Basic CSS3 to Customize your WordPress Theme

With the increasing browser compatibility of CSS3, additional customization of websites is in the reach of most anyone (Even a Monkey can do it, according to Nikos Advertizopoulos …). Tonight we will start with a series of calls to become familiar with the possibilities arising from the use of CSS3 on WordPress to improve typography and font styles.

You may follow the progress of the work at the Ycademy Demo Site which features the Semiomantics XO Theme.

Looking forward to seeing you on YorgoLive tonight.

Related posts:

1. How to Customize WordPress 2
2. How to Customize WordPress
3. Semiomantics XO Transparent WordPress Drafts
4. Customize WordPress with Semiomantics XO
5. XO Photo Press WordPress Theme

Transparent WordPress Custom Theme

Playing with the XO Theme Version 3.3.x from Semiomantics and CSS3, I notice how easy it is for most anyone to customize the XO Theme by adding transparencies and other CSS3 elements. Here below you find some drafts. You may visit the test site from : http://globalthebrand.com.

On the test site we use the Semiomantics Widgets and Theme Handler plug-in as well as a modified Supersized plug-in; the latter needs some more work to make it more responsive. Also we use TubePress which behaves fine also on mobile.

The Theme is Semiomantics XO with 3 custom child-themes; any theme can be associated with any page, post, category, tag or sidebar.

Related posts:

1. Transparent WordPress Semiomantics XO
2. Transparent WordPress Theme Design
3. Semiomantics XO Blog
4. The 1001 Faces of Semiomantics XO
5. Semiomantics XO 2011 for WordPress

Portraits of Africa 2012 on Google

Time again to monitor and check the performance of our new WP based Semiomantics XO 2012 Script on search engines.

Here’s a screenshot of yesterday’s post “Portraits of Africa 2012″ on Google – have a look! Positions 1, 2, 3 and 6 ahead of 10,800,000 search returns – YEBO GOGO!

Portraits of Africa 2012 on Google

When looking up “Portraits of Africa 2012″ on Google, I also checked how the images in my article were ranked – here’s the detail of the screenshot showing the Image of a “Young African Girl” on position one, followed by the Image of a “Young African Boy” on position 4… and a small ad I created ages ago peeking at us on position 2. All of them ahead of our South African presidents… just too funny! The young generation is on the move!

Portrait of Africa Images

It becomes even more intrigueing when we look up “Portrait of Africa Images” on Google and find these young faces of Africa featuring amongst some really classy photography! And again… the random positioning is just too weird… for those who read this and understand what I mean! Welcome to the future :)

Fact is, that with the increasing importance of images and media on the Internet – and with this for our website development – … and people preferring to look at something for quick grasping of the contents rather than reading long time-consuming – and even worse: thought-provoking -  texts… that the correct tagging and classification of photos and images becomes more important. Here as with any post what counts is to be found on Google – Google Top 10 that is. Noone else looks further…

Congratulations to our young friends who’ve made it to the top ranks and find themselves in interesting and attractive company! There will be more….

Hakamela Conferencing

We are pleased to announce that the Conference Services website  “Hakamela Conferencing & Event Management” will soon be under construction on Semiomantics XO 2012.

Hakamela Conferencing

Hakamela Conferencing & Event Management will open its doors in Pretoria, South Africa. This high-demand Service Company  will be run by professional Conference Management Expert Lynn Sakuinje.

Web Design South Africa will be designing a simple, practical and user-friendly website that will target top 10 positions on Google under the relevant keywords and focuses on high visibility on the mobile web.

New Semiomantics XO Theme for WordPress

The above Screenshots represent just some of the pages, features and looks the 2012 Edition of the high performance XO Theme for WordPress has up its sleeves. The above site is the fruit of the 2 Days Ycademy Online Seminar for Semiomantics Developers and designers.

The 2012 Edition of XO is focused on even more flexibility in as much as editing, cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility are concerned.

The Site displays perfectly on Mobile devices, showing responsiveness also of the plugged in scripts chosen of which some have been adapted to satisfy the high standards of Semiomantics Publishing Scripts for Excellence.

The site elaborated at the Ycademy Online Seminar this past week-end features some smashing features, such as:

• Background Slideshow, customizable for each page, post or archive
• Built in Directory
• Media Library for YouTube and Vimeo
• Pro-sliders which can be deployed anywhere on the site
• In addition to the responsive design, a separate light Mobile Version is available
• Bold and Efficient Navigation
• Built in Custom Fonts
• Social Network connectivity and publishing
• and much more.

The XO script is well commented and offers designers a clean and straight forward environment for custom developments. XO uses best practices for WordPress development and makes the best use of the possibilities offered by the WP back-bone, assuring smooth integration and optimized conflict handling.

XO is a great playground for designers. The DIY version allows anyone to adapt layout and colors to taste right from the back-office; there is no need to have any knowledge about coding or designing. The theme behaves like a Chameleon and adapts to specific needs with just a few clicks of the mouse: pre-configured layout elements transform your XO quickly into a Magazine, Newspaper, personal Author Blog, a Media Hub, a Shop, a Marketing Machine, a Social Media Publisher, a Product Promoter or a Fan Site or most anything your imagination dictates.

