E.Webscapes Blog Design Studio » Wordpress Resources

E.Webscapes is hiring

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:27:34 +0000

We’ve been in the business of creating custom designed web sites since 2002 (ish) and we are looking to expand our team by one (possibly two) remote, part-time designer/developers. If you are interested in building custom web sites and making a decent income from doing so – this opportunity may be of great interest to you! Our projects will challenge you and if you’re up for it – then we’re up for talking with you!

Here’s the down and dirty:
Minimum Requirements:

Documented experience in graphic design and web development
Experience with WordPress is a must (Expression Engine, Movable Type, Typepad skills are nice, too, if you have ‘em)
HTML/CSS knowledge is a must
Good communication skills.
Excellent time management. Ability to work on a deadline
While the number one qualification for this opening is a strong sense of design (aesthetics) along with strong web skills, we’re also looking for individuals with great critical thinking skills, a good work ethic and customer service skills.
We run shop like a consultancy, which means you need to know your stuff- and their stuff (whoever they may be).
Do you have references from folks you’ve worked with in the past on web projects?? I’d LOVE to hear ‘em!
Maybe an online portfolio of work or client sites you can point me to so I can see your work in action? (screenshots are nice, but I like to dig a bit more beyond the pretty, ya know)

Types of Projects we’re doing lately:

WordPress web sites, mainly (some with and some without a blog) for small and large business, multisite networks, social communities and lots of social media integration.
WordPress with E-Commerce (Cart66, Shopp or WP E-Commerce experience greatly appreciated!)
WordPress MultiSite (and BuddyPress)
Membership sites with WordPress
(…do you get a feeling that we do a LOT of WordPress sites??? we do!)

Work Environment

Your home because this is remote work – how cool is THAT?
In your pajamas, if you like
This is part time work

We’re looking for someone who

Thinks design is about solving problems, not making them
Likes to have a lot of fun tinkering around inside the guts of a blog
Gets more kicks out of removing elements from a page than adding them
Wants to learn, push themselves, and make the web a better place to be!
Wouldn’t mind making a few extra $$’s doing something they love! How much, you say? Well, why not apply and find out (hint: we ain’t talking about coffee money here!)

If you’re interested – you can apply using this form only (any other method of application will most likely get overlooked – - so don’t try to DM on Twitter or send a message on Facebook — please use this form only.)

I give each application consideration – but please do be patient as I go through all of the applications received. I will read them all and will be contacting you within the next week, or two. Thank you!

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Post tags: designer, employment, hiring, job, posting, Wordpress

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Free BuddyPress Webinar from Lisa Sabin-Wilson

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:57:08 +0000

Earlier this month, I put through a special announcement to our newsletter subscribers about my upcoming webinar on BuddyPress on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CDT. It’s a FREE webinar designed to introduce you to the fabulous suite of plugins available, called BuddyPress, to WordPress users that will turn your web site into a fully functional social community (ala’ Facebook).

If you’re not a subscriber to our Buzz! newsletter – why not sign up today? Make sure you get the valuable announcements like free webinars, book releases, specials, news and other valuable offerings that I make available here (and elsewhere!) – click here to sign up for the EWebscapes Buzz Newsletter – - and as a free bonus, when you sign up – you will also receive 2 weeks of free WordPress tips written by me, for you, absolutely free!

At the beginning of this month, my newsletter subscribers heard about my free webinar planned fro June 23, 2010 – hosted by my good friends over at WebDesign.com. Cory Miller (WebDesign.com) and I plan to use this webinar to introduce you to the BuddyPress platform and showing you how you can use this suite of plugins and tools to turn your WordPress powered web site into a great and dynamic social community. You’ll learn how different sites are using BuddyPress to create, build and strengthen their existing communities and how you can use it as a tool to step away (a little bit) from standard social networks to own your own content, community and traffic – right on your own website!

Click here to sign up for my FREE BuddyPress Webinar on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CDT- – and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so that you will get the early announcements – delivered directly to your e-mail inbox!

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Post tags: BuddyPress, community, Cory Miller, network, newsletter, Social Media, webdesign.com, webinar

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iThemes Builder Bootcamp and some WordPress plugins you can’t miss!

