Aileen, the graphic designer at Creating Clever, came up with this manifesto for 2012. Nicely done. I like her style. Just about everything on the manifesto mirror my own aspirations for the New Year. How about you? Aileen invites you to create a manifesto of your own, put it where you can see it everyday, and have no forgotten resolutions.

Tad Teeters of Musclebasix is one of those special clients.

Back in March 2011, I designed a new online store for Tad’s growing business. The store was a redesign of his original website (which I also created). Both projects went smoothly—no annoying issues or unnecessary delays—and, after the online store was launched, Tad sent a couple of bottles of wine to thank me for all the work I did. I was surprised and delighted—I love wine, and what’s more delightful than a couple of bottles straight from the winemaker?

More importantly, with the wine came a letter. I meant to post it months ago; but one thing led to another, I got busy and distracted with other things, and posting the letter has been sitting ever since on my To Do List gathering dust. This letter means more to me than words can say. When I’m having an especially bad day, I pull it out to remind myself, Yes, Patricia, there are good clients.

I wonder . . . is it considered redundant to thank someone for a thank-you letter?

Click on the image above for a larger view of Tad’s letter.

CLICK for the live view

I should say I “rediscovered” it—I remember seeing this a while back after my client’s website, Balloon Impressions was first launched in early 2009.

I was pleased to see it then. and I’m still smiling after all this time.

The people at PHP Jabbers were wonderful to work with. They followed my instructions and made all the adjustments I requested until their “Time Slots Booking” calendar was custom-coded to meet my client’s requirements perfectly. Response time was quick and reliable, and I was thoroughly satisfied with the service and results.

My client’s booking calendar is a thing of beauty. PHP Jabbers is awesome. I am smiling. End of story.

Our Empty Nest

• WordPress
• PHP, XHTML 1.0, CSS, jQuery, JavaScript
• Customized ET theme
• Dynamic drop-down menu with rollovers
• Dynamic submenu with rollovers
• Dynamic slideshow
• Dynamic Recent Posts
• Custom taxonomy
• Social widgets
• eShop shopping cart
• TimThumb thumbnails
• Image highlight rollovers
• Fancybox
• WP page navigation
• Secure contact form
• Site search
• Custom favicon

View site

It seems to be the case in this web designer’s life that my pet projects are always the ones put on hold. I’m like the shoemaker whose children go without shoes; I devote so much time and energy to clients, I have little left for my own websites.

Our Empty Nest has been online for years. It started as a simple little store where I sold household stuff I no longer needed. Items were linked directly to PayPal—no shopping cart was necessary—and the site was, essentially, an online garage sale. Easy enough. After a while, I expanded to full eCommerce and added distributor products to the mix. It was good experience for the designer in me; but a blog about simplifying life in an empty nest was more in tune with what I really wanted.

Thus, the new-and-improved Our Empty Nest was born with more emphasis on blog posts than products.

I customized the framework for “My eStore” by Elegant Themes; and, because no blog was included with the framework, I had to hack the code and insert one. It was a true challenge getting it all to integrate and function properly. The site is dynamic throughout, pulling recent posts and products onto various pages. There are also other custom features, widgets, and plugins too numerous to mention.

This is a work in progress, so stay tuned for updates.

Now, if I can just find the time between working on the site to update the blog.

For your patience and understanding . . . thank you, thank you very much.

In the example above, Wikipedia uses a capital W, Sweet Solutions has a strawberry, and the favicon for Hotmail is an orange envelope. A favicon is a good way to brand your website.

How do I create a favicon?
Favicons are typically 16×16 pixels. They are created using favicon generators, like the one at Dynamic Drive. It’s an easy process; anyone can do it.

• You simply upload the graphic you want to use and click the button to generate the icon.
• Logos and other identifiable images that relate to your website’s content make good favicons.
• Supported file formats are: gif, jpg, png, and bmp. If you require a transparency, transparent gif or png files should be used.
• It’s important that the graphic you choose to use is easily identifiable when reduced in size to 16×16 pixels.

Here are some of the favicons I’ve created. I’ll add more as time permits.

For more information on favicons and a bit of inspiration, see:

• Wikipedia—Favicons
• W3C—How To Add a Favicon to Your Website
• Favicon Generator and Gallery

The two scoops of ice cream effectively replace the two o’s in Google; and the ice cream parlor pastels, graphics, and style give it an old fashioned flavor that’s hard to resist.