For the professional designer, XO offers a well commented environment. Custom code can be added right from the dashboard or, as I prefer using a child theme. XO is tuned for HTML5 and CSS3 use, making it a modern and inspiring framework for exceptional design effects.

Out of the box, the XO Theme for WordPress provides a stable and reliable, robust and optimized solution for common use. It provides built in features such a slider with multiple transitions and a one click selector for easy use.

Layouts can be easily adapted to needs and purpose of the site. In fact, most custom designers rely on the theme engine to format efficiently layouts.

The site featured in the above gallery uses a few pro plug-ins to add functionality in function of customer requirements. The integration of such add on scripts is a relatively simple process for designers and developers.

XO has been developed for high performance, productivity, excellence in publishing and flexibility. For the professional users, the XO Theme constitues a solid base with a huge potential for customization and creative artistic expression.

The release of XO Version 3.3.x is planned for the first week of February. The present Release Candidate has been thoroughly tested. A few minor issues will be taken care off before XO will be available to the public.

If your site is running on Semiomantics XO suing basic customization, the theme can just be overwritten. (Save your custom CSS beforehand.)

If you are using a custom version with custom developments or a child theme, some of your customization will need to be adapted to the enhancements of XO 2012. This concerns namely custom headers and footers as well as custom functions.

Support for developers and designers is available as usual at our Ycademy Online Calls and Seminars or through Semiomantics Pro Support.

Related posts:

1. Semiomantics XO Blog
2. Facebook Strategy with WordPress
3. Ycademy Online Seminar January 2012
4. Semiomantics XO 2010 Edition
5. WordPress Shop Version 3 by Semiomantics

Bianca Gubalke Mobile

Bianca Gubalke Mobile – a first pre-seminar sketch for a mobile version! The little icons stand for Social Network icons like Facebook, Twitter etc, which I would design myself to fit into the overall picture I have in mind.

Bianca Gubalke Mobile

We are living in times of rapid change and the explosion of the mobile market. People use their mobile phones to search the net, to find what they want, to compare it and – to buy it. Sales figures triggered via the mobile net are staggering – and as web designers we have to adapt – which means also to focus on new technologies and learn new languages.

Over the past years, Semiomantics has always evolved along with WordPress Developments. Remarkably, the latest WP update allows for much more creativity. While our Semiomantics based author blogs display perfectly on smartphones through integration of the right plugins and settings, there’s much more scope that we will be looking into at this weekend’s Ycademy Seminar 2012 – which is also a testing ground for the new Semiomantics XO 2012 – to be released soon.

In that sense, I am looking forward to the evolution of Bianca Gubalke Mobile!

The Semiomantics Shop 2010 will be the hot topic of the first Ycademy Business Building Seminar of a cycle of 12 (one Seminar per month) starting today, Saturday 23rd, 2010. It presents an extension of the Ycademy December Seminar 2009, where Seminar participants set up individual IT Consulting Blogs as the example featured below (click on the image; it will lead you to the original Web Design Consulting Blog).

The Ycademy Seminar January 2010 was booked out within days.

Semiomantics Shop 2010

The Semiomantics Shop 2010 under discussion is a basic Semiomantics WP Ecommerce based Shop solution that can be adapted to any WordPress Theme. It is an especially interesting approach as each product and each brand requires customized solutions.
We will be reporting on this exciting new Semiomantics Shop Workshop that equips our Web Design Consulting Team with a very efficient way to not only sell own products and services, but to provide customers with a user-friendly store that connects to the whole sales pipeline requirements plus follow-up and customer care.

The cherry on top: an Affiliate Program hooked to the new Semiomantics Shop!

To be continued. . .

Monkey Valley Resort on Mobile

I just got some screenshots directly from the iPhone in Europe to demonstrate how the new Monkey Valley Resort Website actually looks on the Mobile web – and I’m absolutely thrilled! The quality and resolution are just outstanding and I left the image big so you can appreciate it here even though the picture may take a moment to load. This is soooo sexy!

Above, you see the Frontpage of the Monkey Valley Resort Website, which features a large elegant slider displaying the various chapters and attractions of the hotel resort 30 kms out of Cape Town, South Africa. What is remarkable here is how beautifully the slider displays – all based on new technology as, sadly, Flash does not display on mobile phones and this forced us to adapt in our Semiomantics Website Development, learning new languages like CSS3 and HTML5.

Monkey Valley Resort on Mobile

Much if not most of today’s business on the Internet is piped in one way or another through the mobile web… a reason why Monkey Valley Resort had to be visible on mobile.

Here is a horizontal version (probably 1 : 1) … and of course you can zoom up text or whatever you are interested in… and get to where you want to go in a fast and user-friendly way, eg. Click and BOOK!

The Importance of Functionality

The Importance of Functionality in terms of Website Design has a lot to do with the ease and user-friendly interaction between the website and the website visitor: the website has to communicate to the visitor what it is all about in an attractive way, guiding through what it has to offer and fulfilling almost intuitively what the visitor is looking for and making it easy to follow through with the desired action – say to book a room in a hotel…, to buy, pay and even download say an ebook… or to simply offer various sights of a specific area or place that shows the visitor what he can expect, eg. in a holiday resort or when researching a new home in real estate.

