Recent Work
I’ve been lucky enough to stay really busy with my web design business. I love working on different projects with different styles every day. Here are a couple things I’ve been working on:
Some simple changes to Brooke Ashley’s Photography blog. Her pictures say it all, we just wanted to compliment her great work with subtle design elements:
A brand new website for Zusti! Home Maintenance Service using WordPress:
A fun playful logo for La Olla products:
A throwback logo for Birds on a Line:
Just a few of the fun projects I’ve been working on. If you need help with your website or business image, visit my website www.brookehalldesign.com for more info.
Recent WordPress Website Designs
Here are a couple of recent projects I designed and programmed, each built in WordPress so the client is able to make changes to their website whenever they’d like. Love WordPress and it’s ability to let you add and edit without any HTML knowledge. You can read more about my web design services at brookehalldesign.com.
Danville Chocolates Website Design
This website was both so fun to design, and *excrutiating* to look at these delicious chocolates for long stretches of time without having some to snack on. Check out my new Danville Chocolates website design: www.danvillechocolates.com.
New ohbrooke Blog Design
I am quite possibly my own worst client. the WORST. But because I’m a glutton for punishment and have had these darn bees in my bonnet for such a long time, I finally committed to a new blog design. Well, sort of. I’ve put most of the changes in place but will forever be fiddling.
You can find the most popular posts in the sidebar.
There’s room for more sponsors in the sidebar.
You can search easily through archives of the most popular post categories up in the header.
I’m *working* on a home tour… that’ll be here soon. I realized it was far easier to clean one room at a time and shoot it rather than have the whole house clean, because with my schedule, it just ain’t happenin’. But I do have before pictures and even I forgot the depth of the transformation. I’m excited to share.
And just for old times… here’s a shot of what the blog USED to look like {for those of you in your readers, click over and check out the new digs}:
Oh, and if you’re using Internet Explorer version 6 {you can find out by going to Help/About Internet Expolorer} PLEASE UPGRADE! PRETTY PLEASE!!!
sorry… that got ugly.
Blog Tips: Changing Colors
Your blog reads hexidecimal colors. They are represented in six digit values. I create these hex colors through my eyedropper tool in Photoshop, but if you don’t have this at your disposal, you can use 2createawebsite.com to generate hex colors. You can copy and paste any hex number {will look something like this: #B14646} with any hex number you have in your stylesheet.
A reminder on how to get to your stylesheets:
For WordPress
In the admin section, Appearance/Editor, your file might be called “stylesheet.css” or some other “.css” file. If there are more than one, open them all and you’ll be using the longest one.
For Blogpsot
In the admin section, under Layout/Edit HTML, your stylesheet is hardcoded all in one page with the blog. The styles are held at the top of the page between <style> tags {You can also use Layout/Fonts and Colors to paste your hex colors into}.
Your code should look something like this:
h1 {
font-family: ‘Trebuchet’, Arial, sans-serif;
font-weight: bold;
font-size:24px;
color: #333333;
}
**Just to be safe: copy and paste the entire code of what you are working on, into Notepad or Textedit, in case you forget a semi-colon, or something goes terribly wrong, you can put the old code back in a try again. Just a caution. You can’t miss a character or it won’t look correct and may break your page.**
Blog Tips: Changing Your Fonts
There are a limited amount of fonts you can use for the main content of your blog. If you see fancy fonts on a blog or website, they are likely a Flash file or a JPG of the font.
To change your font, locate your stylesheet.
For WordPress
In the admin section, Appearance/Editor, your file might be called “stylesheet.css” or some other “.css” file. If there are more than one, open them all and you’ll be using the longest one.
For Blogpsot
In the admin section, under Layout/Edit HTML, your stylesheet is hardcoded all in one page with the blog. The styles are held at the top of the page between <style> tags {You can use Layout/Fonts and Colors, but you’ll be limited to six fonts}.
Find any reference to “font-family:” in your stylesheet. In Firefox, I like to use the Edit/Find function to find pieces of code, but you can manually look if you’d like. If there is a list of several fonts, like this “font-family: Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Arial, sans-serif;” it is saying this: “Use Century Gothic. If the user doesn’t have Century Gothic installed, use Trebuchet. If the user doesn’t have Trebuchet installed, use Arial, and if the user doesn’t have Arial installed, use a sans-serif font they do have installed.” Replace the first font with the one you’d like to display. Below are a list of web-safe fonts and how to add them.
**Just to be safe: copy and paste the entire code of what you are working on, into Notepad or Textedit, in case you forget a semi-colon, or something goes terribly wrong, you can put the old code back in a try again. Just a caution. You can’t miss a character or it won’t look correct and may break your page.**
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-family: ‘Arial Narrow’, Arial, sans-serif;
font-family: ‘Arial Black’, Arial, sans-serif;
font-family: ‘Courier New’, courier, serif;
font-family: Georgia, serif;
font-family: ‘Times New Roman’, Times, serif;
font-family: “Lucida Console”, serif;
font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
font-family: ‘Trebuchet’, Arial, sans-serif;
font-family: ‘Tahoma’, Arial, sans-serif;
font-family: ‘Palatino Linotype’, Palatino, serif;
font-family: ‘Impact’, Arial, sans-serif;
font-family: ‘Gill Sans’, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
font-family: Copperplate Gothic Light, Copperplate, serif;
font-family: ‘Century Gothic’, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
If you want to show more than one font
You can have different fonts for your titles and for your body copy. Look around in the stylesheet for any instance of “font-family:”. The titles of your posts are probably an H1 style. If there is no “font-family:” in your H1 style, add the entire line that you see above, and don’t forget the semi-colon!
