Magento is a eCommerce website engine, just for my input I also think that Magento offers the best FREE cart solution on the market. You can download Magento free of charge at their website, www.magentocommerce.com. This is a PHP based cart solution that works with Paypal and Google Checkout. In this article we give you our top 10 skins or themes that we have run across. All of the themes we list are FREE as of the posting of this article.

If you are new to Magento, I suggest you download one of the themes below and change it to better suit your needs. Magento allows you to change certain things from the administration back end or you can manually change the theme code. However if you manually change the theme code you may not be able to update the site when they release a new version of Magento.

Please enjoy our article and make sure to post your comments if...

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The newest trend in great website design is the implementation of the site footer. The footer is slowly becoming as important to the layout of the website as the header is. Back in the day this was just blank space with links or some general content, but now there is images and it is visually appealing. In this article we showcase some of the greatest footer designs from around the internet.

A footer can be there with no purpose other then to make the website flow better from start to finish, or it can give the visitor good information like copyrights, extra links, and blog rolls. The following websites use the footer to accentuate their theme and to keep the viewer entertained all the way through. They are great in the way they give the viewer a little extra bang for the buck.

We found these websites easily by looking for the best footers on the internet, but we could have missed one. If you see that we do not have one please list it in the comments b...

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An essential part of starting a business on the internet is getting the perfect website host. You can either go with a Linux based server (cheaper) or you can go with a Microsoft based server. The choice is yours and depends on which language you choose to write your website in. In this article we show you the top 10 web hosting companies from around the internet. The companies we chose in this article have unlimited email and FTP, as well as great support, among other things.

We listed our hosting company first because they provide you with great support and have an uptime of 99.9%. We recommend Siteground to everyone of our clients because we have used them since the beginning and will continue to use them with future projects. The other hosts on the list met our requirements so they get a spot, also to seem unbiased we choose some top competitors of Siteground. Each company has their own benefits as well as drawbacks..so in the end it is up to you whether or n...

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Twitter is now an established part of business life and is a requirement if you plan on reaching more visitors then you would normally be able to reach with regular SEO techniques. Twitter has become an essential part of people's lives. These people include freelancers to top Fortune 500 company CEOs. Everyone is wanting to generate leads and Twitter is one of the easiest ways to get your content to the masses.

Today we look at some of the best Twitter background that are currently on the internet. The Zero 3 Computers twitter background is not the best, but for the reason of exposure we will include our page in this article. After our page plug you can see some of the most creative backgrounds that Twitter has to offer from some of the most talented artists on the internet.

If you see something you like in this article please visit their Twitter page and become a follower. If you feel we are missing a major player in the Twitter backgrounds please post...

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Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript + XML) is a beast of a tool and can do just about anything ranging from simulating flash to email validation. Ajax creates interactive web applications using Javascripts and HTTP requests. In this article we show your our Top 10 best Ajax scripts. We have upload files, charting scripts, and validation scripts.

We have searched the internet for the best of the best and of course we have tested these on some sites we have design as well as just for the fun of it. We have linked to the scripts website so you can download the script and get helpful tips from the creators of the scripts.

If you like what you see please comment below or if you think that we may have missed on then please leave a comment with the missing script. We would love to turn this Top 10 into a Top 20 or so. Hopefully this article helps you find that perfect Ajax script, if not then come back later to see if the list has expanded.

Enjoy our top ...

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Anyone who wants to work as a freelancer knows that you need to have a steady influx of clients that are willing to let you work for them and are also willing to pay you well for that work. Some people find getting this influx of work will be harder then they thought where others will have more work then they can throw a stick at. Hopefully this article will help you become the latter.

Generating leads is a hassle that takes to much attention away from what freelance website designers do best....website design. Marketing and cold calling can give you a head ache and can slow down your productivity if you do not do it right.

This article will give you some ideas about how to get new clients without you having to give an arm and a leg and without giving you that much of a headache.

Word Of Mouth

Word of mouth is one of the first methods you will have to deal with. By far, this is the easiest method of generating leads and getting new...

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Have you ever wondered what this thing you are playing on is? The internet has a long, well, not long, but long enough history that not many know about. Starting in 1969 with the ARPA we have come a long way. We have had our ups and downs and ups and downs, but mostly ups....unless you owned internet stock in the 90s, then you may have experienced more downs then most.

In this article we show a timeline of hte internet. Starting at it beginning, NOT with Al Gore, but with the launch of Sputnik. Ok, that part is not mentioned in the article but ARPA was a direct result of the Sputnik launch. You may not know this but the internet was not always a Facebook, Myspace, iTunes world....it used to actually help people work rather then not. Spam wasn't even an issue back then, oh the good ole days.

I think I will go back and revamp the timeline to include work productivity charts as well as internet usage to conincide with the timeline to gi...

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Repeat clients are one of the more important types of clients because they generate regular income and work for you. They either help drive new clients your way by word of mouth or they come back for updates and new projects. A repeat client has shown that they enjoy working with your company because you are professional, efficient, and you know exactly what to do for them.

