Website Design and Creation
I create custom-designed, cleanly coded sites that are well-written with organic search results in mind.
I can also set you up with a user-updatable shopping cart and secure, PCI-compliant hosting at a great price.
Creating a great site takes a solid idea, top quality writing, uncluttered graphic design, organization, and clear navigation. I work with my clients to solidify the idea, focus and message. I focus on the look (the design and the user interface), organization, navigation, and content. If I'm writing your content for you, or if you wish me to work with your words, I optimize your site's wording to best tell your story and get you found. (Wording is one component of “SEO.” Everything I recommend that I do for you plays a role.)
At times I bring in associates to put an extra polish on the design. When more than basic programming is called for, I turn to, and work with, great people I respect fully.
If you'd like help with social media, I can help you, too.
The important thing is that you, as my client, get what you need or seek. I'll always let you know what I can do for you. I don't take on a job unless sure I can do you justice.
My web design history
When I dove into web design I didn't just learn a bit of HTML and build one of those long pages full of anchors. No, not Deb. I started with pages and sites. Early on, I learned WebSTAR (web server software) and with help from the amazing Eric Bickford, loved using his WebFM as my CGI to have web pages communicate with FileMaker Pro databases to feed the database, create pages and serve them to the browser.
As I learned, I documented, writing a book for then-new Claris Press. However, the timing was not right with FileMaker and the book did not come to be. Some of my work on this was published in Net Professional magazine. I also helped write the WebFM manual. I also learned another CGI, called Tango, and helped teach and develop Tango classes for that company.
As part of that book process, I looked at each of the WYSIWIG web page editors. Once I saw the preview of the first version of GoLive CyberStudio, I fell for it. A couple of years later, when IDG Books came to me asking me to write about GoLive came up I jumped on it. The result was the Adobe GoLive Bible. Adobe and IDG killed the v4 book due to co-author inaccuracies. Then, finally, I was able to release the Adobe GoLive 5 Bible which was (is) 1100+ pages on not just the how, but the what and why of site creation using GoLive. That book earned me the nickname, Xena of GoLive.
In January 2001, Mac Design magazine was born and I became its GoLive columnist. I wrote the how-to column there, the tips, and the Q&A as well as new version reviews. I also wrote about web design using GoLive for another major design magazine. Later, I wrote about GoLive for Macworld magazine as well.
Adobe has since dropped GoLive in favor of Dreamweaver, which they acquired. Fortunately, after Adobe had Dreamweaver for a while, it progressed to the point where I enjoy using it. I love its CSS features and the CS5 layout features. Throughout 2009 and 2010, I converted old sites and created new one in Dreamweaver. In 2010 I started writing a bit about Dreamweaver. I have also spoken with the product managers and plan to be a part of Dreamweaver's future development as I was with GoLive.
I have also written about some of the other great web authoring tools out there, helping Macworld readers know their options. (Search for Deborah Shadovitz at Macworld.com and you'll find those Macworld reviews.)
Some of my websites
Most of my web work is behind the scenes as I teach/help others. Here are some of the sites I can show.
- LAScriptworks
When famed TV author Ed. Weinberger and his friends came to me they were working with a layout a large design area but tiny space for text, which was wisely not what they wanted. Rather than using a template as that designer tried, this design, a collaboration with Mario Salinas, gave them imagery that suited their business as well as ample room for text. Ed, Robert, Mario and I also had some fun as we shot the home page image, so I snuck it into the secondary pages.
