Regina Thurston Hall

The Evolution of the name HH Web Design

2011-12-31T14:51:57Z

I was in Toronto recently and had the pleasure of finally meeting one of my web design clients face-to-face. We met at Union Station and then ventured out on to Front Street to find an affordable restaurant. We did and we had a really good conversation. We covered so much - more than we ever could have over the phone or via e-mail. The purpose of the meeting was simply to meet, not discuss any business. However....

During our conversation, it became apparent that she was not clear on my actual physical home base / home office.

In the early 90's I started Thurston Consulting in Brooklyn, NY. I moved to Detroit, MI in 1996. To keep my relationship with NY/NJ/CT clients I partnered with JB White Enterprises and started using the name JB Web Design. JB White Enteprises has now expanded to Ontario, Canada so now I have a Canadia client bases. I married Mr. Elliott Hall in 2010, so we began marketing our services as Hall and Hall, LLC. Thus, the evolution of the name HH Web Design.

Currently, I still use all three names, depending on when my client relationship began and what service is provided. Electronic billing accounts might use any one of the aforementioned name or even the name What are you Wearing, which is another company that has nothing to do with consulting.

When Job Boards are Misused

2011-07-13T02:50:04Z

In response to something that happened to me and comments that were on the website about the alleged recruiting agency Work Save Retire, I entered the following information on the website.

My call was from 810-224-9420 and has the same elements that other people mentioned. I think WorkSaveRetire was trying to get me to meet with a Brian. Suggested that Brian would come to my house. I said I wasn't comfortable with that so then she suggested a public spot like a cafe or library. I asked where was Brian's office and was give a lame excuse as to why Brian is never in the office. So I said I wanted to meet some company representative in the office and that's when things unravelled.

The things that stood out as unusual: (1) a recruiting company that has YOU finding the job utilizing desktop sofware, (2) require that you meet with financial advisor, (3) asked if I had 401K to rollover, (3) asked value of retirement assets, (4) asked fewer career/job related questions, (5) has many offices throughout the country but did not know the address of the company's location in my area.

So after I received their e-mail (they had my address from CareerBuilder) I visited their website and noticed that Contact Us does not list an address and notice that the website itself is not even their own domain name - its subhosted on Ning, a social networking site.

Somebody wanted to know where is the scam? The scam is that job boards are exploited to sell other services. What recruiting agency asks the job seeker to find the jobs using software. Recruiters are the people with relationships with the employers.

It's a bait and switch. The bait is "help you find a job". The switch is "in the meantime, talk to my financial advisor".

This is what happens when job boards are misused. You get people like me who blog about it at every opportunity.

I have a Facebook page, do I need a website?

2011-07-07T02:37:00Z

A potential client asked if you needed a website if you have a Facebook page.

If you understand what you can and cannot do through Facebook, it is possible to get by with just a Facebook page. However, as soon as you want a particular feature that is not available through Facebook, you start to realize that having your own website gives you more control over content. On your own website you can implement almost anything you can image.

People who think it's better to have a Facebook site over a web site don't understand the limitations of Facebook.

Photo galleries. On your own website you can have hundreds or thousands of photos. The Facebook limit is 200 per this source. I actually encountered this recently while trying to upload 258 photos not knowing the limit. The error message was something like you've exceeded the limit.

Page Layout. On your own website you can have as many or few columns as you want and place your site navigation wherever you want. On Facebook, as it exists today, you get three columns and your site navigation is vertical on the left column.

Advertising. Companies like Microsoft and Google have Facebook pages and even their third column has the Facebook-imposed advertising. On your own website, if you choose to have advertising, at least you can get paid for it. You can also choose not to have any advertising.

E-commerce. Have you seen any e-stores on Facebook or have you seen promotional data on Facebook directing you to another site? Facebook is not equipped to do e-commerce, nor was it meant to be. At best the business use of Facebook is interactivity with your customer/fan base and promotion of items. For example, the following companies have Facebook pages and you cannot buy products directly from their sites.

