Here’s something I’m working on if you’re here to see my work: http://twitpic.com/1mtywi

If you don’t know what this in reference to, here ya go.

Man, I have got to do something about this Wordpress theme…

While, yes it is true that getting the top spot on a generic search is really tough without being a devote follower in the temple of Google, but here are a few tips to get you started:

1.) Content!

Google my name, Matthew Carver.  My twitter ranks third behind my old site and a German artist who shares my name followed shortly by my Facebook and a few other Matthew Carvers on other social media sites.  This is because these are the sites I most contribute to.

2.) ALT Tags.

This is just an easy one to forget.  Always use alt tags on your images.  Make sure the alt tags relates to the over all theme of your site.

3.) Link Out.

Link everything you can.  Link to your friends.  Link to sites you like.  Link to Wikipedia entries on the subjects you write about.  Just link as much as possible.

4.) Unique Title Tages.

This is the first impression search engine traffic has of your site.  Make sure it both gets thier attention and articulates something unique about your site.

5.) Google is on your side.

Use Googles free tools.  Google Insight, Google Trends, AdWords, Latitude.  All very helpful in choosing keywords.

Logic dictates that higher price = higher quality and higher quality is a better investment. Can this also be said of web design? Maybe not.

I know, blasphemy! How dare I as a web designer insinuate that you can have quality work for a low price? Well, here’s the thing: web design isn’t what it used to be. We interface with the Internet more, and in so many different ways that new technologies have arisen to meet this need, and many of those technologies are free.

We are at a really beautiful time in the history of the Internet. Right now the web design and development community is so jazzed to just be around that we are cranking out new Content Management Systems faster than you can shake a stick at. Programming languages are developing into very efficient beasts and making it very easy to produce awesome sites in no time at all.

Where as it used to be, creating a beautiful, well coded site used to require an intense attention to detail, programs like Dreamweaver made it all too simple. People could just throw some tables up and images and text generally where they wanted. I’m as guilty of this as anyone, just look at my old site, matthewcarver.com, looks nice but is it w3c Compliant? Hell no! (I know, I need to fix it. I’m busy, leave me alone.)

Now, people are abandoning WYSIWYG design for PHP based CMS’, which is great, but now I’m seeing something new entirely. Hacked together Wordpress themes. Half assed Drupal blogs replacing what should be a full autonomous website. Do they function? Yea. Are they cheap to produce? You Bet. The problem is, a good Drupal or Wordpress needs to be very thoroughly executed and a lot of the people selling these types of sites are not taking the time to do them properly or telling their clients what they are selling. Most of the time, if you aren’t updating content regularly, you don’t need to get mottled up in the mire of a CMS. It’ll be a huge headache to transfer the content and good luck when you try to higher a designer to update your site. I just had to spend an hour working with a client who had a Wordpress site trying to figure out where the content I needed to update was, only to find out that whoever made the site was managing half of the content in the theme itself written in non-compliant HTML.

So a CMS isn’t a one size fits all answer and WYSIWYG designers and developers tend to throw out bad code, but those are the cheaper options, what am I getting at?

Here’s my point: WYSIWYG and CMS’ are cheaper and easier on the designers, not in methods of producing themselves, but in their philosophy. Dreamweaver makes reading and compiling HTML and CSS very easy, as do the free (or cheaper) light weight options (I’m really into Text Wrangler right now, by the way) and CMS’ gather and implement content efficiently, but there are better ways to do this that enable the designer to produce quality code quickly that fits the clients needs perfectly. Try thinking outside of the box and you can see not that these systems work (because they do), but why these systems work.

I’m developing a system right now that uses a series of .txt files and PHP to deliver easily updated content. Is it pretty on the back end? That’s debatable, but does it work… you bet! Dreamweaver puts everything in place for you, that is the beauty of WYSIWYG, but you what does that even better? A good use of div tags and some CSS. If you have trouble with spacing in CSS (which is understandable) try using a grid system like 960 (I am the biggest advocate for these guys right now, it’s just a sexy grid and really easy to use).

From the front end Photoshop and Illustrator work, to the back end coding, there are far too many people out there who are on the developer and designers side. That’s the beauty of the web, it online we are all on the same team. Now all of this isn’t to say ALL web design should be quick and cheap. You get what you pay for as well, but if you want quality work at a cheap rate, here are some things to keep in mind:

1.) Give the Designer Some Space.

Sometimes, if you let the designer do his thing if can cut costs way down. I know this is true of my work. If you want something very specific, that’s going to take a lot of revisions, tweeking, and general nit pickery. If a client calls me and says something like “You don’t know how I do my job, and I don’t know how you do yours, so make me something nice and we’ll go from there” generally I’ll cut a lower rate because first of all, I’m getting to do something I’m passionate about which is create a site creatively. Secondly, the client is a lot less likely to be in need of multiple concepts and revisions which means the site will take dramatically less time.

2.) Be Prepared!

I am not a copy writer. Can I write? Kind of.  I had to run this blog by my girlfriend to clean it up for typos (she hasn’t done it yet, so the typos are all my fault) . Do I want to write? Sure, but only blogs and screenplays. I don’t know your business as well as you do, and even if I did, I’m not a trained copywriter. If you have images you want on the site, let me know. In fact if you want to browse a stock site and grab the images yourself, its going to make life a lot easier on me and it’ll shave hours off your invoice.

