Yorgo Nestoridis » Web Design Workshop

How to Customize your WordPress Typography

Yorgo Nestoridis — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:32:49 +0000

Basic CSS3 to Customize your WordPress Theme

With the increasing browser compatibility of CSS3, additional customization of websites is in the reach of most anyone (Even a Monkey can do it, according to Nikos Advertizopoulos …). Tonight we will start with a series of calls to become familiar with the possibilities arising from the use of CSS3 on WordPress to improve typography and font styles.

You may follow the progress of the work at the Ycademy Demo Site which features the Semiomantics XO Theme.

Looking forward to seeing you on YorgoLive tonight.

Facebook Strategy with WordPress

Yorgo Nestoridis — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:51:29 +0000

10 Steps to Implement your Facebook Strategy with WordPress

10 Steps to Implement your Facebook Strategy with WordPress
Seminar Schedule

Implementing your Facebook Strategy will be at the center of the November Ycademy Seminar. This hands-on Seminar and Workshop will stretch over two days and build with participants an eye-ball-twisting Facebook presence. See the seminar schedule at the bottom of the post.

The Seminar is designed for WordPress Developers and WP users who are looking for high productivity and customized publishing and marketing solutions.

11 Efficient Facebook Strategies

This topic deals with efficient strategies which will efficiently improve your Facebook presence.

Visit the Semiomantics Facebook Page

7 Ways to jeopardize your Facebook success for sure

Surfing through Facebook we notice some common errors well intended people commit when building their Facebook presence. We will discuss these issues and show you how to eliminate them from your personal or business Facebook.

4 Important Facebook features to focus on

While content is king, there are different ways of making it accessible to visitors. We will discuss the recent changes Facebook has implemented and show you where the focus should be in order to improve your visibility, traffic and business or network expansion on Facebook.

Facebook Privacy and Accessibility settings

Function of your strategy we will define and optimize privacy settings in order to grant potentially interested visitors access to relevant information. Privacy, Accessibility and List-building as well as Targeted Communication are the essentials of this key session.

Workshop: Information and Profile

For people looking for you, your business, services or products, your Profile and Info page are of the utmost importance, the more that your info is visible from outside Facebook and therefore Google efficient. We will set up with participants an efficient Info Page.

Friends, Fans and Subscriptions

We will discuss the recent changes implemented by Facebook and how they impact on our strategies. Friends, Fans and Subscription features impact on the way we expand our network and influence on Facebook.

Facebook Pages

Overview of the Facebook Page feature. Integration techniques, Apps, Content, Canvas and Pages.

Workshop: Build a simple Facebook page

The focus is on the technical set-up of a Facebook Page. As content we will use a graphic, picture of video.

Creative and useful Facebook Page Content

What is it you actually wish to display on your Facebook page? In fact there is no limit and it depends entirely on your strategy.

Integrating WordPress with Facebook

This is the center piece of the seminar. Creating Facebook Page right from your WordPress site is now possible. We will set up a reveal page and different Facebook pages depending on participants needs. In fact we show you how to create a whole website in Facebook, straight from your WordPress.

While this works with most any WordPress 3.1 enabled Theme, we will demonstrate the integration with Semiomantics XO.

In fact we will work with a professional plugin modified for Semiomantics XO.

Workshop: Build your Facebook with WordPress

The Seminar will guide you to master the following and more:

Create Unlimited Facebook Fan Pages with WordPress
Increase Likes by 150% with Reveal “Like” Tab Gateways
Unlimited Customization Options When Designing Your Fan Pages
Create Unlimited Custom Pages with the WordPress Page Editor
Create Custom Menus and Navigation with Just a Few Clicks
Comments, Like, Send and Over 50+ Custom Shortcodes for Enhanced Customization
Facebook Open Graph Integration for Enhanced Facebook Integration and Google SEO
Auto Post to Facebook From Your WordPress Blog
Use Your Facebook Albums and Photos on Your Blog and Fan Pages
Add Google Maps to Your Facebook Fan Pages
Create Squeeze and Sales Pages with Just a Few Clicks on Facebook

Workshop: Add Social Network features to your WordPress

Add Facebook related widgets to your front and/or content pages. Google+ and Twitter buttons. Pull in Facebook Albums, Events, like Buttons and more. Use Facebook Connect to log in to or to register with your blog.

Selective Access to your FB Content

Create content which is only accessible after visitors clicked the “Like” button. A smashing filter which allows you to manage accessibility right from your XO.

Seminar Schedule

Time

Saturday and Sunday November 26/27, 2011.

We start at 1 pm London Time and end at 9 pm London time both days.

