Ben Thomas Creative recently launched a new website for long time client Vita Nuova, a national leader in the repositioning and redevelopment of complex industrial sites and neighborhoods.

The website was built with PHP, MySql, XHTML, CSS and uses the jQuery javascript library.

New Movable Type blog created for long time client. Topics posted by industry experts include green building, sustainable design, brownfield redevelopment, climate change, sustainable agriculture and other environmental topics.

The blog allows users to post articles, upload photos and documents, comment on posts, search and share content with social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Linked In.

Click here to visit the Sustainability Journal or contact us to find out how a blog can help promote your business.

Had an amazing time in Chicago a couple of weeks ago at "An Event Apart". The two day conference featured talks from an array of designers & developers. Lead designers from Wordpress, Yahoo and A List Apart were on hand as were various authors and industry leaders.

One of the neatest things about the two day event was the live Twitter aggregator where attendees discussed the presentations: http://aea.afeedapart.com/2009/chicago (the sessions are on the left of the page as well).

Oh, and Ben Thomas Creative is now on Twitter:  click here to follow!

Google Analytics is a free, easy to learn tool that monitors web site visits and statistics.  As a service to all clients, we install Google Analytics and encourage clients to view and react to the information in their reports.

Being an Apple user since the 80's, visiting The Vintage Mac Museum was like taking a trip down memory lane. The site boasts a collection of "Macinti" that is sure to impress - 128k's, Apple 2E's, Mac Classic, Motorola clones, grape iMacs, G4 Cubes.

I have to admit - spending a little time on the site made me miss the old days - installing system software with 6 or 7 floppy disks, buying "Mac Addict" for the cd with the free fonts, Mac Paint and Aldus creations, Zip drives, first websites with Adobe PageMill back in 1995, installing a 64mb RAM chip in my Motorola clone (not worth the upgrade by the way)...

Growing up with Apple computers inspired me to pursue the career I have today. The software was easy to use and almost never crashed - meaning I had more time to experiment and learn.

Off to see if I can pick up a vintage Apple 2E on eBay. - BT

Ben Thomas Photo recently launched a new online photo gallery and portfolio built with the wonderful "Galleriffic" jquery plugin. You can view the new photo galleries here: http://www.benthomasphoto.com/galleries/

jQuery plugins are a collection of freely available scripts that can be used to create slideshows, photo galleries, fading buttons, news tickers, dropdown menus and other effects found on modern websites - without the use of Flash. Chances are you visit a website that uses jQuery every time you use the web.

Get in touch to find out more about jQuery and how it can be used to make your website more exciting and engaging. 

We incorporate Google’s free statistics package - Analytics, into every new website built. Paired with Adwords (another Google product) and a content management system, our clients are given complete control of their internet marketing strategies.

Google Analytics accounts feature an interactive map allowing webmasters to drill down to the exact city and state your website visitors originated from, the search phrases they entered and how long visitors spent browsing your website and why they might have left.

Other features of this free Google tool include weekly emailed pdf reports of visitor activity, visitor loyalty, your website’s most popular pages, time and date of every click and customized reports.

We can integrate Google Analytics (its free) into your website, blog or online store. Contact us for more information or visit the Google Analytics website.

Came across a great Wordpress plugin the other day - Anyfont. Description from the author of the plugin:

"AnyFont allows you to use any truetype or opentype font for post titles, menu items or anywhere else you want to use a custom font in your theme design."

Run a Wordpress blog and want to use the same font that you use in your logo or other marketing materials? Get the free Anyfont Plugin

Contact Us to learn more about setting up a Wordpress blog for your business.

Many web designers (including myself) started out using programs such as Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage or other popular “WYSIWYG” editors. The software made designing a website a simple task - all you had to do was drop in an image, build a table, click and drag, website was built, bill the client, move on.

Websites designed back then may have looked acceptable in a web browser, but behind the scenes - the code and scripts were quickly becoming outdated. Large graphics, thousands of lines of code doing the same job as 100, hacks, unclosed tags and broken links doomed websites almost the moment they were launched.

Which brings us to today. Building a website using compliant code separates the design (colors and graphic elements) from the content (text, titles). Upgrading your website’s layout and content to CSS/XHTML can lead to faster page loads, dramatically improved search engine results, and less money you’ll have to pay your web designer at the end of the month or year.

The benefits of web standards include:

• Improved search engine rankings - Search engines like content - such as page titles and well formatted text - not graphics. Improve your SEO by separating content from design.
• Faster page loads - Sites built with standards produce cleaner code and smaller filesize allowing for quicker page loads.
• Cheaper updates/ Less is More - Separating design from content help web designers make quicker updates to your site.
• Its the law - The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires certain government funded organizations to make sites compliant and accessible for persons with disabilities.

Contact us today for a free evaluation including suggestions on how to improve your website. For more information about web standards, please visit the World Wide Web Consortium website.