Ycademy Seminar February 2013

The upcoming Ycademy Online Seminar will focus on Search Engine Optimization and Loading Speed of self-hosted WordPress based websites, and particularly on sites powered by Semiomantics developments.

While WordPress remains one of the most popular platforms for online publishing, the way it needs to be configured for optimized impact has changed over the years. Important changes on the Google algorithm in 2012 and the resulting consequences have been felt by many webmasters.

In order to help customers to get the best out of their websites, it is important to understand the way Google perceives and evaluates websites and their content.

 The Purpose of the WP SEO Seminar

The purpose of the Ycademy WP SEO Seminar is to

• Learn about the most recent modifications of Google’s evaluation criteria.
• Learn how to set-up, structure, organize and optimize a new WordPress website
• Improve SEO on existing websites
• Implement basic SEO features
• Implement advanced SEO features

• Optimizing Titles
• Optimizing Permalinks
• Optimizing Meta-tags
• Optimizing Media
• Sitemap

We are looking specifically at Semiomantics XO for WordPress. As the theme contains basic Optimization elements, we will just look at some optional advanced features which are part of custom optimization at Semiomantics.

• Duplicate content
• Strip unnecessary links, calls and requests
• Optimize the site structure
• Internal linking
• Tag related problems
• Comments and how to optimize them
• Conversion, sign-ups, feed readers

• Social Networks
• Related content sites
• Conversation

Measure your impact and improve where needed as an ongoing process.

We will have a close look at the most efficient combination of plug-ins which can be used on most any WordPress site to considerably improve performance.

Saturday and Sunday 23./24. February 2013, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. London Time

We will build a new website structured for high performance as we go through the curriculum. In fact, the whole seminar will be one big huge workshop. The new site will be not just a sandbox, but also a  model for further custom developments.

On Sunday we will focus on implementing new features on participants’ main websites. Modifying existing sites is more time consuming and depending on the content may pass the time we have available during the week-end. That is why we will offer support for the implementation issues beyond the seminar.

To register, please click on the topmost image and get your ticket. Discounts for Ycademy pros as usual – please mail Bianca at bianca(at)ycademy.com.

I am looking forward to one of the most interesting and important WordPress related seminars we have ever produced. While the above schedule may sound technical, the reality will show you simple to implement improvements with quickly measurable impact.

Mobile Apps

Apps will be the big topic of 2013, mainly because there is a major shift of web traffic towards the mobile web and consequently traffic harvesting will be more efficient through apps than through browser based websites.

The Ycademy January Seminar will focus on Apps Basics and different ways to convert WordPress blogs to hybrid and native apps.

The Seminar will be composed of a variety of Workshops dealing with Mobile Apps and namely on the conversion of a WordPress driven site to mobile apps for different platforms.

You will learn about the differences between hybrid and native apps, HTML 5 apps and the different architecture imposed by platform owners, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and RIM.

While there are costly and complex developments available, this seminar will focus on basics and the most simple ways of making WP available on mobile; the solutions we will implement will be appreciated by many customers, while for others they will just constitute a starting point for more sophisticated and efficient developments.

More information will follow.

All materials will be provided. Tools needed: Photoshop and FTP Client.

January 26 -27, 2013 as usual starting at 1 pm London Time each day and ending at 9 pm London Time.

Tickets: $85 with the usual special discount of $50 for Ycademy Pros; please get the Ycademy Pro Discount code from Bianca (@) ycademy.com.

Please click HERE.

How to create Gold and Glass effects in Photoshop

The tutorial shows how to create a Glass and Gold effect in Photoshop CS6 in 3 steps.

• Create a background with vignette
• Create a Glass effect
• Create a Gold effect

I have loaded this for those who missed the daily Ycademy call last night and who may be looking for an attractive way to add glossy gold or other color effects to text. If you wish to reproduce the effect demonstrated in the tutorial, just grab the background image from HERE.

Try it with other fonts, namely with italic rounded ones, change color gradients and produce unlimited attractive effects.

Enjoy!

Application and Applications

For the year end, we have a special idea summing up our work; 2012 has been a busy and intensive year indeed. Having learned to use important Applications, such as Illustrator and InDesign and having evolved in Photography and photo editing for web and print, we will look into some practical application of all the new knowledge. We will not forget Camtasia and WordPress nor our own branding.

Traditionally the December Seminar is a one day event and we will make sure that it will be a useful one, with a dense schedule and loads of solutions for more or less common problems and issues.

We will create a calender for 2013 in print quality using Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and why not Word?

