3 - 2007 | Websites Made Simple

How Much to Pay for a WordPress Theme?

March 31, 2007 by Danny

This topic is not old nor new in this industry of web design with its sister industry; blog design. That is why while part of the blogosphere was discussing; How much would you for a wordpress theme? at WPDesigner.com, it didn’t drove me into much of a discussion.

The debate of cost is as subjective as a design itself. Many people made of designers, consumers, marketers, managers and directors have their own take of this topic. This is one of the reasons I don’t believe in having a standard cost to my work. The only thing I truly believe is a minimum cost when I’m hired to do a project.

TMNet Could Be Losing 80% of Business

March 24, 2007 by Danny

I’m currently at the One Utama, Starbucks Coffee outlet with my lil ol white Apple Macbook. While waiting for my girlfriend, I expected to logon to the free wireless normally provided by Timezone. It was after buying a drink, finding a comfy one seater sofa and sipping on their signature hot chocolate and trying to connect to the Wi-Fi did I notice there wasn’t Time available here. Bummer!

I had 2 options which was to either sign up an Airzed account or a TMNet Hotspot account. Both are premium services and I’ve never really believed in signing up for anyone of it. My reasoning is if you’re a customer, you’re technically ‘paying’ for the usage of their Wi-Fi. Nonetheless I have around 1 hour to kill so I decided to might as well register with one.

Malaysia Politician Contradicts Himself

March 21, 2007 by Danny

I can understand the dangers I might be treading on here but the Internet to me is freedom of speech while I’m normally a responsible writer and don’t take actions that could threaten myself. Therefore, in this case it is my personal opinion of why I feel the Internet industry in Malaysia is still slow especially in its content area.

In The Star today, there was an article titled; Don’t quote websites, says Zam. It’s about our current Information Minister advising the newspaper media to not quote websites (or even weblogs) of their content because they are made by “frustrated journalists or frustrated in politics” and that’s a direct quote.

QUIZ: Spot the Similarity

March 20, 2007 by Danny

Before I head off to bed, I’d like to leave my dear readers and visitors with a small quiz. I’m sorry to say there are no prizes to be given away – maybe in future. However, reason I’m doing this is to see if you can spot a similarity I’ll continue to discuss on tomorrow when I resume this entry.

So let’s get started. Spot the similarty between these 2 different websites; Happy Cog and The Blog Studio. Below are the screenshots if you don’t feel like visiting them.

Please subscribe to my comments after you’ve guessed to instantly find out when I’ve updated this post.

Monitor Website Statistics with Google Analytics

March 20, 2007 by Danny

Once upon a time when Google was still offering GMail accounts via invites, they introduced their website statistics application called Google Analytics. If you hadn’t known, this was only after Google purchased the web analytics firm; Urchin. The analytics application was on an invite basis as well and I was one of the lucky ones to get it early.

Ever since I started using Google Analytics to monitor few websites and customer projects, I’ve totally fallen in love with it. The application is not only powerful but it allows me (as a web designer) to track important data. That said, if you only want to get a kick out of the number of daily visitors to your website then Google Analytics will give you a boot later.

Maybank2u myzone Web Design Contest

March 19, 2007 by Danny

Updated: September 4, 2007
Closing date is now September 15, 2007 (12:00AM)

While doing some online banking at Maybank2u, I became curious of a new area called; myzone. I found out myzone was meant to be Maybank2u for teenagers. Talk about building a brand to reach the youths.

So anyway, while I was there snooping around I found something of my interest. In conjunction with the launch of Maybank2u’s new myzone for teenagers dubbed “It’s my account, it’s my freedom”, they’re holding a web design content. Interested yet?

Book: The Principles of Beautiful Web Design

March 19, 2007 by Danny

While reading one of my newsletters from Sitepoint, they recently released a book titled The Principles of Beautfiul Web Design and it became already sold out!

I’ve followed Sitepoint for a good period of time and the first book I bought from them while still in Melbourne; Build Your Own Database Driven Website is still used as a reference for me. What I seriously like about their books is because it’s not overly technical and the guide is made simpe so it doesn’t confuse you with too many tech jargons.

Good Help is Hard To Find

March 16, 2007 by Danny

Last week, I did a presentation of what Simpleet Solutions had to offer clients. I talked about the processes and strategy we take to build them a website with a unique web design and solid web development foundation that wouldn’t only work now but is also expandable in the future.

Ever since I started Simpleet Solutions and presented to the medium sized audience, we’ve had inquiries pouring in about our services and rates. It’s good to see a new business grow exponentially with the principles of web standards especially in Malaysia. But like simple marketing, you need to supply enough to the demand.

Tag: 5 Secrets 'not' Many Know

March 15, 2007 by Danny

I was randomly tagged by Ah Pek recently from Project Petaling Street and I bet he must’ve been playing A-E-I-O-U while doing it too. I don’t really like the whole ‘tag’ you because it’s a little like forwarded emails to me. And I delete those straight away normally.

However, I’m going to go along and play the ball in my court here. I’m indecisive to tag more people or not so you’ll know by the end of this post. Besides, tagging gives you an excuse to increase a post today so if you’ve not been blogging lately this is the best excuse you can get.

Blog Review: MyMacBuzz

March 15, 2007 by Danny

David; blog owner of MyMacBuzz contacted me and asked if I could review his blog. I’ve reviewed a number of other blogs; Midnite Lily, What’s This Then?, Dustyhawk and a couple of others before. I stopped doing it at one point because it was taxing and review requests were for the wrong reasons.

A review from me is always honest and straight forward. I don’t get paid to say nice things and I won’t say nice things even if I was paid. My long term goal in this industry is to increase the value of websites me and my team produces for clients. My personal goal now is to be recognized as a ‘consultant’ who’d offer valuable web design experience to clients websites.

Therefore, if you’re looking for straight up feedback on your website or weblog then I’m here. So without further due, let’s help David locate his strengths and weaknesses.