New Wordpress theme has been released today and I am sure you are going to fall in love with it. Polish up your blog with this silky-smooth design. My goal with this theme was to create something simple, refined, and well, polished! All of my recent themes have been page-based, so I thought it was time I release a more traditional blog template. I hope this dark and “interfacey” design will be a welcomed addition the the ElegantThemes collection. For more information be sure to check out the Live Demo, as well as the Features Page in the gallery.

Perfect for portfolios as well as business websites and personal blogs.

Download Polished Theme

TheCorporation Features

Powered by ePanel, TheCorporation comes with all of the great features you have become accustomed to here at EelegantThemes. Change  color schemes, post layouts, manage your navigation, optimize your blog for SEO and more with the click of a button.

1. Optional Blog-style Structure – TheCorporation is a completely page-based design, but that doesn’t mean you have to use it that way.  You can switch to “Blogstyle” mode at any time, which converts the page-based homepage into a post-based blog. Furthermore, you can choose to populate the Featured Slider with posts instead of pages. Even though this theme was made with a specific audience in mind, there is nothing stopping bloggers who just like the design from using it.

2. Six  Unique Color Schemes – TheCorporation comes with 2 styles, each with 3 color schemes, for a total of six different variations to choose from. The standard skin comes in three colors, including Blue, Green and Purple.

Today’s generation is high tech. Everyone, at any age is using the internet for their main source of knowledge, entertainment and communications. The internet has quickly changed from a luxury to a necessity with everything available at just a simple click of the mouse. Never the less, computers and the internet are important for companies and has become the hub of their operations. They are used to store data and promote sales and websites are a necessity for any company offering products or services. Web hosting is important for you to get your services and products noticed on the web. You will be accessible by millions of viewers thus promoting your business sales in the high tech generation of today.

You could settle for the services of a simple web design company, but this will not make your site available to the masses, for that you need a web hosting company. To find the best web hosting companies, it is a good idea to discuss what you’re looking for from their services. Ask around and get acquainted with what a good web hosting company does so you are not left in the dark. You will want to have the knowledge in the area of web hosting so you know just what you’re looking for.

• Look for a company that has a good reputation in the field of web hosting. Check around and ask to see their portfolio, this will give you an idea of the services they are providing, and who they are providing them for.
• Another point to keep in mind is the price, look for a company that has competitive pricing as well as service that you need and stay focused on your own budget. Remember, you usually get what you pay for so make sure your budget matches the job that you are expecting any web host to do for you.
• Look for a company that will offer customer support 24/7 to ensure that your clients are getting the service they expect from your company. If you fail to provide service, your reputation will be what is hanging in the balance.
• An important point to also keep in mind is seeking services from a company that will offer support in many programming languages. CGI, ASP, JAVA and PHP will all be important and useful down the road.
• Look for a service provider that will keep your website up at the very least 99% of the time. You do not want to lose your clients because they can not access your website when they need it.
• A company offering free domains and sub-domains is not a bad idea, because later this may be very beneficial to you and your company as it grows.
• A company offering free scripting services and other software programs is also another one to keep in mind.

FatCow is the cheapest company out there, that is well known for customer satisfaction. Spam filters, auto-responders, visitor information and e-commerce services are just a few of the features they offer. With file managers and data base management, web hosting Australia is a better choice when searching for a web host company.

Remember your business is dependent on good website services and getting all of these services at a good price will help you remain in the high tech generation and allow you to grow beyond your wildest dreams. Do not leave your web hosting to chance, be selective and get the results you’re looking for.

Google has a habit of creating social networks that don’t seem to match up to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and My Space, but don’t leave them out of the race yet.  When Orkut was limited in India and Brazil, the hype was quickly lost but they have done it again. The new social connection service offered by Google is Google Buzz. With Google Buzz you can share real time updates with your friends as well as photos, links and so on. You can easily connect to other social networks you currently use such as Twitter, Flicker, Picasas and Google reader by simply importing all of your data from these sites.

The new Google Buzz is a hybrid that is inclusive of micro blogging, social networking and chat, just like some of the services already offered in Gmail. Here are a few tricks of the trade to get you up and running in Google Buzz.

