Cool Stuff
Free Easter Bunny Icons at Icon Dock
Just in time for Easter, Icon Dock has released a set of 40 free icons which you can use on your marketing material, blog, etc…
Check out their website for other great icons.
My thoughts about Northern Voice 2009
This year’s Northern Voice was my fourth one and I truly enjoyed it. I’ve never been to Friday’s Moosecamp and missed it again this year, opting to catch up on a never-ending to-do list. I heard that Stewart Butterfield‘s Keynote was very good. Luckily for me and all of you who couldn’t make it, the sessions were taped and the videos will be posted on the website once the organizing committee has had time to make their final touches.
The wonderful thing about Northern Voice is that it’s very informal. You won’t find any big wigs walking around with chips on their shoulder. Everyone is friendly and easy to talk to. While the subject of social media is not new to me and generally I’m hearing stuff that I already know, once in a while I find out about a few things that make me go “hmm, I didn’t know that”. For example, I didn’t know what a sock puppet was and even though I was told to check out Radio 3 on CBC years ago, I never did, and Steve Pratt reminded me why I should.
Attending conferences, takes a lot of time, costs money and can be exhausting, but I find the following benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
- I always leave each conference with new ideas and renewed energy.
- I love to see how great speakers behave in front of the audience. Brianna Tomkinson and David Eaves gave exceptional well articulated presentations.
- There’s always someone who makes me laugh and this year, Rob Cottingham‘s keynote was hilarious yet insightful.
- I always meet new people who share the same interest.
- I don’t always, but often connect with old friends.
- I’m reminded of things that were on my to-do list and never got around to.
Seeing how people use social media in every day life to help a group of kids and hearing how traditional companies are daring to break the rules proved very inspiring and I hope to see more examples of these next year.
The folks behind Northern Voice have asked for feedback and all I can say is keep up the great work. Your conference is always exceptional and well worth making time for.
Animator vs Animation
In the web world flash is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or hate it. Certain sites do benefit from animation while others just don’t. Regardless of what you may think, you have to admire the animators who create this stuff. The following video is a great example of the creativity that’s out there. …And if you’ve ever had to work with flash, you may relate to the experience.
Enjoy and happy holiday.
Disclaimer — There’s an commercial before the video and you can’t skip it. Boo.
Help Landsea Tours Stuff the Bus
Working with Kevin from Landsea Bus last week , we successfully launched a new website for them by converting their new design into WordPress Templates. While walking through the website and demonstrating WordPress’s ability, Kevin mentioned their “Stuff the Bus” event. Every year the folks at Landsea Tour park their tour bus at different locations around town and the public is invited to come and “Stuff it” with blankets and warm clothing which will be donated to the St. James Community Service Society.
This year’s charity event promises to be even bigger and better with The Town Pants at Richards on Richards December 11th. Take a look at the poster for more info.
According to the March 11th 2008 homeless count, there are 2592 homeless people in Vancouver. If you have a spare jacket or blanket please come by one to one of their location and give generously.
Web Directions North returns in February 2009
This year, Web Directions North moves to Denver Colorado – a hub city for many airlines, and a non-stop flight from all over North America. And the skiing’s not bad either. The conference is on February 4 and 5, with workshops on February 2 and 3, and the now legendary ski trip February 6 and 7, in Breckenridge, the most popular ski resort in North America.
I’ve attended the previous 2 conferences in Vancouver and would recommend it to anyone wishing to freshen up their web development skills.
Will your vote be environmentally friendly?
With just a few more weeks until Canadians go the polls the folks at Vote for Environment have been pushing hard to push their message to more than 1 MILLION Canadians. Of the 2 western countries that have decided to ignore Kyoto, Canada is one of them. If you’re concerned about the Conservative’s anti-environmental policy then this website is for you. [website no longer online]
All 3 of the other parties (Liberals, NDP, Greens) have strong(er) environmental policies, but which to vote for?
The Vote For Environment website makes it easy for you to decide. Simply type in your postal and take a look at which of the 3 parties can beat the Conservatives in your riding. As long as these 3 parties get enough seats, they should be able to forward a greener agenda.
Be sure to check out their sponsor, De Smog Blog. Their new website dedicated to the election and the one across the border analyzes each candidate’s platform on climate change and assigns them with a rating.
This Canadian election may not be as exciting as the US one, but the outcome may affect the future of humankind more critically than any previous elections.
Overloaded with too much info?
I had lunch with Rob a few weeks ago and we both agreed that keeping up with content is becoming more and more difficult. I only have 54 subscriptions in my Google Reader, yet every day I have 50 or so posts to read and I could easily add another 50 subscriptions. I’m not even sure if the 54 that I am reading are the ones I should be reading and fear that I’m missing out on vast amounts of information and just can’t keep up.
This can be even more challenging if you are starting a web business and not sure if you grasp all of the terminology. How are you supposed to find out which headline will bring more traffic to your blog, or what will prompt your website visitor to buy your product? I could tell you to go and read such and such blogs, but sometimes there is just not enough time to read all of that stuff.
So what can you do instead? How about checking out Sean‘s cartoons? With very simple illustration Sean’s blog is full of advice with accompanying cartoons that clearly explain complicated subjects. I’m not saying that by reading his blog your products will fly off the shelf, but you’ll probably learn a great deal and his cartoons are very clever.
Here is my favourite:
The lesson here: Your users don’t have that many eyeballs. Cut the crap from your site.
New Home for Your (not-so-)Old Tech & Office Stuff
While this might be a little off-topic, here’s a brief plug to check out the BC Crisis Centre’s Wishlist. In addition to office equipment, they could also use some kitchen equipment for their volunteer’s break room and a volunteer photographer.
Bluelime has been helping the Crisis Centre with their websites for years, and we’re looking forward to launching an updated version of their web-based youth hotline in the near future.
Ecommerce Holiday Web Design Gallery
Yesterday I wrote a post about Nick’s holiday icons which you can use to spruce up your website for Christmas. If you are in need of inspiration, make sure to check out the Get Elastic blog. Linda Bustos has put together great examples of ecommerce websites, logos and holiday gift cards.
Miracle product solves design problems
If you’re unhappy with your current website or your latest brochure, why not try the Make My Logo Bigger Cream. Who says design takes skill and creativity? Pshaw!
Thanks to Karole for sending the link.