If you are bored of these fonts
Try making them bold {font-weight:bold;}, or making it larger {font-size:30px;}, or making it all caps {text-transform:uppercase;} or changing the color {details in the next tutorial}.
Hope this helps!
images from webdesigndev.com.
GeorgieGirlNYC Blog Makeover
I just finished a Tumblr blog theme for the adorable, and almost-too-thin-to-be-my-friend, Georgina. She lives in New York and is using her blog to showcase fashion trends from the Big Apple! Georgina and I had a connection from the start, and have had fun getting to know each other long-distance.
Check out her {pimped-out} blog at www.georgiegirlNYC.com.
Sidenote: This is the first time I’ve worked with Tumblr. It has far less capabilities than WordPress, but is comparable to Blogspot for ease of use for the blogger and the non-web designer. It also allows you to easily connect with other bloggers, as a stream recent blog posts is always updated through the admin. Do you have tips about Tumblr that I don’t know about?
Bright Side Project: The kinks are out!
Over the last few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jules and Tristan, new blog friends on the redesign and migration of their communal blog from Typepad to WordPress. The launch took place two weeks ago, and I think we got all the kinks out. The migration from Typepad wasn’t as painless as it is from Blogspot, but everything has been sorted out.
If you haven’t been to The Bright Side Project, please stop by. These two verysmartandwitty girls plan *DAILY GIVEAWAYS* with seriously fabulous stuff. They post their winners weekly, and all you have to do is answer the daily question to win.
GOOD LUCK!
ByElida.com {Goodies and Cakes}
I’ve been playing volleyball with Elida for over ten years now {woah}, and I have come to learn over the years how great she is at cooking and baking. She studied at the Culinary Arts Academy in San Francisco, and has been baking ever since. I just finished her logo and website, www.byelida.com, which is built on WordPress so she can make edits and add images at her leisure without web editing knowledge. I’m LOVING WordPress as a CMS because it’s becoming more common for clients to want to maintain their own website.
Please check out the pictures of Elida’s Goodies and Cakes!
In My Queue: LOTS of Web Work!
In case you thought I was busy making redecorating videos in every room in my little home, you are wrong. I am shackled to the computer working on web projects. Lucky for me, each and every one of these projects is creative and innovative. Here’s what I’ve got in the queue, hoping to finish up in the next week or so:
By Elida: Deliciously Adorable Cakes and Goodies
Phil’s 7 Questions: An interactive site about critical thinking
The Bright Side Project: Giveaway blog redesign
iPhone and iPod Touch Icon
Okay, so I’ve had an iPhone icon for about a year now, but I just updated it with the newer logo {overdue, I know}. Anyhow, here’s how to get your “oh” so cute button:
- Navigate to www.ohbrooke.com from your iPhone or iPod Touch
- Click the “+” button, and choose “Add to Home Screen”
- Click “Add”, and Voila!
If you’d like to create an iPhone icon, create a 57x57px icon {No need to create the “glare” effect of the button, the phone or iPod does that for you}. Save the icon as “apple-touch-icon.png” and put it in the root directory of your site. That’s it! Good luck!
Real Estate Blog Design
Mueller Austin is a progressive and exciting master-planned new home community in Austin Texas. The homes are a mix of different homebuilders and home styles. What better way for neighboring cities and potential residents to keep up on the news at Mueller than a blog? The Mueller Journal just launched today, designed and developed by yours truly at my nine-to-fiver. I’m loving how this turned out both aesthetically, and for the communication this opens up between the development and those that are interested!
Inbox?
Yes, you know I’m back from the dead when I’m out shopping. I’m thinking about this little $36 beauty from UrbanOutfitters.com for myself as an inbox/outbox for my freelance projects.
In Much Need of a Weekend
Do you ever feel like you are going to crawl out of your SKIN? This month has been tiring to say the least, mostly because of the possibility of change. Things have been wacky at my 9-to-5er, my friends’ priorities are shifting, my work focus is morphing, and my house is a MESS. Somehow, when one piece of my foundation shifts, the reverberation is powerful; and like Jenga blocks, the tower goes a-swayin’. So here I am, counting down the minutes until the weekend and trying not to fall asleep in my chair {funny how a little indecision and lack of focus can make you EXHAUSTED}.
So, with that, I digress. My sister sent the link to this video this week, and I have thought about it at least three times. I think it’s hilarious, and totally encompasses the movement of my thoughts over the last few weeks. Don’t worry… I’ll be climbing out of the rut soon.
Meanwhile, some high points from the week:
I received my jewelry order from JessLC and am LOVING it. It has inspired me to organize my jewelry and I’ve asked for her help. I have also teamed up with Tristan and Jules to create a new blog design for thebrightsideproject.com. I am very excited about this redesign project!
Megan Furth Academy Website
Not a prize winning portfolio piece, but just what the client ordered.
Meganfurthacadamy.com is a project I’ve been working on over the last few weeks. The whole site was built on WordPress so the client can make changes as needed without paying excessive fees for a custom content management system.
Check it off the list!