Today, being visible on the mobile web is crucial to the success of any website or Internet business – and therefore one of the most important functionalities of a website or blog.

Nowhere more than on the Internet do we see such rapid and continuous change and do we have to adapt, learn new languages and keep developing our knowledge and skills on an ongoing basis as in the virtual arena. A website or blog is not built to last forever and it needs a regular allocation of funds (budget) – it’s a project in constant development, adapting to the changes, changing with the trends and always trying to offer readers and visitors something new, something modern and going the extra mile to capture the traffic that leads to business and success.

WP Best Business Theme Home Page

Once the WP Best business Theme selected and the layout defined we can now add our content to structure the home page in a compelling, informative and visually attractive way.

The WP Best Home Page Page Structure

At the top we find a traditional header banner with the Brand name (or and Logo) in defined fonts and colors.

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WP Best Theme Header Banner

On the top right we keep a short menu, making it easy to navigate to the main sections of the site:

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WP Best Theme Menu

The choice of the menu links is function of the purpose of the site. Considering that the page will serve as a business landing page for visitors from Social Networks, Facebook for example, we provide a profile page (About), a Contact Form, a link to the shop where products can be purchased as well as a link to the blog section (WP Best).

Thereafter we welcome our visitors in a rather personal way. We want to show that the success of our business is based on personal relations and a personalized approach to the management of each customer’s project. Discussion is needed to tune and to semantically optimize each website for best results and customer satisfaction.

The Semiomantics Signature stands for custom built web sites and the care we take to bring each project to fruition.

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WP Best Home Page Slider

After the welcome you find a content slider which I use for large images and a short legend underneath each image. The idea is to show some of the work delivered and to hopefully create empathy. In the case of websites it’s relatively easy as most visitors are first attracted by the look of a site. The presentation of websites with different looks or functions is an efficient way to give visitors a first, preferably good impression of our work. On WP Best Business Theme Home Page I use screen-shots of websites I have built.

The links underneath the images lead to more information, more images of work accomplished and a link to the shop, where corresponding products can be purchased.

To the right of the slider we put a banner, representing a visual branding element we use over and over again, wherever we are able to leave a trace online, for example in social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so on. The dominant branding throughout all places will make visitors feel comfortable as they recognize the branding element and are assured that they are following the link they wanted to follow. For the time being no link is associated with that banner, however it will be associated to a custom product category in the store.

The third section of the page is a list of Services we provide; the entries link to more information and as the case may be from there to the shop and contact form.

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WP Best Theme Home Page Services

To the right of the service section we use a sidebar widget to allow visitors to also hook up with us on social networks:

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Social Widget on WP Best Home Page

The WP Best Business Theme Footer Section contains 3 widgets:

• Latest Posts
• RSS and Email subscription handled by Feedburner
• Flickr Photo-stream

These can be adapted according to needs but for the time being, I just keep them this way. The Flickr stream concerns a series of fun Ads I created for different purposes and constitute a good way to link to the flickr community.

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WP Best Business Theme Footer

The WP Best Home Page strong points

The page is not overloaded with information. When opening the page, the visitor is mainly exposed to a very short text and attracted by the visual elements for a fast informative first impression. No need for complicated searching for content: the top menu and the service section allow to quickly navigate to the desired section of the site. I like the page for its clear structure, the dominating visual elements and the user-friendly navigation.

I would appreciate your comments.

Look out for the detailed content in the services and in the about sections.

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

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Semiomantics XO 2012 for WordPress

The brand-new Semiomantics XO 2012 for WordPress – soon to be released – will be the central topic of the first Ycademy Seminar 2012, to be held this coming weekend.

As “Publishing for Excellence” at “Web Design with Passion” demands consistent learning, experimenting, an adaptation to trends and almost daily reassurance of the script’s leading SEO performance, the global Semiomantics Team is currently testing the new script and exploring different ways of presenting themselves or their products and services online.

Semiomantics XO 2012 for WordPress

I am very pleased with the more adventurous ways we can explore with the new Semiomantics XO 2012 for WordPress… and I know we haven’t even started! I am looking forward to creating the Wedding Website on this extraordinary WordPress based script.

Sliders are the Trend 2012

With sliders being an important part of the Trend 2012 as Website Design and “the Look” are concerned, I am currently experimenting with a fading slider – although extremely frustrating with often failing Internet connections and extremely slow lines down here… it feels like the sun flare is targeting us specifically and knocking us out completely!

Besides using sliders in the header or sidebar widgets or even blog posts and pages, we can now use them even in the background – which opens a lot more creative options and perspective.

At the Ycademy Seminar, we will work on becoming familiar with the new features of the XO 2012 and improve our knowledge of CSS3, HTML5 and jQuery so we are in a position to ‘play’ with the script, explore new avenues and, last but not least, adapt XO to our customers’ needs.

To be continued. . .

