Sydney Web Design

Fonts are a big focus of the Web2.0 era—they are now bigger, cleaner and smoother, especially when it comes to logos.

So whether you’re a professional graphic designer, or an amateur web publisher this list of font tools might come in handy (eventually).

myFontbook

myFontbook is an online font viewer and manager based on the font available on your computer. It allows you to organize your font collection and gives you all the tools you need to do so. Once you open the demo, myFontbook will render all the fonts in your computer, and display them together in an easy to view mode. While all the files are actually open, it makes it easier to browse through them and see the fonts in several sizes. You can also make lists of fonts, tag & favorite the fonts that you like best. The font viewer renders your entire font library super fast. Just compare the rendering time to other font management tools. And there’s nothing to install—it works from your browser. If you want to save all your activities for later use, you’ll need to register. But don’t worry, it’s free.

BetterFonts

With BetterFonts, an online font database, you can quickly preview and download thousands of fonts. Navigate the massive collection by alphabetic order or browse the fonts by their categories. You can change the preview text of your desirable font and instantly download it for free. Although the site provides an impressive list of fonts, for the quality ones you’ll need to pay. But they have a deal of a 500-font package for $2.77. Please note that there’s no preview of the font list in advance—which might be a risky deal if you want something in particular (but then again, it’s cheap).

FFonts

FFonts has a huge font library and it allows you to navigate easily, and download any font for free. All the fonts on the site are listed on the left side menu for easy access, and clicking on a font gives you information plus a satisfying preview of the font. Overall, the site hosts more than 10,000 fonts!

FontStruct

If you don’t find anything you like, and are still looking for that special font to make an appearance, you are more than welcome to create it yourself with FontStruct. Sign into the service and with FontStruct’s font-building tool & editor, you’ll be able to create fonts constructed out of geometrical shapes, which are arranged in a grid pattern, like tiles or bricks. Once you’re done building, FontStruct generates high-quality TrueType fonts, ready to use in any Mac or Windows application.

You can share your creations with the world or save it for yourself, but FontStruct actually encourages you to share your fonts with others, this is why they’ve created a gallery where people can share and discuss fonts, and download them for free. A quick look at the community taught me there is a lot of going on there—definitely worth the visit if fonts interest to you.

Fawnt

Fawnt is also one of the largest free fonts archives on the web today. With a pleasant design and an easy to use navigator, you are one step away from finding the perfect font. Browse the fonts by category or alphabetically, or use the search function. All the fonts have large and customizable previews, and character maps. Be aware though that while all of the fonts in Fawnt are free, they might have some restrictions. Some may be free for personal use, others for commercial. When you visit a font link make sure to browse the page for any fine print or usage terms.

Myfonts

With 62,000 fonts, Myfonts has the world’s largest font database. Not only can you search for fonts, explore everything in their gallery, and download the fonts to your computer, you can also find fonts based on a picture with their service WhatTheFont. Simply upload a file, or specify a URL, and myFonts will find the font used in the picture you uploaded (or at least, give you some close alternatives to this font). If you’re a designer, I’m sure you can see how important a service like this can be to the industry.

Fontcapture

A super cool idea is to actually create a font with your own handwriting, so you’ll be able to insert it wherever you need to place your signature on the web. Luckily, Fontcapture took the idea and made it possible, which means you can create your handwriting font right now if you want to, all you need is a printer and a scanner.

How it works: First, you need to download the font template, print it, fill it in with your own handwriting, scan it and upload it to the site. Then you’ll be able to preview and download the new font to your font library, located on your computer.

Abstract Fonts

Abstract Fonts is not very different than the other font directories suggested here but it has a very convenient interface. Abstract Fonts lets you type in text to view font examples, opens a unique menu for each font which summarizes the information you need to know about that font, see the character map, and display users’ comments. Abstract also gives you the ability to see similar fonts, which I think is an absolutely brilliant addition.

Typekit

Last but not least, here’s something to look for in the future:

Typekit, a new font editor will offer designers more control over fonts on the web.

Today, almost all Web fonts are protected by copyright, and very few of them allow for linking via CSS or redistribution on the web. Typekit has been working with foundries to develop a consistent web-only font linking license.

Typekit will give you access to their protected library of high-quality fonts. You’ll just need to add a line of JavaScript to your markup, tell Typekit what fonts you want to use, and then craft your pages the way you always have. Except now, you’ll be able to use real fonts.

There’s still not enough information about this new service but based on the above, Typekit might definitely change web design. Unfortunately, the site is in closed beta (invitation only) so designers make sure you sign up for an invite. Meanwhile, check out the full list of fonts already available at Typekit.

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Google Scholar - in beta since 2004 - epitomizes the problems of the internet. It provides easy access to advanced research that can be used by students - but whether it is used for citations or to plagiarize is the deeper problem.

The site uses an academic approach to ranking. “Google Scholar aims to sort articles the way researchers do, weighing the full text of each article, the author, the publication in which the article appears, and how often the piece has been cited in other scholarly literature. The most relevant results will always appear on the first page.”