Clients who fall into this category will keep your portfolio full as well as your wallet. Usually if a client comes back to you they are the type of clients that enjoyed working with you and probably have referred their friends at one time or another. You did something completely right with this client and you have earned their trust. Good job...but what did you do? In this article we will give you pointers on how to cater to your clients in a way that will help you build long lasting relationships with them and could potentially create a repeat customer.

In this article I will tell you th...

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Press releases are a form of FREE advertising for your company or blog. This form of advertising is usually a lot more involved and informative then an ad in the paper or on line because you can tell about your company in great detail. In this article we will tell you how to create the perfect press release that covers all your bases and that can help get you new clients. We give you the standards of writing a press release and help you keep it short and simple, but to the point.

Press releases are not just for the newspapers anymore since more people get their news from the internet now. They are just a written statement about scheduled events, promotions, new products, or just to inform the world of a new company endeavour. Even though it is usually very simple, it is a very powerful public relations tool. If the press release is done right then you are more likely to get potential clients through the news media outlets. Once you write your ...

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Inspiration is a great tool that anyone can use when you are designing a website. Inspiration can come from anywhere, like going to the park instead of the office to gather ideas, going to the library to drink coffee while looking at books that reflect your design, or just sitting in the office looking at great websites.

In this article we provide you with the websites that always give us a spark of inspiration. We will look at blogs, galleries, and much more. We use all of these websites on a daily basis to get ideas for future designs as well as current designs. I must point out that you should NEVER copy something you see with the intent of selling it. That is just lazy. These website are meant to stir your imagination to get the juices flowing....they should be your inspiration, not your template. Having said that we hope that you find these website to be as influential as we have.

Enjoy the article and hopefully you will be insp...

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Non Profit websites are a good way to get started as a website designer. You can design a site for a Non Profit just to get a nice site in your portfolio. When designing for a Non Profit just remember they live off donations, so you need to design it for free. I know this may not go for every designer, but there is not only a sense of satisfaction, but you are also helping the cause. If you do not think that you can do work for free maybe you can do a website for an organization that affects you and it will help you see that there should not be a charge. Helping a Non Profit organization is a good way to get free publicity, long time friends, and knowing that you helped the best way you knew how.

We have searched the internet for great designs for Non Profit organizations and below we complied a list of great websites designed for Non Profit organizations. You can visit each website using the link above it. If one of the organizations strikes a cord with you then ...

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Yahoo! was founded by David Filo and Jerry Yang on February 1994 as a way to track their personal interests on the internet. Their list eventually became to big so they divided it into categories and subcategories....Yahoo! was born. The Web site started out as "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web" but eventually received a new name with the help of a dictionary.

Yahoo!, What Does It Mean?

The name Yahoo! is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," but Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they liked the general definition of a yahoo: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth."

Yahoo! celebrated its first million-hit day in the fall of 1994, translating to almost 100 thousand unique visitors. With their success the two guys decided to venture into business by talking with Sequoia Capital. After reviewing their site and its potential they agreed to fund Yahoo! in April 1995 with an investment of $2 million.

Google was founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page on September 4, 1998 while they were students at Stanford University. Google was simple, yet useful....one of the reasons that it was so popular. In 2000, Google started it advertisement campaign to sell advertisements associated with search keywords. They used the text based advertisements to minimize loading time and clutter.

The first public offering of Google was in August 19, 2004 in which they were able to raise $1.67 billion. On this date Google's stock price was $85 per share. Boy do I wish I could have got in on that one!

From googol to Google, Whats in a Name?

The name Google is from the word googol. Googol means the number one followed by one hundred zeros. Now the term "google" is used as a verb, it means "to use the Google search engine to obtain information n the internet".

Below we have complied images of Google throughout the years. It has not changed to much, but it...

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As website designers we know the ins and outs of good design....but our clients may not be so in tune. Clients do not know about Firefox, pop ups, and SEO. They just know they want their site to have a lot of sparkle that gives them exactly what they want when they visit a site. However uncool in the real world, their idea of their website is the best idea they could have come up with.

Clients usually have a general idea of what they want before they ever call a website designer. They browse their competition's websites to see what they can use or improve upon. Trust me, I have heard some crazy ideas about what a client wants. Even though we give our clients free range over a project, we have to stop them sometimes because their over-the-top ideas can hurt their website, their business image, and even my company's image. If their website looks cheap and over-the-top, we can lose business because our name is associated with their design.

Below I have co...

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When you are dealing with clients you always need a sound contract to prevent a bad customer taking advantage of you. As per a request from a blog visitor I will be posting a sample contract below. I will also explain all the parts of it to help you better understand what it takes to create a good contract.

As with all things in life you will eventually meet someone that will try to take advantage of your skills without giving you the compensation you deserve. If you have a sound contract you will either deter these actions or you will have a good case if you are brought to court. You can use the contract below as you wish, I hope it helps you cover your business like it has helped me cover mine.

I hope that you never need to use it in court, but with it on your side you will have a better chance then if you went in alone. Remember, this contact was made for me and my clients, so you might have to add or take away something that you may or may not need. ...

