Yippie! I just got off the phone with the guys at Accurate Staffing, and the initial web site design is now approved! Next up is to locate some awesome stock images of business people and... archers. Yes, archers. This is turning out to be harder than it sounds.
The Epson will get a workout this weekend with a large print order, as well. My 4880 prints beautiful images, but it's not exactly speedy, so 100 pages may take a while.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Web Site Upgrade
Hectic Red is throwing the confetti and popping the champagne corks - the new Hectic Red Web site just went live! It's been over a year since the last revamp, and I wanted to put something out there that reflects my current style a little better. Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Drupal
I just went live with the Chicklet Books web site (www.chickletbooks.com). This is the first fully-customized site I've implemented using my new favorite toy, Drupal.
Drupal is magic. It's my preferred Content Management System for clients who need a robust and feature-rich Web solution, without the custom-development price tag. The Chicklet and I selected Drupal because she wanted a very feature-rich site with message boards and an interactive community that she could update without my intervention.
Content Management is what allows you update information on your web site without knowledge of HTML. With just a little training, you'll be able to perform a lot of routine site updates all on your own.
IMHO, Drupal is the best open-source content solution out there. That's important because if there's something you want your web site to do - for example, maintain an events calendar - someone has probably already thought of that and written the program ('module') to do it. With a little configuration and setup, the new functionality magically appears on your site and you're ready to go - and best of all, the module is freely available. It's good practice to make a donation to the developers of open source applications - why else would they spend their time tinkering around making all these useful things for us?
Drupal is wildly customizable or can be quickly implemented with any one of hundreds of pre-built open source templates. I have implemented and am maintaining several sites on this platform, and my clients are uniformly thrilled with the functionality and their ability to independently update the site on a whim.
Drupal is magic. It's my preferred Content Management System for clients who need a robust and feature-rich Web solution, without the custom-development price tag. The Chicklet and I selected Drupal because she wanted a very feature-rich site with message boards and an interactive community that she could update without my intervention.
Content Management is what allows you update information on your web site without knowledge of HTML. With just a little training, you'll be able to perform a lot of routine site updates all on your own.
IMHO, Drupal is the best open-source content solution out there. That's important because if there's something you want your web site to do - for example, maintain an events calendar - someone has probably already thought of that and written the program ('module') to do it. With a little configuration and setup, the new functionality magically appears on your site and you're ready to go - and best of all, the module is freely available. It's good practice to make a donation to the developers of open source applications - why else would they spend their time tinkering around making all these useful things for us?
Drupal is wildly customizable or can be quickly implemented with any one of hundreds of pre-built open source templates. I have implemented and am maintaining several sites on this platform, and my clients are uniformly thrilled with the functionality and their ability to independently update the site on a whim.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Web Sites, $249!!!
How much will your web site cost? It depends.
Seriously, I'm not being difficult - there's just no way to know until I have some idea of what you want. I know plenty of people out there will tell you they can do a web site for $249. If you read the fine print, though, you'll see that it says "starting at" $249!
There are just so many different ways to get a web site up and running - there are pre-built templates, which are inexpensive and fast, so long as you don't mind if it doesn't exactly meet your needs, your logo doesn't fit in the allotted space, and there are potentially unlimited numbers of duplicate sites out there. There are basic sites that just present some introductory information, and there are community-building web sites where interactive features are key, and there's e-commerce and lots of other more complicated functionality.
Some of the things I'll ask you before I make a proposal:
- Do you already have any kind of site?
- Have you registered a domain name?
- Where will the web site be hosted?
- What do you want it to look like overall?
- Do you need special features like e-commerce, blogging, message forums, etc.?
- What's the purpose of the site - advertising? Customer service? Community building?
And that's just for starters. I typically invest 1-2 hours with every prospect before I even get the job, just to make sure I thoroughly understand what they need and can be certain I can deliver. Yeah, it takes time, but I deliver a custom product and that kind of service is just basic to how I do business.
I work with each client individually to come up with the best way to meet your unique needs. If you need a completely killer custom site with all the bells and whistles, and you have the budget to match, well, I can do that. If you're on a tight budget, we can do a lot of things such as starting with a pre-built template that will seriously reduce your initial expense. It's all up to you.
Seriously, I'm not being difficult - there's just no way to know until I have some idea of what you want. I know plenty of people out there will tell you they can do a web site for $249. If you read the fine print, though, you'll see that it says "starting at" $249!
There are just so many different ways to get a web site up and running - there are pre-built templates, which are inexpensive and fast, so long as you don't mind if it doesn't exactly meet your needs, your logo doesn't fit in the allotted space, and there are potentially unlimited numbers of duplicate sites out there. There are basic sites that just present some introductory information, and there are community-building web sites where interactive features are key, and there's e-commerce and lots of other more complicated functionality.
Some of the things I'll ask you before I make a proposal:
- Do you already have any kind of site?
- Have you registered a domain name?
- Where will the web site be hosted?
- What do you want it to look like overall?
- Do you need special features like e-commerce, blogging, message forums, etc.?
- What's the purpose of the site - advertising? Customer service? Community building?
And that's just for starters. I typically invest 1-2 hours with every prospect before I even get the job, just to make sure I thoroughly understand what they need and can be certain I can deliver. Yeah, it takes time, but I deliver a custom product and that kind of service is just basic to how I do business.
I work with each client individually to come up with the best way to meet your unique needs. If you need a completely killer custom site with all the bells and whistles, and you have the budget to match, well, I can do that. If you're on a tight budget, we can do a lot of things such as starting with a pre-built template that will seriously reduce your initial expense. It's all up to you.
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