Posts Tagged with “web-design”

Convert a WordPress website to a static website with the Simply Static plugin

A static website is an ideal format to archive a WordPress site because it is a plain HTML copy of the website. It doesn’t require PHP and MySQL, so the website is hack-proof and very fast. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to convert a WordPress website into a plain HTML, static website with the Simply Static plugin.

Step 1: Prepare your website

Since the static website will not have PHP, it won’t be able to process dynamic actions like form submissions. Disable or replace comments and contact forms with hosted alternatives (e.g. Disqus and Wufoo respectively).

Infinite scroll and dynamic “Load more” post functionality will be unavailable too, so convert your pagination to plain next/previous or numeric links.

Update the content to be an evergreen version of the website. Maybe you want to remove the dates from your posts. Remember, the website is going to stay like this forever (or for a very long time at least).

Deactivate all unnecessary plugins. You won’t need security and utility plugins any more.

Finally, backup your website. You never know when you may want to revive it.

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Enable HTTPS on localhost with BrowserSync

I wanted to get my local development site working with SSL with BrowserSync recently and managed to figure it out.

Here’s what you need to do. Read More »

Ben Brooks writes about a problem that many blogs and news sites have – too many things that distract the site visitor from reading. I share a similar opinion which is why I have removed all the ads from my site and reduced the design as much as possible. It’s a good read if you are considering a new design for your blog.

My good friend Reese has launched a fantastic new product – luxury website headers that are unique and limited. From the FAQ:

I couldn’t give my best and brightest work to some of the people who wanted it most, the kind of people I wanted to design beautiful things for. People like you.

I take on only a few full website designs a year, at rates in the thousands. But there was all this beauty and design inside of me waiting for the right people. So I created By Reese, so that a handful more people could have a gorgeous website without needing to make the full custom website investment.

Go check out byreese.com. It’s definitely worth a look if you need a touch of design magic for your website or blog.

"I'm Not Here To Be In a Relationship"

I was listening to the Boagworld podcast #150 where Paul talks about The $300 Million Button, a case study where a small change in the login form caused a $300 million increase in sales.

That was super interesting, but the article also provides evidence for a pet peeve of mine.

..first-time shoppers. They did mind registering. They resented having to register when they encountered the page. As one shopper told us, “I’m not here to enter into a relationship. I just want to buy something.”

Users don’t want to register to buy, and I also feel that they don’t want to register to comment on your blog, join your social network blah blah. That’s why I don’t like to make commenters register on my blog and also why I’m a big supporter of projects like Open ID and Facebook Connect, which allows me to share my profiles across many other sites.

Naked Day '07

Naked Day ‘07 logoToday is annual CSS Naked Day. That’s why this site is all boring today. The idea behind this event is to promote Web Standards and the use of semantic XHTML and CSS.

myzone

Malaysian banking giant Maybank has launched myzone, a financial portal for teenagers aged 12-18. The launch comes with a web design contest where the public can submit ideas/designs for the myzone website.

Personally, I think that the design is ok, but the code is from the last decade. Table-based design, obtrusive Javascript and so many popups! And site organisation is crap too, I can’t even find a page with info on the contest to link to.