• Alphabetix.net – Sometimes the huge topic of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is best tackled from multiple angles. Although I pride myself on being able to explain the foundations of SEO both on the page and off, sometimes a second opinion and additional tutoring can be extremely helpful. Enter Alphabetix, a local firm who I am privileged to rub shoulders with from time to time on projects just like this. What I love about Alphabetix is their focus on content and their ability to easily plan and execute ongoing content for blogs and social media. In this day and age, consider this to be one of your primary marketing methods of attack. Pacific Northwest Pools was treated wonderfully by Alphabetix and came back with a fresh perspective and motivation towards ongoing content. Thanks Alphabetix!
• Gradient Productions – Offering fantastic video production services for clients involves the full process for Gradient. It’s easy to see why I recommended Gradient so quickly to Pacific Northwest Pools. Great job Rebecca and team!
• Madeleine Eno / Inthewriteplace.com - I have a new business crush. In fact, I’m quite frankly in love with the poetry and business marketing pros that seem to literally emanate from Madeleine. If you are in need of quality verbiage for your site, Madeleine will knock your socks off.

The site utilizes WP-Ecommerce to perform the sponsorships and the membership add-on to ensure recurring billing. The flickr area pulls the most recent photo from their flickr feed. There are also custom post types involved for a few of the pages. Overall this was an extremely satisfying project. I’m glad to have been involved!

2011 saw the explosion of mobile devices accessing web content. Although the trend started earlier in the century and first saw a large bump in 2007, last year seemed to be a magical year for mobile. Early in the year I set my focus strongly on the emerging standard of responsive web design. I’m amazed at how much it has grown in popularity in such a short time. The Boston Globe site will be the shining star of 2011, but 2012 will bring the same great functionality to millions of websites while also building upon the design and feel of that new “expandable technology”.

Go ahead, expand and squish this website in Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 9+ or another modern browser. You’ll see the difference right away. Whereas other websites start to get cropped, responsive websites flex and contour to the size of screen you are using. Does your website do this?

“Its just great working with you… I’m amazed that we’re able to accomplish so much so fast working remotely together. You truly are a big part of our team at Cascade Windows! Your skill and expertise add tremendous value to our online efforts! Its nice to finally be able to trust a web programmer, knowing that I’ll get the work done quickly and within budget is critical to our success!”

Custom start and end video overlay using Youtube api.

]]> http://www.orwebservices.com/portfolio/www-cascadewindows-com/feed/ 0 http://www.orwebservices.com/portfolio/responsive-and-perdy/ http://www.orwebservices.com/portfolio/responsive-and-perdy/#comments Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:02:48 +0000 Josh McKenney http://www.orwebservices.com/?p=158 Introducing the responsive 2020eyecareoregon.com. It was a pleasure to meet with Dr. Futterman and Dr. Neal from 2020 and learn about the eye care they provide. Color consulting provided by my lovely and talented wife Kristi. I’ve been employing the services of my wife more and more when it comes to color and have been extremely happy to have her on board for that task. She gives a woman’s touch that a lot of my designs can lack before consulting her.

Of particular importance to this design is the care that has been taken to make sure the design renders well on mobile devices. Without much time in the budget for this particular task, use of the plugin Responsive Twenty Ten was used which gave us a head start in the process of molding the standard desktop view for smaller devices.  Your feedback is very welcome! Leave a comment!

The site uses foundational framework from html5boilerplate.com as well as media query support focused on mobile first. The base css of the site targets the smallest devices out there. Then, as the browser grows, the css responsively adds width, background images and other items. Try it out yourself. In most browsers, watch the layout change as you resize the browser. See the video below for a better example.

[youtube src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k1SGc2LhyH8"]

Enter a competitor that stands head and shoulders above these options. Gravity Forms is easy to the point where you can literally say it’s fun to use. Granted, Gravity Forms isn’t a free plugin like the others mentioned. The amazing value you get in the small price exceeds any value received from the free options.

No, I don’t get any kickback from sales to Gravity Forms. I’ve purchased the developer license which allows me to use it on all websites that I create. I’ve already installed on 4-5 sites including my own. Check out the short video below detailing just how easy and powerful this plugin is.

[youtube src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hkNLGc-ji4g"]

OWS Recent Website Project for Sunago Systems

When it comes to Website design, there are free websites, $100 websites, websites created by your cousin and websites that cost $10,000 when they should have been $1000.

So why would you pass up a free template from Godaddy, tell your cousin he or she is not quite cut out for this and call Oregon Web Services to purchase a $2000+ website?

1. Professional Support
   You don’t want to be stuck a year from now with no one to help if an unexpected question comes up or a new technology needs to be integrated into your website. Having an urgent need and nowhere to turn to but Craigslist is an awkward place to be. With Oregon Web Services you get over 9 years experience and a business that has been going strong since January of 2009.
2. Experience with a Capital E
   OWS has been involved in building custom databased applications, custom content management systems, custom you name it. From email campaigns to logo ideas to custom ecommerce solutions. When you have a large or small project, you need someone who can see the big picture. If your project needs a specialty app shop or large specialty team, Oregon Web Services will know within the first phone call. Don’t get caught hiring a company that has only worked on “x” when you may need y, z and abc.
3. Attention to Detail
   Websites are about pixels as much as they are about the big picture. Your corporate identity is too important to stray online. Count on OWS to craft your online presence based upon your existing identity and business goals. When it comes to the web, one pixel can make a huge difference.
4. The Technologies and The Future
   HTML5? Cross Browser Support? Mobile Website?  Everyday OWS is learning more from the top professionals in the field. Through twitter, facebook and rss feeds, valuable information is being gleaned almost hourly. Count on OWS to have your website’s future in mind!
5. More than just marketing, more than just design, more than just web design
   In the website market you will find people who love to write and talk marketing, you’ll find people who love to design, you’ll find firms that specialize in programming and you’ll find specialty industries such as search engine optimization. Although OWS doesn’t claim to be perfect at everything, it’s the unique mix of creative design, business minded decisions and technical website knowledge that puts OWS at the top of the market.
6. Content Management Simplified
   OWS is an expert in the field of customer controlled content. With extensive experience in both Drupal and WordPress, you can rest assured that nearly all of the content on your website can be changed by you at a moments notice in the middle of the night or on a holiday. Customer controlled content requires both creativity and highly logical planning to make sure that the control of the content will be both user friendly and also as full feature as possible. Simply installing WordPress or Drupal isn’t enough. Your design, business goals and custom ideas need a true CMS professional to implement.

If you’re looking for a website under $500, it’s often a good idea to go ahead and get what you pay for. When you are ready for a revision of your website that can accomplish your original goals while looking and functioning exceptionally, you’re ready to contact Oregon Web Services.

Dr. Vroom also plans on doing a video series. For this a very simple but extremely practical WordPress plugin is being used to very simply insert Youtube videos from their Youtube channel. I don’t make too many predictions around the new year, but I definitely predict we’ll be seeing a lot of really great blog and video content from Dr. Vroom this year!