I drink just one small peg of whisky a day. It’s like drinking water, yaar,” says Prashant Salian, 28, an HR manager with an  MNC.

“Wine? What’s in it? It’s just like drinking grape juice. And, as far as I know, fruit juices are healthy,” says Navneet Thakker, 30, an investment banker.

In the course of a single working day, I come across several people who think alcohol contains little or no calories.

Then there are those who believe alcohol is a healthy option if mixed with fruit juice.

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Calories in your drink?

Yes, alcohol contains calories. Make that BIG calories. This is why not being able to resist a drink at a social do is a weight-watcher’s nightmare come true.

Another misconception is that alcohol is a carbohydrate.

Alcohol is most definitely not a source of energy. What alcohol molecules do is affect the brain to make one feel euphoric — this is often mistaken for energy.

Now, let’s get talking about the actual calorie content — alcohol has about seven calories per gram.

This makes it nearly twice as fattening as carbohydrates or protein (both contain about four calories per gram) and just under the caloric value for fat (nine calories per gram).

The calories derived from alcohol are called ‘empty’ calories because they contain no beneficial nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.

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Facts

~ One bottle of beer contains about 150 calories.

~ Beer, wine and liquor (an alcoholic beverage made by distillation rather than fermentation) all contain different quantities of alcohol; 15 mugs (250 ml per mug) of beer, 6 glasses (200 ml per glass) of wine and 10 shots of liquor (like tequila, whisky, rum) have about the same amount of alcohol.

~ Beer has between three to eight percent alcohol. ‘Light’ or low-cal beers contain around three percent alcohol.

~ Liqueurs (sweetened spirits with various flavours, oils and extracts) such as sherry and dessert liqueurs contain 40 to 50 percent alcohol and tend to have more calories.

~ White wines average 12 percent, while red wines have around 14 percent alcohol.

Note: The number of calories also depend on the size of the peg.

Adding any carbonated beverage or fruit juice would increase the calorie content of the drink as juices and beverages contain calories.

Calorie count for popular cocktails

Food versus drink

Here are the calorie equivalents of some of your favourite cocktails as compared with food.

Drink

Food

1 mug of beer (250 ml) (150 calories)

One tandoori roti (150 calories)

1 glass of white wine (200 ml) (120 calories)       

4 cups light microwave popcorn (120 calories)

1 glass rum and diet Coke (133 calories)

1 glass of rum and Coke (182 calories) 

1 cup vegetarian Chinese chilly dish (135 calories)

1 medium katori cooked soya beans (180 calories)

1 glass of martini with one olive (184 calories)   

1 slice cheese pizza (183 calories)                    

1 tequila shot (100 calories)        

1 chappati or two phulkas (102 calories)

1 glass of gin and tonic (178 calories)      

1 medium katori dal fry (177 calories)

1 glass of Bailey's lrish Cream (468 calories)      

2 chappatis (204 calories)    
1 medium katori aloo mutter ( 217 calories)
Green salad (45 calories)  
Total: 466 calories                                    

1 glasss of Cosmopolitan (151 calories)   

1 soy vegetarian burger (140 calories)

1 glass of Zima (rum cocktail) (185 calories)

1 medium katori cooked masala dal (183 calories) 

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The downside of ‘Cheers!’

Alcohol increases craving for itself and other food items that are high in calories (salted peanuts, fried chips, anyone?).

One beer every night adds upto 1,036 additional calories per week, or six to seven kilos to your stomach per year! No wonder they call it a beer belly.

Scientists have not been able to find out whether consistently consuming alcohol leads to weight gain. Some studies have found that drinking beer or spirits increases the waist-to-hip ratio, while some have found no relationship whatsoever.

The ideal hip to waist ratio should be less than one (divide the size of your waist by the size of your hips). If the number you get is more than one, it is a sign you could be prone to heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other heart-related conditions.

There may never be a simple answer, since there are so many variables involved. What we do know is that the body processes alcohol before fat, protein or carbohydrates. Thus, drinking slows down the burning of fat.

This means that if you love your drink AND want to lose weight, you have a major uphill task in your hands.

As a nutritionist, I would suggest you consume alcohol in moderation. If you are serious about losing weight, avoid drinking alcohol on a regular basis. Remember that the calories from alcohol add up quickly, and they go straight to the your abdomen and add to its size.

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Tips for party drinking

~ Dilute your drink with soda.

~ Add ice cubes to keep it chilly and light.

~ If you are preparing an alcohol punch, use a non-carbonated base like fruit juice. It should preferably be fresh.

