When someone says that an item is “uber cool,” they mean it’s super cool. In the technology and Internet realm, “meta” is “uber”.  When we hear the phrase “meta-data,” it means super data, or in simpler terms, data about data. Knowing the basics about meta-data can enhance your website’s SEO, not to mention you’ll sound uber cool when you drop the phrase “That’s so meta!”

All websites can be broken down into essentially two layers: the front-end, the user interface part that we see on our screen and interact with when we visit a site; and the back-end, the programming code, support systems and hosting services that we don’t see. Meta-data really belongs to the back-end family, but can be manipulated by front-end techniques, thus straddling the line between front and back-end. Think about meta-data as a book report for your website; it lets search engines know what’s going on at your site without going into the actual content.

How to Use Meta-data to Assist SEO
In my last post, The Starting Point for Solid SEO, I wrote about how to find and use relevant key words and phrases. These keywords and phrases should appear in your site’s meta-descriptions, in addition to other keywords about the particular item you are describing.

Most website creation tools, content management systems and blogging platforms have a special section where you can write a meta-description for a particular page or item, be it a picture caption, alt-text for a link, page title, menu title, et al. Make sure you use the keywords wisely in these places, as stuffing irrelevant information will only hurt your SEO efforts.

Oh My, Your Meta is Showing in My Google!
Of the places where meta meets the eye, the most visible to someone performing a search is a page’s meta description. Search engines like Google scan your pages’ content and meta descriptions, subsequently displaying the page title, link, and a short snippet of text – many times it’s the actual meta-description you wrote.

Thankfully, Google is quite helpful in sharing information with webmasters. I recommend checking out their excellent overview of how meta-data in page titles and descriptions helps your site appear in search results.

One last exercise before I leave you to meta-tate (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Perform a search for your website using the site’s name, URL and a keyword or two. See what shows up in the search engine results. Do you like what you see? Do you think it would help a stranger understand your site? Is it compelling? If you answered no to any of the previous questions, take the time to rewrite your site’s meta-data. You’ll be uber happy that you did.
 

The Key to Keywords
It’s a no-brainer – search engine results mean nothing if they aren’t related to what the searcher is looking for. Just as Google and other search engines continually refine their algorithms to understand a person’s search language, so should you refine your word choice when writing content for your site. With the right keywords and phrases placed strategically around your site’s content, for example in menus, page titles, internal and external links, picture captions and Alt-text, you’ll help the search engines to understand why they should put your site closer to the top of search results.

Traffic that Cares
The basic rule of keywords and content is as follows:  the more relevant your site’s language is to the words that people use in searches, the more likely your site will show up in the search results, and the more your site sees traffic that cares about your content. This doesn’t mean that you should overload your pages’ content and tags with as many keywords as possible (in fact, this practice is highly frowned upon). Instead, it means that you should pick specific and high-order key phrases to use throughout your site.

How do I find specific and high-order key phrases to use?
Apart from being a good method to determine keywords, the following exercise is also a great technique to help you communicate your site’s unique selling points.

Imagine you are a new visitor to your site. You’ve just read a few pages and what the menus have to offer. Make a list of 10-20 terms that stick in your head. Anything that can be expressed in one word – erase it. Anything that is more than 6 words, try to boil it down to 3 or 4.

Sample Site: A California-based Web & Graphic Designer

Now you have a list of keywords and phrases that are specific, that is, they relate directly to the content on your site. They are high-order because they can’t be expressed in a single word. Generally speaking, phrases that are more than just 2 words are better for SEO purposes.

SEO; Part of the Marketing Mix
As part of a larger marketing and communications strategy, the above exercise draws from the process of branding, thereby helping you to identify your site’s personality and style of speaking. Remember to stay consistent with your message by using the right keywords when writing your site’s content. When you do so, your visitors will find relevance in what they are reading, and your site will thank you for its high ranking.

To make it easier for you to decide to which browser you relate and which one rocks your world, we give this funny (and not to be taken too seriously) info-graphic!

Embed this Image on Your Site: <a href="http://designora.com/inspiration/if-web-browsers-wear-celebrities/" _fcksavedurl="http://designora.com/inspiration/if-web-browsers-wear-celebrities/" title="Website Builder"><img style="border:none" src="http://www.wix.com/flash/Image/celebrities-web-browsers.jpg" _fcksavedurl="http://www.wix.com/flash/Image/celebrities-web-browsers.jpg" alt="If Web Browsers Were Celebrities" title="If Web Browsers Were Celebrities" /></a><p>If Web Browsers Were Celebrities is brought to you by Wix.com<br />Use creative design to make a <a href="http://www.wix.com/" _fcksavedurl="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">Flash website.</a><br />You are most welcome to share this infographic with your audience.

