Web Design, Programming, and Business
Imagine this scenario: You’re looking to shop online for a brand new whatchamacallit. You Google it up, get a list of links, and select one of the first that appears relevant. Then you wait as the page chokes and crawls along in a frozen state while the images are being loaded. Within five seconds you jump back to Google and select a different link. It works great. The page loads almost...
Do you remember when Microsoft first released their style guides for their mobile and Windows 8 platforms? Personally, I recall reading much internet outrage about the “flat blandness” of the design, and innumerable disparaging remarks regarding the color choices. My how have we come a long way in such a short time. Apple products have tended to rake in the accolades for design aesthetics and can...
What was it that brought you to web design and development? For many of us it was the energy and excitement of creating the most optimal, visually stunning solutions to a visitor interface and subsequently bringing that to life with code. For some, it was solely visual creation – stunning graphical elements and mock-ups, code be damned. Either way, as web designers and developers we spend many...
To generate high-quality thumbnails: Go to Gallery -> Manage Gallery Click on the gallery that the thumbnail is in. For example, if the thumb is on the Idea Gallery page, in the Details carousel, select ‘Idea Gallery – Details’ Check all the thumbnails that are low resolution (fuzzy) and from the ‘Bulk actions’ dropdown, select ‘Create new thumbnails’...
Last night, I presented to the Boise Graphic Design Group on the web design process last night. This was actually our first full meetup – all 40 spots were taken. That’s a great first but I’m always a bit nervous when I speak in front of groups. As always though, I came out of the presentation more knowledgeable than going in. That’s what I love about this group –...
Wow, here it is week 4 after starting my business and I finally have a bit of time to sit down and write! And that’s after a 60+ hour week…so that’s something to be ready for too: long hours at first! Setting Up Your Business – All That Paperwork I have my business set up as an LLC, filing taxes as an S-corp. I went this route because it’s pretty easy to set up, has...
The Big Picture: Is It Doable? The first step should always be planning: what are your goals and is it feasible? And beyond that, what’s the risks and rewards? What income and expenses will you have? For me, I’ve been itching to start my own company again for probably the last 2 years but it wasn’t until lately that it all started to really come together. The opportunities look...
Wow, I’ve worked at Peak Systems now for 5 years! Although I’ve enjoyed working at Peak, it’s time to move on and start my own business again. This will be my 4th web design business, and each time I’ve started up a web design business, it’s been more successful and more rewarding. My last business, ABD Insights, was acquired by Peak Systems in 2007, and I brought...
Here’s a new recipe that I put together in preparation for today’s Packer’s game. Perfect with a good blue cheese dip… 2lb bag of chicken wings 2 12-oz beers ½ teas. paprika ½ teas. cayenne pepper ½ teas. salt 1/2 cup flour ½ cup butter ½ cup Louisiana Hot Sauce 1 teas. Dave’s Insanity Sauce ½ teas. black pepper 4 cloves pressed garlic Marinate wings in fridge 12-24 hours...
Web Design, Programming, and BusinessProfessionally building websites since 2002, I've worked at Microsoft, multiple agencies, and a few web design businesses of my own, including White Whale Web, a Boise-based web development agency. Previously, I was an owner of Thrive Web Designs from 2015 to 2022. I've taught classes, run design groups and even ran a benefit auction for 4 years in my free time. I love sharing and giving back to the web/creative community.