There are several ways to build a book cover in InDesign. I'll show you my tried and true methods, honed from years of experience working at an educational publishing company (Houghton Mifflin, now Cengage Learning). While there, first as a book cover designer and then cover design manager, I was involved in more than 500 … [Read More...] about How to Build a Book Cover in InDesign
How to Build a Book Cover in InDesign
There are several ways to build a book cover in InDesign. I'll show you my tried and true methods, honed from years of experience working at an educational publishing company (Houghton Mifflin, now Cengage Learning). While there, first as a book cover designer and then cover design manager, I was involved in more than 500 books! We had to assemble and use accurate and flexible templates with all of the specifications required by various book printers. Specifications For each of my … [Read more...] about How to Build a Book Cover in InDesign
My Web Design and Development Toolset
My web design and development toolset includes desktop as well as cloud-based applications. I use the tools for brainstorming, thumbnail sketching, design comprehensives, and implementation of code. I'm always open to trying new things. Sometimes, I'll explore a new program, love it, and make the switch. PINTEREST Visual discovery platform I use Pinterest to find, store and categorize images and ideas. It serves as a great reference archive for my designs and artwork. It's part of my … [Read more...] about My Web Design and Development Toolset
Video Conferencing with Zoom
Zoom's popularity has exploded these past few months. As COVID-19 spreads throughout the world, businesses and schools have to find ways to meet remotely. Ease of use make video conferencing with Zoom an attractive choice. How to Host a Zoom Meeting To host a meeting, you must have a Zoom account. The meeting can be spontaneous or scheduled. Hosting can be done on the Zoom's website, the Desktop client, or the mobile application. The steps outlined in this tutorial are for the website. … [Read more...] about Video Conferencing with Zoom
Finding Joy Out of My Comfort Zone
I've always loved watercolors, but never felt comfortable using them. Despite the many classes to learn this medium, the results were less than stellar. It was such a challenge figuring out how to control the water! At the beginning of this year, I finally found joy out of my comfort zone. I was 1 of 12 lucky people who qualified for a free watercolors class, funded by a grant received from Aroha Philanthropies by Naples Botanical Garden! It was called "Nature Journaling: Botany Through Art". … [Read more...] about Finding Joy Out of My Comfort Zone
Migration and Cloning Tools for WordPress Sites
Migration is the process of cloning a website and moving it to another location. Some of the more common reasons for migrating a site are a change of web host, a change in domain name, or creating a development site to test things. There are many migration and cloning tools for WordPress. Plugins are the easiest tools to use for this purpose. In this tutorial, I'll review 3 of my favorite plugins that replicate all of the files and the database from one site to another: Duplicator, Backup Buddy, … [Read more...] about Migration and Cloning Tools for WordPress Sites
InDesign Master Pages: Consistency and Efficiency
The main reasons to use master pages are to ensure consistency throughout the publication and save time when producing the document. Consistency Maintaining consistency throughout a publication provides cohesiveness and builds reader confidence. Fonts, sizes, styles, colors, and positioning are the primary components that contribute to continuity. When considering what to use on InDesign master pages, designers look for patterns that can be replicated. Typical candidates for master page … [Read more...] about InDesign Master Pages: Consistency and Efficiency
SEO for WordPress Content Creators
In January, I facilitated a discussion about SEO at the WordPress Southwest Florida MeetUp. This blog post is a detailed outline of my presentation. SEO Defined SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is an ongoing process of preparing your website content for discovery by search engines. Better preparation equals better optimization. Search engines find and sort information relevant to the user, based on key words and tags. There are many search engines, but Google, Yahoo, … [Read more...] about SEO for WordPress Content Creators
Site Migration from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
Free hosting on WordPress.com is a great choice when you don't want the hassle of maintaining the site yourself. However, there are limitations. If you want the freedom to customize, add plugins, and monetize the site, you could upgrade to a premium account or migrate the site to WordPress.org. Migration You copy the content (text and images) and database from one site to another using a process called “migration”. There are a few basic steps to take when migrating a site from … [Read more...] about Site Migration from WordPress.com to WordPress.org