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:00:46 +0000

This is re-posted from my personal blog. This month has been just a crazy month of travel for me. One of the really nice results of publishing several books over the past 3 years is that I do get asked to speak a lot at different types of industry events from WordCamps to social media and internet marketing events. I really love to do it, as I really enjoy connecting with people who read my books, and who are interested in the same things I am. This past month, I was in Austin, Texas; Vancouver, British Columbia, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and San Francisco, California. I enjoy, and am grateful, for the opportunities to connect with people from all over who are passionate about publishing, marketing, WordPress and social media.

I haven’t blogged a lot about my travel experiences – and I do intend to. It’s been a crazy month, so hence the lack of posts here. However, I do want to tell you about my experience in Oklahoma with the crew from iThemes, including some of the exciting stuff that they have going on over there, and why you should pay attention. The folks from iThemes are putting out some amazing products that I want to bring to your attention here. Aside from their iThemes offerings of premium WordPress themes, they started up their PluginBuddy site a few months ago and made available some killer plugins that you should be using – - some of them are free, some of them are not, but all around, they are invaluable and fill a big void, as far as I’m concerned:

Backup Buddy – I downloaded this particular plugin on the very day they released it and love it! Now, I recommend it to everyone I know because I’ve found it to be an invaluable tool for the work I do. It’s called Backup Buddy and it gives you the ability to fully backup your WordPress blog easily. This isn’t like exporting your posts and content via the WordPress exporter – - this plugin backs up EVERYTHING – - your content, themes, plugins, settings, options – everything! It also has a built in importer option that gives you the ability to import backups to restore your WordPress powered site in a flash. From a developer and designer standpoint, this has made my life SO much easier. I often create ‘sandbox’ or ‘test bed’ development sites while working on my client projects. With Backup Buddy – I can now get my sandbox development site set up just right with the necessary themes, plugins and options settings – - then I create a backup copy of it using BackUp Buddy .. and then import it into a new installation of WordPress (using the Backup Buddy import script) and I’m done. I don’t have to sit there and activate themes, plugins and then go through and set the plugin options and theme settings all over again, because the plugin takes care of all of that for me. It also has an option to schedule regular backups of your site, automatically. A description from their own web site:

BackupBuddy is an all-in-one solution for backups, restoration, and migration. The single backup file created by the plugin can be used with the importer script to quickly and easily restore your site on the same server or even migrate to a new host with different settings. Whether you’re an end user or a developer, this plugin is sure to bring you peace of mind and added safety in the event of data loss. Our goal is to keep the backup, restoration, and migration processes easy, fast, and reliable.

Pluginbuddy Mobile – This fantastic plugin creates a really nice iPhone version of your site for mobile browsers. It has a built-in style manager that gives you the ability to create and customize a mobile version of your site that displays beautifully in several different mobile browser systems, such as : Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, Android Device, Palm Device, Blackberry Device, Windows CE Device, Mobile IE, Sony Playstation Portable, Sony Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. Whew!

The team at Pluginbuddy, headed up by developer Dustin Bolton, have really worked hard on this one. It’s a really simple and easy way to make sure your web site renders well on mobile devices – I’m working with it currently on several client sites and it’s easy to use and an excellent mobile browsing plugin solution for WordPress.

iThemes Pluginbuddy has a few other plugins that you may also be interested in checking out:

So, speaking of the iThemes team – I had a really great time at their Builder Bootcamp weekend in Oklahoma and want to send out a big thanks to Cory Miller, Jen Miller and the rest of the iThemes team for inviting me down to their event. There were roughly 70-75 people in attendence, all of them passionate WordPress users, and all of them part of the iThemes community. Many were from the Oklahoma City general area – but there were a handful that flew in hundreds of miles away to spend the weekend with the iThemes crew to learn more about WordPress and how they can use the iThemes offerings to build their web sites with WordPress. Great stuff!

I had the opportunity to share experiences with the iThemes community in Oklahoma City in April, 2010

To kick off the event, I spoke on my own experiences with WordPress, spoke a little about opportunities that WordPress offers its users and spoke a little about BuddyPress. This was a crowd that was really engaged, passionate and curious about how they can leverage the publishing power of WordPress. Lots of great questions and feedback and I had a super time.

