My client William Powers was on Good Morning America yesterday – they were doing a segment on”disconnected families” – people who spend a bit too much time with their faces in their laptops or smart phones, etc…and have forgotten that there are, indeed, other people at the breakfast table.
Bill talked about his new book Hamlet’s BlackBerry and offered some solutions for “re-connecting”, like taking an “Internet Sabbath”.
Bill is mentioned in the second page of the article with a link to his site, designed by moi.
www.tinyurl.com/24y39qv
The book? Yes, it’s great, get it!
William Powers is the author of Hamlet’s BlackBerry, a book about building a good life in the digital age.
This was a really fun job and it’s been exciting to see our client’s career take off like a rocket!
Pam and I created a clean crisp site for William. Of course we used WordPress! We’ve got some cool widgets and features on this site, like the auto-updating Appearances page – plug in a date for an event and it automatically goes to the “Past Appearances” section when it’s over. The Archives page (in the NEWS section) is also a departure from the ordinary and looks
We’ve actually created TWO sites for William, the other one www.hamletsblackberry.com will go live in about a week. William will be blogging about living a more “dis-connected” life on that site. Be sure and check it out!
Another cool side to this project is that last summer I had the pleasure of creating a web site for his wife, Martha Sherrill, who is also a wonderful writer. This is a talented family!
I have 2 TB’s (that’s 2,000 GB’s) of External Hard Drive storage AND I have Virtual Off-Site Storage as well.
Why???? Well, I love overkill.
No, really it’s because even if you have your files backed up on an external hard drive (which, at the very least you should) they could still be lost due to theft, fire, flood, or just plain old crashing. And losing all your stuff sucks – big time. My computer crashed a couple of years ago – nothing dramatic, I did a “Restart” because it was running slow and…..it never came back on! Luckily, I had all my applications, files, music and photos backed up on external hard drives, so I was safe. But it could have been awful. So don’t be in a position where you are cryin’ like a baby if all your data disappears! Get backed up – NOW!
Here’s a good article on WHY backing up is important and why you need to do it. I read it on Top Ten Reviews:
Superheroes need it, police rely on it and everyone that uses a computer should use some form of it. In the world of mainframes and microchips it’s called data backup or data recovery and it can mean the difference between a slight computer setback and living through your own electronic apocalypse.
Let’s face it; our computers are a bigger part of life than ever before. We shop, work and play using computers. They’ve replaced stereos, encyclopedias, even the mailman. They’ve become journals, photo albums and canvases for our art.
But computers aren’t perfect. Files become corrupt, motherboards malfunction, CPUs call it quits taking our precious data with them.
The best defense is data backup software. Backing up data is vital for businesses; lost information can cause a major crisis or worse, lead to business failure. Individuals who don’t backup computer data run the same risk. While this may not cause financial ruin, it can certainly be frustrating and even heartbreaking.
Continue reading →
I just finished a cool job designing the logo and art for the Fairhaven Festival, which takes place on the day of the Ski to Sea Race in Bellingham, WA. The Festival has always been on the day of the race, but there was never any advertising.
This year that’s changed and I created the logo, ads for magazines and the program, a poster and handbills.
My client was adamant that BEER was prominently featured – apparently there was a rumor that there would not be a Beer Garden this year and they wanted to be sure and squelch that horrible gossip.
Hundreds of people participate in the 90 mile race, with thousands cheering them on, and then everyone comes to the Festival after the race and drinks…..ummmm…beer. It’s a super fun day – so go, really.
Below is a smaller version of the ad that will go in the Official Ski to Sea Program.
To see more of my print work, please click here!
Just saw this on Google News – from the NY Times – I knew most of them, but learned about a couple more. Thought it was good info to pass on!
1. Use the “site:” operator to limit searches to a particular site. I use this one all the time, and it’s particularly handy because many site’s built-in search tools don’t return the results you’re looking for (and some sites don’t even have a search feature). If I’m looking for WWD posts about GTD, for example, I could try this search: GTD site:webworkerdaily.com.
