Topic: Business
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The Long Hallway
In the virtual conference room, no one can hear you scream. Social networking enables knowledge workers like us to build virtual companies with no office space and little overhead. But can we make them succeed? Follett dissects the skills required to create, manage, and grow the virtual firm.
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The Rules of Digital Engagement
Jonathan Follett takes another trip down the long hallway, looking at ways to collaborate, communicate, and manage conflict in virtual space.
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Get Out from Behind the Curtain
Client input: positive process or creative noose? Many designers would probably say the latter. But it needn't be that way. Adaptive Path's Sarah Nelson shows how to create collaborative work sessions that take the clients' needs in hand while leaving creative control in yours.
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Design by Metaphor
Sometimes the best way to understand a client's needs is by comparing their project to an existing site or service. The site should feel "like eBay" and work "like Expedia." But what do such comparisons really mean? Learn to master the metaphor while avoiding unrealistic goals and expectations.
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Educate Your Stakeholders!
Who decides what's best for a website? Highly skilled professionals who work with the site's users and serve as their advocates? Or schmucks with money? Most often, it's the latter. That's why a web designer's first job is to educate the people who hold the purse strings.
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Stand and Deliver
You've got thirty seconds to sell your work to the well dressed nemesis who's paying you. Handle the next few moments gracefully, and the project will be one you can be proud of. Flub an answer, and you can kiss excellence goodbye. Are you prepared? Can you deliver?
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When You Are Your Own Client, Who Are You Going To Make Fun Of At The Bar?
Should your blog have a business? Jim Coudal shares insights into the adventure of transitioning from client services to product creation.
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Web 3.0
Web 2.0 is a fresh-faced starlet on the intertwingled longtail to the disruptive experience of tomorrow. Web 3.0 thinks you are so 2005.
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Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or Build a Website for No Reason)
If you don't know what the website you're working on is supposed to _do_, it's going to be really hard to succeed. Greg Storey offers a simple web strategy development process for everyone.
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The Four-Day Week Challenge
Constantly stressed out? Not enough hours in the day to get things done? Ryan Carson has a theory: your problem is too much work time, not too little.
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Web Designer and Proud of It
Professional web designers do not “do” web page design, we practice it. Web design is not a merit badge to be added to your uniform in scouts (but the way things are going it is probably not far off), it is a career choice that demands continual growth and serious dedication. We continually work at improving our skills and techniques, learning how to use new tools and mastering the old ones. To elevate our profession from the perception it has now to the esteem that it deserves, the gap between the professional and the amateur should be evident to the casual viewer.
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How to Plan Manpower on a Web Team
Just how many people does it take to properly manage a website? It depends on the website. Shane Diffily explains how to figure it out.
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Cheaper Over Better: Why Web Clients Settle for Less
Schumacher investigates why clients hire bad web designers — and what good web designers can do about it.
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High Accessibility Is Effective Search Engine Optimization
It's no coincidence that search engines love highly accessible websites; in fact, by designing for accessibility, you're already using effective search-engine optimization techniques. Andy Hagans explains yet another reason to pay attention to accessibility.
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The Web is Like Canada
Those who "get" the web create it. Those who do not get the web are put in charge. Joe Clark presents a vision for defending our web against their worst ideas.
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Use Cases Part II: Taming Scope
The use-case model can be a powerful tool for controlling scope throughout a project’s life cycle. Because a simplified use-case model can be understood by all project participants, it can also serve as a framework for ongoing collaboration and a visual map of all agreed-upon functionality. Use it to plan, to negotiate, and to prevent scope creep.
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Better Invoices for Better Business
Invoices that obfuscate information, incorrectly state terms or arrive incomplete can be a massive headache for all parties. Strategic timing and attractive presentation are also important, as they can help “soften the blow” by making your invoice seem less like a stale demand for money and more like a friendly letter.
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Starting a Business: Advice from the Trenches
Did that last “fire your boss” spam push you over the edge? Do your wish-fulfillment dreams revolve around letterhead, legal entities, and avoiding arrest for tax evasion? If you’re crazy enough to start your own business, Kevin Potts wants you to learn from his mistakes.
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Using XHTML/CSS for an Effective SEO Campaign
Improve your search engine ranking by harnessing the benefits of well-authored XHTML and using CSS to boost your code-to-content ratio.
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This Web Business IV: Business Entity Options
You’ve mastered Photoshop, Flash, CSS, PHP, ASP, XHTML and JavaScript; studied usability, accessibility, and information architecture; and can fake your way through XML. But there’s more to running a web business than that. Part Four of a continuing series.
