YourWebDepartment - YWD Blog

Yes, Your Web Department is too good to be true

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:48:17 PST

I am getting this all time. Being on the front line and talking with hundreds and hundreds of people the same thing always happens. There is the questioning skeptisism that YWD really will do what it promises. Then there is the issue of templates. Every other system on this planet uses templates so people automatically lump us in with this group of vagrants and shoddy products. I tell them that YWD does not use templates. It's free-form. It uses attributes. Yes you can lock it in to maintain the design and then unlock it to do something else great later.

Yes, YWD is too good to be true because it's true. You could say we offer a custom experience at template prices.

Your website is like a supermarket

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:27:14 PST

Do you think that supermarkets are just a big entrance with sliding doors and stuff assembled in a haphazard way? Of course not. In fact they know everything about your shopping tendencies. They are money sucking machines and they know how to extract money from you on the way in and on the way out.

Even if your website is not an ecom site have you researched your audience? Are you absolutely certain you know what they need to see on your home page? Are you certain that you have organized your website to maximize their experience going in and coming out?

Next time you analyze your website, think about it as if it were a supermarket.

Okay, I really hate this Register.com

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:04:49 PST

I don't know who else does this, but Register.com has this really horrible policy of creating a holding page for your domain filled with links that relate to your business. I'm sure they are getting Google AdSense dollars out of doing this but it really pisses me off. As a Register.com client you have the option of turning this feature off but they don't make it that obvious, so while your website is being built, or in limbo, they display this piece of crap on your behalf. Frankly, I would just dump the pinheads and use a different registrar that does not deal in this nasty, unethical practice.

Stand-alone CMSs create Zombie websites

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:25:36 PST

Zombie movies are very popular these days, as are stand-alone websites built with CMS software. What do I mean by Zombie websites? Zombies websites are undead websites that live on, not updated. For a website to live it needs to be updated regularly. And by update I mean both the content and its underlying systems. So why is a website made with a CMS, which inherently let's users update content, bad?

They are bad because the moment a website goes live the underlying technology begins aging. Three years later, the Internet has moved onto incredible uncharted territories and you're still working with a system that cannot accommodate the rapid pace of change. CMS vendors point to the fact that they update there tools (maybe once every few years) but does the client bother updating their stand-alone CMS? Rarely.

That's why services like ours, delivered as a Software as a Service, are the future. We update our systems regularly. We are quick to adopt changes in Internet trends and technologies. We keep pace with the Internet so you don't have to.

If you're considering a stand-alone website, watch out for the Zombies.

What your email address says about you

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:02:38 PST

Here is a very funny link that will translate what your email link means. No professional should have an email address that is not their corporate domain.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/email_address

Your website is more than a giant satellite dish, it's also a filter

Tue, 25 May 2010 12:28:54 PST

Everyone who wants a website wants a giant satellite dish that will collect millions and millions of people and direct them to your business and more importantly buy your services or stuff and make you rich. All this without even trying.

The fact is it won't happen that easily or quickly. Creating a website that will build your business is a lot of work. One thing you might not have thought of is kind of counter-intuitive: don't try to be all things to all people. Be focused on who your audience is and what kind of client you want buying from you or using your service. In this way your site can become a filter.

If you don't want to waste time dealing with people who only want free, then post a price. If you are serious and buttoned down and prefer to work with similar-thinking folk then create a website that convey's that image. A website can be a great filter. It's something very few people talk about when it comes to building a site. It's worth investigating. It will make doing business with the people who do find you much more pleasurable.

When building a website as favour is not a favour

Sat, 08 May 2010 14:42:42 PST

For all the right reasons many individuals, companies and not-for-profits have had someone build a website for them as a 'favour'. Unfortunately, this favour has come back to haunt them.

The website was just done badly, plain and simply, an amateur effort
The domain is in the name of the person who did it as a favour and now the owners of the organization can't retrieve it
The individual is no longer on the board, or with the organization or there is ill will between the parties
The site was built in a way no one can update it themselves
The 'friend' is now resentful because you are asking for changes all the time and not willing to pay for them
Etc.

So a bit of apparent good will turns to crap because of some, or all of the above. However, the only one to blame in all of this is the person who said yes. Yes, of course they didn't understand the technology and said yes to someone who seemingly was an expert. And perhaps they were happy to get something for nothing. That was not the fault of the person offering a favour, it was the fault of the person accepting it.

The lesson is that there are many inexpensive website options and professionals who know what they are doing and can work cost effectively. At least with a business relationship you have contracts and recourse.

Remember, a website built as a favour is not a favour to anyone.

Web customers still don't know what kind of web service they are 'buying'

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:15:06 PST

Or, why pay $49/month for YWD when you can get a website for free or for $100 per year? The people who understand the value of YWD get it. The way they figure it the difference between free and only $600 per year for their website, the single most important marketing tool ever devised by humankind is not a deal-breaker. After all many of us paid thousands of dollars on brochures every year only to have most of them collect dust in some corner of the office.

Here's what you get with YWD. Ask your web provider if their oranges match our apples:

Unlimited storage
Unlimited users
A real website management system
Total flexibility to add content and design without programming
YWD is not template driven - clients can do whatever they want whenever they want
A sophisticated Software as a Service (SasS) platform, not a single instance of a content management system.
Updates and enhancements happen continuously
Amazing built-in tools
YWD's features are driven by you the client, not by a consortium of programmers who are still living in their mother's basement flats
YWD is all we do.
We provide great service

I think that's it for now.

Your Web Department puts steel into every site we make

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:13:26 PST

Yes, Your Web Department puts molten steel in every website that leaves our shop. Check out the YouTube video below. Everyone claims great service and ease-of-use, but no one else puts steel in their websites.

So, what was the genesis of this silly video? It has always bothered me listening to programmers blithely throwing out three-letter-acronymsand technical concepts that the customer had no hope in hell of understanding. Sometimes it was because the programmer just didn't know better, but other times, it was proof of their superior brains. The other bit of inspiration came from reading websites making outrageous claims for success. I figured, why not claim that we put steel in our websites? It's no less believable that what others are claiming, but it is funnier.

Your Web Department makes "Happy Websites"

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:49:03 PST

Recently we went through an exercise with some YWD clients. What was the common denominator between everyone? We came to the following conclusions. YWD clients are:

Delegators
Simplifiers
Owners

They also wanted to have someone take the 'mess' that was their website and have someone make it all work; easily, cleanly and cheaply.

One participant said that we make 'happy websites'. An intriguing thought. Not happy as in, clown happy, but as in, we take the pain away and make them happy about their website. I thought that really summarized what we try to do. We're honest, and we deliver and we provide great support.

We'll be diving deeper into this later. If there's anything interesting I'll post it.

I made the mistake of telling a prospective client, "Don't worry."

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:58:13 PST

Last week I made the mistake of telling a prospective client, 'Don't worry.' Everything was going well up to that point, but after I said that, the air left the room. You see, the last two web developers had said the same thing to her and both times the process and results were disasterous. I apologized immediately. She had every right to worry. Just because we got the job it was not a time to jump for joy. It was an opportunity to earn the client's trust, which we always have to do. Frankly, we hear about these disaster stories 80% of the time.

So, if you're a client and you're coming to see us here, please DO worry. It's your money. We respect the opportunity to serve you.

RGD Webinar on "Why print designers don't understand the web."

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:21:54 PST

Just came off a wonderful webinar with the RGD (Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario). The topic was 'Why don't print designers understand the web?' I was a bit nervous going in because, while I didn't want to offend anyone, the reality is that there are designers that are having a hard time with designing websites. Often this is because they are teamed up with a programmer that looks down on their lack of experience. This is obviously not the way to treat someone, but many programmers are not known for the social graces.

One designer responded that it was there own fault for not spending time to understand a world that kind of looks like print design but is very different. I had to agree.

A final interesting point. Someone asked if there was any kind of resource that could help transition print designers over to the web. I couldn't think of any. Most web resources are a sink or swim affair. Perhaps it's time to create that transitional resource?

Kate Erickson sends Your Web Department a testimonial

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:11:41 PST

Dear Paul,

'A lack of seriousness has led to all kinds of wonderful insights.'

Kurt Vonnegut said that, and anyone who's worked with Paul Chato knows it to be true.

Paul runs Your Web Department, where he has created a system that allows me to control my websites.