3.) Time is on Your Side.

Give me time, and I’ll give you a lower rate. Call me 10pm and want a site turned around by morning, I’m going to get really pissed. No offence, but just because I freelance does not mean I am on the clock 24/7. I get emergencies. Your server crashes at 2 a.m., I am here for you, but if you want your site to go from concept to live overnight and you tell me as I’m eating dinner, it’s not going to be cheap. The longer the deadline, the lower the over all rate. Now, I’m not saying you should drag your feet, but giving a little wiggle room on the clock just makes the project go a little smoother.

In short, web design can be both cheap and of high quality, as long as the client isn’t making a hasty decision and the developer makes some wise choices. We all want to make money, that’s just human, but I don’t think there is a person out there who will say “I want to provide inferior websites at an inflated price”.

If you read this blog and you’re looking for a web site that’s affordable, but not cheap, give me a shout. If you’re here as a designer/developer looking for tips on how to keep your prices low and quality high, also give me a shout, like I said earlier, I believe in the internet as a community, that’s what makes it so beautiful.

WCL Mobile Promo from Matthew Carver on Vimeo.

Honestly, it’s absolutely conveniant and a real life saver to design around. I can’t reccomend it enough. You can download a copy of it at www.960.gs. I decided to go ahead and write up a few tips on using it for the absolute beginner. I might later go ahead and write a short tutorial later on how somebody with only a basic knowledge of CSS and HTML can create a site with it, but for now, here are a few quick tips:

1.) Print out the pages for the 12 and 16 grid if you need a visual aid, but the number of columns is equal to the grid number, grid_2 is two columns wide, grid_7 is 7 columns wide, ect..

2.) If you have a number of columns, Alpa starts the row and Omega ends it. So, your class for a 2 column wide div that starts a row is “grid_2 alpha” and your 7 column wide end to that row is “grid_7 omega”.

3.) Use a wrapper div for just the width of each column. It just helps to keep everything in order. More of a preference, not even one I really follow myself, actually, I don’t follow it at all, but I should.

4.) When designing, try to keep in mind that not everything needs to fall right into one of the columns. You don’t want your site to look like a jail cell, do you?

So, four tips for the beginning coder. Soon, I’ll be writing a tutorial for making a simple website using 960 and I’m working on another for how to write a wordpress theme.

The story begins with a young girl, a vagabond, walking through the woods to find a group of fellow travelers. The film serves as a glimpse into the life of an American run-away, without a means to provide for herself, the wisdom to navigate the world she inhabits, or people to help her in her journey.

Immediately the film hits on the bond between the girl, Wendy, and her dog, Lucy. The dog serves as more than a companion, the dog is in a way her guide and later in the film it’s obvious that Lucy is there to protect Wendy. Wendy depends on Lucy to instruct her in the nomadic lifestyle she leads.

Lucy

One of the main themes of the film is how one not acclimated to the rules of society can easily fall victim to those rules. Wendy’s life is thrown into complete upheaval because of a minor in-fracture that causes the delicate balance of her life to spiral out of control.

The film itself is in no way “up-lifting”, honestly. It’s a hard pill to swallow, because of it’s brutal honesty. As human life is forced into a new shape some people and places are left out in the cold, to fend for themselves. To hunt and scavenge for whatever resources they can get a hold on. In one scene, Will Patton is shown taking advantage of Wendy. Though one would find it difficult to really nail the guy to wall for it, he clearly has only his best intrests in mind.

Who could fault him for it? As the belts get tighter around the world and the economy does a nose dive, everyones left to fend for themselves. In a way, I feel doomed to look back on this film as being prophetic. In the same way the director, Kelly Reichardt, moved me with Old Joy a year ago and resonated with a very specific time in place in everyones life, this film is destined to be looked back upon with a slight pain in the stomach. We all see it coming, and Wendy and Lucy puts a face on it.

That really is what this film does best, personifies a time and place in our country. We all, to a certain extent, feel a little lost, with limited resources and a humble goal ahead of us. A new life promised if we can just sustain the pains of now for long enough and not lose track of our goal.

Michelle Williams as Wendy is simply heart wrenching. her performance is top notch, delivering a torrent of emotions that will certainly get her plenty of attention as a truly remarkable actress.

The end of this film was heart breaking, but you’ll see it coming. It won’t set in until the drive home, but when you realize the importance of Lucy in Wendy’s life, you’ll understand her sacrifice.

Wendy and lucy is currently playing at the Angelika in Dallas, and don’t waste any time seeeing it. It won’t be around much longer.

From Francis and the Lights. My new favorite band.

This blog serves a variety of functions.  Hopefully we will be able to explore a number of topics here.  Maybe some journalistic aspects.  Maybe film reviews.  Opinion.  Humor.  Ect.  Whatever tickles my fancy really.

The primary function of this site is also so serve as a host for my graphic and web design portfolio.  In the above pages you will be able to review my work as a digital artist.

So with all that clear, here we go…

Respectfully,

Matthew.