My nephew made the leap and finally bought Photoshop. He had been saving up for a while now, and believed it would make his life a lot easier. He saw a future where he would make top quality images by merely thinking about it. Just close your eyes hard enough and ‘poof’, it was done. Then he sat down to use Photoshop, and realized he had no idea what to do!

You shouldn’t have to go through this tragedy. You deserve better. Photoshop may be expensive, but anyone who knows how to properly use it will tell you it’s worth every cent. Like anything else you will have to make mistakes and learn by yourself, exploring the interface of the software. One way to help is to go to ‘Preferences’. Here you can improve the performance of your Photoshop.

The color algorithm that the program uses is decided by the color picker. Most user select Adobe or Windows. The algorithm for resizing an image is chosen by the ‘Image Interpolation’. Again, most people will use the ‘Bicubic Interpolation’.

Next you will notice the “History Log”. This allows you to save all the steps you used in the creation of an image. Here you have some choices … you can either record the start time and date of every editing session with the “Sessions Only” selection. The “Concise” selection records details on every editing session on the file. The other option is the “Detailed”, which records the same information as in the ‘Concise’ selection … plus information such as the path of the file and an account of every edit made to the file.

These brief examples can point you in the right direction, but the best way to learn about Photoshop is to experiment and try things out for yourself. Play around with all Photoshop’s features and discover great new ways to alter your image. To learn in more detail you can read about Photoshop or take an online video tutorial which will show you the step-by-step process for achieving a specific effect. If you keep at it, you’ll be making those top quality pictures in no time!

Adobe Photoshop CS4 - Full Adobe Photoshop CS4

Adobe Photoshop CS4 - Upgrade Adobe Photoshop CS4

A common question I get when I talk about web design is, “are web design graphics really that important when trying to sell online?”. Let me answer it this way:

Basically, I know of 2 groups of thought regarding graphic elements, and they are:

1. Graphic design does not affect anything, only content does. This would be your typical SEO response to web design and content creation. In SEO, content is king, therefor your graphics aren’t as important… however…

2. The second group thinks web graphics are very important, since they create that first impression when a new visitors arrives. Good web graphics can set your page apart from the rest and give you the needed accountability that largely formated content sites lack.

Which group is right?

I think the second group is closer to the truth. Let me explain…

The objective of any website is to get people to do things - buy stuff, or subscribe, or provide user generated content. We want are visitors to stay longer and do more things with us. It’s how you make money, and why we all do this web content creation thing.

If you go for a job interview, or go on a new date, what happens when you first meet? The first impression! That’s right, we all form an instant opinion when we make that first encounter.

You see, a new website visitor gets that same first impression when they come to your site, and if they get the wrong impression, they hit the back button or close button, and no one wins.

Anyways, do you think web design graphics have anything to do with first impressions? You can bet your last dollar on that, because they are proven to be the biggest factor in forming the first impression.

Put up a boring plain website that looks like other boring sites, and everyone will think “same old boring site” and leave. You will be just like every other boring site, with no reason to bookmark or visit.

Use some well matched web graphics on your site that grab attention, and you will see how it affects your sales, stats and conversions.

Think back to some of the websites you bookmarked on your first visit. Remember how they grabbed your attention and got you looking closely at what they offered? The first step is by the proper use of layout and web graphics to get people to start reading and watching. Now you know this, wouldn’t you want the graphics that give the best possible results?

It’s a key way to get that instant differentiation that makes you stand out to everyone, and luckily, you can get some pretty amazing marketing graphics for next to nothing out there.

If your website isn’t memorable, why not try putting some exciting graphics on your website? It might be just enough to tilt your visitors into action.

There are a number of kinds of web-hosting services available, and what matters is what you are trying to achieve in creating your company’s website. The options that you have depend on several unique factors.

Is the web site you run multifaceted? How complex your website will be is something to discuss with a developer, especially with regard to issues like graphics use and database administration. You may need to ask an internet specialist about the type of hosting that you require.

Many free web hosting services come with ads either at the top or the bottom of your pages, these ads may not be conductive to your sites original intent. Get a free web hosting package that matches with the online ad that’s already there if you’re going to get a site with ads.

Because the majority of people don’t choose to pay for their web-hosting, then they make due with a lower bandwidth than you would get with paid service. Simply put, in addition you receive a web email service at no cost along with hosting services that are free.

In addition, there is hosting that you pay for that you have more control over when you load and host your web site. Depending on the variety of account you choose to invest in, you will have the ability to create as many e-mails as you need with a POP mail address.

Every company has special packages for each and every need. From personal to business servers, even servers for special kinds of operating systems (Windows, Linux) the choices vary depending on what you want to do.

Pricing is dependent on the amount of server space necessary to load your applications so a consideration must be made of what you desire to put on the server through your web site.