Podcasts

This week in class we learned how to create a podcast.  some of the tools that we learned to create a podcast was Audacity and Freemusicbeds.com.  Audacity is a free software you can use to record your voice and also use different tools or edit the recordings.  Some of the things we learned was to fade your voice in and out and also fade the music in the background to fade in and out.  We also learned how to cut out parts you didn't want or even add in sounds or "no sound" to a certain point of your podcast.  You can layer your recordings to add different effects or music to the background.  Some ways of doing this is getting free sound effects at freemusicbeds.com.  It is a very easy software in which you can download the effects and simply add them into Audacity.
I found a site that I thought really had a lot of information on how to podcast and some help on how to choose something you would want to make a podcast about.
http://podcastanswerman.com/learn-how-to-podcast/
I also found this site that shows you how to podcast through using audacity.
http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/17-audacity-tutorial.htm

Photoshop

This week in class we got to use the program Photoshop.  I personally don't have much experience with it but found that with clear instructions it was quite easy to get around.  There are so many things you can do design wise and you just have to play around.  For one we have learned to insert layers, change text, copy/paste and edit photos and playing around with colors and shaping and how to manipulate those.

Here are some websites that may be able to help you with the basic details on how to use photoshop

1.) http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/design/learn-photoshop-basics/
2.) http://www.photoshoplab.com/photoshop-tool-basics.html

Here is also some great YouTube videos that may help:

1.) <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qgsWuru82Dk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
2.)<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6idvDikh-vM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Top 10 Rules of Website Design

My name is Lena and I am a student at Western Washington University.  I am enrolled in a class called Comm 350 and it is all about Emerging Communication Technologies.  One of the assignments that we have been given is to write a blog about new technologies.

Top 10 Rules of Website Design:

1. Keep your site updated – An updates site will bring back new visitors regularly.
2. Promote your site – If you want more viewers then you need to be able to promote it through advertising and on your business card.
3. Keep it simple – This is important that you make sure people can get around your site easily. It could be frustrating when you can't find what you're looking for and you could lose a viewer.
4. Your site should sell your business – The site should be there like it is a 24 hour salesperson.
5. View other sites – Do your research so you can gage what other successful website have done in order to gain viewers.
6. Stick with web-safe fonts – This is especially important because some people may not be able to display certain font on their computer. Another thing is to make sure that you keep your fonts to a limit of 3 different ones. You don't want to confuse your viewers.
7. Don't use too many colors - You don't have to use every color in the rainbow... keep it mono, duo, or tri-toned.
8. Explain your service one your page - Using allot of informative text in your website that states the services you do... this will greatly help your rankings in the search engines.
9. Don’t put animation in the way of your content – If possible, try to avoid making a website completely out of flash or out of graphics. This is because of search engine rankings and load time.
10. Domain name - Try to find one that is fairly short and easy to remember.