~ Eat plenty of food before you start drinking. Eating high protein foods like cheese, low-fat paneer, soya-based snacks, chicken and fish will slow down the absorption rate so that the alcohol will not hit your system at once.

~ Avoid too many salty snacks, which end-up making you thirsty as a result of which you drink more.

~ Sip your drink slowly instead of guzzling it down. Munch on a snack while downing it.

Make sure the snack is roasted or baked, not deep-fried.

The next time you are at a social gathering and have the urge to guzzle down another peg, envision that big wobbly belly that could put a beanbag to shame… and head for the water cooler instead.

Meera Jadhav is a nutrition and fitness consultant. She has a degree in nutrition and a post-graduate diploma in Sports Science and Nutrition. She is also a Certified BFY (Better Fitness for You) Fitness trainer and Reebok Aerobics Trainer.

• Beer, Regular
• Gin, Rum, Vodka, Whiskey – 80 Proof
• Wine
• (Anheuser-Busch) Bud Light Beer
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller Lite
• (Coors) Coors Light
• Wine, Dessert, Sweet
• (Michelob) Michelob Ultra
• (Anheuser-Busch) Budweiser Beer
• Daiquiri
• Tequila Sunrise – Canned
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller Lite
• Pina Colada
• Whiskey Sour
• Wine, Dessert, Dry
• (Anheuser-Busch) Natural Light Beer
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Mixers Margarita – Frozen Bacardi Mixers
• Liqueur, Coffee – With Cream, 34 Proof
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Mixers Margarita – Battled Bacardi Mixers
• (Coors) Blue Moon
• Liqueur, Coffee, 53 Proof
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller Genuine Draft Light
• (Coors) ZIMA XXX Hard Lemon Lime
• (Miller Brewing Company) Henry Weinhard’s Hefeweizen
• (Coors) Killian’s
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller Genuine Draft
• Liqueur, Coffee, 63 Proof
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Mixers Strawberry Daiquiri – Frozen Bacardi Mixers
• Whiskey Sour – Prepared From Bottled
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller Genuine Draft
• (Coors) ZIMA XXX Hard Black Cherry
• Creme De Menthe – 72 Proof
• (Coors) Keystone Light
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Razz
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller High Life
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Limon
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Big Apple
• (Coors) ZIMA XXX Hard Green Apple
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller High Life Light
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Superior
• (Miller Brewing Company) Henry Weinhard?s Classic Dark Lager
• (Miller Brewing Company) Pilsner Urquell
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Gold
• (Coors) Coors
• (Bacardi) Breezer (3.2% alc), Passionfruit; Calypso Berry
• (Miller Brewing Company) Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss
• (Bacardi) Pre-mix, Ready to Pour Rum Island Ice Tea (12.5% alc)
• (Bacardi) Bacardi 151
• (Coors) ZIMA XXX Hard Orange
• (Coors) Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale
• (Bacardi) Silver (5% alc)
• (Miller Brewing Company) Foster’s
• Whiskey Sour Mix, Bottled – With Added Potassium And Sodium
• (Bacardi) Bacardi O
• (Miller Brewing Company) Leinenkugel’s Original Lager
• (Bacardi) Silver Raz (5% alc)
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Mixers Fuzzy Navel – Frozen Bacardi Mixers
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Mixers Strawberry Daiquiri – Battled Bacardi Mixers
• (Bacardi) Silver Watermelon (5% alc)
• (Miller Brewing Company) Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve
• (Miller Brewing Company) Sheaf Stout
• (Miller Brewing Company) Leinenkugel’s Red Lager
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller High Life Light
• (Miller Brewing Company) Miller High Life
• (Bacardi) Pre-mix, Ready to Pour Bahama Mama (10% alc)
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Vanila
• (Miller Brewing Company) Icehouse 5.5
• (Miller Brewing Company) Magnum Malt Liquor
• (Miller Brewing Company) Milwaukee’s Best Light
• (Bacardi) Bacardi 8
• (Bacardi) Pre-mix, Ready to Pour Hurricane (12.5% alc)
• (Bacardi) Bacardi Mixers Pina Colada – Frozen Bacardi Mixers
• (Bacardi) Breezer (3.2% alc), Tahitian Tangerine
• (Miller Brewing Company) Leinenkugel’s Amber Light
• (Bacardi) Silver Limon (5% alc)

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Taking the Time to Research a Program is a MUST!