While there, iThemes did some give-aways of my BuddyPress For Dummies book to the people who attended Builder Bootcamp. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the attendees brought their copy of WordPress For Dummies for me to sign for them – that was a bonus! Many of them even made the trek across the street to the local Barnes and Nobel to purchase a copy of WordPress For Dummies so I could sign it – - that was fun! I ended up signing about 50 books that weekend – - so I had the chance to brush up on my autographing skills!

The rest of the weekend saw iThemes team members like Matt Danner, Chris Jean, Cory Miller and Benjamin Bradley (of the iThemes WebDesign.com division) speaking on various topics such as design, plugins, marketing and promotions – along with a really helpful Q&A session with their community at the end.

I learned about their Builder theme, which is a WordPress theme framework that enables you to create several different types of layouts with just one theme. Chris Jean is the brains and developer behind the Builder framework and they’ve built a really cool community of users who are using the Builder framework to create dynamic WordPress sites. Check it out if you have some time – it might just fit into what you’re trying to do with WordPress, with 9 different child themes to choose from (and more coming), a built in style manager and a dedicated SEO plugin – - and the support team at iThemes is second to none – - this is really a super group of folks.

I also enjoyed the opportunity to meet members of the iThemes community, like Lynn Dye (pictured with me on the left) — who, by the way, expressed an interest in interviewing me for her own blog while I was in Oklahoma – - she published her experiences at Builder Bootcamp, as well as the interview she did with me on her blog.

I had the chance to sit and talk one-on-one with iThemes founder, Cory Miller, about what they’ve been up to and what the future holds for the iThemes brand – it was an enjoyable and enlightening weekend and very much worth the time spent in Oklahoma City. Cory, and his wife Jen, are super nice people – aside from being wholly impressed with what they’ve built…I just flat out like them. I’m looking forward to seeing them again at WordCamp Raleigh and talking with them more about some exciting future collaborations.

Some upcoming events that I’ll be attending in the next month:

WordCamp Raleigh – May 21-23
WordCamp Chicago – June 5-6

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Post tags: backup buddy, builder, mobile, pluginbuddy, plugins, Themes, Wordpress

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WordCamp Chicago ’09

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:39:17 +0000

I’m excited to be able to forward the announcement of WordCamp Chicago – 2009 coming to the Chicagoland area soon! I am co-organizing the event with my friends, Brian Gardner (of Revolution Theme), Cory Miller (of iThemes) and Wendy Piersall of Sparkplugging.com…

If you don’t already know what a WordCamp is – here is the description from the official WordCamp site:

WordCamp is a conference type of event that focuses squarely on everything WordPress. Everyone from casual end users all the way up to core developers show up to these events. These events are usually highlighted by speeches or keynotes by various people.

WordCamps appear all over the world and bring together passionate WordPress lovers from all over. From San Fransisco to Bangkok and the Philippines to the UK – they are just popping up all over the place!

WordCamps are (obviously) geared toward WordPress users and the aim is to provide a low cost event with high educational and information benefits. For WordCamp Chicago we are currently organizing some excellent speakers of authority on WordPress and expect a pretty high turn out that represents all levels of experience with the WordPress platform, from novice level to advanced/guru level – and all points in between!

I’m very excited to be co-organizing this event with such a talented pool of people and am really looking forward to meeting everyone who attends! I’m also expecting there to be some fun WordPress For Dummies goodies there, as well. We are still in the very preliminary planning stages, and as soon as we get an idea as to the numbers of people interested in attending, we’ll be announcing the date, time and location of the event. That announcement is coming very soon so just hang tight!

Would you be interested in attending a WordCamp in Chicago? We are currently trying to get a feel for how many attendees we should expect – so if you are interested – check out the WordCamp Chicago post here, and leave your comment : Want to attend WordCamp-Chicago? Let us know!

I really hope to see you there!

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Post tags: Brian Gardner, Cory Miller, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Wendy Piersall, WordCamp, WordCamp Chicago, Wordpress

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WordPress For Dummies, Second Edition

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:15:26 +0000

The folks over at WordPress have been crazy busy, haven’t they? In the very short time since I published my first book, WordPress For Dummies, in November 2007, we have seen some fantastic changes in the WordPress platform. With the release of WordPress 2.5 in March and most recently the release of WordPress 2.6 just a few short days ago – things have changed a LOT…and for the better. . .

