Month: February 2012

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Moving from Blogger to WordPress

I am working with long a long standing client at the moment to convert her website to be powered by the WordPress platform. Her current site is constructed of static HTML pages and a blogger powered blog but the conversion will put everything under one roof and give her much more control of not only her blog posts but the rest of her site  too.

Pros of using WordPress?

  • CMS: WordPress is a powerful content management system and gives you complete control  to update the content your website yourself instead of relying on your web designer.
  • Design: The design options in WordPress are limitless. There are plenty of free templates around but with some technical knowledge a completely custom look can be created and you are not limited to using an identical template across every page on your site
  • Pages: With a self hosted WordPress installation there is no limit to the number of pages you can have on your site, pages can be easily ordered, sorted into menus and even hidden.  The look and feel of pages can also be changed by apply a different template to the page.
  • SEO: Compared to blogger WordPress offers much better SEO ( search engine optimization) functionality. Using a plugin like ” All in one SEO”, enables each blog post to be given a search engine friendly title, description and set of keywords.  The same functionality can also be applied to pages
  • Users: You can set up administrator, editor, author and contributor accounts, which allow different users different levels of access to the site.

Cons of Using WordPress?

  • The main con of using WordPress, for a client, is the learning curve associated with the administrative dashboard. It is definitely  more complex than Blogger but we offer comprehensive training on posting, editing and uploading images/files etc.

Ready to move?

Do you have a static web site or blog that could benefit from power of the WordPress platform? We can make the transition as seamless as possible. Contact us today for a free evaluation of your site or blog/

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10 things you didn’t know about the Chicago Web Designer.

I recently had my personal blog, Creative in Chicago, reviewed in an anonymous  review process. The reviews were great but it did get me thinking as to how much I share about myself. In general I like to keep my personal life to myself and am not one to share what I had for lunch on Twitter or announce my exact location via Foursquare.

But in the essence of giving a little more of myself I thought I’d share with you today 10 things you never knew about the Chicago web designer!

  1. First off my name is not Chicago Web Designer, it is Zoe Feast. It is amazing how often it is mispronounced. I  recently received a phone call from someone asking to talk to Zoo Fest!
  2. I originally come from the UK but became a US citizen in 2009 . I have yet to lose my English accent despite living in the States for over 15 years.
  3. I am passionate about what I do and love the ying/yang aspect of my job; putting on my creative hat for the design part and swapping it out for a technical one when it comes to coding a project.  I sometimes dream about coding which is the geek in me surfacing.
  4. If that wasn’t geeky enough I have a degree in Physics and a Masters in Engineering.
  5. My favorite type of project is building brand imagery from the ground up. Everything from a logo, to establishing a color palette and typefaces then putting it all together in an engaging website. Fun!
  6. I moved to Chicago 18 months ago and live in the North suburbs. For the first 6 weeks of so I was completely reliant on my GPS  … Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, Lincolnshire, Highland park and the other North Shore suburbs are now my friends!
  7. I am most productive in the morning and dynamic weather such a thunderstorms or wild winds really help me focus my creativity. Weird right!
  8. I work on a PC not a MAC
  9. A friend help me come up with the name of my company ” Indigo Image” . We were eating curry at the time.
  10. I cook from scratch nearly every night. I have eaten horse, kangaroo and ostrich but never snails.