Materials

You need a WordPress blog preferably with FTP access.

Scripts and all other materials are provided.

We will install the necessary scripts for you previous to the Seminar; please get your Tickets early. If we are not yet in possession of the FTP access to your site, please send it by email to Bianca Gubalke at bianca(at)ycademy.com.

Tickets and Price

The Price for Participating, Materials and access to recordings is $85.

Click to get your Ticket

Discount as usual for Ycademy Pros. Please contact Bianca Gubalke at bianca(at)ycademy.com for the code or any other question you may have pertaining to the Seminar.

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How to create a Favicon with Photoshop

Yorgo Nestoridis — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:40:12 +0000

Create .ICO Files (Favicons) with Photoshop

The favicon or icon is part of the customization of a website. The favicons show namely in the browser tabs. Nowadays most browsers will also show .gif and .png icons; the .ico format is preferred by Internet Explorer.

A quick and easy way to create a Favicon is by using the online tool put at disposal by favicon.com. A better result can be achieved by editing the favicon in Photoshop; however Photoshop does not support the .ICO format in its native version. A plug-in can remedy.

Download and install the Plug-in

To start with, download the free Plug-in from Telegraphics.

Paste the plug-in file (ICOFormat.8bi, or ICOFormat64.8bi for the 64 bit version) in your Photoshop: …Program Files/Adobe/Photoshop/Plug-ins/File Formats.

re-start Photoshop.

Parameters you must respect

The .ico file format will only be available in Photoshop if you respect the following:

Maximum file size 256 x 256 pixels
RGB, Bitmap, gray-scale or Indexed mode
Maximum 8 bits per channel

To save an image as .ico, use “save as” and select from the drop-down the ICO format.

How to Create an Icon or Favicon in Photoshop

Favicons are small icons, very small icons, since they measure only 16 x 16 pixels. Designing an Icon is a challenge since its display should be meaningful. To work more comfortably with your photoshop, start your design with a larger square canvas, a multiple of 16 pixels, for example 64 pixels, 128px or 256 pixels.

For the purpose of this exercise I will use a 128 px x 128 px canvas with the following presets:

You may save these settings as Preset for further use.

Best results are achieved if you keep your design simple and rich in contrast.

1. Open a new file with the above presets:

2. Fill with your background color (or pattern)

3. Add content

Best result with vector graphics, custom shapes, good fonts and such likes; just create a new layer and add …

4. Resize

Resize to 16px x 16px and resample selecting ‘Bicubic Sharper’:

We get now:

5. Save as .ICO

Now “Save as” (don’t use “Save for Web and Devices”) and select the ICO format. Rename the image to favicon.ico:

6. Embed your new Favicon

Most browsers will find your favicon.ico automatically if you just load it into your website’s root folder (where the index.html is located), others are looking for a direct link to the favicon. To help these last browsers just add the following lines to your header (between the … tags):

Load your favicon to the root folder of your domain and make sure it’s called ‘favicon.ico’.

That’s it.

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Best WP Shop Custom Design

Yorgo Nestoridis — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:24:27 +0000

WordPress Shop Theme Customization

The week-end was busy with the Ycademy Seminar and the new doors opened by the Seminar Content lead to a busy schedule for our daily calls in the near future. There are two areas of development:

1. WordPress Shop Theme Customization and

2. WordPress Customization fo r the Mobile Web

This week we will focus on WP Shop Customization on the base of the Semiomantics eShop.

The Semiomantics Shop

The Semiomantics eShop is based on a clean and user-friendly WordPress Theme which has been adapted to comply with Semiomantics standards and requirements for high visibility and performance. The Theme is ideal for customers with a straight forward business selling namely to a targeted local audience. I say this right at the beginning: the shop does not offer multi-currency features or tax rates by country or state.

Besides this the Shop is flexible and bears quite a number of interesting built in features also for affiliate marketers as well as for people who would like to offer to their customers an affiliate program.

Considering the price, the Semiomantics eShop is the best deal online, second only to the Semiomantics Total E-commerce solution, which is more complex but satisfies the highest commercial aspirations and ambitions.

Most people needing an online shop will be happy with the Semiomantics Shop as it is the ideal platform for small business.

Semiomantics Shop Customization for WordPress

Our next few calls will focus on customization. As all Ycademy Seminar Participants have an own author website based on Semiomantics XO we will implement on the store site the branding and customization criteria used on XO.

First steps include colors and fonts as well as branding icons and logos.

The second phase will take care of product specific requirements: physical products vs. digital products for example and their delivery.