When Wiley Publishing and I released the first edition of WordPress For Dummies last November, it was current through WordPress version 2.3. Shortly after WordPress released 2.5, the editing team at Wiley, and I, realized the need to publish a second edition of the book to cover the most recent, latest and greatest changes!

I am currently in the process of finishing up WordPress For Dummies, Second Edition and it will be available for purchase this Fall and will cover WordPress through version 2.6, definitely… however, if WordPress keeps on the same roll they are currently on with their development, it will probably cover through version 2.7.

For readers of my book who purchased the first edition of the book, I did publish a free bonus chapter that covers all the great updates that you find in your current version of WordPress. You can download the WordPress For Dummies Free Bonus Chapter here.

The sales on the first edition turned about to be amazing! That is a solid testament to the great platform that the folks at WordPress have put out there for the world to publish with. I’m always so thrilled to hear from readers of my book and know that it has helped them discover the WordPress platform and assisted them on their way to publishing their great content with the program.

You can read a few related posts and announcements that I made on my personal blog regarding the book:

And a few interviews and presentations I’ve recently done about the book and the work I do with the WordPress platform:

I’m really excited about the Second Edition. You can expect updates to the original book to cover all the latest changes to the WordPress program since the book was first released. As a great bonus – and due to some fantastic reader feedback, Wiley Publishing and I have decided to include a great deal MORE information on WordPress theme development, design and CSS information. The first edition did have two chapters devoted to themes, template tags and creating a basic WordPress theme. This second edition, however, goes far more in-depth … taking you further into the process of designing a WordPress theme using the currently available template tags, CSS and some great tips and tricks you may not already know about. I can’t wait!

I’ll be done writing the book this summer – then after a quick run-through the editing mill at Wiley Publishing, it will be ready for purchase at your local bookstores, or online at Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. Thanks so much for reading and keep the feedback coming!!

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Post tags: For Dummies, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Wiley Publishing, Wordpress, Wordpress for Dummies

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Blog Design: WPAssist

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 02:03:29 +0000

WPAssist.Com is a comprehensive WordPress resource site and companion site to the newly released book: WordPress For Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. Yes, I designed this site myself and wanted to include it here on my Design Blog to bring attention to this new WordPress resource, news and information site. . .

The site was designed with a static front page that serves as a portal of information contained within the site, itself. Seperated into several different sections highlighting the different aspects of WordPress:

WordPress.Com
WordPress.Org
WordPress MU
WordPress Plugins
WordPress Themes
WordPress News

WordPress is a pretty fast-moving platform. The development of the WordPress.Org software is on a 120-day release schedule, at the moment. What does that mean for its user base? It means upgrading your WordPress software on a semi-regular basis. The WordPress folks are really focused on providing the best blogging platform on the web and with that comes some dynamic development as we continually see improvements to the code base, as well as great new toys for us to play with to improve our blogs for ourselves, and for our readers.

For instance – in looking at the three different flavors of WordPress covered in my WordPress For Dummies book, here are some of the most recent developments:

The WordPress.Org software was updated on 9/25/07 with the newest version, 2.3. This version IS covered in the WordPress For Dummies book and this new version brings with it some great new features like integrated tagging and software and plugin update notifications (to let YOU know when a new release has been put out. (Additionally, an update to 2.3, version 2.3.1, was released on 10/26 to address some bugs and security issues in the initial 2.3 version).
The WordPress MU software was updated on 10/30/07, bringing us version 1.3, and brought with it some of the great development we’ve already seen in WordPress.Org, like the tagging feature.
And exciting news like how the fine folks at Automattic (the people behind WordPress.Com) recently acquired the Gravatar system and have integrated that into WordPress.com blogs – - as well as there being several releases of new Gravatar plugins for the WordPress.Org and WordPress MU platforms, as well.

So, you see – - things move fast with WordPress! It’s part of what makes it such an exciting platform to work with, and community to be involved in.

To address the latest WordPress news surrounding all three flavors of WordPress, as well as information on WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes and all around WordPress news, resources and tutorials – - I’ve launched the companion site for the WordPress For Dummies book at WPAssist.Com

WPAssist.Com is newly launched and we still have some buggy things to work through – but for all intents and purposes, it is up and live and already bringing you news, updates and resources about our FAVORITE topic… WordPress, of course!

