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Adobe Labs has launched a free color configuration tool called: kuler.
kuler is the first web-hosted application from Adobe Labs designed both to stand alone and to complement Adobe® Creative Suite® software. Built using Adobe® Flash® and ActionScript 3.0,

New in kuler are RSS feeds of the most popular, highest rated and newest color themes, an Apple Dashboard widget to subscribe to these feeds, UI enhancements requested by the kuler community, and new desktop patterns based on our highest rated themes.

kuler now provides a direct link to Adobe Creative Suite 3 family of software. A panel in Adobe Illustrator CS3, built entirely in Adobe Flash, provides direct access to the kuler online community from the desktop and from the desktop to the kuler online community. For more information, please see the kuler FAQ.

Menu links are some of the most important features on a website in terms of SEO. The keywords in these links tell search engines about the main idea of the content on the connecting page and also give search engine spiders access to other areas of the site. That is – if the menus are search engine friendly.

Many of the more visually elaborate menus are SEO show stoppers. Some ways to ensure that your menus are search engine friendly are:

• Use text for menu links: Search engines read texts, so ideally menu links should be text as opposed to graphically designed buttons. Instead, use CSS to create design. Read more

Designers, developers, project managers. Writers and editors. Information architects and usability specialists. People who make websites have been at it for more than a dozen years, yet almost nothing is known, statistically, about our profession. Who are we? Where do we live? What are our titles, our skills, our educational backgrounds? Where and with whom do we work? What do we earn? What do we value?

Take the Web Design Survey now

Contributed by Chuck Lustig, of ExcitingWriting Communications

I owe a debt to J.W. Burkey for sending me an article by syndicated columnist James J. Kilpatrick which gives advice on the proper placement of the word “only.” Indeed, placement of the little word can drastically alter the meaning of a sentence. I remember how I used to struggle with that! And long before that, I can remember when I never gave it a thought. So, with thanks to Mr. Kilpatrick, J.W. and his sister (who sent J.W. the article), this month I only present to you a treatise on the word “only.” Or, is it a treatise only on the word?

When push comes to shove, those with only talent for expressing themselves can survive and thrive

Those who have multiple talents don’t do as well.

When push come to shove, only those with talent for expressing themselves can survive and thrive. Read more

As the pioneer the concept of “designer as author,” Abbott Miller undertook projects in which content and form are developed in a symbiotic relationship. Come see him at the DSVC meeting May 2. Read more

JODesign, a Fort Worth-based design, marketing and public relations firm, is proud to announce that it has won a 2006 Inspire Award, receiving the distinction of Honors in the annual Inspire Awards Newsletter & Magazine Competition held by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) in San Diego, California. JODesign received the award for work done for “IRIDOS,” a semi-annual publication of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT).

JODesign manages the design, layout and print management for IRIDOS, a glossy semi-annual publication distributed to members, scientists and supporters of BRIT. To create IRIDOS, JODesign works closely with BRIT’s staff member Robert George, editor of IRIDOS, and Paige Hendricks of Paige Hendricks Public Relations Inc., editorial, concept and production consultant. Read more