Website Design

Because of the wide use of the internet today, it seems the only time you would hear someone say “What is the Internet” would be in the answer to a simple Jeopardy question.  However, I find out more and more each day how little some people actually know about the great mystery that is called the internet.

When I work with a client on a website, I do not expect them to know all about how I do things.  That’s why I am a web designer… and they are not.

Even though people don’t always want to know all the technical details, it is a good idea to have some basic knowledge of how things work.  Sometimes explaining these things is hard to do when people don’t understand the lingo.  Because so many people ask me questions about how things work online, I’ve decided to write a series about how the internet works.  Some of the topics I will cover include:

• Browsers/Email clients
• Connection types/ISPs
• Domain names
• Hosting/Servers
• Scripting Languages/Online technology
• Content Management

I will conclude with a post about why the internet is the best place to advertise your business, and why you can’t afford to be without a website.

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Since I am new to blogging, I will be posting alot of “how to” instructions as I learn to do new things. Today, I needed to know how to embed a video from YouTube in my Wordpress blog. I found two very effective ways to post a YouTube or Google video on my blog.

Method #1:
Install the EasyTube plugin by eJump.co.uk.
Just go to http://www.ejump.co.uk/wordpress/easytube-plugin-for-wordpress/ and download the plugin. Install it into your plugin directory and activate it from the Wordpress admin.

I found that this method was the easiest way to embed a YouTube video. It took me about 5 minutes, and now it is easy to completely customize all of my YouTube videos and how they appear on my blog. I really like being able to easily add autoplay and resize the images.
Here is a working example using the EasyTube plugin.

However… if you don’t want to mess with installing a plugin, you can try…

Method #2:
Turn off your visual editor while writing the post.
To do this…

1. Go to your Wordpress admin
2. Navigate to Users -> Your Profile
3. Uncheck the “Use the visual editor when writing” box
4. Click “Update Profile”

Now you can just type the embed code straight into the editor just like you would with a normal website. You have to be careful because if you turn your visual editor back on and try to edit the post, it will revert back to showing up as the code itself. This option is rather annoying because the visual editor has to be turned off and on each time a video is posted… and the posts cant be easily edited.

With the launch of the new site, there are a number of things that have come to my attention that I had not yet considered. I really would appreciate some input on what I could do better.

First, a history lesson.
I started designing websites in 2003 at a local newspaper in the small town I lived in. It was a great way for me to get experience using the techniques I had learned. Later on, a friend and I went to a computer class where we learned all about ASP, VBscript and of course HTML. We went to a national competition in Detroit where our team of 5 placed 4th out of 25 teams. When we returned, we decided to start a business doing website design.

Geekfoot was born!
We worked under this name together for several projects. These included some ideas we had ourselves, as well as projects for clients. After a while… college came around and work became second priority. College also brought about a new need for a professional presence. Geekfoot? What in the world is that?

Then came the name…
I decided that working with my name (Corey Potter) was the most professional way to go about branding my business. At one time I was concerned with growing into a large web design company… but I quickly realized that I wanted to work as a lone freelancer (with the help of several partners when needed). I had a domain name, but no site to showcase my work. I decided that I wanted to use Wordpress as my main CMS because of the many features that allow for easy expansion.

I have several reasons for wanting a website/blog.

1. To be able to send clients to a website to view my portfolio.
2. To get new clients from searches online.
3. To share my thoughts and things that I learn along the way with other web developers.
4. To network with other webmasters and bloggers who are interested in website design.

So I started drawing some sketches and looking online for inspiration. It seemed like everything was coming together fine and I liked the various elements of the page. However, there was a major problem. When everything came together… things just didn’t seem right anymore.

The problems:
There are several things I want to change about my website… here is a list of the main ones.

• I want to design a new logo. I feel like the light bulb is way to cliche and overdone. I also want to use professional software (this one was created using Inkscape).
• I need a real picture of myself on the page. I want the blog to have a very personal feel so that my clients can learn more about who I am.
• I don’t want to talk about myself on the home page. The blurb under the silhouette needs to be a link to an about page.
• I need a design that really stands out. The site right now seems like it could be a theme that I downloaded from the internet. I want to be unique, while still being professional.
• I have to decide how to feature my website design services without hindering the blog.

Where you come in.
So I am asking you, my friends and the random viewers of my website… what are your suggestions? Is there anything that stands out to you? Who have you seen that effectively models my goals? What topics would you be interested in reading about on my website?  Is the new site an improvement at all from Geekfoot?

I look forward to being involved in the website design community. I cant wait to establish an identity that I can be proud to own… as well as be friends with some names that I’m proud to know.

I have decided to start my new website!  This site will be a work in progress over the next few weeks (and months).

If you need a website designed, please contact me!  You can send an email to coreyapotter @ gmail.com or call me at (803) 767-5062.