Monday, March 26, 2012

DrupalCon 2012 (Denver)!

Unfortunately we were not there (next year!)...

However - we kept an eye on as much as we could online from tweets, blogs to facebook posts. Enjoyed reading all about the seminars and hoping to go to next year’s event. They are voting on which city it will be held in - cross your fingers for somewhere nearby! We will be sharing links to articles and wrap ups on our Facebook group.

Check out http://denver2012.drupal.org/ for all the details!

Don’t know what Drupal is? No worries!

Drupal is an open source content management system. See drupal.org to learn more from the source. Or head over to http://visual.ly/what-drupal to see a great visual explanation.

We like Drupal because it is an easy way for YOU to keep your website current by using a browser based editor to work on your site. And we love that it is open source, we can all add to the knowledge and functions of it together.

Visit some of our client’s Drupal sites:
boccentral.org
c4chicago.org
caregivinghelp.org
cvscaremarkspecialtyrx.com
kruzinusa.com
mwalliance.org

If you are interested in seeing what Drupal can do for your website, give us a call. We LOVE to talk about Drupal (can you tell?)!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Art Ajar- A Call to Creative Minds: Fill Your Jar with Art



Our own DavidB showed in this art exhibit at The John Almquist Gallery in Winnetka. Opening night was Friday, March 16. And the show goes through mid-May.
Art Ajar exhibition sales will be donated to the Northfield Food Pantry.

Art for a good cause! Over 50 jars were on exhibit from every age group and skill level. And so many different types of jars!

View photos from opening night.
View video of DavidB creating his "Door Ajar in a Jar".

Monday, March 12, 2012

Meet our Intern, Alex Roberts!



We would like you to meet our intern, Alex Roberts. You may have heard a new voice answering the phone or seen a new face in our office - he has been working with us since November.

To get to know him a little better, we would like to show off his very first website!
ByAlexRoberts!

Alex has been working with us to build his portfolio website: learning WordPress editing and website best practices. And we couldn't be prouder of his site :)

So go, zip around his site and see what makes Alex tick!
And why we think he is an awesome intern!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Importance of browser and platform testing

For many designers, cross browser and platform testing takes a back seat to design. This is not good. And it is NOT how Your Plan B Company creates sites.

We believe this is an extremely important issue of launching a new website - it is part of good design. Each browser displays websites differently, so its vital that your business site looks perfect on every one. This can often be a challenge especially with browsers such as Internet Explorer, but must be done if you want as much traffic as possible.

Visual errors on your site can be very damaging and could cause viewers to leave right away. A well designed and coded website that is being displayed properly in browsers is the foundation of any website. Once you have a quality designed and developed site, you can fill it with well-written content and other elements such as accent graphics.

Each browser reads code a little different and an experienced designer can help you understand why there are compromises to made on design to allow for useability and functionality across the board!

We keep an eye on the stats offered by w3schools. They keep track of popular browsers and usage.

Since there is no definitive way to determine the mix of browser/operating system combinations that your users may have, the only way to maximize broad market access to your website is to plan ahead and ensure that your website has been cross-browser and platform tested by your website designer. This approach may cost a bit more but the benefits can include:

  • Consistent, stable cross-browser/platform rendering and functionality on all website pages - higher quality website
  • Simplified website maintenance and updates
  • Ease of use/viewing for end-users (your customers!)
  • Increased customer conversion ratio
  • Your prospects will know that you value quality


A good rule of thumb is to remember that the website is for your users, so we need to surf like your users surf (and test!)

Contact us if you need work done to make sure your sites look good on all the browser options out there!