Digital Dandelion

09/17/2022

The quality of photographs on your website can make or break it. Your website can be super-simple and good photos will make it sing. Conversely, it can be gorgeously designed and poor photos will spoil it.

Not all of us are masters of the camera, and sometimes we want to use pictures of people but don't have "model releases" signed for our own photographs so we can't use them on our website. That's where stock photos come in.

I have several recommendations when it comes to choosing stock photos:

1. In most cases you'll want to avoid pictures that are "cheesy", like ones where people are obviously posing and staring at the camera. Non-cheesy photos are out there, but it can take more effort to locate them.

2. Your website's audience is likely made up of a variety of demographics (age, gender, ethnicity, etc). Look photos that reflect that variety. (Stock photo websites tend to have mostly pictures of young, attractive, white people, so this search can take some time.)

3. Stick with a consistent photography style in your website. So if you're using black and white (or sepia-toned, or faded-looking) photographs, stick with that. If you're using crisp bright colours, stick with that.

4. If you do use your own photographs, make sure they are perfectly focused, well lit, and don't have things like lamp posts growing out of people's heads or messy areas in the background.

Here are some free places I usually look for free stock photos:
www.pexels.com
www.unsplash.com

This article lists a bunch more places: https://snappa.com/blog/free-stock-photos/

And here are some places you can buy affordable stock photos (a few dollars per photo) without having to commit to a monthly subscription fee.
www.123rf.com
www.depositphotos.com

Do you have a favourite place to get stock photos that you can recommend?

A curated list of websites with beautiful free stock photos that can be used for personal and commercial projects.

09/17/2022

Although I've been doing some big sites lately (like informational websites with hundreds of pages and ecommerce sites with hundreds of products), I still enjoy creating quick, simple websites for small businesses.

There's so much variety in the small business community and I always learn something new from my clients and enjoy meeting and collaborating with them.

Here's an example. https://wildforwindmillpalms.ca/

Who would have guessed that the Sunshine Coast of Canada has a greenhouse devoted to growing and selling one particular species of palm tree!?

This website came together quickly because the business owners provided me with great photographs and it was clear that green was the perfect colour for the site. I was really pleased to find a free Google font for their business name that had the feeling of the branches of these palm trees.

09/17/2022

Last year I ended up building two large ecommerce sites, as local businesses took advantage of the BC government's COVID business grants. Here's the first one that got launched. https://www.coasthomepatio.com/

Coast Home & Patio Solutions is a Sechelt business that sells hot tubs, fancy barbecue grills, patio furniture, wind chimes and all kinds of related items.

With people stuck at home during the pandemic, I wanted the website to showcase how a backyard can become a vacation-like retreat.

What do you think? Was I successful? Can you imagine how your yard could be transformed?

09/17/2022

Wow, has it been busy here at Digital Dandelion the past 2 years. With COVID pushing so many businesses and non-profits online, I've never designed so many websites in such a short time.

Fortunately, a web design colleague from Alberta (TriSphere Consulting Inc.) recommended some new WordPress technology that lets me build complex and beautiful layouts very quickly. It's made a world of difference to my productivity and creativity.

(If you're curious, I'm using the Beaver Builder page builder now, with the Astra WordPress theme.)

Here's one of the websites I've built with this new technology. www.thescca.ca.

I've worked with the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association since 2009, and we've always been challenged with how to organize the huge quantity of content on their website. A significant portion of this project was me providing consultation services to their board and staff members to work out:
- which various audiences they wanted to reach (volunteers, donors, sponsoring organizations, government, media)
- which audiences were the priority to reach
- how we wanted those audiences to take action

The time spent up front was well worth it, as it's now much easier for people to find the information they want on the website.

I think it turned out to be very attractive too. What do you think?

09/17/2022

I know lots of things seem to be getting worse in the world these days, but at least one thing has been getting better - and that's the design of websites.

Check out these hideous screenshots of major Canadian companies in the earlier days of the internet. We've come a long way. :-)

From big companies to government to media, here were some of the earliest stops on Canada's information superhighway

03/01/2021

I've been working with non-profits for about a decade now, becoming familiar with how their needs differ from those of for-profit organizations. Like the researchers quoted in this article, I believe technology can help you do more with the limited amount of staffing and budget your non-profit may have.

This article discusses the importance of having "digital leaders... engaged in decision making on new undertakings". Many of the non-profits I work with are too small to have tech expertise in-house, so some of them bring me in for consultation on how web- and email-based technology can enable them to have greater impact in their community. There's always so much enthusiasm during this type of work, as my clients discover what is technically feasible, and often more affordable than they expected.

I can't say I'm a fan of all the technology advocated for in this article; some of it seems too invasive to privacy for my tastes. But with careful choices, you can use tech to free up your staff from routine tasks, and engage the public more meaningfully in your work.

If you know someone in non-profit who might find this article helpful, feel free to share it, or tag them here in the comments.

