Databases-r-us guide

Relationships: dating sites and servises for singles

People in their 20s and 30s may turn to online dating to find new friends - but not so for people over 50. Their overarching purpose is romance. It is increasingly hard to find available partners when you are 50 and over because the opportunities for meeting a variety of unattached people are much fewer. But internet dating can also be frustrating when e-mail after e-mail goes unanswered. Patience is often required and keeping in mind the three paramount goals of online dating communications.

1. Getting a response.

You have crafted a profile and uploaded recent photographs. Now you are ready to contact interesting people and start conversations. But first you have to get people to respond to you.

On most internet dating services, you have choices for initiating communications. You can send an e-mail or you can send a "wink" or "flirt" or whatever they call signaling someone that you are interested in them. My experience was that e-mails are not answered as much as winks and flirts. It is very depressing to craft a cute introductory e-mail time after time and fail to receive a response. My experience was that only about 20% of my efforts got a response. Perhaps that seems depressing to you. But rest assured that your communication efforts will get people to looking at your profile even if they decide not to answer you.

Online dating is a numbers game - the more communications you send, the more you increase your chances of getting positive results. I decided to send mostly winks and flirts rather than e-mails, thus I reserved my best efforts in e-mails for people who had already responded and who would most likely answer my e-mail.

2. Starting a conversation.

When you get a response, be sure to keep it light as you share basic introductory information. Save the heavy stuff - like your experiences in previous relationships - for after you have gotten to know each other. A good starting place is with the information in their profile. Share your responses to their profile and ask questions that get them to sharing more about themselves. Also be ready to amplify the information in your profile that stimulated the interest of the other person.

Some people will want to extend the conversation to include telephone calls and instant messaging. These can work well for helping you get to know more about each other, but you still want to keep it light until after you meet face-to-face. Beware of a false sense of intimacy that can grow with just a few e-mails or phone calls. You can't really know a person until you have met them, so your early conversations should focus on providing enough information to let you know if a date is feasible or desirable.

3. Setting a date.

Meeting someone in person is necessary to really get to know them. This is when you find out if their photograph was recent and if their description of age and weight was accurate. The person who charmed you in e-mail or telephone conversations may impress you differently face-to-face. What had seemed cute may now be irritating.

Your date will be successful if you both decide to see each other a second or third time. But be prepared to find out that the person who charmed you in cyber communications falls short of your expectations when you actually meet them. Once again, internet dating is a numbers game. I have found long-term relationships twice through online dating. Both times it took me four months and meeting around 20 women before I found the right person.

Providing you with enough opportunity to screen lots of potential partners in order find just the right one is a strong point of online dating - you will not find that many available people anywhere else. So hang in there and keep sending those winks, and flirts, and e-mails.

Web design and development: graphics: web: templates

dreamweaver templates.

Millions of web designers and developers have chosen Adobe Dreamweaver as their software of choice for website creation. Even with the incredible amount of built-in functionality that comes standard with Dreamweaver, there are many web applications that require a vast amount of hand coding to implement. Web Developer Suite from WebAssist is a Dreamweaver extension bundle that helps eliminate hand coding and opens up a vast dynamic frontier for the average Dreamweaver user.

Web Developer Suite consists of the following individual WebAssist Dreamweaver extensions:

DataAssist - for complete database administration SecurityAssist - for user management, login, cookies and sessions Digital File Pro - for mastering file upload and download Universal Email - for processing form email on your website Dynamic Dropdowns - for dynamic dropdown menu creation Cookies Toolkit - add server-side cookies with one click Pro Maps for Google - dynamic or static Google maps API integration Validation Toolkit - for validating any type of form information iRite - for integrating WYSIWYG text editors into websites Database Starter Kits - for both PHP and ASP

Each extension is installed individually within the Dreamweaver extension manager, and is accessed via the WebAssist toolbar added to Dreamweaver. The real value of the Web Developer Suite lies in the ability to code advanced website function in a fraction of the time it would take to hand code. Each extension operates from a wizard-like interface that clearly walks you through the steps needed to configure your task.

DataAssist creates complete database administration page sets with a few clicks of the mouse. Automatically generate web pages that add, delete, update, view or search your database. If you use , DataAssist allows you to use your site template when generating pages. The resulting pages flow seamlessly into your website and are fully customizable via CSS.

SecurityAssist generates all the pages and code needed to create secure user registration and log in pages for your site. It teams up with Cookies Toolkit to utilize cookies and session variables to prevent unauthorized access to any pages you wish to restrict on your website.

If you need a Dreamweaver extension to control digital file upload and download, Digital File Pro is the extension of choice. Through a wizard-like interface, you can easily enable database file upload and download through your website. It's an excellent tool for webmasters who provide digital files such as MP3s, e-books, PDFs, images, photos, videos and any other type of downloadable file format.

Web Developer Suite also includes Universal Email, which is an extremely handy extension for emailing form input from your website. Universal Email even operates without a database, so it makes a great tool for emailing website contact form submissions. Emails can be formatted as text or HTML, and Universal Email includes a WYSIWYG HTML editor for creating your HTML email messages.

Pro Maps for Google inserts static or dynamic Google maps into your website. Addresses can be entered manually, from a file or even from your database recordset. The Google map API is fully configurable, with custom pointers, map controls and size. It's an excellent extension for inserting maps into dynamic websites.

Web Developer Suite also includes Validation Toolkit, which is WebAssist's form validation extension. Validate your form input client-side or server-side with a wide assortment of validation rules. By controlling form data input on your website, you can help reduce spam submissions and protect the integrity of your data.

The final Dreamweaver extension included in the Web Developer Suite is WebAssist's WYSIWYG form field text editor, iRite. Based on the popular FCKeditor, iRite allows you to insert a text editor in a Dreamweaver form for inputting valid XHTML code without needing any knowledge of HTML. iRite is a great extension for developing custom content management systems or just a simple way for clients to keep their own websites updated.

Web Developer Suite from WebAssist is an excellent addition to anyone's Dreamweaver toolbox. The cost of Web Developer Suite is a steal for the enormous amount of website function that is packaged in the bundle. Web designers can offer much greater website functionality to their clients and recoup the cost of the extensions in one project. There is no restriction on the number of sites you can build with Web Developer Suite, and no restrictive "per site" licensing. For web designers looking to push their websites to a new level, WebAssist Web Developer Suite is a must-have Dreamweaver add-on.