Some people prefer a Facebook page over a website have no budget for a website or perhaps have a different approach for selling their products of services. Stores use their own websites for customer purchases and use Facebook for advertising and promotion. They are just capitalizing on the Facebook sensation.

A website that you own and control gives you far more control and flexibility. And remember 4-5 years ago, MySpace was the big rave.

Another client asked if a Facebook page could accept donations. Yes, it can per this link. You can also do this on your own website.

So it really is a matter of capabilities. If you don't need certain features, then Facebook can serve a purpose. Just remember, when Facebook is surpassed by something else or decides to implement a pay-to-play model, you have to find your next platform.

Deprecated HTML Tags and Hexadecimal Color Values

2011-06-18T15:11:00Z

I gave my nephew the assignment of learning all of the HTML tags listed on the W3 Schools website, by writing it down on good old fashion index cards - aka flash cards. Being the genius that he is, he said, let me quiz you. So he read the definitions and asked me the name of the tag. Well, I got some "wrong".

I explained that no real web programmer actually uses the tag anymore to accomplish the function. I mentioned the word deprecated. Deprecated? What does that mean? Well it looks like depreciated, which means decrease in value. Thus to me, deprecated means diminishing in use. You can still use the tag but should use the more current equivalent. Wikipedia expounds upon the definition. Most of the deprecated HTML tags have been replaced with the style attribute of tags or have another tag altogether.

W3 Schools also has a list of hexadecimal color values. The list has 147 colors, so I decided not to overwhelm and said to learn the 17 standard colors. Then I thought to myself, I don't even know the 17 standard colors. I know 6 colors: black, white, red, green, blue and gray. I explained to him that color display was based on the degree of light. In very general terms, 100% light is white 0% light is black. Thus the hexadecimal value of black is #000000 and thus the value of white is #ffffff.

Then we moved on to red, green and blue. Hexadecimal, sort of means, 6 digits where the digits 1-2 is the % red, 3-4 is the % green and 5-6 is % blue - hence the other color model RGB. He nailed that concept pretty quickly.

So I said, what two colors make up purple (one of my favorites color). His response: red and blue. My response: so the hexadecimal value of purple. He stumbled a bit but eventually answered correctly. Then I said, what's the hex value of orange? Hmm, required more thinking. So I said get some crayons, but not an orange crayon. Actually red plus yellow = orange, but how do you get yellow? Red plus green. How much blue is in yellow? None. So if blue is the 5th and 6th digits of hex, then you know those values would be "00".

Then I told him, no one actually remembers all of the hex color values. We only remember the ones we use the most and we look up the rest.

So after the discussion of deprecated HMTL tags and hexadecimal color values, we moved on to the basic tags all web pages contain. He actually opened notepad and begin coding from scratch. In about 2 hours, he designed a very basic page with text area, site navigation, and perfectly aligned photo objects. And he did it without Dreamweaver or Frontpage (oops they are both deprecated, replaced by Creative Suite and Expression Web respectively).

Teaching Web Design to a Pre-teen

2011-06-16T01:08:00Z

This weekend I will have the pleasure and challenge of teaching web design to my 12 year old nephew who LOVES computers. I think he will hang on to my every word.

Since this just weekend #1 and he is only 12, I have to make it meaningful to him. I pride myself on being able to communicate at all levels, so here is my plan.

My approach to teaching web design is to view it as a three-fold endeavor. In my mind, web design has three components

Business
Technical
Creativity

When you take a traditional web design course, the focus is typically on the technical component. However the technical side only suffices if you're going to work as a Web Developer or Web Programmer for a company. Your main role within the company will be technical. The company may have someone else who works the business side and yet a third person who is the creative director.

If you want to design websites for your own clients, you must understand business and creativity.

Side note to my beloved nephew: it's OK if you can't totally grasp the business side. We'll focus on the technical and creative components. You will learn HTML tags, design a flash website in Wix and learn one graphic design technique.

