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Launching Another WordPress Site: Talatek, LLC

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jul 27, 2010; Category: Communication, Content Management System, WordPress; Tags: Communication, Design/Development, WordPress as CMS; No Comments

Visit talatek.com»

Obviously, we’ve been busy: TalaTek’s website is the fourth we’ve launched in a month (the third in little more than a week), with more in the works. This pace would be impossible without WordPress. With it, however, it’s not much of a stretch (discounting some late hours here and there).

The more I work with WordPress, and the more I understand of it’s capabilities and how to take advantage of them, the more impressed I am with it. Not just because it allows me to do more as a designer and developer (does it ever!), but because it allows website owners to do more to manage their online presence. It enables business owners and organization managers to utilize their websites as active communications tools, making updates and changes on an as-needed basis with very little effort.

TalaTek is in line with a trend I’m seeing in which businesses are more willing to embrace blogging as a means of creating content of value to their market, establishing their expertise and enhancing their search engine rankings. TalaTek has elected to call their blog posts “articles,” but I don’t care what they call them as long as they keep posting and getting the benefits of posting them.

Leon Sterling of Compelling Concepts wrote the copy for the website and developed the messaging. It was good to have a partner in the creative process; design is much easier—and more effective—when a clear message exists.

Yet Another Website Launch: Desert Sports, Terlingua, Texas

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jul 26, 2010; Category: Content Management System, Design/Development, WordPress; Tags: CMS, Design/Development, WordPress; No Comments

Visit desertsportstx.com»

Moving right along, we just launched Desert Sports’ website this weekend. They have been long-time clients, actually pre-dating Evo by about 3 years (maybe 4), and I believe this the fourth version of their website we’ve done for them. Desert Sports is a multi-sport outfitter in the Big Bend area of Texas, offering rentals, shuttles, and guided trips in boating, mountain biking and hiking. I’ve been on several trips with them, and you cannot go on a wilderness trip with a better bunch of folks.

As you might have guessed if you’ve been paying attention to what we’re up to lately, this is a WordPress-based website. In addition to their blog (a new experience for them), they update a daily report on weekdays that shows current temperatures, river levels, and other information you might want to know about before you pull out of your driveway and head toward Terlingua. They also plan to keep current updates on partially filled trips that have room for additional happy campers, like you!

The site has a lot of useful information on floating the Rio Grande, hiking trails, and mountain biking trails, as well as information on local services. Go take a look at their website, and consider getting away for a week in Big Bend with Desert Sports as your guides. It’s a guaranteed change of pace.

We Do That: Working with Designers to Build Sites with WordPress

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jul 24, 2010; Category: CSS, Design/Development; Tags: Design/Development, WordPress, WordPress as CMS; No Comments

Visit theigniteforum.com»

Early this week we launched another website designed by Kilmer & Kilmer, brand builders. It’s a small site, just four pages, but what’s significant about it is that it’s built on WordPress—Kilmer & Kilmer’s first such website. I’ve been trying gently to push them in that direction for a few months and, maybe just to shut me up, they decided to give it a try.

Except for WP’s CMS capabilities, it doesn’t begin to make use of the WordPress platform. What it does show, however, is how adaptable both WordPress and our own Evo4 CMS theme are in building custom-designed websites. (Evo4 CMS was specifically built for design flexibility.)

As a designer myself, you might think I’d have a certain amount of resistance to doing the slice-and-dice and CSS for another designer’s website. Not so. Even though it can occasionally be frustrating to work with other designers who have a different approach, it helps keep my vision fresh. It’s easy to get in a rut when working with the same tools and platform, and working with other designers who don’t share all my assumptions helps prevent that.

If you know a designer who is interested in using WordPress as a platform, send him/her my way. If we click, an ongoing design/build relationship could benefit both of us, and our clients.