With Intel's Otellini phasing out, new CEO may bring fresh mobile focus

Chip maker has 6 months to find a CEO with mobile knowhow

Intel CEO Paul Otellini is getting ready to leave the company, and analysts say this could be a good change for the world's largest chip maker.

Otellini to leave Intel in May

Intel announced on Monday that Otellini, 62, will retire in May after nearly four decades with the company. The company's board of directors will conduct a search for his replacement.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini gives a keynote address during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2012. (Photo: Steve Marcus / Reuters)

Whoever takes over as Intel's next CEO will face a daunting job. The company has been struggling to find its way into the burgeoning mobile market and faces tough competition from Arm Holdings, whose processors and technologies are widely used in mobile devices. The company has also been challenged by the depressed PC market.

While most industry analysts say Otellini is leaving the company of his own volition, Ken Dulaney, an analyst with Gartner, Inc., said other issues could have influenced his decision.

"Anytime this type of thing happens, it's a bit of a surprise, but he's been there a long time," Dulaney said. "And there are other factors that may be a 'slight' influence, such as the decline in PC shipments and the fact that Intel has missed the growth in mobility in categories such as smartphones."

However, Dulaney noted, Intel is a very strong company with top-of-class manufacturing and a particularly strong server business. With that strong base, new leadership could be a welcome change, he said.

Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group, said he's waiting to see who's on Intel's short list for the CEO position before commenting on Otellini's departure.

"I don't think it's necessarily bad, or good, news," he said. "It definitely means change, and some uncertainty, which is disruptive, but, Intel is fighting on a number of fronts and could probably use the shot in the arm that a new leader can bring."

With about six months to prepare for the big leadership transition, Intel is in a good position, according to Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT, Inc.

"Today's announcement begins an orderly preparation for his departure, with the Intel board having plenty of time to search, vet and choose a replacement," he added. "This is diametrically opposite from instances where CEOs are shown the door without warning or even a prospective replacement standing by."

It also means the company's board should have time to find a new leader who has a firm grasp of mobile technologies and the expanding mobile market.

However, a new leader, whether well-versed in mobile or not, may not change the company, or its future direction, all that much, said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy.

Intel is such a strong company with a new mobile strategy that the departure of one CEO and the entrance of another shouldn't alter its course much, Moorhead said.

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Web Design Career Options

The number of specialties in the web design business is expanding as more elaborate features are added to web pages, features that require varying types of expertise.  It's a burgeoning field, clearly; web pages for businesses have gone from being an interesting and optional addition just a few years ago to a necessity today.  The entire retail business model is undergoing a tectonic shift as the result of web-based product sales.  Service businesses use web pages to solicit business, and corporations use them as public relations and investor relations tools.  As a result, new careers are emerging.

Most of the web design specialties today require some formal training.  You can select from a number of degree programs, depending upon your area of interest and your innate talents.  The permutations of web site use have occurred rapidly and continue to do so.  Businesses that use their web site as a marketing tool are suddenly confronted with the methods that have been contrived to use the social networks as outreach tools.  Many retail sites are developing more elaborate product displays.  Finally, many businesses see the need to upgrade their sites as competitors put up more attractive and livelier web pages of their own.

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Here is a list of academic choices that can lead to a career in web design.

Animation.  Multimedia art and animation are often used interchangeably.  In fact, animation is closer to the development of video-type presentations.  An animator may be called on to develop characters or product drawings, and then put them in motion using a computer animation program.  Video presentations are at the top of the list for quality web site features, provided they fit into the flow of the site properly.

Graphic Design.  This degree is often the choice of people who have been drawing since childhood.  Their services in web design are essential to, among other things, client relations.  Web designers prepare storyboards for client presentations that are critical to the planning phase.  Often a graphic designer may be called on to put storyboards or web page outlines into slide show format.

Web Design and Development.  This is usually a bachelor's degree program, and with good reason.  Web developers today must learn the skills required to assemble a web page that combines images, copy and multimedia in an attractive and compelling fashion.  That means becoming acquainted with several computer applications, and languages, including Java, Flash and other programs used for media manipulation.  In addition, a degree in web design and development will address the real costs associated with the business.

