User talk:Mknayab

What it Means to Design a Search Engine Friendly Website?
There are many factors that hinder search engines from ranking Web sites for many keywords. When web development companies create Web sites, often they do not create Web sites for the search engines. Usually, they design sites strictly for Internet users. Web site visitors are purchasing your products and services, not the search engines. This is where the problem initially lies, because online visitors will not be able to find your Web site if it is not constructed for both the visitors and the search engines in mind. Just because you may have spent thousands of dollars to have a beautifully designed Web site, does not mean it will automatically generate lots of online visitors and become profitable.

In other words, a search engine friendly Web site is first user-friendly, designed and written for your human visitors first (primary audience). Then the site is tweaked so that is can be indexed by the search engines (secondary audience). The phrase "search engine friendly Web site” means the Web site programmer is following the rules set forth by the search engines, in order for high keyword rankings to be achieved.

Here are some highly effective strategies for designing a search engine friendly Web site:

1. Keep HTML code and the Web site simple and easy to navigate.

Try to create Web sites that are basic .html or .htm page files, without using any type of JavaScript or other dynamic design styles. Javascript creates a lot of code between the header tags, pushing down the text that search engines would crawl first. Placing the script code in an external file reduces the code to just one line.

2. Reduce image sizes

Too many images or very large images on your Web page will slow down the loading time of your Web site. Make sure your images have a resolution of 72dpi. You can also slice large images into smaller pieces with your graphics editor.

3. Allow search engine spiders to find important Web pages from any page

Place text links of your main Web pages at the bottom of each of your Web pages, so spiders can find your inside pages. Create a Site Map page with all of your Web pages listed on one page, and link to it from your homepage. You can also create a Google Sitemap .xml file using the Google Sitemaps program, so Google’s crawlers can find all of your Web pages easier.

4. Try not to use cookies on your Web site

Allow search bots to crawl your sites without session IDs or arguments that track their path through the site. These techniques are useful for tracking individual user behavior, but the access pattern of bots is entirely different. Using these techniques may result in your Web site not being indexed at all. Another thing that will stop search engines from finding the sub pages of your site is requiring cookies. Sure cookies and/or session ids may be necessary to track visitor activity, but you can make an exception for search engines. Search engine crawlers do not like cookies. Don't require them to accept them or they will simply leave.

The Relationship Between Motivation and Talent
Hydrogen and oxygen are distinctly different elements, but sometimes they combine to form water. Something similar is true for motivation and talent.

Motivation is what we LIKE to do naturally. Talent is what we DO well naturally. They can exist independently, but when they combine, they create something special. They create motivated talents.

People often are naturally good at something (talented), but it just doesn’t turn them on. For example, Heather is good with numbers, but she doesn’t go out of her way to find tasks calling for that talent. Most people have such talents. But then there are those talents that we really enjoy using. These are the motivated talents, and this is where the magic is.

We use motivated talents every chance we get. Most of the time we don’t even think about it. For example, Larry has a motivated talent for conversation, and he naturally engages both friends and strangers in dialog. He doesn’t consciously determine to do so; it just happens. It’s natural and unforced. He enjoys it, and he’s good at it. That’s the hallmark of a motivated talent.

Motivated talents tend to be irrepressible. They find expression. In fact, if you’ve ever tried to stifle a motivated talent (either yours or someone else’s) it probably felt like you were trying to hold two dozen ping pong balls under water at the same time. Motivated talents pop out, even if no one else is asking for them. And doesn’t that make sense? After all, it’s what we do well AND enjoy...

Ways to Handle Design Criticism
Guess most designers like myself experience criticism on their works from time to time, especially if we are trying out something new. Also, the clients that we present our works to are usually non-artistic people. It’s harder for them to think the way we do. So it’s better to be prepared for criticism; otherwise you may act in a manner that you probably will regret later. Below are some suggestions for dealing with design criticism.

Try to Keep Calm and Don’t Appear Annoyed It’s difficult to take a step back after working hard on a project and designers usually tend to be more emotional with their work. Do not think clients will hold back their negative comments after seeing your angry face. Instead, they will see you as someone who can’t handle criticism. As long as the other party is not insulting you, try to take a calm and interested approach.

Understand the Clients’ Criticism The most frequent criticism I got is “I don’t really like the design. It’s lack of something, but I can’t tell what it is exactly”. I felt heat all over me when I heard this the first time… But after some time, I realise it is better to help the clients formulate their thoughts. Outline their criticisms by asking them accurate questions so you can address them individually later.

Explain Yourself if You Can. Move on if You Can’t If you are confident on convincing the clients, go ahead and explain the reasoning behind your design. Some clients will change their mind and agree with you if your explainations are clear and good. Otherwise try to move on and you’ll still look professional with the ability to take in criticisms.