Providers with “new” programs for shoplifting offenders are popping up all over the place, likely in response to the current economic climate and the increase in shoplifting being reported by retailers. Unfortunately, too many of these providers fall short in terms of client and offender support services, compliance rates and effectiveness claims – leaving the courts underserved, the offenders open to repeat offenses and the community at risk.

A major contributor to these “pop-up” programs is the internet which makes it easy for companies, with little or no experience and few if any qualifications, to create websites where information has simply been “lifted” from a variety of other sources – with or without the consent or permission of those sources. In fact, several of these new programs have simply “copied and pasted” information from others to create their “new” programs.  More often than not, the information is “lifted” from the non-profit National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) – either from the NASP website, one of the NASP programs or a NASP research report – in clear violation of U.S. Copyright Laws.  Such was the case with one long time, seemingly reputable, drug and alcohol program provider.

Another program, while we did not find that its content was plagiarized, uses discriminatory language and inappropriate – if not offensive – scenarios to make its point. One program boasts “endorsements” and “accreditation” from seemingly separate and objective websites yet the sites are not accreditation authorities at all. In fact, they are simply the same company using these other websites – which they themselves created – to endorse and accredit their own programs!

The irony of this is that these program providers are stealing the material they need to create a program to teach shoplifters not to steal!

But the most important take-away here is the need for the court system to ensure that any alternative sentencing program they utilize – whether for shoplifting or any other offense – successfully accomplishes the long-standing goals of the court system; to reduce recidivism, reduce court appearances and effectively serve the best interests of the community. Low-cost, stripped down programs are unlikely to meet these goals. Yes, corporate America is always seeking the next thing that is “faster, cheaper, better.”  However, the fact is that when it comes to truly effective crime prevention, faster and cheaper is rarely better.

To protect the court, the offenders and the community, the court officers making these program decisions must make it a priority to thoroughly research providers, to carefully evaluate the programs they offer and to verify the claims they make.

When Evaluating A Program Make Sure The Provider…  …Is Not Violating any U.S. Copyright Laws Subjecting your Court to Potential Litigation

ASK: Is the program original material? If not, what knowledge base and
sources of information were used to develop it?   …Offers a Program that is Research-based to Ensure Effectiveness.

ASK: What research have they conducted? With how many offenders? Over
how many years? On what do they base their expertise? A Google-search on “shoplifting” or “shoplifters” does not qualify as research, even today.  …Is Not Making False Claims About their Success Rate or their Program being “Evidence-Based.”

ASK: What evidence can they show that their programs are truly effective? How many recidivism studies do they have to back their claims?  Valid recidivism studies are conducted by the courts themselves and tracked over time. Self-studies conducted by the company itself – the one selling the program – are not a valid measure of success in preventing the next offense.

…Can Provide Valid and Credible References. Offering a program over the internet has empowered many to market themselves as “national” providers – implying that their program is well-established and utilized by courts throughout the country – without having any real track record.

ASK: Can they provide a list of references from court personnel in various counties and states? If so, check the references; reach out to your peers and get honest feedback on effectiveness.

Finally, ASK For A Sample Program And Invest The Time To Go Through It And See Exactly What The Offenders Will Be Learning.

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As my colleague and I sat and contemplated the perils of what may lie ahead with the news of Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and AIG, my colleague clicked on a CNN website only to see the headline: “The Sky is Falling!” – shown with a picture of a stockbroker looking up at a tall Wall Street building, presumably about to collapse.

After we picked ourselves up off the floor in our uncomfortable laughter, we looked at each other and asked, does the work we do really matter now? Does anybody really care about shoplifting? In the scope of the problems facing citizens, businesses and communities, should anybody really care?

And as we came back from our momentary haze of gloom the answer was a resounding YES! Shoplifting is too important an economic and social issue to let it fall by the wayside, in good times or bad.  In fact, now more than ever is the time to address shoplifting especially for those typically honest kids and consumers who may be pushed by hardship to try their hand at it.

A recent NASP survey asked hundreds of judges, prosecutors, diversion, probation and law enforcement officers if they thought shoplifting was a Gateway Crime – “a crime with little or no consequence which acts as an initiator to other criminal behavior.”

79% of these justice professionals said “yes”, adding that in their experience shoplifting is a gateway to greater acts of shoplifting as well as more serious crime. And I should note that this number is up 7% in just 3 years; from 72% in 2005 to 79% in 2008.