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Client input is either a really great resource or just a pain in the process. For me it goes both ways, some clients offer input that is useful and important to the design while others need something that will either hurt their image or is impossible to give. In this article we will give you the pros and cons of each type of client as well as how you can redirect bad clients in a way that will help you in your process.

Good clients have their cons just like bad clients have their pros. Just because a client fits the bill as a typical good client does not mean that they will not give you a hard time in the long run. Use the article below to help you decide if a good client will go bad or a bad client is able to be molded into a good client.

Good Vs. Bad

What does it mean to be good or bad? We all have our own ideas about what makes a client good verses what makes a client bad. My idea for a good client is helpful, willing to take critical views ...

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Usually designers have their own methods on how they sell, design, implement, and create a new website for a customer. If you have no idea where to start I will give you a run through of my design process. My design process may be shorter or longer then some others, but it is my own, you can use it or create an process that works better for you.

In this blog post I will show you my process, my contract information, how to speak with a customer, and what to do after a design is finished. I hope you enjoy the tips and the article helps you land new clients as well as keep old clients.

Getting The Call

At anytime during the work day you may receive a call from a potential customer. These calls are one of the most crucial parts of the design process. If you mess the call up then most likely you will not even begin with the rest of the project....and you will have no need for a design process. First, you need to state your name very clearly so they know wi...

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Sometimes to get started with a good website you need to start with a free website hosting company. Of course you usually get what you pay for. I used free hosting to play around with while learning to design, before I bought my first real domain name and paid hosting account. Below I have compiled a list of FREE hosting companies that have good stats and good reviews.

When I look for a free hosting company for my clients I look for a few things in particular. First they MUST be ad free. This means no advertisements anywhere on the page....period. I know they have to make money somewhere, but I would rather it not be in the direct view of my visitors. Secondly, I want a MySQL database since I write most of my code in PHP and it makes everything easier when you have a database to store all the dynamic information. Lastly, they must provide email account access. It just looks more professional for anyone when they have an email coming from the dom...

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UPDATE: The Saints have won the superbowl and I could not be happier. I have been a fan of New Orleans all of my life, or at least as far as I can remember. Brees, Shockey, Bush, all the guys pulled out a great win against one of the best teams in the NFL....The Colts. The game was great all the way through and it was one of the best Superbowl games I have ever watched with an ending score of 31-17.

It only took 42 seasons, but I am hopeful for next year (hopefully all of the players stay to continue the legacy). So many records were broken that night, it was one hell of a game. END UPDATE

I know this is a website design blog but I just can't help myself....the New Orleans Saints rocked the house today.

Remember, Gaux Saints!...

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With the new site design we finally decided to jump on the band wagon and join Twitter. We are still curious as to why we would do something like that, but we felt it was time. We attached our Facebook page to it so we don't have to update two things all the time.

Become our follower to get updated blog posts so you know when we posted something that may be helpful to you. You can find us on Twitter here: @Zero3Computers or you can find us on Facebook here: Our Facebook Page.

Since we are still new at the whole facebook, myspace, twitter scene we could use the friends / fans and followers to get the ball rolling. Come join us and say hey or let us know if you know of any good articles we can add to our uswer submitted content.

The usability of your website is what makes the difference in making a visitor a long time user or just a click through. Usability means that you have a clean interface and your entire page is simple and easy to use for any visitor. I have searched the internet for you to help you find the easiest and cheapest way to find out if your site is usable. Below I have complied the top 5 tools that I find beneficial to review your website usability.

Whether it is a blog or a business website you need to have other people review your work because most of the time programmers and designers make very bad testers. I can vouch for that. I have submitted my site as well as some of the sites I have created to various usability websites and have always received cheers and jeers. Of course, all the jeers nailed my issues right on the head and I quickly fixed them to make the site more user friendly....so take these reviewer's comments to heart, most of the time they...

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After many months of working we finally finished the new version of our website....well I say we finished it, but we still have some more work to do. We are going to better incorporate a customer account section, which as you can tell is missing in action. we kinda finished the account section and are now currently working on getting a cart to work together with the account section. In the account section you will be able to see previous orders, check the status of a current order whether it is a website design or a custom computer. We think you will like it and we will continue to work on it for you.

We have better incorporated the design portion of our company since we have began to design for companies and individuals all over the country. Hopefully the new look will gain more attention for our designs.

As you can tell we have developed a blog for our new design. With this blog we hope to give helpful tips for website design as well as talk about technology ...

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This is the very first post from Zero 3 Computers in our completely custom, completely new blog. We wrote all the code that is used in the blog and I think we did pretty good.

We hope to expand our DiY section by supplying our customers with a in depth comment section for every post and hopefully this will generate a lot more interest in our website and our website designs.

With the release of our new website we will offer many new features including this blog. We had a recent news section, but it lacked something we wanted...our customer input. After designing a blog for Unknown Coordinates we thought that it would be a great idea to design our own. At first the thought of designing a blog seem daunting so we tried some of the more popular blogging software.

We first went with the free Blogspot software, but we didn't really care for t...

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