PhotoWalk

Posted on July 24, 2009

Last Saturday morning, July 18, my husband and I joined a group of photographers for Scott Kelby’s Second-Annual Worldwide Photowalk. It’s a huge event – there were over 900 groups around the world and over 32,600 people signed up. Here’s a link to the San Antonio Group.

We spent 2 hours wandering through the King William District and photographing everything. It was fun to see what different things people took pictures of. One of the first things we encountered was a very old VW Beetle. A lot of people spent quite a while taking photos of it. My husband took photos of the people taking photos of the VW!

In all, I took nearly 400 photos. It was great fun, although it was terribly hot. At least we walked in the morning. Then we met at Fuddrucker’s for lunch and shared our photos. Below I’ve posted some of the favorites that I took. You can click on any one of them for a larger view.

Much Ado About twitter

Posted on July 20, 2009

As I mentioned earlier, I recently joined the twitter crowd. I think it’s driving my hubby crazy. All this talk of twitter and tweeting and followers – not something he’s used to. But he’s beginning to accept my (mostly harmless) addiction.

I started my twitter account on June 26th. So this is just over 3 weeks. It’s a modest start. I currently have 26 followers and am following some 38 people. Subject to change w/o much notice.

So far I’ve made a few connections and even signed up for my first Tweetup!

Then, last Thursday night we went to dinner at the Scenic Loop Cafe. When we walked in, I noticed a sign on the counter that they were on twitter. (I’m usually fairly observant and so have started seeing twitter everywhere lately.) We had a wonderful meal. Towards the end of it, I told my husband that I was going to have to tweet about it. (which may be when he began worrying about me!). In the car on the way home, I tweeted thusly, “Just leaving @ScenicLoopCafe . Delish!!” This resulted in a short twitter conversation and a bit of a connection. They’ll be at the tweetup on Tuesday.

That bit of tweeting showed me how twitter could help a business. At least for the restaurant.

I signed up for the tweetup b/c I want to know more about how I can use twitter. Having exchanged tweets with some who will be at the tweetup makes it easier for me. Easier than walking into a room where I don’t know anyone.

How has twitter helped my business? So far I’m not sure. What I’m sure of is that it will, if I just figure it out. In fact, it has gotten me a bit of work, albeit pro bono. That’s another story from Saturday afternoon where I responded that I could help out a non-profit org with their PHP/WordPress issue. You never know, a little pro bono work can help you get known by others. Time will tell.

I’ll be posting more on my twitter explorations. Stay tuned.

Do you use twitter? How has it helped you? What questions do you have regarding its use?

Drought & Deer

Posted on July 19, 2009

While there are neighborhoods near us that are known to have deer in them, ours is not among them. We’ve had deer come through at night, while we slept. Usually we knew by their droppings and the fact that they ate some of our plants – they like hibiscus but aren’t fond of red tips. The only time I saw them was if I happened to look out the window in the middle of the night. Really, I only saw one in the nearly nine years we’ve lived here.

Usually, signs of deer were an indication of a lack of rain. Well, this part of South Texas is under severe drought conditions now. Two weeks ago, we spotted a deer and her fawn crossing a street around 8:30 in the evening. Very rare. But last Friday morning, the same deer and fawn took up morning residence in our back yard. (For some weird reason, our house and our neighbors house have no fenced in back yard.) This morning, I was able to capture a picture of the momma deer. (I was in the house taking pictures between the slats of our blinds so as not to disturb her.)

Momma Deer - guarding her fawn

She appeared to be guarding her fawn that was asleep in the back yard. Then I spotted a white cat on the fence. About the time that the cat jumped to the ground, the momma deer became alert and turned to see what happened. Here she is, the white spot near the fence is the cat.

Momma Deer - on the lookout

She then went after the cat, wanting to chase her away from the fawn. She stomped her feet and probably snorted to chase the cat away.

Do You Twitter?

Posted on July 10, 2009

Can you even talk about twitter and tweeting without giggling?

bwh Web Designs just recently joined the twitter community. So I’m still just barely more than a hatchling, but I’ve already seen the value of its use. If you like, you can follow our tweets.