February 2012 Woman’s Day at Zoutpan Struishuis near Albertinia

Zoutpan Struishuis near Albertinia offers a Woman’s Day Event on the 25 February 2012. This promises to be an exciting day and an ideal opportunity for friends to enjoy the day! Bring your friends and come and enjoy a day of personal development with Corrie Davidson.

Personal Development Sessions in Albertinia at Zoutpan Struishuis

On the 25th of February 2012 from 10h00 till 12h00, Zoutpan Struishuis will be offering women in the
area an exciting day filled interesting insights into the different Personality Traits. Here you will get
the chance to learn something new about yourself as well as understanding the people close to you.

Corrie Davidson, Transformational Therapist and Teacher will present the Woman’s Day

Corrie Davidson is a Transformational Therapist and Teacher. The insights and experiences she shares,
creates lasting results in the personal and professional lives of those that listen to her. She travels
throughout South Africa and facilitates regular workshops in and around Cape Town.

To come and enjoy the day with us cost R60.00 per person which includes refreshments. Please RSVP
on or before the 22nd of February 2012.

For more information on Zoutpan Struishuis

Zoutpan Struishuis near Albertinia offers a Woman’s Day Event on the 25 February 2012. This promises to be an exciting day and an ideal opportunity for friends to enjoy the day! Bring your friends and come and enjoy a day of personal development with Corrie Davidson.

Personal Development Sessions in Albertinia at Zoutpan Struishuis

On the 25th of February 2012 from 10h00 till 12h00, Zoutpan Struishuis will be offering women in the
area an exciting day filled interesting insights into the different Personality Traits. Here you will get
the chance to learn something new about yourself as well as understanding the people close to you.

Corrie Davidson, Transformational Therapist and Teacher will present the Woman’s Day

Corrie Davidson is a Transformational Therapist and Teacher. The insights and experiences she shares,
creates lasting results in the personal and professional lives of those that listen to her. She travels
throughout South Africa and facilitates regular workshops in and around Cape Town.

To come and enjoy the day with us cost R60.00 per person which includes refreshments. Please RSVP
on or before the 22nd of February 2012.

For more information on Zoutpan Struishuis

Small business online

Today any business that ignores the potential of marketing online is missing out on the enormous pool of potential customers and profit that the internet has to offer. The internet has opened up a global playing field for any business to take advantage of it and be an active player.

Developing an Online Presence

Developing an Online Presence can be a relatively simple affair if you know which steps to take first, otherwise it can result in being a total nightmare when searching for the right solution for your business. You can get totally lost in the minefield of information that there is. Discussing your business needs with a Small Business Consultant can save you both a lot of time and money in the long run.

Small Business Online

Building a Small Business Online

As with operating any other business, starting a small business online is a matter of developing good practices, building confidence and relationships with customers and offering products and services at a fair price.

Small Business Marketing plan

In order to market your product/s online you must have a marketing plan in place, a roadmap that drives to your ultimate goal. Drawing up such a plan is not to be a rushed process, it is worth taking the time and doing some research in order to achieve the desired result. Here are some basic questions that need to be considered when creating your marketing plan:

* Do you have the right product to attract potential customers?
* Is your product/s priced competitively?
* Which customers are you targeting? where is your target market?
* Which effective marketing techniques will you employ to reach your target?

By really spending time researching, testing, tracking and evaluating strategies, your plan will generate not only high volumes of traffic but interest, brand recognition, customers and sales that boost your business profits. Marketing plans also need to undergo periodic reviews; markets change, trends change, all of these to be considered when you evaluate the success your  plan.  

Small Business Marketing Budget

One of the first essential steps for any business, on or offline,  is to decide upon and allocate a marketing budget, both yearly and the monthly that includes the running cost.  Without advertising your business it is more likely not to succeed these days due to the enormous aggressive competition that there is around.  Marketing your small business does cost money if you wish to succeeed!  One of the main advantages of marketing  your business online is that you do have low start up costs however as your business develops online you may need to expand and also take into consideration new marketing techniques that could further generate business growth.

A marketing budget has to based on a solid business plan. The budget must be realistic; even if you go so far as to learn how to do it yourself there is still a cost. Not everyone has the time nor the patience to go through the learning curve that is required to run a profitable small business online.

If you are busy running a business time is always at a premium. Working together with a  qualified online business developer or consultant, discussing and brainstorning ideas means that he/she will find the best solution for your particular business needs and time and money is not wasted. Spending money on the right solution is an investment towards your business’s future.

IT Consulting 

At Small Business Consulting we are part of a small international team of highly trained web developers, designers, project managers and consultants who will work with you on a one to one basis, discussing your plan and the best possible solution in order to assure long term customer satisfaction and performance.

This page is wiki editable click here to edit this page.

Read more..

• Web Development
• Christmas 2009 and beyond
• Preparing for MMX
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Trendwise with Semiomantics XO2012

In a world of infinite choice, we all have our personal preferences when it comes to creating the Web Design for our personal websites and blogs – and this is exactly what many of our customers will tell us, especially if they have a business with set colors, fonts and logos. Of course, there are also those who haven’t thought about this issue, who may not want to be bothered with it (as this takes ample time and thought) and who expect us to suggest, advise and guide. This is where we should know and focus on current trends, put our personal priorities on the backseat, and design something fresh, modern and appealing where we are absolutely “Trendwise with Semiomantics XO2012″, which is currently going through a testing phase and will soon be released.