Before I met Paul I interviewed a number of web designers. They all shared the same characteristics. They used mind numbing technical jargon that I had no interest in trying to understand. They were reluctant to collaborate with me - it was their way or no way. And they wanted to own the site so I would have had to pay hundreds of dollars and wait for results any time I wanted to add new words and features.

Then I found YWD and they offered me something completely different. Paul sat with me and discussed my strategy for the site. He was curious, funny and warm so for the first time I felt welcomed into the world of technology. He created a bold design. And in ten minutes he taught me to use the simple tools that allow me to change my site as much and as often as I need to in order to keep my communication fresh and relevant.

I recommend YWD to anyone who wants a powerful and compelling website backed by a team of creative businesspeople with an unwavering focus on their client's needs.

Kate Erickson
Organizational Design Consulting

People are moving to Your Web Department

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:26:31 PST

Every day people are moving away from their old content management systems (CMS) and moving their websites to our Your Web Department website management system. Why? The reason is that all stand-alone content management systems get old because the site owners rarely bother to update them. This isn't the fault of the CMS providers because they are updating their products, it's the fault of the business model. Few people update CMS software. And quite often if they do they find their existing website is no longer compatible with the new version. That's why the YWD service is so much better. We are updating our service all the time and everyone gets the updates.

One last point, YWD is NOT a templated website system. You have all the flexibility without the programming complexity. That's another reason people are switching to YWD. Once they find out we don't inflict templates on our users, they are really thrilled.

The Value of Design to Startups

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:15:38 PST

Found a very nice article on the 'Value of Design to Startups' in BusinessWeek. The author, Dave McClure writes, 'Design and marketing aren't just as important as engineering: They are way more important.'

How is that possible? If your product happens to require programming or engineering to become a viable thing, then isn't it more important than the design and marketing of the equation? One could argue that if no one knows about your great business then it isn't a business, is it? But we also know that you'd rather pick up the phone and start selling. Design is something you don't really understand, and besides, your nephew did your logo. And marketing, well, that's just an excuse for consultants to rip you off.

Perhaps it's worth writing about this more. For now, read the piece. Don't worry, it's short.

Time to have a Website Code of Ethics

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:53:39 PST

I do a lot of public speaking. Over the last six months I've really been shocked at the number small business owners that feel like they've been ripped off, hosed and lied to by the web developers they hired. Now, perhaps, this was because many SMBs were looking for a cheap fix and they got what they paid for. Certainly, most web professionals that I know do great work. That being written, many SMBs just don't know who to turn to for a decent website at a reasonable cost. (One of the reasons we created Your Web Department.) So with that in mind, I've created the 'Website Code of Ethics'. These are the minimum standards any web developer should live by. Be my guest and tape them to your fridge. You're free to use them, even if you don't hire us.

The first question we ask will be 'What do you want your website to do for you?'
I am a web professional and not just doing this part-time
Others can support you not just me
I will advise you to buy a domain that is in your name and owned by you
It should be easy for you to update and manage your own website without my help
If you want a change to your design you won't have to keep buying new templates
You will not be sold technology that is not updated regularly
Your system will be updated regularly (as in if there is an upgrade, you will get it)
Your website will be reviewed regularly to make sure it is performing as intended
We will be there for you when you have a problem
When it comes time to redesigning your site you will have the option to reuse the existing content
You will not be tied down to long-term contracts
If there is something we can't do for you, we know someone who can

If anyone has others they might like to add, I'd love to hear about them.

YWD versus Open Sources (again!)

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:18:07 PST

Once again I have been asked about the differences between YWD and open source CMS. Here's the simple answer(s).

The open source products are not a platform. They are a software just like Microsoft Word. The version you build on will probably be the same version you stop using 5 years later when you're bored with your site. YWD is constantly being updated; tonight, for instance.

Here are the steps to start building your site in, let's say, Joomla:
a) Find a host
b) Install Joomla
c) Install PHP
d) Install MySQL
e) Connect the whole damn thing together
f) Start programming the design into the system

Building your site with YWD:
a) Take credit card and sign up
b) Start adding design elements (no programming)

nuff said

The challenge of Multiple-Generalized-Audiences

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:44:49 PST

The challenge for marketing at this point in time, cause who knows what is going to pop up this year or next as the hot new social marketing vehicle, is that we now have a new category of audience to market to: the Multiple-Generalized-Audience. (Please take notice, Malcolm Gladwell, I officially take ownership of MGA.)

In the not so distant past (and we have to stop bemoaning how things were different and just accept how things are) there was mainstream generalized media like the TV networks and national press and specialized media like local TV and industry-specific publications. You did what you what fit your marketing plan.

Now we have Adwords, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Each one lets you target your ad spending. In the case of Facebook you can target the two people on the service that added 'pink cats' as an area of interest and sell a crap-load of pink cat related stuff specifically to them. However, there is nothing stopping you from NOT narrowing your pitch and going for everyone on Facebook or the other services. So, why are these services MGA? It's because the old verticals delivered very few eyeballs. We accepted this. But now a specialized pitch can still get to hundreds of millions of people. What's so not-general about that? These are numbers that even the TV networks in their heyday could not deliver.

I think this is our new challenge; marketing to Multiple-Generalized-Audiences and coming up with a message and branding that resonates with across these groupings and a website that makes sense when you've interested them.

Researching your market

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:54:28 PST

Every marketing pro always tells you to research your market; yeah, yeah, yeah. Who needs research? Most of us are selling into the markets we came from, to people we know. We got this down cold. Why would we have started our businesses in the first place if we didn't think our great new idea wouldn't sell?

Oh boy, was I wrong.

Recently, on an informal basis, I used LinkedIn to pose a provocative question about our business directly into the heart of the people we're trying to push, convince, cajole into using Your Web Department- the design community. Frankly, I was shocked at the responses. Not shocked as in, OMG, they hate me, shocked as in how they perceivedour product.

A lot came out of the many responses I got. Not the least of which was I really didn't know this market as well as I thought, even though it's my hood. We were already in the midst of redoing our marketing and website but I cannot tell you how significantly this research will change our approach and realign the focus.

The bottom line is, do some research about your market. If you don't have $5,000 to do it properly, then at the very least use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or whatever you have at your disposal and ask the hard questions. You will be surprised.

Just Twitterin' and Facebookin'

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:27:35 PST

My god, has it been a month since I last visited here? It's not like I haven't been the social media butterfly. While things have been non-stop here at Your Web Department, I've been out there doin' the Twitter thing and spending more time on it than Facebook. One reason is that I get Twitter, I still don't get Facebook. I can't figure out how I ever get to where I've gotten and I can never figure out how to get back to where I was before. It could be me. If anyone feels the same way, drop me a line.

The conclusion I've come to is that there a ton of people who just like to be out on the social network circuit. It gives them a buzz. They like living there. And while tons of social marketing gurus say you need to be on it, only do it if you can immerse yourself. Of course, not at the expense of ignoring one's blog... ouch. I feel like I'm waking up from an all night bash.

Lots of exciting new changes a happenin' here at YourWebDepartment. Stay tuned.

Thank you for everyone who came to our Nov. 11 seminar

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:13:01 PST

Just a quick thanks to everyone who attended our full day seminar sponsored by Your Web Department and Oomphgroup. No matter how many times we do them we always learn something new and we're excited about adding some new tweeks next time we start doing them in the new year. Though I'm heading off to Ottawa to do one next Thursday. Now a whole bunch more people know how Your Web Department can change your website lives for the better.

Globe and Mail writes nice piece about Your Web Department

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:15:40 PST

The Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper has publish a wonderful article today on Your Web Department. Unfortunately, it's not online. We'll get a copy of it at some point.

UPDATE: Article is now online

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/business-incubator/website-headaches-a-little-levity-can-help/article1330303/

Angela Kryhul

Special to The Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 12:00AM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 2:24PM EDT

Back in the 1990s, when Paul Chato was in the business of creating corporate videos, he knew he was on shaky ground during a new client pitch when the vice-president of marketing stormed into the meeting and demanded, 'Who the [expletive] are you people?'

As the discussion continued, recognition dawned and the VP's icy exterior began to melt: 'Paul Chato ... The Frantics ... You're Mr. Canoehead!'

It seems that Mr. Chato's aluminum-headed, crime-fighting comedic alter ego can still save the day, even in a hostile boardroom. 'She basically came to fire us, but instead we got the job,' Mr. Chato says.

