Archive for 2006

I’m a book lover. Everything about books, from their smell and design to the content inside appeals to me. So you can imagine my pleasure when discovering great books about my other great passion - web design. So without further ado here’s 3 of my current favourite web design books:

1. Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug

As much about usability as web design, this book is one of the best resources on building effective websites. As Steve says:

It’s a fact: People won’t use your website if they can’t find their way around it.

2. The Big Red Fez by Seth Godin

A simple, straight forward book focusing on how to make any website better. Again focused on usability as much as web design The Big Red Fez provides real world examples of what it takes to create a website that satisfies your visitors and ensures they keep coming back.

3. The CSS Anthology by Rachel Andrew

As a relative newcomer to CSS this book provides practical solutions to building a CSS, standards compliant website.

This list is by no means exhaustive but it’s a great start. I’ll keep adding to it as I discover new books I love. It’s also an excuse to keep buying them.

Aaron Wall and Scott Smith launched their new search engine marketing company last week - Clientside Search Engine Marketing. I’m probably a little biased as ThinkProspect did the website design and logo design, but from what I know of the two of them and they way they approached working with me I see nothing but great success ahead.

Good luck Aaron and Scott!

Customers Are Always blog has a great post Enthusiasm, Spirituality, and Karma in Business. I particularly like this quote:

Yes, I truly believe that there is such a thing as karma in business. What you give comes back to you tenfold.

I couldn’t agree more. A number of years ago I did a blog design for a friend, free of charge. Another acquaintance noticed me for that design and recently I have started doing some web design and blog designs for them. Without doing that first site I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been recognised by my new client.

I never did the original blog design expecting anything but sometimes what goes around comes around.

I bought two products online last Friday: a tube of shaving cream for my hubby from Hong Kong and a tube of moisturiser for me from Hoppers Crossing (a 15 minute drive from where I live).

Both offered free shipping which, whilst not a deciding factor, was certainly a nice bonus. So which one do you think turned up first thing Monday morning? Nope, it was the shaving cream from Hong Kong. Usually I wouldn’t have expected it until tomorrow. Seriously.

Now I’m not critising the Hoppers Crossing place - I purchase from there regularly and always receive my goods in a timely fashion, but less than one business day from Hong Kong, that’s sensational. It’s the type of online shopping experience I want to tell all my friends about. Thanks StrawberryNET!

Finally having a blog of my own has made me appreciate even more all the bloggers I have read and enjoyed over the years.

Whilst my blog is relatively new I was introduced to blogging early - having designed Peter Da Vanzo’s SearchEngineBlog.com website. Peter was blogging way back before most and I always looked forward to his daily thoughts and comments. Now I can truly appreciate the effort he put into it. So thank you Peter and all those other bloggers who take the time to write truly great, insightful posts. It’s appreciated.

I’m still settling into my own blogging style and still struggle with what to write at times. If anyone has any suggestions or topics they’d love to hear more about please let me know.