Information Systems Web Development.   This degree will give you expertise in a specific area of internet use: the management, security and interface with database systems.  Many businesses today base their customer relations management (CRM) on computer programs that record every interaction with a customer and information on that customer's preferences.  How this information is managed is critical; and management includes its distribution across the company intranet and through its web portal.  It's an important job that incorporates software management, network design and web access control.

Visual Communication or Digital Design.  These degrees look at web development from the perspective of its use as a visual tool.  What is seen on the screen dictates how viewers react.  There are guidelines for the fundamentals to this approach and a large body of research and literature on the topic of visual communication - which, in the case of the internet, is in digital format.  It's an excellent technical degree that provides a broad perspective on website usage and design.

Why Multiple Browser Accessibility is Important in Web Design

The world of the internet has matured rapidly in a very short time, and standards of web design have matured along with it. Less than twenty years ago, "accessibility" revolved around making sure that your web pages could be read on all three of the major web browsers - Internet Explorer, Netscape and Mozilla. Within a few years, the concept of accessibility had expanded to include making sure that web sites remained accessible to those using older browsers. This became even more pressing as professional web designers on the "bleeding edge" became enamored of playing with the latest technology long before it was available to the web audience at large.

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Back in those days, a web designer friend and mentor laid out his web design philosophy in a nutshell. Design for the trailing edge, he told me. Design accessibility into your web site from the start, or risk losing a chunk of your market. In other words, the more people you shut out of your web site by making it inaccessible, the smaller your market becomes. His point was valid then, and it's even more valid now.

These days, thanks to better technology, the concept of "web accessibility" has expanded further to include not only accessibility to multiple browser platforms, but accessibility to multiple device platforms as well as accessibility to people of varying abilities and disabilities. The audience for your site may include users who are visually impaired, hearing impaired or physically disabled. Some users may have cognitive and neural disabilities that make it difficult to navigate a complicated web page.

People who have physical barriers to using and navigating your website may make up as much as 20% of your intended audience - and that's just a start. When you include people who are accessing your web site on a mobile phone or hand-held computer with a small screen, those who are stuck with low-bandwidth dial-up access and those who may have other barriers to seeing your site the way you intend, you may be blocking as much as 30-35% of people who could become customers.

Making Your Web Design More Accessible There are some basic tips to help any web designer make his site more accessible to most of the population. Those tips include: - Provide text alternatives for every element on the page. That includes ALT tags for graphics that describe the image, transcription or description of any audio on the page, and even using captioning for video.

- Make all functionality accessible from the keyboard for users who can't use a mouse.

- Avoid content that is known to cause seizures.

- Make navigation predictable and easy to understand.

- Make web pages behave in expected ways. For instance, make all of your links look the same so that people understand which words are links.

- Provide alternate navigation to graphical menus.

- Provide a site alternative optimized for mobile phone access.

Professional Web Design Services In some cases, particularly for government web sites, accessibility can become a legal issue. Even when your aim is to be sure that your web site is available to the largest number of customers possible, there are good reasons to aim for good web design that meets all web accessibility standards.

One of the safest ways to make sure that a mission critical web site is accessible to every possible user is to bring in a professional web design company to create your web site. Professional web designers are trained to consider accessibility standards in their design, and keep up on the latest accessibility standards and technology to provide you with a web site that will be useful to all of your site visitors, not just those who have no barriers to using the internet.

Five Tips For Choosing a Web Designer

With the global recession still biting hard many people are losing their jobs and are looking around for something they can do to try to make up their income as quickly as possible. Many of these people start their own companies, normally using the skills they had in their previous employment. One thing most start up companies try to get sorted out relatively quickly is their presence on the web. Without personally knowing a web designer these people turn to the internet to try to find someone who can construct a web site for them and lead tehm through the various stages such as choosing and registering a domain name. However some so called web designers are seriously lacking in the skills required. With that in mind here are a few simple tips to help you evaluate and engage the services of a web designer:

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Tip 1. Cost

The first thing you should ask your prospective web designer is what the cost will be. Designers come in all varieties as do the charges for their services. You really want to have a designer work for a fixed cost rather than on an hourly rate. This way you can be assured what the final cost of your finished web site will be. In the current economic climate web designers may be flexible in their pricing so if the prices seem high, ask them how they can change the specification of the website to something which is more in line with your budget.

