You know by now that WordPress is an open source application that many programmers from the community contribute their knowledge to program/develop its ability to perform. Similarly, “PLUGINS” are developed by the community to do… about anything, to extend performance. The following is a list of “must have” plugins that perform utility services like SEO, backing up the database, create XML sitemaps. Then there are plugins that manage photos, create contact forms.

Many of the plugins available are free. You sometimes get what you pay for but often you get the sweetest gem that does exactly the simple task you need. Plugins you have to pay for are called “Premium Plugins”, just like the themes you pay for are “Premium Themes”. When working on client based projects. These are excellent because you can get your client to pay for them! Read the rest of this entry »

THEMES

You have had a brief introduction to what a theme is in wordpress. The next step is getting the theme loaded into your server folder and activate it. First, you must choose a theme. A great place to start is in the WordPress Codex: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/. Read the rest of this entry »

When using WP, you have many opportunities to navigate through the contents of your website. The primary navigation is what we commonly refer to as the “main navigation” of the site. It is obvious that you should refer to it in reference to moving through the core content of the website. There are other ways WP provides you opportunities to explore/find content on a website.

Many WP sites have a “sidebar”. This is a column that has secondary content which is useful in finding more specific or new content. Another is the “footer”. Found always at the bottom of the page and provides opportunities to navigate. Read the rest of this entry »

Before you start to build anything, you should list the pages you will need, determine if you will need “Posts” (include categories) and map out the website using the following method.

This “IS” the process you must use. I am not one for rules but this one I stand by. A few years ago a guy named Jesse James Garrett decided it was necessary for everyone planning a website to use the same “language” and “process”. He wrote a brilliant book that easily informs how a group can communicate these essential parts to beginning and building an interactive project.

I highly recommend you read this book if you decide to stick with web design as a career. Anyone who wants to hire you that is good, will be following this process or something darn close to it. The Elements of User Experience Read the rest of this entry »

Here are a few pictures from our first day in Venice.

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We are a tribe of creatives that have let go of the last century and it’s techniques, seemingly never to return to the physical realm, let alone to labor-intensive processes that once were best practices of our industry. We do things differently now; a lot differently. The industry is not changing; it has changed. As Graphic Designers, we depend on those glowing boxes with plastic keyboards that we perch in front of day in and day out. Computers are filled with things we cannot touch that are strangely referred to as “Software”. If it were not for this technology, we would not be able to create so freely or so quickly. There is still no other way, however, to produce rich and subtle tactile qualities without traditional techniques such as letterpress. I do look forward to the day, though, that my digital printer can emboss letters into paper.

You have come out tonight to celebrate this new design resource, not only for those in Rochester, but for all of us in the Upstate of New York. The magic of a letterpress has brought out a community of like-minded individuals. Yes, you are part of this community. This is something the members of AIGA Upstate New York are actively encouraging; an Upstate New York Design community.

There is a lack of communication among design professionals in upstate New York, which has lead to a weak community. We need to realize that the path to improving this situation does not involve competition or provincialism. It is not about pitting Rochester against Syracuse, or Buffalo against Albany. We need to open up our networks and start sharing our knowledge and experiences more.

There is an abundance of talented creatives across this state; they do not all live and work in New York City! These individuals and agencies are doing great design in their many far-flung locations; but often it goes unrecognized by the wider design community. Our organization, AIGA, is committed to championing accomplishments of our members and other design professionals in the Upstate New York Design Community. AIGA is “THE” professional organization for designers. We are your peers.

You are all welcome to join the other 22,000 AIGA members and expand your networks beyond local circles. Looking for reasons why you should become an AIGA member? Check out the project becauseofaiga.com, where you can see over 150 stories from individuals who believe in our organization.

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AIGA, the professional association for design, believes that professional designers should be compensated fairly for the value of their work and should negotiate the ownership or use rights of their intellectual and creative property through an engagement with clients.

This is a topic that continually rears its ugly head in the Graphic Design Industry. It is something that I had to explain to my students when teaching and to clients now owning my own business. Work is work. One expects to get paid for it. There is no carrot on the end of the stick sweet enough to make someone sacrifice billable time for the potential of getting paid.

There are fine lines of what is Spec Work. For instance, competitions can be spec work. They can also be genuine competitions with substantial rewards. Another area of challenge is writing proposals for a project. This consumes a great deal of time and expertise, the majority of the time it is not paid work. It gets extremely hairy when “Ideas” are included. A proposed idea for a project is unpaid creative work. Bending the definition of what “Spec Work” really is and if those in the industry can truly not participate in it.

Not only because I am President of the Upstate New York Chapter of AIGA do I not support the AIGA position on Spec Work, but most as a small business owner who is trying to earn a living wage for my skills in design. Read AIGA’s Position.

I was fortunate to attend the 2009 AIGA Leadership Retreat in Portland, Oregon at the beginning of June 2009. Sean Adams, Past-President of the organization presented his defense and AIGA’s position on the topic. I had my camera rolling and captured his eloquent explanation.

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Yes. I do not do spec work. You should not ask anyone, including students and young designers to participate in this poor business practice.

In the beginning of January, I commenced on building an eCommerce site for my client, Goshen Coffee. The objective was to sell 3o different coffees, a line of organic tea and t-shirts on a boot-strapping budget. The site is up and working great. Now, we are working on various methods of online advertising to drive traffic to the site and convert to sales.

In the 6 years of working with Matt, we have evolved from a static HTML web site to a dynamic web site using WordPress to manage the content. I did not want to use another CMS or use a separate domain or sub-domain for the store. There are only a few shopping cart plug-ins for wordpress. The one I settled on was “e-Commerce Plugin” by Instinct. The reason is I have been following this one for over a year. It seemed to be the only one out there that was being developed. Now there is competition but this one seemed to have the strongest following and most community development.

The plug-in is free, but there are a few important add-ons that make life a bit easier. Known as Gold Cart items. The most important one I purchased is the “Grid View”. This formats added products into a title, thumbnail and price. Example of the: GRID VIEW. Knowing a bit about CSS, I was able to tweak the style sheets to look integrated with the design of the rest of the web site. Now, the shopping cart is seamless with the rest of the web site.

Instinct is based in New Zealand, but there is a guy in Texas who works closely with them to provide support here in the States. His name is Shane Sanderson and he has his own business called S-Tastic Design. He also started a wordpress help site called “WordPress Me“. The web site is growing with content and Shane knows what he is doing. I wish him luck.

If you are a small business/entrepreneur and would like a web site that you can manage and do simple ecommerce yourself, please contact me with your request. I am always looking for a unique challenge to work with start-ups that have a great product and don’t know where to start.

Again, I was invited to do the presentation on web design for artists. This time it was a class of artists/designers/crafters/photographers at Rochester Institute of Technology taught by Debra Ruzinsky.

There is a huge demand for student artists to create web sites. Many times I get requests to design and build these sites but you could imagine. Students do not have the money to pay me to do it. This lecture gives them an arial view of what options they can choose to get themselves published on the web.

If you know anyone looking for a motivational speaker who can present to artists about making their own web site. Give me a shout.

We documented our trip down the street to our Polling Place.

It was great to wake up and know, we are taking part in American History.

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Then you also have a project between the New York Times and AIGA.
POLLING PLACE PHOTO PROJECT