The Third phase will take care of marketing as well as of the affiliate program.

Daily Calls

As you see from the above, our next few calls will be workshops where we will help each participant to implement and customize the personal shop. It’s a great way also to look in more depths into some of the Shop features we may have gone through too fast at the Seminar. I am looking forward to working with you on your personal projects.

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Photoshop Basics Workshop

Yorgo Nestoridis — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:02:38 +0000

More Photoshop Basics

Tonight’s call will focus on more Photoshop Basics. The goal is to become familiar with more easy to use features to produce more interesting graphics for advertising or product presentation.

I am looking forward to an inspiring session :-).

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Logo Design with Photoshop

Yorgo Nestoridis — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:44:02 +0000

How to design a simple Logo with Photoshop

After a rich Seminar, let’s relax with a simple Logo design at tonight’s call. The exercise will consist in using custom shapes, fonts and styles from Photoshop according to the below samples:

Semiomantics Logo

A colored version:

Semiomantics Logo in Helvetica

A neutral version in Helvetica:

Semiomantics Logo Impact Arial

Version using free fonts:

To prepare the session, please download the image and Photoshop file; we will use them as a base and then move on to profit from your creativity:-).

I am looking forward to seeing you tonight at the call.

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How to use Displacement Masks in Photoshop

Yorgo Nestoridis — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 19:00:36 +0000

Text Effects with Displacement Masks

Tonight’s short call will focus on using displacement masks in Photoshop. The below image will serve as an example for our exercise.

I am looking forward to seeing you there :-).

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3D Text with Photoshop

Yorgo Nestoridis — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:01:46 +0000

Spectacular 3D Text for Print and Web

Tonight’s Photoshop Workshop will focus on Styling text, namely to give text a 3D aspect. The step by step walk-through will serve as an introduction to some spectacular effects and features of Photoshop.

Effects and Styles

The interest of the exercise is in discovering some smashing effects we can achieve with Photoshop without using the 3D tools.

We wil also see the number of operations needed to perfectly place shine, glow and shadows to give a glossy, high quality impression.

Short Friday Call

Please be on time as this exercise will take at least 1 hour to accomplish and understand. I hope you will be as smashed as I am by the result and this final session of our PS Basics workshops.

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Free Button Template PSD

Yorgo Nestoridis — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:02:37 +0000

Free Photoshop Button

At tonight’s workshop we will build yet another Photoshop Button Template. As we progress, our buttons become more sophisticated as you will see.

Today’s button may inspire you to create your own button set and to put it up for sale on your website or shop.

Free Button Template for Photoshop

Here is the button we are building:

There are various interesting elements:

- The gradiant gray button background with a border and stroke

- The text style

- The Logo

- The Ribbon

Using Photoshop, these elements can be edited separately from the template by modifying the corresponding layers and masks.

For those who cannot attend the Workshop tonight, the button is available for free download here below:

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Photoshop Workshops

Yorgo Nestoridis — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:49:05 +0000

Bonus for Ycademy Seminar Participants

This month our daily calls are focusing on Photoshop basics. To prepare the sessions we are using the most popular resources and guides available out there. For Ycademy Seminar participants we have prepared a Library which we will feed before the Ycademy January Seminar time permitting.

Amongst the best resources are the ones from Lynda.com, as well as CS5 for Dummies and the CS5 Bible. We are using these to elaborate tutorials and exercises which we make available for download.

Please look out for a mail from Bianca with the access link and pass to the library.

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Create Buttons with Photoshop

Yorgo Nestoridis — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:52:22 +0000

Free Button to Download

Our last two Photoshop workshops dealt with buttons. Creating buttons allows us to have a closer look at blending options as well to start working with vector masks.

Here is a sample of last night’s work:

As you can see, the button looks simple, sober and elegant. The secret is in the subtle blending. As we use custom shapes to create buttons we can re-size the buttons easily using the Place function in Photoshop or, as some designers prefer, using Fireworks.

Also, the change of colors is a simple task starting from the PSD file of your button:

To follow tonight’s session, you may want to download the PSD file of the above button, namely if you have not attended yesterday’s workshop. Please use the button below:

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WordPress Development Seminar

Yorgo Nestoridis — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 09:07:18 +0000

Ycademy January 2011 Online Seminar

Back to work! After a busy 2010 and hopefully a good rest over the year end, let’s start 2011 with WordPress based Website Development using Semiomantics XO.