Ten Steps to a Successful Career Change!
01. Evaluate your current job satisfaction. Keep a journal of your daily reactions to your job situation and look for recurring themes. Which aspects of your current job do you like/dislike? Are your dissatisfactions related to the content of your work your company culture or the people with whom you work?

02. Assess your interests, values and skills through self help resources like the exercises in What Colour is Your Parachute. Review past successful roles, volunteer work, projects and jobs to identify preferred activities and skills.

03. Brainstorm ideas for career alternatives by discussing your core values/skills with friends, family, networking contacts and counselors. Visit career libraries and use online resources like those found in the Career Advice section of the Job Search website.

04. Conduct a preliminary comparative evaluation of several fields to identify a few targets for in depth research.

05. Read as much as you can about those fields and reach out to personal contacts in those arenas for informational interviews.

06. Shadow professionals in fields of primary interest to observe work first hand. Spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days job shadowing people who have jobs that interest you. Your college Career Office is a good place to find alumni volunteers who are willing to host job shadowers.

07. Identify volunteer and freelance activities related to your target field to test your interest e.g. if you are thinking of publishing as a career, try editing the PTA newsletter. If you're interested in working with animals, volunteer at your local shelter.

08. Investigate educational opportunities that would bridge your background to your new field. Consider taking an evening course at a local college. Spend some time at one day or weekend seminars. Contact professional groups in your target field for suggestions.

09. Look for ways to develop new skills in your current job which would pave the way for a change e.g. offer to write a grant proposal if grant writing is valued in your new field. If your company offers in-house training, sign up for as many classes as you can.

10. Consider alternative roles within your current industry which would utilize the industry knowledge you already have e.g. If you are a store manger for a large retail chain and have grown tired of the evening and weekend hours consider a move to corporate recruiting within the retail industry. Or if you are a programmer who doesn't want to program, consider technical sales or project management.

Ten Ways to Find Your Inspiration
I wonder if i bore everyone with these journals about creativity... is just that in the past few months i had a situation who broke my and since then i think i lost the "magic" nothing inspires me... There's someone very special in my life right now and i have the hope he helps me to be cured  insha'Allah.

So... this is what i found...

1. Know what inspires you. Go back to your memories and recall when you felt most inspired. What was the common thread amongst the different times when you've been inspired? Was it a quality about another person or your self? Was there a theme to the times when you've been inspired, or have been inspiring? Was it an action that a person took - or that you took? Think about what's inspired you in the past. Look to see what's missing now.

2. Learn to live with ambivalence while striving for perfection. Inspiration lives between the two spaces of ambivalence and perfection. Inspiration speaks to the best within our selves - ambivalence is the messiness of our lives, the life process. Perfection is the ideal, while ambivalence is its application. Inspiration is what moves us forward in life - through the ambivalence and towards the ideal.

3. Take a break from your life. Go to a movie or hike a mountain to its highest vista. Surround yourself with the sound of the rhythm of water, while the warmth of the sun energizes your body. Move your body so you feel its life. Keep your focus on nothing other than your experience. Live in the present.

4. Inspiration isn't only what's done TO you. Being inspired requires an openness of heart and spirit. Create an enviroment that supports an open heart, so that inspiration blossoms in your life. Just as a flower needs soil and water, so too does inspiration need openness of heart and spirit. Inspiration can't exist without this.

5. Sometimes we fall before we stand. Don't beat yourself up when you fall from grace. Life is a process and isn't static.When you fall, don't beat yourself up for falling. Acknowledge the fall and it's impact on your life. At some point, you'll take action and stand up. Trust the process.

6. Divert your attention. Forget about the joys that inspiration brings, and live from another domain. An inspired life isn't only about inspiration. It's also about exhilaration, about passion and living life fully. Do something completely different than you normally would. Strike up a conversation with someone you typically wouldn't, and approach the conversation with naivete, openness and depth. There's a good chance that inspiration will come to you when you're least looking for it.

7. Surround yourself with what inspires you. If a certain type of person inspires you, follow and nurture the attraction. Trust what inspires you, and let it guide your actions. If a Wagner opera inspires you, surround yourself with it's music so you feel completely at one with the music, and with what inspires you. Lose yourself in what you love and be inspired.

8. Get outside of yourself.Though you think you know what inspires you based on past experiences - this doesn't mean that you can't be inspired by something new that previously didn't effect you. Live in the present and pay attention to what tugs at your heart. This will give you a hint to newer sources of inspiration.

9. Grace + openness + life + soul = inspiration. Create a formula consisting of the ingredients that define inspiration for you. We all have different perceptions and experiences of inspiration. Define what it is for you.

