http://thrivewire.ca Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:20:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_531" align="alignright" width="310" caption="Sparky Firepants explores: What do people think about when they want a website? (click image for full size)"][/caption] For a while now I've been designing a package for semi-custom WordPress websites (I promise it has a more exciting name than that, but it's still hatching!). And when ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/two-heads-really-are-better-than-one/ This may be a funny thing for a web designer to say, but it's largely true. Most people don't come to most websites to see how great a logo is, or the fonts and colours used. To see the latest, greatest animation or graphical treatment. They come to see what you've ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/nobody-cares-about-your-website/ There's no doubt that we live in information-saturated times. Publishing tools have been embraced by the masses to the point that you can keep tabs on where uber-connected, far-off friends are having lunch. You can instantly tap into the history of just about anything, from 70s TV shows to obscure ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/switching-off-to-switch-on/ [caption id="" align="alignright" width="400" caption=""Don't be in such a hurry" by Toni V"][/caption] Tonight I got an email from a friend asking if I could help his brother out. The brother in question had a request from a publishing company to see his website, as they might want him to illustrate ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/ways-to-get-a-website-in-a-hurry/ Aside: I wanted to call this post "If NASA is using WordPress, does that make it Rocket Science?", but the logical, user-friendly, SEO-loving part of my brain won out over the funny part. Sorry about that. I discovered tonight (via @raanan) that NASA is not only using WordPress, but using it ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/who-uses-wordpress/ Recently I wrote about the Social Media coffee shop. I promised to follow up with some tips on how you can fit this stuff into limited time, like your coffee breaks. Here goes! Getting familiar (without getting overwhelmed) If you're new to social media or even a particular aspect of it, it ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/fitting-social-media-into-your-day/ I'd been thinking of sharing some of my tips on WordPress security, and this weekend's alerts about hacking of older sites has pushed it to top of the post-ideas pile. I definitely don't claim to be an expert on security. But I have found the following to help me sleep a ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/wordpress-security-upgrade-tips/ A different way to think about, and make time for, Twitter & Facebook Recently my Pilates instructor mentioned that she's looking for an admin assistant, in part to do Facebook for the centre. In this conversation I heard two thoughts commonly expressed about Facebook and Twitter: "I just don't have time for ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/do-you-have-time-for-coffee/ As part of my recent branding efforts I needed some new business cards. As much as I love an awesome old-style letterpress card, that wasn't the way to go for me. At least, not yet. I needed something that: was fairly inexpensive and quick (wanting them to arrive before an upcoming ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/fun-with-moo-business-cards/ TEDTalks videos are such a wonderful resource. Every talk is so touching and inspiring in some way. This one is by Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroanatomist — a student of the brain — who had a first hand experience of a stroke. She wrote a book called A Stroke of Insight about ... http://thrivewire.ca/blog/insight-into-right-and-left-brain-thinking/