It's been 30 years since Mr. Chato, Rick Green, Dan Redican and Peter Wildman formed The Frantics comedy troupe. And while the group still performs for fun, Mr. Chato now spends his days as president of Electramedia, a Toronto website design and development firm. Its clients include Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc., JDS Uniphase Corp., Cadillac Fairview Corp. and McDonald's Restaurants of Canada.

Mr. Chato, 55, took a circuitous route to Web development. He graduated from Ryerson's Radio Television Arts program in 1974 and became a full-time comedian in 1979 when The Frantics was formed. The group created 120 episodes of Frantic Times for CBC Radio. And while the TV show Four on the Floor aired only 13 episodes, perpetual reruns made the group, and Mr. Canoehead, Canadian cultural icons. 'We were the Star Trek of comedy,' Mr. Chato laughs.

In the late '80s, the CBC hired Mr. Chato as head of TV Comedy. A self-described geek, Mr. Chato started Electramedia in 1991, a company that initially created corporate videos, 3D animation and dabbled in computer games before concentrating entirely on the Internet in 1997.

In 2006, Mr. Chato launched Your Web Department, a user-friendly, self-serve version of Electramedia's website management system. YWD puts into the hands of small business owners the tools to design, optimize and update websites without having to hire an outside webmaster.

These days, Mr. Chato sometimes finds himself in the role of therapist to entrepreneurs.

'The dirty secret of small businesses is that they love everybody else's websites, but they hate their own,' Mr. Chato explains. The amount of time, effort and resources it takes to keep a site up to snuff 'makes them feel stupid.'

Very small businesses are less likely to have a website, according to recent research by IDC Canada. A poll of 200 small- and medium-sized Canadian businesses found 26 per cent of those with fewer than 49 employees did not have a website, while 16 per cent of companies with 50-99 employees did not have a website.

Mr. Chato says small business owners have to realize their website is a business and marketing solution. The first step is to take ownership and responsibility for your site.There's no excuse for paying large sums to an outside webmaster to update and manage a site, he says.

Next, it's important to realize that a website is the centre of a marketing strategy, Mr. Chato explains. To put yourself in that frame of mind, pretend your print materials such as business cards, posters, flyers, newspaper or magazine ads do not exist. Before you design a site, understand what you want it to accomplish. Articulate the company's unique selling proposition, Mr. Chato advises. What does the owner love about their business? What is your brand positioning?

Content is crucial. One approach to developing content is to think about your website as a magazine, and the story is your business, he says. If you want to be the next Debbie Travis, talk about yourself. Alternatively, you can talk about the world around you in a third-person way. And it's important to schedule time to update the site. If you're time-strapped, don't design your site around a blog, Mr. Chato advises.

'People say 'Oh my God, the blog didn't work.' Well, that's because you had no strategy for the blog. What was the point of it?' Mr. Chato suggests hiring a professional writer/project manager who can help develop an easy to follow content strategy. Once you've got a handle on your content, 'the silver bullet is tone,' Mr. Chato says. Is the tone of your site irreverent? Fun? Serious? Are you Zsa Zsa Gabor or Beyoncé?

When Mr. Chato helps clients develop their sites, he takes them through an exercise called Show-Do-Tell to get them thinking about how to tell professional and personal stories using visuals and text. 'People have more interesting jobs than they think they do. And they don't realize what an amazing business they've built.'

Design Exchange website is one of Canada's 2009 Top 50 Best Website Designs

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:22:19 PST

What a nice surprise. The Design Exchange website that our brilliant art director and interface design guru, Flavio Mester, designed has been chosen as one of the 50 best websites for 2009. You can see how brilliant it looks amongst all the winners from their home page at http://web50.ca. Or you can just go right to the winning page.

While we're happy to be the receiver of such accolades, more and more designers are using Your Web Department to build future award-winning websites. And finally, it provides proof that there is such a thing as a 'no-programming-required' website development system that can create award-winning sites. We hate those template-based web tools, too. After all, who wants a used website.

Stake your place on the WWW and Enhance Your Web Design Abilities!

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:57:34 PST

Learn how to create an inexpensive website that's a true reflection of your brand and how to master the art of designing websites without the help of programmers.

When?

Wednesday, November 11th

Where?

TekSource
36 Lombard Street, Suite 600
Toronto, Ontario

'Getting a Handle on Your Website' will show how to: structure the content of your website; set up your own domain, web and e-mail hosting systems quickly; and how to optimize your website so Google and other search engines can find you.

'Boost Your Web Design Skills' with Your Web Department's revolutionary Website Management System, which requires no programming, so the project fees can be devoted to the site's design and content. Learn how to use this great new system to better control the process, become more competitive, and increase your web design capabilities.

Participants have the option of attending one or both sessions. The fee for a single session is $250 + GST and $400 + GST for both sessions. A comprehensive manual with step-by-step directions and lunch are included.

Presented by Your Web Department and Oomph Group Inc.

»Click here to register

Are web programmers like the snake in the Garden of Eden?

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:03:51 PST

In the beginning there were websites and God saw that it was good. But if you needed to change your website you had to get the snake in the valley to change it.

Then came content management systems and God saw that it was better because you were now able to update and manage the content of your website yourself. But if you needed to change the design of your website you still had to hire the snake in the valley to do it.

Then came Your Web Department and God saw that it was 'frikin' awesome' because you were now able to update the content and the design of your website without the help of the snake. The snake was forced to become a management consultant.

Your Web Department says 'YES!'

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:27:02 PST

This past week I had the pleasure of talking to a room full of young entreprenuers enrolled in the BizStart program sponsored by YES, the Youth Employment Service. This is how they describe it on their website:

'BizStart is a full-time, 11-month Entrepreneurship Training Program at YES. BizStart assists youth to launch a new business and become self-employed.'

I was asked to talk about how to build a website. Now almost all of them, being younger than me, already had websites, so we discussed what makes a good site. I also invited them to grill me on my experiences being an entrepreneur. They all had great plans, great energy, great talent and great hope. It was so inspiring that I have become a Mentor for the BizStart program. We should all support this, check it out. I would really like to thank Donovan Dill for inviting me and inspiring me. And that's me on the floor.

Did I forget to tell you that we make the Internet easy?

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:36:10 PST

I'm just taking a break from talking with Eva Innes, a wonderful PR person, who has pointed out that what she has taken away from meeting with us and reading about us on our website is that 'Your Web Department Makes the Interent Easy.' Curiously, she said, that nowhere on our website was this message explicitly written. I checked out the site and while we nibble around the edges of this idea we don't really just come out and say the obvious. So, now I'm saying it. We make the Interent easy. Sometimes the obvious ain't so obvious.

We have officially stopped selling websites! (Not really)

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:23:07 PST

Things are a whirlwind here. Sites are going live constantly. And the biggest insightful thing I have learned over the past year is that we are not selling websites. We are selling service. Sure the end product is a website. Sure it runs on a fantastic website management system, but our clients care only about one thing: how can we solve their website issues? Many have gone down this path before and ended up with a substandard product. They didn't know who to turn to then and they don't know who to turn to now. The landscape hasn't changed all that much. There is no single dominate website service out there: Mr. Webinator! We hope one day it will be Your Web Department.

It has been a wonderful surprise that after doing a bit of an informal survey of our clients the thing they like about their websites was the process leading up to them going live. The fact that it IS easy to use and it IS delivering on the promise is almost viewed as a sigh of relief. We are passionate about living up to our promise of performance but it seems that our customers are more passionate about how we treated them.

Even the mundane hand dryer can stand improvement

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:17:12 PST

Okay, this is really an odd way to start a blog, but I was in a public washroom and after washing my hands I went to the spot were the usual wretched hot air hand dryer would be and was surprised by this weird grey contraption from Dyson. You didn't stick your hands under it, push a button or fiddle with positioning to find the damn sensor that would turn it on, you stuck your hands down into it. The thing turned on. You pulled your hands up and down a few times and they were dry. My god, finally a hand dryer that really works. With almost all hand dryers you shove them under the nozzle, rub your hands endlessly, get bored and then wipe the remaining wetness off on your pants in your rush to leave.

