loving my new setup

way back in the day, when i purchased my first computer for ispectrum, i knew the ideal setup would be a laptop & external monitor. but at the time, not only could i not afford a laptop (new business and all), but laptops weren't yet powerful enough to run the many programs i like to have going at the same time (i can count about 7, off the top of my head).

finally, i've taken the plunge! and at the risk of raving about apple in a public forum, let me just say the words "holy cow" have never been uttered so many times in one morning.

in years past, migrating to a new computer took days, sometimes weeks of sweat and frustration. but the mac peeps, in their infinite wisdom, created a setup where i simply connect the old backup to the new laptop, and 20 minutes later, voila! a perfect twin of my desktop, in a compact, high-powered, and let's be honest, sexy 17-inch slim aluminum portable.

bravo apple, bravo.

site launch: stones river oil

this site has a very limited amount of content, which will only be viewed by a handful of investors. they mostly needed a home page that could catch the attention of a visitor, and that looked professional enough for them to be taken seriously. this home page is a variation on the large image background; in this case, the large image becomes the focal. view the new site here.

large image backgrounds

you may have seen a recent trend in web design - large image backgrounds. while they are typically more suited to low-content websites, for the right site, they can increase impact dramatically. (some high-content websites can use large backgrounds, if it's done just right - but use with care).

take, for example, westlake harvesting. even though their content doesn't change much from year to year, they like to make small changes to the design so it looks fresh and updated. check out the difference from the old, standard gradient background to the new design:

before

after

visit the site here: www.westlakeharvesting.com. i used a fixed background to maximize impact and minimize the plain color at the bottom.

this was a quickie-update for an old site i didn't even design in the first place (took me about an hour)... but check out what you can do with a little more effort:



i found these images at webdesignerwall.com, under this post. fabulous, and a new favorite design idea.