What does this mean? I’m not 100% certain. What I do know is that in the scope of criminal activity in communities, addressing shoplifting has fallen quite low on the totem pole. But if in the opinion of justice professionals across the nation, shoplifting is often the starting point to future criminal behavior – employee theft, burglary, robbery, fraud, embezzlement, ORC – the importance of proactively addressing shoplifting becomes much clearer.

One way criminal and juvenile justice professionals are addressing the shoplifting problem is by utilizing shoplifting offender education programs provided by NASP to reduce delinquents’ propensity for repeat offenses. Over the last 7 to 10 years education programs have become widely accepted and utilized by court systems as a mechanism to handle non-professional shoplifting offenders. The justice community has found offender-paid education programs a cost-effective mechanism to effectively handle these cases.

While this method for addressing shoplifting has been proven effective in court documented studies, its downfall is that it can only be utilized by criminal justice when and if retailers apprehend and prosecute offenders. This is not to say that every retailer must apprehend and prosecute all shoplifters in their stores in order to effectively address shoplifting. That is simply not practical or even true.

Today, there are many effective actions retailers can take which do not require prosecution. For example, retailers are the only stakeholders in the shoplifting problem that can identify offenders and therefore, have a unique opportunity to distribute parent support or education pamphlets to youthful or consumer offenders at apprehension to help reduce repeat offenses.

In addition, community members look to retailers as the victims, to give them the barometer of how “big a deal” shoplifting really is in their local community. As a local retailer you can set the tone for community action. Shoplifting and other criminal activity will always rise to the level acceptable to the community.

When retailers are proactive in addressing shoplifting it sends an important message to community members and offenders that criminal behavior, on any level, will not be tolerated in your store or community and that no crime, however small, pays. There are many ways that a retail company or individual employee can be pro-active in helping to reduce the shoplifting problem even when they don’t prosecute as a rule. It can be done at little or no cost and it can be as simple as:

• Distributing Parent Support Pamphlets to the parents of youth apprehended in your stores
• Volunteering to serve on local court-sponsored victim impact panels, community boards and teen courts
• Utilizing community awareness posters to provide public awareness and education about shoplifting prevention
• Hosting awareness training for criminal & juvenile justice professionals
• Offering the courts the opportunity to have offenders participate in a security tour of your store
• Volunteering to speak at local crime prevention classes
• Helping to fund local law enforcement or justice agency shoplifter education programs
• Supporting local and/or national shoplifting prevention campaigns

While these initiatives may seem “out of the box” compared to mainstream LP initiatives, we must not disregard the impact that these actions have in reducing crime in the community. Restorative Justice Principles state that when “community norms denounce harmful behavior it reinforces productive behavior;” and that the more connected a potential offender feels to their community, the more likely they are to restrain impulses that would be disapproved by the community.

In this waning economy, where NASP has already seen a nationwide increase in referrals of consumer shoplifting offenders and where loss prevention departments are being directed to find creative ways to reduce losses on less of a budget, it seems that these simple yet effective initiatives’ time has come.

Please do not hesitate to contact NASP for more information about volunteering, community awareness posters, education pamphlets & community problem solving or to let us know what you are doing that works! We can be reached at 516-932-0165 or justice@shopliftingprevention.org.

——————————————————————————-

Caroline K.

By Caroline Kochman, Executive Director, National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP).

———————————————————————————

——————-

Shoplifting Articles and Resources

Confessions of a Shoplifter

Walk into Betsy Samson’s Airy Spanish-style home in Los Angeles, and the first thing you notice is its spareness. Crayon drawings line the walls, evidence of her two young children, but otherwise the place is minimalist – which is startling given how Samson has spent the past 15 years. “Reminders would be nauseating for me to have in the house – they’ve all been either given away or discarded,” says the 40-year-old with a mop of brown, curly hair and haunted dark eyes. “I’ve tried to keep the habit as far removed from my family and work life as possible.”

The habit is Samson’s passion, her preoccupation, and her illness. This well-educated, upper-middle-class woman with a supportive husband and successful career is a compulsive shoplifter. Every day for 15 years, she brought home hundreds of dollars’ worth of stolen goods, few of which she wanted or needed. The habit is shameful, dangerous, illegal, immensely time consuming, and, until a few months ago, seemingly impossible to resist. She has told almost no one. Even her husband of ten years has no idea just how out of control she’s been. READ MORE

Why do Shoplifters Steal?

What NASP can offer you

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It must be stressed that the Title tag is the primary element that search engines utilize when they determine the keywords your Web page is relevant for and ranks those Web pages accordingly, as well as the descriptive element within the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) that users (aka people) will click on when choosing a site to visit.