After multiple exercises such as the Christmas site or the personal blog, we need to go into some more detail in as much as design, presentation and production are concerned. There are 4 areas of concern we will focus on at the January seminar:

1. Typography

While XO offers a good choice of built-in fonts, each customer’s branding is different and we may have to implement existing branding elements, namely defined typefaces. The seminar will deal with the font issue and show

how we can overwrite the XO default settings
how we can use Google Fonts
how we can use any font for for any part of the website
how to define font families
where to use which kind of font

2. Menu Design

A delicate issue, but subsequent to the Apple Exercise, we have received requests to go deeper into the issue of advanced menu design. This concerns all sorts of solutions whereas we will keep the focus on easy navigation. We will start from the almost endless possibilities of the XO menu, move on to sprites and end up with advanced custom hand-crafted menus.

3. Graphic Design

Graphic Design for the Internet is different from Print Design. We will focus on understanding these differences and learn about the requirements of cross-platform readability. The Workshop will be focused on communicative graphic design with Photoshop (or any other tool of your choice). Depending on participants skills, we will do this in 2 parts: basics in January and advanced in February.

4. Selling XO

Semiomantics will present it’s new affiliate program, enabling anyone to sell XO and to earn money from doing so. The interest is not just in selling some scripts, but in selling our skills and know-how when it comes to customization, custom design and optimization.

With XO we have a great and flexible product which can serve as a base for any website. Together with WordPress, the world’s most popular publishing platform, there are hardly any limits to design, features and performance. We train you to digg out the best from WP and XO for the benefit of your customers.

This chapter will lead us into the main curriculum of Ycademy 2011: Productivity, Marketing and Project Management.

Registration

The Online Seminar will take place on January 29 – 30, 2011, from 1 pm London Time to 9 pm London Time on both days.

Please register early as we need to prepare the personal materials for each participant.

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Christmas Skin for XO 2011 WP Theme

Yorgo Nestoridis — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:07:23 +0000

Time for a High Performance WP Christmas Theme

Beginners often are unaware of the impact a theme can have on the performance of a website and therefore they tend to change themes often. Downloading free themes is a great way of changing the look and feel of the site quickly, however there is more to a theme script than looks.

Semiomantics XO 2011 is a theme which allows to quickly adapt to seasonal or mood challenges right from the dashboard. Further customization is always possible with some knowledge of CSS and php or by discussing the project with a Semiomantics Developer.

How to create a Christmas Website with Semiomantics XO 2011?

The easiest way is to follow just the following steps:

1. Choose a color scheme, say in the reds and greens and apply them to your backgrounds, fonts and features from the Semio XO menu in your dashboard.

2. Create a header graphic adapted to Christmas and load it to your Media Library; then enter the new logo link from the Semio XO Menu.

3. Create a Christmas background graphic or find one online and load it from the Background tab under Appearance in our Dashboard.

4. Do some custom styling using FireBug and your custom style sheet from the Semio 2011 menu.

That’s it!

Sophisticated Christmas Theme for WordPress

Of course you can do more than the above and think about some specific Christmas features, such as music or a collection of seasonal images presented in an attractive flash component.

In this case you would probably want to change some of the template scripts, such as the header or the page layout, namely of the home page.

How to proceed?

1. Do a sketch or drawing of your layout. This can be simple but it will guide you and keep you on track. Draw the big picture: lay out and desired content fields.

2. If you wish to add flash or other components, search for the appropriate components and check out the embed requirements. Personally, I prefer hard-coding to the use of plug-ins.

3. In stead of changing templates, rather create your own templates and add them to the theme. For example, if you wish to build an exceptional home page for the season, just create a Christmas home page template for the occasion. If you would like to change your header for a limited period of time, just create a new header template and add it to the theme, and so on.

4. Design your theme elements in Photoshop for example; if you build a home page with a content layout of say 1024 x 900 pixels, just create a new PSD with this dimensions and start designing each element, starting with the header (or the background as the case may be). For each element, create a folder and stuff all corresponding layers into it. Within a short time you will end up with your brilliant ideas in digital format and you can extract the elements to build them into your theme.

5. Add the components; usually some script inserts are necessary and that’s why we use custom templates which we can disable once the season is over (and we can reactivate it when the season returns:-)).

Stick it all together and you will be a Christmas Star!

Or…

Join our calls this week and we will build your site together

This week we will create step by step a Christmas or Holiday site on the base of Semiomantics XO 2011. If you don’t have an XO 2011 you may use XO version 2.9 or better as well, the result will look the same.

I am looking forward to a nice Beauty Contest!

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Edit WordPress Theme CSS

Yorgo Nestoridis — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:55:40 +0000

Edit Theme CSS with Firebug

Tonight’s call will focus on the use of Firebug to quickly test and edit your Theme style. Please download and install it. Firebug integrates with Firefox and is immediately ready for use.

