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<title>Sphinn / ldminteractive / All</title>
<link>http://sphinn.com</link>
<description>Sphinn</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:41:48 -0700</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Beyond Redirect: Using ReWriteRule in .htaccess]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/56074</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/56074</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:41:48 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>SEO</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/56074</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mod_rewrite is an Apache module that can be accessed from .htaccess files to perform all kinds of complicated URL manipulation. The main mod_rewrite function, RewriteRule, is powered by regular expressions. For the purposes of this tutorial, though, I'll be sticking to commonly used URL rewriting tasks.<br/><br/>4 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Total Redesign: Mirificam Press Dissected]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/54542</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/54542</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:48:54 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Usability</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/54542</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Bits O' NewMedia has officially made the transformation into Mirificam Press. The task of creating a new design that fit the personality and direction of the blog ended up being more difficult than I had anticipated. I'd like to kick off the new site by dissecting the new design and features.<br/><br/>5 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Web to Print: Restyling Pages on the Fly with CSS]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/43002</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/43002</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:01:37 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Usability</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/43002</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Adding a print stylesheet to your website will make your pages look good on and off the web. This article is a guide to the ins and outs of building a stylesheet for print.<br/><br/>12 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[5 for Friday | The Week's Best Web Design Blogs (4/18/08 Edition)]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/41352</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/41352</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:30:37 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Usability</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/41352</guid>
<description><![CDATA[5 for Friday, presented by Bits O' NewMedia, is a weekly list of the most useful web design links in the blogosphere.<br/><br/>3 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Branding Reconsidered: Corporate Identity in the Christian Worldview Grid]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/38290</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/38290</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:22:47 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/38290</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In web design, we are often put in a position to make important branding and marketing decisions for our clients and employers. But applying a Christian worldview to corporate branding and marketing can be tricky. Apart from a set of ethics-don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat-Christianity doesn't seem to have a lot to do with selling things in the secular world. In reality, it has a great deal to do with it. But it takes a fundamental thought shift for the modern designer to realize it.  In order to encourage this thought shift, first I'm going to take a look at the differences between the common view of branding and Christian view of branding. Then I'll discuss the implications of the opposing views so that you will be better equipped to effectively apply a Christian worldview to marketing design.<br/><br/>1 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[3 Layouts that Handle Screen Resolution with Dignity]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/37800</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/37800</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:01:47 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Usability</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/37800</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There's nothing more discouraging than watching your beautifully designed website load on a screen with a resolution it wasn't built for. And it usually happens  when you're unveiling your work to a client. Other than browser variations, screen resolution is the biggest unknown we face. It's also a dilemma unique to interactive design which makes it difficult for people outside the industry to understand. In fact, even designers working in other areas of design have a difficult time relating. So let's take a look beyond the simple fixed-width / variable-width decision and zoom in on three creative solutions that can make the process a little less painful.<br/><br/>8 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Amazing LI: Using CSS and Unordered List Items to Do Just About Anything]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/35492</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/35492</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:23:39 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>SEO</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/35492</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I can still remember the day I discovered the  tag. It's not that I had never used list items before-I had built plenty of bulleted lists. What I discovered that day was that with a little CSS, the  becomes one of the most powerful and versatile tags in a web designer's arsenal. So versatile is the list item, in fact, that you could build and entire website layout out of just   tag pairs. Of course, that wouldn't be semantically correct, but you could do it. This article is a tutorial and a tribute to the amazing .<br/><br/>3 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rome, Sweet Rome: Ancient Lessons in Design]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/34145</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/34145</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:10:18 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Usability</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/34145</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When I arrived late to my first panel on Saturday morning at SXSWi 2008 I thought I had accidentally walked in on a reading for a book-on-tape. Jennifer Fraser (lead user experience director at Corel) was the singular presenter, reading off her notes word for word in a timid voice that had the whole audience leaning forward and tilting an ear. I have to admit that Jennifer's departure from the typical in-your-face SXSWi panelist style felt a little alien at first but as I listened, I began to warm up to it. By the end of the panel, I was captivated. Fraser had very effectively taken the system of architectural design principles developed by Vitruvius in ancient Rome and applied them to modern interactive design.