In doing a lot of development for clients involving the highly-customizable system WordPress, we have created many custom plugins for clients. For those of you that may not know, plugins add extended functionality to WordPress allowing you to do almost anything with your blog or Web site.
There are plugins that allow you to display a custom event calendar on your Web site, manage your podcasts, create an administration area to manage memberships, manage payments for subscribing members and so much more.
We are proud to announce that we have added a page of WordPress Plugins to our Web site that will list our custom Plugins that are available for free! Please feel free to use them on your own Web sites and blogs.
Get the FREE Riddle Brothers WordPress Plugins:
Riddle Brothers WordPress Plugins
If you need any assistance installing a plugin, or would like us to customize it for you let us know!
Web sites are created to promote a product, service or cause with the primary goal of having the visitor take action. That action is usually filling out a Web form to directly contact the company or individual that the Web site represents.
If you have a Web site, you will undoubtably need a contact form. This contact form should be creative, easy-to-use and quick to fill out. Inspect Element has put together a comprehensive list of clean and creative Web site contact forms to help inspire you when deciding what type of form you want to include on your Web site.
Read the full article:
Superb Examples of Form Design
Need help adding a contact form to your Web site? Contact us and we will be glad to help.
Every week we get many quote requests from clients looking to have a WordPress blog designed and developed. WordPress is one of our most recommended systems for managing a blog or Web site and we are always happy to help our our clients by adding additional functionality to their WordPress installation.
One of the many features that you can customize within WordPress is the comments area of your blog posts. From omitting posted Web links to automatically displaying Twitter avatars, there is much you can do to “hack” your blog’s comments section.
Smashing Magazine has a great post on 10 enhancements / ideas you can apply to your comments field.
Read the full article:
10 Handy WordPress Comments Hacks
If you are interested in requesting our services to help you tweak or develop your WordPress blog or Web site, please contact us today.
Re-designing your Web site can be a daunting task, but if you plan ahead and map out the purpose / vision of your site from the get-go, it can save a lot of confusion and heartburn. SitePoint has posted a brief but helpful article regarding the five points to keep in mind when re-doing your Web site:
- Simplicity = Good.
- Know your audience.
- Who are you?
- Get and stay usable.
- Trendy is not necessarily good.
Read the full article:
Considering A Site Redesign? 5 Tips To Get You Focused
As more and more people make the jump and acquire cell phones, smart phones and iPhones for accessing the Web, it is important that your Web site meets the requirements of a mobile device. Visiting a Web site on a mobile phone is a “whole different ball game” than how you access a site on your desktop computer. Some points to consider are different browsing habits, optimized graphics, keeping your mobile site as simple as possible and much more.
Fuel Your Creativity has put together a fantastic list of 13 items to keep in mind when designing your Web site for a mobile device.
Read the full article:
13 Tips To Improve Your Site’s Accessibility From Mobile Devices
A page that can be found on nearly every individual or company Web site is the “About Us” page. It tells your visitor who you are, what your intentions are and gives them a feel for who is behind the Web site they happen to be visiting.
It is no surprise that the “About Us” page is one of the most frequently accessed pages of any Web site (aside from the home page obviously). Therefore this highly-viewed page should be given the same amount of design attention as your home page!
Smashing Magazine has posted an in-depth compilation of some of the best and most visually attractive “About Us” pages from across the Web .
Read the full article:
Best Practices For Effective Design Of “About us”-Pages
Giving some thought to re-designing your “About Us” page? Contact us today to see how we can help!
From the “this is obvious but it is nice to see backing research” file, A List Apart has posted a fantastic article highlighting how a viewer’s perception of a Web site is established within 50 milliseconds. This initial perception heavily influences the confidence, trust and usability that visitor will have regarding the product or services offered.
An excerpt from the article states:
Research confirms that users make aesthetic decisions about the overall visual impression of web pages in as little as 50 milliseconds (1/20th of a second). These instant visceral reactions to web pages happen in virtually all users, are consistent over visit length, and strongly influence the user’s sense of trust in the information. In short, users have made fundamental, consistent, and lasting aesthetic decisions about the credibility and authority of sites before major eyetracking events begin.
Read the full article:
Visual Decision Making
Putting the appropriate value on your Web site and being willing to invest in top-notch marketing materials to establish your brand is a must to achieve success. I like to quote the adage “you get what you pay for”. It is understandable that businesses want to achieve the best bang for their buck, but with professional services (carpenters, doctors, mechanics and Web design / development companies), those whose prices are too good to be true usually just that.
Eric Karjaluoto of Ideas on Ideas presents a short story on the failure of one law firm to see the value in having a marketable Web site, and why it makes no sense to spend lavishly on other business features but let your brand suffer.
Read the full article:
Sweatpants Forever?
The blog Mens with Pens has a great post on the possibility of online videos turning away your audience or intended customer. Their reasoning is that if watching a video is the only option to receive content (especially in regards to a tutorial of some sort), then those who are visual learners are going to be at a disadvantage.
I agree with them….not only in regards to tutorial content but all online content. While there is nothing wrong with video as a communication format, when it is used to teach or present an update of some point, I become disengaged. I want the ability to be able to skim through content, skip what I am not interested in (or already know) and get to the good stuff. This is much harder to do with a video player than it is a readable, searchable and “take at your own pace” blog post.
The solution: Present an alternative format in addition to the video (text, PDF or a downloadable transcript of some sort).
Read the full article here:
Do Your Videos Shut Out a Third of Your Audience?
Here is a quick and easy-to-read article on how to make a Web site improve your business. The first steps are obvious (getting a Web site up and running), however I like how the author stresses on sticking to your message and not trying to do too much at one time.
Read the full article:
How to Make the Web Work for Your Business in 5 Steps
Thinking about a Web site for your business or organization?
Contact us for a free estimate and project proposal.
