Why being a minimalist makes sense.

I designed my very first website in the spring of 1999. Since I'm not a graphic designer -- although I have a keen eye for design -- I've been marketing myself as a minimalist designer. The advantages of a minimalist design:

• User-friendly - much easier for people to find what they're looking for.
• Search engine friendly - much easier for search engines to crawl and index.
• Faster download speeds - since a minimalist design uses fewer graphics as eye candy, the pages download much quicker (good for both people and search engines).

This morning, I read an article by Mohammad Moradi entitled 15+ Inspirational Examples of Website Redesign. What I found looking at the before and after screen shots is that the vast majority are utilizing a minimalist design.
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New Site Launched: Wendie Pett

I am very happy to announce the launch of Wendie Pett's new website. The site was developed in Joomla 1.5 and features an online store and a blog. Coming in the near future will be a full-featured members only area.

Thank you, Jacob Hodara, for your help with the technical aspects of this project.

www.wendiepett.com

New Site Launched: 340 Defense

I am very happy to announce the launch of 340 Defense. The site was developed in Joomla 1.5 and features an online store, as well as an online shooting range reservation calendar.

Thank you, Gloria Brumley, for your excellent work on this project.

www.340defense.com

Dizzy yet?

Click image to see what I mean.

I don't feel inferior. Do you?

I came across this article, Overcoming the Small Business Inferiority Complex, and my initial thought was why should we feel inferior running a small business?

I have been self-employed for eight years, and I love the entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners. To start a small business takes a high degree of skills sets (you wear a lot of hats), confidence in ones abilities, perseverance in not giving up when the going gets tough, people skills (you need to be able to work with many personality types), organization & attention to detail, just to name a few of the attributes small business owners must possess. People who successfully run small businesses are not lazy and they're certainly not inferior in intellect or wherewithal!

If you run a small business, be proud--most people are destined to work as employees, not employers.

New Site Launched: Advanced Optics

I am very happy to announce the launch of Advanced Optics. The site was developed in Joomla 1.5 and is fully optimized for the search engines.

www.advancedoptics.com

Do you think Facebook should be nervous about Google+?

I was invited to join Google+ about three or so weeks ago. In that time, I've piddled around with circles, have posted a few links and have commented on other people's posts. But, I haven't made a concerted effort to use it like I use Facebook... yet.

Do I think Facebook has some serious competition here? I sure do!! Google+ takes what we know and like about Facebook and makes it better in a lot of ways:

Circles

My absolute favorite feature of Google+ is, without a doubt, circles. What I like about circles is that it provides an efficient way to organize your contacts by friends, family members, peers, clients, whatever... Then, on your wall, you can filter your news stream by circle, which makes it easy to weed out "the noise." Since I am anal about organization, circles are right up my alley!

Layout

In terms of look and feel, Google+ and Facebook share similar designs. Comparing the two, Google+'s profile page is way less cluttered than Facebook's. Google+ utilizes a two-column layout versus Facebook's three-column layout. There's more white space in Google+, which is easier on the eyes (and brain).

In Google+, underneath the profile picture, is a "Send an email," button which makes it quick & easy to send a private message. I like this feature much better than Facebook's rather obscure "Send a New Message."

No More Typos

In Google+, you can actually edit posts. I sure wish Facebook had that feature.

Navigation

Another thing I like about Google+ are the icons adjacent to the search bar, which makes it easy to navigate the site.

Quick Access to Google Tools

The toolbar at the top of the page is an easy click to all your favorite Google tools and gadgets, which makes Google+ not only a social networking site but also a productivity site.

Everything in one place--how cool is that?!! Now that I think about it, I'm going to make Google+ my start page!

If you are not yet part of Google+ and would like to be invited to join, please drop me a line.