<br/><br/>1 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (2/22/08 Edition)]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/30349</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/30349</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:26:16 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/30349</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There were an unusual number of great web design resource lists posted this week. Vandelay Website Design offered resources for continual web design improvement. Elite by Design posted a list of inspirational wallpapers. And Brad Colbow Design is back with a list of stunning design portfolios. Also, I'd like to welcome Copy Blogger to 5 for Friday.<br/><br/>5 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[When Less Isn't More: Web Design Simplicity Gone Awry]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/29795</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/29795</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:25:19 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Usability</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/29795</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Where is the edge of the &quot;less is more&quot; universe? When does less cease to be more? It would sound like a silly question out of context but it's one worth considering. Let's look at some instances where less is just less.<br/><br/>2 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Simple and Stunning: 10 Website Designs that Inspire]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/27869</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/27869</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:37:05 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/27869</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Most of the time, the aim of a website design is to present information in a concise format, both simple and pleasing. But a perfect balance of simple and pleasing can sometimes be difficult to achieve. It's not always clear exactly where to start. In moments of waning creativity, I find that a little inspiration can give me the surge I need to get over the initial hump.<br/><br/>6 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Beat Your Website into Submission with .htaccess]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/27130</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/27130</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:28:24 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Search Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/27130</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When you spend most of your day to designing and coding, you don't have a lot of extra time to mess with server configuration. But neglecting this aspect of web design can cost you big time in the end. Your server shouldn't be bending you to its will-it should be the other way around. .htaccess is the key. You probably know it as the little file that puts password protection on directories. This article is a short and sweet tutorial on using .htaccess to beat your website into submission.<br/><br/>6 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Keepers of the Cloud: Who Will Hold the Key to Our Information?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/26711</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/26711</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:25:08 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/26711</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This article discusses the current mass exodus of our local information into the so-called data cloud. Many of us don't even realize it's happening. With all the enticing benefits of the tools in the cloud, the move seems inevitible. But who should we trust? Should we even make the move into the cloud or keep our data to ourselves?<br/><br/>1 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[How Much is Too Much? A Guide to Client Control Over Website Content]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/25503</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/25503</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:31:21 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/25503</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As web designers, we know the essential ingredients to website success. We spend hours every week blogging, networking, and studying keywords to produce our income. But our clients aren't always-in fact almost never-where we are when it comes engaging the online world. It's our tendency, though, to build sites for them as if they were. So which client needs the blog/product catalog/cms site and which one needs the hands-off site? We need a grid for determining the right grade website to build for each client. Here are some tips that have helped me develop my grid.<br/><br/>4 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[9 Web Design No Nos for the Newbie]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/24202</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/24202</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:38:14 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/24202</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I admit I've committed just about every crime against web design on this list. That's probably why it flowed so smoothly from my mind. They are all easily avoidable sins that, if transgressed, will cost a web designer big. So if you want to avoid humiliating yourself in front of clients and burning unnecessary midnight oil, take heed. It will save you a lot of anguish to learn from my mistakes instead of your own.<br/><br/>5 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (1/18/08 Edition)]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/23771</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/23771</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:42:08 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/23771</guid>
<description><![CDATA[From pointers about relieving eye strain (Web Worker Daily) to tips about what should appear above the fold on a blog (Vandelay Website Design), practical advice for the web designer seemed to be the theme in the blogosphere this week. Smashing Magazine also ran a great article on the development of infographics that I'm sure will inspire you to spice up your graphs and charts. TutorialBlog makes it's debut this week as a companion tutorial post to Smashing Magazine's infographics article. Also, I would like to give a special welcome to Veerle's Blog.<br/><br/>2 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Turn the Web Into a Shareable Notepad with Diigo]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/23397</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/23397</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:25:46 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/23397</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Back in July I wrote an article called The &quot;MyStickies&quot; Firefox Extension is an Excellent Collaboration Tool. MyStickies allows you to paste virtual sticky notes on websites and then share them with others. It's a simple concept but in the proceeding months I ditched Basecamp (no offense Jason Fried-I love your stuff) and began using MyStickies exclusively to collaborate on web projects. MyStickies doesn't do everything Basecamp does. But what it does, it does well. MyStickies was easily my favorite Firefox extension, that is, until I found Diigo &quot;Social Annotation&quot;.