The monthly 12 page calender will require 12 large size images for the basic layout. Please prepare your images before the seminar and make sure you edit them in 300 dpi.

Besides the calender we will look into branding issues: stationary, business cards, logo, other printed matters such as post cards, greeting cards and much more.

A lst issue we have to resolve before year end: an update on Camtasia for easy video editing. The latest version of Camtasia offers more flexibility and features and we will experience how easy it is to edit media with this brilliant tool.

As you can see from the above, the day will be one big workshop. Bianca will send out relevant download links for materials before the seminar.

The Seminar takes place on Saturday, December 15 from 1 pm – 9 pm London time.

Christmas rate for all participants: $15

I am looking forward to an interesting and busy seminar.

How to correct Photoshop Print preview in CS5 and CS6

You may have noticed that the Print Preview in Photoshop does not reflect the real dimensions of the image in inches or centimeters. To test, just measure the image width on the screen with a ruler and compare it to image size under Image>Image Size.

The difference results from the fact that Adobe Photoshop assumes a screen resolution of 72 pixels per inch (ppi) which for most screens is not the case anymore. The second reason lies in the fact that screen resolutions may vary from what manufacturers indicate.

In order to preview the exact print size of your image, you need to calibrate Photoshop and adjust the screen resolution preset to the actual resolution of your monitor.

This is how to do it:

1. Create a new document with 300 dpi print resolution, 9 in x 9 in in dimensions. This will create a blank document 2700×2700 in pixel dimensions. Fill it with white.
2. From the menu choose  View>Print Size.
3. With an accurate ruler and using great care not to damage your screen measure the displayed dimensions in inches. In all likelihood it will be smaller than 9 inches.
4. Divide 9 inches by the actual measurement you obtain from the screen which will provide the correction factor.
5. Go to Edit>Preferences>Units & Rulers and find the screen resolution. By default it is set at 72 pixels/inch.
6. Multiply the current ppi, 72, by the correction factor you calculated above and enter that in the screen resolution field. Click OK.

Now go back to print preview, measure it and you will notice that the values are correct.

By the way: the rulers are now correct as well (in print preview only).

Free Windows 8 Media Center Pack

So, you have just upgraded your windows to Windows 8 Pro taking advantage of the easy upgrade offer. Included in the offer is the free access to the Windows 8 Media Center which retails for about $70.

This post takes you step by step through the Media center Set-up process.

Once your Win 8 Pro is installed, head over to Microsoft and order your free Windows Media Center by just tying your email address into the form on display. Click HERE. The free offer is available till January 31, 2013.

By the way, you are entitled to 5 product keys but you have to order them with separate email addresses.

Microsoft will send you the Product Key by mail “within 24 hours”. In reality you will get the key within 10 minutes or so, however they don’t seem to work on week-ends and their support is useless.

just follow the instructions contained in the mail. For the sake completeness I will just add them here below:

1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search. (If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, and then click Search).
2. Enter add features in the search box, and then tap or click Settings.
3. Tap or click Add features to Windows 8.
4. Then tap or click I already have a product key.
5. Enter the product key, and then click Next.
6. Read the license terms, select the check box to accept the license terms, and then click Add features.

Your PC will restart automatically and Windows Media Center will be available for use. 

You will now find a new Media Center Tile (Icon) on your Start Page:

Click on your new WMC tile and start following the steps.

Right after the opening screen you will be exposed to your first important decision: Express Install or Custom. Most users will be happy with the Express install: it’s quick, efficient and Microsoft will watch you like Big Brother.

In as much as I am concerned, I like to preserve as much privacy as possible and namely, I do not want to send permanently information about my activity to Big Brother; I therefore choose the Custom Install:

Now the set-up goes step by step through the various options:

Just click next and select NO on the following screen:

I have read too many privacy statements to trust any of them. They are worse than pre-election promises.

On the next screen you get optional settings:

Let’s have a look at some of these options, starting with display settings:

On the following screens just select what applies to your hardware:

Note the pop on the bottom right of the above screen!

For the purpose of this exercise I did NOT switch to full screen as once you are on full screen mode you can no longer take screen-shots … My screen is just a bit higher than standard 16:9 display. I just pulled the display window to full width, which gives me full 16:9 new but still keeps the desktop options (like screen shots :-)).

Now again some questions to make sure you are on the right track and just choose what applies:

I select 16:9 display as this corresponds also the HD video formats. 4:3 would be a typical digital photo format.

Now it’s getting more tricky: you may use this option to quickly manage your display, however, you may also opt to calibrate color and other display settings from the menu of your graphics card if available.

