Latest Articles by vishalv

Offshoring Outsourcing

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:42:44 -0500

Adam Smith the economist once said in his treatise The Wealth of Nations, "If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, it is better to buy it of them." Outsourcing therefore is simply a progression of an idea that has existed since early days of trade.

From Outsourcing to Offshoring
In outsourcing we have simply progressed to another step that is "offshore outsourcing" in which the buyer of the service is located in some other country then the provider of the service.

Offshoring is best described as work traveling from large corporations, halfway across the world technology to savvy small IT companies. Behind every project that is offshored a multifaceted decisions process is involved selecting the right mode to suit a particular business need or scenario.

Many developing countries are attracting business from developed countries due to factors like manpower, Knowledge, infrastructure facilities, Legal and business environments, not to mention the huge amounts of costs it saves. Offshoring also enables the companies to save on staff, equipment, training and maintenance.

The Indian Connection
Offshoring has become tantamount to India as the IT personnel and infrastructure in India is far superior to its counterparts. Not only do we have the latest and most advanced knowledge base, English is our second language. There is also the fact that IT infrastructure in India is far more highly developed and widespread than any other developing country. Just for this reason IT Companies across the world outsource their IT, web design and development requirements to India.

Over the years outsourcing has become a specialty for India, many outside countries like USA, Canada, Australia have turned their IT operations of all kinds like, web development, software solutions, web designing etc. to us, so that they can concentrate more on their business's core competency.

There are many modes of Offshoring:

Joint Venture Offshoring
In this type of contract an organization ties up with local company either by taking an equity stake or forming an independent company in which each company contributes resources.

Subsidiary/Captive Development Center Offshoring
In these organizations simply become subsidiaries of the International companies. They are known as offshore development center (ODC), captive development center or in some cases simply branch or local office.

Service Provider Offshoring
This is the most popular and advantageous method of all Offshoring, to minimize risk and get the best of both worlds, companies outsource projects, programs and individual work orders to offshore vendors.

Service Provider Offshoring
The JV and subsidiary models of outsourcing may involve deep commitment on the part of a client organization, a move that management at traditional companies may sometimes be averse to. To counter the perceived risks of these models and to capitalize on the benefits of offshoring, companies resort to outsourcing projects, programs and individual work orders to offshore vendors. Depending on your business need and your contractor you can decide which option gives you the maximum benefit.

Conclusion
There is no doubt that Outsourcing Offshoring is here to stay, and India has become the largest player of this arena.

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Sahil kumar, is a development expert working with web development company. Currently consults and working on offshore IT staffing service.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

Cracking the Ranking Game

Wed, 20 May 2009 05:33:36 -0500

A crawler based search engine searches literally thousands of pages and finds hundreds of matches to the search terms but only a few results are displayed on the first page or get a good ranking --- the reason is practical as well as informed SEO practices. So here are a few tips on cracking the ranking game.......

Keep away from spamming techniques: All major search engines penalize sites that try to "spam". Techniques "stacking" or "stuffing" words on a page can easily get you black listed or barred. In stacking process a word is repeated many times in a row with the color of the text to be the same as the background color of the page. Since search engines are smart, they compare the background color of the page to the text color and detect bulk keywords used to mislead end result your site is out.

Minimum Meta refresh: A number of search engines refuse to index a page with a high Meta refresh rate so try using it less often. Some site create target pages that automatically take visitors to different pages within a web site via the Meta refresh tag.

Target keywords: Keywords are the most crucial part for the ranking of a website and must be very carefully selected and arranged. Target keywords should always be at least two or more words long. Go for key phrases too because same keywords can be used in many different ways.

Keyword Position: Keyword positioning is placing your keywords and phrases in the title, description, heading and body text of the website. The title tag being the most, remember the titles should be relatively short and attractive.

More of text links: Search engines are lousy at following graphic button image links or image map links that most interactive sites use, so use graphic links but also place text links to the inner pages of your site at the bottom of your homepage as crawlers can find them and reach them.

Include Sitemap: Make a site map for your website and include that page in your search engine submission.

Avoid Frames: Frames links cannot be trailed by some of the major search engines so try replacing them with smart design or through Meta tags.

Evade Dynamic pages: Dynamic pages are mostly not visible to the search engines Try making static alternate page copies of the dynamic ones so that search engines can index them.

Steer clear of too many symbols: reduce the usage of symbols that appear in the URL's as search engines tend to malfunction when faced with such symbols.

