This is the second in a series of posts from Chris Rackley on better home page design.

I’ll never forget last spring. My wife and I were shopping for our first home. We’d lived in an apartment for nearly four years, and were finally going to get a house. We had, as most people do, a fairly tight budget - so the pickin’s were slim. Our realtor was a former roommate and long-time friend of mine, and so I was asking him a lot of questions about not just home-buying, but home-selling. I won’t forget some of the principles he taught me (I think I’ll need them someday!). But one that really stands out is this: The #1 thing that sells a home is curb appeal.

Wow! The exact same principle is true of your website.   Read the rest of this entry »

Struggling to find a Christmas gift for the web designer in your life? Looking for a few products to enhance your own creativity? Assuming you aren’t going to be dishing out any of these this Christmas (if so, let me give you my mailing address), here are some affordable gift ideas for web designers.
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Every now and then, I come across a GREAT Web site. Sometimes they’re classy and minimalist, sometimes they’re extravagant and fun. Either way - there’s a lot of great work out there but it’s rare you see a site that truly sets you back on your heels. One of those is ParkAngels.org.

Park Angels is a non-profit organization located in Charleston, SC. Their goal: to “take special interest and ownership” in Charleston’s more than 100 city parks. They turned to Brains on Fire a little while back for help in getting the word out, and BoF created something truly magnificent. This site pulls you in to its purpose and its drive. It’s a community-driven masterpiece that I’ve used the past several months as a reference point to show my clients how they can take advantage of free, easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools. And along with all of that, the sites looks gorgeous. Let me break it down for you. Read the rest of this entry »

Years of watching NFL football, playing video games, and designing late into the night have finally caught up with me. No, I’m not going blind, but I find myself straining my eyes quite a bit. An appointment with an optometrist is due in the near future (well, whenever I get around to scheduling one). My plan of action? I’m considering calling four of five different local offices and asking each one to provide me with a pair of glasses. That way I can try on each one, see which pair I like the best, and pay up to the appropriate party. There are multiple reasons why this process is completely absurd, but sadly companies have the same philosophy when looking for a web designer. They send out RFPs to multiple companies wanting to see complete mockups of their web site before they even sign on with a project.

What I’ve just described for you is called spec(ulative) work. Spec work requires the provider to pour time, energy, and resources into something that leaves no promise of compensation, just like the unchosen doctors who sent me glasses. This is just scratching the surface of how spec work hinders both designer and client.
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Ladies and Gentlemen of the Big Ol’ Web Community Jury:

Web Developers everywhere the world over stand accused of not producing good web sites. We submit to you today that this is an unfair generalization. Sure, many companies deliver half-hearted, incomplete, bug-filled products; but other companies go out of their way to know their clients and to deliver a top-notch product that will serve them well.

Why the accusers may be making such a generalization is because of their lack of education on the subject of cross-browser optimization. You see, many times people assume that a site is simply a picture and that it will look the same in every web browser. . .        Read the rest of this entry »