July :: 2011 :: Creative Juices Graphic Design Studio

Archive for July 2011

6 Easy Steps to Creating iPhone and iPad Shortcut Buttons

All the book reading apps from Kobo, Kindle, Nook (Barnes & Noble) and Google were updated.

The result is that the “buy” buttons that linked to their web stores have been removed. This has been an ongoing controversy ever since Apple changed their policy about in-app purchases.

It turns out that all e-booksellers would rather delete the in-app purchase button rather than pay Apple 30% for each purchase.

An Easy Solution

There’s an easy and pain-free way to set up your own bookstore app button that’s at least as good as, if not better than, the button in each app.

Go to Safari and find the website for Kindle Books, Nook Books, Kobo Books, and Google Books. Of course you’re doing these one at a time.
When you get to the page you desire, click the “bookmark” button at the top of your iPad browser or the bottom of your iPhone browser. It is a little box with a curved arrow.
Select “Add to Home Screen”.
Edit what you want the icon to say and press “Add”.
An icon for the website will show up in your browser. Amazon’s icon looks the best.
Just place this icon next to the original reader app and you’re done.

You can read your books in the Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Google app as before. And when you want to buy a book, click on the new icon bookmark you created and you will instantly get to the same place the original in-app button sent you.

Update 8/10/11: Today Kindle released a “Cloud Reader”. It is an html5 version of their Kindle reader. You can go to Safari on your iPad and visit www.amazon.com/cloudreader. It works just like the Kindle app with the addition of a link to the Kindle eBookstore. Plus you can create an icon for your home screen. I assume an iPhone version will be coming soon. Also Nook is working on a similar “web app”.

15 Jul

The Ultimate Guide to Free Fonts Online

In the beginning, there was Compugraphic

Once upon a time, in the late 1970’s, I used to run a typesetting machine. It was an old Compugraphic Imagewriter, a blue electronic box with a typewriting keyboard and a display screen consisting of a single line of type. The type was all caps. A simple arrow let you know if the type was in lower or upper case.

To typeset a job you had to visualize the entire layout in your head. Or you could sketch it out, if you were so inclined. And here’s the fun part, every time you wanted to change the font, you had to open the machine and change a film strip. Each font was on a different film strip, which had to be carefully attached to a roller of sorts. And they were expensive.

What you got was all there was

Even more fun, there was no memory beyond what you were currently working on. As soon as you set the machine to process the text to film or photo paper, it was gone. Yes, GONE.

Once a job was printed out it could be pasted up on a job board, using hot wax. Corrections and changes had to be entirely re-typed and pasted up.

Typesetting was a sought after specialty

For graphic design companies this was great news. It meant few people would be able to design, typeset and create their own ads, flyers, forms, brochures, business cards, etc. When you wanted these products you would visit the printer or graphic arts studio.

Today, free templates seem to be everywhere

Times have changed. Now all you have to do is turn on your iMac or similar PC type machine, select any one of hundreds or thousands of free templates and “create” your own, unique artwork. Changes are easily made and printing is at a touch of a button. Just remember, though. Free is not always better. If you truly want a professional, unique website, logo or design project, call Chuck at 310-791-5803. Just saying.

What is a font?

The dictionary describes a font as “a set of type of one particular face and size”.

Fonts are a breeze. Hundreds are included free with almost any program and thousands are available online, also for free. Just search and download.

Here are just some of my favorite places for finding free type fonts. Most have Windows and Mac versions.

When using free fonts make sure you read the licensing agreements. A lot of these fonts are available for personal, not commercial use.

The very popular Doris Day font

Everybody loves Doris Day. The 1950s was a great time. Business was booming, as were babies. I was born in that era. Relive the nostalgia of the 1950s with a perky script font that says Doris Day.

Download the Free Doris Day font here (for both Mac and PC).

A boatload of other free typefaces

Daily Free Fonts The free font archive (TTF fonts for free and cool fonts)!

Famous Fonts Lot of famous fonts from TV, Movies, Music, Publications, Games, Companies, Automobiles, Sports and more.

Fontspace Free fonts from designers around the world.

MadTuts Fonts and inspiration for designers.

SearchFreeFonts The name says it all.

Urban Fonts Lots of free fonts for your use.

dafonts A great collection of free fonts covering many themes.

1001 Free Fonts You’ll never run out of fonts at this site.

Let me know if you have a favorite free font website.

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05 Jul

How to Make Money Online in 5 Easy Steps

I have been a graphic designer and writer for over 30 years. Creative Juices was born in 1981. And in spite of the changing design field with the introduction of e-lectronics and computers, starting a business of any kind takes lots of hard work and perseverance. But with that said…

Starting your own online business is as easy as starting a blog.

This will not make you rich overnight, unless you get lucky. But you can bring in extra cash with a little effort by following these 5 simple steps.

Start a blog in a niche you love. Make sure it is something you’re passionate about. I highly recommend using WordPress.org to create your blog. Because it’s self hosted you have complete control.
Create unique, killer content. By killer I mean highly relevant and helpful content that people will search out and read.
Sign up with Google for their free analytics, AdSense and keyword tools.
Apply for affiliate programs like LinkShare or Commission Junction and sell other people’s products by placing ads on your site or reviewing products.
Create your own products or services and sell it on your site and through affiliate programs. This could be anything from eBooks to T-shirts. Also check out Zazzle and Cafe Press to create products for sale. It’s free to sign up.

See how easy that was? Again, you will not make millions doing this. But some people have been know to make six figures a year with their online businesses.

If you have any ideas on making money online the easy way, let me know.

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