f you design for the web or print, whether you freelance, or work for a design firm, it’s always difficult to maintain a good level of productivity so we progress each and every day. Sometimes it can be difficult to produce work that requires constant creativity and energy, which is why it can only be done for much shorter hours than usual “work”.

From my personal experience, I’ve only ever got about 4 hours per day of pure work time. This means time that I’m actually producing something, such an article, or template design. The usual amount of time people ‘work’ during the day is about 8 hours, so I’m getting half of the time in doing productive work. To me, this is probably close to the zenith point, seeing as average people only get around 2-3 hours of solid work in per day in such an environment, even though technically I could be productive for the entire 8 hours.

If you’re like me, and looking for ways to get more out of each day (which seems to be passing faster and faster) then these are definitely tips for you.

1. Write a to-do list

To-do lists are a great way of planning exactly what needs doing on that day. Daily to-do lists need to be used in conjunction with weekly/monthly ones for maximum effectiveness. Every morning, sit down with a nice cup of tea and write down exactly what needs doing that day. It’s good to go a little overboard and try to push yourself, and even if you can’t get all of the tasks done in that day, still write them down. You can always move tasks to the next day if they’re not completed.

I have a container of small, square pieces of paper that act as my to-do lists, because I prefer having my lists in-front of me in reality, not virtually. If, however, you prefer not to clutter your desk up that little bit more, then there are always alternatives (such as Remember the Milk).

You could also experiment what times best for you to write up your to-do list. I prefer writing mine early in the morning, rather than late at night (to be used the next day).

2. Focus on the task at hand

It’s very easy to get distracted when working at a computer, because having access to the Internet means infinite amounts of entertainment and distractions. Once you have all the materials required to do a piece of work, deactivate your Internet adapter so you can’t get access to the Internet. Then, continue to work on the project at hand until you’ve got as much as you can done. I would also recommend you switch off any music, or other applications you may have running. Music actually causes your brain to drift into other realms of thought, so it’s not good practice to be actively listening to music whilst designing.

3. Work hard and enjoy yourself

This is very true, especially for those of us who are freelancers and are totally responsible for how long we work for. If we’ve managed to spend a few hours in a deep work cycle, at the end of it all, treat yourself a little. Whether that means sitting down with a book and a cup of your favorite hot chocolate, or going out for a game of football. I would recommend though, that you take your breaks away from the computer, and outside if you can – you don’t get much fresh air in-front of a monitor all day now, do you?

Conclusion

Designing is a creative, enlightening process, and can’t be treated like usual work. You can’t work the same hours and still be productive. Instead, focus on getting a few really great hours out of each day, and you’ll be moving forward to becoming more efficient and productive, and therefore earn more each year.

Slogans are memorable phrases often used in conjunction with company logos and in advertising campaigns.

They are claimed to be the most effective means of drawing attention to one or more aspects of a product or brand.But how often do you see “serving you since 1982? or a similarly canned slogan under a beautifully designed logo?

Too often.

In this post, we’ll discuss 5 essential tips on how to write a killer slogan and, if you feel you can’t manage it on your own, where to go to get them written for you.

At the end of these tips, you’ll find a selection of famous slogans as well as an interactive showcase of famous slogans.

Click here to read the full article.

Millions use Twitter to everyday. This article talks about how you can reach out to businesses and make connections.

So what does Twitter do for businesses?

So how does it work?

So how do businesses use Twitter?

To find out all this and more click here.

In history, a CSS ninja is a warrior specially trained in a variety of xhtml and css techniques typically equipped with various web design/development tools.

Possible Symptoms

1. The first thing you look at on the site is the Source Code.

2. You’re extremely obsessed with xhtml/css validation

3. You get annoyed at sloppy code, and have the urge to re-write it even though the site doesn’t belong to you.

4. You live by the Semantics Bible.

5. You hate IE6 with a passion, possibly IE in general, and you wish it goes to hell.

6. Bad usability pisses you off and makes you want to yell at the designer of the site.

7. Have all kinds of web developer add-ons on your browser, where it starts looking like a space ship console.

8. You wish all browsers behaved the same and there was no such thing as cross-browser testing.

9. You talk to yourself when debugging and maybe drop a few ‘F’ Bombs here and there.

10. You’re personalized homepage is filled with developer/designer RSS feeds.

11. You don’t mind coding away till 4 in the morning.

12. Book marking sites become a part of daily life.

13. You start dreaming of CSS techniques.

14. You can type lines of CSS code faster than you can throw ninja stars.

15. When your spouse rolls their eyes at your lame CSS/Web jokes.

16. When your spouse has to compete against your computer and website.

17. When you IM other CSS ninjas to complain/criticize poorly designed sites.

18. Buy domain names left and right when you don’t even need them.

19. When you either laugh out loud or get really angry when visiting this site.

(Warning: Do not look in the source code if you have a weak heart or are pregnant, it may result in serious injuries).