• You can add Google buzz on your blog
• The ability to disable e-mail notifications
• You can add more connect sites such as Google reader, flickr, Twitter, Picasas and blogger.
• You get great keyboard shortcuts such as Shift+l= like a message, m=mute or ignore conversation, r= add a comment.
• Google buzz searches feature can show you the latest messages that match your search
• You can hide the Google buzz counter

Some helpful searches include:

Author: gmail.com- this allows you to find messages that are written by a specified user, you can even employ the use of partial names.

Commenter:@gmail.com – this allows you to find all comments from a specified user.

Adding has: photo or has: link to your search will restrict results to only messages that contain photos or links. (Example: Canada has: photo)

You can also view Google Buzz photos in slideshow format.

Keep in mind that when you upload a photo to Google Buzz it will be added to Picasas web album. When you click a thumbnail Google Buzz opens a light box which helps to navigate with ease between your images. There is no option for slideshow but it is available in the Picasas website.

Typography is important for any web page as well as all other type of medium.  Everything that is put into making a page look interesting tot read and enjoy all comes down to typography. There is a lot of competition for viewer numbers and it is important to make your site look inviting to readers.

There are no excuses when it comes to typography and if your page shows poor design you may already be behind the game. Here we will explain some of the some of the fundamentals that will allow you to create a page that is not only attractive but different than the rest of your competition. If you’re a web designer, you will be able to take comfort in knowing that much of your competition has poor design and this fact will put you ahead of the game. Web designers have to use the typography techniques and tools along with other media choices that will be aimed specifically at the audience you want to attract.

There are a set of unique problems for someone designing a web page because not only do you on your screen, you have to make all of your choices discreetly due to other computer platforms, sizes of screens and the communication needs of all of your viewers. You will need to work with the impact you want to have on viewers, the style and text of corresponding properties that are involved with the typeface it uses.

Typography means – If your audience is children, you will not use the same design as if you were typing for a political audience, and if your target is the political audience you would not choose the same formatting as you would for a page designed for a financial website. So as you can see your typography wants to be intertwined with the context and background that is best suited for your audience.

Text alignment – If you align to the left it will allow the viewer to read faster because it will give a focal point for the eye when starting to read the next line of text.

Line length – If you allow about 9 to 10 words per line it will give the viewer a higher reading speed. If your concern is in performance then you will want to use a longer line length. Viewers read at a faster rate when the lines are long but most prefer the shorter length.

Heading – You should make your heading about 130% of the text. But the longer the length of the line, the bigger the heading should be. For instance, a newspaper article is short in line length therefore they can have a smaller heading and they use the smaller font to fit as much information in the article as possible.

Font – the font needs to fit the subject matter. If you start to use more than one font it distracts the reader. Your heading should be in a bold Times new roman and the text is normally written in times new roman normal font. The cleaner looking the article or information the better the reader will comprehend your text. Mixing fonts is not advisable and does not look good.

Italics - If you must use them, use them sparingly because it does not translate well and is especially harder to read in a smaller sized text letter. Try not to use them on larger areas of your text and it will greatly improve the overall look.

Capitol letters – The use of Capitol letters is not recommended for all of your text, it makes it more difficult to read and the uniformity can throw a viewer off, even in the heading it is better to stay away from using full upper case letters. If using capitols in your heading, use them on the first letter of the word and it will allow an easier flow for the reader.

Contrast – The best contrast is a light background with dark words and vice versa, so keep this in mind when choosing your contrast colors.

Underscore links – it is a good idea to underscore all of your links so the viewer can easily identify what is and is not a link you should not be depending only upon a mouse over to highlight your links.

Scanners – You should know that most people when visiting a web page only scan through them so offer bold type on your headings and fill the first paragraphs with as much useful information as possible. It is better to use bullets and lists too as to break up the text and make it more inviting for the viewer. This is especially important if your website is offering a service.

Now that we have gone over some of the fundamentals you need to keep in mind how you use typography to better exploit your website content. It is done in a well thought out manner and with an objective eye. You will either gain or loose just by the typography you use so be careful in selecting the right combinations that will best fit your target audience and you will be pleased with the final results.