Most importantly, we need to think forward to adapt to the incredible developments and momentum on the mobile web: can people see our web design work on their iphones, smart phones and tablets? This is currently the driving power behind many decisions and as we want our customers to get the traffic and results they expect, this is what we need to focus on and ensure that they too see the advantages of certain essentials they might not initially agree with.

It’s all about functionality and thinking customerwise: let them see what your website is all about fast and in an attractive way, make navigation clear, quick and easy like a dynamic show. And let there be balance!

Trendwise with Semiomantics XO2012

With the new trends 2012 having been set, how can we at Web Design South Africa be trendwise with Semiomantics XO2012, the best WordPress based script to be released soon, and give our website or blog a New Look 2012?

How to give your Author Blog a Trend 2012 Look

Here are a few pointers as to how to give your Author Blog a Trend 2012 Look:

1. Color Trend 2012

I already wrote about the Color Trend 2012 HERE.

To repeat it quickly, the color of the year 2012 is a warm orangy red called “Tangerine Tango”.  It’s not too far off the color I am always using in my personal color scheme that marks “Web Design with Passion”. However, there are other trendy colors like ‘solar power’ and the ‘sodalite blue’ I used in my example above, in connection with ‘tangerine tango’.

Here you want to think of backgrounds, fonts, menu, graphics, links, hover effects etc. – however, don’t overdo it when setting it off against another shade or complementary color. What I learned in Typography many years ago with one of Europe’s two leading authorities in the field and a true friend, Professor Tuenn Konerding (Staatliche Kunstakademie Duesseldorf, Germany), still applies today: experiment massively… but then reduce, keep it simple, don’t use more than 2… maximum 3 colors.

I wish I had a better photo – but I am happy I can call at least this one up – for an extraordinary mind and spirit that left our planet far too early…

Interesting also the trend towards one-page websites and a comeback of the magazine theme (full layout Semiomantics XO). Of course, Apple-style layouts are still en vogue as they are a modern classic and simply good.

2.  Typography 2012

The focus is on bold letters and custom fonts that can easily be read on mobile phones. Interesting here the Google Font Library that can be added in form of a plugin and loads fast while making the look of the website more appealing.

Textures, shades and reflections are ‘in’ as well…

 3. Large High Quality Images

Less text but large, high quality images – meaning all forms of sophisticated Media Design – be it photos, graphics, videos… – especially for backgrounds but also for graphics, sliders (we will come to these) and whatever you integrate into your Website Design to attract and captivate.The use of light or shadow boxes – where pictures can be enlarged in an overlay-  is very much in the trend.

Actually, we have been ahead of this trend with Semiomantics XO 2011 already, and particularly with our comprehensive work on Evolution, my personal favorite… yet unfortunately on Flash which is currently not seen on mobile phones due to power plays between the ‘big boyz’ … but this too shall change one day once even they get it that ‘competition’ is out and ‘cooperation’ is in to save our planet – and this is NOT a trend but a Truth! Ask Steve on Cloud!

Meanwhile Evolution will… well, evolve!

4. Sliders are en vogue

And yet another feature where Semiomantics has been well ahead of the trend: sliders are en vogue! Besides that, in my view they are brilliant, practical, interactive, attractive, seen on the mobile web and add to the functionality of a website. At tleast the ones we use – they do come at a cost, but it’s well worth it – quality always had its price!

5. Connect to Social Networks

Finally, websites and blogs need to offer easy ways – meant are rather ‘loud’ icons (… I leave this to your personal taste…) – to interlink and connect to Social Networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google + etc. Today, people look out where they can connect, follow, share and register … and so the cybernet expands continuously and I sometimes wonder what all of this really means at the end of the day and for our environment! But that’s a topic for another day!

For now… let’s be aware of current trends and advise customers accordingly… there’s lots to play with!

Build your Professional WP Shop

The Ycademy January 2010 seminar will focus on building a professional high performance shop based on a WordPress backbone. The flexible shop is based on a licensed eShop script, modified and tuned by Semiomantics.

Ycademy Online Seminar January 2010 Profile

The Online Seminar will take place on January 23 and 24, 2010.

We will start on Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm GMT (London Time) and finish at 9 pm GMT; short breaks as usual and a 1 hour lunch or dinner break at 6 pm GMT.

Materials: all materials are provided.

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Semiomantics WP eShop YORGOO

Semiomantics WP eShop

The Semiomantics eShop is the most recent Semiomantics development. The Semiomantics eShop will shortly be available to to Semiomantics customers at a price of $500, including licensed scripts, configuration, set-up, basic customization and a walk-through.

Semiomantics WP eShop Features

Here’s a short summary..