20. You read this whole article and thought I was writing about YOU.

Feel free to add any other serious symptoms of CSS Ninjaosis.

Article from sohtanaka.com

This article by by David Rojas in Resources is too long to post but the link below is worth the read.
In the Woods

There is a lot of great freelancing advice out there, both on this site and on many others. Anyone who wants to make it as a freelancer has many resources available to help them with what they need to know — everything from dealing with problem clients, to finding them in the first place, to organizing taxes and so on.

In fact, there is so much good advice about what you should be doing that I think it’s helpful to look in the opposite direction — at things that might be holding you back.

In this post, I’ve created a list of 5 big mistakes that could be holding you back from freelance success. Make a little progress with these, and your freelancing will see some definite improvement.

Let’s get started…

Mistake #1 — Not Making The Most Of Your Time

If you find yourself with plenty of spare hours each week and certainly aren’t stretched to get your freelancing tasks done, you’re one of few. For the rest of us however, we only get so much time here and there to ‘do what we do’ and we have to make the most of it.

I’ve been victim to the idea of leaving projects until the last minute and rushing around to get things done, but those days are long gone. You never know when a new project or opportunity is going to come up that will take up your time and if you’re still sitting on a backlog of other work (or other typical life surprises), you may not be able to seize the chance.

Set yourself a schedule for when you will work on your tasks and stick to it. It’s far better to get things out of the way early on then leave them till your last possible opportunity.

Mistake #2 — Holding Limiting Beliefs About Potential

This may sound stupid, but I’m sure some people can relate to my own situation. When I was 17 I was contacted by a large phone manufacturer to help promote their new website blog. They offered me a ton of money (especially for my age) to do the job and whilst I knew I was very capable for the task in hand, I started doubting my own abilities and whether or not I could keep them happy as a client.

Thankfully, things worked out well for me, but that situation still touched upon an important concept: know your worth, and don’t doubt your potential. Limiting beliefs about how much money you can make, how great your finished projects can be and how many clients you can keep a hold of serve you no positive benefits whatsoever.

Limiting beliefs are called limiting for a reason.

Mistake #3 — Casting Your Net Too Wide

I’ve already wrote about this in full detail on another post, but I still think it deserves to be mentioned here. Too many people suffer from the idea that the more they do of this and the more they have of that, the more money and success they can achieve.

Logically, it might make sense, but in theory, it’s not always the best route to take. I had a lot more success in getting clients and making money when I narrowed the services I offered but became a known expert on what I did offer. I narrowed my audience when doing this, but took a bigger share of the market that is out there. Before you start going ‘gung-ho’ for every possible client and service out there, scale back and see how things work out.

Mistake #4 — Always Looking for Shortcuts

I have a friend who runs a very popular blog (where he outsources the writing) which makes him thousands of dollars and a very liveable income each month. The thing is, in looking to grow the blog, he spends absolutely zero time following the fundamentals he used to build the blog in the first place, and spends a lot of his time reading autobiographies of successful people and looking for some ‘trick’ he’s missing.

I’m not saying reading about the success of others’ is bad, but sometimes to take your client base or income to the next level, you just need to keep doing what you’ve been doing. If there are shortcuts which won’t falter the quality of your work then sure, try them, but if you’re looking for ‘tricks’ and ’secrets’ out of laziness, you’re going to find yourself taking an even longer journey than before.

Mistake #5 — Not Measuring What is Working

Just like it’s possible you may be casting your net too wide and still missing all the fish, there’s also a good chance you’re spending time on things which don’t benefit you at all. Possible examples of this could be writing blog posts, commenting on other sites, participating in forums and battling for jobs on freelance marketplaces.