10. Inspiration is a quality and a state of being. To be inspiring to others is to be self-generative and inspiring to our selves. How can you be more self-generative? One must live in a state of being that allows for inspiration to take root. How can you cause and create your own source of inspiration? Where are you self-generative in your life, and how can you be more self-generative?

10 Worst Things to Do in a Meeting
By Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com Editor

Meetings have been hailed as the No. 1 time-waster in corporate America, and -- unless food is served to offset the boredom -- the most tortuous part of the work day.

Who among us hasn't cringed as the office windbag launched into a self-aggrandizing discourse that was completely off-point? Pitied a meek co-worker who got trounced by the office bully? Or marveled at a colleagues' ability to string together an array of buzzwords that mean absolutely nothing?

Yet no matter how mind-numbing things get, don't be lulled into thinking that meetings aren't important. The fact is, they can make -- or break -- your career. Here are 10 things you should never do in a meeting:

1. Show Up Late Nothing says "I'm disorganized" like walking into a meeting already in progress. Arriving a few minutes early not only demonstrates that you respect your colleagues' time, but guarantees you get a good seat as well.

2. Be Unprepared If you've been given an agenda or materials beforehand, read them. Think of any questions you have or contributions you could make to the subjects being discussed.

3. Monopolize the Conversation When discussion ensues, it's protocol to let more senior figures contribute first. Once they've said their piece, concisely make your points. Don't drone on -- or feel compelled to speak at all if you don't have anything purposeful to say. As the old adage goes, "Better to be thought a fool, than speak and remove all doubt."

4. Make Your Statements Sound Like Questions Phrasing your statements as questions invites others to say no, argue or take credit for your ideas. Speak in declarative sentences, such as "Let's do more research on that."

5. Misread Signals Try to gauge the needs and mood of those in the room. Listen carefully to what people are saying to discern how receptive they might be to your ideas. You need to make your message relevant to your audience. For example, if everyone is focused on cutting costs, and you're angling for a system upgrade, you'll either want to stress how the new software will save money -- or table your request for another day.

6. Get Intimidated Unfortunately, some of your co-workers may view meetings as a battleground and themselves as verbal gladiators, sparring for the boss' favor. If you become the victim of a put-down or accusation, calmly defend yourself. If you need to buy time to think, do so with a question that will make your attacker accountable. For example: "Andrew, when did you start thinking I don't care about our sales results?"

7. Chew Gum. The smacking, popping, cracking and cow-like chewing are annoying. Plus, it's rude and unprofessional. 'Nuff said.

8. Keep Your Cell Phone On. You turn it off in restaurants and at the movies. Turn it off for your meeting. A ringing phone interrupts the presenter and distracts the audience. And whatever you do, never take a call in the middle of a meeting.

9. Wander Off Topic Don't hijack the agenda. Stay focused on what you and your team are trying to accomplish. If you must digress into unrelated areas, make sure it's alright with the others present. A good way to handle important issues not related to the topic at hand is to record them on a flipchart and revisit them at an appropriate time.

10. Skip It Sure, you might get more done if you forgo a meeting to stay at your desk and do your actual work. But if the meeting was called by someone higher up in the organization, you'll miss an opportunity to make yourself known. Remember, in the end, meetings aren't about productivity, they're about projecting a positive image and forming and building relationships that are crucial to your success.

About Muhammad Kashif Nayab
Muhammad Kashif Nayab (Graphic & Web Designer). Date of Birth 23rd March 1979.

I am a Graphic and Web Designer, based in Pakistan. All of my life i had a passion about design, psychology and marketing.

Overall, I’ve been a Graphic Designer for 11 years now. Presently I am working as a Creative Manager in UK Based Company, Chillizone Ltd.

My main tools of trade - My Skills. Softwares for my projects: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, Visual Sutio & Microsoft Expression I’m capable of handcoding HTML and CSS in a valid and Search Engine Friendly way, but to be honest, i think you can be really good at just one thing and that's either design or coding and i am in design.

Since i started my job as a Graphic Designer, I’ve learned a lot about user experience, pshychology of sales, pshychology of perception, online and offline marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and advertising strategies.

My areas are Web related designing [website designing, email templates & Online adverts], Print related designing [Brochures, Binders, CD covers, Printed or non printed promotional materials, Logo & Corporate Identity designing] & UI designing for web oriented applications [ZenCart, Joomla, WordPress, Magento, DotNet Nuke and DotNet] & as a result I gained some unique & strong experience in IT field and generally - life.

I am also available at:

http://drduke.deviantart.com http://www.facebook.com/mknayab http://twitter.com/mknayab