On one hand, we should be very thankful that in all the years of off-shore oil drilling, that such an accident has not happened. But this single event may easily make-up for all those that never occurred (sadly). Now two months into the constant stream of oil, we only hear news of more oil expected and the damage it is causing.

Should it really be that hard to plug a leak? A lot of people are asking that same question.

Where are most people looking to for answers? Online. From web pages, to blogs, to Facebook and Twitter accounts, the world is angry about the spill, and they have plenty to say!

So, how does a wealthy company like BP go about trying to minimize the PR damage, and deal with the litany of accusations of an angry world? One way that BP has tried to deal with it is by purchasing ad words from top search engines Google and Yahoo!. Take a look at this search for the term “Oil Spill” The first Sponsored Link directs you to BP’s website to show progress of what they are doing to control the spill and to direct information seekers to the company’s official website. BP has received flak from many critics, do you see this as unethical?

On any search site, you will see two types of results, either a sponsored link, which are considered as paid advertisment, or an organic link, which is the popular result that users typically lean towards using.

Most people searching online for a term, are used to seeing the results that show up at the top of the search results pages, often with a colored background or down the right column of the search result. Those are the paid advertisements.

Do users have to pay for them? No. If you find a paid advertisement link, and you take the link to the site, only the company who placed the ‘ad’ pays for it. The other search results are simply a matter of either popular results that other users are tending to choose, or may be sites, blogs, or businesses who are aware of the keywords that users are looking for, and use them in their content effectively.

Today, you can make sure your online promotions are targeting keywords that users are looking for. Almost every search will come back with over a thousand results. Are you really going to search each one for the best deal? Naturally I either go with the top paid ad, or the top results from the non-paid ads. My time is limited and I am too busy to spend hours looking for the ideal vendor. I just want to look at the product, and order right away.

If you did your homework, and make sure your business advertises its products with the keywords that your customers are looking for, then you will be found! If you don’t understand internet keywords, and are not sure how to use them, you might have a great site, but users will never find you because you are not talking their ‘language’. So making sure you can use keywords effectively is hugely important in your website content. If you can’t, then working with a business who does understand them and can assist you is very beneficial.

The other option is going with online advertising. Here, you still are making sure you use the most popular keywords for your desired search results, but you are not just using them in your site, you are paying for the rights to deliver YOUR content to users who type in terms that match your product. But note, prices for paid ads can vary depending on the amount of competition is willing to pay for those same keywords.

So you decided to purchase ad words, the most common paid advertisement is cost-per-click (CPC). CPC bids determine the amount you’re willing to pay for each time someone clicks on your ad when it shows up on the search results. In general, a higher CPC bid can allow your ad to show at a higher position on the page. Your bid amount is combined with your Quality Score to determine your ad’s position on the page. Learn more below.

The other frequently used online advertisement is cost-per-impression (CPM). Which is when each time someone searches for your keyword and your advertisement loads in the search results, the search engines counts that loading as one impression.

Most companies like Google or Yahoo! sell keywords based on user clicking on ads using specific term in a paid search result. So you know that the very customer you are trying to connect with is actually looking for you!

So with that said, BP purchasing ad words, the links are, in all fairness, labeled as “sponsored” but we’re pretty interested to know your take. Do you think it will help or hurt their current PR situation?

We are celebrating Bing Design’s 10th anniversary!

10 years ago, Nick and Cris Gaskins took over ownership of the graphic design business that Bob Bingenheimer had started some 20 years ago here in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Although management has changed and trends are ever evolving, we have never lost our focus on great design, effective solutions and service, and the nimbleness that a small firm can offer.

Happy anniversary Bingers! Congratulations Nick and Cris!!

One of the most painful inabilities to the Apple iPhone, is the lack of Adobe Flash support online.

As a Flash developer and animator, this has really been a personal peeve. I read recently that some are convinced that Apple is trying to push out Adobe! That bothers me more. No other industry has lent to the success of Apple more than we creatives in agencies, studios, and production houses around the globe.

When everyone was jumping on the PC/Windows bandwagon for so many years (which most still do), it was the companies who did print collateral, desktop production, illustration, graphic design, and television/movie production who were Apple through and through.

Now that the rest of the planet is now keen to what the Apple computer is good for (most everything including avoiding viruses), we see an ally turn against the very core of our business: Adobe and its Creative Suite of products.

While the conflict may be limited to Flash Shockwave files specifically, the entire suite suffers for the fact that the iPhone and iPad will not allow SWF files to work on their Safari browser! And rumor has it that Adobe may take this to the court system.

