Archive for January, 2010

Struggling to add illustrations or graphics to your website design or blog posts? Consider Flickr public domain photographs.

The photos are mostly collections from public archives and as explained on the Flickr usage page http://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/ the photos became public domain for one of these reasons:

1. The copyright is in the public domain because it has expired;
2. The copyright was injected into the public domain for other reasons, such as failure to adhere to required formalities or conditions;
3. The institution owns the copyright but is not interested in exercising control; or
4. The institution has legal rights sufficient to authorize others to use the work without restrictions.

Free to use does not mean free to package and resell as a collection. Please respect copyright when using content for your projects online or in print other than material you own. The Flickr commons is a great resource for photographs to use in your website design or blog posts, but be warned to watch the clock. It is easy to become engrossed in thousands of options and you could end up spending long hours away from your design.

Here’s a review of the latest Firefox release candidate browser. I took the leap and chose to test out and review the latest BETA version of the Firefox browser earlier today. See the download and release links below if you decide you want to help out and be a BETA tester, too.

I stumbled across the option when rebooting Firefox resulted in a message Want a sneak peek of the newest, fastest version of Firefox? which included a link to download and test Firefox v3.6rc1 BETA. The RC1 release candidate versions are language specific with over 70 choices and you may select from Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.

Download link: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html
Release notes: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.6/releasenotes/

A disclaimer on the splash page states: This is pre-release software: you may encounter compatibility problems with some websites and add-ons. If you find a problem please let us know or file a bug. For more details, read the release notes and known issues.

The installation was remarkably fast, and first tests of typical load problem files like videos in full screen and large audio mp3 files was very impressive. I did notice the overall look was different, so checked themes and discovered 1 out of the 3 themes which included the default was not compatible from v3.5 to v3.6, so that was a minor disappointment.

My second choice and even the default theme were fine, yet I decided to search an alternative and tried the recommended theme found here https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7517 and entitled Sivermel. It’s simple yet not cramped, and an excellent choice considering my work in web design keeps me at the computer 12 plus hours a day.

Taking a closer look at add-ons, I discovered that ColorZilla, CoolPreviews, FoxTab, and ScreenGrab are not compatible in v3.6rc1, so ceased to function. The add-ons I use the most are web design related and all were compatible, so other than missing ColorZilla I’m very pleased.

As far as an indepth review, I don’t use many add-ons, so readers are cautioned that the warning about compatiblity of add-ons should be considered before becoming a BETA tester.

In conclusion, my recent experience with Firefox upgrades had been disappointing because browsing speed seemed to drop to a crawl. That explains why I was anxious for what they called “the fastest version” and decided to see if the difference was noticeable. From my initial experience which was subjective and not scientific, I am very pleased with the performance of the Firefox v3.6rc1 browser and glad I took the plunge.

Eric Miller, a writer for About.com Guide published a great piece for freelance designers in graphic art or custom web design like me. The article is entitled “10 Early Warning Signs of a Bad Client” and Eric writes on each of these points in detail.

1. Everything is “Easy” or “Quick”
2. Promise of Future Work
3. Unrealistic Deadlines
4. Questioning Your Rates
5. They Fired their Last Designer
6. You Don’t “Get It”
7. The Disappearing Client
8. Spec Work
9. Disorganized from the Start
10. Trust Your Gut

Follow this link and read the entire Eric Miller article for advice evaluating potential problem clients to save headaches on both sides of the bargaining table. No order is better than a bad order if a difficult situation becomes impossible and hurts your reputation.

As mentioned to a client over the weekend, when all is said and done Any contract is worthless if either party resents the deal. It has to be win-win to retain mutual respect and the value of your reputation as a designer, so know when to say “no” to a client.