This is another political site that was done using WordPress.  Gary manages the campaign of the last political site I did.  The background employs very wide (1400 px) jpgs that have a fabric texture, and a little CSS3 for those of you that use a real browser like Firefox 3.5 or Safari (in case you missed it, that’s a jab at those of you who still use IE). The site should display right in IE (as old as 7), though without the pretty font we chose.

We managed to get the image size for the site (the stuff that loads for each page by default to 133K.  That’s pretty small considering.

I’m not affiliated with a political party, but it seems Republicans hire me.  What’s wrong Democrats?  I don’t bite.

Comments and feedback (constructive) appreciated.

Gary M. Collins

This site is yet another WordPress implementation making heavy use of template files and custom scripts per page.  WordPress seems ideally suited for political campaigns and political websites for it’s simplicity and ease of maintenance.  The idea with this site was to make it look professional and make use of social technologies which politicians are starting to realize are necessary and smart.

We made heavy use of CSS  in this design, as well as moderate JavaScript (which means, IE6 users need not apply).  We departed slightly from the original design I supplied, but I think we arrived at a decent compromise.  One of the goals was small image sizes, so PNG’s are used where they are needed, but 92% JPG’s are used for the big stuff.  The navigation bar at the top was intended to look inset, and to show the capitol building in the background through itself.  Thank the Internet gods for transparent PNG’s right?

Feel free to let me know what you think (good or bad).  Some of you are smarter than I am, and your (constructive) feedback is always appreciated.

Lawless for Maryland

I’ve decided to put up images I’ve made that people have decided not to use for whatever reason.  If you see something you like, you can either contact me to buy / modify it.  This one is a button that I like the look of, but didn’t fit the idea the client had for his site.  It’s a glassy button using a font that is made to resemble an eye.  If you can think of a purpose for it, let me know.

Button with an “E” in it

I believe the idea behind this site is to turn it into a place where people can tell their story while maintaining anonymity (or telling all, as the case may be).  The look was to be simple, classy and not flashy.  I basically laid it out with the idea of making the content area look like a piece of rounded glass suspended over a blue surface.  It turned out the way I expected.

As per the way business has gone lately, it’s a WordPress blog theme.  I love working with WordPress, and so do my clients.  They get up and running fast with an elegant looking design, and they can put whatever they want on it with a very shallow learning curve.  If you are paying someone for updates, you owe it to yourself to look into WordPress.

Local Stalker — A website dedicated to eradication of stalking

This was a fun project for a local friend.  The point was to poke fun at bad design and maybe make a few enemies in the process.  I think it worked.

The site was designed to be kitschy and obnoxious, which I think we accomplished, but it was also supposed to be simple.  No movement (that isn’t an ad) and no crazy plugins that do crazy things…  Just a site where you can go and get a laugh at the expense of others.  The header was made in the GIMP, which is one of my favorite image editors (I can hear other designers snickering).  In actuality, I really dig this site for looks.   The content is a matter of personal taste.  Several of the sites featured have been re-designed, so I guess it’s working…

The original theme is called Japan Style.  It was a decent theme, but I really only wanted the paper images from it.  The CSS is different as well as the header and behavior.

OMFG This Sucks!

This site is for a dog trainer in Pennsylvania.  He wanted a simple, yet elegant design that wouldn’t detract from his message.  He is an attorney, or was, so his site needed to reflect professionalism while at the same time have an air of the whimsical.  Did we get close?  You be the judge.

We started with a wood grain photo (from my old house) and faded it to a bright brown, then laid some graphics on it with a translucent content pane.  He is actually a very good writer, and he also does a lot of legal work with animals and animal related organizations.  He’s actually helping the state of PA write anti-abuse and anti puppy mill laws.

If you’re in PA, near Philadelphia, look him up.  He knows how to help you with your dog.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ Gentle Dog Training

This was a WordPress theme re-design that involved a new optimized background image (the old one was huge and less stylish), a company name image revamp and lots of style sheet work.  The product is pretty timely, and if you’re an investor, you should look at it.

We took a few backend items in this site and made them work together, so there is an underlying membership (continuity) component, as well as a payment gateway and newsletter function.  It has an auto-responder and a few other nifty gadgets, all on a simple, almost minimalist substrate.  The whole thing involved a great deal of education so that the client could manage the site himself.

I really like the look, and the client was pleased.

Smith Investment Management

I did this site for fun, but I still dig it.  I want to have more time to update it and put interesting things on it.  The purpose of this site is to chronicle my journey toward energy independence.  It happens to be pretty green.

I’m looking for guest bloggers on this one.  If you think green, and want a place to write, this is the place.

I wanted it to be green, and the logo is all original and ment to resemble a wind generator.  I did this in an afternoon but I must admit that I was inspired by another blog I saw. Sadly, I can’t remember which one.  When I remember, I’ll properly credit.  In the mean time, here it is.

Independent Struggle

This website basically fell in my lap.  I needed some tree work done, and they needed a website.  No, Mr. Tax Man, we didn’t barter.  We just worked for each other.

As an organization, they are one of the better tree services in my area, and they actually care about saving as many trees as possible.  As a result, they wanted a classy website that resembled wood and had a good deal of natural color. I got to play around with this design, so there was a lot of room for experimentation.  It’s always fun to put some of yourself in a client design.  Now if I can only talk them into a real logo…

The owner of the site is an amazing photographer, so as I teach her how to manage the image gallery on her site, we should see some great photographs.

Chesapeake Tree and Outside Service

I enjoy sites like this.  They’re a-traditional, mildly grungy, not dark, but not light and use completely non-standard colors.  I have to hand it to the client on this one.  She had a vision and made me realize it.  I love working with clients who know exactly what they want and wring it out of me in the shortest possible time.

This is a custom WordPress theme built from scratch.  I’ve used this theme before and changed the graphics and styles to suit the client.  I have not, however, done it with such a departure from the normal color schemes so prevalent on the web.  She wanted it to stand out and be different, and I’d have to say it meets those requirements.

Timeout Equine and Pet Sitting Service