• Usability

  One of the reason it took us long time to complete the backend of the e-commerce themes is, usability. We studied best practices of building e-commerce websites, studied lots of successful online eShops and brainstormed some of the key pages and functionality that may impact the sales process that your customer goes through. We reduced the steps of the process, restructured the purchase experience, debated on the small elements such as button / text / colors / notifications etc., finally concluding our base e-commerce theme to be one of the very easiest to use and best performing purchase experiences so far.

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  Semiomantics WP eShop Pink

• Different modes of Shopping Cart

  You may sell anything – tangible or intangible using Semiomantics eShop. You have an option to create your website in any mode:

  • Shopping Cart

    Like the standard shopping cart that you see on other e-commerce websites. You may choose to have “add to cart” mode and let the users add all the items they want and then lead them to checkout or, you can have “buy now” mode and take them straight to checkout when they select a product.

  • Digital Shop

    If you are selling digital product of any kind, this is a perfect option for you. Are you selling icons, digital art, PDF, e-books, scripts or any other kind of digital goodies? Select this option and when a user makes a purchase, they will have an account generated at your site and they can download their purchase any time. You don’t have
    to worry about third party digital delivery sites.

  • Catalog mode

    Maybe you only want to showcase your items and don’t want to sell it online? Simply choose this mode and you will have “send inquiry” button instead of buy now / add to cart. Visitors thus, can send an inquiry on the products they like.

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    Semiomantics WP eShop Blue

• Manage Products

  Add / Edit / Delete products are as easy as you create a wordpress blog post. You have a custom panel where-in you can edit the product description, different parameters, upload product images etc. real easy.

• Order Management

  Depending upon the settings from your admin panel, you can manage the order – approve, process or cancel / reject an order.

• Shipping Options

  As an admin, you can choose Free, Flat rate; Weight or Price based shipping option for your eShop. What’s more you can even set free shipping for particular items in case you’ve set other option for your eShop.

• Multiple Payment Gateways

  You have PayPal, Autorize.net, Google Checkout, WorldPay, bank transfer and Cash on Delivery as payment gateway options. Choose the gateway you prefer.

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  Semiomantics WP eShop Green

• Manage Tax

  You may specify overall tax percentage that applies to all your products and, you may choose to leave individual products tax fre.

• Grid view / List view

  Whenever you are browsing the product collection, you have an option to see the products in list view or grid view. It’s built-in by default.

• Guest Checkout

  Wish to provide an option to your users to checkout without registration? No problems. Simply activate the guest checkout option from theme admin panel and your buyers will not to register. They simply provide their email address and we create the logins for them. If admin wants, they can choose to send/not send their logins to them.

• User registration

  Users may register on your site or, they will be taken to registration page on the checkout procedure. They will have their own user area where they can keep track of their order, manage profile and download purchased digital products.

• Bulk Upload ( csv )

  Using another shopping cart solution for your eShop and want to switch to our eShop themes? No worries. You can export your data from there in .csv files and import it in your wordpress installation when you use our Semiomantics eShop themes. (sample .csv file included with the theme)

  eshop5Move your mouse over image or click to enlarge

  Semiomantics WP eShop Yellow

• Coupon codes

  Admin can generate coupon codes for occasional sales promotion.

• Product Images

  Built in multiple product image upload. Uploaded images are auto re-sized to fit various thumbnails required throughout the site. Also the product zoom functionality is built it.

• Other parameters

  Specifying Tax, weight,
  color(s), size(s) are easy. Also you may specify different prices for different size/colors just in case.

• Specify product size(s), color(s), and other miscellaneous features

  You may specify Size chart if applied, When viewing a product Similar Products are automatically displayed, Several additional custom widgets are built in such as customer support, Subscribe, socialize, promo banners etc. that you can use for your eShop website.

• Affiliate Module

  As an admin, you may choose to activate affiliate program where your customers/others can signup as an affiliate partner and start promoting your products. They will be able to track their affiliate data in real time, and as an admin, you will be able to export/check affiliate reports easily. A great way to boost your sales.

• Blog

  Of course the themes come with a Semiomantics blog, pages etc. functionality with some page templates so you can have a high performance blog for your website.

  eshop9Move your mouse over image or click to enlarge

  Semiomantics WP eShop YORGOO

Seminar Tickets and Limited number of Participants

Seminar Participants test the Semiomantics eShop when purchasing the Seminar Ticket. We have set up a demo store which will let you have the same shopping and check-out experience as your future customers.

Ticket cost: $65.00

Discounts as usual for Ycademy Pro.

Limited number of Participants

The Seminar will only be available to 10 participants, priority is given to participants of the December Seminar. Please check for availability with Bianca (bianca(at)ycademy.com).

Includes:

Each participant will receive a special site edition of the new Semiomantics eShop script licensed for a single personal site. The total value of the licenses (third party and Semiomantics) is of $250. The shop value, after the seminar is of $500, the price at which Semiomantics is selling its new eShop. The Seminar is sponsored by YORGOO and Ycademy to allow participants to access high performance software at the most affordable rate.

Registration

Please register from HERE

User Firefox browser rather than IE to register, thanks!