I’m no dummy! I know that a lot of abuse of Flash files online has been wrought by banner ads bouncing, moving, re-sizing on pages. As a web developer, I understand that user overload of Flash ads can occur. But looking at how efficient they are, and how clear they look, how smoothly they behave, it is hard to not like them. No one likes a slow-loading page, and Flash made ads and websites run more efficiently. A lot of talk about Web 2.0 is in regard to AJAX. AJAX is just a mix of JavaScript, HTML, Flash, and XML. Take Flash out of that and the very power and quality of modern web usage is hindered.

Use a computer, and the world is normal. Even use most mobile devices with web access, and Flash is fine. But take the trendy and popular Apple iPhone/iPad and try to see anything with a Flash backbone, and you might be looking at nothing.

When so much is dependent on Flash these days for efficiency, and quality, I am stunned that Apple has not incorporated Flash at the launch of either product. Odd, it seems that the iPhone’s own function is built on very similar technology as Flash and SWF files. Have they adopted the benefits and then put a big X on Flash because they didn’t make it different enough to protect the system software? I wonder….

Meanwhile, something that brings life to the web, and makes getting information and entertainment easy, and is very efficient (usually) is being blocked by my career-long partner: Apple. STOP IT!

Got gripes about iProducts vs. Flash too? The comment line is open!

Apple’s newest offering to the world of tech is the iPad. Following on the heels of the iPod and the iPhone, Apple has managed to keep hush-hush on the details on their new iPad computer, and these days industry secrets are tough to hide!

The new iPad is a great in-between solution for nearly all things online. Where you might be able to browse the ‘net from your mobile device, how many times have you wished the display was easier to see? Or how often did you wish you had your home computer or bookmarks with you on a trip? The iPad seems to address many of the issues that users today seek: small size, great display, good resolution, good batter, simple to use, and most of all COOL!

Designers can take their iPad to a client meeting and show them designs, websites, and layouts, without having to clear off a table or desk. Photographers can have their photos ready to show customers and run a nice-sized slide show of their photos – with music! Web designs and sites can be reviewed full-screen and high res on a device than can be handled easily. Other beneficiaries might be: working on research for work/school; reading freshly published books online; bringing up your to-do lists while you are in your car, video chatting with family, friends, or co-workers; even keeping the ‘news on’ while you prepare for the day. There are many possiblities than a cell phone and laptop simply can’t compete with.

Here is a condensed version of features of the new iPad. There is plenty more on Apple’s site, so we’ll hit a few of my favs here…

• Size: 9.56″ H x 7.47″ W x .5″ D
• Weight: 1.5-1.6 lbs.
• Resolution: 1024 x 768 @ 132 px
• Fingerprint-resistent display
• Touch-sensitive display that adjusts to horizontal or vertical depending on how you are holding it
• Browser: Safari (default)
• Finger/hand navigation: point or tap to select, scroll by sliding your finger across the screen, zoom in/out by pinching the screen
• Mail and e-mail fully integrated
• Photos can be easily added or stored in album ’stacks’, stacks can be tapped opened and viewed easily.
• Videos can be watched without navigation squeezing into view. Videos play full-screen and only when you touch or tap the screen does the video controller appear, leaving users with the full screen for videos!
• iBooks can be collected by a free app and stored into ’shelves’ for future reading and organization. The large screen makes reading very easy on the eyes.
• Maps can be viewed through Google services, and offer all the advantages of Google Maps on your iPad. So locate places to eat, find your way, figure out where you are, and you can actually SEE where you are on a large display, not on a puny cell screen!
• Keyboard is build into the touch-sensitive screen. In landscape mode (horizontal) keyboard is very close to standard size and configuration.
• Accessories include a charger stand that will support the iPad and can be used in conjunction with a wireless keyboard for desktop use. Many more on Apple’s site.
• Price (Wi-Fi): 16 GB = $499 / 32 GB = $599 / 64 GB = $699
• Price (Wi-Fi with 3G): 16 GB = $629 / 32 GB = $729 / 64 GB = $829

Today, making contact with others for business is about being fast-paced. The days of stacking samples into your car, truck, or van, and taking a briefcase for a long meeting with a customer or potential client are gone. Now things are ‘what do you have time for?’ and taking as little as you can with you so you can move fast. The iPad could be a solution for such crisis. Now you can take most, if not all your computer with you to meet with clients and customers, leverage the display to your advantage to show your work, take notes, even share ideas that can be recorded. Seems there is great potential for this new bit of tech from our friends at Apple.

A post on CreativeBits.org by Ivan says:

The iPad will save you time and effort in design related support activities and will play a huge role in presenting your work. It will not replace your phone, laptop or desktop.