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Post tags: E.Webscapes, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Wordpress, Wordpress for Dummies, WordPress MU, wordpress plugins, Wordpress Themes, Wordpress.Com, WordPress.Org

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Updates and Other Fun Stuff!

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:52:47 +0000

Wishing everyone a happy summer – are you able to get out and enjoy the great weather? Here in Wisconsin, I welcome the 80 degree weather after a long winter! Lots has been going on around here that I wanted to give you a few updates about – it’s been a pretty exciting year, so far! Let’s see….
I am very happy to announce the arrival of two new, very talented designers to the E.Webscapes team this month!

Joni Ang – Joni hails from the Philippines and proves that learning on your own is never impossible. The totality of her experience within the Internet arena started with learning HTML and Web Design as just a hobby a few years back. Today, Joni fulfills the role of a full-time Search Engine Marketing Specialist which has exposed her to various matters in the worldwide web. On the side, Joni has also come a long way in cultivating her CSS and design skills to create WordPress themes to share to the world. You can find Joni’s personal blog at Tainted Song
We Latoga – We also hails from the Philippines. This wasn’t planned, brining on two designers from the Philippines – it just happened that way! We blogs about Playstation Portable and design on his personal blog. He is experienced with WordPress and other blogging/CMS applications, with a wealth of knowledge and experience in design and CSS. We is happy to join the E.Webscapes team of designers to expand his experience and provide beautiful design to our clients.
You can find We’s personal blog at Stylemo

As the demand for our services continues to grow, so does our need to expand our staff to make sure we’re able to provide our clients with enough ‘man power’ to make it all happen (that is, until we figure out a way to create the 48 hour day!)

In other news, my WordPress for Dummies is getting closer and closer to it’s publish date, and I’m very excited about that! The book covers all the essential information needed for beginners – and maybe a few gems of information for those who aren’t beginners, but need a boost in their overall WordPress knowledge. What’s exciting about this book is that it covers the three different ‘flavors’ of WordPress:

The hosted version of WordPress available at WordPress.Com
The single-user, self-hosted, version of the WordPress software available for download at WordPress.Org
The multiple-user, self-hosted version of WordPress called WordPress MU

It was quite a large project and I had a LOT of fun writing it and can’t wait until it’s finally released in September of ’07! I do keep my Amazon page updated with some good WordPress information pretty regularly here on my AmazonConnect Blog.

I recently participated in two interviews that you may find interesting:

VOISD Webmaster Blog contacted me for an interview a few months back, and Mike has finally published the results. We talk about my book, WordPress for Dummies, my design company here at E.Webscapes and whether or not I think the freelance design market is over-saturated since the ‘blog boom’ (actually, since the WordPress boom has seen more and more WordPress designers pop out of the woodwork.). It was a fun interview to do, and I thank Mike from the VOISD Webmaster Blog for his interest!
SRD Radio contacted me to do an interview on his weekly podcast/internet-radio show. In the interview, we talk about my experiences with blogging, design and web hosting – as well as some insight and information into the process of writing WordPress for Dummies. Dave is a good friend and active client of E.Webscapes and Blogs About Hosting, and has been for many years – so it was really great to sit down and chat with him on his show!

And my final bit of news is about a competition within the WordPress community called the “Sandbox Design Competition” put on by Scott Allen Wallick and Andy Skelton. It is a competition for WordPress theme designers everywhere to show off their mad skills in the area of design and CSS using the beautiful and semantic Sandbox theme.

The competition started June 1, 2007 and runs through July 29, 2007 – the judges will select a winner by August 5, 2007. A quick rundown of helpful links for those of you itching to participate:

How do I submit my entry to the Sandbox Design Competition? – when you’re done reading that.. have a look at the official rules and submission agreement
As with everything, there are rules to abide by – - read the rules right here
Designs will be judged on specific set of criteria like valid CSS, valid XHTML, cross-browser compatibility, use of color and typography, originality.. well – - just go read the criteria, would ya? Why should I re-invent the wheel here??
The list of judges is now up – what a great panel of judges they have lined up!
I also do not see a listing of participants … YET. That list will fill up just as soon as the competition begins with some great submissions

Well, what do you think? Think you’ll participate?