The Dyson dryer doesn't even use heat. It blows air at high speed through a very thin opening and literally turns it into a blade of air that squeegees the water off your hands. The cost to operate it is a fraction of the hot air dryer. My point is that innovation is everywhere, even where you least expect it. Never underestimate what can be improved and never believe what you have is perfect or cannot be dramatically changed.

Who wants a second-hand website Part II

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:05:17 PST

Okay, back to the whole templated website issue. In previous posts I wrote about the fact that people/companies just don't want a templated website. Who wants a used site? It made me think about how Your Web Department is different. Recently we've transfered several templated clients over to YWD. Their comments were all the same. At first they were excited about how 'hot' their sites looked but then got disenchanted with the fact that they couldn't change the templates, or add the features they wanted later and realized over time that the templates were just not 'them.'

This makes a lot of sense. In a templated site you grow out of it. There really is nowhere else to go. With YWD you grow with and into your website.

Why do companies hate 'their' Internet, Part II

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:47:29 PST

I've commented on this before, the fact that companies, specifically their owners, hate their Internet. I won't go over past scribbles, but today another reason came into sharp focus. Today I visited someone interested in the Your Web Department system. We discussed issues with their existing site. She wanted to know why she wasn't getting any Google love - the reason being that the previous web shop had put up a Flash 'skip intro' which we all know basically blocks Google indexing your site. She wasn't happy to hear this. This meant 2 years of no indexing. Anyway, the point is that I had asked her simple questions such as, what did she need the site to do? What personality did she want the site to have? What kind of interaction with the world at large did she want? I explained to her the importance of 'beingness' in this new Internet age.

Within minutes she turned to me and said that of the many web shops she had interviewed, no one had discussed these issues or asked these questions. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Most clients are lost and yet too many website developers have no idea what questions to ask. Few of them provide advice as to the implications of different technical decisions. The worst web developers view a website as a technical challenge, when in fact, it's a communications challenge.

I've seen too many uninformed clients being bull-shitted by ignorant web developers. It's why we created Your Web Department. Get rid of the BS and get to the strategy, design and execution. There are great website designers out there. Many of them are now using Your Web Department. We're very proud of that.

Designers Who Use Your Web Department: Mike Wandelmaier

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:09:50 PST

By Ilan Mester

I recently interviewed Context Creative designer Mike Wandelmaier -- who's no stranger to Your Web Department -- to get his thoughts on the system. To check out the latest website he designed using YWD visit, www.synecticsworld.com

How was the experience of creating a site for Synectics using the YWD system?

'It was interesting. With all CMS's you have to be aware of what technology you're using before you go into doing the design so that you can work within the constraints of it. I thought it was fairly straightforward. I had some experience using it before so I knew what was doable within the system and at the same time, I consulted with Flavio [Mester] to see where we could kind of push the boundaries of what was naturally inherit in the system and what could be done with the help of the developing department there'

Do you think that the system is both user friendly and designer friendly?

'It's definitely user-friendly. I still think that doing sites in conjunction with a development department to get a more custom build allows you more options as a designer. Its native system makes it very easy to produce a typical site that you would want for a small business and then for things that kind of become a bit more complicated, it's good to work with the actual company itself.'

Have you gotten any YWD feedback from the small businesses that are using the system?

'Not specifically about using the system. Synectics, obviously, they were really pleased with the site itself and they love the look of it and what they're able to do with it. I haven't heard any feedback from the people actually doing content updating as to how they find the system, but so far we haven't had any complaints either.'

Was the staff at YWD helpful?

'Yes, Flavio was amazing. I mean, he really is a very knowledgeable, very front-end designer. I've worked in a variety of web development shops before and studios and I've worked with a ton of designers and he was just really on top of it, and translated the design that I gave him with really good attention to detail. I usually find that developers don't have the same eye for design the way designers do. And there's always some bridge that needs to be gapped there but I had a great time working with him.'

What features did you find were useful as a designer on the system?

'I thought the master control and typography were quite useful. I liked being able to have direct access to the style guide for the style sheets for all of the text, I think that's something that's nice to be able to tweak the site live without having to go into code or anything like that. Just the general background CMS stuff, I like being able to have direct access to the site map and layout.'

Are there any new features or improvements you would like to see in YWD?

'Yes, absolutely. Support for third-party plug-ins of some kind would be really good. As well as maybe the YWD Designer interface, some of the more advanced feature are not immediately apparent and sometimes you discover later on that you were able to do something that you didn't think you could do initially.'

40th Anniversary of the moon landing

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:17:50 PST

Today is the 40th anniversary of Man's first landing on the moon. And I was there. Well, not there on the moon. I was in my parent's TV room in Don Mills, Ontario, watching in a darkened room with my 35mm Konica camera on a tripod. The camera was loaded with 400 ASA black and white film. The shutter was set to a 30th of a second to match the scan rate of the TV. I had read an article in Popular Science magazine on how to take pictures of the moon landing on TV. I was a space geek.

I still have those pictures. And I still have the annotated photo album that I made to hold them. It was a wondrous time, filed with hope, apprehension and out-right fear. I remember sitting glued for days prior to the landing watching Jules Bergman on ABC explaining over and over again (in almost pre-CNN overkill) using models and animation and large illustrations that he would point to using a rubber-tipped wooden pointer the many aspects of the mission. Just getting the damn ship into orbit around the moon was nerve wracking.

I was so fixated on the actual landing that I don't even remember if my parents were in the room with me. I'm sure they were. The entire world held its collective breath as the lunar lander descended and finally touched down. Armstrong's first steps were beyond magical. It was the perfect time to be 15.

NASA.gov link to the 40th anniversary of the event

Interesting view of the anniversary from Belfast Telegraph

Sometimes it's better to just focus on driving eyes to your website

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:11:42 PST

Sometimes I think the mad rush to follow Internet experts' siren song into niches such as Twitter, social marketing, etc. can take the focus off of one's website. Yes I know the idea is to drive as many eyeballs to your website as possible, and for sure being out there blogging and Twittering can do that, but the opposite can also happen. Sometimes having one place for everything is a good thing especially if you've trained people to go there.

The other day I was talking with Charles Fowler, a very bright fellow, and the discussion turned to Facebook and social networking for his private school. The conclusion we came to was that unless you're engaging a group of people on a project, the school should not be doing the Facebook thing as a general exercise. Not because it isn't valueable but if you don't have the human resources to really make it work then concentrate on the website and don't divert attention from it. Make it more useful. Don't bleed it dry. Don't start putting stuff that should be on the website into social networking tools, because frankly, the number of parents who are not into this stuff is still the majority. Sure, a school is where your kids go, but it's the parents that put them there and only a fraction are doing more than surfing and emailing. Of course, over time, that will change.

A few years ago I addressed a gym full of parents and asked them if they used Instant Messaging. Maybe 10% of them did. 100% of their kids were IMing. My point is don't suffer an anxiety attack when you read Internet Gurus exhorting you to take the latest trend-train or you're going to be left at the station. Know your audience. Know their needs. Service them. Don't forget, not too long ago industry experts were scaring parents to death that if they didn't get an Apple II or a Commodore 64 for their kids and teach them basic that they will be left behind.

Don't believe everything you read... well, except for this.

Why template or predesigned websites don't work

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:27:40 PST

Many businesses are both in a rush to get a website up and running and also want to do it as cheaply as possible. In the past this was tough to do as the effort to program a website consumed a large chunk of budget. There wasn't much left to make it look exceptional. Services that offer templated, or pre-built, websites have been around for many years. They appeal to the business owner that has little idea of how to effectively market their business, or just doesn't know better. But if you think about it, it's kind of a backwards approach. How can a pre-built design answer the following questions?

Describe what is your business?
What is your unique selling proposition?
What are the main reasons for this website?
What are your main target markets and how do you reach them?
What are your main product categories (Set of processes and deliverables, not a list of services)?
What is your unique ability?
What else would you like to say to your site visitors?
What do you want your site to do?
What should be the communication style?
How important is organic search?
Competitor websites?

It can't, of course. This is the absurdity of a pre-built website. It doesn't take much effort to create a website that is individually tailored to your business. That's why we built Your Web Department. It reduces the cost of programming your website to zero, leaving you with more budget to answer the important questions above.

ThompsonWiley loves the new, better, faster Your Web Department

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:16:35 PST

'Greetings and Congratulations to the YWD A-Team!!!