Title Tag Optimization Basics

Every Title tag on your Web site should be a blend of three essential characteristics:

• They incorporate the exact phrase that the Web page is attempting to rank for. Ex: Mobile Phone
• The exact phrase must be placed at the beginning of the Title.
• A variation of the phrase is repeated somewhere within the Title.

Essential Title Tag Strategies of High Ranking Web Pages

• 1. Branding
     Unless your company or brand name is also your target keyword, the title of your site or brand should be at the end of every title tag. Usually, your company name is not a competitive keyword nor is it difficult to rank for and is used for branding purposes. There are a number of theories about whether the company name even belongs in the title tag; the company name does not belong at the beginning.

1. Titles should be limited to 70 characters (including spaces) or less
   When creating titles for your web pages, remember that Google won’t display anything more than 70 characters. That means that longer title tags are truncated in Google’s search results. The image below is from a search for TOYS. The Toys “R” Us listing is 68 characters long while the eToys and Walmart listings have had their title tags truncated due to their length. The actual length of the eToys Title is 90 characters and the Walmart Title is 128 characters in length.

Keyword phrases should be included

1. It is critical that whatever your keyword research shows as being the most valuable for capturing searches gets prominently included in your title tag. Your Web page title tags must contain the exact keywords you want each page to rank for and should have its own unique title. It must be remembered that each page on your Website is a potential entrance into your site for customers. The Title should be semantic, logical and designed to rank for its own unique keywords.

1. Target longer phrases if they’re relevant
   Creating a longer Title tag is acceptable as long as relevant keywords are chosen and it remains accurate and descriptive. A Title tag similar to “Golf Shoes, Clubs & Accessories | Online Golfing” can be much more valuable than “Golf Clubs | Online Golfing”. The first Title includes additional terms that are relevant to the page and receive significant search traffic. Keep in mind that if a separate page exists on your site for “Golf Shoes”, the inclusion of the terms “Clubs” could dilute the rankings for “Golf Shoes” by utilizing additional terms that are not related to the content on the page.

• 1. Target searcher intent
     The creation of Title tags for web pages should take into account the search terms the target audience is using to reach the Website. If the purpose of the web page is informational in nature, then a more descriptive Title tag would be fine. However, if the purpose of the web page is for a purchase, then the Title tag should reflect that this can be done at this page.

1. Be consistent
   When a Title tag is created that is to your liking, be consistent in the development of the Title tags for your other pages.

1. Repeat in the headline
   Using the Title tag of a web page in the H1 header tag of that can be beneficial from a keyword targeting and user experience standpoint.

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Steinway Artist Harry Connick, Jr. and his band performed at the 2010 Governor’s Ball hosted by President and Mrs. Obama on Sunday evening, February 21. Due to a packed East Room of the White House, the usual piano that occupies the room (a 1938 Steinway Art Case piano) was replaced with a smaller Steinway Model O Grand piano that was provided by Steinway Piano Gallery, Washington, D.C. for the event.

During the day, Connick, Jr. and his band performed for (and with) a group of Washington-area music students at a preview of the night’s event led by Mrs. Obama. Prior to the performance, Mrs. Obama paid tribute to Connick, Jr. for his humanitarian efforts in co-founding the Musicians’ Village, part of the New Orleans Habitat for Humanity rebuilding effort following Katrina.

On December 3, 2009, President Obama and a group of world-renowned performers were on hand for the National Tree Lighting Ceremony. In a tradition dating back to 1923, the President was on hand at the Ellipse near the White House to light the tree while bringing a message of peace and hope to the world.

For this year’s event, a group of talented performers were selected to perform, including Steinway Artist Brad Mehldau, Grammy award winner Sheryl Crow, hip-hop artist Common, country artist Ray LaMontagne, American Idol Jordin Sparks, jazz artist Joshua Redman, and the all-female music ensemble Celtic Woman.

All of the event’s performers who played piano or had piano accompaniment used a Steinway Model D concert grand piano (identification number CD-381) that is part of Steinway’s famed bank of Concert & Artist pianos stationed around the world at Steinway dealers. The piano was delivered from Steinway Piano Gallery in Washington, DC for the event and technicians spent over 9 hours preparing the piano so it would be in perfect playing condition for the performances.

Steinway and the White House have a long and storied history. In 1903, the 100,000th Steinway grand piano was presented to the White House as a gift. It was featured in the East Room of the White House until 1938, when it was replaced by the 300,000th Steinway grand — an Art Case piano with gilt American Eagle supports that is undoubtedly the most famous piano in the White House. The 1938 grand piano is still featured in the East Room (and sometimes in the Entrance Hall) of the White House. The original 1903 grand piano now resides in the Smithsonian Museum.

