Why Designers Should Stay Healthy And Happy

Many times you should have experienced bursts of creative ideas, of things you want to do and for the world to see just after the lady of your dreams accepts you as her man. Happy moments give birth to extraordinary ideas, of things one can’t hope to have when lonely and sick.

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” –  Benjamin Franklin

Surely, most healthy people are happy with their lives and vice versa. Being unhappy for more than the normal amount of time is life-wrecking. Some day you just have to get up and stir yourself to life again and take on the challenges that awaits you no matter how grave the thing you must rise up from. Then there are people who are neither happy nor sad, they simply don’t care about things. What will you expect from a designer who is oblivious of things, who is apathetic? No client would want another Van Gogh (I love Van Gogh, seriously). Although in the past most creative geniuses are used to locking up in the attic or in their basement alone for months at a time to create artworks that are now sold for thousands of dollars, what the world needs today are artists who can communicate well with people and can express emotions no matter how macabre or jolly the design should be.

If you live a healthy and happy life then chances are you will do well in most of the things you do, no matter what the outcome is. However, success does not always entail being victorious in every thing you do but means how able are you to recuperate and continue.

Just look at the very successful people in their own trade today, they are happy with their lives and are living a healthy lifestyle which is reflected in their works. Isn’t that noble?

First you must asses yourself if you are lacking either or both.

Designers should always have fresh ideas, as such it is important to have a fresh experience as soon as time permits. Creation is a continuous process, this applies to movies and book releases too. It wouldn’t hurt to treat yourself to the movies once a month or buy and read a book that interests you, aside from fulfilling your little “cravings” you are automatically making your mind open to new stimuli. Hit the gym a couple of times a week, walk your dog, go swimming, destroy a friend’s house; just be happy and your health will follow.

Easier said than done but there’s a fun way to combat procrastination and ill-will by creating a list of things you want to do. “I want to drink a gallon of vodka in 10 minutes” ? Let’s set some ground rules for you to follow to avoid gulping a gallon. Steps first.

Steps:

Write things that you really want to do –  no restrictions.Write things you think are fun to do (even if you really don’t want to).Be realistic.Consider various things like the food you wish to eat, someone you’d like to reconnect with, a place where you want to go, et cetera.No editing, yet.

Filtering:

Cross out the things that will put your health at risk.Remove things that might hurt others.Do not cheat by removing the things that will tire you out.Remove all work-related items. The goal is to have fun!

Execution:

Set a specific date when you should have accomplished all the items.Execute them little by little.Enjoy.

Watch The Bucket List if my explanation is not clear.

The trick is to maintain your daily routine, less risky and is proven to work. But as everything wears and tears, so does your routine’s effect on you. The things that you are currently doing to stay healthy and happy should evolve with you as you mature. Consider it like eating your favorite pasta every day for a month. The excitement of finally eating it after a day’s hard work wears off slowly and the taste will be less delicious than what it used to be, correct? This is the reason why the experienced, and happy people, are always saying to do new things whenever possible.

Once in a while do things that are out of your comfort zone. Are you so used to designing in front of your computer that doing your art in another medium would be a waste of time? Try doodling on the sand, simple things such as this will hopefully spark that creative genius inside you.

Exercise and eat foods that will boost your health. Your mind is more active and is more flexible when the body it is in is strong and happy! Try smiling now, come on! Did you just smile? It’s fine smiling while you are alone but not always. *laughs*

Now, share your thoughts!

Resources: Are you lacking enthusiasm? Read How to Maintain Enthusiasm for Work! Perhaps you are feeling uninspired? Find Inspiration!

View the original article here

Should You Get a Domain Name with Spaces or Dots In Between to Improve Readability?

In the space of the last few weeks, I have been asked by different readers whether they should get a domain name for their website with spaces in between or perhaps with embedded dots to improve the readability of their domain name. This article attempts to address the misunderstanding, suggest alternatives, as well as answer the underlying question.

There are various forms of the question. One version has the reader asking me whether he should get a domain name of the form "hereisamultiplewordedexample.com") or "here is a multiple worded example.com". Others asked if a domain like "here.is.a.multiple.worded.example.com" might be superior to a name where all the words run into each other. (Note that the names I'm using here are not the actual ones my visitors used.)

For those wondering what a domain name is, it is just a name like "thesitewizard.com". It forms the address of your website. You get one by registering a name of your choice with a domain name registrar. This is usually the first step one takes when creating a website.

The short answer to the questions asked is that you won't be able to buy a domain name like "an example.com" or "an.example.com" where there are embedded spaces or dots in the name you choose.

Don't be confused here. When I say you can't buy a domain name with embedded dots, I meant that you can't buy one where the dots occur in the portion of the name that you choose; I'm not talking about the part that separates that name from its extension. That is, a domain name registrar does not sell domain names of the form "an.example.com" (where there is a dot in "an.example") but they allow domain names of the form "example.com" or "example.co.uk" (where the dots occur only in the ".com" and ".co.uk" extensions).

