THE OPTIONS THEME

Special Effects/Features

Along with the normal text formatting (bold, underline, align left, align right, align center, align justify, lists, tables etc.) numerous other effects can be added to your web-site. The ones shown below are just a small sample of what can be done. If you see an effect/feature here that you want in your web-site just ask. If you can't find what you are looking for ask us anyway we may be able to do what you want.

Countdown

You can have a Automatic Countdown to a specific date such as a grand opening or sale. Countdown text can be any size or colour (such as in the example below):


Current date

This just displays the current date. You can also have the current date displayed in any position, size, colour and on any or all pages.

Drop Capital Letter

If you want some special effects with text the you could always try the "Dropped Capital Letter" effect shown here. The text just flows around the large first letter.
If it is used sparely and in the correct places the effect can can be very good (such as at the start of an article). However, it should not be used in the wrong places or to excess (at the start of every paragraph) as it will destroy the look of the overall effect.

Embedding Videos

I can also embed videos (from youtube, vimeo etc.). This is as easy to do as embedding google gadgets (as shown below). The reason I have not done so here is that I am trying to keep the size of this page down and they take up a little too much space. If you want a particular video placed in your pages just ask.

First Letter Big

An Alternative to the Drop Cap effect is the "First Big Letter" effect. Again, it can be very effective if used correctly (such as at the start of an article), but should not be used to excess.

Flash Objects

This page requires Adobe Flash Player to display some elements.
If you want I can also insert flash objects for you. However, these should be used sparingly since they can take a while to load. Unfortunately the delay taken to load these effects can annoy people and cause them to go to another web-site. This is even more likely if there are link or menus embedded within the flash object.

Flickr Thumbnail Clouds

Roy Tanck's Flickr Widget requires Flash Player 9 or better.

Get this widget at roytanck.com
Roy Tanck has developed 2 types of tag clouds. One is for normal links and one is specifically for the flickr website. It displays thumbnails of a flickr page as a small movable cloud. When you move your mouse the thumbnails move as well. You just click on the one you want to see.

This one is titled Garrys' Photostream. Garry has some great pictures of Australia.

Google Gadgets For Your Web Page

Gadgets are free miniature objects/programs made by Google users. They can be placed on any web page or added to various Google properties (your iGoogle page, Google Desktop, and Blogger). At the present time there are over 57000 to choose from (so I will not list them all here).

Google Gadgets Config Screen
You can search for an appropriate gadget for your web-site.

Suitable gadgets can easily and quickly be configured it to get it looking the way you want (Click Picture).

Then click on the "Get The Code" button and a window will open up with the necessary code needed to put it in your web-site. Copy and paste this code in an e-mail to me and I will place it in your web-site.

For more information go to Google Gadgets FAQ.
For a list of google gadgets click (here).
Or just google "google gadgets for your web site".

Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages.  People write short updates, often called "tweets"  of 140 characters or fewer (so messages have to be short and to the point).  These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.Twitter is a new form of micro-blogging.

Businesses can use it for notifying their "followers" subscribing to their 'twitter' important information such as:
  • Sales
  • Product Recalls
  • News Flashes
  • Software Updates

Despite its' many good uses (described above) it is mainly used mainly by people who think that their lives are so interesting that the whole world both wants to and should be able to read about what they are doing or thinking at any particular moment (and by those that agree with them).

Web-Site Statistics

Many web-sites fail despite everything that their owners try to do to make them a success. Generally, the more information that you know about who is (or is not) visiting your web-site the better. Of the many tools out there to do this I recommend Google Analytics, clustermaps and Statcounter. Click here to see some of Google Analytics features.

With their code you will be able to know:
  • What pages they visit,
  • How long their visit was for,
  • If they return (and how often),
  • What screen resolution they have,
  • Their location (country, state, city etc.),
  • Which browser they used (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera etc.),
  • What computer system they use (Windows, Mac, Linux etc.),
  • Which search words they used to find your web-site (do they match your keywords)
Once you know this information you can alter your web-site to suite those who you want to attract (and keep returning).

These web-sites do this by providing a small piece of code that can be added your web-site pages. When the pages are loaded the code sends this information to the Google Analytics, clustermaps or Statcounter web-site. You can access this whenever you want. I am willing to create your account and add this to your web-site for free.