The dpivision.com Ltd Weblog

About the workshop

Join designer and author Andy Clarke for a full day learning how to use the most up-to-date CSS in your work today. Be inspired to find new ways of designing using CSS.

Modern web browsers now better capable of rendering advanced CSS than ever before. From highly targeted CSS selectors to new ways to work with layout, colour and typography, if you are a web designer or developer, working with CSS has never been more exciting.

‘Advanced CSS Styling’ is a unique one-day master class presented by Andy Clarke, designer and author of the best-selling Transcending CSS. Spend the day with Andy learning how to use the most up-to-date CSS techniques in your everyday work.

What you will learn

• How to design balanced, inspired layouts using advanced CSS positioning techniques
• New ways to work with colour using RGBa
• Using multiple background and border images
• How to use text and box shadows
• About CSS gradients, reflections and transitions

Of course the browser landscape is varied and each browser supports different CSS properties. You will learn how to design around, rather than hack around these natural differences to create experiences that are enjoyable for everyone, no matter which browser they use. You will learn:

• How to improve a browser’s CSS support using Javascript
• Modernizr and how it will help you to design around browser support
• When using Universal Internet Explorer 6 is appropriate

Web typography is one of the hottest topics in web design and development. As a self-confessed typography perfectionist, Andy will teach you:

• Working with font embedding solutions including Typekit, Kernest and Cufon
• Creating striking, readable type with typographic hierarchies
• How to improve typography with kerning, leading and baseline shifts

In this full day master class, you will also learn the latest techniques for designing in a browser and how to test your designs for web accessibility throughout your design process.

Don’t miss out

Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired to find new ways of using CSS and how to use the most up-to-date CSS techniques. Places for each workshop are limited to thirty and prices start at only £275.00+VAT for limited early bird places.

Schedule

Come and meet and greet the Dpivision.com Ltd team as we host the after hours fun to a day with a top designer.

Designer and author Andy Clark from Stuff and Nonsense is stopping off in Newcastle to host an Advanced CSS Styling workshop at the Copthorne Hotel in October.

And we have joined forces with him to host and sponsor an evening of socialising at The Salsa Club, giving people the chance to unwind, swap top tips and beef up their contacts book.

The one-day masterclass offers ideas on how to use the most up-to-date CSS techniques of the moment, including:

- How to design balanced, inspired layouts using advanced CSS positioning techniques
- New ways to work with colour using RGBa
- Using multiple background and border images
- How to use text and box shadows
- About CSS gradients, reflections and transitions

Places are running out very quickly so book your place now!

http://forabeautifulweb.com/announcing/newcastle_upon_tyne_2009/

For the CannyBill sponsored after party, we are extending the invitation to our customers.

So come along and say hello to the team at The Salsa Club, West Gate Road, Newcastle on October 30 from 6.30pm onwards and fill yourself up with some of the tastiest free nachos and best Mexican beer.

Just so we know how much free food and booze to order, drop us a line to say you’ll be coming at info@dpivision.com.

We are very pleased to announce the complete integration for the www.vps.net platform using www.cannybill.com.

VPS.NET is a Cloud Hosting provider who set out to build a cloud that was both powerful and easy to use, their node architecture makes hosting in the cloud possible for everybody, it comes with standard features such as instant server deployment in both the US and UK, hardware self healing and daily billing.

Cloud computing at your finger tips!

• Create web based order forms to sell nodes and virtual machines.
• Enable your customers to manage every aspect of their VPS via their own customer portal!

Login to you CannyBill admin panel and go to settings -> Plugin Modules -> and enter your VPS.NET login API credentials.

Now its time to create a web based order form which your customers can signup to. Go to the Packages tab -> Create New Order Group (department) -> and select the VPS.NET option.

One your order group has been created, you can setup the prices for each node you want to sell.

Once your order form has been setup with the correct pricing, click on the magnifier icon to preview your order form and simply copy/pate the URL to a buy now button on your website. Don’t forget, you can integrate your order form into any website as you have full control over the header/footer HTML and the CSS style sheet.

Please find some live order form examples below:

http://www.cannybill.com/demos.html

Your customers can now buy their nodes and select their virtual machine all though a streamlined ordering process.

Once the order has been placed and paid for, your customers get emailed their login details for their very own customer portal giving them full control over their VPS.

Your customers can view and manage every aspect of their VPS from performing a graceful shutdown to a power off or reboot.

Customers can also manage their console, view CPU usage and bandwidth charts to enabling backups on their system.

VPS nodes can also easily be added or removed from any virtual machine all within a few easy steps.

We are pleased to announce two new features for www.cannybill.com.

Purchase Order Number (PO Number)

This new feature enables you to add a Purchase Order Number of your choice to an invoice.

Admin -> Invoices -> Create New Invoice

Private/Public Notes

This feature has been carried on from the previous Customer Notes feature below:

http://blog.dpivision.com/2009/06/new-feature-customer-notes/

You can now also make your notes private (admins) or public (customers) and also upload images, .zips or documents to go with your notes.

Customers -> View Customer Details -> Add Customer Note

From this page you can enter your note, make it private or public and also upload any files.

Customer My Account -> Customer Notes

If the note has been made public, your customers when they login to their ‘My Account’ section will be able to see any notes posted and download any files.

The current economic situation represents the greatest adversity to face the North East for decades. The North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) is working to ensure that all businesses in the region receive the vital support required to provide stability to their businesses during this period.

It is vital that the region’s businesses stand firm during these turbulent times and at the NECC they feel it is their responsibility, as your regional Chamber of Commerce, to provide a firm foundation on which businesses can meet the challenge of recession head-on.

Please find a help guide below with topics that include:

• Controlling Costs
• Improving Cash Flow
• Increase Your Marketing
• Maintain Service Levels
• Preparing For the Up Turn
• General Tips

Top tips for business during the economic downturn (PDF)