Probably one of the most popular services available today is offered by talented coders who are ready to chop psds and turn them into fully functional websites, however when you are searching for such a coder, you will have a hard time picking the right one as the competition is very touch and most services appear to be quite similar… But they aren’t. When choosing a person or a company who will code your design, it’s important to keep in mine a few aspects:

• Turnaround
• Code Quality
• Price
• Money Back guarantee policy

Even if you are not in a rush, it’s always better to choose a company that delivers the final product fast, and this is what I like about http://www.codemyconcept.com — they deliver quality code, fast, and offer full refund in case of dissatisfaction. When you work with professional, chances that you will end up being unsatisfied with the result is extremely slim, however I personally prefer to KNOW that in the unlikely event I will not lose my money.

So what makes them better than the rest of the sites?

First and foremost, it’s obviously the price, 1st page coding is only $75, which is extremely low and what I like about them is that it allows me to outsource their services if I am running behind the schedule and need a coder to do the job for me fairly quick. The code is guaranteed to work in all browsers, be valid in according to W3C standards and all the tweaks will be done BEFORE you pay, which means you are not actually at risk of losing money until they make sure you like the work.

Another big plus is the flexibility of payment, CodeMyConcept accepts all major credit cards as well as Paypal and Google checkout (on request), therefore clients from all over the world can avail of their services, which is a great advantage in my opinion. Also, when you will come to place an order, you will notice that the submission form is very easy and flexible, allowing you to add CMS implementation (converting your code to Wordpress is only $99 on top of the price!) choose turn around that suits your needs (expedited tasks can be taken for a small additional fee).

Overall, I’d say (after seeing dozens of similar services on the web), that it’s probably the cheapest and most flexible service around, so I highly recommend to have a look on their website, if you are looking for a reliable coder!

A fellow named John Markoff wrote a piece for the “New York Times” in 2006 that stirred up quite a heated discussion, one that continues to this day. He proposed, early in the scheme of things but certainly not for the first time, that the term “Web 3.0″ be used to describe the Internet’s next evolutionary step, which he predicted would be marked by an outpouring of “intelligent applications.” Not to sound like a 10-year-old on a road trip, but, “Are we there yet?”

No, we’re not, but don’t get hung up on the number scheme — if you did, you’d have to peg the forward progress at about Web 2.6 or so — because the fact is that evolution, of any kind, is not that precise or predictable. Evolution is gradual for the most part, but “punctuated,” as paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould famously observed, by occasional periods of rapid change. In the case at hand, there was a flurry of advances that have now leveled off somewhat, but one key “enabling technology” is the still-emerging Semantic Web.

What’s in a name (or number)?

Clearly, the Web is moving into a new era, one featuring more of those “intelligent apps” that will be empowered and advanced by the addition of more semantics to the raw data. Does this evolutionary advance, still in the works, really qualify the Web to ratchet itself up to 3.0? In fact, what does “Web 2.0″ even mean? Why did no one call the first iteration of information superhighway “version 1″? As straightforwardly as possible, here is a reasonable description of what version numbers appended to “Web” really stand for:

Web 1.0: In the beginning (sounds like the start of another famous tale) there was AOL, Geocities and Hotmail. The early days were all about read-only content, static HTML websites and navigating around from “link listers” like Yahoo.

Web 2.0: As technologies matured — and people did, too — user-generated content and “read-write” interactivity arrived on the scene. No longer were people mere consumers. Ordinary (non-IT-industry) folks began contributing their energy, information and ideas via blogs and such sites as Flickr, YouTube, Digg and the “social networking space.” The line between consumers and content publishers grew increasingly blurred as Web 2.0 inched its way toward the next revision number.

Web 3.0: If implemented in a way consistent with the most publicized dreams and visions (“plans and strategies,” if you prefer), Web 3.0 will be the Semantic Web. Clarity and usefulness would result from attaching meaning to data, leading to personalization à la iGoogle, intelligent search as never before imagined and “behavioral advertising” that is tailored to individual consumers.

Same data, different lens

Certainly, the term “Web 2.0,” which never achieved any sort of critical mass outside the tech-savvy demographic, has at least come to have, over time, a stable definition. We can safely call it a focus on interactivity and interoperability, between and among applications as well as people, using custom Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), widgets, and even such social actions as tagging. When “Web 2.0″ was first entering the “digital lexicon,” many people thought it was meaningless and, in fact, ranted and railed against its use.

