Some nicely-done sites I’ve found recently:
That’s it! Enjoy!
Drupal, the ever-growing website management framework, has long been known in the web development industry as a content management system that allows website administrators to log into their site via a web browser– without special software, just as one would do with, say, a Gmail account– and keep their site up-to-date without knowing HTML or other technology.
When you dig deeper, though, it is much more, as we demonstrated with our redesign/redevelopment of Pittsburgh Prep– which included a move to the Drupal platform. Pittsburgh Prep is an educational company focusing on standardized test prep classes and private tutoring, and in early 2009 they made the decision to move towards a web-based solution for the selling and management of classes. In 2010, they plan to add online courses and Blackboard-like functionality that will include forums and quiz-taking. Go right on reading »
Ever have a rough time managing multiple web design projects and multiple workers per job? How about logging hours during, say, a day when you work on 10 projects?
As a project manager, I find it harder than ever to keep track of everything and everyone, and of course email and text documents just don’t to projects justice. Enter ClockingIT, a BaseCamp-like solution for logging hours, projects, and individual tasks. Go right on reading »
One of my recent projects, Whole Advice, has just recently gone live.
Whole Advice is the brainchild of Tom Dickson, an experienced financial advisor and marketing expert. This business, though, is unique: it’s not a financial advisor, but rather a “second opinion” on investment and advice. Clients approach Whole Advice to find financial advisors and get an “inside scoop” on the business– so as to be all the wiser, especially in the wake of Bernie Madoff and other less-than-reputable investment “gurus”.
For this website, we decided to stick to a simple design and palette, giving a professional yet “earthy” and “natural” look– consistent with this business’s values. We also developed a custom logo to span the gap between contemporary and timeless. Technically, this site is managed via WordPress, the open source PHP/MySQL content management/blogging platform the visuaLATTE blog uses. We also make use of jQuery, as with most of our recent projects.
I came across a great piece at A List Apart (in my view, a premier online magazine of the web profession) about self-employment and burnout.
Our city is hosting the next G20 Summit — pretty neat-o. Seems maybe we’ll be a symbol of recovery? And it’ll give Pittsburgh a chance to showcase the David Lawrence Convention Center, the biggest and first LEED Gold certified convention center.
The “Steel City” has long taken a beating in the court of public opinion for being a boring, blue-collar town with little going for it besides it sports teams (a Super Bowl and Stanley Cup in one year, maybe?)
As it turns out, though, Pittsburgh has been doing better than average during this recession, having actually gained jobs during 2008, and having one of the lower unemployment, bankruptcy, and foreclosure rates nationally. Furthermore, although the city’s population has been declining for 50 years, the metropolitan area has not declined at nearly the same rate, and still ranks among the largest in the country. Although Pittsburgh ranks 60th in total population nationally, its skyline– which is something of an indicator of business health in the city– ranks a surprising 13th nationally, and it ranks 25th overall in raw number of jobs. Most optimistically, the job density (per square mile) in Pittsburgh ranks 6th nationally.
Last, Pittsburgh is affordable. I moved here to begin a business in web design– something I could not have afforded to do in many places– especially ones that offer so many amenities.
I write about design, issues surrounding freelancing, and whatever else strikes my fancy on this blog.
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