If you are a photographer, writer, designer, illustrator or an artist of any kind you have gotta have a web presence. But not just any old web site. Please pay attention to colors, fonts, layout and of course content.

Bernice Yeung is a freelance writer who gets it. Hers is a clean, simple, pleasant web site that has just about all the things that one would want to see at a writer's website. “I'm mostly using it for when I'm pitching stories for freelance work,” she offered in a recent email. Indeed, a web site can be your calling card that could either make or break you in a world where the first impression lasts a lifetime. See how each page has a different background color. That sort of feedback to the web site visitor is golden. I was also impressed in the way the pages loaded quickly. Missing are unnecessary animations and other eye candy that distract rather than attract you to the content on the site.

Yeung's site is designed by Rick Elizaga. And I mention his name because a lot of us feel we have to go at this alone or mistakenly believe we can design our own sites. Here is a bit of unsolicited advice – get a designer to help you out. Going back to the topic of making your first impression, would you want your site to look unprofessional or professional? Do what you do best, leave the rest to those who do those things best. While it may mean saving a few bucks now, the price you pay trying to be a jack of all trades is much too great for your future.

I have 16 Gmail invites to give away. Interested? Check this link first.

Make a donation (it's a worthy cause), send me an email saying that you have done the right thing, once I confirm your donation I'll send you an invite to join the Gmail cult.

If you can't make a donation at this time, then email me a short list of six photographers, writers, designers or editorial illustrators whose web sites aren't already listed on Tiffinbox. The more number of URL's you send me the better your chances are, and if they happen to be desi, even better.

There are no free lunches.

If you are used to Yahoo! or Hotmail's puny email services, using Gmail on a regular basis is like taking a double-shot of espresso on an empty stomach. Having 1 gigabyte of space really rocks. The interface is also easy on the eyes and given that the service is tied to the Google search engine, finding your old emails is a cinch.

I have – “count-em” – 12 Gmail invites to give away for those aspiring and perspiring to upgrade your email storage space. Interested parties may email me Gmail-inspired poetry (a desi twist is welcome) or, send me large bribes.

On a serious note, though, this is how I want this to work – I manage another blog – OMLOG – for a non-profit based in India that does incredible clinical and medical research work in the field of ophthalmology. It's an eye institution run primarily on the good graces of donors and well-wishers. Almost 40% of the patients (some 125,000 people) each year receive totally free care. No nickel and diming people here. No catches. No BS. The hospital is called Sankara Nethralaya and it's mission is vision for ALL irrespective of a person's financial status.

I would be happy to give away these 1 gigabyte email accounts if I can have 12 people step up and make a $100 donation via OMLOG. You'll see the orange donation “DONATE NOW” button on the right hand side. Make the donation. We'll receive a confirmation of your name, email address and donation amount (that's right, you aren't restricted from making more than a $100 donation). Then email me saying that you have made a donation (email me at: tiffinboxATpipalproductionsDOTcom). I'll send you an invitation once I have everything confirmed.

I have been using three Gmail accounts and it's been great fun to receive large attachments (images, movies) without any hassles. Trust me, you want one of these accounts for yourself.

Also know this: Blindness, for the most part can be preventable. For just $50 one less person in India needs to go blind. Think what $100 can do! Your donation is also tax-deductible as the donation is made to a 501(c)3 organization. Trust that your donation will be used responsibly. I guarantee it.

Diwali is right around the corner. Do the right thing. Make your donation count.

Via NEXT@CNN

PhotoStamps is a new form of postage that allows customers to include their favorite digital photographs, designs or images on valid US Postal Service postage. Customers design state-of-the-art, professional-looking postage from the PhotoStamps web site by simply uploading pictures from existing image files, digital photographs, and original graphics. An intuitive interface allows users of PhotoStamps to flip, rotate, and zoom in and out of their images, as well as add colored borders to create harmonized themes.

Sure it costs extra. It's a business for crying out loud. But does the extra charge mean my mail will actually be delivered on time now?

Via Steve Outing (on Poynter.org, quick link: A69743)

New-media pundit and author J.D. Lasica and software pioneer Marc Canter have come up with what looks like an interesting and worthwhile endeavor: the Open Source Media Project, which they announced on Monday. The quick explanation: It's an open-source repository of digital media projects — especially video, but all sorts of multimedia content. The idea is that we're coming out of a media world where a few moneyed players produce nearly all the content content, and we've arrived in a world where new technologies allow anyone to produce digital stories. Open Source will provide a place to store, index, and distribute all that “citizen content.” Canter explains what they're doing this way: “Basically we're making sure to make it REAL easy for folks to utilize media in their everyday lives, school, and work.” Storage space (and a massive amount likely will be required) and bandwidth is being donated “forever” by Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive.