The Perfect Linux Desktop Setup for Web Development

Posted on 26/08/2010 by brummbaer

As a fellow open source enthusiast and web developer, Josh has been kind enough to invite me to guest post on one of my favorite topics: Linux-based web development. I specialize in the development end and less on design, so bear that in mind, though I’ll also introduce some graphic design tools as well.

While the linux platform still lacks a native port for Adobe CreativeSuite, to the chagrine of Linux-loving web developers everywhere,  there are still plenty of stunningly useful tools for web developers working on Linux. Before  I get to a summary of my favorite of these tools though, I’d like to take a second to talk about the importance of open source in the web industry.

Continue reading →

Posted in web development | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Ten Free design tools

Posted on 15/08/2010 by Ollo

doodle made in muroBeing on the web all day I tend to read a lot of design blogs and tech articles as lame as it may sound through these articles I daily find tools and experiments in code that really keep me fired up about what I do. I began using Delicious about 3 years ago as a way to keep track and catalog some of these finds so “just in case I had that project someday” I would have adequate resources to at least be able to locate answers if needed. Fridays can be slow nights as I usually don’t go out due to a long week and a need for some R&R. Tonight however I had an urge to go ahead and keep on trucking and bust out a post before heading full on into the weekend. So given I have been playing with some nice web based design tools I think now is a perfect time for a brief walkthrough on a few of my favorites.
Continue reading →

Posted in web development | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Must have Android apps | midsummer special

Posted on 05/08/2010 by Ollo

google android OSNow several months in using the Android OS and finally reaching a nice balance with the HTC Sense UI. It’s time for a new app list to assist in stepping up your mobile entertainment and functionality for the rest of summer and into fall.  I got some great suggestions from some friends to include so do a shout out or comment if you find something cool. Again these are not specifically ranked so take them based on your needs.

Continue reading →

Posted in android | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

CDR Naturals new Yahoo Store : press release

Posted on 18/05/2010 by Ollo

I recently completed this project for my parents. They have been operating this retail health food store in Bourbon, Missouri since 1995 and up until about a month ago have been suffering with an ugly baby website that was struggling to produce sales and a professional web presence. Now they usually say doing business with family is a bad idea, but this was one of the smoothest projects I have undertaken. Understanding their vision came easily and since they are my parents understanding how to build something to represent their business goals and vision surprisingly came quite naturally. We chose the Yahoo Merchant Solutions / Store platform for its known reliability and my familiarity with the features. They decided to keep things simple for a start but are in a position to easily expand and change plans to offer more features when needed. I am writing this post to highlight some of the features and show case my first full ecommerce addition to the portfolio.

1.) The Store :

This is my first RTML creation, I have done minor modifications in the past and extensively modified the CSS of the yahoo store templates but this project required a bit more to accomplish the vision for the site and product presentation.

CDR Naturals Home Page Continue reading →

Posted in ecommerce | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Customize your Paypal cart guide : conversion rate booster

Posted on 07/05/2010 by Ollo

paypalWhen working in ecommerce,  conversion is king.  One common way to encourage conversion is to style your shopping cart to match your site so you have consistency with your site pages and there is no shock to your customers when they hit the shopping cart. This provides a continued look and feel and can provide trust to your shoppers so they feel comfortable to buy from your store.  On one of my recent projects I found a quick way to take this ideal a step further.

Paypal… loved by some hated by others.  Over the last couple of years I have seen them make some huge strides in regaining market trust and a better image. I frequently speak with a lot of ecommerce merchants that are just getting started and use paypal as their processing solution due to simplicity and a fairly reasonable pricing structure.  The site I am currently working on falls into this category.  As I was working to customize their cart I found a nice way to customize your paypal payment screen to attempt to retain shoppers and hopefully lower abandonment by maintaining the same look and feel as the site and the initial check out pages from their Yahoo! store.

Continue reading →

Posted in ecommerce | Tagged , | Leave a comment