2. Use Google as a spelling aid. As Rob Hacker — the WWD reader I profiled last week — pointed out, entering a word into Google is a quick way to see if you have the right spelling. If it’s incorrect, Google will suggest the correct spelling instead. Additionally, if you want to get a definition of a word, you can use the “define:” operator to return definitions from various dictionaries (for example, define: parasympathetic).
3. Use Google as a calculator. Google has a built-in calculator — try entering a calculation like 110 * (654/8 + 3). Yes, your computer also has a calculator, but if you spend most of your day inside a browser, typing your calculation into the browser’s search box is quicker than firing up your calculator app.
Continue reading →
Lots of great video tutorials here:
http://wordpress.tv/category/how-to/
WordPress.tv is Your Visual Resource for All Things WordPress!
I met George Plumley when he was speaking at the Seattle WordPress Conference. I was impressed with his knowledge and when I heard he was writing a book on WordPress I knew it would be great.
And I was right!
The book is easy to understand and there is a companion CD with a video for each chapter. I’ll be giving this book to my clients as part of their “project package” and will be recommending it to everyone I know that works with WordPress 
WordPress 24-Hour Trainer by George Plumley
Don’t let WordPress intimidate you. WordPress 24-Hour Trainer is a unique lesson-based book that walks you through the essential parts of WordPress. Each lesson is streamlined to teach a specific aspect of WordPress, helping you to focus on just what you need in order to get the task accomplished. If you learn better visually, this book provides you with a video to accompany each lesson.
When I got the opportunity to write a book about WordPress, I wanted to write something for the day to day users who need to quickly find an answer to common questions but at the same time be able to learn WordPress from the ground up, step by step.
Wiley’s 24-Hour Trainer series was a great vehicle for that kind of book, because they take a lesson-based approach combined with a DVD of video tutorials.
WordPress 24-Hour Trainer is a series of 38 lessons that go from installation to editing images to optimizing your site for search engines. You can use it to start a website from scratch or to help you use a WordPress site that someone else built for you.
And when I say “website” I mean website. This is not a book about blogging, it’s a book about WordPress as a content management system for all types of websites.
Buy it on Amazon
Visit George’s web site too – which has great video tutorials as well:
www.seehowtwo.com
Hey everyone,
I’ll be hosting a WordPress Event on March 31st with Pam Nilzon and Lori Richardson at the Book Fare Café in the mezzanine of Village Books in Fairhaven from 5 – 7 pm. You need to be a Biznik member to attend (it’s free to join!). If in the neighborhood, please come on down! If you are a Biznik member, RSVP here:
http://biznik.com/members/ritama-haaga/events/wordpress-soire
If you are not a member of Biznik and want to join, please click here to join up (upper right hand corner “Sign Up” link on the site) and then RSVP on the link above. You have to be a member to attend the event!
Below is an outline of the event:
This event will give you a broader understanding of the powerful WordPress software and how your business can benefit using it.
Learn how you can manage your own web site with the latest web-based software and gain more knowledge of the options that are available with WordPress.
WordPress has free templates and hosting and also offers a more customizable version with your own domain and email accounts. We will be covering both aspects of this wonderful program so you can see what will fit with your needs.
Ritama and Pam co-create custom WordPress sites and will be sharing their expertise and knowledge at this event. We’ll start with an overview of the program and then have a question and answer session. No question too big, too small, or too stupid.
We’ll be meeting at the delightful Book Fare Café in the mezzanine of Village Books in Fairhaven – soups, salads, sandwiches, treats, coffee & tea are on the menu.
Please visit Ritama’s web site to see some of the WordPress sites Pam & she have created: http://ritama.com
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Cline Consulting wanted a new look for their old site. The only thing we kept from the previous site was the cool sumi-brush circle logo, everything thing else was redefined and spiffed up, and we changed the color of the brushed circle to a cool icy blue.
It’s another super-fine WordPress site, á la Pam Nilzon’s magical styling techniques.
Check it out: www.clineconsultingllc.com
We thought the color combination worked really well with the metallic tones and the sepia images give a personal feel to the pages. Andrew has worked with some amazing clients and in great locations, check out his site for more info on what he does!
← Older posts Newer posts →
