Here in the Rowboat, we’re focusing 1000% on our website design services now, and not so much on photography. (What do you have left over after 1000% anyway?)

So – we have this gorgeous,very lightly used, 16-month old camera body holding down wireframe drawings, which is NOT what it was meant to do. It wants to create beautiful images!

If you wanna, check it out on eBay. Auction ends next Monday afternoon, May 10.

Every couple of months, this one makes the rounds on Twitter, and it’s so good I just had to share here.

How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell

Date: March 12, 2010

I just got an email from WishList about an unadvertised promotion they’re doing. I’ve implemented this membership management plug-in for 3 clients so far, and they all love its power and flexibility. A full review is on that list of things to do…now WHERE did I put that list?

Anyway, I could mess around until I get that review done, or I could just let you know that from now until March 17 – that’s next Wednesday people – you can get TWO sites-worth of licensing for WishList for only $25 more than ONE site worth of licensing. To put this in perspective, WishList charges $97 for a single-site license and $297 for a multi-site license. You do that happy savings math.

So – if you’ve been thinking about it, knew you wanted to do more than one site, but almost $300 was holding you back? Do it now. You have to go in through the links on this blog post or the banner below – you can’t get the special via their front door.

You’re welcome.

New York City therapist Matt Lundquist contacted us to develop a Thesis website for his TriBeCa practice that reflected who he was and his particular approach to therapy. His tagline, “creative therapy for creative people,” let us know that he wouldn’t want the typical psychotherapist website, or, as he so colorfully put it, “I don’t want to be mistaken for the podiatrist.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Lie down and let’s talk about your mother’s feet…yes, we admit, we wanted to hire him, as we were directly in his target market.

He came to us with some excellent logo choices from a professional designer and a mania for modern design, and we helped him choose the one that fit his goals best. After that, we created a harmonious design that presented his static and blog content, as well as media mentions, right up front.

“What drew me to Rowboat Media was my sense that they didn’t just understand design or the technical aspects of getting my site done–they understand what it means to use the internet to maximize the marketing of a service-based business.  As a psychotherapist, I’m always concerned that my marketing use a delicate touch (I’m not selling office products!).  Cynthia and Deborah understood that.

Another strength of their team is that they know how to listen to my ideas, but also when to step in and assert their point of view in a way that I could really hear; they’re the experts and I needed them at times to gently guide me away from some of my own ideas that just wouldn’t have worked.”
- Matt Lundquist, LMSW, MSEd

Matt, it was a unique pleasure working with you and we’ll definitely book an appointment look you up next time we’re in the Big Apple!

WordPress just released v2.9.1 which addresses this issue on 1/4/09.

Well, my pretties, it turns out that the fabulous new v2.9 release of WordPress is a bit rough around the edges. A v2.9.1 is coming that has some key bug fixes in it, but in the interim, I heard about a problem with scheduled posts from the lovely Sonya Smith-Valentine. She is the consummate legal blogger, and as an example, she has 10 posts already written and scheduled to go out at regular intervals over the next 30 days.

Unfortunately, when today’s post was supposed to automatically publish, it…didn’t. Instead, it said “missed post” in red in her publication date column when viewing her post list. Since she subscribes to our WebMistress Service, she shot me a kind yet urgent email about it and we got right into problem-solving mode.

We found a thread in the WordPress Forum that had over 80 posts on the subject, and through that thread, we found a patch from the good folks at Semiologic. We applied it to Ms. Sonya’s websites and voila! Back in business.

This bug does not manifest on all servers – but if you’re seeing it – you can get patchified.

Happy New Year!

WordPress version 2.9 is out of beta and now available to all.  I took the time to read the developer’s notes, and discovered some cool new tricks you can do with this amazing FREE platform, that you couldn’t do in 2.8.6:

Fish things out of the trash

WordPress now features a “trashcan” so now you can bring back that stuff you accidentally deleted, including posts, pages, and comments. Items will stay in there for 30 days unless you permanently delete them.

Edit images in the WordPress image uploader

You can now actually edit images in the image uploader – you can crop (with different aspect ratios), rotate, and flip images. (Click the image below to see it bigger.)

Also, you can make different crops for the actual image and for the thumbnail – which is exceedingly groovy.

Embed videos just by pasting in the URL

From the Codex on version 2.9:

“Media embedding has also undergone a major makeover. Support for the oEmbed standard makes copying and pasting video URLs right into your post super-simple.

Now all you need to do is paste the URL onto a line of its own… Use the new embed shortcode if you don’t want to separate it onto its own line… Or “Add Video From URL” from the visual editor icon. And you’re good to go.

By default you’ll find that there’s support for YouTube, Daily Motion, Blip.tv, Flickr, Hulu, Viddler, Qik, Revision3, Scribd, Google Video, Photobucket, PollDaddy, & WordPress.tv, with more on the way.”

