I’m always looking for ways to expand and improve my art skills. About a year ago, I took a Nature Journaling class at Naples Botanical Garden. It stretched me far beyond … [Read More...] about 100 Day Art Challenge
Lessons Learned in Florida
Our time in southwest Florida is nearing its end, as Peggy (my partner) and I are moving back to Massachusetts in a couple of weeks. We've missed our community of family and friends, as well as the familiarity of places and offerings, more than we imagined. It's been a mixed experience in Florida: unusual circumstances, like friends moving away within months of our arrival; disconnect with aspects of the culture that don't resonate with us; surprises and delights with the ecology; learning … [Read more...] about Lessons Learned in Florida
What Should I Do to Protect My Site from Hackers?
WordPress is the most popular content-management system in the world. For that reason alone, it is vulnerable to hackers who delight in finding large pools of potentially insecure websites. Cleaning up a hacked site is not fun or easy. So, it's important to take some simple measures to protect your site. My Recommendations Choose a reliable webhost that ensures a safe platform for your site.All user accounts should use strong passwords: at least 12 characters, including a number and a … [Read more...] about What Should I Do to Protect My Site from Hackers?
20 Best Google Fonts
So Many Choices! According to Extensis, there are at least a half million fonts in the world today! No wonder we sometimes labor over which typeface to use. Let me ease that task a little bit by sharing with you what I consider the 20 best Google fonts. Why Google Fonts? For web work, Google Fonts are my primary source because they are open-source and free, and offer a huge number of typefaces. All of these offerings are viewable through a user-friendly interface with filters to help … [Read more...] about 20 Best Google Fonts
How Can I Change the Typeface in WordPress?
While the terms "typeface" and "font" are often used interchangeably, there are clear distinctions in their actual meaning. "Typeface" refers to an entire family of type styles: Neuton, Garamond, Goudy Old Style, and Lato are examples of typefaces. "Font" is the individual member of a typeface family: roman (or regular), italic, bold, and bold italic are font examples. It's very simple to change the font in WordPress. You just have to select the word(s) or sentence(s) and click on the "B" (bold) … [Read more...] about How Can I Change the Typeface in WordPress?
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
UPDATED 6.10.21 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 … [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