Some of these might be working and the first three will be great if you’re trying to get your name or brand out there, but how many are really converting into clients? Take some time aside one day to look at the people who are paying for your services and see if you can work out where they found you. If you can’t, it doesn’t hurt to ask. It’s possible that only one or two main areas are sending you clients but you’re spending equal time in five.

If that is the case, now you know where to change.

These are just some of the common factors I know have held me back in the past, what others do you know?

Article from: freelancefolder.com

About the author: Glen Allsopp writes on the subject of Personal Development at PluginID. His aim is to help you ‘Plug into your Identity’ and reach your full potential.

Update | 12:39 p.m. Added reports that Facebook and LiveJournal are also experiencing major system problems.

Update | 1:39 p.m. Added confirmation of problems at Facebook and LiveJournal.

Twitter, the popular microblogging service, was crippled Thursday morning by a denial-of-service attack.

The extended silence in a normally noisy Twitterworld began around 9 a.m. Twitter later posted a note to its status update page saying the site had been slowed to a standstill by an attack. In a denial-of-service attack, hackers typically direct a “botnet,” often made up of thousands of malware-infected home PCs, toward a target site in an effort to flood it with junk traffic. With the site overwhelmed, legitimate visitors cannot access the service.

“On this otherwise happy Thursday morning, Twitter is the target of a denial-of-service attack. Attacks such as this are malicious efforts orchestrated to disrupt and make unavailable services such as online banks, credit card payment gateways, and in this case, Twitter for intended customers or users,” co-founder Biz Stone said in a blog post. “We are defending against this attack now and will continue to update our status blog as we continue to defend and later investigate.”

At about 11 a.m., Twitter updated its status site with a note saying, “The site is back up, but we are continuing to defend against and recover from this attack.”

However, many visitors are still finding the site inaccessible. (What’s your experience? Let us know in the comments.)

Other sites reported that they were targets of denial-of-service attacks as well. The social-networking site Facebook said access to its site was impaired for some users for a short time Thursday morning. It said it had mostly resolved the problem but was continuing to monitor the situation. “No user data was at risk and we have restored full access to the site for most users,” a Facebook statement said.

LiveJournal said it, too, sustained a denial-of-service attack. The assault also began at about 9 a.m., and site access was limited for about an hour. It is unclear whether the problems at the sites are connected.

Twitter has contended with a series of security woes recently, including the hacking of several employees’ e-mail accounts and theft of company documents as well as a surge of phishing, spam and other malicious attacks aimed at its users. It reportedly has been undertaking a top-to-bottom security review.

The Web sites operated by Gawker Media were the target of a similar attack earlier this week.

By Riva Richmond

Apathetic ‘Meh’ Enters Dictionary

LONDON (Nov. 16) – At least someone is excited about “meh.”

The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers.

Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday the word had been chosen from terms suggested by the public for inclusion in the dictionary’s 30th anniversary edition, to be published next year.

The origins of “meh” are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of “The Simpsons” in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa.

“They both just reply ‘meh’ and keep watching TV,” said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries.

The dictionary defines “meh” as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include “the Canadian election was so meh.”

The dictionary’s compilers said the word originated in North America, spread through the Internet and was now entering British spoken English.

“This is a new interjection from the U.S. that seems to have inveigled its way into common speech over here,” McKeown said. “Internet forums and e-mail are playing a big part in formalizing the spellings of vocal interjections like these. A couple of other examples would be ‘hmm’ and ‘heh.’

You can credit or blame ‘The Simpsons’ for the rise of “meh.” The expression grew in popularity after it was used during an episode in 2001.

Facebook has agreed to let 3rd party advertisers use your posted pictures without your permission.

Click-Settings > Logout > Privacy > News Feed and Wall.

Next, select tab > Facebook Ad.  Select > No One. Save.

Earlier today CinderBlock Racer went down. It seems when I created another WordPress site, Autumn Forever, I threw of something in the Aether and all my WordPress based sights got hosed. I have now saved CinderBlock Racer, but unfortunately I lost Autumn Forever and Ion Kicker (Kids Eating Paste test domain). I have now signed up for a database backup package which will run me $1.50 a month. I hope this saves me from any future frustrations.

Let me add i have neer had any major issues with Lunar Pages and they solved this issue fast.