Generally, companies decide they require a chat icon on their website to improve customer relations and/or consumer confidence. The chat icon should be visible on the website within seconds. Statistics have revealed that regardless if a consumer uses the live chat or not, it will increase website sales by almost 29%.

Here are a few tips to consider when implementing a chat icon on your company website:

• Place the icon in a consistent location. If a visitor is in need of assistance, they know precisely where to locate the live chat.

• Don’t make the design of the live chat button too overwhelming. People are on your site to obtain information; not firmly to live chat

• You don’t want the button to blend too much with the site. Even though the design scheme may be to design the button with the pattern of the site, it may camouflage too well and become lost.

• Keep in mind a section on the site the user will always find the chat icon. If you position it merely on a single page, the user may forget where they found the button, thus the sale being lost.

• Users should not have to adjust their experience on the site such as substituting to a different browser to find the chat icon. Test the button on your site before implementation.

It may take a bit of time to discover where the best place to situate the icon is but it will be well worth the time and effort. It should not be the main focus of the site but be familiar enough to users to locate if they require instant online communication.

The Cinderella project is a noteworthy conception. Students in the community who are living in low income conditions can’t meet the expenses to commemorate the graduation celebrations alongside their fellow students and consequently, several of them don’t see the value in high school.  Teachers and principals help those students with the Cinderella Project by assisting them to participate in a day of recognition, self-esteem boosting and mentorship.

Last week, a student from Hong Kong is now feeling speechless about the volume of publicity he is receiving. Johnathan Mak, a university graphic design student designed the Apple logo to substitute the area with the apple part being bitten into a silhouette of Steve Jobs. Initially, Mak designed this as a memento to Steve Jobs after his resignation in August but it was only when Steve Jobs had passed away that the design went viral.

Mak has already received thousands of emails and messages on Twitter about his creation. Companies from different countries have contacted Mak striving to buy the copyright of his design. There still may be some copyright issues since the design is based on Apple’s logo. He has even been contacted with hundreds of job proposals but Mak has kindly declined them since he would like to finish school first.

Since Steven Jobs died from pancreatic cancer, Mak has decided that any earnings he receives from the logo will go directly towards cancer research.

One of Mak’s main inspirations of his designs comes from Steve Jobs. Jobs was a courageous man who strongly believed in his concepts and designs and continued to advance forward no matter what the repercussions or what people criticized him about.

First classes in the morning for high school teachers are typically silent. Students are distracted, daydreaming and sleepy or even sleeping. Although parents and teachers will love to place all the blame on texting, video games and eating recklessly, half of the blame falls on the amount of sleep students receive. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens require at least nine hours of sleep every night. Generally, teens average about seven and a half hours of sleep or less. This is commonly directed to students having loads of homework, part time jobs, extracurricular activities, on the computer or playing video games.

The production of melatonin(hormones that the body produces that aids in sleeping) undergoes an adjustment in adolescences. It initiates later in the day and shuts down later in the morning. This forces students to desire to go to bed later and get up later.

There are several effects on not receiving the minimum hours of sleep. This can decline their school attendance and lower academic performance. There has also been a relation of weight gain and have poor nutrition to sleep. This pertains to students having no time for breakfast in the morning and also an increase of caffeine in order to stay up. Not getting plenty of sleep is a large factor for car accidents. Half of car accidents involve drivers falling asleep behind the wheel under the age 25.

Some schools in the United States are becoming supportive of student’s sleep, so to accommodate sleep-wake cycles for students, some schools start one hour later. Schools find the change in time helps increase attendance and also improve grades.

Tips to help your teens/students sleep easier

1. Exercise – exercise daily but not too close to bedtime as this can cause insomnia
2. Modify Your Diet – stay away from caffeine or junk food.
3. Herbs/Supplements – help to increase melatonin
4. Sleep in a Dark Room – even the smallest amount of light can disrupt your internal clock
5. Sleep in a Cool Temperature – studies show that sleeping in a warm area can lead to restless nights
6. Reserve the Bed for Sleeping – it’s hard to fall asleep if you do other non-sleeping activities on the bed such as watching television, eating, doing homework, etc.
7. Set a Bedtime Routine – it’s easier to fall asleep when your body is used to a pattern every day.
8. Avoid Eating Before Bed – eating foods especially high in grains and sugars will raise the blood pressure and delay sleep.

Starting September 1, students will be heading back to school and may be in for a surprise to see no junk food anywhere in their school cafeteria, vending machines or school stores. Beginning on the first day of school, all Edmonton public schools can no longer sell or support junk food to students pertaining to the Alberta nutrition guidelines.

Types of junk food include: pop, chips, cookies, chocolates bars, candy, ice cream and baked goods.

At Edmonton Catholic schools, parents and teachers have already acted collectively in eliminating junk food and providing nutritional alternatives in the majority of their schools.

Food choices have improved the past years such as in Victoria Schools of the Arts. The vending machines at Victoria provide healthier items such as Nature Valley granola bars and fruits. Still, there have been some complaints from students about the change. A student at Victoria observes that the price of food is expensive. You would have to pay $2 for a banana but a cookie would be half the price.

Students are still permitted to bring junk food from home or buy them outside of the school. Generally, students still travel to nearby stores and fast food franchises on their lunch break however; schools see that students prefer purchasing a nutritional item from the vending machines than travel outside of the school for junk food. If junk food is not there, students won’t buy it.

Several parents try to educate their children about the significance of exercise and healthy eating but it’s difficult to do this when schools challenge their teaching by offering students quick access to innutritious snacks/meals. The proposal to remove junk food from the 197 public schools started in 2006 and came into effect in 2008. This comprised a timeline to gradually eliminate all junk food from the school cafeterias, vending machines and school stores. It was complicated for the schools since they had to respect their contracts with food vendors and fathom some kind of arrangement to offer food that meets Alberta nutrition guidelines.

In Harry Ainlay High School, the “no junk food” policy has been in effect for at least three years. Principal David Jones comments, “You know, it’s interesting that the sales of food in the school went down dramatically in my first year of doing this for the first month. Then all of a sudden they came back because students know and were educated that it’s not good to have french fries and a Slurpee or a large Coke or an extra burger. They become very aware of what’s going into their bodies. We’re not in the business of making money at cafeterias. We’re in the business of providing good, healthy choices.”