What plagiarists must know is that professors know how to use it as well to check if they are cheating. There are even sites like turnitin.com where teachers can submit papers and have them checked for originality.

Without a doubt Google Scholar helps improve access to academic research for students, and students are becoming well aware that teachers are tech savvy as well. If used properly it is a great example of the benefits the web provides.

Google Scholar has even released a toolbar plug in for Firefox browsers.

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I’m not going to discuss the economic meltdown and its devastating effect on technology companies and Internet startups in this post, but rather something that crossed my mind earlier this morning: “Web 2.0? seems to become more and more a void (and an avoided) term. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is definitely apparent.

So why do I say it’s fading? For one, because the number of startups that contact us and include the term Web 2.0 in the subject line or message is visibly dropping (and that’s a good thing), and I hardly ever see it mentioned anymore on other technology blogs and news sites either. That’s not really tangible, so I took a look at the number of mentions of the phrase across the web, and they seem to be decreasing significantly, reflecting my feeling on this.

Judging by Google Trends, which shows how often a particular search term is entered relative to the total search volume across various regions of the world (and in various languages), the term started being used at the end of 2004 when Tim O’Reilly organized the first edition of the Web 2.0 Conference. Search queries for the term started picking up in the middle of 2005, when TechCrunch was started - with the tagline “Tracking Web 2.0? by the way - and the number kept increasing until the end of 2007. After that, the trend is clearly downwards, falling back to the level it reached in early 2006 today. If the trend continues, there should only be a handful of people left who scour search engines for “Web 2.0? by 2011.

Also noteworthy: take a look at the geographic regions that have generated the highest volumes of worldwide search traffic for the term over the years - it’s Asia, with the top 5 regions being India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia (in that order). Furthermore, Google Trends pegs the number one language in which people search for stuff related to the topic of Web 2.0 to be Russian before English.

And just in case you’re curious: “Web 3.0? doesn’t seem to picking up much.
Let’s all rejoice.

Google’s “Insights for Search”, a beta service that analyzes a portion of worldwide Google web searches from all Google domains to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you’ve entered - relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time - gives an even better overview:

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Your web site represents you. The website design serves as the virtual representation of your company, and its services. When doing online business, people cannot see you physically like they could if you were an offline company. Hence, your customers and clients will perceive you by your website design. Having an effective website design will give you a distinctive advantage. A business website design or a corporate web design goes way ahead of a novice like web design. It is just like having an offline company with your salespersons wearing corporate attire when dealing with clients.

Similarly through a robust custom website design, you send out a message to the customers that you have high concerns for quality and you mean business. This works simply because first impressions, of your website design, matter. On the other hand, if you have a lousy website design, you are literally telling your clients that you do lousy service and have no regard for quality. With a professional website design, your clients will be very happy and interested. They will regard you for your professionalism and love to work with you or ship off their work to you, by just seeing your website design. It is always best to hire services of an established and credible website design firm. They not only provide web design solutions but will also address your specific requirements through their expertise in web design consulting.

The best part is web design services have really come down in costs in the last few years. Incase you want to have a brief idea of basic website design before hiring a website design company, here are a few tips. No Splash Pages: Splash pages usually have a “welcome” or “click here to enter” accompanied by an appealing picture. Though it’s the first page of your website design, most clients will move away for a website that gives direct access.. Minimum Banner Ads: Many website design firms put up a lot of advertisements as part of the internet marketing campaign. However, such website design looks very unprofessional and it better be kept to the bare minimum. Let your visitors decide when to buy. You’ll only lose them by pushing sales. Simple and Intuitive Navigation: Having an easy and intuitive navigation for your website design will help your visitors stay in control.

Remember that visitors don’t have much patience to deal with complicated website design. Sitemap: Put a sitemap in your web design so that visitors know which part of the site they are browsing. By doing so, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. A confusing website design will only send your visitors away. Shun the Looping Audio: When your visitors stay a long time at your site, reading your content, they will be annoyed by any audio looping on your website. Make sure that your website design is engaging and you’ll have loyal customers pushing you to glory.

Article Source: Boosting Business through Professional Website Design - http://www.webdesignarticles.net

View some of the different Web Design types available at Quikclicks Web Design Sydney by clicking the links below:

Simple Webpage Design | Content Management Systems

Ecommerce Web Design | Flash Web Development

Company Profile

Quikclicks is a Sydney based company offering complete web solutions. Specialising in a range of web design services, we have more recently expanded our services to include web hosting, domain registration, Email marketing and Google Adwords campaign management.

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Whether your company is large and established, or just starting out, Quikclicks can build websites from scratch or redesign a site around your old content. We can help you find copy writers, illustrators and photographers to ensure your site is professional and accurate. We can also help you source royalty-free, professional stock imagery for your website for only a few dollars per image.

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We would love to talk to you about the various ways we could improve the look, feel and functionality of your existing website or how your business could benefit from a new Quikclicks website. With our ever-popular obligation-free, on-site consultation why not let us do all the hard work? We can come to you, discuss the available options and help you determine what kind of web solution best suits your needs… No obligations, No hard sell!

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