Author Archives: kbs

Nice Job, Bub!

Posted by kbs

The HunterToday I updated crime and mystery writer Donald Westlake’s website with three of his books that are being republished by Chicago Press. (see for yourself) So, why am I blogging about it? Because I admired these cover designs. I mentioned it in a reply to the publisher (“Tell your cover designer ‘Nice job, Bub.'”) and they wrote back that they were designed and illustrated by David Drummand. I Googled him, found his portfolio/blog and added him to my Blogroll. Reading about good design process is always rewarding.

This also gives me a chance to talk about Donald’s website and some of the business lessons I learned. He is a friend of a friend and about ten years ago I heard him mention at a party that his webmaster was changing fields and he needed to find someone to take it over. That is how… Continue reading →

Damn Scam

Posted by kbs

This week a web client emailed me asking:
Did all of your clients get this (domain transfer) notification?
I assume it’s legit? I just paid for the five year renewal of the domain name.
Will you handle the transfer or should I?

Well, it was not legit and it makes me furious. The client had received a snail mail letter informing them to transfer their domain name to Domain Registry of America (www.droa.com). It was worded in such a way that they thought it was imperative. Sneaky bastards.

I did a search:
1. This from PCmag.com – http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2007/10/beware_of_domain_name_scams_in.php

2. From someone who describes a letter like my client’s: http://trinaallen.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/domain-registry-of-america-scam/

droa.com letter
droa.com letter

3. In trying to explain why the registration WHOIS information is public, I found this:
“The problem is two-fold: ICANN (the guys who “overlook all the domain stuff on the Internet”, for lack-of better phrasing) voted in a new rule that states all domain owners _MUST_ have legitimate contact methods shown in their WHOIS records. That is, the owner of the domain must put a legitimate address and telephone number in their WHOIS records.” (from http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,16948194 )
(see UPDATE 4 below) 

Continue reading →

Novo Navigation

Posted by kbs

I have spent many hours exploring the terrific navigation methods developed by Gerard Fernandez at DHTML demos. This has been a great education and I would like to write about all that I have learned: DHTML, CSS, JS, SVG, VML, XML, AJAX, Spry, MooTools and DOM. But I think I will wait until I get feedback from you, my loyal readers, about which subjects are most important. Also ask about browser redirection. Not all of these work in older browsers. (Add surfing you web site on a smart phone to the list of future discussion.)

July SYSTEMS

Posted by kbs

Another July deadline was completing the redesign of the SYSTEMarchitects.net website before the opening of the Home Delivery exhibit at MoMA on July 17th. This was an exciting challenge. Jeremy Edmiston is a talented architect, who does brilliant work and is the principle of SYSTEMarchitects LIc. Several factors fascinated me about this assignment. First, I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a major in architecture and worked for a number of architects in Minneapolis before I was sidetracked by the other muses. But my design foundation was most certainly laid back then. My professors used to say that architecture is the mother of all arts. Let’s just say that it is a “culture” I am familiar with and love. This was a wonderful opportunity to reacquaint myself while working with a visionary in the field.

Second, Jeremy had unique demands. He showed me some sites that he liked and told me he wanted his site to be “an experience.” This would be a test of my design methods. Generally, my approach to site design is Continue reading →

July Trek

Posted by kbs

In June I commented on my work with Margaret. Since then I have designed a book for Ellie McGrath at McWitty Press. The book, titled TREK, is a memoir about an American woman, married to a German, fleeing the Russians and Germans with her two children at the end of World War II. The publication date is set for October. I built the 264 page book with InDesign. Always enjoy working with Ellie and adding to my InDesign skillz.

The Future is Now

Posted by kbs

Yesterday WordPress made note of awaytogarden.com, saying “a beautifully designed new WordPress powered blog.”

This is fantastic. I had put blogs on Kurt’s and Jamie’s sites, but there I adapted their blog to the site design. Awaytogarden.com was to be only a blog. There are thousands of blog templates out there and Margaret’s friend Kit had short listed about forty of them, but I had my own idea about what functions best for reading that kind of information. So I adapted. (note to self: make blog entry listing my skill levels in various software. ie: HTML = expert. PHP = copy & paste)

Long Story Short: for WP to say “beautifully designed” is, well, personally thriLLING!!!