SPARROW Website Design and Development

Strategy to Analysis: Creating a Web-Presence

March 15th, 2010

This is an article about the various hats I wear when enlisted to “make a website happen.” I would say “build a website,” but that’s misleading.

The most common misperception among many of my clients is that I sit down at my computer immediately after one conversation and design their website. Unlike most traditional media, a website is a living means by which to attract viewers, distribute information, generate leads, and/or sell a product or service. There are, of course, secondary benefits such as attracting advertisers, but I’m going to stick to the basics here. A good website can grow and change and adapt and, if executed correctly, it can offer valuable insight into the minds of your viewing audience.

Susan Utley Design Studio

March 13th, 2010

Another Web-O-Matic design project to client specifications implementing unique image-acquisition skills and integration-ready Photoshop layout.

Designer Advantage

February 10th, 2010

A Web-O-Matic Project with a unique client offering and call-to-action needs.

Default Comment Avatars Unveiled

January 30th, 2010

The search for custom solutions, as I’ve developed this custom theme, has been ongoing and exhaustive. For the most part, searching for what I’m looking for has produced an abundance of results and my task has simply been weeding through to find the optimal solution. Not so when today, as I rounded out comment styling, I searched for answers about where the little avatar images were coming from. Though I’m not particularly sure how the Gravatar has escaped me to date, I can now boast proud ownership of three unique avatars for the three legit email addresses that I use with regularity. Go to gravatar.com to get one.

A second issue that seemed, initially, too complicated, occurred when I tried to figure out how to set a default avatar to something other than the default options available in WordPress (found in Settings>Discussion). I implemented several unique plugins with no success and it began to appear as though I were going to need to edit my trunk files, which I have, so far and thankfully, avoided. I finally stumbled on a bit of code in WordPress.org support that did the trick.