file for the clients pc version of word, the images changed to black boxes.

"Humph!" I said scratching my head. I saved them as .jpgs, high enough quality to be printed on their own office printer. What could possibly be the problem.

I did a little research and this is what I found:

Word doesn't like .jpgs saved from a cmyk photo documents (like photoshop)

So I went back into my photoshop image, changed the image mode to rgb, resaved as a .jpg (and unchecked the "embed color profile". I then reinserted the images into the word document and VOILA it looked and saved just fine.

Need a business cards with your website and logo? Give Flying Change Webs & Graphics a call!

Like the carpenter whose house is never complete ...

I often feel the same about my own website ... I never feel as if it is really complete because there is always something more I want to add. More news. More articles. More samples into the portfolio. More search engine optimization (SEO) tweeks. But as a dedicated website designer specializing in getting small businesses up on the web, I always put my clients first.

Today I took a few minutes to make a few new additions to my own website and performed my own SEO "check up". I searched for the general term "small business web design". I intentionally did not put a state or region in order to see where I was on the Google result for such a general term. Here is the result:

Yes, that is a first page placement with the second position!

The primary key to this success? Patience.

Nearly two years ago, which I started Flying Change Webs & Graphics, this sort of positioning was only a dream. Now, with some hard work, dedication, and PATIENCE, I finding myself happily busy doing what I love and reaping the benefits.

Are you ready to give your website a new look - or just put your business on the web? Check out my updated Web Design Portfolio page and then give me a call.

Listed First and Second in Less Than 3 Months!

This past Spring, I worked created a logo and website for Lisa Madison and Rocky Coast Seminars. It launched at the end of April. Today, in a Google Search for "seminars in Maine for educators" I was pleasantly surprised to find the following results:


The correct use of keywords, clean coding, and attention to the design aspects is the primary difference between this site and many of the competitors. Congratulations Lisa! Your first seminar hasn't started yet and you're already on your way to success!

To Skype with Love …

The most wonderful thing has happened! Well, it’s wonderful when you are a techno geek like me with a hubby who travels …

My husband finally has a laptop that he can take on these long, round-the-world trips to Australia (he is currently on his 4th trip around the world since January 1, 2009). The difference is ... he's discovered SKYPE!

I'm sure you've heard of Skype the video phone call made from your computer … a FREE video call from your computer. Keyword being FREE ... especially since international cell phone calls are quite expensive!

Now I’ve held business conferences using skype before and it is especially wonderful when we are hoding the conference between multiple time zones - Germany, France, and various zones here int the USA. But this time …

This time ….

It was my hubby.

• We cooked dinner together
• My daughter got to show him her muscles
• I ‘gave him a cookie’ (showed him the cookies my daughter made)
  
• He showed the wave pool outside the hotel – which my son loved!
• We all got to “hug” him (or pretend we did)
  

We are not a conventional family. In fact, our motto is “it’s not just a marriage, it’s an adventure”. So this form of communication fits right in!

So I realize this little story isn't about business or websites ... but I wanted to share it with you because I DO LOVE MY GADGETS!

If you don't have Skype, perhaps you should download it FREE and try it for your next business conference call. It will change the way you work - and play.

Look me up. My Skype handle is "flyingchangewebs".

Love Ya Honey!

Yahoo Mail & Firefox

I was recently informed by a client using Yahoo Mail with Firefox on a PC that he was unable to link to send an email from my contact page link. I use both a PC running IE 7 and Firefox and a Mac running Firefox and Safari with email clients outlook, entourage, and mail. I was unable to recreate the problem he was having, so the problem only seems to apply to the Yahoo Mail and Firefox on PC combination.

I pride myself in looking after my clients, so I found the following general information about using Yahoo Mail and Firefox on the PC:

• There has been a long list of problems in the last 2 years with this combination.
• The troubles have ranged from error messages saying "Yahoo Mail doesn't support your browser" to not opening an existing email link at all. (This is what happened to my client.)
• Unable to send links within emails.
• Email not sending at all.
• Inbox not loading completely.
  

The recommended fix is a plug-in for Firefox. There are also some Yahoo Mail setting that may help. I don't use Yahoo mail - so I am providing this information just in case you run into any problems and need the fix.

If you have your own website, you may consider switching all your email to the personal email account - like you@yourdomain.com and use a mail client like outlook, thunderbird, or even webmail to access your email.

Hope this helps anyone who may have this problem.