Allen Construction & Cabinetry, Inc has a proven record of excellence in designing and managing several building and construction projects in central KY. We handle projects from Lexington to Louisville, to out of state projects we’ve got you covered. No matter the size of your project, the experienced professionals at Allen Construction & Cabinetry, Inc will plan, design, construct, and maintain your project.
2012 WordCamp Louisville
WordCamp Louisville kicked off this morning. This is my third year attending, and second year speaking. My talk today was an introduction to frameworks and child themes.
Slides from my talk WordPress Frameworks and Child Themes are available on SlideShare.net.
Jason Falls kicked off WordCamp Louisville this year with a great talk on social media and how to have a kick-ass blog. Jonathon Davis followed up with a great talk on eCommerce. Tammy Hart followed with a great talk about the foundation of plugins and themes. Deploying WordPress talk was presented by Jason McCreary and Nick Temple.
After lunch, Justin Jones schooled us on WordPress Security. We moved on to WordPress Responsive Design and Mobile with Hal Bugriss and Brian Maier Jr. Jason McCreary presented 21 ways to make WordPress faster. As the afternoon continued, Wesley Reitz spoke about the state of HTML 5.
WordCamp Columbus
I had a wonderful time at WordCamp Columbus and enjoyed meeting new people. This event marked the second time I have presented at WordCamps, this time covering “How to Add Content to your WordPress website”. Slides can be found on slideshare.net/creativeBill.
forGlenda.com
for Glenda, with love, is a site created and designed by a close friend Addie Caulk. Rice Design had the honor to technically consult on this project.
Glenda has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The site was created to help centralize all of the updates about her health (read that, progress!) for family and friends, and to provide a medium to offer support and encouragement.
For updates or to make a donation, visit forGlenda.com
WordCamp Columbus
Bill Rice of Rice Design was selected to be a speaker at WordCamp Columbus on July 14-15. He will speaking on “How To Add Content to your WordPress site” on Saturday, in the beginner track. After the 35 – 40 minute presentation, there will be time for question and answers.
Previously, Bill presented “WordPress for Beginners; an overview and best practices” at WordCamp Louisville in 2011. If you have not been to a WordCamp, I highly recommend you attend one. For a full list of WordCamps in your area, please check out WordCamp Central
Tilman’s Hardwood Logo Design
Tilman’s Hardwood Flooring, located in Lexington, KY, is a full-service flooring company offering installation services and floor coverings. Their experienced contractors provide comprehensive flooring work for commercial, industrial, and residential clients. They also refinish hardwood floors.
If you need new hardwood floors, or your current floors refinished, give them a call at 859-492-0478 or visit their website at tilmanshardwoodflooring.com/
Kentucky Shooters Project
This is a new onlione community RiceDesign building. Currently, the site has launched with local and regional schedules, as well as information on local range and training facilities. We have USPSA competitive shooters on staff, and noticed the absence of a single site to get all the match dates, directions to local ranges, where to get training, see local classifieds etc.
So we decided to be the solution. In addition to a logo design and website, we are joining forces with a few other shooters to form a new sponsored shooting team. We are starting with (5) shooters but will grow over the next few years. It is nice to be able use your professional skill in conjunction with your other passions.
Check out the new site kyshooters.com
Georgetown Nazarene
Rice Design has created a new identity for the Georgetown Church of the Nazarene. The new logo design was immediately implemented in weekly bulletins, interior and exterior signage and other promotional items.
Review of Popular Web Font Embedding Services
By Andrew Follett
October 20th, 2010
Smashing Magazine
In the mid-80s the desktop publishing revolution began with the introduction of the Mac Plus, Aldus PageMaker and the Apple LaserWriter printer. It took quite a few years for these tools to make an impact on the design and publishing world, but once they did, there was no looking back.
In 2010 we see a similar revolution starting to take shape with web fonts. Even though @font-face was introduced in the CSS2 spec in 1998, it wasn’t until this past year that all in-use web browsers added support for it. This year we’re seeing a wave of web font services being marketed, and this could have a profound impact on web typography.
Web font services, like Typekit and now the Google Font API, have captured a lot of attention. But in the past 3 months there’s been an explosion of new services; services like Fonts Live, Fontdeck, Webtype and others with conjugated names involving “Font” or “Type”.
While all of these services are unique, they each provide a tool for web designers and developers to legally display professional fonts on their website. The guide below compares 10 of these services, breaking down the pros and cons of each. We hope this comparison will help you make a more informed decision on which service to use when you venture into the ever-growing, sometimes confusing, world of web fonts.
WordCamp Birmingham
This past weekend I attended my first WordCamp in Birmingham, Alabama. I made the 6 hour trip from Lexington to Birmingham with my friend Bill Powell of Inbox Orange to experience the developer track. Bill also shares my passion for social media and WordPress. It was a great experience filled with new found knowledge, friends and a new perspective on WordPress. I made the most of this WordCamp by taking a great deal of notes, asking questions and seeking the advice of more seasoned WordPress professionals. There were many there who had what we’d consider “Rockstar” status, but without the rockstar attitude. Everyone was very cool and willing to answer question, share stories and were very approachable.
There were many great presentations, but there were a few that helped me the most. Syed Balkhi from WP Beginner presented How to Speed up WordPress and Boost Site Performance, covering the importance of optimization of plugins, consolidation of javascripts to reduce server calls and content delivery networks. You can view his presentation on slide share. Although only 19 years old, he carries himself with confidence and knowledge of someone twice his age. He is also very polite, we had to reprimand him constantly for calling us “sir”.
Sara Cannon from Scout Branding Company gave a light-hearted but technically solid presentation on Advanced Web Typography. It’s rare to have a presenter make you laugh and have an “ah ha” moment at the same time.
Last but not least, some WordPress contributors that left a lasting impression were Andrew Nacin (@nacin) and Otto Wood (@Otto42). Their passion for WordPress was evident and were a blast to hang out with at the after party. Here is a photo prior to the start of WordCamp.
The Web Design Community Offers Advice To Beginners
Here is a great article on what it takes to be a web designer, and insights into the career / lifestyle aspect. This should be required reading to anyone who is looking to get into the business.
Many of the principals discussed can transcend into other careers, such as taking criticism constructively, learning patience, being a helpful member of your business community, and believing in yourself. That is great advice not matter how you earn a living.
Balance is also important to avoid burn out. Take time for yourself, and time to spend with friends and family and enjoying life away from the computer. You don’t have to check into every location on foursquare, or update your status every time you leave the office. Unplug and refresh. In my experience, I feel more focused when I don’t burn the candle at both ends.
The most important principal covered in my opinion is to never stop learning. Think you know it all… wait until you don’t get the account after your next new business pitch. We need to say focused, stay hungry and stay informed. If you are not on top of your game, someone else is – and they are one lunch meeting away from taking your account. The best solution is education. Never stop learning.
Free Full Layered Facebook GUI PSD Kit
Smashing Magazine‘s recent post released a free Facebook GUI PSD Kit. It was designed by SurgeWorks and released for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The main idea behind the kit is to speed up the prototyping of Facebook application UIs and Facebook fan pages, thus sparing you from drawing all the comps and letting you customize all the texts, buttons and data as you need. As usual, the kit is free to use in all projects, without any restrictions.