Tip 2. Reduce It Down

A quick search on the internet will produce lists of thousands if not tens of thousands of websites out there from which to choose from. What you don't want to do is waster your and web design firms time. So narrow it down to 5 or 6 companies to speak further to about the web design services they offer.

Tip 3. Portfolio.

Every web designer will have a portfolio of work which they will normally detail on their own website. Have a good look at the web sites they have done and ask yourself if you like the designs. If you want specific functionality on your own site have they got eexamples of something similar in their portfolio. Web designers come from a variety of backgrounds. Some may be from a graphic design background, others may come from a programming background and this will greatly effect the sort of site they are capable of. Of course decent web design firms will have a large number of staff each with specific specialisms enabling them to cope with most jobs, unlike the one man band web designer who is unlikely to have a broad enough skill set to cope with the more demanding web design project.

Tip 4. Research

Do some research on the companies name using Google and see if there are comments good or bad against the companies name. Don't be put off by an isolated comment however. Another thing you can do is make contact with the owners of websites in the webdesigners portfolio and ask them about their web designer - essentially you are getting references that will enable you to assess the competence of the designer.

Tip 5. Location

The internet is global and to a certain extent it doesn't matter if your web designer is next door or in another company. However there is a lot to be said for the ability to have a face to face meeting with your designer to discuss ideas in which case you will want to choose a web design company that is close by. If location is not that important to you remember one other matter, if the design company is in a different country and something goes wrong, the costs of taking matters to court, potentially in a different country, can be astronomical.

Great Ideas For Successful Web Design

According to Bill Gates "Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven". Therefore, it would be meaningless to talk about one without talking of the other.

In this age of technology, web design plays an important role in gaining maximum exposure and maximum return on investment from your website. With so many online businesses, very few are able to make their existence prominent in the web world. A good web design involves characteristics such as an attractive content, user-friendly basic navigational tools, and an interface to hold visitors interest. With an innovative and exciting approach, you can easily generate income from your online business.

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So, let us check out a few interesting techniques to make your web design successful for a long run.

Branding your website: almost every website needs logo design and branding. Every individual visitor when visits your site the first thing they look for is branding. Your logo must represent your organization's branding, ethics, and essence. You can also look at some successful websites and find out how their logo has become their brand and everyone recognizes them with their logo.

Choose right images: you can use photography to make a website looking into a creative web design. Photos highlight your business, business services, or products.

Focus on content: once you have branded and used images the next step, rather the most important step is to focus on content. Experts consider it one of the crucial aspects of web site creation. If your website has good content, you will find endless visitors to your site. Your content will not only offer visitors information about your products or services but it will also guide them through the website. Nevertheless, while writing content, make sure it focuses on your motive; else, the target audience loses connection, or diverts from the website. This affects your website and you may not be able to draw traffic.

Acquire some knowledge of web design: it is better to research on web design and web development in the Internet. You can also learn about web development from various organizations. If you visit some web sites, you can also get some ideas, by analyzing the concepts used in their web design. This analysis will give you an idea how to use these concepts in your web design for your web site.

Respond as quickly as possible: this is important because designers and developers try their level best to make the website popular but it if the project comes to halt because they wait for direction or clarification then you won't be able to seal another project. So, try to give feedback to the web designer within 24 hours.

Use some eye soothing colors: use colors which are attractive but soothing to the eyes, they should not repel to customers. For example you design a website to target your South Asian audience so its better to avoid red color because they may get offended with this color.

So, what are you waiting for? Implement these great ideas of web designing to your website and make your presence in the worlds of Internet.

The Elements of Web Design

The elements of website designing are the building blocks constituting a designed webpage. If you aim to create effective and powerful web pages, it is crucial for you to have an in-depth understanding of the five basic elements, fundamental to web-page designing.

These five elements are:

o Lines and line work
o Shape
o Texture
o Color
o Direction

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How lines figure in the web page design- Lines are basic elements of web designing that are used to add style. Along with contributing to style, lines serve to enhance readability and comprehension of a design. They can be used either as a border around an element or as a divider to separate different elements. Lines can also be used as decorations or for accentuating contours around elements.

