need an awesome and FREE tool to unzip/zip files?

Try 7-Zip
It is very easy to use and saves us some time with the drag and drop option.

What is 7-Zip?
It is an open source Windows utility for manipulating archives.
Formats 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR are supported fully, other formats can be unpacked.

7-Zip works in Windows 7 / Vista / XP / 2008 / 2003 / 2000 / NT / ME / 98.
There is a port of the command line version to Linux/Unix.

See this comparison chart of other software options: http://www.7zip.com

A little zip history:
Zip was originally developed by Phil Katz for the software utility called PkZip also developed by him. The Zip file type has developed a lot over the years and is different than the one originated in late 90s. Zip has become so popular that practically every archive utility has to support it. It is also supported over multiple operating systems including Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

Zip is the only archive file type that became so popular as to have its uncompress feature included in Windows. Windows machines installed out of the box can open Zip archives and extract files from Zip archives.

Read more....

no more IE 6.0 please!

For years we web designers have been upset with Internet Explorer, especially version 6. Please, we beg of you, upgrade! It is easy, really! And hey - IE8 is available now! If you can, try Firefox - we bet you will love it even more!

Here are some articles to help nudge you to change your browser (and make your web designers happier):
1. mashable.com/2010/01/18/5-more-reasons-why-ie6-must-die/
2. davidwalsh.name/6-reasons-why-ie6-must-die
3. wisdump.com/web-programming/campaigns-to-kill-the-web-browser-that-just-wont-die-internet-explorer-6/
4. blogs.technet.com/srd/archive/2010/01/15/assessing-risk-of-ie-0day-vulnerability.aspx
5. secunia.com/advisories/product/11/
6. mashable.com/2009/07/16/ie6-must-die/

to quote the Mashable article on 01/18/2010:
"...Last week's series of events drove home just how dangerous and idiotic it is to run the long-broken IE6 browser. It should be a wake-up call to IT departments and users around the world: if you keep running a browser from 2001, you are throwing your online security right out the window."

the cuteness strikes back!

In April 2009, the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam was nominated for The 13th Annual Webby Awards in the Viral category, and was the People’s Voice Award winner! And we know you were one of the three million viewers had spent 1.2 million hours watching the puppies via the Internet.

Well guess what! New Shiba Inu pups (3 boys and 2 girls) were born on Saturday, January 16th, 2010. This is the second litter by their mom, Kika. And yes, the puppycam is up and ready for you to delay that spreadsheet, email, meeting notes, website edit etc. Welcome to the YPBCo office favorite distraction!

Read more about them if you want to here, or just click and watch now! And if you want to join in the conversation, visit puppycam.yuku.com

And a note to Mr+Mrs SFShiba - thanks for sharing :)

YPBCo MEMBER PROFILE: Jamey Brumfield, President and Creative Director

(Caption: JameyB with her Dad and racetrack 1978)

JameyB is creative not only with organizing projects and people, but with a pencil (paintbrush, crayon, charcoal) too! Everyday she draws something new. AND she has an ongoing cartoon for employees on their dry erase boards (ask about the adventures of Batpig). There is even a rumor she was enlisted to draw characters for an electronic coloring book coming your way via your iphone in the not-so-far-away future.

"Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. (thanks wikipedia)" And JameyB does just that and more! She is in the process of creating an online portfolio of her non-web work at SpookyInc.com.

Your Plan B Company is proud of our team, our artists. Each one of our team members exercises their creativity not only in the office but outside of it as well. We believe it is essential to problem solving, design and development. You can see more of JameyB's creativity through the YPBCo client portfolio, as well as in her sketch books and at her (coming soon!) online art-spot, SpookyInc.com. In addition to art, in her free time JameyB enjoys her post as the President of the Beloit College Alumni Association, bringing creativity to the board room! (Colorful dry erase pens in hand!)

P.S. This February 2 celebrates her 40th birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMEYB :)

HAPPY 13th ANNIVERSARY TO YOUR PLAN B COMPANY

Another year has whipped by! And wow was it fun!

Thanks to the ALA for giving us the 2009 American Library Associaton | Great Web Sites for Kids (for our work on spatulatta.com)

Our party was definitely another one of the highlights and we promise to have another one soon.

Great new projects!
spatulatta.com conversion to Joomla!
holidayclubchicago.com launch!
otrassn.org remodel to Joomla!
kruzinusa.com launch!
mwalliance.org conversion to Drupal!
latebarchicago.com launch!
And a cool project with CVS/Caremark!


And awesome continued work with GREAT clients :)
WomanRoadWarrior.com, MicciMicci.com, TheChicagoBuzz.com, LakeviewBaseballClub.com, MotorBrains.com, RosensteinPropertyLaw.com, SRosenstein.com, Tresser.com, UIC-CFDC.org, Wielgus.com, Icre-Roosevelt.org, EventatWestEgg.com, FieldofGreens.biz, GreensbyWhite.com, RonaldKnox.org, ChicagoHistory.org and more!

We look forward to what 2010 has in store for us. And are so pleased to say we have been in business 13 years now. Imagine way back in 1997 when the web was only dial up and backgrounds were only grey... to where we are today with open source CMS, CSS, Flash animation, videos, podcasts, social networking and so much more! Not to mention easy to use web stats (thanks google!).

As always, no project is too big or too small thanks to the hardworking peers in our network. If DavidB, Cat and I can't do it, believe me, we know someone who can! Give us a call or send an email with your next web project RFP - 773-665-2552 or jameyb@yourplanb.com

and THANK YOU!

Women on their Way Contest

Heads up - Your Plan B Company would like to ask you all to support our client, Kathy Ameche (womanroadwarrior.com and miccimicci.com) in this cool contest!

"The "Local Nation" contest received amazing entries from road trippers who speak their mind, share local knowledge and want to represent you, their fellow traveler, on Women on Their Way's newly formed "Local Nation" sounding board. YOU can be the judge! Entries are in and now here's the fun part - voting for your favorite!!"

Vote for Kathy here!
Read more about the contest here!

Thanks so much!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Time to refresh?

Remodeling an existing site needs to be approached in a similar way to the initial build out with solid pre-production meetings, research and review your visitor stats to make sure the next gen site meets your goals and can stand on its own for the next 3-5 years. Sometimes the remodel is just a facelift while others scrap everything and start over.

Let's discuss what is the best plan for your current website.

Take a look at some successful remodel projects:
mwalliance.org
ronaldknox.org
otrassn.org

Give us a call 773-665-2552 to discuss your website remodel needs.