Business

Marketing your services
Understanding your customer's goals
Helping your customer reach those goals
Serving as a consultant to your customer to point out pertinent details
Delivering a product that meets your customer's goals
Active follow-up

Technical

Design
- understand the various technologies and when to use which
- gain knowledge of HTML and CSS
- learn when to use sound, video and animation
  - must know the limitations of the basic formats
- test your web design in the major web browsers
  - your website must display properly on the majority of the computers and devices used by your target market
- use templates and customize them for your customer (when appropriate)
  - sometimes it's cheaper and easier
  - if the customer wants a truly unique design, don't use a template
Deliver
- know the major domain registrars and the reliable hosting companies
- learn the basics of FTP

offer a content management system
- make sure your customer can reasonably update the website himself (if the customer so chooses)
offer ongoing technical support and actually respond to requests in a timely fashion

Creativity

understand your customer's business and present a complementary image
choose graphics, colors, layout and symbolism that conveys the customer message
gain knowledge of various design tools
- in-depth knowledge of Photoshop will get you a job
- there are other design tools besides Photoshop

Desgining Websites with Cellphones in Mind

2011-04-23T03:16:00Z

With the exception of iPhones (whose browser is Safari), most cell phones cannot view flash websites or flash elements in an HTML website. With the proliferation of mobile devices, more people are surfing the internet from something other than a desktop or notebook computer.

Some companies that actually have flash websites, design multiple versions of their site so that it is compatible both with mobile devices and the major web browsers used on desktop and notebook computers. I discovered this when I typed the same address in two different devices and got two different sites - one designed for mobile devices and one designed for non-mobile devices.

One of my customers mentioned that her website was visible on a computer but not on cellphones. She has a Blackberry; I have an Android. Both are smart phones and neither displayed sites that have flash. So I removed the flash from her site - problem solved.

Two HTML/CSS/CMS site types that seems to display well on cellphones is WordPress and DotNetNuke, so I will definitely continue to use that as a tool of choice for those those who do not insist on flash.

I would imagine in the next 2-3 years, all smart phones will support Flash.

Flash Web Design Tool: SWiSHMax

2011-04-21T20:33:00Z

I read a Craigslist ad today where someone wanted to learn web design and provided a screenshot of a site that he would like to be able to design. To me, the site was pretty straightforward and can be handled by any content management package. Actually, it looked like a WordPress layout.

This ad reminded me that a key part of being able to design websites is choosing the best tools.

SWiSHMax is a tool for flash web design. This software resides on your computer so you create the design on your computer and then upload the files to your web server.

SWiSHMax is sold online at www.swishzone.com.

I used SWisHMax to modify a template that can be used by singers and musicians. The template is located on http://www.thurstonconsulting.us/templates/luther.

Tumblr

2011-02-06T23:29:00Z

I was trolling the Craigslist computer gigs, web design jobs and internet engineer jobs and came across an ad that said knowledge of Tumblr was needed. So what did I do? Googled Tumblr. Found out it is a blogging app that claims to be the simplest blogging app on the market. So I tried it. It's OK. For now, I will cross-post on the blog on my own domain name and maybe also on Myspace or any blogs that connect to LinkedIn.

Jing

2011-02-06T23:11:00Z

I stumbled across this tool a few days ago when I went to the Focus Hope IT Users Group (FHITUG) website to register for an event. Each month FHITUG has a meeting and a guest speaker. Ths month's topic was Windows Phone 7. I wasn't really interested in the topic since I just bought an Android phone. Neverhtheless, I jumped ahead to see a list of upcoming topics and Jing was listed. This caught my eye so I went to the TechSmith website and download the product.

I saw an immediate use for this product - show people the clickstream to accomplish certain tasks. Earlier that day I received a call from a supervisor asking me how to do something and she wanted me to walk her through it. I did and she was satisifed. The jing recording of the steps would have been even better and I have since narrated and demonstrated the steps and saved the file as a SWF which was then uploaded to www.screencast.com.

A couple of days before this (while I was watching American Idol), I got a call from friend asking about Internet Explorer disabling add-ons and how to fix this. I gave a response off the top of my head and said you had to scroll down a long list of options in order to find it. She was able to do this, I guess, since she didn't call back. This too was another training moment that could have utilized Jing.