Brought to You By Wix.comThe Free Website Builder

500 years later and all you need to do in order to have a portrait made of yourself is to send your best picture to an artist through the mail, send a payment and collect it from your local post office.

In this article we will showcase some online portrait painters and their various techniques.

The Academy Award winning screenwriter, film, commercial and music video director, Michel Gondry, was one of the first to offer this service. You could send him your picture and for $99.95 you get a sketch + a DVD with his work. The sketches were published on his Flickr page and you received the original, signed by the artist. Unfortunately, the service is currently unavailable, but check out his cool website once in awhile to see if things have changed.

Caricatures are always funny. Even if the artist doesn’t try to oversize your nose and ears for kicks, it’s still fun. One such artist is Kelly. You can send her your picture and she’ll transform it into a caricature piece that can be used as a great present (for yourself or loved ones). She charges $60-90 depending on how many characters are in your piece.   

How does your baby’s portrait on a goose egg sound? Creepy, fragile or super cool? The artist Shenyue can paint almost anything on an egg. It costs $59.99 and her egg creations come in a protective case.

If you’re into super-realistic portraiture, you might want to look at Paint Your Life.com. Their work is so accurate, it looks like photography. They do oil paintings, but also charcoal, pastel and water colors. This website (who are the painters? We don’t know!) is charging from $139 to $1,039, depending on the size and number of characters painted.

The exact opposite of the realistic photo-like painting of “Paint Your Life”, has to be Yoash Foldesh. On his website, the artist invites you to buy a holy drawing of yourself. Become a “patron saint” of Foldesh’s choice. For his work Foldesh charges $78. If you want your portrait by him just send him a few words about yourself or a photo. The drawing might not resemble your physical appearance, but hey, that’s what artistic license is for.

If you’re not so into such an abstract approach, but still want some expression in your portrait, check out The Blue Giraffe Art Works. This art grad raised in Houston would love to create an oil hand painted pop portrait of you. The unusual colors and shadows that she uses make her portraits fun and interesting to view. She charges $125-750, depending on the size of your portrait and how many characters are in it.

Another talented illustration artist is David Lanham. While staying at home for a few weeks after breaking his leg, he began painting portraits of his friends, as viewed in the web camera. Soon he started offering the service to anyone who was willing to say goodbye to $50, and spend a few minutes with him in a live video chat. Lanham, a very busy artist, is booked for the next few months, but as his Twitter says, he will probably post a sign-up form on his website, so stay tuned. You can check out his beautiful illustrations on his Flickr page.

Some people would prefer having their best friend’s portrait hanging on the living room wall. Courtney Edwards would rather paint your dog or cat’s portrait with vivid happy colors and high-contrasts. On her beautiful website, Salvador Doggi, you can see some of her work and place an order. The great thing is you don’t have to walk with it and remember to feed it.

You no longer have to be a king or royalty to commission your very own oil portrait. It makes a great gift and lives forever – and don’t let anyone tell you it’s narcissism. It’s ART!

Coworking is uber-relevant for today’s innovation-centric work world.

The idea is simple: bring together all genres of open-minded workers in a pleasant environment; add desks, good lighting and plenty of electrical outlets; foster conversation and idea crosspollination – and there you have it, an open work space that actually makes work a bit less “workish.”

Open work spaces are gaining popularity all across the globe, providing a convivial, viable alternative for freelancers, telecommuters and cube-sharing commissioners. Interested in finding a coworking space in your neighborhood?

Hot Communal Workspaces

The Hub

London, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Toronto, and Other Large Cities

With locations in over 20 cities, the Hub is a global community of open work spaces. Their membership structure allows entrepreneurs of all kinds to try the Hub on for size. Paying members get reduced-price access to the Hub’s network of consultants and professionals, as well as access to other Hubs around the world.

Wix Lounge

New York City, NY

The Wix Lounge is the newest and certainly most hip coworking space, launched just last week by Wix. Located in Manhattan, the Wix Lounge provides everything AND coffee. The decked-out space and amenities are completely free to use because, according Wix.com, the company thrives on inspiring creative individuals to do what they do best. It certainly helps when you work in a super-fly loft and are surrounded by designers and artists.

WorkBar

Boston, MA

Think the coworking atmosphere is only for web-techies and geek-o-philes? WorkBar is home to a few start-ups and app developers, plus legal, financial and photography professionals. Like many coworking spaces, WorkBar Boston is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for members’ use. Come in for a tour and you might leave with a key.