Update multiple plug-ins with a single click

Ever get tired of having to click 10 times and go through that plug-in upgrade process 10 times? Now you can upgrade all plug-ins that are showing updates available with a single click.

Go “live” with your site without really meaning to

This one’s not necessarily a plus, depending on how you’re used to doing things. Prior to version 2.9, new WordPress installs have always defaulted the Privacy Settings to “block search engines,” which gave you the space to do your thing without getting indexed until you were ready. Now that is the reverse – indexing is the default, so remember to turn that off if you’re used to being a bit incognito while working on your site.

Every day, working on the web becomes easier and more fun! Thanks Matt Mullenweg and crew for the freshness.

Update: November 21 – she came through the surgery and is progressing well, which is awesome because there were factors that made the surgery even more high-risk than it normally is. Thanks to all for the good thoughts, emails and Tweets.

Another update: November 28 – things got real scary on the 23rd when she got bounced back to ICU, seriously unstable. Finally OK again and might get to graduate out of ICU in a few days…what a ride. Huntsville Hospital staff and Dr. Newton – you rock.

My mother-in-law is having open heart surgery tomorrow (Friday, November 20.) Thanks to the Internet and its facilitating my worldwide personal and business connections, I am able to take her this note to the hospital today:

You have people in at least five countries, and coast-to-coast in North America praying for you and sending you positive thoughts, to wit:

• Two Catholic nuns in Michigan.
• A software developer in Romania.
• An entrepreneur in Los Angeles.
• A web designer in Vermont.
• A lawyer in Brooklyn.
• A software developer in England.
• A writer in New Zealand.
• A professional speaker in Louisiana.
• A nurse in Rome, Georgia
• A software developer in Germany
• A Realtor in St. Louis
• A lawyer in Birmingham, Alabama

Thank you, worldwide community. Technology may empirically be cold and it’s easy to take it for granted in 2009, but I and my family feel like we are standing by a warm fire.

Credit goes to Greg Rickaby – I found this on his new site and it explains pricing policies in a way that’s hard to miss for anyone!

Distribute this one widely – I’m sure all of you can relate.

This is the very first in our “Client Launch” series, which we’ll do our best to continue when we launch new clients (in addition to adding some of them to the Featured Projects page).  Since we’re keeping with a nautical theme here, y’all go smash a bottle of champagne on something.

Angela Cooper tried to build her own website for her solo law firm using a GoDaddy template, and quickly realized she was sinking fast – so she contacted us and we hauled her in to shore.  She had the good sense (listen up, people) to go hire a professional photographer and get some great shots, and we liked the one of her standing on a white background so much that we built her site design around it.  Then we stumbled upon the perfect 50′s style font for her firm name and – well – one thing led to another.

Since Angela covers three practice areas with her firm, we wanted to develop a structure that put those three areas right out front – and in keeping with the retro feel, we went with the “three gauges” concept.  We had fun with this design, and it has been well received on the interwebs!  Our philosophy is – if you look like all your competitors, you won’t stand out – so we work hard to create something visitors will remember.

I say this all the time on the phone, but it’s worth reiterating here (attention lawyers) – I am congenitally incapable of incorporating gavels, scales, or leather-bound books into legal website designs.  If that’s what you’re looking for and you have a currency conflagration in your wallet, go here with my blessing.  ::grin::

Unconventionally yours,

I decided to fire up the blog – but don’t get all excited or anything and expect regular posting, k?  Although I do have a few ideas in the hopper for answering common questions…

However, I couldn’t contain my excitement over Rowboat Media being chosen as a DoubleMule Certified Thesis Designer!  Now, for those not in the know, this could sound a bit like a backhanded compliment.  To wit, my own dear mother’s response to the news:

“Uh – Congratulations – we think. Is it legal to be a Double Mule one of those things? Should we tell the family or keep it quiet? A double mule?? Is that anything like a pair of jackasses? If you are happy and elated with this awesome accomplishment, we will be happy and elated too. Do we need to be on standby to bail you out of jail? The English we speak doesn’t always speak too highly of mules, however, some stubbornness is a good thing for one to succeed. We don’t really have a clue what this means but will take your word for it that it is a really GOOD thing to have.” – Mom

In the words of the inestimable Mules themselves, DoubleMule Certified Thesis Designers are “a collection of peer-reviewed freelancers and design firms that you, as a prospective client, can use to better select a peer-reviewed, proven Thesis “superstar” to handle your [website]’s unique design requirements…[c]reating a “best in the business” Thesis Designer section – for FREE – means the Mules will not be influenced by anything but the quality, creativity, and coding skills of the listed designers.”

What makes it such a huge honor to me is the quality of the OTHER designers on the list – I’d be honored just to spit-shine their keyboards!  This lets me know it’s no small thing.

OK – shameless self-promotion and child-like excitement over…

Rowboat Media’s newly minted Official Jackass