Firebug is one of the most efficient tools for professional developers and newbies alike.

2 Good Reasons for using Firebug

Have you ever edited your website’s style? And, have you ever had a hard time to find within the CSS style-sheet the exact block of code you needed to edit to implement a desired modification? With Firebug, you will see immediately which line of your code you need to edit and best of all, you can test the modification on the fly before actually hacking your CSS code.
Having Errors on your page, in your CSS or HTML code? Firebug is an ideal debugger pointing you directly to the problem area and suggesting the necessary modifications.

If you are not yet using Firebug, it’s time to get started tonight :-).

Test your Site with YSlow

YSlow integrates with Firebug and provides important additional optimization information. Download and install from HERE. We will look into YSlow as well at tonight’s call.

Here is an example, running YSlow on my main blog which is, I admit, quite overloaded:

The score with the Semiomantics improved Thesis Theme is 85 (the standard Thesis theme scores 73). This is about what all Ycademy Author Blogs should score if properly set up according to instructions and featuring about as many items as my site.

Now look what the optional Semiomantics SEO Engine can do:

Hey, we just get a whooping 94! Smashing under any standards and just a side effect of the engine :-).

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3D Web Design Components

Yorgo Nestoridis — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:39:52 +0000

3D Design

The advantages and disadvantages of 3D Design for websites will be the topic of tonight’s YORGOO Call at yorgotalk.

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Flash Components by Semiomantics

Yorgo Nestoridis — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:58:30 +0000

Semiomantics Flash Components for Ycademy May Seminar

The upcoming Ycademy Seminar is focusing on Flash, Flash Components and user experience enhanced by Flash. The Seminar is designed for Website Designers and Developers, who want to take their skills to the next level. Find out more from HERE.

Flash Components by Semiomantics

Flash is releasing a plethora of flash components this month. While they are originally designed to be used namely with Semiomantics XO and News Cast scripts, they can be used on any website. Check it out in the Semiomantics Shop later this month.

Ycademy Seminar Participants will be introduced to the use of one of the most exciting components. It’s the unique Semiomantics Accordion which in fact is more than just an accordion; it’s also a sideshow, a menu, a slider … most anything you want to make out of it.

[accordion-fx][/accordion-fx]

Now this is something: you can even test the sideshow by clicking on the button at the bottom right.

[accordion-fx settings="settings2.xml"][/accordion-fx]

The Semiomantics Accordion is probably the best out there since its development is based on the second best :-).

As you see, you can load it vertically or horizontally, you can modify the number of images, even the effects and much, much more. You see an autoplay version and you can play with the mouse on the images … just try and find out what this script jewel can do for you.

Join tonight’s Call at YorgoTalk to find out more about the Ycademy May Seminar.

PS: The Semiomantics Accordion is included in the Seminar ticket price:-).

Create your First Flash Document

Yorgo Nestoridis — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:38:27 +0000

Create your First Flash Document Tonight

At tonight’s Ycademy Flash Workshop we will finish the intro to Flash and create a first animated Flash Document.

We will continue working with the Live Conference tonight; please login from HERE.

[kml_flashembed publishmethod="static" fversion="10.0.0" useexpressinstall="true" movie="http://yorgonestoridis.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/sample2.swf" width="480" height="360" fid="Flash Sample" targetclass="flashmovie" play="false" loop="false" menu="true" quality="best" scale="noborder" devicefont="false" seamlesstabbing="true" swliveconnect="true" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all"]

[/kml_flashembed]

We will create step by step a similar flash as above tonight.

Download the above sample files from HERE.

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Watermark and Copyright with Photoshop CS4

Yorgo Nestoridis — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:46:09 +0000

Watermark and Copyright with Photoshop CS4

A small but important task for all creative minds: protect your work! Even considering that in certain countries, such as the USA, your images are automatically copyright protected when you publish them, you may want to make it “crystal” clear to everyone that you claim your rights on your work.

In Photoshop CS 4 it is easy to create a simple Action for the purpose of watermarking and to add a copyright notice to your picture. The watermark is the visible sign, while the copyright notice is attached to the file.

Transparent Watermark 1

Transparent Watermark 2

At tonight’s call we will create an Action in CS4 allowing you to add quickly your watermark and copyright notice to your images.

Join the workshop at 8 pm London time at yorGOtalk.

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Digital Photography Ycademy 10

Yorgo Nestoridis — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:20:21 +0000

Portrait Shooting

Based on Digital Photography Ycademy 9 we are able to plan our pictures depth of field. The only remaining problem is: you may have a camera which does not allow for A settings (manual Aperture priority settings).