Increase on link popularity: Link popularity can be defined as the number of "quality" links pointing to your website. Request more and more links from sites that are related to your subject and are placed high in the rankings by engines that will shoot up you ranking automatically. At Google if you have 20 to 30 quality links to your website, your page ranks above 5.

Key word density: "keyword density" should always be high on your pages. Keyword density can be defined as the number of times the targeted keywords or keywords used in your title tag appear in the body text of your pages, be it the heading text or plain text.

Shun bulk tiny text: Tiny text is the technique of placing text on a page in a small font size. Pages that are predominantly heavy in tiny text may be dismissed as spam. Or, the tiny text may not be indexed. Avoid using very tiny text in bulk on your pages.

Follow all the search engine rules: Some search engines like Google, Yahoo, Infoseek, Alta Vista, Hotbot ban web sites which break their rules. Don't indulge in insider techniques; they are the fastest way to get black listed.

Submit key pages: Submit pages that you think are the most vital in your website content wise and functionality wise.

Don't trust the submission process to automated programs and services: Some of them are excellent, but the major search engines are too important. Submit manually, so that you can see if there are any problems reported.

Sustain your listings: Once your pages are listed in a search engine, monitor you're listing every week. Sometimes Pages disappear, Links default. Regularly revisit Search engines.

Resubmit: Resubmit your site when you make important changes. Resubmitting after major changes will help ensure that your site's content is kept current.

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Sahil Kumar is a web developer works with Web Development Company, having excellence in search engine optimization.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

RSS the Future of E-learning

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

RSS wears many a hats - rich site summary, really simple syndication- RSS or even Resource Description Framework (RDF).

RSS is basically a lighter XML format designed for sharing Web content. As it is one of the simplest uses of XML, RSS has become widely distributed. The RSS file can include a logo, a site link, an input box, and multiple news items. Each news item consists of a URL, a title, and a summary.

Because the data is in XML, and not a display language like HTML, RSS information can be flowed into a large number of devices. In addition to being used to create news summary web pages, RSS can be fed into stand-alone news browsers or headline viewers, PDAs, cell phones, email ticklers and even voice updates.

RSS files are created by content publishers and then delivered to people who have subscribed to that feed using a "feed reader" application also called a news aggregator. The feed reader program checks with the originator of the content regularly and if it finds any new content available from a particular site, downloads the information about it, called metadata, into the application automatically.

An RSS aggregator is a type of software that periodically reads sets of RSS files and indexes them for display or syndication. There are two major types of aggregator: centralized and personal. Aggregators are the most common use of feeds. Web aggregators make this view available in a Web page. Aggregators have also been integrated into e-mail clients, user's desktops, or standalone, dedicated software. Aggregators can offer a variety of special features, including combining several related feeds into a single view, hiding entries that the viewer has already seen, and categorizing feeds and entries.

RSS & Elearning
Beyond personal use, RSS feeds can also be used to republish, or syndicate, content on Websites. Prescient learning technologist Stephen Downes discussed the usefulness of RSS with online courses back in 2000 in his article "Content Syndication and Online Learning." He wrote, "[Using RSS or similar tools], any course...can tap into up-to-date resources from remote sources...[so that] content is tailored specifically for the course."

Rather than collecting content in a central repository, requiring an expensive software application, the RSS model distributes content across the World Wide Web, allowing access piece by piece. "For that reason," Downes says in his article "An Introduction to RSS for Educational Designers" that "the distribution of content over the Internet will look a lot more like an RSS network than... an enterprise content management system." More people will use the distributed learning object network "not only because it's easier and cheaper, but because they can access much more content for much less money."

Educational uses of RSS are many ......

subscribing to feeds on particular topics to stay current

publishing syndicated content on course Websites or blogs

having learners create their own blogs and then subscribing to the feeds of all those blogs to check new content on them

notifying learners about new available courses

updating learners on new internal or external resources available on a training topic

Subscribing to feeds from learning object repositories to see the newest objects added or objects added in a topic they're developing a course on.

Conclusion
Though not the perfect solution, as it does have a few kinks that have to be worked out. Like the lack of digital rights management for both original articles and metadata feeds and RSSs inability to deal with mixed metadata. RSS has the potential to be the future tool of Elearning.

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Sahil Kumar, is a development expert working with elearning solution india. Currently managing and maintaining elearning management system. A storehouse of knowledge about elearning programs.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

Offshore Staffing

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Offshore staffing is an offshoot of outsourcing. In offshore outsourcing some part of the work from the client company is sent overseas to be done. The client and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the transferred services.