As of the time of this writing – the TOP prize is $650, the second place winner gets $425 and the third place winner gets $275.. and the first three runner-ups get $50 each. I say ..at the time of this writing.. because those prize amounts are subject to change, depending on the amount of sponsorships they receive for the competition.

Which brings me to why I will not be participating in either the design submission or the judging of the competition – in the name of my new book that will be released in Sept. 2007, I made the very easy decision to support the project with great hope that we will see some amazing themes as a result! WordPress for Dummies is very proud to be a sponsor of the Sandbox Design Competition.

Sponsors cannot participate, you see – - we can only… sponsor. I can only sit and watch from the sideline.

Really, sponsoring this project is actually the way I’d like to go because its projects like this one that really showcase the different talent that’s out there – and it contributes to the WordPress community in a huge way. Of course, it’s no secret that I have a silly soft spot in my heart for WordPress themers – so sponsoring this event was an easy decision for me.

I’m in good sponsorship company, too – Matt Mullenweg has also sponsored this competition, as well.

Something else about the Sandbox Design Competition that is very exciting is that our own Becca Wei is serving as a judge for the competition. Many of you know Becca for her great WordPress themes that she has released to the WordPress community in the past, and of course through her work here at E.Webscapes. I think she is a fabulous choice for a judge in this competition!

I just want to give a huge shout out to Scott and Andy for taking this kind of project on – - its no small undertaking! BEST of luck to those two guys (better you than me..heh!).

Also, another extra thanks to Scott, himself – his theme, BLOG.TXT, is featured in the WordPress for Dummies book and he gave generously of his time and talents while I wrote that part of the book and allowed me to bug him for an interview that he provided some very in depth information and insight for. Thanks a million, Scott!

So…. what do you think? Think you’d like to participate in the competition and lay all your design talents out on the table for the whole world to oggle at? OF COURSE you will – - head on over to the Sandbox Design Competition right now and brush up on all the details – - I can’t WAIT to see what you do!

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Post tags: Matt Mullenweg, Sandbox, Sandbox Design Competition, Wordpress, Wordpress for Dummies, Wordpress.Com, WordPressMU

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WordPress for Dummies – PreSale Information

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:01:16 +0000

As I promised previously on this blog, I finally have pre-sale information for the WordPress for Dummies book that I am currently writing for Wiley Publishing! Publishing day is still a few months off – however, the project is nearing completion and I am now beginning to actually see light at the end of the tunnel!…

Wow! There it is, my name in lights… well, not lights – but Amazon.Com is close enough. That’s a little bit awesome for this sometimes-shy, usually pretty private gal! ThatIsSoCool!

According to Amazon – the book will not be available until September 24, 2007 – but you can pre-order it now – or add it to your Wish List for later.

I will continue to keep you updated as things progress and change – I cannot BELIEVE how much time flies!

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Post tags: Dummies, For Dummies, Lisa Sabin Wilson, Wiley Publishing, Wordpress, Wordpress for Dummies

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Ushering in Springtime

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:53:13 +0000

I don’t know about where you live . . but here in Wisconsin, it is getting warmer and warmer by the day! I’m loving it. After a long, cold winter – it’s really nice to be able to open up all the windows and let the fresh air come rushing in! There have been some exciting new developments here at E.Webscapes I want to tell you about. I realize I haven’t updated in quite some time, and that is due, mostly, to the WordPress for Dummies book I am currently writing for Wiley Publishing..

I wanted to update you and let you know that I have exactly EIGHT more chapters to write before I am completely finished with the project! That is so exciting for me – this project has been a really big undertaking as it is extremely important for me to make sure I’m giving 110% to a community and software project that has helped me grow my own business in so many wonderful ways. The book is scheduled for release in July 2007. The thought of me being on sale at Amazon.com, BarnesAndNobels.com and all your local bookstores around the country is just a little bit intimidating – but very cool, at the same time! I also received good news that my friend, and colleague, Paul Chaney, has been assigned as the Technical Editor of this book and he is already hard at work double and triple checking facts that I’ve already double and quadruple checked! I’m glad to have someone like Paul on board, with his experience and knowledge – it’s good to know someone with his talents has my back! Many years ago, Paul started encouraging me to write a book and believed in my abilities long before I did – so, I’ll definitely have to buy him a drink the next time we meet up.

