My freshly redisigned website is now on-line at www.adlerwebdesign.ca. I decided to launch with a new Domain Name as my original Domain Name: ClaudiaAdler.com earned me back links from East-European sites with adult content which I did not particularly appreciate.

before and after

The Layout

The new site layout still is somewhat reminiscent of the previous one, less flowery, I preserved the original 2 columns and color scheme but changed the navigation from vertical-left to horizontal-right. I also added a JQuery content slider with recent work samples, an excerpt of the most recent blog entry and a short overview of the services I offer – to the home page.

In the footer section I have added links to social networking sites and contact information. The portfolio is now built with Jquery galleriffic rather than with a lightbox.

Dynamic vs static

Initially the recent blog entry section updated dynamically on my home page, but page loading time was scarily slow, especially for visitors with hand-held devices.

So far feedback has been positive, should you see some problems I would appreciate your input…

The recession forced many businesses and individuals to find smarter, more cost efficient solutions for their online and print marketing needs. And while bigger agencies suffered, Freelancers could offer similar services with a much more competitive price tag.

Key to Success

Key to success is however:

1. good positioning with mayor Search Engines – for visibility
2. a diverse portfolio of recent work samples
3. sufficient experience to back-up your offer

2009 Tendencies in web design

This year small to medium businesses seemed to focus their marketing efforts on a better website design but reducing costs by deploying in house resources for the coding or CMS Content Management Systems for the implementation.

While this approach worked for enterprises that had adequately evaluated their in house resources, it produced flawed results or no results for those who did not.

Quality control and planning really are key for a successful website

Resolutions for 2010

I liked the idea of “One Design A Day” as discussed in Smashing Magazine – a great idea to push creativity and develop resources for later use.

Last but not least: my new website is coming along nicely, I expect to launch shortly.

The newly redesigned Raymark website went live last week. My input to this project was the site design, as well as HTML and CSS templates. The content was implemented and adapted to an ASP based backend by Raymark’s inhouse development team.