The next stop for the Steinway concert grand piano used at the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It is one of three Steinway grand pianos that are being provided for the Kennedy Center Honors Program, which will be televised on CBS, Tuesday, December 29 at 9 p.m. EST.

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This post is the second part of our review. It presents design trends for 2009 in terms of layouts, visual approaches and design elements. Please notice that this post showcases trends and developments that were extensively covered in our previous articles (e.g. handwriting, retro and vintage etc.) and therefore weren’t covered in this post (they are all linked in the overview, so feel free to explore these single posts as well). Did you miss any recent development in this overview? Let us know in the comments!

You may want to take a look at the following related posts:

• Web Design Trends For 2009
• 40 Creative Out-Of-The-Box-Layouts
• Textures In Modern Web Design
• Retro and Vintage in Modern Web Design
• Navigation Menus: Trends and Examples
• Hand-Drawing Style In Modern Web Design

Web Design Trends For 2009

Let’s first take a closer look at some of the trends we identified, discovered and observed over the last months. In this overview, you’ll find a review of each trend and more beautiful examples that can inspire you in your next project.

1. Out-of-the-box layouts
2. One-page layouts
3. Multi-column layouts
4. Huge illustrations and vibrant graphics
5. More white space than ever
6. Social design elements
7. “Speaking” navigation
8. Dynamic tabs
9. Still large search boxes
10. Category visuals
11. Author icons
12. Icons and visual clues
13. Tag index (instead of tag clouds)
14. Illustrations in blog posts
15. Watercolor
16. Handwriting
17. Retro and vintage
18. Organic textures, tiles and photographic backgrounds
19. 

Out-Of-The-Box Layouts

As we pointed out a couple of months ago in the showcase 40 Creative Design Layouts: Getting Out Of The Box, we are observing a strong trend towards more individual and creative layouts. Instead of applying conventional boxy layouts, designers are experimenting with the way information is structured, presented and communicated.

In these out-of-the-box-designs, the overall creative approach is often more important and more memorable than the attention to details. Still, usability, typography and visual design are rarely overlooked and are often carefully executed. Creative layouts are particularly popular for portfolios, websites of design agencies and promotional websites (e.g. commercial campaigns of large companies), but they are also very popular on blogs.

When it comes to creativity, the line between a usable and unusable design is very thin; thus, usability testing is particularly important, because a new creative approach can literally break a website. Often, it’s a good idea to find a compromise between a creative approach and a classic, traditional design, and try to achieve a balance between a “bulletproof” (yet ultimately boring) usable designs and an innovative unusable designs. Keep in mind that innovative ideas need some time to mature: to be rethought, modified, adapted, optimized and finally integrated in the design.

We strongly encourage designers to break out of the usual boxed layout conventions, experiment with new approaches and risk crazy ideas. Show what you are capable of!

2. One-Page Layouts

An alternative route that designers often take to impress their visitors is using so-called one-page layouts: layouts that use one single page to present the content of the website. It doesn’t necessarily mean that these designs are minimalistic (adhering to the principle “Less is more”). On the contrary, such designs are often quite complex, include rich imagery and vivid animation effects and therefore take some time to load.

When the user clicks on a navigation option, the page changes (partly), and new content is displayed in the area that was previously occupied by the previous content. The navigation of such layouts is supported by sliding and scrolling effects from common JavaScript libraries.

The main advantage for the user is the simple fact that she needs less mouse movement and less clicks to get the information she is looking for. Because this approach is quite new, there is a good chance that some readers will get confused by the unconventional navigation techniques. An alternative “static” version may be helpful or even necessary in this case; you’ll have to offer an alternative version anyway for search engines and for people who have deactivated JavaScript support in their browsers.

3. Multi-Column Layouts

A design with multiple columns (3+ columns) is not necessarily a complex design. On the contrary, when designed properly, multi-column designs can be really helpful to visitors because they are given (hopefully) a better overview of the available navigation options and can more quickly find the information they are looking for.

Over last few years, we’ve seen an explosion of content on the Web, which has led to the problem of a decrease user attention span, the time that visitors are willing to spend on a given website (see an article on ReadWriteWeb for details). Consequently, it’s no wonder that designers have tried to find ways of presenting information compactly, both to keep visitors on a website as long as possible and to make it as easy as possible to find content.