In other words, there's no need to debate whether to buy a domain name with spaces and dots in between. You can't do it.

However, all is not lost. There are other ways of separating the words.

Although my answer above renders the original questions irrelevant, I should probably mention alternative methods that people use to separate words in their domain names.

Since spaces cannot be used in a domain name, some people buy domain names with embedded hyphens instead. That is, since they can't have a domain like "multiple words in this domain as an example.com", they use "multiple-words-in-this-domain-as-an-example.com" instead.

Although I said that you cannot buy a domain name with embedded dots, you can still create a domain name where there are embedded dots. For example, if you were to look up at your web browser's address bar right now, you will notice that this site has a web address of "www.thesitewizard.com", where there is a dot separating "www" from my main domain name "thesitewizard.com". Since I own the domain called "thesitewizard.com", I can create any number of web addresses ending with ".thesitewizard.com" that I want. These new addresses, like "www.thesitewizard.com", are often referred to as subdomains. They are subdomains of my main domain, thesitewizard.com.

As such, even though you cannot buy a domain name like "this.is.an.example.com", nothing stops you from buying a domain called "example.com" (unless it's already taken), and then creating a subdomain name called "this.is.an.example.com". Once you own the main domain name, you can create any subdomain of that domain that you want.

It's important to note, however, that there are both advantages and disadvantages to separating words in a domain name. Since I have already discussed this matter at length in my article Tips on Choosing a Good Domain Name, I will not repeat myself here. Instead, I'll just refer you to that article, and suggest that you read the section on hyphenated domain names there. The same pros and cons that apply to hyphenated domain names also apply to names with dots.

It's an integral part of my answer in this article, so please read it.

Besides using hyphens and dots, it's also possible to write your domain name using camel case. A simple example will clarify what this term means: even though you can reach this site using the domain name "thesitewizard.com", the same site can also be reached by using "TheSiteWizard.com", where the "t" in "the", the "s" in "site" and the "w" in "wizard" are capitalised (or "capitalized" in US English).

Note that both "thesitewizard.com" and "TheSiteWizard.com" are the exact same domain. I did not buy 2 domains with different capitalisations. Domain names are case insensitive. Once you buy your domain, you can write it with any combination of capital and small letters, and it'll still be regarded as the same thing.

In other words, if your domain name comprises multiple words, and you feel that it's necessary to distinguish between those words, one way is to take advantage of this indifference to the case in the domain name system, and use capital letters (uppercase) for the beginning of each new word in your domain name. And before you ask, you don't have to do anything special to "enable" this feature. Simply use your equivalent of "TheSiteWizard.com" (or "HowToHaven.com" or "TheFreeCountry.com", to give a few more examples) anywhere on your site where you would normally use "thesitewizard.com" (or "howtohaven.com" or "thefreecountry.com"). That is, put the camel case version of your domain name in your logos, your web addresses, your email address, your stationery, your name card, etc.

As implied by my previous paragraphs, the camel case version also works in the domain name portion of URLs (ie, web addresses). For example, if I wanted to, I could also write the address of this article as "http://www.TheSiteWizard.com/domain/domain-name-with-spaces-or-dots.shtml" (notice the camel case in the domain name portion). Incidentally, this case insensitivity only applies to the domain name portion, not to the rest of the web address. The rest of the web address must use the same case you gave your folder name and filename.

As already mentioned above, separating the words in your domain name comes with both advantages and disadvantages. (If you're wondering where I mentioned it, it's in the article on choosing domain names that I suggested that you read earlier.) Since you're the one who has to live with the consequences of the name you select, you're the only one who can decide which is best for you.

However, don't let this thought paralyse you. Ultimately, it's not the domain name that will determine the success of your website. It's what you do with your website that matters in the long run. If you are truly stuck, do what many seasoned webmasters do, buy up all the different combinations of domain names that interest you. It allows you to defer your decision further (without the attendant risk of losing a domain name you want to someone else) and gives you the option to change your mind later.

For those of you who want to continue reading up on domain names before starting your website, the following articles may be helpful:

The above are a subset of the articles I've written on domain names. You can find the full list on the Domain Name Tutorials page.

For those who don't know what to do after getting your domain name, please read the complete tutorial How to Make / Create Your Own Website: The Beginner's A-Z Guide for more information.

Copyright © 2010 by Christopher Heng. All rights reserved.
Get more free tips and articles like this, on web design, promotion, revenue and scripting, from http://www.thesitewizard.com/.

Do you find this article useful? You can learn of new articles and scripts that are published on thesitewizard.com by subscribing to the RSS feed. Simply point your RSS feed reader or a browser that supports RSS feeds at http://www.thesitewizard.com/thesitewizard.xml. You can read more about how to subscribe to RSS site feeds from my RSS FAQ.

View the original article here

If you're looking for simple and effective ways to influence you, your results and the world, you'll find powerful tools here from an official UK number 1 trainer and coach. Enjoy and be impeccable!

Check it out!