The contract for such an agreement is usually on an hourly basis i.e. if you worked x number of hours you were paid x number of dollars. This was a rather expensive procedure and lacked dedicated workers.

Dedicated Offshore Staffing
Dedicated Offshore staffing further streamlines the offshore outsourcing contract. In this contract the client hires a dedicated team that works for him exclusively 8 Hrs a day, 6 days a week. This team becomes your remotely located staff, working full-time for you, from an Offshore Development Center any where in the world.

The team is provided to you for a fixed monthly fee and is supervised by your offshore partner or contractor on your behalf to ensure optimal output and productivity.

The offshore partner provides facilities like

Hiring / Firing / Retaining

Provide infrastructure and security.

Arrange interviews and selections.

Maintain the programmers on payroll.

Attest programmer experience and credibility.

Ensure programmers presence and output.

Maintain auxiliary programmers to ensure backup and continuity.

Enforce defined coding standards and styles.

Provide daily/weekly progress reports

Offshore staffing can be hired for a number of IT & IT related services like

  - Web Design and Development,
  - Website Redesign,
  - Ecommerce Development,
  - Web Maintenance & Support,
  - Search Engine Marketing,
  - Captive Offshore Services,
  - Web Development Process,

Advantages of Offshore Staffing

Fixed monthly cost, with no overhead or hidden fees.

A team dedicated to your needs only.

Significant cost savings compared to on-site teams.

Highly competent resources.

Complete control over resources and processes.

Option to adjust team's schedule to your time zone.

Operations can be rapidly scaled up, when required.

Easy communication.

Project management and regular status report.

Conclusion
Offshore Staffing’, is a Remote Staffing Solution to maximize your business expansion, profitability and productivity.

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Sahil Kumar is working with offshore staffing services company. Considering Hire a programmer, Technoscore is your solution.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

Your Website Maintenance Needs

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Website Maintenance encompasses all the activities needed to guarantee the operational integrity of a site.

Whether you have an internal web team or are exploring outsourced website maintenance services, it is necessary to determine the service needed for the various updates required to keep your content fresh and relevant. In short the why, how and where of your website maintenance.

The first step is to ensure that your web sites remain useful and functional.

You must promote your web site constantly; on a daily basis add something, anything, which attracts people to your site. This is vital in order to ensure that people continue to visit your site day after day.

If your site is static and unchanging there will be no reason for people to come back again. So to get them to come back it is imperative to change the content constantly and to be sure that your visitors know it is changing.

On a regular basis review your statistics. You should check your page counts to be sure that your site is being viewed. At best, you need to know where people are coming from, which browsers they are using and what they visited while they were at your site.

Review your site; check your grammar, spelling and accuracy. As time progresses your articles may become stale, so be sure and recheck an archive conclusions and facts.

Learn as much as you can about web site security, and ensure that, to the best of your abilities and knowledge, that your site is secure for your customers and your web host.

Post a privacy policy and adhere to it without exception. Review your practices occasionally against your policy to ensure you are following it to the letter.

The next step need is to determine the frequency and nature of updates and improvements you want regularly and periodically.

Regularly check

Simple text edits such as updates to published event schedules e.g. training schedules, seminars, conference appearances

Implementation of search engine optimization

Addition of content such as client testimonials, case studies/success stories, press releases and news stories

Design and creation of sales announcements/promotions

Creation and testing of forms for sales lead generation, white paper downloads, customer support, client surveys and feedback

Conversion of file formats, for example: Word Doc to PDF

Design and creation of client newsletters

Provisioning and monitoring for website link integrity checking

Archiving content as it becomes old or outdated

Auditing website for browser compatibility

Obtaining Technical Consulting such as: preparation and assistance with moving to a new hosting service; server administration and maintenance; technical liaison to ISP/hosting service.

Periodically check

Redesigning pages or sections to improve look and feel

Creation of entirely new pages or sections

Conducting usability assessments

Website accessibility retrofit

Reorganizing site structure for ease of future website maintenance

Adding new functionality such as a local search function

Developing custom tools such as a store or dealer locator

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Sahil kumar, is a development expert working with Website Development Company well known by the name Web Design India.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

E-Learning

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Training in key business and professional skills in today's competitive environment cannot be ignored if you want your employees to develop and help drive the growth of your company.