I do want to thank everyone for their patience over the last several weeks. I’ve been juggling many, many things in order to keep things in order around here. The first thing I want to tell you is about the new Asst. Project Manager position. On January 30 of this year, I updated this blog about the new position and announced the arrival of Chelle Killea to our group. About 3-4 weeks into the position, Chelle’s family received some sudden and unexpected news that caused her to rearrange her priorities in life. It was nothing either one of us could have expected – while I was very sad to see her go, we both made the mutual agreement that this was just not the right time for her to keep the position. Understandably, from my end, this caused a bit of chaos around the office because even though she was with us a very short amount of time – the Asst. Project Manager position has fast become a very vital position here.

I am happy to announce that I’ve re-filled the position and would like to introduce you to Lindsey Hardegree, here is her bio from our About Us and Our Blog Designers page:

Lindsey Hardegree – Asst. Project Manager
Lindsey’s Blog

Lindsey has been blogging since February 2005 and has been working with E. Webscapes almost as long! Though she may not have the amazing technical prowess of the talented designers, she does have the heart and passion for Internet communication that make her a welcome addition to the E. Webscapes family.

In real life she spends her time reading, drinking coffee, and working on theatrical productions. Her stage management skills help her to keep things organized and the ball rolling behind the scenes!

I am VERY happy and excited to welcome Lindsey to the team! She is already two weeks into the position and is quickly becoming an indispensable member of the E.Webscapes team. Many of you will get to know her quickly as her duties include many administrative tasks including the processing of new orders, answering inquiries and questions that come through via email on our Contact Page and anything else I can drum up to keep her busy!

Which leads me to the next item: our E.Webscapes Client Desk. Our Client Desk may very well replace the email contact form in the near future, however at this time, it currently serves as a client/designer project management space. All new requests for projects and bids automatically create a project ticket in the Client Desk and the process begins with Lindsey reviewing your request and working with you on some of the initial aspects of your design request. From there, the project will be assigned to one of our designers and our client will continue to utilize the Client Desk throughout all phases of the project. Clients are assigned an individual project ticket number where they can view the details of each phase of the project and will also receive email notifications each time their designer, or a member of our staff, updates their project with new information. It’s pretty nifty, no?

As you can see, we are working really hard behind the scenes around here to tighten up our process, with a BIG emphasis on organization and time/project management.

Finally, and this is something many of you have been waiting a long time for – and I want to say, first, that I really super appreciate your patience – we’ve re-opened the order form to begin taking on your new projects. The form, itself, is in pretty basic shape right now – - I wanted to get the form up as soon as possible before you all started to form a mob on my front lawn! Heh. I will be changing the form to a more user-friendly format, using AJAX technology – but for now, it is open and functional and asks all the questions we need to know to begin processing your new requests.

Upcoming… we have about 8-10 new client site launches coming up within the next week, or so. They are design projects we’ve all been working on over the past month, or two – and they are all finally nearing launch time… all at once! Isn’t that always the way?

Am I looking to hire another designer..or two? Hmmmm…maybe – I’m tossing around the idea and letting it rattle around in my brain for a while.

Again, the WordPress for Dummies book is nearing completion (yay!) and just as soon as I have pre-ordering and purchasing information, I will make an update here on this site and let you know. Thank you to everyone who has emailed in words of support and encouragement – - every single one means a lot.

Update: Finally got the order form re-configured and up. What’s cool about it is that our clients are now able to upload images with their design requests.. so if you have a logo or image you’d like used in the design, you can upload it with your order form and it will be included as an attachement to the project ticket that gets opened in our Client Desk. Yep – we’re all about efficiency lately! Or at least we’re gonna die trying….

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Post tags: Blog Design, CSS and Design, E.Webscapes, Project Management, Wordpress for Dummies

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Odds N’ Ends

Lisa Sabin-Wilson — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 01:53:04 +0000

One of the more exciting aspects of this past week was the much anticipated release of the newest version of WordPress – version 2.1 – Ella, named after jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. Before being quick to hop on the upgrade bandwagon, take a moment to arm yourself with the latest information on what’s new, what’s changed and the ultimate question from my clients . .

Will my plugins work with 2.1?

