Ycademy Seminar February 2013 The upcoming Ycademy Online Seminar will focus on Search Engine Optimization and Loading Speed of self-hosted WordPress based websites, and particularly on sites powered by Semiomantics developments. While WordPress remains one of the most popular platforms for online publishing, the way it needs to be configured for optimized impact has changed over the years. Important changes on the Google algorithm in 2012 and the resulting consequences have been felt by many webmasters. In order to help customers to get the best out of their websites, it is important to understand the way Google perceives and evaluates websites and their content.  The Purpose of the WP SEO Seminar The purpose of the Ycademy WP SEO Seminar is to Learn about the most recent modifications of Google’s evaluation criteria. Learn how to set-up, structure, organize and optimize a new WordPress website Improve SEO on existing websites Implement basic SEO features Implement advanced SEO features  Basic Optimization Optimizing Titles Optimizing Permalinks Optimizing Meta-tags Optimizing Media Sitemap Theme Optimization We are looking specifically at Semiomantics XO for WordPress. As the theme contains basic Optimization elements, we will just look at some optional advanced features which are part of custom optimization at Semiomantics. Advanced SEO Duplicate content Strip [...]

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Mobile Apps Apps will be the big topic of 2013, mainly because there is a major shift of web traffic towards the mobile web and consequently traffic harvesting will be more efficient through apps than through browser based websites. The Ycademy January Seminar will focus on Apps Basics and different ways to convert WordPress blogs to hybrid and native apps. Apps Workshops The Seminar will be composed of a variety of Workshops dealing with Mobile Apps and namely on the conversion of a WordPress driven site to mobile apps for different platforms. You will learn about the differences between hybrid and native apps, HTML 5 apps and the different architecture imposed by platform owners, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and RIM. While there are costly and complex developments available, this seminar will focus on basics and the most simple ways of making WP available on mobile; the solutions we will implement will be appreciated by many customers, while for others they will just constitute a starting point for more sophisticated and efficient developments. More information will follow. All materials will be provided. Tools needed: Photoshop and FTP Client. Schedule January 26 -27, 2013 as usual starting at 1 pm London Time each day [...]

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Application and Applications For the year end, we have a special idea summing up our work; 2012 has been a busy and intensive year indeed. Having learned to use important Applications, such as Illustrator and InDesign and having evolved in Photography and photo editing for web and print, we will look into some practical application of all the new knowledge. We will not forget Camtasia and WordPress nor our own branding. Traditionally the December Seminar is a one day event and we will make sure that it will be a useful one, with a dense schedule and loads of solutions for more or less common problems and issues. Word, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop We will create a calender for 2013 in print quality using Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and why not Word? The monthly 12 page calender will require 12 large size images for the basic layout. Please prepare your images before the seminar and make sure you edit them in 300 dpi. Besides the calender we will look into branding issues: stationary, business cards, logo, other printed matters such as post cards, greeting cards and much more. Camtasia for easy video editing A lst issue we have to resolve before year end: an [...]

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WordPress and Blurb Semiomantics is ready with an XO release candidate for WordPress 3.5. We will therefore look into the latest WP developments and the theme updates. Also Blurb has released the integration software for InDesign, which provides smashing professional editing features for off and on line book publishers. Here is the Schedule for the October Seminar: Blurb on Saturday October 27, 2012 Blurb is expanding fast and adding new features and tools rapidly. New high quality paper, covers and integration tools namely for Word and InDesign provide all we need for prestigious publications. But there is more, such as Facebook book publishing … We will give an overview over the recent developments of Blurb and Blurb ProLine before integrating Blurb with InDesign. Creating a book with InDesign and Blurb Creating a book is a bit like developing a Website in as much as planning is required and some important decisions should be taken before starting the editing job. Title or Topic of the book Content (example Photos, Images and Text, etc) Approximate number of pages Format of the book Paper (type, weight and color) Cover Layout Fonts Eventual color scheme We will go through each of the above with [...]

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Photography, Photoshop and Publishing This month’s Ycademy Online Seminar is divided into 3 sections: Digital Photography Photo Editing with Photoshop Publishing Photos Digital Photography This time the focus is not on the camera and the technicalities but the composition, framing and style of your photos. A great picture depends less on the technical means than on the educated mind, eye and creativity of the photographer. You can shoot a great pic using a mobile phone, while your Leica M9 exploit may not even impress a monkey . The principle is: stop taking pictures, create images. We will focus on composition and styles to improve our skills. Having said that, depending on the kind of photos you are shooting, you will need the appropriate gear; sports photography require long focal length lenses, street photography is done best with fast lenses up to 50 mm and so on. However, if you shoot in normal light conditions, even a low end digital photo camera will do … Seminar Participants will get the latest literature and press pertaining to digital photography. Of course improvement is always possible and to compensate partially for the shortcomings of your camera, you may want to use some post [...]

