New Home for this Blog

I’ve redesigned my website, and I am now hosting this blog myself. Past posts will remain at this address. Future posts can be found at its new address: www.dennisdeacon.com/blog/.

Great WordPress Designer Resource

‘ve been blogging on WordPress for well over a year, and recently, I’ve had the opportunity to start designing WordPress websites. I have to be honest. I sort of went into it like a typical male’s introduction to an electric appliance. Forget the manual, I’ll figure it out. Well, I can tell you, I’ve learned [...]

Microsoft Encourages Upgrading from IE6 With Charity Donations

Did you know…
Microsoft will support IE6 until 2014.

Microsoft is donating 8 meals to Feeding America, a US hunger-relief charity, for every download of IE8 from their Browser For The Better web site. If you’re upgrading from IE6, Microsoft will double that donation.
Feeding America provides food assistance to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger [...]

Why Internet Explorer 6 MUST be Supported

Pardon me as I step upon my soapbox, yet again. While I’ve been preparing several other posts, this topic has reared its ugly head.
Internet Explorer version 6.0 is, has been, and will continue to be the bane of all web designers and web developers for some time to come. Why you ask? Because it’s support [...]

Designing Web Sites for Your Target Audience

I recently was told about a discussion at a local web design meetup on designing for Internet Explorer 6, the browser designers love to bash (…and so do I). During this discussion, the majority of vocal participants stated that they refuse to design for IE6.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, for if I had, I [...]

Redesign Project: Second City Scooters

I recently had the opportunity to work on a fun project; the redesign of a small business site that sells motor scooters. The most rewarding part is hearing of customers praising the website. That’s way kool.
Former site
To understand the old website, you had to understand the history, short as it was, of the business.
Two brothers, [...]

Life Evolving with the Web: Facebook vs. Classmates.com & Reunions

The Web & Internet in general has changed the way we do things; the way we live. We don’t send letters, especially holiday cards, we just send emails. We don’t make quick phone calls, we tweet instead.
Recently, I gave into my lack of longing to start using Facebook. I had been using LinkedIn for professional [...]

New Internet Forum for Chicago-based Folks

I was recently alerted to a new discussion forum for Internet professionals in the Chicagoland area.
Chicago Internet Professionals [ http://www.chicagointernetprofessionals.com ] contains all the topical sections that you would need. While it is still young, it’s increasing in membership and content.
Some interesting posts include how gender impacts web design, and SEO Tips. There’s [...]

Print Friendly Feature Necessary?

Is the “Print Friendly” feature seen on web pages throughout the web necessary?
Up to a week ago, I thought not.
The Print Friendly feature obtained popularity in the late 90’s, early 2000’s. At that time, most pages were so content & navigation heavy that it didn’t make sense for companies to allow website visitors to print [...]

Customer Service – Where did it go?

With each passing day, I am amazed at how content society is with the level of customer service (or the lack thereof) citizens of this planet receive. I was brought up to provide the highest level of customer service at all times. This, likely is due to my first job being located on a posh [...]