Also: while calibrating your monitor for best display of  the Windows Media Center environment and content, you may mess up other display settings you have chosen, namely calibration for Graphic or Photographic work or calibration for print of images.

In most cases to let windows to the choice is fair for normal internet consumers. As an editor of Graphics of any kind, you may want to think twice.

Here you go for color balance; RGB is the color scheme we use on monitors.

Sound Options:

Again similar to the monitor set-up:

Going for Music,Images and Videos now …

This is the most important choice here: decide what you really want in the media library. Some just pull in all media files, also junk stuff. Be selective about it!

Have a look at your libraries:

For Music and Video libraries it works the same way as for images.

Thant’s it.

WordPress and Blurb

Semiomantics is ready with an XO release candidate for WordPress 3.5. We will therefore look into the latest WP developments and the theme updates. Also Blurb has released the integration software for InDesign, which provides smashing professional editing features for off and on line book publishers.

Here is the Schedule for the October Seminar:

Blurb is expanding fast and adding new features and tools rapidly. New high quality paper, covers and integration tools namely for Word and InDesign provide all we need for prestigious publications. But there is more, such as Facebook book publishing …

We will give an overview over the recent developments of Blurb and Blurb ProLine before integrating Blurb with InDesign.

Creating a book is a bit like developing a Website in as much as planning is required and some important decisions should be taken before starting the editing job.

• Title or Topic of the book
• Content (example Photos, Images and Text, etc)
• Approximate number of pages
• Format of the book
• Paper (type, weight and color)
• Cover
• Layout
• Fonts
• Eventual color scheme

We will go through each of the above with each participant to make sure everyone gets the basics right from the beginning. While doing so we will highlight some generally accepted standards and explain the needed technical terms, such as thick margins, thin equal margins and full bleeds and their significance and perception. Other issues such as the gutter and the cover page, the half title and the full title page, page numbers and plate numbers, index and plate table will be detailed and implemented in the work shop.

Then we will create a grid and help lines and as the case may be customized master spreads.

Particular focus will be on typefaces, their meaning and perception as well as on some guidelines about how to use which font for a particular purpose.

Also, we will work on the cover once we know the exact number of pages. The Cover bears usually some defined information as well as graphic and or photographic work.

By the end of the day each participants book will be at a finishing stage with pending fine-tuning.

IMPORTANT: Have your photos/images prepared for print with 300 dpi. Cropping and adapting to fit the requirements of the layout will be done during the session, however the image editing process should be completed.

The universal theme and framework XO for WordPress is getting ready for WordPress 3.5. We will deliver and test a Release Candidate of Semiomantics XO 3.5 and go through the details on the second day of our Seminar. This will be an important session as we will focus not just on styling, but also on code for advanced customization. These will be the highlights:

• XO 3.5 RC
• A new responsive slider
• A New Child Theme (similar to what you can see on my author site)
• A New Security Plugin
• A new Optimization Plugin
• Introduction to CDN
• Custom templates
• MySQL queries to troubleshoot your database.

All materials are provided.

As you can see from the above, we are looking forward to an extremely interesting and busy week-end. I am determined to go through all of the above sections and the workshops considering that in November and December there are new challenges waiting for us :-).

Schedule: as usual on Saturday and Sunday, October 27/28, 2012 each from 1 pm London time till 9 pm London time; breaks as usual.

Tickets: as usual, please click on the below icon and request Ycademy discount as usual from Bianca.

Marketing with WordPress and Adobe CS6 Seminar

The Ycademy September 2012 Seminar will focus on Marketing with WordPress and Adobe CS6. We will also spend some time on the Photobook we started working on at the July Seminar.

Making money with your blog or WordPress based website is function of multiple elements we have explored in the past. This time we will resume some of the criteria which are of paramount importance on the Path to Profitability and add some new ideas, namely the most recent techniques of mixing content from two or more sources into single new original posts. The interest is in the fact that ‘commercial content’ can be mixed into editorials automatically and in a contextually relevant matter.

In fact, if our author blog uses as main categories say, ‘home and gardening’, ‘yoga’, ‘photography’ and  ’my cat’, then contextual commercial content (ads for example) can be prepared for each category to be mixed in to the posts. The ads are set up as custom posts based on commercial feeds or contents originating from affiliate programs (merchants) or from our own shops.

Th suggested technique will make life easier for publishers and produce feeds including commercial content.

Of course, the technique can also be used for non commercial content, such as galleries, portfolio items, videos or any other kind of media.