Need for e-learning

New values In the old days, corporate value and value creation were defined principally through material and financial assets. Nowadays a premium is put on intellectual capital. To retain their competitive edge, organizations have started to investigate which training techniques and delivery methods enhance motivation, performance, collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to life-long learning.

New technologies The life of knowledge and human
skills today is shorter than ever, mounting the pressure to remain up to date with ones education and training throughout a career. In the age of globalization and technological revolution, four-year degrees are just the start of a forty-year continuing education. Life-long learning is quickly becoming an imperative in today's world.

Competitive Edge Corporations view learning as a competitive weapon rather than a bothersome cost factor. Business success depends increasingly on top-quality employee performance, which in turn requires top-quality training. Corporate executives now understand that developing employee skills is the key to creating a sustainable competitive lead.

Cost Effective In the run to remain competitive in today's labor-tight market, companies are exploiting advances in technology to train employees rapidly, effectively, and at less expense.

Globalization As trade borders become less significant, global competition intensifies. International expansion has led to larger and more complex corporations. Today's businesses have more locations in different countries and employ larger numbers of workers with diverse backgrounds and educational levels.

Abundance of information More information has to be delivered in increasingly bigger organizations, testing internal planning, logistics, and distribution. Corporations worldwide are now in search of more innovative and competent ways to deliver training to their geographically dispersed workforce.

Types of e- learning
There are fundamentally two types of e-learning: synchronous training and asynchronous training.

Synchronous, means "at the same time," involves interaction of participants with an instructor via the Web in real time. Asynchronous, which means "not at the same time," allows the participant to complete the WBT at his own pace, without live interaction with the instructor. A new form of learning known as blended learning is emerging. As the name suggests it is an amalgamation of synchronous and asynchronous learning methods.

Asynchronous Methods

Embedded learning Embedded learning is information that
is accessible on a self-help basis, 24/7. It can be delivered to the place of work, or to mobile learners. Electronic performance support system (EPSS) is a type of embedded learning. The advantage is that embedded learning offers learners the information they need whenever they need it.

Courses The clear advantage of a self-paced course is convenience. Participants can get the training they need at any time. This can include just-in-time training where a participant gets exactly the training he or she needs to perform a task.

Discussion groups A discussion group is a gathering of conversations that occur over time. They are also called message boards, bulletin boards and discussion forums. Discussion groups can be used to support a group of participants taking the same class or can be used to support participants performing related tasks. A discussion group is a very competent way to supply expert answers to a large group people. A single answer to a common question can help many.

Synchronous Methods

Virtual classroom Virtual classroom duplicates the features of a real classroom online. Participants interact with each other and instructors online .instant messaging, chat, audio and video conferencing etc.

Blended Method Most companies prefer to use a mix of both synchronous and asynchronous e-learning methods according to their requirement.

Conclusion
All in all e- learning is here to stay and only you can decide the degree of involvement in e- learning your company may require and the best methods applicable to you and your employees.

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Rajesh Rastogi has been managing and maintaining various e-learning softwares projects for the past five years. A storehouse of knowledge about Learning Management System He has been working in close co-ordination with firm providing e-learning solutions.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

Introduction to Induction

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Induction is a process of familiarizing the new recruits to the organization functioning so that they become productive in the least possible time; they are a means of honing the workforce to greater efficiency, precision, and perfection.

Every business, large or small, needs a well-planned induction process. The induction process has to provide all the information that new employees and others need, and are able to assimilate, without being overwhelming or diverting them from the essential process of integration into a team.

The Process

The term 'induction' is generally used to describe the whole process whereby employees blend in or acclimatize to their new jobs. The aim of the induction process is to help new employees make a smooth, positive adjustment to the workplace. Induction training is all about the basics as well like: shift timings; holiday routine; casual/sick leave policy; location of the cafeteria; dress code; Health and Safety, Terminology, jargon, glossary, definitions of local terms, Organization overview and structure etc. etc.

Induction enables the new employee to gain familiarity with the work environment and to acquire a sense of belonging that will build a commitment to the organization.

A successful induction process has three objectives -

Helps new employees settle in

Helps new employees comprehend their responsibilities and what is expected of them

Ensures the employer receives the benefit of the new employee as quickly as possible

An induction process should also be;

Flexible and interesting

Employee centered

Meets equal opportunities requirements

The Need for Induction

Recruitment is an expensive business as it takes time, money
and effort to find the right people to join your company. Efficiently organized and delivered induction training will be your new employees' first proper impression of you and your enterprise; this makes it an ideal occasion to reinforce their decision to come and work for you.

