Masthead, Frank & WEC

This has been a tough week or two on magazines here in Canada. Masthead and Frank have both called it a day.

North Island Publishing's Masthead Magazine and its online counterpart, mastheadonline.com, are closing their doors. Masthead has been an institution in the Canadian magazine racket for the last 21 years, educating us with lessons by expert writers, contributors and trade events, keeping us up to speed on changes around the industry, and generally reminding us of the importance and relevance of our industry.

Run-of-the-mill Web guys like me were inspired by Masthead to pursue a career in publishing. The magazine and website gave me a sense of belonging to a community.

Sadly, Michael Bate's two-times-monthly satirical institution and occasional lawsuit target, Frank, has shut down as well.

The economical issues have hit even closer to home for this editor - two of the major projects I've been working on have also found their way to the back burner or possibly the never burner. Advertising money is harder to find. Businesses everywhere are feeling the pinch, if not being pinched right out.

These big shake-ups in Canadian publishing, as well as the disturbing economical situation we're all enduring now, prompted me to share a bit of what I know about online magic. Got a publication with a website? Got a publication with no website? Whatever your setup is, I'll try to help you out. My publishing and A/V friends will pipe in from time to time too.

This blog may not help your RRSPs bounce back from disaster or fill up your gas tank for $0.499/litre (remember that?), but if I can share some knowledge that saves you a few minutes or a few bucks, then I'm doing my part.

In this blog I'll cover topics such as:
*** Website - registering a domain name and setting up hosting
*** Website - basic HTML coding
*** Website - using an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver
*** Graphic Design - slicing up Photoshop images for use in a webpage
*** Graphic Design - creating images for use in websites and banner ads
*** Multimedia Production - creating dynamic motion graphics for video
*** Multimedia Production - editing sound for audio and video podcasting
*** Multimedia Production - editing video for web publication
*** Music - how to play drums for AC/DC in four easy steps (just kidding - there are only three steps)

...and anything else you'd like to learn!

We'll get rolling soon with the next topic to pop into my mind. In the meantime, if you have any great suggestions for things you would like to learn about, fire them over to me. Whether I know how to do it or not, I'll learn it, and teach it.

That's the kind of guy I am.

Write to me anytime at rfairley@gmail.com or editor@webeditorcanada.com, or add a comment to one of my posts to get in touch.

While you're waiting, check out mastheadonline.com. It's a must-see, and you can comment on the story of their doors closing. Maybe we can convince them to at least keep the website up.

While you're there, don't miss Kat Tancock's "Magazines Online" blog. She's got great insight into online publishing.

I hope you enjoy what goes up here, and stick around for exciting lessons!

Rock on,

Russ