Adobe CS6 offers some great features, namely when it comes to optimize the Work-flow. While most are familiar with Photoshop and  Lightroom, there are other great Adobe Apps in the CS6 bundle we will focus on, namely on Bridge, Illustrator and most importantly on InDesign.

As per Adobe:”Adobe InDesign CS6 is professional page layout software that lets you design, preflight, and publish a broad range of documents in print, online, and on tablet devices. Precise control over typography, built-in creative tools, and an intuitive design environment let you create stunning page layouts faster and more efficiently. Tight integration with industry-leading Adobe software such as Adobe Photoshop®, Illustrator®, Acrobat®, and Flash® Professional enables highly productive work-flows to flexibly deliver content in print and digital formats. Access Adobe Digital Publishing Suite* from within InDesign to create and publish engaging apps for a broad range of devices, such as iPad, Motorola Xoom, and Android™ tablets.”

InDesign is THE app to produce newsletters, scrap and other books, brochures and of course well edited web pages and online editions of magazines and mobile apps. InDesign assembles text and media elements to deliver attractive  interactive content.

Talking about Publishing, we will come back to our Photo-book Project we started at the July Seminar.

While InDesign provides all we need to build 100% custom publications, an alternative way to publishing is to use ready templates and software available online, namely to edit and publish Photo Books. The project we started during the July Seminar has matured in the mean time and we will check upon the status quo and help where help is needed. Also we will have a closer look at the suggested software and at some of the advanced settings to give the book the most appealing touch and feel. A two hours work-shop is planed for this issue.

An important pre-seminar call will take place on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. London Time. We will use the session to distribute and go through the materials we will use at the seminar. Please watch out from an email from Bianca containing various links and download the materials before the session.

The Seminar will take pace on September 29 and 30, starting on both days at 1 p.m. London Time and closing at 9 p.m.London Time.

Seminar Tickets are available at the usual conditions; discounts for Ycademy Pros as usual.

Vintage Photography with Photoshop

So, you want to give your brand new images that vintage look found in your grandmother’s photo album? No problem, just fire up your Photoshop and start playing with textures and blending modes. Here some examples:

1. New Marketing Concept with Semiomantics XOMS

The Ycademy August Seminar will focus on the new Marketing Concept using WordPress Multi-Site structures developed by Semiomantics. The new developments implement the most recent groundbreaking ideas when it comes to WordPress based semantic website development.

Recent changes of the Google algorithm as well as the developments of WordPress to more flexible taxonomies open new perspectives for developers who aim for high impact on Google search. Semiomantics is specialized in excellent semantic exploitation of WordPress as well as of Google.

While WP custom taxonomies allow for better structured content and CMS like flexibility when building customized site structures, the resulting canonical permalinks do not always satisfy Semiomantics high standards of optimization. For this reason we have been running performance tests since April to measure the impact of various set-ups and alternatives.

Interestingly, the Multi-Site concept offers better overall performance than structures with complex custom taxonomies.

Seminar participants will convert an existing site into a Multi-Site site testing the Semiomantics XOMS Theme and script.

With the release of Adobe’s Photoshop CS6 a bunch of new features have been announced and widely commented such as the Adaptive Wide Angle and new Lens Correction features. There are however some well hidden gems available in the extended version of Photoshop CS6 related to 3D as well as to Photographic toning for example.

Many of the new features improve the efficiency of designers’ workflow namely for artistic image editing as well as for advertising purposes; the 3D Text Extrusion is just an example for a few more interesting features which will serve web editors as well as editors of printed matters.

We will demonstrate the new features and use the PS Workshop to apply some of them to create a few samples and templates for future reference.

Finally we will install and introduce Adobe Edge preview version 6.1.

Start editing animation in HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript the smart way; even a monkey can do it!

According to Adobe (YouTube may not agree lol), Flash is still best for video streaming and gaming while interactive web design and advertising will be HTML5′s strong points. While browsers are adapting to the new reality and websites are busy converting flash to HTML5 also in view of the steep increase of mobile traffic, the final version of HTML5 is planned to be released in 2014 only – thus there is still time to plant the last nail into the Flash coffin.

We will just do an intro to Adobe Edge and time permitting go through a few examples; but this will be just the beginning of a new learning curve on the path to profitability.

I am looking forward to seeing you at the Ycademy August Seminar, yet another smashing edition!

August  25/26, 2012 aarting at 1 pm London Time and ending at 9 pm London time on both days.

Cost $85 with the usual discounts for Ycademy Pros (please contact Bianca at bianca(at)ycademy.com).