Shapes in web-designing- Shapes as basic design elements are made up of closed contours and/or by placing 2 dimensional or 3 dimensional objects in the design. Shapes can be categorized into three basic types: geometric, natural and abstract. They are used to convey meaning, organize information and can be used in several other ways also. For example, they can serve to add interest, sustain interest, guide eye direction around the design and help organize/separate elements in the design. Geometric shapes in design consist of rectangles, squares, circles, triangles and diamonds and are usually created by layout and CSS. Natural shapes, as the name suggests are those, which are commonly found in nature such as trees, ponds, puddles and leaves etc. Abstract shapes refer to those, which though possessing a recognizable form are in fact, not real. For example, a stick figure drawing of a horse is an abstract shape different from that of the picture of a real horse, which constitutes a natural shape. Abstract shapes are added in web-designs by using images. Some examples of abstract shapes are alphabet glyphs, icons, symbols etc.

Texture- Texture in website designing refers to a feel of the surface of the webpage and is the tactile part of the elements of web-design. Although texture of a webpage is visual, you are able to generate an illusion of smoothness/roughness/hardness or softness through introducing natural or artificial textures in your design. Texture in web-design is applied in several ways; e.g. through suitably textured backgrounds, special emphasis or by using stylized design features such as etchings or engravings. Incorporating texture in web-pages through background images is the most commonly used technique. You must however, remember that even when you do not use a special texture background, things may still possess an approximate texture. For example, images without backgrounds will have the texture of the images. Moreover, several elements present on a page provide a combination to present a textured look.

Color- Color is one design element to which all website designers pay the most attention. However, color is not an essential element of designing. The best way is to create a design in black and white and later on add color in bits to enhance design effects. Color is used in designs, in images, backgrounds, text foregrounds and accents. While in the foreground, colors are used in fonts and text color, in the background color is used to change the background of the element in the foreground. Color is also applied to borders around elements. It is added to web pages through images/photographs. For flat color GIF images and for photographic and multi-color JPEG images are used.

Essential Features of a Good Web Design

With the invention of computers, these days web designing has become another booming industry. Web designing has gained immense popularity, websites are considered as an important source of providing information. Every business concern these days has a website; websites can also be said as a very good source of advertising about the company their product offerings and other information with concerns to the company. It has become a recent trend in many business houses to do business on online basis.

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So in order to get good results through the website it is important that web designers make very nice, clean, professional-looking webpages. This article is going to explain about the essential features of a good web design. It is a very easy to design a nice, professional looking website, even if the companies do not possess much experience in the field of web design. The difference which would exist between the beginner web designers is the elimination of some of the basic features which are of vital importance for a good web page to give a good appearance in all cases irrespective of the different search engines.

The features of a good web design are as follows:

The major components which should be kept in mind in the formulation of a good web page are text, navigation tools, links, graphics and General design. These tips would be a handy tool for the beginner web designers.

Web designing requires creativity along with some handy rules which have to be considered. The text should be aligned in such a way that it is not interrupted by the background. The font size of the text should be big enough so that it does not cause any strain in reading. Be sure that information provided is in proper hierarchy and clarity of the idea behind writing must exist.

Text and Images must be strategically added on the web pages through effectual website design. Browser compatibility is as well a key need that must be dealt with during web design creation stage. For that reason website development process must make sure that a balance is maintained between the text and the images.

Navigation is a consistent process through the web site, these bars act as a clue to where the visitor is. So the buttons used for navigation should be clear and easy to understand. In case there is usage of frames then there usage must not be obtrusive. Incase the site you are designing is a very large one then it would be better to have a site map for easy search results.

As far as the links usage is considered the link colors must be set in such a way that there is proper coordination with the background color. The links are underlined so that they facilitate clarity in understanding. The graphics in the page should be such that the buttons are not too big, it is always better that each graphics possess an alt label facilitating the purpose of easy understandability. Use background safe colors for graphics and background. So while designing a web site keep the following tips and boost yourself to get good web design.