One way of achieving this is simply to use layouts with more columns placed next to each other. The idea is quite reasonable. Screen resolutions have been constantly increasing in recent years (though a wide adoption of netbooks, like Asus’ Eee PC, may change that), providing users with more horizontal space and designers with additional space to fill with content.

The result: now more and more designers are using more and more columns. We have observed a strong trend towards these so-called multi-column layouts, which are often fixed layouts of 850 by 1000 pixels in width. Multiple columns are used in magazine layouts and portfolios. In these layouts, grids are often used to guarantee a structural balance, hierarchy and order.

With multi-column layouts, the importance of active white space between and within columns cannot be overstated. (Active white space is the space that is deliberately left blank to better structure the page and emphasize different areas of content.)

For this purpose designers often make use of Shneiderman’s Mantra (”convey big picture first, reveal details later”), providing users with a brief overview of available options first and offering details on demand — later, when a link was clicked (Mozilla Labs is a great example of just that).

4. Huge Illustrations And Vibrant Graphics

Just as huge typography keeps dominating modern Web design, huge illustrations seem to be gaining popularity across both professional and personal Web projects. And designers are trying to communicate the message of a website using interactive elements (embedded video blocks) and visual elements (introduction blocks and illustrations). Recently in designs, illustrations have taken up much more space than before and usually supplement huge typography, and they are more attractive, more vivid and therefore more memorable to visitors.

Alternatively, designers are also using vibrant graphics, particularly for backgrounds but also for other design elements. Various styles and graphic approaches are used: grunge, collage and scrapbook, ornaments, retro and vintage, watercolor, organic textures and photographic backgrounds.

5. More White Space Than Ever

Probably one of the most predictable, yet extremely beneficial, developments in Web design over the last few years has been the increasing prominence of white space. White space dominates many designs and is used generously to improve the flow of articles and structure of websites.

In fact, we have never seen so much padding in content areas and navigation menus. Padding of 20 to 25 pixels in the wrapper and content area is becoming a rule of thumb, and even more padding is often considered acceptable. Hopefully, this development is here to stay.

6. “Social” Design Elements

If you take a close look at the blogosphere, you’ll hardly be able to find a blog that doesn’t use some kind of “social” icons or social blocks to encourage readers to promote its stories on popular social media websites. Every author loves traffic and recognition, which is why the social element in modern design is becoming bigger and aesthetically more attractive.

Social icons are usually put all over the place, often in the top right of articles or at the bottom of the post. Social blocks often fill the area beneath a post and sometimes appear beside a list of related articles. Twitter, Flickr and Last.FM integration is still common for blogs and portfolios.

7. “Speaking” Navigation

We wrote about “speaking” block navigation in one of our showcases last year, and this design element seems to remain popular across various websites. The most significant task a navigation menu has to accomplish is to unambiguously guide visitors through different sections of a website. However, it’s quite hard sometimes to communicate the content of a website’s section with just one or two keywords, particularly if horizontal navigation is used.

That’s why navigation options aren’t often listed simply one after another using appropriate keywords (i.e. using “silent” navigation). Instead, designers are attempting to concretely explain what options are available and what visitors should expect from a website section upon clicking the corresponding link.

Because designers are trying to initiate more effective dialogue with visitors, we like to call this navigation scheme “speaking” navigation, as opposed to “silent” navigation, which is based on listings of keywords.

So that visitors perceive content as being easy to navigate, the navigation is often structured with blocks of the same height and width. Large icons are quite often used; but in most cases the decision as to whether or not they are appropriate depends on the content of the website and the overall layout. “Soft” hover effects often support the navigation design by making browsing more pleasant.

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In some instances, pages containing duplicate content are filtered at the time search engine results are sorted, so there is no guarantee as to which version of a page will appear in results and which won’t. Duplicate content may even hinder some sites and web pages from getting indexed by search engines, and there are some cases in which a search engine crawler will stop indexing all of the pages of a site because it finds too many copies of the same pages under different URLs.

While content duplication is sometimes used in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings to garner more website traffic, in most cases it occurs without ill intent on behalf of the site owner or webmaster. The following is a list of duplicate content scenarios that could be burdening your site.