I've just taken your new website design technology for a 30 hour test drive, and it has performed brilliantly! I'm very pleased with the 'draft' I can show my client at 1pm tomorrow.

I look forward to exploring new ways to be creative with the new program. It's much more flexible and powerful than its predecessor.

Thanks for being so responsive, as usual, even when you were working the bugs out of your new system and setting up the account for my client.'

All the best,

Diana

www.thompsonwiley.com

Oomph show was a blast

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:26:12 PST

Yesterday's Oomph Group presentation at the Designers Walk here in Toronto was an amazing success. If you read my previous post on it, you would have noticed that the presentation was about basic web skills things like, having a proper domain for your email address, having a website, having a website that works, doing the basic SEO stuff.

The audience was extremely appreciative of Johanna Hoffmann's work in putting together such a comprehensive guide on what is pretty much obvious in our business, but the lesson learned here is that the Internet is confusing to most people and it makes sense to keep providing good basic information around domains, email management and web hosting.

For instance, how many of you out there can't manage your domain because the person who registered it is gone from your company? This is a common problem, one which Johhanna covered very well yesterday. It was a wonderful experience to see Johanna in action.

Oomph teams with Your Web Department to help interior designers market themselves

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:45:53 PST

Get your marketing skills and tools in shape!

Oomph has teamed up with the Resource Centre at Designers Walk for a marketing double-bill: Marketing Your Firm and Getting a Handle on Your Website and Using Social Media to Promote Your Firm on June 23, 2009.

Go to www.oomphgroup.com/designerswalk-june23 to learn more.

Session 1: Marketing Your Firm

Learn how to create a marketing strategy that will focus your efforts on the markets and activities that yield the best results. 'Marketing Your Firm' will demonstrate how to plan and implement a marketing strategy that is practical, simple and cost effective to implement - even for sole practitioners and small firms.

Session 2: Getting a Handle on Your Website and Using Social Media to Promote Your Firm

A new generation of website systems make it possible to get a site up-and-running in one day, and content management tools make updating your website as easy as typing a letter.

Bruce Mayhew writes that your company is judged by the emails your employees send

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:14:59 PST

Yikes! If that's true then I shouldn't be sending emails representing my own company. But read Bruce Mayhew's (of Bruce Mayhew Consulting) post about how everyone in your company should have at least a passing notion about how emails can effect your company's brand. He's not talking about damage as bad as the recent Dominos Pizza affair but think of the cumulative positive effect of good email habits. It's a great piece.

He's also offering an email workshop. I suggest everyone take it.

Several myths about 'open source'

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:31:16 PST

More than a thousand sites have gone live on Your Web Department. This brings us a lot of insight into what people are doing out there and what platforms people are considering and which one's their switching from to YWD. But the biggest issue we keep coming up against is Open Source content management systems versus YWD.

First of all I just want to write that I'm not against Open Source software. I'm just against its misapplication. There are also some myths that have sprouted around Open Source that its proponents are doing nothing to correct. Heck, if they can install a system, then who cares about the long-term consequences. So, here are some myths about Open Source CMSs:

Open Source CMSs are Free. While the software is free, building a site using it is most assuredly not, unless someone is doing it for you for free or you're doing it yourself. The point is that if you are hiring a professional programmer to install an Open Source CMS they are not doing it for free.
Open Source websites are transferrable. This myth comes under the heading, of 'protect your investment'. The fact is that Open Source websites are transferrable only if the destination system is exactly the same as the one it was built on. Just because it was built on Linux and PHP does not mean it will be compatible with the Linux or PHP it's moving to. In this regard, Open Source is no different from any kind of software.
Any Open Source programmer will be able to update your software. Lastly, we hear this one frequently, also. I will let you onto a little secret about programmers. They usually disparage the work the previous programmer has done. What usually happens is that the new website will be rebuilt from the ground up. Therefore, no saves.

So, there are a few things about Open Source that you should know about. In another blog entry I'll tell you where Software as a Service has its advantages. YWD, by-the-way is just such a system.

Your Web Department updates for May, 2009

Wed, 20 May 2009 12:53:17 PST

IMPORTANT NOTICE: During the next 3 weeks we will be making some hardware upgrades. There will be short outages (no more than 5 minutes each spread over several days and outside of regular business hours). We will inform all customers when these outages or Administration closures will happen ahead of time. Sorry for the inconvenience but it's all to make YWD better and more reliable.

In YWD Designer:

Text tab / Text area:

You can now specify for each option of the custom text area background image (ywdtextarea.gif) whether you want it to appear in all pages, the Home page only or all but Home. This allows you to have a watermark in only the Home page, for example.

Community tab (Renamed Share Tab):

* 'Email this page' functionality added: Works similarly to other icons. When clicked a new window will open where you enter your and the recipient's info.
* Twitter: Twitter will open in a new window. If you're currently logged in, the 'What are you doing?' balloon will be pre-filled with the current URL.

Advanced tab

A few sub-tabs have had their names abbreviated as they wouldn't fit in Windows IE.

Colour palette

You can now specify the background colour, border and thickness and colour of the left, main and right columns separately.

Top nav

New options added: Weight, Case and Kerning. They're being used to style the top nav of http://www.enerquality.ca/ for example.

Design grid

Click on the icon to the right of the Community tab and a 10px grid will be overlaid on the main content area. The idea is to help designers have a better grasp of how the different elements align and relate to each other on the page. Note: currently, the grid will only fill up the visible portion of top frame i.e. it won't extend all the way down if a page requires scrolling.

Transparent background

You can now have a transparent background for the text areas in YWD Designer. In the Text tab / Text area dropdown, select 'Transparent (no background)'. This way you can have a custom background image for your page -- which you can set in the Page Properties form -- and have content on top of it.

Change border thickness of left column

It's now possible to set the colour and thickness of each border in the left column through YWD Designer. You do so in Advanced / Vert. nav. Note that if adjacent sides' colours are different, the browser will create bevels.

Callouts

You can now create two different styles of callouts and assign them independently to many types of content including all content blocks, the left navigation, etc.

Left navigation

Specify the font, weight, size, leading, the horizontal divider thickness and colour for the first three levels of left navigation.

Custom page backgrounds

Individual pages can now have their own background image, which can be inherited, depending on your setings in YWD Designer, to their sub-pages.

YWD on Twitter

We've created a YWD page on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ywd
If you're already using Twitter, follow us or recommend that other people do it too...

A wonderful thank you from Ballet J�rgen

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:05:14 PST

We recently finished working on the updated Ballet Jörgen website. For this job we just took the existing site and 'electrified' it. The previous site was not updatable by the Ballet Jörgen staff. Now it is and this one simple change of letting them Control Themselves, made a world of difference to the organization. What follows is a wonderful note from the artistic director of the Ballet Jörgen. This proves that not every site has to be redesigned to be useful.

Hi Paul:

I want to express my gratitude for all your help. It is making a big difference in our operations by improving our communications and making us more efficient. It would be very difficult for us to get these results without your assistance. Thank you!

Look forward to meeting you in person.

Best regard,

Bengt Jörgen
Artistic Director & CEO
Ballet Jörgen Canada/George Brown Dance

Electric cars are dangerous to pedestrians

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:40:23 PST

In a post on engadget.com, a Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 is being proposed in the USA whereby they will study the effect of silent automobiles on pedestrian safety. So this is the NEW silent killer. Perhaps, they will add audio systems and speakers to the underside of a Prius to imitated the thrum of a muscle car engine just to keep pedestrians safe. These systems should also be hooked to the accellerator, so when the electric car takes off, it has the option of sounding like a Hemi or a Ferrari taking off at full wail.

Yahoo to shut down GeoCities

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:23:12 PST

Later this year Yahoo will shut down GeoCities, Yahoo's free website service that they purchased several years ago for 5 billion dollars. We are now in the throws of the first stages of the latest version of the Interent. This version requires people to pay for services. With the proliferation of Skype, GeoCities, HotMail, Google Mail, Facebook, Flickr, etc. there is this prevailing notion that everything on the Internet will be available for free forever. Clearly this is not the case.

Services cost. Bandwidth costs. Programming costs. Someone has to pay and the advertising model has just not worked out. So now there is a trend for user payment. The fact is the services are charging peanuts. Everyone is offering great value. Zoho gives you a bit of free but if you want more, you pay. MailChimp gives you a bit of free but if you want more, you pay. Same with Google Docs. If you want the full service plan you pay $100 per year. What's the big deal about that? So, just a reminder to all you with your entire photo library safely hosted on Flickr. Flickr ain't making any money. Your entire life in pictures could disappear tomorrow. Just warning you.