Today, “Web 2.0″ is an industry standard term, if not a popularly understood one, and its history suggests that “Web 3.0″ at least has a good shot at adoption — as a word, anyway. As a technology, environment, tool or doorway to “virtual reality,” Web 3.0 will thrive to the extent that our technology and content get smarter and smarter, individually and jointly. Adding meaning to data with the Semantic Web and microformats, and adding smarts to applications, means better help for people by way of natural language searches, semantic searches, “recommendation agents,” decision-making wizards and so on.

It’s a journey, not a destination

Except for the fact that people like to label things, we probably wouldn’t be bothering with version numbers on what is essentially a graphical layer of the Internet. It’s always going to be evolving, but if we have to call it something at least “Web 3.0″ is less confusing (and intimidating) than “Semantic Web” to most folks. Whatever it’s called, there will be people that know a lot about how it works and where it’s going, and others that range from knowing a little to knowing nothing at all. ‘Twas ever thus, as they say.

Web 2.0 (2.6?) and the first moves toward the Semantic Web are steering the World Wide Web toward a more collaborative way of sharing knowledge, with the current case of Gouldian “punctuated equilibrium” being the Web’s new social aspect. Social networking has had broad social impacts far beyond the monitors, keyboards and browsers. The Semantic Web may lead the Web closer to its ultimate destination of machine-human “understanding,” and enhanced interaction. Web evolution continues without any central organizing authority, plan or deadline, which is a good thing. At whatever point we stop and say, “We’re at 3.0 now,” it will still be just a milestone along the way, since Web evolution, punctuated or not, will forever be a journey, not a destination.

There is something magical in black and white photography. There is something truly inspirational and thought-provoking in the absence of color. Maybe because it makes you imagine the same picture in color, maybe because your eye is accustomed to seeing everything in color and thus the absence of it seems so amazing.

One thing is clear: if you want to get inspired, you need to dig into black and white art, and here’s the list of tools and resources to find most inspirational black and white images on the web:

1. Pic Search

Pic Search is a great image search engine that has black and white filter in its advanced search section. Besides that, you can also enjoy other handy options of the tool:

• Search by image type (portrait, landscape, squire, all);
• Search images by size (wallpaper, tiny, medium, large, huge);
• See relevant search suggestions:

Note: thanks a lot to Edward Khoo who shared the tool in his overview of best image search engines.

2. Google Image Search

It is funny that plenty of people search Google without having the slightest idea about all its search options. Black&White image search is just one of such lesser-known possibilities. The option hides behind “Show options” link:

3. Yahoo Image Search

Yahoo! image search deserves a mention here for two reasons: (1) it does support black-and-white search and (2) its main source of images is Flickr, so its like search Flickr but on steroids. The “black-and-white” filter can be found in advanced search along with other cool filters:

• Filter by size (small, medium, large, wallpaper or custom size);
• Restrict by type (search only from Flickr or exclude Flickr images all over);
• Filter by distribution license type:

4. Bing Image Search

Bing has a very lovely image search engine: besides usual filters (like color, size, type, layout, etc), it also offers a really handy interface that allows to see multiple images at a time (details will be displayed on mouseover):

5. Multicolr

Multicolr is a Flickr-based tool that allows to search by color; thus if you want to find only black-and-white photos, all you nee to do is to select colors from white to black:

6. Flickr groups:

• B&W: currently contains over 1, 400K images and more than 80K members. The group has very active discussion boards as well where you will be able to find cool collections like this High Contrast B&W thread for example.
• Black and White: currently includes 2, 120K of images. The group also has a very active forum that has plenty of cool discussions like this one: what’s your best black and white sunset scene
• Black and White Photo Award: currently contains over 76K high-quality black and white photos.
• Black & White with a Touch of Color: one of the best Flickr groups I ever came across: it contains B&W photos with only one color;
• Black and White Artwork: a group containing B&W non-photography illustrations.
• Life in Classic Black and White: the group that helps to see “the life around you from busy city street to a quiet calm landscape, nature, people, etc” in black and white.
• Macro In Black & White: the collection of black and white macro-photography

7. More sources:

• Photobucket Black & White (sorted by popularity)
• Black and White Club at Deviant Art: an awesome group of creative photography and imagery.

Any more? Share your sources of black and white inspiration!

The guest post was provided by Ann Smarty, a search blogger and social media enthusiast. If you love guest posting (like Ann does), join MyBlogGuest, the community of guest bloggers.