Nonprofits compete too. Could technology offer a means to improve performance, innovate, and deliver on mission?

02/22/2021

Although we work with WordPress here at Digital Dandelion, we know that some clients prefer SquareSpace. If that's you, we have a discount code which you can use to save 20% off your first year with SquareSpace.

Here's our code, and SquareSpace's information about how it works:

"Know someone who is thinking about building a website? Help your family and friends turn their ideas into reality by sharing your exclusive 20% off Squarespace discount code with them.

Share your code:
47DAR6NNMY

Discount codes must be redeemed by Thursday, April 1 at 11:59PM EST for 20% off a Squarespace monthly or annual website subscription. Your code can be redeemed for up to five website subscriptions."

www.squarespace.com

Squarespace is the all-in-one solution for anyone looking to create a beautiful website. Domains, eCommerce, hosting, galleries, analytics, and 24/7 support all included.

02/15/2021

If you're a small business in BC, you may benefit from BC's new "Launch Online" grant program, which is designed to "help over 1,500 eligible small- and medium-sized B.C. businesses adapt to changes in consumer behaviour and pivot to market their products online."

Here at Digital Dandelion we have the expertise to set you up on a WordPress-based ecommerce setup that doesn't take any commission from your sales, or charge you a monthly fee.

Drop me an email at [email protected] to learn more. (No commitment and no high-pressure sales tactics. I know self-hosted eCommerce isn't the solution for everyone. After learning about you and your business, If I think it isn't a good fit for you, I'll say so.)

Know a small business how might need this? Share this post or tag them here in the comments.

The new Launch Online Grant program is designed to help over 1,500 eligible small- and medium-sized B.C. businesses adapt to changes in consumer behaviour and pivot to market their products online.  

09/25/2020

If you're looking to save costs on your domains when they come up for renewal, here are some recommendations.

For .ca domains: ($14 CAD/year)
https://whc.ca/domain-names/transfer

For .com ($9.26 USD/year) and other top-level domains (.net, org, etc):
https://www.icdsoft.com/en/domains

(I always ignore the one-year promotional price and focus on the regular prices.)

03/28/2020

Lots of the websites created here at Digital Dandelion are for non-profits. Because of confidentiality issues, many non-profits cannot use photos of their own clients on their website, so we have to depend on stock photographs.

But if you've ever tried to find a stock photograph of someone who isn't young, white, well-dressed AND beautiful - all at the same time - you'll know the challenge we're up against. On top of that, so many stock photos are 'cheesy' and obviously posed.

The article below shares some stock photo sites where you can find photos that cover a more realistic spectrum of people.

https://www.thebusinessofhelping.com/inclusive-and-diverse-stock-photography-sites/

Here are some additional sites you may find helpful next time you're looking for stock photographs:

https://diversityphotos.com/
https://www.wocintechchat.com/ (woman of colour in tech)
https://stock.bodyliberationphotos.com/ (diverse body types)

Thanks to my friend Tzaddimade for pointing me to these resources!

Inclusive and Diverse Stock Photography Sites by The Business of Helping | Nov 15, 2016 | Branding, Setup, Technology, Uncategorized | 4 comments A simple way to make a difference and take a stand for equality is through respectful and accurate representation online. If you choose to use pictures of...

07/31/2019

We've just launched a new website (www.quiltparlour.com) for one of our very first clients. We built Poppin's Quilt Parlour's first website back in 2006 and it lasted 13 years! That's like being 1,000 years old in website age... ;-)

Since I love quilts, it was lots of fun to choose photos and put this new site together.

If you've got an old fixed-width WordPress site that needs to be updated to a responsive mobile-friendly theme, drop us a line.

04/18/2018

If you've got a mailing list that has some Europeans on it, you'll want to know about the GDPR. Here are two articles to read:

https://kb.mailchimp.com/accounts/management/collect-consent-with-gdpr-forms

https://whc.ca/understanding-gdpr-security-privacy-implications-canadians

And a quote form the second one:

"No longer will general-purpose disclaimers, such as ‘by clicking next you agree to all the terms and conditions set forth in our 30 page privacy policy’, suffice. EU citizens will have to be fully aware of what they are consenting too. To collect the information (for billing purposes, for example), you will need to show that the client knew exactly what information was recorded and agreed that it can be recorded.

But there is more! Besides personal data and consent there are a few additional areas of concern.

GDPR is designed to protect EU citizens from having their data used in ways that they do not wish as well as to lessen the impact of data breaches. To aid in this effort, the GDPR focuses on certain rights and oversight procedures. Here are some of the key points.

Right to access: Any EU citizen has the right to ask for and obtain any information the company has on them. The company must be clear about how the data being processed and provide the client a copy of the data.

Right to be forgotten: If data is shown to no longer be relevant for its original purpose, an EU citizen has the right to have the data erased."