I was really proud to be a part of this fantastic script review+ service that they offer so they can help writers develop screenplays and teleplays. Before this site, you had to know someone who knew Ed. Weinberger or David S. Ward to get their attention. Also terrific, is that you don't have to be in Los Angeles to receive their face-to-face help. - Barbara Lazaroff.com
Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to get to know Barbara Lazaroff, the woman behind the design and creation of the original Spago, the current Spago in Beverly Hills, the amazing Granita in Malibu, and so much more. You may not have a Spago in your own town, but it’s likely your town was still affected by the “Spago-isation of America.” This is her own website, a place to share her inspirations and adventures in design. - DavidStreetsBeverlyHills.com
When I met David his contained images of text, not actual text, so it wasn't helping anyone discover David of the fabulous events held at the David W. Streets Beverly Hills Art Gallery. The first key was to code a new site, using CSS and PHP includes for flexibility. At his request, I kept his black background with white text. However, I changed his font for better readability and adjusted the "white" to be less shocking. In order to show off more artwork, I added slideshows that are Flash, but provide image versions for iPhones and other Flash-less devices. We worked together to obtain the look and feel he wanted for these slideshows. The result is a flexible, easily updatable site that is found via search and brings in business. - Cookie Site
Simple scenario: new business tight on funds needs a site to get started. The solution was to pop the already-design graphics into Photoshop to create a web design, and to keep the site's structure very basic. After that, it was all about the wording. I have removed the link because, sadly, the cookie creator has passed on. - MacGathering.com is my own event website with online registration. I have tried several registration systems over the years. The most recent one was created by Peggy O'Connor.
- MacDayLA.com one of my own event sites.
- Paradise Villas — assisted home care senior residence
The original site had no text and did not come up appropriately in searches. Editing graphics provided to me and adding some of my own, I placed them into a pure CSS frame. Of course, I wrote text fro the site as well so it could be found on the web. However, the family that ran the villas has since closed it. - San Gabriel Macintosh User Group (2004-2007)
This site was created by me from scratch except for the gift of the "frame" that friend Scott Immerman "loaned" to me. I penned and maintained it from 2004-2007. This design is down now, being replaced by a blog. - Magic Bob Weiss
Magic Bob's website was created from scratch in GoLive 5. Bob provided the images of himself and some of the photos used within. The design and words are mine, as the result of discussions with Bob. This site was done partly as a series of GoLive experiments. The "fun" page was a big hit with children and Bob's students. The elements on that page were not common at the time. Those elements are DHTLM, dynamic HTML, rather than done with animation software.
I've actually created an updated design that awaits uploading, but Bob doesn't want to switch because the original site as it has brought Bob the majority of his business ever since it went up 10 or so years ago. - The site of a financial expert
The challenge: what do you do for the personal site of a financial specialist? A site full of dollar sign images doesn't fit Matt. Instead, I used the text as the design with a simple graph paper background, which seemed befitting. As he no longer needs the site, it's barebones one page for now and may be offline soon. But you may get the idea from what it still there.
At the time this site was created, it was not common to use text as design. That is, text has long been used as a design element, but on the web that text was typically saved as an image and displayed as a graphic. In this case, the text was always text and I used CSS to give it creative spacing. As it was the somewhat early days of the web, though, I did provide image version of this text. I had browser detection take those on older browsers to the alternate page so the site still looked the same for those folks.
The graph paper is the work of designer Mark Jaress. Mark created it for me to share with readers on my GoLive 5 Bible's CD. - Digital Media Marketing Organization
The agreement on this site was that I'd create it using whatever graphics the organization supplied to me. The basic words were provided and I worked on them from there, so the text was a combination of theirs and mine. The organization has since closed. - Divorce: the musical
I had one day to get this site up and for material was given a graphic of the film's "onesheet." I quickly turned it into a PDF, cropped it in Photoshop, sliced it up, and popped it into GoLive. It is not a site I would typically build, but it was right for this client. - Full Fashions For Less (Now offline, proprietor deceased)
- GoLiveBible.com
This was (well, is) the official website for my book, the Adobe GoLive 5 Bible. The design here is a team effort. I stated it and Mario & Sheri Salinas made it interesting and polished it. As there was never another version of this book due to changes in direction by the publisher and by Adobe, and now there is no more GoLive, I have not added to the site.
How to contact me for web design
If you'd like to consider having me create or recreate your website, please send me an email. Please let me know what you have in mind, what your resources are, and what you timeframe is. Be sure to provide a URL if the site already exists. And don't forget to provide your contact information.
Are you wondering if location is an issue? I am based in Los Angeles. Most of the people I work with are in the Los Angeles as well. However, it' just as easy to work with you long distance as it is if you're right here in Los Angeles. Between phone, iChat/AIM and email for communication, and either iChat or Skype for screen sharing, we have everything we need to communicate effectively and efficiently. And, of course, I stage the site online so you can view and test the site as it is developed.