We invite the general public to submit questions via online
form below. Please note, due to the volume of questions recieved,
not all questions will be answered.
What
is FLASH, and should we use it?
Macromedia
Flash MX 2004 allows designers and developers to integrate
video, text, audio, and graphics into immersive, rich experiences
that deliver superior results for interactive marketing
and presentations, e-learning, and application user interfaces.
Flash is the world's most pervasive software platform, used
by over one million professionals and reaching more than
97% of Internet-enabled desktops worldwide, as well as a
wide range of devices.
NOTE
- If used incorrectly, it can get negative results. Not
all computer users have the plugin for FLASH, the bandwith
it often needs, or the patience to figure out how to use
the website. We take all of these issues into consideration
when using this powerful tool.
If you
have FLASH installed on your system your mouse will be chased
by a white fish.
What
a FLASH disabled user sees when we use it right
When
used correctly, FLASH is a compelling and entertaining tool
that draws your customers attention and guides them through
the website.
Help!
We paid $149 to be submitted to 1000 search engines and we
still can not be found on the internet.
We hear
this alot. Submitting a website to search engines only gets
them indexed, or put in the pile with the rest. Eventually,
if your website was search engine optimized (designed to
be search engine friendly) the website will start coming
up in local web searches like Houston Medical or Reno Webdesigner.
This can take up to a year to happen.
We specialize
in what is called Top Placement. Our thoughts are "If
your not on the first page, your wasting time and money."
Most
company websites best bet is to use our Search Engine or
Online Marketing. This is on going tactics that will boost
your listings, have other methods customers can find you
online and some other tools of the trade.
Do
you know of a list of Web Terms?
Glossary
of Internet Terms from http://www.matisse.net
Domain
Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain
Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The
part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the
right is the most general. A given machine may have more
than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only
one machine. For example, the domain names:
matisse.net
mail.matisse.net
workshop.matisse.net
Can
all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can
refer to no more than one machine.
Usually,
all of the machines on a given Network will have the same
thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (matisse.net
in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain
Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine.
This is often done so that a group or business can have
an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a
real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine
must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
Hit
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, ?hit? means
a single request from a web browser for a single item from
a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display
a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 ?hits? would occur at
the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the
3 graphics.
See also: Browser, HTML, Server
WWW
-- (World Wide Web)
World Wide Web (or simply Web for short) is a term frequently
used (incorrectly) when referring to "The Internet", WWW
has two major meanings:
First, loosely used: the whole constellation of resources
that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP,telnet, USENET,
WAIS and some other tools.
Second,
the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers), more commonly
called "web servers", which are the servers that serve web
pages to web browsers.
See
also: Browser, FTP, Gopher, HTTP, Internet (Upper case I),
Server, URL, Web, Web page
I want
to be a web designer, how do I get started?
Sandy
Rowley, the owner and lead designer of MegaStarMedia.com
started out over 9 years ago "playing around"
with web design. She loved it. Could not get enough of HTML.
After tweaking her classes to fit what a web designer should
learn, her skills, reputation and talent grew.
Two
locations, five partners and 7 years later, the Sandy Rowley
design team has helped over 150 clients reach thier webdesign
goals.
"If
I hit the lotto, I would still be hear. I love this stuff!"
~ Sandy Rowley
The
most important key is PASSION. Once you know in your heart
and mind that this is your love, the rest will come naturally.
We reccommend
learning the following:
Macromedia
Dreamweaver
Macromedia FLASH
Basic HTML
Adobe Photoshop
We reccommend
doing the following:
Keep
a favorites list of all the "cool" websites and
great designs out there. Study them, look at the code behind
the pretty face. Test them on different browsers, computer
monitors and sizes.
Keep
a record of all your design work.
Donate
a website to a good cause or charity.
Keep
at it.
Why
does my website look great in Explorer but appears to be broken
in other Internet Browsers?
Was your site
created with FrontPage? If so, there is your answer. Website
designers have the great challenge of creating a stunning
website that looks and works good with a handful of different
internet browsers that treat HTML, javascript, FLASH, CSS
and other web tools differently.
One of the biggest
pains about making Web pages is having to keep track of
which browsers support what features.
