Handy html symbol codes

These are html codes I use all the time. To insert one of these codes, just hold down your ALT key while typing the code into your number keypad. (Be sure your NumLock is off). So, to make an em dash, just hold down the alt key and hit 0151 on your keypad. Voila! An em-dash!

ALT + 0178 = ² (superscript 2, squared number)
ALT + 0179 = ³ (superscript 3, cubed number)
ALT + 0153 = ™ (trademark symbol)
ALT + 0181 = µ (micron symbol)
ALT + 0151 = — (em dash, my personal favorite!)
ALT + 0177 = ± (plus or minus symbol)
ALT + 0174 = ® (registered trademark symbol)
ALT + 0169 = © (copyright symbol)
ALT + 0176 = ° (degree symbol)
ALT + 0149 = • (bullet)
ALT + 0160 = (non-breaking space)

Make Any Web Page Print Friendly

Do you have pages on your website with dense content that your viewers may want to print out to read later or pass along to a friend who isn't online? Or, for the environmentally-friendly non-clutterbugs, maybe they want to save your content as a PDF that they can refer to later?

Here's a new tool that will greatly simplify this process: http://www.printfriendly.com/

Just enter your URL in the box (works best with dense copy) and the site will generate a clean, printer-friendly file or PDF.

Web developers like 4Next can use the "get button" link to copy this code onto your website. Or if you already have a "Share" bar on your site, we can direct your share bar to this page.

Thanks to client Doug Rigdon for sending me a Blog post that uses this technology!

Cool new web capture tool!

Chris read about this new tool in Tom's Hardware today. Check it out!

Just type a URL in the box and Bounce will take a screen capture of the site. Then you can use the tool to draw boxes around elements and add your comments. Add your name to label your feedback.

Here's the link:
Bounce with me(@bounceapp): http://www.bounceapp.com/8651.

Here are the top ten reasons why you should consider 3D animation to help sell your technical products:

Marketing budgets are down. Tradeshow budgets have been slashed. Who can afford to ship their product line... or even one product... to a show these days? Tradeshows are invaluable for their face-time — customers and prospects look forward to seeing your staff and new product offerings at each event. But with so little money to spend on sales & marketing, what's the best way to stand out and make an impact? How can you draw visitors to your booth, communicate your products' features and benefits effectively, and — most important — get orders?

Here they are: the top ten reasons why you should consider 3D animation to help sell your technical products.

3D animation is:

1. Cutting-edge. It makes your company and products look fresh and innovative!
2. Persuasive. It's like having a clone of your best salesperson. It can take users on a guided tour of your product and operations using the exact, carefully-crafted sales pitch that your top salesperson uses to close deals. Once your story has been perfected... uniformity is best!
3. Enticing. Very good at pulling visitors in from the aisles at events, 3D demos can entertain and inform guests while your salespeople are busy with other prospects. And 3D can teach the non-technical decision-makers and influencers who enter your booth like purchasing folks, CFOs, support staff, and spouses — all about your product too using break-through graphics that transcend generations, gender, and educational training.
4. User-friendly. With 3D it's easy to demonstrate complex features and processes in a way that visitors can finally understand and absorb. If they 'get it', they'll buy it!
5. Versatile. It can serve as a one-on-one sales or training tool, streaming website content, direct mailer, POP display, and more.
6. Powerful. Have you ever been frustrated that visitors can't see what's happening inside your product housing? Wish you could show what's behind the panels without having to disassemble everything? Want to demonstrate a series of processes that take too long to get through during a typical demo? 3D is the perfect solution!
   
   With 3D, you can show what you want (and hide what you don't) in ways you can't with traditional video, photography, or live demos:
   
   
   1. Remove the shell and disassemble the components to see "invisible" details hidden behind exterior panels or other obstructions. Or go where you can't put camera equipment because of corrosive materials or other hazards. Get shots that are impossible in the real world!
   2. Show fluid and data lines flowing — without fluid or data.
   3. Simulate software without an install.
   4. Rotate your product to any angle and get 360 degree views.
      
   5. Zoom in to microscopic detail; or use a helicopter shot to get that bird's eye view!
   6. Skew time with animations that show time consuming processes quicker.
   7. Give your product a makeover — clean it up. Make it hip and sexy!
      
7. Valuable. 3D animation lets you capitalize on the perceived expense of 3D to enhance your product's perceived value... and it can even help you justify a premium price.
   
8. Ideal for training. You can use a 3D presentation for pre-show training of your booth staff to get them comfortable using the correct terms to describe your key features to important prospects.
9. A great pre-selling tool. Show products that look real and perform even though they are still in prototype / development stage!
10. A great backup plan. Are your products too large, delicate, or expensive to transport? Worried that you may not have a machine at the show... or that something won't function as it should? 3D animation can effectively demonstrate how your product works without having your product physically there (and functioning).

See some cool 3D animation samples from 4Next here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TF9iJiECEw&feature=player_embedded#!

Welcome to the 4Next Interactive Blog

Thanks for reading! Visit www.4-next.com to learn more about 4Next, Inc.