Inlinks (or backlinks) are the incoming hyperlinks that can direct traffic to a website or blog. Inlinks are often used by web designers and developers as an indicator of the popularity or importance of a web page. By using Yahoo Site Explorer you can see how many hyperlinks are coming in to your site or a competitor’s site.

Go to http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com

Enter the name of the site you would like to check and then click Explore URL. In this example I am going to use the Acoustic Guitar Player site run by Tony Hogan http://the-guitarplayer.com/

This will take you to a page showing you the number of pages on the site. You need to click on the inlinks button to see the links in to the site.

This will take you to a page that shows all links in to the site including any links that are happening within the site. To see only the links that are coming in from outside sites you will need to click on the Show Inlinks drop-down box and select Except from this domain

Then click on the next drop-down box and select Entire Site

 You can now see that this site has 3650 sites that link back to http://the-guitarplayer.com/. If you want to have a look at any of these that have hyperlink in to this sites you can just click on the Explore button.

Here is a video tutorial from YouTube that shows you how to use Photoshop CS4 to easily make a shiny button to use in your website design projects.

Click on the Blogs link in the navigation bar
Click +add a blog post

Type in your post title and type your post content in to the entry field

To Bold Text

Highlight the words you want to make bold then click the “B” under the page entry

To add an image to your blog post

To add an image click the “Camera” icon under page entry

A popup box will appear.
If you have an image on your computer that you would like to add, click the browse button next to the Upload an image box and navigate to the desired image on your computer.

If you have a link to an image on one of your websites then add the URL of the image to the Insert an existing image box.

To centre the image you will need to edit the code.

To add a hyperlink to your post
Click the “Chain” icon under the page entry,

If you get a warning to allow scripted windows click to temporarily allow then go and click the chain icon again

A popup box will appear, type the web address in the box provided and click OK

To get your link to show in your post you MUST add a title or name etc as shown below:

If you don’t do this your link will not show in your post.

Tags

It’s good practice to add tags to each of your blog posts. A TAG is keyword or term assigned to a blog post . Pick a few relevant words and type them in the TAG box here:

When you are happy with your post you can choose to either Post it Now or Post it at a Future time/ date. To post it at a future time or date, enter details as shown below:

Privacy and Comments

Here you can choose who can view a post and who can comment on a POST

Now is a good time to preview your post. If you are happy with the post click PUBLISH and you are done otherwise click BACK and change what you are not happy with.

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to make a simple reflected text header which you can use in your web design.

Create a new document with a white background. In this example my header is 960px x 200px (you can make it any size that suits your project.)

Double click the background layer to unlock it.

Next apply a gradient effect to this background layer. Click Layer > Layer Style to add a Gradient Overlay blending option to your background layer. Click on the gradient box to edit the color of the gradient (As below)

You can either choose one of the gradients you already have or make your own. To change a color, double-click on its color stop and the color picker will open, allowing you to select a new color. The color I will use for the stop on the left is #a49c6c. The color I will use on the right stop is #4c482c.

Now add your title text. Click on the Text tool. Choose your font and type your title. (I have used the font Trebuchet MS, Bold, 60pt, Color #FFFFFF (white)). The text at this point needs to be somewhere towards the top of the canvas.

Click on the type layer to highlight it.

Now right click on the highlighted layer and click Duplicate Layer.

Click Layer > Layer Properties and rename the original text layer to “reflection”

Make sure you have selected the “reflection” layer and then hit CTRL+T (this selects the transform tool)
Click Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Now use your arrow key to move your reflected text like shown below:

Rasterise the “reflection” layer by right clicking on it and selecting “Rasterize Type”
Now select the Rectangular Marquee Tool by hitting “M” or clicking on the tool in the toolbar. Select a feather of 10px.

Now use the marquee tool to make a selection on the “reflection” layer like the one below:

Now hit your backspace key, then CTRL+D to deselect the marquee tool
Make sure the “reflection” layer is still selected and change the opacity of the layer to 40%

Make sure your reflection layer is still selected then hit CTRL+T . Click Edit > Transform > Skew and drag the bottom left and right corners so your header looks like this:

Select the Title type layer and then click Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow and add a drop shadow to your title using the settings below:
Blend mode: Multiply
Opacity: 75%
Angle: 120%
Distance: 3px
Spread: 0%
Size: 5px

Make sure that the Title type layer is still selected and then click Layer > Layer Style > Gradient Overlay and add a gradient to your title. Click on the gradient box to edit the color of the gradient The color I will use for the stop on the left is #585757. For the stop on the left use #FFFFFF. Click on the top right stop and change its opacity to 0% as shown below

Click OK then make sure your gradient settings are the same as below before closing:
Blend Mode: Multiply
Opacity: 100%
Style: Linear
Angle :90
Scale 100%

Hold down your Shift Key to select both the reflections layer and your title (text) layer and use your arrow key to move the text down so your finished header looks like this:

If you don’t have Photoshop CS4 you can try Creative Suite 4 Free!

It’s now very easy to change the background gradient colour if you want to change the look.  Here are a few examples below:

For this blue gradient, edit the gradient overlay on the background layer and use #87d1e0 for the left stop and #237c9a for the right stop.

For this pink gradient, edit the gradient overlay on the background layer and use #ff5db3 for the left stop and #ef007c for the right stop.

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to make content boxes with rounded corners which you can use in your web design. In the example below I made a series of content boxes which were made in to clickable links to pages on the client’s site.

You will need to create each content box as a separate Photoshop file.

Create a new document with a white background and 190 x 130 pixels dimensions

Create a new layer, then hide your background layer. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and then set the radius to 10px and check anti-alias. Under options choose “Fixed Size” with 180×130 px dimensions

Now draw a white rounded rectangle in the new layer you created. Now you need to center the rectangle on the layer. To do this you need to click on the move tool:

You will need to Select All (CTRL+A) then Click on align vertical centers then align horizontal centers (see below if you are not sure how to do this).

This will make sure that you rectangle is sitting exactly in the center of your layer. Now deselect by hitting CTRL+D. Now you need to create the border around your rounded rectangle using a layer style. Click Layer > Layer Style and add a Stroke blending option to your rounded rectangle layer as below. Change the size to 1px and choose your color (I have used grey # 999999).

Unhide your background layer and your rectangle should look like this:

Now you need to use a picture that has a transparent background like this butterfly I used.

You will need to create a new layer (name it accordingly eg butterfly) and copy and paste your image in to the new layer. Now position your image where you want it to go on the layer.

Now you can add your heading text. Choose your font and type your heading. (I have used the font Segoe Print, Bold, 12pt, Color #003366)

Now type your main text using a smaller font. You will need to hit enter to go to each new line. I have used Trebuchet Ms, Regular, 11pt, Color #333333)

Now add your text to “Click Here” or “Read More” if it is appropriate for your content box. ( I have used Trebuchet Ms, Bold, 11pt, Color # 003366). Your content box should now look similar to this:

Now we will add a couple of drop shadow effects and you will be finished. Click on your Heading layer to select it, then click Layer > Layer Style and add a Drop Shadow to your text using the settings below:

Blend mode: Multiply
Opacity: 75%
Angle: 23%
Distance: 3px
Spread: 0%
Size: 5px

Now select your image layer and add the same drop shadow effect to the image (in this example it is the butterfly). Your clickable content box is now complete.

You can now go ahead and create the rest of your boxes.