I definitely see the usefulness of this product in a tech support environment as well as a training environment. You can also be a virtual teacher on YouTube or if you're profit oriented, create mini-training tutorials and sell them online. Food for thought!

Flash Web Design Tool: Wix.com

2010-09-11T21:12:00Z

While I was on vacation, I got a call from a potential client who wanted a flash website and mentioned a site called Wix.com. I investigated the pros and cons of the software as it related to the caller's functionality requirement. The software did not meet the requirement in totality; nevertheless I appreciated its rich features.

Similar to Weebly but not as all encompassing, Wixy offers a free flash website and it really it is free with no advertising but it has a sidebar labeled Wix as well as a bottom footer, both of which link to the Wix website. To remove this link you have to pay something. Yes, you have to buy web hosting. Free ain't free!

Unlike Weebly, the free version supports:

music and video players
photo galleries
shopping carts
e-commerce
custom HTML
embedded documents
contact form

In a nutshell, I see a myriad of uses for this product and even created a personal site for myself to embed in my MySpace profile. I like the software so much that I also redesigned another client's website in this product.

My new Wix Sites

Warehousing on Demand

2010-01-30T19:00:00Z

I designed a website for Warehousing on Demand, a company that offers inventory fulfillment and management based on just-in-time operatonal principles.

www.warehousingondemand.com

Teaching a Tax Class

2010-01-30T14:00:00Z

At 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 6, 2010 we will be teaching a tax class at a church in Detroit. We will provide blank 1040 forms and blank W-2 forms and explain how to complete the 1040 form. Students should bring a calculator and pen/pencil as well as their tax documents. Students, if they so choose, can preare their own taxes in classes and then mail them off to the IRS. We will also answer specific questions.

To register for the class, call us at (248) 506-6750 or send us an e-mail indicating your intent to attend and what else you would like to cover.

Free E-filing

Nikki's Ginger Tea

2010-01-23T02:00:00Z

Nikki's Ginger Tea is one of my neighbors at Russell Street Bazaar. Turns our that Nikki and I have a lot in common and can use each other's products, services, knowledge base and skills. When Nikki found out that I can design websites, Nikki's daughter said "we need help".

Nikki wants to promote her goods and services in as many ways as possible. Her immediate desire is to sell Nikki's Ginger Tea online. Thus the creation of http://www.nikkisgingerstea.com/.

Russell Street Bazaar

2009-12-19T18:54:00Z

On Monday, December 28, 2009 I will open a booth at Russell Street Bazaar. I will sell web design services and excess fragrance inventory from What are you Wearing. Also launching a new fragrance: Russell for Her.

http://russellbazaar.com/?id=directions
Hope to see you there!

Google Bookmarks

2009-08-09T20:22:00Z

Google Bookmarks is a web-based application that lets you save shortcuts to your favorite webpages online. Unlike browser bookmarks that are stored on a single computer, Google bookmarks are stored in your Google Account. This means you can access them from any computer with an internet connection .

I use different computers for different reasons and each of them have their own set of web browsers and their own set of favorites. Without Google Bookmarks, I have to export my favorites from each computer to my flash drive and them make sure I have the flash drive with me.

I do that anyway but with Google Bookmarks, I have an online backup of my favorites which would have come in handy when my web design notebook was stolen last year.

Reference: http://bookmarks.google.com

Google Voice

2009-08-09T20:10:00Z

Yet another Google product. No, I don't work for Google and I don't own any Google stock (yet). Google just happens to be a company with a lot of useful products. I don't know why there are free and when that will change, but when it does, certain products I would probably pay for its use.

Having said that...

Google Voice gives you a single phone number that rings all your phones, saves your voicemail online, and transcribes your voicemail to text. Other cool features include the ability to listen in on messages while they are being left and the ability to make low cost international calls. You can record custom greetings for your favorite callers or block annoying callers by marking them as spam.

At a minimum, Google Voice allows you to give one telephone number to your callers and have that one number router to wherever you are.

Example #1: You live in two states and have two sets of callers who don't dial outside of their state.

