6/7/11 – Google is finally rolling out their long hyped Chromebook which CPD was fortunate to get our hands on as early testers. The lightweight laptop boots up in 8 seconds and runs only the Chrome web browser with a number of browser apps availble including chat, docs, etc. The laptop supports 1 USB port and can run for almost 8 hrs of battery life. This is Google’s attempt to reinvent the personal computer and demonstrate the power of cloud computing which Google has been a pioneer in bringing to life.
Google Places information can not be trusted. We write a lot about Google on this blog and most of it is great. We love their search and fast changing service offerings. To be fair, we want to point out how poor Google Places is and how frustrating it can be to work with. For those of you that are unfamiliar, Google Places allows you to claim your business listing so that it appears on Google Maps for industry related search terms. The idea is great, as users can search for things like web designers and see all the businesses in the area on the map. The follow through and reality is that the listings are incredibly outdated at times and businesses seem to get mixed together. Read the rest of this article »
5/31/11 – If you own an IPad and only have one App, I recommend it to be Flipboard. It aggregates social media and popular web content into a fun and easy to use ‘e-book’. Taking your friends Twtitter and Facebook posts, images, and videos, Flipboard puts them together for you in a digital magazine. Flipboard is helping change the way that users interact with social media and get their news. Additionally, Flipboard provides the ability to communicate with your friends and followers by sharing, commenting, and ‘liking’ the content displayed to you.
This photo has been circling the web for some time now. You have to study it closely to understand its beauty… The white lines are the camels while the black figures are the shadows. Do you see it now? Amazing right. Camels walking in a heard have never looked so amazing. This picture was taken by George Steinmetz and featured in National Geographic in 2005. Read the rest of this article »
Web Designers are always looking for ideas and inspiration from other developers. I very often get into our San Diego based office at CPD and start my day by surfing the web to find awesome websites to pull ideas from. Whether the sites are built in WordPress, Joomla, static HTML/CSS or other platforms does not matter. The idea is to look at things in a new way and develop skills in various forms of web design. Here are a few I recently found worth checking out.
Internet Explorer 6.0 (IE6) has tormented web designers for years. This is primarily due to there inability to support PNG images which are now widely used in website designs. Recent browser market share statistics from W3Schools.com shows that only 2.5% of all users are running on IE6. This is down from 7.9% a year ago. Additionally, Microsoft is now pushing their new release of IE9. I think it is safe to say that IE6 is officially obsolete. Read the rest of this article »
5/24/11 – A little over a week ago at Google’s annual conference I/O 2011, they announced many new product and service offerings. Many of the big announcements during day 1′s keynote revolved around the use of the Android operating system including the ADK (Android Accessory Development Kit). They went on to demo this hardware and software platform by showing how a labyrinth can be controlled by a tablet. The extendability of the ADK was displayed at the conference on an even bigger level as they used a tablet to control a giant, larger than life size labyrinth.
A problem that seems to come up again and again as web designers is when users have caching issues. Very often I will make a web update, email the client that the change has been made, and then receive a phone call from the client telling me that they do not see the change. Well, in most cases this is due to a caching issue on their local computer. The simple fix is usually by telling them to hit CTRL + F5 to refresh the page cache (COMMAND + F5 on a MAC). This does not always work however as some people are behind proxy servers, some browsers do not refresh flash objects very well, and a myriad of other issues. Read the rest of this article »
Creativity is an important part distinguishing your brand in multiple platforms including your website, blog, or even business cards. When it comes to websites there is a line between being creative and negatively impacting the user experience. Here are some components to user experience that need to be considered when creativity is taking over.
Navigation Placement
Whether you like it or not, there is a certain navigation standard that users have become accustomed to. A top horizontal bar or left vertical bar are typical web design components. Read the rest of this article »
In the wake of Microsoft’s big announcement today that they will be acquiring Skype to the tune of $8.5 billion, I thought I would share a funny video about the difference in branding and product appeal between Apple and Microsoft. I should preface this video with the fact that I am a complete supporter of the products Microsoft puts out there. I would also be lying if I didn’t say that Apple’s marketing blows them out of the water and this shows why.
6/7/11 – Google is finally rolling out their long hyped Chromebook which CPD was fortunate to get our hands on as early testers. The lightweight laptop boots up in 8 seconds and runs only the Chrome web browser with a number of browser apps availble including chat, docs, etc. The laptop supports 1 USB port and can run for almost 8 hrs of battery life. This is Google’s attempt to reinvent the personal computer and demonstrate the power of cloud computing which Google has been a pioneer in bringing to life.
Google Places information can not be trusted. We write a lot about Google on this blog and most of it is great. We love their search and fast changing service offerings. To be fair, we want to point out how poor 
5/31/11 – If you own an IPad and only have one App, I recommend it to be 
This photo has been circling the web for some time now. You have to study it closely to understand its beauty… The white lines are the camels while the black figures are the shadows. Do you see it now? Amazing right. Camels walking in a heard have never looked so amazing. This picture was taken by 
Web Designers are always looking for ideas and inspiration from other developers. I very often get into our San Diego based office at CPD and start my day by surfing the web to find awesome websites to pull ideas from. Whether the sites are built in WordPress, Joomla, static HTML/CSS or other platforms does not matter. The idea is to look at things in a new way and develop skills in various forms of web design. Here are a few I recently found worth checking out.
Internet Explorer 6.0 (IE6) has tormented web designers for years. This is primarily due to there inability to support PNG images which are now widely used in website designs. Recent browser market share statistics from 
A problem that seems to come up again and again as web designers is when users have caching issues. Very often I will make a web update, email the client that the change has been made, and then receive a phone call from the client telling me that they do not see the change. Well, in most cases this is due to a caching issue on their local computer. The simple fix is usually by telling them to hit CTRL + F5 to refresh the page cache (COMMAND + F5 on a MAC). This does not always work however as some people are behind proxy servers, some browsers do not refresh flash objects very well, and a myriad of other issues. 
Creativity is an important part distinguishing your brand in multiple platforms including your website, blog, or even business cards. When it comes to websites there is a line between being creative and negatively impacting the user experience. Here are some components to user experience that need to be considered when creativity is taking over.
In the wake of 