A recommendation – wait until version 2.1.1 is released that fixes all the bugs reported from thousands of brave 2.1 users who upgraded right away. I do that with any piece of software that I depend on, on a regular basis, in my day to day life – - it’s never a bad thing to be cautious. That being said, I did upgrade my personal blog to 2.1 without any real major issues. I have attempted to upgrade this site (by making a copy of this site onto a subdomain for testing) and found that a few plugins that I depend on aren’t quite yet comptatible with 2.1 – so I shall wait until the plugin developer has a change to upgrade the plugin, or until I can find some time to diddle.

Speaking of time – there just isn’t enough of it in a day, is there? My waiting list continues and to answer any burning questions for you, I will be processing Januarys orders and requests after Feb 1. Why then? Feb. 1 is the first deadline I need to meet for my editor at Wiley Publishing for the “WordPress for Dummies” book I’m currently writing. As soon as I pass that deadline, I will be able to take on a few more projects that you have been patiently waiting for.

I also have quite a few active client projects I’m working on – - quite a few that I will be launching over the next week, so keep your eyes peeled here for those new site launches. I’ve had some real fun with these projects – - I got ahold of some real spicy ones this time around!

A small, but exciting bit of business news – - last week E.Webscapes turned into an LLC (Limited Liability Company) and, at least on paper, is now officially ‘E.Webscapes Design Studio, LLC’.

I am also in the process of interviewing/hiring an assistant to help me here with some of the more administrative tasks that also take up a lot of time. I have a few folks I’m talking to and have under consideration at this time, so I’m not accepting applicants currently. If that changes – I will surely post the job opening with details right here on this blog.

Finally, I wanted to post some information about image use – as it is something I have gotten a few emails about over the past several weeks. Specifically, imagery from istockphoto.com - which is a very popular place on the web to obtain stock photography and artwork/illustrations for use in your website and blog design. Quite a few of my clients use iStock as their resource for imagery – - including yours truly. The images of the happy jumping people you see on this site was purchased through iStock – I just love my happy jumpy people!

I recently had a conversation with a collegue, and a seperate conversation with a client, which told me that there was some helpful clarification that can provide some answers in terms of what CAN and CANNOT be done with the images you purchase from iStockphoto. Here is the basic run down:

You CAN

Make one copy of the image file for your backups.
Use the image in virtually any kind of promotional item : websites, advertising, packaging, personal projects, CD or DVD packaging, film and video presentations, multimedia presentations, commercials, books, etc…

You CANNOT

Use images in templates for resale. (using the image in a template, and then reselling that template with that image over and over again for profit. Designers can, however, use an image that has been purchased use in one clients design project only – - but cannot reuse that image in any other design or promotional work).
Display images larger than 800 * 600 on the web.
Exceed the 500,000 print run restriction.
Superficially modify the content, plunk it on a t–shirt, mug, poster, template or other item, and sell it to others for consumption, reproduction or re–sale. This requires an Extended License.
Resell the images on “Print on Demand” products, such as Cafe Press products, posters, cards, etc.

That last bit answers a lot of questions that I recieve from clients when they want me to take the image they purchased and create graphics for use on Cafe Press products, and simliar type merchandise. Most of the issues listed above are terms you need to abide by when purchasing an image with iStock’s Standard Content License Agreement. However, you can also purchase the images under iStock’s Extended License Option in order to be able to extend some of the things you are limited to under their standard option.

On a similar note – I’ve been working with several artists and illustrators, over the years, who are freelancers and provide custom illustrations and artwork for my clients who are interested in purchasing their work. While it is an extra cost to consider – going that route is a really nice way to ensure that the artwork on your website is unique and individual to YOU and no one else in the world has it. I collaborate with these talented artists on the projects we work on together – however, my clients are not only a customer of mine - – but also a customer of the illustrator/artist they have chosen to work with.

If you fall into this category – please keep in mind that you need to find out from the artist you have chosen to work with what the terms of their licensing agreements are. Artists are like snowflakes – - no two are exactly the same, so make sure you dig a little and ask those important questions.

Hope everyone is having a GREAT weekend!

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Post tags: artists, Custom Illustration, illustrators, iStock, iStockphoto, licensing, stock art, stock photography, Wordpress, Wordpress for Dummies, wordpress plugins, wordpress upgrade

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