Web Design Victoria BC
I have become obsessed with The Age Of Persuasion! Terry O’Reilly has a great advertising blog, radio show and book. Love him. love it.
Dear Facebook Users – Just Stop It Already!
If you have a business, a website, and a Facebook fan page, you are probably getting things all wrong. Many of my clients seem to post religiously to their Facebook page but not their own website.
Dear Victoria Council Candidates – Hire a Designer!
Driving around the streets of Victoria today (I took my Nana to lunch) I couldn’t help but notice the clutter of political signs for Victoria City Council and the CRD Board. Campaigning for civic government is kind of fun because you get a lot less of the slick committee compromises. And a lot less professional graphic design too! It seems, at least from looking at the various candidates’ yard signs, that many of the candidates have designed their own signage! Have a look at the sign pictured here. It’s a sign for what I’ll call the ‘unknown’ candidate. Read More
New iOS 5, OS X Lion Podcasts and Playlists
Frustrated by the way iTunes no longer recognizes your podcast playlists? Yeah me too! I tried all kinds of things, thinking that maybe my favorite podcasts were somehow now in the wrong format or something! In frustration I took to the web and found a discussion thread in the Apple forums where LOTS of people were having the same issue. One of the posts mentioned a tab that I hadn’t even noticed before, a brand new tab under your ipod icon just for podcasts!
So it appears Apple has fundamentally changed the way that your device syncs with your podcasts…and didn’t tell you. Read More Advice About WordPress Opensource CMS
Have you heard bad things about WordPress, Joomla, and other open source content management systems?
There are some web development companies who will tell you to avoid a designer who builds WordPress or Joomla websites because those sites aren’t secure. They’ll tell you that they have their own proprietary content management system that is much more secure, or that it’s easier for you to use, or they’ll have rehearsed some other perfectly plausible reason you should use their system.
Ask yourself, and them, what you should do if they tick you off and you want to take your business elsewhere. Read More
How To Choose A Web Design Company
Like it or not, there are no shortage of unethical web design companies, freelance website designers who can not, or will not build to current standards, and of course firms who overcharge by as much as possible and deliver as little as possible. Just as when making any purchase, the consumer is wary of being ripped off, cheated, and abused. However, with the purchase of a website people are at a much greater disadvantage. The technology is baffling to most, the language is confusing, and most people just sort of give up and take a wild chance on someone they don’t feel entirely comfortable with.
Blogging For Higher Search Engine Rank
Google likes nothing more than seeing new content on your website. Correction: there is one thing they like more…tons of people, websites and blogs linking back to that new content on your website. This is the new reality people! You don’t have to love it, but you have to do it. Your blog entries need not be lengthy or earth shattering, but if you want to rank higher, you have to post new content twice a week on a regular basis. Take this blog post for instance. I’m working on my rank for the term SEO Victoria, so I write new articles which always use that term somewhere. Read More
Victoria Web Design Roundup
Check out these before and after shots of offices. If I could just wave a magic wand in this here home office…
Super creative and inspiring ‘sculpted illustrations‘ by Jessica Fortner
More for the ‘why didn’t I create that’ file…negative space in logo design
DROOL. BMW concept cars outdone only by the spanky-new electric Tron Lightcyle
 Architecture Porn: The Fray Leon House designed by 57Studio
Is STREET ART the only relevant type of expression left? Information Layout – Web Design Victoria BC
A good website design will be a positive reflection of you, your company, and the products or services that you provide. Whether it is for personal or business use, your site really ought to express some personality and individuality. Savvy web surfers will sense a stock web template a mile away and they DO judge them to be amateurish. Don’t forget to appeal to your website’s users!
Most small business owners have an old tired web design if they have a website at all. The subject of web design never comes up for them. In fact, they often forget whether or not they have a website at all. Do you know why? Read More Why Box 9 Design Wants To Knock Your Socks Off!
My goal with every client I work with is to create loyalty. Fierce loyalty. By creating a website that is laser focused on meeting your needs, and exceeding your expectations I plan to win you over and keep winning you over. I am not the type to squeeze you and your business into a ready-made website that does not speak to your brand.
I want the front page of your website to speak to your potential customers and clients who visit your site. I want what it says to be your core message. Don’t have one? I’ll help you to create one. Read More
Is Joomla! Right For Your Website?
What is Joomla?
‘Joomla’ comes from the Swahili word ‘Jumla’ which means ‘all together’. It is an open source content management system (CMS) popular in the web development world. It is built on a PHP/MySQL framework and includes features like banners, polls, RSS, login module, and endless ways to customize and update your website.
Joomla is the most often used open source platform for CMS web development in the world. It is commonly believed that WordPress is best for blogging, and Joomla is best for content management and extensions/applications.
Read More Web Design Trends For 2011
The big news in web design trends for 2011 is HTML5 . This development is easily dominating news about web design this year for a number of reasons.
What is HTML5? HTML has been a pretty static computer language for a long time. HTML5 is the first major leap for the language since HTML4 in 1997…that’s 14 years as of this posting! To say that much has changed on the World Wide Web in the past 14 years is a monumental understatement. Surfers today demand rich multimedia content from even the most basic business card website. HTML5 allows developers to incorporate all of this multi media content in websites without third party applications like Flash.
Read More Why You Need A Pro For Your Website
You can buy a hosting package with a FREE website! You can find a web design student to build you a site for $100! You found an online tool that will walk you through web design a-b-c!
So why pay a reasonable price to a professional web designer for a custom website?
Navigational Architecture: If you don’t know what it is, don’t even try to create your own website! The two most important aspects of your website are the information you provide, and how they get to that information. I have a proven system for ‘chunking’ your information and creating sites that are simple and intuitive to navigate.
Read More Design Roundup
I found a nice article by Lee Munroe on why a designer should not present more than one option to a client (and why a client should only want one!)
David Airey writes about the importance of color choice on his design blog.
Eye Candy! Dev Snippets has a list of the 10 most beautiful island photography on earth.
For all of my ‘Symmetry is best’ / ‘Asymmetry is best’ clients…dzineblog has a great discussion of both.
Read More New Websites and the Google Sandbox
Is your new website nowhere to be found on Google? Hearing rumours about this thing called the Google Sandbox? There is a lot of conflicting information out there about Google’s practice of penalizing, or giving a ‘time out’ to new websites until they know that they’re not ‘spammy’. The following tale outlines my experience with this phenomenon.
Earlier this year, I launched two new websites for the same client. One was www.maplegroveguesthouse.ca, the other was www.horseplayparties.ca.
Read More Web Design Victoria BC – Heating Up!
Paul Forster at Box 9 Design has been turning out stellar websites, business cards, logos and more for over 18 months. He’s been so busy blowing his clients away with their websites that his own site has been feeling a little neglected.
Well, a newly designed and renovated Box 9 website is well under way and should be arriving soon.
“The new site reflects my current design esthetic. Clean, modern, bright without much clutter and highlighting the content.” says Mr. Forster. “Most people have moved past the stage where they are blown away by spinning objects and sound effects. They come to a website for a purpose, and want to get right to the heart of it.” 