The recession is speeding up the seismic Internet shift

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:47:46 PST

We have no idea how long this 'slow down' will last but one thing is for sure, the downturn in the economy will be remembered for more than the collapsed housing market and the dramatic change in the North American automobile landscape, it will be remembered as the point in time when the Internet took over.

The key elements that make up this epoch are the dramatic shift in news, job hunting, social media, entertainment and the very nature of the Internet consumer. First of all, newspapers have finally run out of gas. Half the newsprint is being produced from just 10 years ago. But while everyone talks about the value and interest of news itself, and that there will be a different economic model for the collection and distribution of news, I'm not so sure. Sure, us oldsters are still reading printed papers and even enjoying online newspapers, but I don't think the up-and-coming generation cares about news at all. I think the assumption that the new world on-line order will be a copy of what we have now but on-line is just plain wrong. The new world order will be ruled by three things: 1) work, 2) buying stuff and 3) entertainment. I don't even know where family fits into this.

Some of the more interesting shifts that have happened during our recent travails include the rise of Twitter, which I thought was a waste of time, but has shown fantastic value as a place for job hunting better than Monster.com. Facebook is continuing its ascendance. The TV networks and record industries are in free fall. They will find their equilibrium because people love well done, TV-like content as much as watching bushy eyebrowed 47 year old women from Scotland slaying them on YouTube. But that doesn't mean the Interneters are home free, check out this article in Slate, 'Do you think bandwidth grows on trees?.' Google is blowing through a ton of money to keep YouTube alive. They haven't figured out how to make money from it. Neither does Flickr of Twitter for that matter.

So on one side we have centuries-old working models that are falling apart but with no where to move them because no one knows what the Internet model is. So, the experiments will continue, but the tide has turned. But one thing is for sure, people will just have to buy services rather than expect them for free. Oh, did I mention Kindle?

Why you need both good web design and SEO

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:20:18 PST

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) companies are popping up faster than, well faster than website companies back 10 years ago. First it was website developers that were promising you untold riches if you would only let them design the 'perfect' website for you. But now my spam bucket is filled every day with SEO come-ons promising that you'll be on the first page of a Google search guaranteed within mere days.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is all or mostly crap. Most of these SEO companies are crooks. There are only a handful that will do a proper (and Google legal) job of it and most of 'the magic' SEO offers can be done by yourself by following some very simple rules. But this is not my point.

My point is that if you contact a company with a very under-performing website (as in POC) and you pitch them on improving the website, they will turn you down 9.5 times out of 10. However, if you promise to send thousands upon thousands of more visitors to your website through SEO, then of course, why not. It's a no-brainer.

Here's the problem. You've invested in these dubious SEO promises but what kind of site are you sending these new magical prospects to? If your website does not deliver on the promise of providing a compelling experience with clear messaging and useful content and interactivity, then you've wasted your money. And this is my point, SEO and a good website work hand-in-hand. You can't, nor shouldn't do one without the other.

Is YOUR website SEO ready?

The penny drops when they see themselves in their own website

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:51:41 PST

One of the funny things about working here at Your Web Department is that clients don't fully understand what they are buying into when they get a Your Web Department website. Mostly, they trust us to just get it right and take the grief and torture of bringing a great site to life off their hands. They've heard good things about us, but the demos only provide small consolation.

The change happens when they see their own branding in their site. They enjoy seeing their own copy flow from page to page. When they are finally editing their own text, adding their own pictures then the clients understand what a wonderful tool Your Web Department is. When clients see themselves in their websites they suddenly act like parents ooing and ahhing over the first steps of their child. And shouldn't the launch of their new baby get that kind of reaction? We think it should.

We love what you are doing with 'Your' Web Department

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:40:24 PST

One of the most fun things is seeing what everyone is doing with Your Web Department. Sometimes I will go to sites that are in the process of being built out to see how they are going. If I can see that they need a little bit of help, it's fun to email with some advice. We never want you to feel that after you've signed up with us that, that's it you're on your own, we're done with you. Not the case at all. In fact, watching what you are doing with Your Web Department is like getting a Christmas present every day.

Paul Chato
President, Your Web Department

Latest props for Your Web Department

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:46:54 PST

'Thanks Flavio for the wonderful design! You have a truly inspired eye for image and metaphore. I just hope that the content we produce will be up to the standards of your imagery!'

We have a focused clientele and we love to service them.

Wedluxe.com gets a bit of love from the National Post

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:12:11 PST

I was thrilled to open up the National Post on Monday and find one of our clients, Wedluxe, mentioned in the business section. Angela Desveaux and her husband Bruce Patterson were featured, and even though it was primarily about cloudninecreative.com, Bruce's company, Wedluxe was there front and centre.

Why people are updating their websites now

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:15:51 PST

Over the past few months our business has gone through the roof. It seems this respite from the go-go-go of the last few years has caused many people to re-evaluate their websites. The people who never had a website are now saying, 'Oh crap, I need a website.' Those with under-performing websites are saying, 'Oh crap, my site is crap.' And judging from the phone calls and emails both these groups want their websites yesterday. While our hosted, self-managed website system can't go back in time, the Your Web Department service can let you turn around a website very quickly.

The other thing that seems to be exploding is LinkedIn accounts. A decent website and social marketing - a sign of the times.

More graphic designers love Your Web Department

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:00:58 PST

Good morning Paul:

Just wanted to let you know how great it is from a 'customer/supplier' standpoint, to experience the professionalism you and your team exude. When I am successful in convincing a client for me to develop a site using your website development system (great product, easy sell!), the satisfaction and lack of frustration experienced by me and my clients is truly gratifying. The proficiency, knowledge and support you present doesn't go unnoticed.

I have been researching whether we should implement web 2.0 tools (twitter, blogs, facebook, etc) on the Fox 40 website and corporate-wide, and I am able to 'keep in the loop' through your Chatter & Banter and updates.

Although I am at Fox 40 full-time, I am continuing to do some freelance, and I find myself really only interested in pursuing website work now, using your tools. I have found a 'partner' in YWD that compliments my overall goal for quality and professionalism.

A company that Fox 40 is in the process of co-branding with, sent a comment to Paul here the other day:
'I took a look at your website. Your company has done a great job with the site! I was very impressed with the information and layout.'

Having the ability to control the development and maintenance of these sites, as well as Fox 40 (which I am updating daily), Fluke websites (and future sites...) is just awesome!

Truly a class act, and a superior product.

All the best,
Janice

McKinseyCompany finally get it right

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:08:22 PST

If anyone of you are unfortunate enough to get those stupid McKinsey&Company Quarterlies then you know just how full of shit these guys can be. Except I just got a link to the Feb quarterly that ain't too far off the mark. They discuss Web2.0 in a corporate environment. It's worth a read. The bottom line is whether or not corporately you adopt social networking (or other Web2.0 technologies) within your company, your younger employees, especially, are adopting it on your behalf and representing your company on line and communicating to fellow employees on places like Facebook. As usual, McKinsey miss aspects as it relates to SMEs, but it's worth the slog, nonetheless.

Professional designers love Your Web Department

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:27:20 PST

Here is a quote from one of the most 'pro' designers we know. He came from the print world but realized that he had to add the web to his services and he has adopted Your Web Department.

'Truly Updatable Site
The real advantage of web over print is the fact that the content can be updated frequently. But how many websites can truly do that? With the YWD website that I'm quoting on, I'm also including an option where I become the webmaster for their site. All content updates go through me and the site will be updated on a weekly basis. The YWD system, in my opinion, works great for a website that really needs to be updated on a frequent basis. And with YWD, I don't have to go back to the programmer whenever there's an update needed and beg them to do the update for a reasonable cost. - MB'

We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Thanks.