Author: Yorgo Nestoridis, Media Marketing & Publishing, Founder of YORGOO Publishing, YORGOO Press and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

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Spot-on with the beginning of the new year, the new Semiomantics XO 2010 theme has been released by Yorgo Nestoridis.

This limited edition is offering Web Designers at Web Design Consulting even better and more efficient ways to serve their customers in terms of their presence and competitiveness on the Internet, based on the latest web development and cutting-edge of technology.

The new Semiomantics XO 2010 was SOLD OUT within a few days!

New Semiomantics XO 2010

Included in the release of the new Semiomantics XO 2010 was a one-day online Semiomantics Workshop to introduce the new owners to:

~ the features of the new theme,

~ its many layout variations that can be explored depending on the purpose and target market specifications of the website or blog,

~ a large variety of applications for different customer requirements, and

~ smart Editing and Publishing techniques to ensure excellent visibility on search engines and Google.

Semiomantics Consultants

Semiomantics Consultants will satisfy their customers’ needs by delivering attractive websites or blogs that quickly achieve top Google rankings.

Of course, performance on the Internet is closely related to cost… that’s just as it is… and as such Semiomantics offers more sophisticated solutions for more sophisticated demands – at a different price and with higher rewards. It’s a matter of choice depending on what importance a customer allocates to his Internet Business and his Goals… and what means he can give himself to reach them.

But the worldwide trend to buy and sell online is obvious and accelerating following Bill Gates’ statement a few years ago:

“Within just a few years… you either have an Online business or you have NO business!”

Website Accessibility for Mobile Devices

Website Accessibility for Mobile Devices is an increasing trend and with Google just coming out with the new Nexus and Mobile Advertising predicted to surpass $6.5 billion in 2012, it also came over loud and clear that Semiomantics will be positioning itself for the future: go mobile!

Expect more on this HOT topic in future Semiomantics Workshops and Ycademy Seminars 2010!

New Semiomantics XO 2010

Spot-on with the beginning of the new year, the new Semiomantics XO 2010 theme has been released by Yorgo Nestoridis.

This limited edition is offering Web Designers at Web Design Consulting even better and more efficient ways to serve their customers in terms of their presence and competitiveness on the Internet, based on the latest web development and cutting-edge of technology.

The new Semiomantics XO 2010 was SOLD OUT within a few days!

New Semiomantics XO 2010

Included in the release of the new Semiomantics XO 2010 was a one-day online Semiomantics Workshop to introduce the new owners to:

~ the features of the new theme,

~ its many layout variations that can be explored depending on the purpose and target market specifications of the website or blog,

~ a large variety of  applications for different customer requirements, and

~ smart Editing and Publishing techniques to ensure excellent visibility on search engines and Google.

Semiomantics Consultants

Semiomantics Consultants will satisfy their customers’ needs by delivering attractive websites or blogs that quickly achieve top Google rankings.

Of course, performance on the Internet is closely related to cost… that’s just as it is… and as such Semiomantics offers more sophisticated solutions for more sophisticated demands – at a different price and with higher rewards. It’s a matter of choice depending on what importance a customer allocates to his Internet Business and his Goals… and what means he can give himself to reach them.

But the worldwide trend to buy and sell online is obvious and accelerating  following Bill Gates’ statement a few years ago:

“Within just a few years… you either have an Online business or you have NO business!”

Website Accessibility for Mobile Devices

Website Accessibility for Mobile Devices is an increasing trend and with Google just coming out with the new Nexus and Mobile Advertising predicted to surpass $6.5 billion in 2012, it also came over loud and clear that Semiomantics will be positioning itself for the future:  go mobile!

Expect more on this HOT topic in future Semiomantics Workshops and Ycademy Seminars 2010!

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Read more…

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Premiere Pro or AVID

As I have to get a completely new system with more RAM and punch to handle especially future Video production esp. as we are integrating more and more Media into our online website developments, I asked a close friend who is a Master Editor who trained professional editors for the German film- and movie industry, what he would suggest. He immediately advised to get AVID as “…it’s the industry standard around the world.  That’s what professional editors and post production houses work with today. ”

Hmmm. I must just have missed the beginnings of AVID when I left Europe to build a new future back home, in South Africa, as from mid 1995. Apparently the time when AVID as the first NLE achieved dominance in the market place and established itself as “the” brand. According to Mark Raudonis, “… AVID’s were universally adopted by any editor doing a film finish. Obviously, these were the cream of the crop of the industry’s talent.”

So I have to catch-up and make some serious decisions especially as AVID comes at quite a steep cost. Given the fact that I actually enjoy working on ADOBE Premiere very much, just being immensely handicapped by limited memory until I get my new machine, but that my future vision rotates around Media production, this needs some serious research and thought.

Interestingly, I see and hear from various sources including Cape Town professionals and Filmmakers’ Forums that ADOBE is being prefered and “… better value for money”. In a way, they put it down to personal taste – like “Cola vs Pepsi”. This all sounds quite controversial, although I get the impression that AVID is better, faster, more feature-rich and the professional standard, but definitely much more expensive and a steeper learning curve. There is some eye-opening discussion – also with some reference to pricing – in this FORUM. I do not know whether these answers came mainly from consumers of professionals. But it’s intrigueing… and if there’s anyone out there using either Premiere or AVID for their professional filmwork, I would appreciate some feedback.