Scenario #1: Ecommerce sites that include product descriptions from manufacturers, producers, and publishers

Product distribution websites often use text from the manufacturer or producer of the product as a description for the item on their own pages. With the addition of the product name, creator, manufacturer, writer, or recording artist appearing on the page, there is a considerable amount of duplicate content on pages that don’t originate from the same website. Here are some examples:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-VGN-TXN15P-B-Notebook-Processor/dp/B000J43MR0

http://www.provantage.com/sony-vgntxn15p-b~7SONN0UX.htm

Scenario #2: Printer-friendly pages

Many sites offer “printer friendly” versions of their content on different pages. Without the application of robots.txt disallow statements or meta “noindex” tags on these pages to keep search engines from indexing them, they may be indexed as duplicate content. See these samples:

http://www.constructionbook.com/xq/ASP/productid.5395/qx/printable_view_produ
ct.htm

pNo=1556143&Sku=H24-PX849%20SB

Scenario #3: Websites that create session IDs

A session ID lets you create customized applications for a more personalized user experience, thus increasing the appeal of your website. A visitor to your site would be assigned a unique session ID which is either stored in a cookie on the user side or is propagated in the URL.

Websites with session IDs serve information in their URLs to track visitors as they go through the pages of that site. When search engine crawlers detect this tracking information they may index the same page several times under different URLs. A good example of this is www.staples.com.

Search engine guidelines advise you to allow bots or spiders to crawl your sites without session IDs that track their path through the site. While this technique is great for tracking individual user behavior, the access pattern of bots is entirely different. Since bots cannot always decipher URLs that look different but point to the same page, the use of session IDs may result in incomplete indexing of your site.

Scenario #4: URLs that include multiple data variables

When multiple data variables exist within a URL, this causes bots to crawl and index the same page under different URLs. Here are some examples of sites that show different data variables in their URLs.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=100
51&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100022126&categoryID=502813storeId=
10051

catalogId=10053
productId=100022126
categoryID=5028 http://www1.macys.com/catalog/index.ognc?CategoryID=30977&PageID=30977*1*24*-
1*-1&kw=Hugo%20Boss&LinkType=EverGreenCategoryID=30977

PageID=30977
LinkType=EverGreen

It is difficult for a search engine bot or spider to crawl the URLs listed above. If this scenario applies to your website, you may want to implement the mod-re-write server settings.

Scenario #5: Pages sharing similar elements

Some websites have elements that are very common from one page to another, such as title, meta descriptions, headings, navigation, and text that is shared sitewide. This can be a problem since bots might consider it to be duplicate content. Beware of this scenario if you own an ecommerce site that includes your brand name and information about that brand in every title on every page of your site. In addition, the use of content management systems that do not allow for distinct meta description tags to be placed on each page of a website can cause a similar dilemma.

Here are two well-known websites that use their brand names on every page:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com
http://www.officemax.com

These five scenarios represent situations in which search engine crawlers may perceive your website to have duplicate content. Although it is probably inadvertent on your part, you should take steps to resolve these issues to ensure that all of your web pages are properly indexed on the search engines.

David Montalvo is the CEO of UnReal Web Marketing LLC. He has achieved over 150,000 top 10 positions for Fortune 500 companies since 1997. UnReal Web Marketing is an Internet firm specializing in website design and development, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click management (PPC), e-commerce solutions, and website analytics. In addition, we provide our clients with keyword research, SEO copywriting, link building strategies and email marketing.

The diverse talent at UnReal Web Marketing has over 50 years of combined experience in Internet marketing and web design, and has been instrumental in creating and optimizing more than 1,350 websites generating close to $82 million in sales for small to mid-sized companies throughout the United States.

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The ad featured Woods, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, Spanish basketball phenom Ricky Rubio and an announcer who says, “Here’s to confidence,” and aired eight times during November, according to Aaron Lewis, a spokesman for Nielsen.

Since then, no Woods commercials have aired, not even over this past weekend during the Chevron World Challenge, the golf tournament hosted by Woods since 2001.

The move to pull Tiger ads was not unexpected. CNNMoney.com reported last week that sponsors have opted to continue their business relationships with Tiger but would hold back their commercials for several weeks.

“Brands that planned to use Tiger in any meaningful way in the next few weeks would be looking to perhaps do something else, both out of respect for Tiger and because now isn’t the best time to have him out there peddling their product,” Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, told CNNMoney.com on Nov. 30.

Tiger’s sponsors, which include Gillette, Nike (NKE, Fortune 500), Gatorade and Electronic Arts (ERTS), have pledged their support of Woods and opted to retain the golfer as their spokesman, despite allegations of extramarital affairs and Woods’ recent admission of undisclosed “transgressions.” Other partners, including AT&T (T, Fortune 500), Tag Heuer and Accenture, have not issued comments about their sponsorship of Tiger. 

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