Your Web Department powered websites going live non-stop

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:37:57 PST

New Your Web Department websites are now launching on a continous basis and it's all because of the designers who have adopted YWD as the tool of choice for creating websites without programming and best of all, without programmers! Here are some of the websites that have gone live recently:

www.redwheelmarketing.com
www.raptorinnovations.com
www.astonevents.com
www.balletjorgencanada.ca
www.callejadesign.com
www.csscanada.com
www.gloey.is
www.junioracademy.com
www.lighthouse360.com
www.madrockdesign.ca
www.manbw.ca
www.onesourcemetal.com

A tribute to Leo Orenstein who passed away last week

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:49:43 PST

I was one of Professor Leo's students at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute back in the 70's. I don't know how kids these days manage to be so together because most of high school and Ryerson was a fog for me.

I remember Leo vividly, however. He was the flamboyant one. He was the romantic on the teaching staff. He seemed to love life. And he had this oriental girlfriend? wife? and as a white kid from Don Mills, this pairing was exceptionally exotic. Leo loved moving forward and was not the kind of person to dwell in television's past greatness. That made him cool in comparison to some of the other teachers who loved the 'good old days' a bit too much.

One clear recollection was an end of year project, the big project, that I was struggling to complete because it was just too ambitious. It involved chromakey and space ship miniatures and alien costumes and handmade special effects. Everyone else were doing talkshows and here I was doing this stupid science fiction comedy. Needless to write, I didn't finish it. When I got my mark from your Leo I got in the 90's. He praised me for trying something no one else had ever tried and that not finishing was not a mark of failure; not trying was a failure to Leo.

For a kid lost in a fog, this was a moment of clarity and I have always remembered this.

Thank you Leo.

Your Web Department seminar a huge success

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:56:14 PST

We'd like to thank Cohos Evamy Integrated Design here in Toronto for lending us their space for our Doing Business with Your Web Department event. And thank you for everyone who came out to see Flavio Mester, chief designer of Your Web Department, do his wonderful presentation. It was clear from the response that there was a huge interest in Your Web Department's unique way of making web work profitable for designers (no programmers required).

For all those who could not be accommodated to this over-booked event, we will be planning another one soon.

Your Web Department Design and Business-building seminar all filled up

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:49:08 PST

Well, that was fast. Our special design and business-building seminar for Your Web Department is full up and we won't be taking any more people. If you're interested in attending any future seminars just go to the Contact Us section and tell us that you want to be notified of future events.

We have had requests for a total business oriented session. If you'd like to learn how to make money using Your Web Department, please tell us.

Your Web Department professional designers' event and tour of Cohos Evamy Integrated Design Offices

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:01:12 PST

February 11, 4:30 - 6:30 - 2 Bloor Street E. Suite 1000
Wine and snacks

Your Web Department will be hosting a special event for professional designers in partnership with Cohos Evamy Integrated Design. Your Web Department is the world's first and only DIY website system made for professional designers. The 'architect' behind YWD Designer, Flavio Mester, will present an overview of YWD showing how you can create websites quickly, easily and without programming. Paul Chato, president of YWD, will cover how you can increase profits and lower development costs. Cohos Evamy will conduct a tour of their offices which has targeted LEED CI Gold Certification. If you're interested in attending this special event, please email us at info[at]yourwebdepartment.com, phone us at 416-361-6161 x1009 or fill out the online form.

RGD of Ontario link to the Your Web Department professional designer's event

Your Web Department on BusinessCast.ca

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:41:50 PST

Last week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Robert Gold and Andrew Brown from BusinessCast.ca. The theme of the interview was passion. We are really passionate about Your Web Department and Robert and Andrew were interested in how we used Your Web Department to convey the passion people have for their own companies, but on the Internet. Catch the Businesscast podcast of the Your Web Department interview.

It was a really fun interview to give because it was clear both Robert and Andrew were passionate about Businesscast.

UPDATE: My interview on the BusinessCast.ca network made it to the Greatest Hits list. This is a big thrill.

Think of your website as a brochure + time

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:09:13 PST

For all of the Internet's ubiquity, people still have a hard time figuring out how to make it work for themselves. So, here is simple way to think about your website. A website is a brochure + time. We've all heard of websites as 'brochure-ware'. This has taken on bad connotations, and for good reason, it brings to mind a website that just sits there. This is because websites exist in an ongoing continuum. Printed brochures just sit in your warehouse collecting dust.

Therefore the notion of a printed document + time makes a lot of sense. While it is true that the first impression people have of your website is important, it is the impression, or feeling, they get from your website over time that is more important. If you update it regularly with interesting and relevant content, people might not remember the specific content, but they will have this 'feeling' of you being an ever-changing entity with good things to say. Think of Google's logo. They are always mucking about with it; for Christmas, Halloween, holidays, special events, etc. It's a small thing, but a powerful thing. You could call it logo+time. So, while you might not remember any one particular version, you know it changes. It gives people the impression that Google is an ever-changing company and fun as well.

When people build websites they forget about the time component, yet it is the most important attribute of the Internet.

Why doesn't anyone sell simple video cables?

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:27:30 PST

All I want are simple RCA video cables. You know, those crappy 2' cables one used to use to connect stereo equipment together. Unfortunately, these days all you can find are 'gold tipped', deluxe, monster, 20' cables thick as your index finger that cost you 40+ bucks. There's nothing high-end about them, mind you. They are just cheap cables in fancy packaging with more wire than you can use. Sure the audiophiles will argue about quality cables, but they really don't make that much of a difference. It's a conspiracy to charge us more for not much more. It looks impressive but it's just a bunch of nonsense. I'm afraid I will have to resort to purchasing my own RCA plugs and wiring some cables myself. I can get 8 plugs for a buck and I have lots of wire at home. There, two cables, exact length, 1 buck.

Now you can have it great, fast AND cheap

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:37:19 PST

There is a saying in the web business. You can have a website, good, fast or cheap... pick two. Websites were such a technological challenge (or just a pain-in-the-ass) that if you wanted a good site it was hard to do it cheaply. With Your Web Department you can now acheive the impossible- not just good, fast and cheap but GREAT, fast and cheap. I know this is a shameless plug but we've just upgraded YWD with a ton of new features and I'm really convinced that it is something special. If you're a small-biz owner, you'll love it. If you're a designer and you hate handing off your profts to a web programmer you'll LOVE it.

Try Your Web Department.

Paul Heron loves Your Web Department

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:48:35 PST

Dear Paul,

A couple of months ago, I moved complex2clear.com to Your Web Department. Despite assurances, I expected a long and frustrating slog to reach proficiency wiht the interface. Especially given my lack of patience learning new software.

So I'm delight to report that the YWD platform performs much better than I'd expected. For the most part, it achieves that most elusive of software goals-it's intuitive.

Okay, here's the part you can use. With YWD, my site looks great, runs great and is a breeze to manage. Thank you, Your Web Department.

Paul Heron,
President
Complex2Clear

Victoria Gold Resources finds gold in Your Web Department

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:48:37 PST

This was a wonderful job with a company with great people. Victoria Gold needed a new website. Only Your Web Department could deliver the quality and speed that they needed at a great price. I think you'll agree the difference between the old site and the new one is striking.(Hint- that's our on the right.)

What is the difference between Your Web Department and Dreamweaver?

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:16:32 PST

So, what is the difference between Your Web Department and Dreamweaver? This was probably the most asked question at the recent Design City trade show as part of PrintWorld 2008.

The simple answer is that Dreamweaver is a piece of software that you have to buy, install and upgrade on a regular basis. It also creates 'flat' websites that are not dynamic. You will also have to learn html and concepts such as ftp and directories and server-side includes (if you're advanced enough). Every time you want to update your site you will have to fire up your copy of Dreamweaver on your computer, make the changes locally and then ftp them to your web server. Also, you will have to include special code that will 'sniff' which browser is viewing your site and accommodate the idiosyncacies that exist between the various versions of IE, Firefox and Safari.

So, what is the difference between Your Web Department and Dreamweaver? The difference is that you won't have to worry about any of the above. Your Web Department is a hosted website management system. There is no software to buy. You use your web browser to edit and manage your site. This provides the added advantage of being able to update your website from any computer, at any time, from any place. We take care of the physical website structure on the servers. All you need to do is add pages. Since you use word processor interface you don't have to learn programming. And most importantly, what ever you publish in Your Web Department will pretty much work across all browsers.

That is the simplest explaination of what why Your Web Department is different, and frankly, so much better.

Day 3 at Print World 2008

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:42:56 PST

Well, all I can say it was the show's damn fault for having only Your Web Department as a pure web offering because we are just crazy busy. People really get what we are offering and how they can build their websites and web business with our system. The most popular question was, 'How is Your Web Department different from Dreamweaver?'