Premiere Pro or AVID

So there’s quite some (recent) discussion as to whether one should be choosing  “Premiere Pro or AVID” on the Internet when checking it on Google.  As FCP is no option anymore, at least not now, the question is what we plan to do in terms of video editing: is it just for fun or do we have serious intentions to produce on a professional level. A good editor will certainly get good results on either but may have access to many more additional tools in an Editing Studio than a private person, however, from what I read it is worth looking at the AVID Media Composer and getting the hand on the trial version to see what it offers. There is quite some comprehensive setup – also for sound – and I personally like the look of it. Hopefully, I can find a machine in Cape Town just to get the touch & feel of it too and have a chat with the editior working on it. If it’s not for now, it can be part of the plan and once the right jobs come in the investment will be justified.

However… if I can achieve good results with ADOBE Premiere that would just be perfect! One just never knows until looking at things in depth, comparing them and knowing one’s purpose and – means!

And at the end of the day I like a good glass of fresh, pure water!

Website Maintenance Service

Once a website or blog is set up and properly configured and looks spot-on, the real journey only starts!

What counts now is to post regular original content in a smart, well-edited way… and to see that things are and keep running smoothly, 24/7/365. If your Website is just a means to an end, meaning you have a business to run and that’s your prime focus – then you are well advised to invest in a reliable and professional Website Maintenance Service.

Website Maintenance Service

With the current speed of upgrades – be it Wordpress or Plugins – this could become a day-filling job alone, especially if you have set up a network of blogs to promote your business.

If you as the Web Designer create a blog – say on a Wordpress based Semiomantics Script – my advice would be to offer a Website Maintenance Service on a monthly subscription basis. It is important that a client understands what this entails – and that he actually would be completely lost without it unless he has some profound IT knowledge and the passion and time and nerves to dig into it on a daily basis.

Since Web2.0 things aren’t getting easier, well to the contrary. Here’s today’s example followed by a helpful tip:

WordPress Updates

Logging into my Author Blog today, the first thing I see that – after just a few days – the next WordPress 2.9. 1 update has been released! Now you’ve got to check what this entails and what implications it has on what you’ve set up so far. Some updates work sort of automatically through the Dashboard of your blog – others need a manual download to your harddrive and from there an upload to your server, overwriting the existing files. With slow Internet connections and really lousy lines down here in South Africa, this is a tedious job – but it has to be done.

Plugin Updates

It’s all a chain reaction: one update leads to the next… then a bug is being discovered and whoopsi! here comes the next update and so on.

I had 3 Plugin Updates in my Author Blog today – and one of them caused a mess… and it wasn’t until I investigated the issue with my code-spiffy friend from France, Laetitia Paris, that together with a lot of testing and thinking and swearing and drinking (virtual Champagne only of course!) we found the solution. We decided to share it with you, our loyal readers. It will save you time and frustrations….

Collapsing Categories Plugin – Problematic Update

Before writing my post this morning, I updated all my plugins, including the Collapsing Categories Plugin.

When I checked my published post, I suddenly discovered that, in the left sidebar widget where all my Categories were situated in a ‘collapsing’ manner, all posts of the corresponding category came with a red underline that exceded the frame of the widget. I had never seen this and first thought of Fontburner, that had caused us a lot of headaches in the past as well – but that wasn’t the reason. Now i wondered whether my site or line or ISP were caching and asked Laetitia – she saw the same thing. However, she did in Firefox and she didn’t in Internet Explorer. This alone is a nightmare at times – but at least we saw the same thing. Checking the Collpasing Categories Code for anything that indicated something ‘underlines’ lead to nothing as well.

So we discussed the possibilities and tested… and to cut the long story short: the solution is to go – under Settings – into your Collapsing Categories.

Here you highlight and copy the following:

border:0;

and then you paste it a bit further down into the code so you get the following picture:

#sidebar ul.collapsing.categories.list li.collapsing.categories.post {
text-indent:-1em;
padding-left:1em;
border:0;
margin:0 0 0 1em;}

Then save it all and the mess clears up like magic!

Which reminds me that I still have to do exactly that for someone else as part of my Website Maintenance Service!

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Web Development

Today, web development includes not only developing a  website but also incorporates interactivity and communication with consumers, a bonus for any marketer marketing his products online.

Owning a website on the World Wide Web is a real advantage for any trader therse days. As more and more people all over the world gain access to the internet so many more people search online for services or products. By owning website you increase your business visibility and increase your customer potential, not only locally but globally.

Running a website can be time-consuming and require specialist knowledge, not something that every business owner is suited to. Using a professional web developer or web designer makes your life trouble free, simply leaving the working of a website to the expert.

IT Consulting

You talk ~ We listen! By discussing your business needs with an IT Consultant, he/she can advise y0u on many matters regarding your web development:  the structure, design, functionality to best suit your business purpose. Consultants are qualified and trained to provide their clients with the best possible solutions and up to date services keeping ahead of the competition.

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