February 2012 Newsletter
February!! Seems like I was just packing away the holiday decorations
yesterday. There were lots of items on my January "To-Do" list, but I didn't get around to all of them.
We're starting February off with a nice 15% off sale on all orders over $100. If you've had your
eye on a few of our templates, now's the time to save a little extra cash.
The coupon code is easy to use. On the checkout page, you will see a box for "coupon code". Just enter in
FEBRUARYSALE in the box and click on the apply button.
Our blog is back! I know we've been through more than one dance with different blogging
platforms, but I've gone back to Blogger just because it's quick and easy and I know it won't step on my toes.
There are some topics I feel might be of use and they just don't fit on my sites or on the Help Center. Not
very appropriate for Facebook either.
For those who've been following along through all of this, all of the old posts are gone. Yep, deleted,
erased, vanished, kaput! It's a new year and time to start fresh. So hang around, bookmark the site, and drop
in as I work to add new tips, template information, and probably a few rants and raves along the way.
Some recent posts:
We hope you'll drop by our blog for a visit soon.
If you didn't schedule a bit of web site maintenance in January, you should
definitely make some time for it this month.
That Pesky Copyright Date: Keep forgetting to update your web site's copyright date? Even
though it may have been on your January "To-Do" list, it's often overlooked. There's an easy way to make this
automatic by adding just a touch of JavaScript. Locate your web's copyright statement and replace the year
with <script type="text/javascript">document.write(new Date().getFullYear());</script>
Now there's one less thing you'll have to worry about next year.
Fix Dead Links or Remove Them: After your site’s been around awhile, it’s a good idea to
go through and make sure that all the links are still pointing to the right pages. Sometimes you change
domains and links get broken. Other times, you may have linked to a news story or a blog post that now no
longer exists. Go through and check your links. If you can, fix the link. If you can’t, then remove it
entirely.
Update Your About Page: Things change in companies (adding people or losing people, been
in business for 16 years now instead of 15, etc.), and your about page should reflect those changes.
Seriously, when was the last time you updated it? After the home page, the “about” page is typically the most
visited page on your site. People want to know more about your company. Make sure it’s up-to-date!
In our September 2011 newsletter,
we introduced you to Google fonts and talked
about how you could expand the typography on your web site and break away from using only "web-safe" fonts.
We've been using Google fonts on some of our newer templates.
Now we'd like to tell you about the @font-face CSS method of having some very cool fonts
available for your web site. It's very easy with only four quick steps.
First, you are going to need a font you can use without any copyright issues. A good place
to start is Font Squirrel. For my first test, I
downloaded the free Amaranth font to my computer. You will get several versions of each font since different
browsers need different types.
Second, you want to create a folder on your web to hold these fonts. I named my folder
Fonts.
Third, you will need to add a few lines of code to your CSS file with the correct file
path to your font:
@font-face {
font-family: 'AmaranthRegular';
src: url('Fonts/Amaranth-webfont.eot');
src: url('Fonts/Amaranth-webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
url('Fonts/Amaranth-webfont.woff') format('woff'),
url('Fonts/Amaranth-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'),
url('Fonts/Amaranth-webfont.svg#AmaranthRegular') format('svg');
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;}
Fourth, you can now add the new font to any font stacks you have in your CSS file. For
example:
h1 {
color: #124462;
font: normal 28px AmaranthRegular "Century Gothic", Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 .5em 0;
padding: 0 0 5px 0;}
You can read a more in-depth tutorial at SixRevisions.com.
We love our customers and enjoy seeing their finished sites along with any comments or feedback on how well
the template worked for them. If you would like to be featured in one of our upcoming newsletters, just send
us an email listing your site location and any comments you
would like included.
Paws & Kisses Pet Sitting Service:
I found your template user-friendly and well laid out. The
additional help tips on your website were also useful. I have some web building knowledge, but not as much as
I'd like, however, I was still able to use your template with relative ease. I finished customizing your
template and inputting my business information a couple of days ago, and the site is now live. I think it
looks great and am very happy with it (and I don't think my site looks home-made any more - even though it was
. . .). - Amanda
Vote 4 Chad: Thanks, Karey! My
campaign site still has quite a few placeholders, but it’s coming along nicely. - Chad
We all know about Groundhog Day (February 2nd) and Valentines Day (February
14th), but here are some February celebrations that are lesser known.
Celebrate Clean Out Your Computer Day (Second Monday of the month)
Clean Out Your Computer Day is a day to logically review, and delete old files and programs. Most of us add
programs and files to our computer with reckless abandon. After all, computers have huge storage capacity.
Many of these files and programs are forgotten over time. So they will eventually clog memory and cause confusion during
retrieval and use of other files. Some may slow down your computer.
Somewhere along the way, a (most likely) computer geek or service person, created this day as an
opportunity for us to remember to cleanup and delete old and unused files. So, get into the spirit of the day
and clean out the old computer.
Have a Blast on No Brainer Day (February 27th)
No Brainer Day - now this day is for me! By definition, a "No brainer" is dong something that is simple,
easy, obvious, and/or totally logical. Therefore, today is the day for you to do all those "no brainer" tasks
and activities. If a project requires thinking, study, or analysis of any kind, then it's not the chore to do
today. We think you'll quickly get the hang of the concept of the day....and we're certain you will excel at No
Brainer Day!
Sincerely,
Karey Cummins
