This project was not so much a redesign as a refresh of the site’s current design. The original design was flat & dated. The initial view of the site was a Flash-based animation, followed by a redirect to the About page which contained information on the organization, PDF newsletters and the club’s board members, not hardly the primary interest when the club’s goal was to promote activities, events and membership.

Prior to the club’s annual garden tour, I took the opportunity to freshen the look of the site, reorganize the content to better align it with the club’s goals and overhauling the site’s code to make it web standards-based. Additionally, several eCommerce widgets were added to sell garden tour tickets, club memberships and advertising online. The site has been a success, driving more ticket sales, more memberships and more interest in the club overall.

Highlights

About the site

• Static, Web-Standards-based website
• Completed May 2010

Work performed

• Web Design & Development
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Technologies Used

• (X)HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

Applications / Tools Used

• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
• Adobe Photoshop CS3

View Malibu Garden Club website…

Google recent released a change to its search engine results page. While the change is subtle, one of the new features is a handy, easy to access tool for performing keyword research for optimizing your web site for the search engines. Continue Reading »

Search engine optimization is an ongoing task that covers a variety of aspects of your website. One item of note is the relevancy of your landing pages. I’m not referring to search engine ranking, but meeting the expectation of site visitors when they first arrive on your site.

Here’s an exercise that can improve your website’s landing pages. The article assumes you have your site hooked up to Google Analytics. If not, stop reading, register the site and install the code. Continue Reading »

I’ve done several presentations in my time. They tend to be text heavy, as I want the presentation to have value long after I’ve delivered it.

In the last several years, there’s been a trend in the Internet community to give presentations where primarily supportive imagery is displayed on the slide, while the presenter talks through the points he/she wishes to communicate. This is great for during the presentation. However, after the event, when a presentation is posted for all to view online, there’s only frustration when the viewer cannot obtain the “message.” Just read the comments of frustration from many of the presentations from SXSW. Continue Reading »

Late last year, I wanted to verify thoughts I had on web design and the industry, specifically related to the web design process. I tapped my network at LinkedIn to poll. The results are definitely not scientific, as the questions were polled at different times, with different responders. Consider this just a quick check into the industry, not an all encompassing survey, like A List Apart’s Web Design Survey. Continue Reading »

The topic of using text-decoration versus border-bottom for hyperlinks recently cross my mind. To be honest, I had never consider the effects and impacts of these two different implementations. However, since playing with these concepts, it has become quite an important usability item to me. Continue Reading »

I evangelize about things that I’m passionate about. I’ve evangelized about the web and web design for over ten years. I attend web-related meetups and get really wound up about the topic.

Segue to the networking side of those same meetups. I stumble. Ok, I fall flat on my face. I typically find someone to introduce myself to, but it ends there. Continue Reading »

I really don’t know the official term to describe this method. It’s not new, by all means. However, it’s a powerful method of using CSS code & classes effectively and efficiently.

Multiple CSS Classes

First, you may not be aware that you can use multiple css classes on elements. Example:
<p class="classone classtwo"></p>
Here’s where the power comes in. We can use these multiple classes to separate the structure from the “skin.” Continue Reading »

Just learned of a great new web design podcast.

The Pipeline, hosted by Dan Benjamin, features interviews with leading designers, developers, writers, and entrepreneurs. The first episode featured Jeffrey Zeldman, designer, founder of ALA. I found this to be the best interview with Jeffrey.

Other shows feature interviews with Ryan Carson and Jason Fried, with more interviews to come.

Visit the web site to listen to individual interviews, or subscribe via iTunes.

My typical post center around sharing my knowledge and experience with other web professionals. This particular post will depart from the norm and cover the very important topic of diversity & respect in the web industry, specifically related to gender.

I recently attended the 200th episode of the Boagworld podcast. The podcast celebrated by spanning twelve hours with special guests; experts in their specific web-related field. As usual with the Boagworld podcast, there was plenty of banter, including a few music numbers and bad jokes, along with the valuable, motivating information. If you don’t listen to the podcast, I highly recommend it. Continue Reading »

Early in my web career, say 2000, I was always told to limit what you emphasize. The theory is that the more you emphasize, the less something is emphasized. I remember debating with several content producers on this topic. Continue Reading »

Lindblad Alaska is a standards-based, lead-generation, travel-related microsite designed for an existing client and developed on a Wordpress CMS. Much of the look n’ feel was derived from existing branding from travel supplier print material. I participated in the end-to-end design & development of the website.

Highlights

About the site

• Wordpress-based website
• Completed January 2010

Work performed

• Web Design & Development
• WordPress Theme Development
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Technologies Used

• (X)HTML
• CSS
• PHP
• JavaScript
• WordPress

Applications / Tools Used

• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
• Adobe Photoshop CS3

View Lindblad Alaska website…

I recently had a bad experience at a local restaurant. So what does that have to do with web design?

My wife & I were told to view the carryout menu online. As we were physically at the restaurant, we attempted to view the menu on the restaurant’s website from our smart phones. That failed, due to the site being created solely in Flash. Continue Reading »

It’s a new year, and it’s time to get back to work.

So why do your websites still read © last year or worse?

Most web site owners forget to update their copyright date. And it’s easy to understand why. For most sites, the footer, where the copyright date usually sits, is below the fold and in small type anyways. But for site visitors, it can communicate the freshness of a website’s content. So it doesn’t hurt to make sure this information is updated. Continue Reading »

This web design project was for a business lawyer client in Los Angeles, California. The project involved information architecture, wireframes and Photoshop design mock-ups. The site was then built on the Wordpress CMS platform leveraging a web standards approach. It encompasses the clients need to communicate that their legal services provide direction.

Highlights

About the site

• Wordpress, standards-based website
• Completed December 2009

Work performed

• Web Design & Development
• WordPress Theme Development
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Technologies Used

• (X)HTML
• CSS
• PHP
• JavaScript
• WordPress

Applications / Tools Used

• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
• Adobe Photoshop CS3

View the Phyllis Alden Truby website…

I just concluded a month long, onsite project for a mid-to-large sized company. The project was to consolidate several client-side applications into one web-based application for corporate & field employees. It was personally rewarding on several levels (besides financial). First, got to work with a company that has a seemingly great culture of teamwork and respect, of which I truly appreciate. I also had the opportunity to do some things graphically that I had not focused on before. Now don’t picture anything life changing here, just plenty of expanding rounded corner boxes, a logo, and an animated graphic (.gif) designed in Illustrator that involved 2-3D images. The final task was to create styles that would be implemented on an ASP.NET-based application leveraging ASP components & extensions. The latter proved to be an unexpectedly difficult challenge. Continue Reading »

Well, the planets all lined up again. Which meant, my intent to redesign my personal website had to be placed on hold. Yet, moving off of a web host and getting things updated took precedence. So with that, here’s the latest website redesign.

It’s based on the wpFolio WordPress theme, with just a few customizations. I need to make more, but it’ll have to wait until time allows.

Stay tuned, more fun on the way.