Soultion: Assuming you have a land or cell line with the area code of state A, get a Google voice number with the area code of state B and give that number to those who live in state B. Program your Google voice number to forward the calls from state B to the physical phone you use which might have the area code of state A, which is irrevelant to the caller because he/she has a local number to reach you. When you make a call, you can either dial from the physical phone (state A) or the Google phone (state .

Example #2: You have a work cell phone and a personal cell phone.

Solution:
1. Carry the phone that has the best reception and coverage and the most anytime minutes. Leave the other phone at home, so you minimize the risk of losng it.

2. Let's assume that your work phone meets this criteria and your personal phone has limited minutes. Increase your personal minutes by using Google Voice. Give your personal callers the Google Voice number and don't give out your personal cell phone number anymore.

3. Call forward your personal cell phone to the Google voice number, which in turn redirects the calls to the physical phone (the work phone).

4. Yes call forwarding your personal number will use a minute of time, but you decide whether to answer the call on your or have Google voice number leave a caller specific message.

5. You can choose not to call forward your personal number and simply check for personal messages using either your Google voice number or your work phone.

Reference: http://voice.google.com

Google Sites

2009-08-09T19:16:00Z

This is a web-based application that allows you to create websites. Youcan create more than one and select from a variety of templates (colorchoices) and layouts (column placement).

You can also re-direct your domain name to the Google site.

Unlike most free applications, it has no banner ads and no pop-up windows.

Since you don't have full access to the programming code and some tagsmay not be suppoted, if you can live with the design limitations, thisis actually a good product.

My Site: http://sites.google.com/site/thurstononline
About Google Sites: http://sites.google.com

Google Profiles

2009-04-29T02:13:00Z

I came across a Google application that increases your visibility onthe internet. Since this is what I help other people do, I created aprofile for myself.

http://www.google.com/profiles/102679527917132559659

Online Resumes

2009-04-20T02:04:00Z

About a year ago I wrote an article on how to choose a blog product. I was helping a good friend of mind decide which blog tool to use to promote his job hunting efforts and resumes. He has since discovered a resource called Visual CV that exactly meets his need.

Visual CV is an advanced resume website. You can keep and update your resume online and share it with whomever. You can have more than one, control who sees what and view statistics. If you have multiple resumes, only one can be marked as viewable by everyone; the others are viewable by those who receive an e-mail with a private link.

Although I have resumes online with CareerBuilder and Yahoo HotJobs, I like Visual CV better because it supports portfolios and multimedia. It even has a feature to convert your resume to a downloadable PDF, a feature I have not seen on any other resume site. And did I mention that this is a free service, without an obtrusive banner over your resume.

I plan to make this my primary online resume service.

How Dare They Raise My Rate!

2009-02-26T02:15:00Z

A few hours ago I opened my mail and read that Capital One was raising my interest rate from a fixed rate of 9.9% for purchases and cash to a variable rate of prime plus 14.65% for purchases and even ridiculously higher rate for cash. My credit score is in the high 700's.

I have a zero balance and a credit limit limit of $8,300. I haven't used the card in a while but had a 0% transfer balance and paid it off two weeks ago. I was going to call them and give them a piece of mind, but I read articles online that states this is par for the course for this particular lender.

The article below was written on 2/25/2009 - today.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/02/cap_one_revolt.html

The article below was written on 2/23/2009 - two days ago.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/personal-finance/credit-card-companies-raising-rates-consumers

The article below was written on 2/21/2009.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29320523/

The article below was written in 11/2008
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2008-11-09-bank-credit-card-interest-rates_N.htm

My first response, without thinking: "I'll show them". However the more rational response is to analyze how closing the account will affect my credit score. I can get a credit increase of $8,300 from one of my other creditors, which would balance out my percentages if I should close the account. Before I close the account, I have to re-calculate my average credit history length to make sure that this number is not greatly decreased.

I could also just leave the account open, not use the card and continue to let others know how unfair this company has treated me as well as others. The link below is a forum where others are reporting similar experiences. In some cases, people give "food for thought" on possible courses of action.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=147866
http://newjersey.craigslist.org/wan/1040735409.html (another consumer with forum)