Instantly Darken your Mac’s Monitor.
Track Craigslist Opportunities using RSS.
Avoid the Finder’s Odd Sort When Opening Files.
Grow your Studio with Google Webmaster Tools.
If you want to attract visitors to your studio’s website (or if you design websites for clients) you really must understand and use Google’s collection of Webmaster Tools. This free service from Google provides you with detailed reports about your website’s visibility on Google, as well as giving you valuable ways to influence how your website appears in search results.
Link: Google Webmaster Tools
In this tip we’ll dig into this powerful resource that is key for harnessing Google as a marketing vehicle for your creative studio. As part of that discussion, we’ll show how you can answer the following questions:
- When was the last time Google indexed your website?
- Are there any bad links or missing pages on your site?
- Does your website’s content reflect your brand and target market?
- Who is linking to your website?
- How can you make your Flash-based site more findable?
- Can you stop Google from indexing photos in your portfolio?
- How do you remove something from Google’s search results?
Embed iPhone Friendly Videos on your Website.
It is pretty easy to embed an iPhone-optimized video in any website you are designing. Which can be a nice flourish to welcome the growing hordes of iPhone users who might be visiting your site soon.
Sound hard? It’s not. Apple has added a special Export to Web option to QuickTime Pro ($30) that makes the process nearly automatic.
Take a Quick Screenshot of One Window.
Here’s a trick I rely on all the time. The keyboard shortcut to take a screen capture of a specific, isolated, window in Mac OS X:
Command+Shift+4, then tap the Spacebar.
Most designers know the Command-Shift-4 shortcut which gives you a small crosshair you can use to crop in on a specific part of your window. Tapping the Spacebar afterwards switches to a camera icon that takes a cropped picture of any window you click on.
The 10 Most Popular Tech Tips So Far.
Each week we bring you a pair of creative and tech tips drawn directly from our real-world experience supporting hundreds of Mac-based creative teams across the greater Seattle area. Take a moment to peruse the most visited tech tips over the last year.
Tech #1: Change Microsoft Office’s serial number, Easy!
Tech #2: Avoid serial number headaches with CS3!
Tech #3: Set default applications in Mac OS X.
Tech #4: My Mac Won’t Start! A Tiny Guide.
Tech #5: Six free Internet speed test sites.
Tech #6: Mac OS X Shortcuts! A Tiny Guide.
Tech #7: What is a good microphone for podcasting?
Tech #8: Garbled Fonts Troubleshooting Guide.
Should You Host Your Own Email Server?
Ten years ago, we were installing a lot of mail servers for design firms and advertising agencies across the greater Seattle area. Today, however, we rarely recommend our clients host their own mail servers.
Why the change? Email has become the key tool for conducting business. Creative teams are accessing email away from the office with laptops, webmail, and (increasingly) iPhones. And most significantly, fighting spam has become a full-time job.
In short, if you own an independent creative studio, there is one good reason to have your email handled by a dedicated hosting company: They’ll probably do a better job than you.