Don’t worry, there is a way to at least partially compensate for this shortfall.

The below gallery can best be viewed HERE (opens new window).

Depth of Field in Portraiting with a low end Camera or Mobile Phone

Remember, we said that the depth of field is function of aperture and distance. Hence, we can use the distance trick which works with most any digital camera or mobile phone.

First we try to compose our picture in a way that the person is not glued to a background, such as leaning on a wall. Position the person at least 2 meters off the next background. Then frame clsosely from maximum 1.5 meters (without zooming). The result may be better if the background is even further away to fall out of the metered focal range (corresponding to infinity settings) which is at about 10-12 meters.

Now shoot your portrait: the autofocus will grab the face and apply the distance, which in it’s turn will trigger the aperture and shutter speed in function of that distance and light. By setting your camera presets on Portrait, the camera does this as well, whereas a narroc depth of field is forced.

In any case, you will end up with a sharp portrait and a more or less blurred background.

Portrait Post Editing

If you have taken your picture according to the above, then your post editing is a sunday walk. Just apply some of the great lightroom presets or photoshop actions. Some of these professional tools will lift the quality of your mediocre picture dramatically and clearly digg a huge canion between you and the competitors in your camera’s class.

Here an example: the below picture has been taken with my 4 years old $50 supermarket camera according to the above rule. Then I just pulled it through some professional filters such as stuff from from Kubota, Davis and onOne. This is a matter of just seconds :-).

Join tonight’s YcademyWorkshop for more tips and tricks.

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Digital Photography Ycademy 8

Yorgo Nestoridis — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 06:58:38 +0000

Photo Editing vs. Graphic Design

Sometimes it is difficult to draw a clear line between photo editing and graphic design or editing. The present Ycademy Sessions deal with Photo Editing and the primary goal is to improve our photographic skills.

Whether we use Lightroom or Photoshop, we can push our editing away from photography into the fields of graphic creativity, which is not the purpose of what we are doing at this stage.

Don’t just take pictures – Tell a Story

The beautifu world of Photography starts with your shot and leads to the story your picture will tell after editing. Make sure it is still a photograph for the purpose of the April Ycademy!

Vouliagmeni

Sure we can use most any pictures to tell a story by using the graphic design editors from Photoshop. But it’s a lot more difficult to come back with an optimized photograph, where subtle editing will not destroy the photo caracter of the image and yet allow us to tell a story.

You may argue, that you don’t need an optimized Photo to tell a story. True. Your output however is no longer a photography but a graphich illustration as the case may be. Whether at the base you have been using a photo or a hand designed image is not really relevant. What is relevant, is to know, which language we use to communicate and to express ourselves and how the viewer will percieve our image.

I like to clearly distinguish between photographic work and digital graphic work.

Using Filters and Presets in Lightroom

Tonight’s workshop will deal more in depth with Presets and Filters in Lightroom. Different snapshots taken during the editing proces will help to select the final version of the picture.

In order to study Lightroom in depth, you may want to grab a great piece of literature from here below.

Vouliagmeni 2

[download_box]Download eBook 20 MB[/download_box]

Digital Photography Ycademy 7

Yorgo Nestoridis — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:23:52 +0000

Working with Lightroom Presets

Presets are of great help to adjust images in Lightroom. For easy editing it is necessary to get familiar with terminology and some technical features. Most Lightroom presets find their equivalent in Photoshop.

Tonight at the Workshop we will play with some Lightroom Presets and Photoshop actions.

Praz-sur-Arly

Get your materials from here-below:

[download_box]Presets and Actions Download[/download_box]

New Adobe CS5 Master Collection

Yorgo Nestoridis — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:20:21 +0000

New Adobe CS5 Master Collection

It’s smashing, exciting and a milestone, the new Adobe CS5 release! no reason to try to describe all the new goodies wrapped up in the new pack, just go and have a look at the launch presentation at Adobe. Product delivery to the public is expected to start in May.

The single most important reason to buy CS5

If you watch through the various presentation clips, you fill see that for every product being part of the CS5 Master Collection Adobe presents 5 main characteristics. I was wondering, what would be my synthesized single best reason to switch from CS4 to CS5.

With CS5, Adobe introduces eye-bleeding cool features, and loads of them. However one main argument is that the somewhat oldish programs like Photoshop, Flash and After Effects become much more productivity oriented and user-friendly.