Why use Twitter? The entire purpose of having a business web site is to drive people to your site. Ultimately so they will purchase your product or service. Twitter is one way to begin forming relationships with potential customers. And along the way you’ll meet new friends and learn new things. Some of them will even be useful.

As examples, yesterday I learned that Hwy 281 in San Antonio will be closed on Sunday – in the area around the Quarry. Very useful to know. I also knew, long before the news talked about it, that the Liberty Bar is moving in 2009 to S. Alamo Street.

So how does one get started? That’s where we can help. bwh Web Designs can walk you through the basics of setting it up and getting started. We can even create a custom background to coordinate with your web site.

Give us a call at 210 383 5842 today for more information!

Do You Like Motion on a Web Site?

Posted on July 3, 2009

Some web sites have a lot of motion on their sites. It might be blinking things or Flash or just motion. I imagine some people like it. A while back I had a conversation with other developers, expressing a concern about it bothering some people.

The reply I got was that they knew that it could cause seizures in people with epilepsy. Which, to me, should be cause for a bit of concern. But it goes further than that. I have a friend with Multiple Sclerosis. She said that such motion can actually impact her MS, causing spasms. And then there are people like myself. I get migraines, and such motion on a web site can trigger a migraine for me.

So, should you use it? It’s up to you. I ran the numbers: Roughly 2 million Americans have epilepsy and another 400,000 have MS. There are 28 million Americans diagnosed with Migraines and another estimated 14 million have undiagnosed Migraines. There are (roughly) 300 million people in this country.

So, somewhere between 10 and 17 % of the population could be physically bothered by all that motion on your site. Is that a number you can live with? I’m not asking you to consider the health effects, but more to the point is the fact that they are likely to leave your site and see the information elsewhere. Can you afford that?

Lastly, my husband is quick to point out that many people, including him, are just plain annoyed by all that motion while they’re trying to read.

What are your thoughts on using Flash and other moving images on a web site?

Always Shine-N

Posted on June 6, 2009

This site was a while in the making. It was on hold for 6 months, due to the economy. Even in South Texas there was less car washing this winter. But finally it is here.

Nathan is a really cool guy. His personality matches the logo on his site. Which is also on his cards and shirts. And when you call his phone, you get first this message “Please enjoy the music while I connect your call.” Followed by the theme to the movie “Car Wash”! Not hard to see why he didn’t like his first site – pictured at the bottom of this message.

His new site even offers Gift Certificates for sale. Check out his site and if you’re in the SA area, try his service. You’ll be glad you did.

And here’s his first site:

Alamo Judo Club

Posted on May 22, 2009

This is a site that is just finishing up. It’s a re-design of an existing site. Now in a format that allows the club members to update themselves.

Announcing Wheelwright Publishing

Posted on May 11, 2009

Wheelwright Publishing is a small family-owned publishing and publishing services business located in Helena Montana. This web site was a joy to create because of all the lovely pictures they have. They publish 3 full-color outdoor guides to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. They also are available for publishing your book and for any and all editing, proofreading and reviewing needs.

Updated Web site

Posted on April 24, 2009

Anna Price was actually my very first customer. She’s a glass artist who creates fabulous fused dichroic glass jewelry. Everything she creates is one-of-a-kind; so in 2005, she didn’t want to try to actually ‘sell’ on her web site. She basically used it as an advertising tool. Not to mention that by selling on the web she would have to devote more time to the web site – taking pictures, putting items on the web, packaging and shipping. She didn’t want to take the time away from her art.

Last year her husband, Don, has decided to take on those web site related tasks for Anna. So we redesigned her, added shopping and now it is live! If you know much about photographing jewelry, you know that it is darn hard to get an image that really shows off the piece. And it’s twice as hard with dichroic glass. But Don has done well with his photography. (He had me as his instructor.) And the pieces on Anna’s site look almost as good as the real thing!

A New Blog

Posted on April 24, 2009

This is a blog that I set up recently for a client. I expect that down the line we’ll see a lot more from The Courier! I created the image at the top and then fit it into an existing theme.