From the Desk of
Robyn Harton, Owner & Designer, Robyn A Harton Creative
'I'm in the process of consolidating the various Robyn A Harton Creative websites into one site. This will make rahcreative.com something of a one-stop-shop for learning about graphics and web design both for do-it-yourselfers and people looking for custom work. Keep your eyes peeled as things are reorganized and set up to work for you.
Until next time, Yours,
Robyn"

HTML Ezine Link: http://rahcreative.com/articles_tips/ezine/ezinevol7.html

Article:

3 Things To Do BEFORE Starting a Website
by Robyn Harton

Many people start setting up a website before they've really gotten prepared for it. Then they find that their site just isn't working right for them.

There are 3 things you should do before you ever start writing your website, though. If you do them, you will find that your site works much better for you. It is almost certain to save you a lot of headaches in the long run too.

The first thing is to decide on your site's goals. Decide what you want your site to do. Is it a home page just for fun? Is it to sell widgets to people in your area or all over the world? (See related article on website goals at
http://rahcreative.com/articles_tips/websitedo_vol2.html.) Knowing what you want your site to accomplish is the first step to getting there.

Step two is to decide the general plan of how you want to get your website created. Figure out what needs to be done: graphics, web design, databases, forms, marketing, maintenance, updates, web hosting, and who is going to do it. Do you want to do it all yourself? Do you want to hire someone to do all of it? Or do you want to do parts yourself and hire help for other parts?

Thirdly, you need to create a budget of website building resources. This means estimating how much time, energy, and money you will spend on it to make it meet the goals you've set.

For any parts of the site you want to do yourself, you should consider time, energy, and yes, money too. For instance, you may need to buy a graphics program, learn how to use it, and then actually take the time to make graphics for your site. The same for doing the HTML, scripts, databases, forms, etc.

For parts that you want to hire someone to do, you will need to budget not only money, but also time and energy. The money part is fairly easy to understand. The time and energy part is for things like finding the people you want to hire, giving them information so that they can do the best job, and the like.

Doing these 3 things before starting your website will put you on the road to making your site a success.

Fun Stuff:

Bumperstatements.com - Fun or profound or both. You can even email your favorites or have your statements printed on a bumper sticker.http://www.bumperstatements.com

Recommended Resource:

Precizion Hosting Solutions http://www.precizion.com - These folks floored our owner with their willingness to work to find real-world solutions to various web site issues. In addition to mind-boggling customer service, they also have great services and prices. We were so impressed we moved our site to their hosting!

Article:

Don't Get Hoaxed - Stopping Internet Hoaxes
by Robyn Harton

If you've been using the internet for any length of time, you've probably run across an email internet hoax or chain letter. Email hoaxes and chain letters are often cloaked in respectability or tug at your heartstrings.

So how do you tell if the email you just got is a hoax? And once you find out, what do you do about it?

First off, there is a way to tell if what you've received is a hoax. Just look it up. The US Department of Energy Internet hoaxbuster's website at http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/ is a good place to start. Other useful sites with information on urban legends and hoaxes are: About.com Urban Legend Page http://urbanlegends.about.com, Urband Legends Reference Pages http://www.snopes.com, and Urban Legends Home page http://www.urbanlegends.com.

Second, you might want to reply to the sender and let the person who sent it know that it's a hoax. A polite, friendly email is the best way to do that. The one I send says, "Hiya! Unfortunately The US Department of Energy Internet Hoaxbuster's website says that this email you've forwarded is a hoax. I know you sent the email out of concern, but please check one of the following sites before forwarding these types of warnings. They clog up email boxes and scare people needlessly," and I go on to give them the urls above. Feel free to use my email and links if you want.

A little knowledge can help stop hoax chain letters from clogging up email boxes and worrying people... including yours and you.

Quote:

"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
- Abraham Lincoln

The Making Graphics & Web Design Work For You Ezine by Robyn A Harton Creative is an double opt-in ezine. To unsubscribe at any time, go to http://rahcreative.com/unsubscribe.html.

Robyn A Harton Creative Recent Updates:

The integration process begins!
A whole new Do-It-Yourself section has been added. This area is devoted to our visitors and clients who want to do some or all of their graphics and web design themselves. There are articles and linkware graphics (free in exchange for a link!) including over 250 new linkware tile and border graphics.
http://www.rahcreative.com/doityourself.html

We now have our Free (& inexpensive) resource directory at http://rahcreative.com/freeresources.html.

And last but not least, we have customizable website layout templates with graphics or Flash headers available at http://rahcreative.com/webgraphics/index.html.

Do you have a website related to graphics, website creation, internet or business?
Email us at creative@rahcreative.com and let us know!
We're always looking for additional resource information.

If you find this issue of the Making Graphics & Web Design Works For You Ezine useful, forward it to a friend so they can learn more about related issues.

This ezine is published biweekly by
Robyn A Harton Creative. http://rahcreative.com