Adobe CS5 will definitely make professional tools available to a wider audience and grant a smoother and much more effective workflow. This is where individuals, Home Business Builders, free lancers, designers and developers will find a true possibility to run a media design, development and publishing business as a one-man show. Or, there will be less need for outsourcing, coding, sharing to get a better result faster.

Yorgo Nestoridis Media Publishing

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of Ycademy

Ycademy, our online Educational Arm has been organizing trainings, workshops and seminars focusing amongst others on Web design and Web site development with Photoshop for some time and we are aware of the difficulties Photoshop represents for the average part-timer or newbie. However with some smart add-on actions, filters and plugins, Photoshop became accessible to average computer users. The new CS5 however makes things much easier in as much as complex manipulations can be executed in just seconds, such as moving, replacing or deleting objects from a photo for example whereas as the case may be, Photoshop will automatically replace the object with the appropriate hypothetical background. Smashing!

Whether you use Lightroom or not, the new Photoshop CS5 is a highly efficient image editing tool, not just for graphic designers, but also for Photographers. The interaction of the various tools provided in the CS5 Master Collection or in any CS5 Pack for that matter, provides a fantastic training environment where I am sure we will have new opportunities to help many people to become familiar with professional tools, cutting edge technology and the joy of exceptional results.

CS5 is in the trend: visual expression has become part of our day-to-day language due to the proliferation of mobile devices and social networks. Amongst all the internet users there will always be a good number who are reaching out for quality, style and the best possible image or branding. Adobe CS5 is a bundle of tools allowing anyone using it to communicate better and in more creative ways. I am looking forward to explore CS5 with our first training group in June.

Web Design and Web Site Development

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of Semiomantics

It has never been and it still is not Adobe’s cup of tea: semantics! The proliferation of more visual communication provides increasing challenges for Semiomantics and in fact our way to optimize editing and publishing of visual content and media (images, movies, sound) has still a long way to go and a brilliant future ahead. In short: the more visual content customers publish, the more they will have the need to use Semiomantics tuned scripts to reach Google Top 10or to show up on Bing’s top end. More important even: Semiomantics Approach to Facebook with the new Semiomantics Flash module, which will be released in May, will open completely new perspectives for agents and customers.

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of YORGOO

YORGOO, focusing on free traffic and free leads will wake up soon, simply because we come close to the end of a long development of new content for YORGOO, focusing namely on social networks and Search Engines in the broadest way. YORGOO will remain a starting point for online Marketing efforts and help people to connect quickly with environments where the people are, where the target customers are looking for products and where people interact. The YORGOO approach will remain a no-profit no-ads program and oriented towards all those who want to start an commercial online activity with limited means and high perspectives.

More soon.

Media Design

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of ChiHosters and Hosting South Africa

More media and more sophisticated media, more creativity and more creation, faster internet lines and computers entail larger file sized and more media oriented hosting needs. At ChiHosters and Hosting South Africa we have planned ahead; entrusting large freely accessible networks with your copyrighted media is not the safest way to protect your interest. Hosting your originals on your own server or host in a reliable way is a necessity for professionals as well as for many security conscious individuals. We are providing the most cost effective solutions in the industry, namely for small enterprises and individuals. Expanding the activity to high end hosting services are under discussion.

Adobe CS5 from the point of view of YORGOO Media

A year ago we have stalled the YORGOO Media development for different reasons, namely because we were not satisfied with the WordPress MU development as well as with the hosting capabilities we had. With the release of WordPress 3 and the possibility to provide advanced media streaming, YORGOO Media is high on our list of priorities since it will provide highly efficient Semiomantics signed publishing solutions to the over 70 000 YORGOO subscribers.

More shortly.

Yorgo Nestoridis Publishing and Editing

Adobe CS5 Ripoff Pricing Policy

As other companies, such as Microsoft, Adobe has a discriminatory pricing policy, privileging the American Markets. Why the heck should Adobe Products cost more in Australia and Europe than in the USA? Funny, that such a high tech company, with a global approach has such a narrow, short sighted pricing policy. It’s comparable to the pharmaceutic industry and there we know what the natural reaction of the markets are. If anyone from Adobe reads this: tell your boss, time has come to change your rip-off attitude, the global market is looking for global pricing.

More about Adobe CS5 pricing shortly.

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Build your Flash Website

Yorgo Nestoridis — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:27:09 +0000

Build your Flash Website

For the purpose of the March Ycademy online seminar, we will equip Seminar Participants with a professional Storyboard software. The tool allows you to plan your site. Working with a Storyboard will save time and provides a great way of communicating with customers.

Example Storyboard

This is a sample based on screen-shots to show the defined layouts by the Evolution Script.