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Customizing WordPress Child Theme In this tutorial we will create Custom Post Types and add variables and functionality to them. Also we will add some styling for more user-friendly display in the dashboard. Having set up our basic Child Theme structure we will now proceed with the customization. But before that we will do some basic WP configuration and go through the settings. You may be used to building WordPress based sites and therefore you may have some habits in as much as settings and configuration are concerned. Some basic WP Settings Here is what I do in the dashboard: 1. Trash and permanently delete the Hello World Post. 2. Delete the default Links. 3. Set Permalinks to: /%category%/%postname%/ 4. Under Settings General enter Blog Name and Tagline; for the purpose of this exercise I use  as a Title: WordPress TTP and as a Tagline: Tips, Themes and Plugins 5. Add some content to test content display by importing an RSS feed using a plugin such as Feedwordpress. I pulled into a new category called Blog the feed from my author-blog at: http://yorgonestoridis.com/feed Custom Posts and Child Theme We have set up a basic child theme for the purpose of [...]

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Photoshop CS6 Today let’s have a look at Photoshop CS6 Beta which is available for free download from Adobe. The version is called ‘Superstition’ and it is the first significant update to Photoshop since CS5 ( in the Suite CS5.5 Adobe delivered the same Photoshop as in CS5). Who is Photoshop CS6 for? Having thoroughly tested the new Photoshop CS6 Beta, it seems to me that this version is addressing namely people who are working with digital photos and videos; also the 3D features have been significantly improved. In other words, if you are not using Photoshop to edit your images, needing content aware patching and selective blurring, there is no real need to upgrade your CS5. If however you are a photo freak and if you are shooting short videos, then Photoshop CS6 is a smashing program, allowing you to go beyond what photography can do (such as multiple shallow depth of field areas on a single image). What is new on Photoshop CS6? This is what’s new on Photoshop CS6:     UI redesign (all new icons and optional dark UI) OK, they copied (sorry, got inspired by (big companies don’t copy, huh)) Apple’s Aperture; you can switch back [...]

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Ycademy: Facebook, WP and the Mobile Web Ycademy Online Seminar This month’s Ycademy Online Seminar will take place on March 24 and 25, starting at 1 pm London (GMT) time and ending at 21 pm London time on both days. Some of our developers have asked for a program covering Social Networks, namely Facebook and the Mobile Web and how to take advantage of them to distribute, promote and gain high visibility with own content.   The Seminar will cover the following areas: 1. Facebook and other Social Networks Strategies for Individuals Strategies for Businesses Strategy for Brands As you may know, Facebook will change  the rules of the game on March 31, when the new FB pages will be released (again!). In fact the new FB page format will be similar to the timeline format and a few important changes will be of utmost importance to businesses and promoters. New Facebook Cover Photo and Profile Image Larger, Highlighted and Pinned Posts Company Milestones New Applications Facebook Offers FB Insights, Admin Panel and Messaging Facebook Advertizing If some of the above topics do not have a meaning for you, never mind: we will deal with them and make sure you [...]

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XO for WordPress is a responsive, flexible and highly customizable Theme for high performance and excellence in publishing. Developed by Semiomantics since 2007, the XO is mainly used for custom High End sites. A DIY version is available since 2011 at http://semiomantics.com. News are published to Facebook at http://facebook.com/semiomantics.

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10 Steps to Implement your Facebook Strategy with WordPress Implementing your Facebook Strategy will be at the center of the November Ycademy Seminar. This hands-on Seminar and Workshop will stretch over two days and build with participants an eye-ball-twisting Facebook presence. See the seminar schedule at the bottom of the post. The Seminar is designed for WordPress Developers and WP users who are looking for high productivity and customized publishing and marketing solutions. 11 Efficient Facebook Strategies This topic deals with efficient strategies which will efficiently improve your Facebook presence. 7 Ways to jeopardize your Facebook success for sure Surfing through Facebook we notice some common errors well intended people commit when building their Facebook presence. We will discuss these issues and show you how to eliminate them from your personal or business Facebook. 4 Important Facebook features to focus on While content is king, there are different ways of making it accessible to visitors. We will discuss the recent changes Facebook has implemented and show you where the focus should be in order to improve your visibility, traffic and business or network expansion on Facebook. Facebook Privacy and Accessibility settings Function of your strategy we will define and optimize [...]

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