So, after about a million years, I’ve finally settled on a theme for site. I was going to build my own theme, but time is against me and so I’ve plumped for a ready made theme. I’ll be customising it as I go and I will try and keep it updated more often. But then I say that all the time.

Much more work on at the moment, 4 sites in the pipeline and I’m aiming to get them live by the end of this month, all being well.

I’ll keep you updated.

Here’s a fantastic list of WordPress hacks, workarounds and general all round goodness, compiled by Jeff Starr over at Perishable Press.

I’m currently creating my first custom WordPress theme and this list will be invaluable to me. With WordPress, knowledge is definitely power as you only need to be armed with a little bit of coding, and you can create some amazing themes and plugins.

I’ll keep you updated on how my theme progresses….

I’ve just finished a website for a local construction company and it’s now live (woo!). The site was hand-coded in XHTML and there’s a fair sprinkling of JQuery in there – accordion, content rotator, carousel and fancybox for images and flash galleries.

I had some real trouble trying to implement my modal windows with IE7 (Internet Explorer still sucks by the way….) I tried Shadowbox and  Thickbox and finally settled on Fancybox, which was very easy to set up and actually get working. I hate IE.

I used a Flash gallery for the slideshows for each project on the website and it works very well. I’m quite pleased with the site and the client is very happy (which is the main thing, honest….).

You can visit the site here: MWS Contracts.

Well, we’ve been working hard the last couple of months to produce an advertising magazine for our local area. It’s called Smile and it’s mainly aimed at consumers who like a bit of a bargain.

The website – www.smileydiscounts.co.uk – is now live and features a bit of JQuery trickery as well as an online version of the magazine, which is built using the FlippingBook flash engine. The artwork for the adverts and the magazine itself was designed by your truly, as was the logo and I’m very proud of it.

If you live in Ripon and Harrogate, you’ll be receiving your copy through the door any day now. If you don’t, then why not visit the website and see what you think.

I was given some very good news last night. The Creative Director of my company has left and the MD has asked me to take over. Nice. Still got to thrash out the details but anyway, yay!

It’s quite a daunting prospect, but one I’m going to grab with both hands. I never expected that when I started out as a web designer 3 years ago, I would get this kind of opportunity so soon.

First task is a full rebrand of a local company. They are introducing a new brand to their product range and would like Premier to come up a with a new brand identity for this new product. This includes a website, brochures and stationery. They are a national recognised company so this is a really good way to show the world what I can do.

I’ll keep you posted.