The storyboard is not really populated, except that it indicates which xml script is concerned. More tonight at the call.

Storyboard PDF

[download_box]Download the Sample Storyboard[/download_box]

The storyboard can also be exported in form of a movie as the case may be:

Click HERE for a sample.

Join tonight’s call to see more from the Storyboard!

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Elegant WordPress

Yorgo Nestoridis — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:01:01 +0000

Elegant WordPress

Advanced editing features help to give each post its individual touch and feel. The present post will show some of the features built into this site for Elegant WordPress editing.

Advanced Editing Features

Fancy Header

[fancy_header]This is a Fancy Header[/fancy_header]

Drop Caps

1 2 A

BLorem ipsum….

Lorem ipsum…

Lorem ipsum.

Frames (Image container on the left)

[frame_left]http://yorgonestoridis.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/blacklabel.jpg[/frame_left] The text wraps nicely around the frame.Frame content can be most anything, however it’s a great feature to use with pictures.

The frame can be centered or aligned left or right.

It can be used for external content as well.

Pre-configured Boxes

[download_box]Insert your text here[/download_box]

[warning_box]Insert your text here[/warning_box]

[info_box]Insert your text here[/info_box]

[note_box]Insert your text here[/note_box]

[fancy_box]Insert your text here[/fancy_box]

Check Lists and Bullets

[check_list]

Item #1
Item #2
Item #3

[/check_list]

[arrow_list]

Item #1
Item #2
Item #3

[/arrow_list]

Toggle Content

[toggle title="Click to expand"]I can insert text or media content…

yorgo design

[/toggle]

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Microsoft Office 2010 PowerPoint

Yorgo Nestoridis — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:53:45 +0000

Microsoft Office 2010 PowerPoint

Yesterday’s Ycademy online workshop focused on Microsoft Office 2010 – PowerPoint. The Goal was to create a small slide show and to convert it into multiple formats, such as images or movies.

Yorgo Nestoridis » Web Design Workshop

How to Customize your WordPress Typography

Basic CSS3 to Customize your WordPress Theme

Facebook Strategy with WordPress

10 Steps to Implement your Facebook Strategy with WordPress

Contents

11 Efficient Facebook Strategies

7 Ways to jeopardize your Facebook success for sure

4 Important Facebook features to focus on

Facebook Privacy and Accessibility settings

Workshop: Information and Profile

Friends, Fans and Subscriptions

Facebook Pages

Workshop: Build a simple Facebook page

Creative and useful Facebook Page Content

Integrating WordPress with Facebook

Workshop: Build your Facebook with WordPress

Create Unlimited Facebook Fan Pages with WordPress

Increase Likes by 150% with Reveal “Like” Tab Gateways

Unlimited Customization Options When Designing Your Fan Pages

Create Unlimited Custom Pages with the WordPress Page Editor

Create Custom Menus and Navigation with Just a Few Clicks

Comments, Like, Send and Over 50+ Custom Shortcodes for Enhanced Customization

Facebook Open Graph Integration for Enhanced Facebook Integration and Google SEO

Auto Post to Facebook From Your WordPress Blog

Use Your Facebook Albums and Photos on Your Blog and Fan Pages

Add Google Maps to Your Facebook Fan Pages

Create Squeeze and Sales Pages with Just a Few Clicks on Facebook

Workshop: Add Social Network features to your WordPress

Selective Access to your FB Content

Seminar Schedule

Time

Materials

Tickets and Price

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How to create a Favicon with Photoshop

Create .ICO Files (Favicons) with Photoshop

Download and install the Plug-in

Parameters you must respect

How to Create an Icon or Favicon in Photoshop

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Best WP Shop Custom Design

WordPress Shop Theme Customization

The Semiomantics Shop

Semiomantics Shop Customization for WordPress

Daily Calls

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Photoshop Basics Workshop

More Photoshop Basics

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Logo Design with Photoshop

How to design a simple Logo with Photoshop

Semiomantics Logo

Semiomantics Logo in Helvetica

Semiomantics Logo Impact Arial

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How to use Displacement Masks in Photoshop

Text Effects with Displacement Masks

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3D Text with Photoshop

Spectacular 3D Text for Print and Web

Effects and Styles

Short Friday Call

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Free Button Template PSD

Free Photoshop Button

Free Button Template for Photoshop

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Photoshop Workshops

Bonus for Ycademy Seminar Participants

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Create Buttons with Photoshop

Free Button to Download

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WordPress Development Seminar

Ycademy January 2011 Online Seminar

1. Typography

2. Menu Design

3. Graphic Design

4. Selling XO