Citizen Space

San Francisco, CA

One of the oldest coworking spaces on this list, Citizen Space opened their doors in 2007. Their location in San Francisco makes them a prime campout spot for fledgling start-ups as well as media and communications consultants. Like the name implies, this space is for everyone.

Awesome Inc.

Lexington, KY

Awesome Inc. takes coworking out of the computer-based realm and into the fine arts. In addition to the desk-based coworking space, they also have studio space for artists, and an on-site gallery. All forms of media are welcome in this Kentucky open space, from oil paint to Paint Shop Pro.

Other Notable U.S. Coworking Locations:

Carrboro Creative Coworking – Carrboro, NC
IndyHall – Philadelphia, PA
Conjunctured – Austin, TX
Affinity Lab – Washington D.C.
Gangplank – Phoenix, AZ

Your city not mentioned? Check out the Coworking Wiki to find a coworking space near you.

“Simplification; using the simplest materials and forms available”

The school of “Less is More” has its unique advantages. A clean and minimal design has the power to fascinate viewers and puzzle them; leave them with unanswered questions and the human wish to solve them. Designers sometimes feel like they are taking un-necessary risks if they don’t spell it out for their viewers, but they will be surprised to find out that this is exactly what’s making them stay.

A smart product is always complemented by a smart display. Here are 10 great examples to inspire your next minimalist design.

This smart and creative illustrator chose to design her homepage with an enigmatic figure.  It demands from the viewer to take a second to understand that it is actually a side-centered manga like face. The beautiful contrast between the yellow, black and green is a wise use of colors that highlights the caricature even more.

One picture is worth a thousand words…and if you’re a photographer – that’s priceless. This fun and almost spontaneous photo is a great way to display the photographer’s work. A word of advice for all of you photographers out there: a showcase gallery is always nice, but all you really need for a fantastic homepage is one gorgeous picture.  

Here are two examples of great portraits in black & white, that mingle with the dark / bright background. Mysterious, cut in the edges, and breathe taking. These photos takes all the attention while the navigation buttons fit together perfectly at the lower / upper edge of the page. Composition is also a key – notice the difference between the two examples (through their themes are not so different). 

Michael V Manalo chose a different, but not less effective approach. In his website he demonstrates mystery and fiction with a repeating motive of a television head. The text does not steal any of the photo’s focus, and uses the color range and restraint that the photos shows.

T-shirt shop or a portal to space? This cool minimalistic home-page uses text and logo to lure the visitor in, without too many word or flashy graphics. As a viewer, you immediately understand what this is all about.  That’s – the greatness of this simple white on blue design.

One tree, two birds and the never-fail combination of black and red. Simple, attractive and pleasant.

This beautiful and functional home-page puts the product in the center. With a simple white background and black text, the viewer has the best view of the colorful product.

Gotham Sport Management’s website puts the ball in the court with simple images and great content. It’s all about the game.

One last example that proves that intelligent design decisions can make all the difference.

A golden fish is a symbol that relates to fairytales and childhood stories. The decision to make it a portal to this illustrator’s website is fascinating. The clean “sketchbook” background emphasis it even more.

Wix offers everything needed to create a free website, or even a flyer for your next exhibition. Here are a few of the reasons why photographers choose Wix as their online tool for portfolio creation:

1. Visual Appeal

If a picture is worth a thousand words, animated photo galleries with customized design elements are priceless. Choose from a wide variety of gallery styles, including Slideshow, Carousel and According. Set your gallery to Autoplay and gain the full “wow” effect of Flash web design. Capture the attention of your visitors the moment they enter your site.

2. Ease of Use

The Wix website builder is a drag-and-drop editorial tool. So you can spend all your creative energy on building your site, instead of burying yourself in computer code. Produce a beautiful, fully customized free photography website in just a few minutes. You can save your work, and return anytime you like to make changes, add new photos, or tweak your design. Publish when ready.

3. Free Photography Templates

Wix has an extensive gallery of free website templates ideal for photographers. Everything in a Wix template is fully customizable – even the menu labels. Simply click to fill “About”, “Portfolio” and “Contact” pages you see in any template at Wix, with your own content.

4. Fully Customizable

Turn your image into a reality. Present yourself exactly as you like, with fully customizable web design. From your page layout to button images. You can link items like clip art, icons and even photos to other places on the web, like your e-mail, or reviews of your work.

5. Search Engine Friendly

Make it easy for potential clients to locate you by optimizing your site for search engines. Traditionally, Flash websites have not been the easiest for search engines to locate, but Wix was built to change all of this. Xml files are built into each Wix site, so that you can enjoy the benefits of beautiful Flash web design, while remaining fully searchable inside Google, Yahoo! and the other search engines.