The purpose of induction is to ensure the effective integration of staff into the organization for the benefit of both parties. Research has shown that a well planned induction program increase staff retention. A well conducted induction ensures new hires are retained, and then settled in speedily and comfortably in a constructive role.

New employees also need to understand the organization's goals, values and philosophy; personnel practices, ethics, integrity, corporate social responsibility and the job they're required to do. An effective induction process shortens the time it takes to get the new employee to settle down.

An induction process is not simply for new employees. The same benefits can be received by staff who have been promoted or transferred or those who have returned from a long period of absence.

Induction Software's

Just as every process of the business is getting automated, so is the induction process. Induction software's automates the entire induction training process; from orientation to shift timings; holiday routine; casual/sick leave policy; organization's goals, values and philosophy; personnel practices, and job requirement.

These Inductions are often given online and add to the comfort of the new employee, by providing information on demand and as often as required.

By necessity induction training involves rather dry subjects, but with online delivery it can be made more enjoyable, since the matter can be presented creatively in various forms using web based delivery modes such as; flash, animation, power point etc.

With this software in place, induction training can be conducted for individuals or groups on demand and online; eliminating the need for managers to disrupt their daily routine and conduct induction personally.

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Sahil Kumar is a web development expert working with Web Design Company also developing Induction Software.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

E-Learning Standards?

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Any one stepping into the world of e-learning and LMS is bewildered by the question of standards what they are and what do they do and why they are needed and how are they formed. So here goes in the most simplest of terms.....................

What are standards?
E-Learning standards are a set of common rules for content, authoring software and Learning Management Systems (LMSs). These rules or specifications specify how courses can be created and delivered over multiple platforms so that they all operate seamlessly together.

How are Standards Formed?
Before a rule can become a "standard," it is called a "specification." Specification is a detailed, exact statement of the functional requirements and particulars for something to be built, installed, or manufactured. Some specifications are further developed to the status of an accredited standard; it has to pass certain criteria's to become an accepted standard. There are four common steps for gaining acceptance:

R&D: Research and development is conducted to identify possible solutions. Ex The Learning Federation, overall research at universities, corporations, consortia, etc.

Specification Development: When a tentative solution appears to have merit, a detailed written specification must be documented so that it can be implemented and codified. Ex AICC, IMS, and ARIADNE (Europe).

Testing/Piloting: The specifications are put into use either in test situations or pilots to determine what works, what doesn't, what is missing, customer reactions, etc.Ex ADL SCORM plugfests.

Accredited and International Standard Status: The tested and complete specifications are reviewed by an accredited standards body. If approved, the specification receives official certification by the accredited standards body and is made available to all through this body.

Currently, e-learning standards are being developed by four main organizations: AICC, IEEE, IMS, and ADL.

Criteria's for Standards?
There are main three areas for a standard

Communication Interface or API--how resources communicate with other systems,

Meta-data--how to describe e-Learning resources in a consistent manner,

Content Packaging--how to gather resources into useful bundles,

Communication Interface or API - The communication interface is how learning resources exchange information dynamically. These standards allow different system components to share information about learners across multiple system components. Learner profile information can include personal data, learning plans, learning history, accessibility requirements, certifications and degrees, assessments of knowledge (skills/competencies). In addition, systems need to communicate learner data to the content, such as scores or completion status.

Metadata- Metadata can be thought of as the subjective and objective data that describes the attributes and characteristics of not only content or "data," for which it most is often noted, but also people, places, and things. Learning content and catalog offerings must be labeled in a consistent way to support the indexing, storage, discovery (search), and retrieval of learning objects by multiple tools across multiple repositories.

Content packaging- Industry use of the term "packaging" often refers specifically to gathering and describing the resources for a course. Content packaging specifications and standards enable organizations to transfer courses and content from one LMS to another. This is critical because content can created by one tool, modified by another tool, stored in a repository maintained by one vendor, and used in a delivery environment produced by a different supplier. Content packages include both learning objects and information about how they are to be put together to form larger learning units. They can also specify the rules for delivering content to a learner.

What Standards Do?
The objective of standards is to provide fixed data structures and communication protocols for e-learning objects .This enables interoperability between applications, such as an LMS and third-party or in-house developed content, by providing uniform communication guidelines that can be used throughout the design, development, and delivery of learning objects. LMS standards define LMS and courseware interoperability so that an organization can switch to a different LMS that adheres to the standards with minimal or no impact on courseware.