<br/><br/>3 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Breaking the Rules to Create a Talk Worthy Web Site]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/22996</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/22996</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:23:00 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Usability</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/22996</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In the spring 2005 I decided that having a talk worthy website is a critical advantage for an independent web designer. That realization prompted me to build the latest iteration of Liquid Design Media-the web site for my design studio.  All the top search engine marketing and usability experts would disagree with almost every decision I made in building that site. I had a splash page, I used Flash, and the layout was abnormal. But I didn't design it to impress SEO and usability experts. I designed it so that someone looking for a web designer would see it and say, &quot;Wow...&quot;, and the competition would fade into the background.<br/><br/>3 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Web Browser Review: Flock 1.0 "The Social Browser"]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/21697</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/21697</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:23:02 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/21697</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I've been a fan of the Flock browser for quite awhile now. But when version 1.0 was release on November 5th, I put off the upgrade. I've never been good about paying attention to upgrade dialog boxes. Last week I finally dove in. I have to say that my expectations have been exceeded.<br/><br/>1 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (1/4/08 Edition)]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/21325</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/21325</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:36:05 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/21325</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I'm limiting the 2008 prediction articles this week to one (a humorous bit from Dot Sauce). The daily influx of these articles is waning so I had to throw one more in before they disappear altogether. I have to point to Web Worker Daily for the most interesting article this week. Their &quot;6 Secrets to Running a Virtual Company&quot; is a fascinating look at a company that's pioneering a better way to do business.<br/><br/>4 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Selling Website Design: How to Overcome the 3 Most Ignorant Objections]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/20787</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/20787</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:34:58 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/20787</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Selling web design for the past seven years has given me the opportunity to hear every objection imaginable. Some are practical-&quot;The price is too high&quot;. Some are emotional-&quot;We don't want to hurt our other designer's feelings&quot;. But they all add up to a big NO. The strategy I've developed through this process, however, is not designed to turn every NO into a YES. When I make it my goal, instead, to turn every ignorant NO into a YES, I win on every level. Some people just don't like my style and letting them go is the best thing I can do. But if I leave a meeting rejected because I was unable to articulate the workings of my industry, there's a problem.<br/><br/>5 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (12/28/07 edition)]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/20484</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/20484</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Dec 2007 06:17:49 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/20484</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This week boasts a surprising number of great blog articles despite an expected lull over the Christmas holiday. Several of my favorite bloggers took the whole week off but a few never skipped a beat. In the next few days we will be barraged with &quot;best of 2007&quot; TV shows and magazine articles so I thought it appropriate to include at least one such blog post in my list-thanks to Read/Write Web for providing it. Oh, and of course, the final Five for Friday of 2007 wouldn't be complete without a list of new year's resolutions-thanks to Blogging Tips for that one...<br/><br/>3 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Dear Yahoo! / Digg, What Were You Thinking?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/19083</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/19083</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:53:25 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Yahoo</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/19083</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Shady advertisements have been appearing some the internet's most visited sites. This article gets to the bottom of it.&quot;...So what could be worse than a site in the Alexa top 200 claiming that you are the 1,000th visitor? How about the Alexa #1?...&quot;<br/><br/>3 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Five for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (12/14/07 Edition)]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/18745</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/18745</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:20:08 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/18745</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Every week I spend hours reading and commenting on new media and design blogs. I run across so much good information that it's impossible to write one post for each great article I discover. So I've decided it's time to start making a weekly list of my favorite blog posts. Every Friday, I'll be publishing my &quot;Five for Friday&quot;-five exceptional articles posted by web design and new media bloggers during the preceding week.<br/><br/>2 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Help Build the Best Blog Search Engine for Web Designers... Bits O' BlogSearch]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/18443</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/18443</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:54:55 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Searching</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/18443</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After happening upon Rollyo.com last week, I was inspired to build a blog search engine for web designers. Rollyo is short for &quot;roll your own&quot; search engine. It's a simpler Yahoo powered version of Google's Custom Search. I knew as embarked on this mission that I wasn't the first to attempt it. But the wheel can always be made rounder without being reinvented.<br/><br/>1 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Automated Mass Emails With a Nauseating Personal Touch]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/18149</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/18149</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:04:19 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/18149</guid>
<description><![CDATA[&quot;You've been chosen, MATTHEW, to receive a special 0% introductory rate!&quot; This tactic got old the minute we had the technology to do it. Is it really any better to do the same thing to our legitimate subscribers?<br/><br/>4 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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