About four weeks ago Tidy Design received the green light to re-design a website for Task Welding, a local company established back in 1979! We have created a small bespoke brochure site that informs its readers about the services and products offered by Task Welding. If you are looking for a welding company in the Portsmouth, Hampshire then why not check out http://www.taskweldinguk.com/ for more details.

It is hard to believe that March 2011 is fast approaching and the first quarter of 2011 will be over before we know it! At Tidy Design we are so grateful for the new and repeat business we receive week in week out, we are very fortunate to be busy during such tough economic times.

A massive thank you to Task Welding for choosing Tidy Design, it was great getting to know you and developing the new site… Let’s hope it generates lots of new business and we look forward to working with you for many years to come!

Yesterday I spent a good few hours watching iOS and Xcode videos, looking over blog tutorial and more in an attempt to get my head around the development and publishing of mobile applications. To be honest this has been on my to-do list for many months now however other projects both personal and those linked to Tidy Design have given me little time for this DIY self educating!

One thing I love about the web is that if you have a question, new interest or idea then the World Wide Web can give you access to pretty much everything you need in terms of resources!

I really feel that good progress was made yesterday, not only did I create my first VERY basic mobile app; I also registered Tidy Design for its own iOS developer account! Once registered with Apple you can download Xcode and iOS SDK, which includes the Xcode IDE, iOS Simulator, and many other tidy tools for developing apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

All we need now at Tidy Design is more time to research and develop the many ideas we have; some of these we feel will really benefit our clients, so watch this space!

Ok, I am more a fan of Twitter than FaceBook, although I understand why so many people use FaceBook as a way to communicate with old and existing friends… But for me Twitter is about the now, real time information and not friends reunited. Although I have a FaceBook account I probably sign in once every other month, just to see what’s new and remind myself why I don’t use it!

Although FaceBook is the biggest social networking site on the planet, for me socialising is more about getting out in the real world… If I am behind my desk then chances are I am probably working on a website, new project or SEO… Not socialising or chatting to people I have not seen in 10 years!

Over the last couple of weeks I have been hearing more and more rumours that both Google and FaceBook are in talks to buy Twitter! As you know, Google’s business is all about the delivery of information and FaceBook is about social networking… Twitter on the other hand is the middle man who offers both information and networking via mobile apps, celebrity endorsements and ever growing popularity! I personally think Twitter shouldn’t sell, however if they do then Google gets my vote! Google is yet to crack the social networking scene and Twitter would be the perfect platform to launch from, it could become even more awesome!

What ever happens I predict 2011 is the year of Goliath verses Goliath (Google v FaceBook) and their fight for popularity, more users and the sale of add space! After all, it is the traffic (that’s you and me) that keeps these giants of the web in business!

What are your thoughts on Google and FaceBook looking to obtain Twitter? With such a massive celebrity following should Twitter simply look to its users for funding? Or, maybe you see Twitter is a phase; will its value and popularity fade over the years to come? I often mention Twitter to our clients however a majority reply saying “I don’t get it” or “we don’t have time”… Marketing and SEO is all about following the trends and with businesses such as Google, Virgin and your local hair salon tweeting away, maybe it is not such a bad idea to try something new? Think of it like this, if you stand still in life or business then the world around you will continue to change!

Yesterday my wife and I took a nice long walk down Southsea beach to recharge our batteries after a very busy week at the office… At Tidy Design we feel it is really important for people with desk jobs to stay active, eat healthy and keep fit! After all, a healthy body equals a healthy mind!

Anyway, yesterdays walk that lasted just under two hours also involved me snapping away with my camera and capturing a load of photos of the South Parade Pier on Southsea beach in Portsmouth.

These photographs I later edited in Photoshop for you to download as FREE stock images for projects, websites or what ever you like!

A blog post on how to edit your own images using Photoshop to appear like these will soon follow! Until then, you can find even more FREE stock photos by clicking here.

Exactly four weeks ago Tidy Design was commissioned to re-design the Clarence Pier website in time for its 2011 season. The task at hand was both exciting and challenging due to the size of site, venue, expectations and launch date… Tidy Design really had to dig deep and work some serious hours to design and develop what was launched last Thursday; you could say we kept the coffee manufacturers in business!

Anyway, we have lots of ideas in mind on how to further develop and improve the Clarence Pier site, maybe a bespoke ticketing system, online game or two… These we hope to discuss and implement later in the year. For now, we just hope you enjoy the new site as much as we did, and take a trip down the seafront for some sea air and ice-cream!

I had an interesting conversation last weekend about new verses repeat business, one of those chats that stay on your mind and make you think! My conclusion is it’s important to look after what you’ve already got, the buzz of new business is great, however the after sale service you provide your customers is more important! After all, you want to keep your clients don’t you? You also want them to speak highly of your company to others… Word of mouth = FREE advertising!

Tidy Design is very fortunate to of built up a loyal and amazing portfolio of clients over the years, and going that extra mile for that extra smile has formed some seriously solid business (and personal) relationships.

We have learnt over the years that when building a website for a new client it is so so important to listen! The challenge for every web designer is to extract the expectations from a minds eye and convert these into a functional and tidy looking site… Not always easy but like with all things, practise does help!

Here is a short testimonial we received this week following the launch of a new site we recently designed:

It was a real pleasure to work with Roger and the band, plus the reason behind this site is heart warming! Thanks again for choosing Tidy Design and also for sending us the above feedback… We really hope the site and album inspire all who listen.

So to conclude, do all businesses promote an after sale service dressed up in ribbons and bows? Good business to me is about balance, and we all have to sit back and ask ourselves from time to time… “How are my existing customers today and what can I give them of value?” It is not just about new business or delivering a service; it’s about delivering quality day in day out!

I hope you have enjoyed this post… Please feel free to add your thoughts, maybe you recently received some awesome or bad customer service, or maybe you would like to tell us about the after sale service your company provides to customers?

Earlier today Tidy Design received a lovely testimonial regarding a new site we designed and launched in January 2011. This site was the first of our ‘Startup Company Website’ package and we feel the overall feedback / result is awesome!

Although we really enjoy designing bespoke sites for fun businesses with fun products such as say Clarence Pier or the Hokey Cokey Party Shop, not every site we design is aimed at one particular sector or trade.

If you visit our portfolio page you will see a variation of different styles and companies, ranging from international businesses to sole traders.

At the end of the day, we just love designing tidy sites!

If you are thinking about getting a new website then why not give us a call or email, the team at Tidy Design would love to hear from you… Have a great weekend!

In mid-January we started work on website re-design, part of the spec was to create a fun and colourful navigation that offered something different… So, following a couple of design concepts we had a design and idea signed off. All was looking and working well until I noticed one of several .png files that makeup the navigation took longer than others to load! From a website usability perspective it was one of those Arrr moments!

I asked the question, “How can I preload an image using just CSS?” Well, website browsers load information within a webpage from top to bottom… So by adding:

to the top of your web page, the browser will load ‘preload-me-first.png’ (into your computers memory) before information at the bottom of your page… By placing the above code just after the <body> tag you will guarantee to preload an image(s) using just CSS… Finally, it is also worth setting the width and height attributes to add a little extra speed.

So there you have it, how to preload an image using just CSS… Enjoy!