Why we Need Standards?
The e-learning industry continues to evolve, change and advance continuously, every day, and common methods and tools necessary to create and maintain content and infrastructure applications is critical, hence the need for standards.
Common standards for things such as content metadata, content packaging, API, interoperability, learner profiles, etc., must be in place and widely accepted for the knowledge economy and the future of learning to realize this vision. Products that adhere to standards will provide consumers with wider product choices and a better chance that the products in which they invest will avoid quick obsolescence.

Conclusion
E-learning standards are constantly evolving, like it or not you have to be geared up to educate yourself about developments among the standards organizations that create the guidelines as well the suppliers that use them to develop their products to be successful in the e-learning world.

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Rajesh Rastogi has been managing and maintaining various e-learning softwares projects for the past five years. A storehouse of knowledge about Learning Management Systems He has been working in close co-ordination with firm providing e-learning solutions.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

Intricacies of Web Layout

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In website designing an important but often ignored aspect is the layout of the site. In the muddle of SEO or complex scripts or images or flash, layout is forgotten. But remember if your layout is not appealing or user friendly, users are not going to come back.

Here are a few of the very basics of web layout pointers............

User-Friendly A user friendly website is simple and uncomplicated, so keep it that in mind when you begin planning the layout. It's best to avoid complex navigational links with complex scripts or images that are hard to view. Curtail the use of huge images which take long to load, instead use smaller icons. Also avoid too many colors, tables or types of fonts, as this gives the site a cluttered look.

Placement If elements are logically placed they connect to form a structure to your design. It is important to group similar elements as this communicates to the viewer the concept and theme of your site. These elements can be color, spatial relationships, shape, texture and typeface If there is no pattern to the placement of elements, it creates a confusing and often difficult to navigate situation for the viewers.

Repetition Repetition of elements throughout a design can be used to enhance and reinforce information. Repetition lends to the visual appeal of your design. The repetition of graphic elements specially works to create visual unity.

Consistency While designing you must always remember to maintain an overall aesthetic authenticity. It is important to keep visual and typographic elements simple and clear. It is also necessary to apply them uniformly. An inconsistent design results in decreased user effectiveness. There should be an overall visual system to the text, graphics and spatial relationships.

Dimensions One of the most important aspects of layout is keeping track of the dimensions. It is best to limit the width and height of the webpage, so that the important content of the webpage lies within the top 600x600 area without scrolling. Limit the content of the page to four scroll lengths and if more content needs to be added, shift it to a new page, with a navigational link.

Color Balance In Website designing color is critical for the layout. Balance your color wisely too many contrast or heavy or dark colors create visually unappealing sites. Color can also be used to define or create spaces. Multi-colored sites have the lowest visitation time, as a combination of warm and cool colors confuses the user. It will often make the site seem cluttered and ambiguous. So it is best to choose a couple of colors and stick to them.

File Size File size is another major issue. It is very important your site to keep loading times to a minimum. Most users use a slow 56K modem to access the internet so it's necessary to keep file size small. Keep small pages as they load faster, also avoid too many graphics as they delay loading. Target for page size should be below 35K for at least the home page.

Conclusion The importance of a visually pleasing and quick loading layout cannot be stressed enough; it is the back bone of your site.

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Sahil Kumar is a web development expert working with Web Design Company also developing Induction Software.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

The VCampus1

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The VCampus Enterprise Knowledge Platform (EKP) provides deliver and manage live, self-paced and blended learning, as well as assessment and certification training programs.

This fully outsourced or installed Learning Management System can help you manage the entire learning process, from enrolling learners and tracking their progress to delivering tests and reporting costs.

With the VCampus EKP, learners can take courses, tests, surveys and evaluations; communicate with other learners and instructors through e-mail, message boards and live chat; receive up-to-date course-related news; review their transcripts; choose a look and feel for the user interface; and select their preferred language.

The VCampus EKP gives managers control over the learning process. Managers can review and comment on learners' records, auto-assign learners to courses, set up skills assessment tests and certification training programs, write news articles and manage the learning process.

Administrators can set up asynchronous, synchronous, blended and instructor-led courses; manage course catalogs; track costs; run standard and ad hoc custom reports; send global broadcast messages; and configure and customize the VCampus EKP to meet their organization's precise needs.