If you’re going to be at #recreate11 this year (held tomorrow – Thursday at Rolling Hills, please don’t hesitate to stop and say hello.  I know I’m not a worship pastor or creative arts director, but immersing yourself with creative people is a good way to recharge creative batteries and network with like minded people.  So, I’ll see you there!

It’s been long overdue for a design refresh, and this weekend I pulled up my bootstraps and got to work.  There are quite a few things going on (both inside and out) that have brought my template into the new year (and will keep it on top for a few years to come!)

1) HTML 5/CSS3

The site is (as best as I can at the moment) coded in validated HTML5 and CSS3.  Both are changing and evolving, but thanks to some handy-dandy javascript even Internet Explorer renders the site as best as it should.  The result? Clean, semantic code that loads fast and does what it’s supposed to

2) De-cluttered Home Page

There was a LOT of stuff going on when you got the front of my site.  I took out all of the unimportant stuff and tried to make it as easy as I could for people to:

1. find out who I am
2. see my work
3. hire me!

The front page does just that – if you want to learn more, then by all means keep reading!

3) Framework

I’m running my own client framework under the site (nothing special like StudioPress – just my own set of snippits and code functions) which means that my site works and operates just like a client’s – makes it easy to debug problems that way on both types (mine, and others).

4) Separation of “Church and “State” (Personal and Business)

This one is always the hardest, but I don’t want to mix the two now because there’s so much on both counts I want to say and don’t because I’m afraid of turning users off.  So, there’ll be links back and forth, but my personal blog will remain at mitchcanter.com, while my WordPress stuff stays here!

5) Focus on Content

The one complaint I consistently got was that my site was so dark it was hard to focus on content.  I did some research on colors, styles, font sizes, and what I came up with was a combination of my personality and good user experience.  The font is big enough to read on an iPhone without any trouble – and you can still navigate the full site easily.  The blog titles are big, bold, and out there – meaning anyone can see what you’re reading about and strike up a conversation (plus, I’m a sucker for big blog post titles).  Basically, what you see is the result of lots of man hours of research and planning.

Please, let me know what you think of the new design, and if you have any questions, concerns, or complaints – I’d love anyone’s input no matter how honest.

I love doing un-conferences – there’s something about the community that’s attracted to a conference who’s mantra is all about information flowing freely.  It’s the morning after the combined PodCamp and WordCamp experience in Columbus, Ohio, and my head is still spinning from the fun times.

I gave two presentations: my staple presentation (and my strong point in the WordPress world) titled “How to Use WordPress for Dang Near Anything” – which basically equates to “Using WordPress as a CMS”, and an introduction to WordPress session.  I love doing the WordPress 101 sessions because it gives me a chance to really share my passion with others on WordPress, and it’s typically people who are more curious, eager to learn, and willing to ask lots of questions – which they did.

Ohio has some great people, and I met a lot more of them today (and was bummed because some of my good friends weren’t able to make it).  There are people here who are just as passionate about podcasting, blogging, linkedin, and all other manner of speciality as I am about WordPress.  Getting that many passionate people in a room together to talk means for some high energy – and lots of great discussions.

We’re heading back to Nashville today, but thanks again to all of the organizers, the sponsors, and all of the other speakers and participants for making the event so fantastic.  I’ll miss you guys, but please, feel free to keep in touch on twitter.

Here are my slides from my “WordPress as a CMS” session – they are a little outdated because of WordPress 3.0, but not by much – the rest of the technology will work together with 3.0 really well.

I had signed up to test some ads on another blog with the Yahoo Publisher network.  I wasn’t too impressed, and took the ads down quickly, but kept the account, just in case.

Well, today I got this email:

Dear Publisher,
Yahoo! continuously evaluates and prioritizes our products and services, in alignment with business goals and our continued commitment to deliver the best consumer and advertiser experiences. After conducting an extensive review of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, we have decided to close the program effective April 30, 2010. We expect to deliver final publisher payments for the month ending April 30, 2010 to publishers no later than May 31, 2010. All publishers eligible for 1099s for the 2010 tax year will have those mailed by January 31, 2011.
Because our content will no longer be delivered to your ad unit spaces after April 30, 2010, we recommend removing all YPN ad code from your pages by that date.
For the opportunity to continue earning revenue, we suggest using Chitika, a leading advertising network that syndicates Yahoo! Content Match and Sponsored Search ads. Chitika has set up a special process for YPNO beta publishers to participate in its platform. Click here for more information.
We thank you for your participation in the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please contact our Support Team at (866) 785-2636, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT.

Sincerely,
Your Partners at Yahoo!

Looks like Yahoo! is shutting down the operation for good.

All my bags are packed, and I’m heading on the first vacation that I’ve been on since I started studionashvegas nearly a year and a half ago.  I’ll be working on projects from the beach, and from my inlaws house the second week, but I hope to get some great pictures (to start my photo category) and get things rolling on the blog a bit more.  The server crash put me behind, but now that I’m back I plan on getting this blog better than ever.

So, don’t think I’m completely out of the loop, but hey, working from the beach beats working nearly anywhere else

I’ve finished the new design for the site.  I’d love to get feedback for it – please, if you have a few minutes, leave me some ideas or what I could better!

UPDATE: I finished all of the comps – I have some special page templates for certain sections of the site – so I’m including all the comps here for a thorough review.

BLOG:

FRONT PAGE:

INSIDE PAGE (GENERIC):

PORTFOLIO PAGE (clicking on the image leads to a case-study/testimonials section):

PHOTOS (Gallery):

PHOTOS (Single):

You may notice, “Hey, there aren’t any comment styles!” That’s because i’m going to be testing a new service, Echo, and i’m not sure what they’ll look like. There will be comments, don’t worry – just not sure what the styling will be exactly.

So please, critique away; coding begins in my spare time tomorrow and I hope to have this rolled out by the end of the week.

I had the pleasure of doing a great interview session with Cliff Ravenscraft of GSPN.TV a few days ago.  We talked a lot about WordPress, podcasting with WordPress, and the plugins I use to make sure my blogs/sites are running in tip-top shape.

You can listen to the show, as well as see the plugins with links, on the show page.