They say it’s all about presentation, and if that is true, this might be the tool for you!

It might be a while before I can run out to get my own iPad, but the features it offers are more than a little enticing!!

• Got an iPad of your own? Tell me what you think of it, good or bad. I’d like to hear about your experiences!

More to come!!

You can read about Google Maps Navigation on the Google website here: http://www.google.com/mobile/navigation/index.html#p=default.

Screen shots of the new BETA application currently on Google’s site are below:

Currently Google says that only users in the US using Android 2.0 can use this BETA application, but more to follow.

Some features listed include the following: Search in plain English, Search by voice, Traffic view, Search along route, Satellite view, Street View, and Car dock mode. Each of these features have more details and videos on the Google page above.

Very cool! Users with mobile phones can already use Google Maps on their phones now. More on Google Maps here: http://www.google.com/mobile/products/maps.html.

As reported on NPR recently, users around the world currently have to make their computers temporarily use Latin-based text to enter domain names and URLs into their computers, and then they have to switch back to text, e-mail or shop. For those who may only know their native language, this is a HUGE barrier to going online.

In the next few years, web site extensions will be added for all the various languages in the world. ICANN’s own website has a video that talks about the benefits to local businesses, schools, neighbors, and peers to communicate without having to be held back due to language barriers.

A video from the ICANN website, of the new domain name program is below:

Now there’s an idea! Good job ICANN!!

Google has just announced a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at Netbook computers first, but will eventually port the operating system onto other computers such as laptops and desktop systems. This sort of computing is often referred to as ‘cloud-based computing‘ – meaning that your applications (and files) are not internal, but running virtually online. That means less upgrading, less software purchases. The draw-back is less control and ownership.

This new OS runs within a new ‘windowing system’ using Linux, with its key aspects being speed, simplicity and security. The software architecture is simple:

• For application developers, the web is the platform.
• All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies.
• And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.
• Designed to be fast, lightweight, you can launch and get onto the web in a few seconds.

Computers need to get better. They should just work. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files.

Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

For some fun, have a look at this Graphic Novel
http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/small_00.html

Excerpts for this post taken from an article posted by Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management and Linus Upson, Engineering Director for Google. Joyce Jones also contributed.

This year, Linardo’s Villa restaurant on East Main Street located in Springfield, OH will be providing food, allowing participants a chance to sample Greek food.

For more information, you can refer to the Springfield News Sun’s webpage, or call 324-7696.

To see just how far we’ve come online, check-out the Internet Archive for a history lesson.

In the 90s, not much was possible unless you used a lot of imagery to make a page look ‘designed’. Today with the use of CSS, pages have finally begun to shape-up and mirror their paper-clad cousins in print media. You can add fonts, colors, graphics, positioning to page elements, and if done well, they will look pretty much the same on any browser (yes even IE).

Over the past few years, I’ve preferred to build my pages using ‘pixels‘ versus ‘points‘ or ‘%’. Why? For me, it was due to consistency. I could define an <h1> tag for a page headline as “16pt” and it might look fine for me, but on a Windows computer, the page might get horsey (and huge!).

On the other hand, if I said that an <h1> tag should be “16px“, I could almost always guarantee that regardless of computer or platform, the font and page would be pretty consistent.

Over the past few years using “em” has been the size designation of choice.

Web developers know that an “em” is a percentage of the body font size. So if you have a headline (<h1>) defined as “2.5em” that means the headline will be 250% larger than your body copy. Or if you have a caption and you want it to be tiny, you might define it as “.3em” (or 30% of the body size). So if you had body copy defined as “12px” as a rule, your caption would be just “4px” tall, and your headlines would be “30px” tall. Make sense?

But like all good things, there are potential problems. I recently noted that if I define my browser font settings so that all my fonts use a specific font and size in Firefox (which I tend to do), pages that show content based on a combination of “em” and “%” without a fixed “px” size, can really get small.

The CSS for BINGenuity.com uses “76%” as the designated size for body copy. For most folks this works fine. But for me, since I have designated specific fonts sizes for my page, this CSS style takes my 12pt font size, and then takes it down to 76% through the page’s cascading style sheet (CSS). So I get a rather small standard body copy size of about 8px.

Thankfully my eyes are pretty good (for now) and I can read things much smaller, but it is tough.

The point being made is that we need to consider users, like me, who like to define their own fonts and sizes. If we are using CSS that is based on “em” and “%” for fonts without a defacto size in pixels, we might end up with some strained user eyes.

But we can’t always be safe defining a page based on pixels either. If a user has a screen resolution set very high, a base font of “12px” might still be tiny.

So test and compare before deciding on what works best for you.