6. Update as Your Business Grows

If you have a new body of work to add to your site, why wait for a pro web designer to add it for you? Change your website as often as you like, and simply click Save to have the changes automatically applied to the published version of your site on the web. No fuss, no hassle, no third-party approval needed.

7. With Wix a Photographer is Never Alone

Tap into a bustling community of creative professionals, and link up to Wix networks built especially for photographers. The Wix Photography Blog produces constantly churns out tips and tricks. From photography tutorials to the latest Wix features, the Photography Blog keeps you informed.  As soon as a new feature is added to Wix, the Facebook fan page and Twitter account shout it from the virtual mountaintops.

8. Promotional Opportunities

Wix provides several platforms for photographers wishing to present their work to the World Wide Web. Submit your work to get featured in a Wix Photography Blog post and tap into a vibrant community with thousands of cutting-edge professionals. Or, get picked as a Wix of the Day Website, and have your portfolio featured right on the Wix homepage!

9. Create an Online Shop

Sell your work directly from your Wix website. Use the Shopping Cart widget found inside the website builder, and let visitors select items for purchase. You can even connect to a PayPal account, to accept payment directly. Upgrading to an eCommerce premium package is required to run your business and make your Shopping Cart widget fully operable – but Wix takes absolutely no cut of your profit earned through sales made from your site.

10. Affordable

A website with Wix is free. No set-up fees and no commitment. Photographers wishing to gain an extra professional edge can upgrade to a Wix premium site, to gain access to extra features like domain ownership, and to track online visitors with Google Analytics. There are many premium packages to choose from with flexible pricing options. But all of the website builder’s tools and web design are royalty-free.

These are some of the most brilliant, bold, and interesting Tux themed wallpapers around. They are sorted by size, from small to extra-large, to fit your monitor accordingly. Show (and share) your love for Linux and Tux by sporting your favorite on your desktop background. Feel free to add any we may have missed in the comment section below.

For the original source (and larger sized image), simply click on the wallpaper.

XL Tux Wallpapers

Large Tux Wallpapers

Medium Tux Wallpapers

Small Tux Wallpapers

Regardless of political viewpoint, the moral argument over war, or the rare cases of a few bad apples that are exploited by the media, it is important to respect to those who serve, voluntarily or not. Whichever military unit they served in, or whichever country they fought for, let’s take a moment to honor all of the soldiers around the world.

Here are 20 moving silhouette photographs of soldiers from various military establishments. Enjoy and feel free to add any more by simply mentioning them and providing a link in the comment section below.

Image sources: isafmedia, larryzou, U.S. Army / Soldiers’ Media Center, ATunnard, Devar

Designora supports a peaceful agenda and remains politically neutral. The above images of soldiers do not necessarily represent the view of Designora, its editor, or its writers.

Adobe was at the conference showcasing Flash-enabled products, including various cellular phone models and notebooks. They gave out trial copies of the new Visual Studio and had no real goodies to give away, nor did they send any of their more knowledgeable employees to man the booth. Nevertheless, in the opinion of this fairly web-savvy person, Flash is not obsolete for the average Internet user.

Flash provides an experience unlike any other. It makes the display of content ultimately more dynamic and attention-grabbing. Here’s an example of the perfect use of Flash in a website. Yes, you could simply click “next” on any web button, but the presentation of the content becomes an art in itself. Granted, there are plenty of examples of the misuse of Flash, especially in over-the-top advertisement that hijacks your screen when visiting certain websites. However, Flash captivates the audience that is not part of the web designer underworld … and let’s be honest, artists are very finicky when it comes to their work and are quick to critique that of others, especially what they cannot do themselves.

HTML 5 is a user-friendly option, especially on the designer user-end. HTML is the lingua franca of the Internet and anyone involved slightly in the blogging/web content world should be fluent in this language. As explained by Scribd CTO Jared Friedman, HTML 5 is the darling of web content that we should all be switching to now. It is easier to navigate through documents by using this more dynamic option of scripting than it is to upload images … and apparently it’s simply too difficult for users to get Adobe Reader on their systems. Basically, with the updated look of Scribd as a prime example, everything is going to look like a standard magazine themed WordPress blog from now on.

In the end, HTML 5 will be easy for anyone to know and code with. Actually, if you don’t know this language, what the heck are you doing on the Internet? Flash, on the other hand, will still outweigh it when it comes to truly beautiful free website design and the best web features. Do not let Steve Jobs become the dictator of web content just because his people can’t figure out how to enable one of the most the most essential element on Apple’s products. HTML 5 will definitely be part of the fun, but don’t rule Adobe Flash out of the picture quite yet.

Next: HTML 5 vs Flash: The Argument for HTML 5 [Coming Soon]