Met lots of very interesting people with cool online applications. My favouite was Slava Apel's www.amazingprint.com, which is a fascinating web-to-print product. I can see it taking over the biz card and letterhead business. He did a kick-ass presentation about how more and more people are doing their print purchases for the simple biz stuff over the Internet.

One last thought. And this is being a bit bitchy, but how come so many companies in the printing business have such shitty logos? Don't they know any designers? Aren't printers in the design business? What is going on here? Sersiously, there should be no excuse for a printer or supplier to have a dumb-ass logo.

Day 2 at Design City at Print World 2008

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:37:13 PST

10am

Sorry, didn't post anything about day 1 because it was so freaking busy. Which is great. The response to Your Web Department was fantastic. We had one of the busier booths. Although, we did put the noses of a couple of programmer's out of joint who objected to the anti-programmer humour in our literaturature. Curiously, immediately afterwards a fellow named Brian came by and howled as he nodded with appreciation about our good-natured digs. After all, YWD was made by programmers, but ours are great.

Websites without programmers. As the fellow from ING says, 'Save your money.'

5pm

Again another incredibly busy day. It seems lots of printers would like to add Your Web Department to the list of things they could offer to their clients. We're happy to help of course. Also, here's our booth at the show. :-)

Come visit us at DesignCity Nov. 22, 23, 24

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:01:30 PST

Notice to all designers who have been thinking about Your Web Department but just didn't have the time to try it out. Now you can kick the tires of our revolutionary Your Web Department website system at DesignCity at Print World 2008 at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto.

The show is open from 10am to 6pm. Look forward to seeing you there at booth 1044.

www.designcityshow.com

The Reason Your Web Department Exists

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:43:59 PST

The other day someone asked me why we created Your Web Department. Frankly, there are lots of ways to get a website up and running. But that didn't resolve two key issues:

Only 36% of companies with 100 or fewer employees have a website (Jupiter Research and StatsCan).
The vast majority of companies hire someone else to do their websites.

So, we created a system for the other 64% who don't have websites because they're intimidated by the process. And we created Your Web Department for the designer and communications professional who wants to create websites that look and work great without programming.

Oh, there is a third thing. The vast majority of people come to us because they want to manage and update their own websites. Why didn't anyone think of doing this before? We don't know.

So that's why we did it. I could go on but I think that answers the question.

A New Era for YWD Dawns

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:57:41 PST

Over the weekend Your Web Department moved to a new co-location facility to updated servers; better, bigger and more in every way. One cannot underestimate the kind of achievement this represents. We had a couple of glitches we found today but for the most-part everyone is up and faster and generally more responsive, especially the editing interface.

I would like to congratulate the programming team led by Gustavo for this achievement and Chris Dillon in particular for pulling this all together.

Big thanks.

Now we can concentrate on making YWD even better.

Your Web Department to showcase at DesignThinkers 2008- RGD Ontario

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:22:44 PST

Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Canada

28-29 October 2008

DesignThinkers 2008 will take place at various venues across Toronto with the two main days taking place on October 28 and 29 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC).

Attracting over 1,000 participants and a full line-up of fascinating speakers, DesignThinkers is Canada's largest, most important graphic design event. It's an occasion to listen, learn and interact with peers from across the country.

Join designers from all walks of life as we gather to share experiences, run with new ideas and celebrate the power of design.

Pics from the Markham Small Biz Event

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:20:48 PST

The Markahm small biz get together was a marvelous event. Here are some pics from the Oct. 1 event.

I'm in the middle there just two spots to the right of the Mayor of Markham. Nice guy. (My right)

My fingers are crossed in this picture. Perhaps I'm hoping no one notices my fly is down.

I look in pain here but seriously, I really had a great time, the crowd was wonderful and lots of people were interested in Your Web Department afterwards.

Markham Ontario loves Your Web Department

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:20:32 PST

Hi Paul,

Thanks again for your insightful presentation which I thoroughly enjoyed. In case you do not know, there was a very nice clip of the event in yesterday's Rogers' First Local (news for the local television channel for Richmond Hill and Markham area) and you were part of it.

Best regards,

Sandra

Sandra Tam
Manager
Markham Small Business Enterprise Centre
Economic Development Department, Town of Markham

Embarrassing photos surface of Your Web Department president

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:45:18 PST

Okay, that's me on the left of our foursome at the Colin Kressler golf tournament which took place July 24, 08 at the Cardinal Golf Club. It's a terrific event that is in the aid of the Ontario Visually Impaired Golfers. Really.

I would love to tell you who the other wonderful gents were but I deleted the email. (I had a horrible game.)

Cocomira loves our bilingual option

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:44:58 PST

' Thank you for your help. The ability of your system to make a website bilingual - easily - is a powerful selling point. I was dreading the prospect of creating a ton of extra pages and then linking them all and also editing French and English every time I made a change. Your system simplifies the whole process.'

Regards,
Anna Janes
Cocomira

Paul Chato speaks at RGD Ontario - Design for the Digital World

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:41:46 PST

While am waiting for my spot to talk to the Registered Graphic Designers Ontario -Designing for the Digital World show, I've been lucky to hear the presentations of some very cool and knowledgable people: Steve Dotto spoke about security on the Internet. More about personal security rather than network security which was quite a wake up call to the crowd.

Then there was a very nice presenation by Joseph Raponi on his creative studio management software - Streamline.

Now Phil Barret is doing a talk on social media. Clearly a very knowledgable dude.

I spoke after lunch and afterwards came Jean-Pierre Lacroix of Shikatani Lacroix Brandesign who was nice enough to give me some props during his presentation on The New World of Digital Design.

VITGoldcorp.com goes live

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:54:05 PST

Just a quick note that www.vitgoldcorp.com has gone live. Really enjoyed this job. A great bunch of people. Good luck with your site and hope you kick some ass.

We are launching new sites daily. I hope to keep you posted with as many as I can.

Your Web Department becomes a Gold Sponsor of the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:02:11 PST

We are very happy to be gold sponsors of the Registerd Graphic Designers Ontario. This is an incredible organization featuring some of the top designers in North America. Because Your Web Department is the first and only DIY system designed expressly for the professional graphic designer, it just made sense to become part of the RGD.

You can read more about this momentous event at RGD welcomes Your Web Department as Gold Sponsor.

In additional RGD news, I will be speaking at Harbourfront in Toronto at a terrific RGD event, September 18: Design for the Digital World. Hope to see you there.

Your Web Department fully supports Apple Safari

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:50:29 PST

Your Web Department supports Apple's Safari web browser. We've always supported Firefox on the Mac, but now we have added Safari. So for all you designers out there who prefer Safari, this is great news.

In other news we will soon be releasing an update to our Image Gallery tool.

Using all parts of the Internet

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:28:32 PST

I recall many years ago hearing in history class of how members of the First Nation used all parts of the buffalo after killing it. It made me think about how little of the Internet businesses are using. Case in point, YouTube.

I know what you're thinking, 'I don't have a stupid cat movie to post or goofy corporate Christmas party video, what use is YouTube to me?'

Well, a lot really. At the very least it can't do you any harm. The wonderful thing about the Internet is that it lets you put stuff up in so many places. We have a simple corporate video on YouTube. Why have a 'boring' corporate video on YouTube? Who's going to watch it? Lots, actually. Perhaps none. But why not do it. Cover your bases. The Internet is often about serendipity. Use it.

Your Web Department goes to the Middle East

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:10:38 PST

While I love all our Your Web Department customers, it's still pretty cool to have our first Egyptian client. Gourmet Egypt has gone live with its online ordering system for a wide assortment of gourmet eats. eBrand in Jordan did the design and content management. We can now add Egypt to our growing list of global clients.

Your Web Department joins local BNI business chapter

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:01:06 PST

We were recently invited to join a local BNI business development chapter. BNI is a word of mouth business building organization. We were accepted as their website development member. I have to write that this is one great group of people. Apart from the opportunity of doing great work for them, they also represent an incredible resource of talent- everything from marketing, design, to human resources, event planing and management, brand development, insurance, estate planning, photography - everything one could think of when running a business.

I'll be putting out a list of skills available through this chapter. Feel free to use these skills. As a fellow entrepreneur and small business owner, I know we can always use some help.

New place for news and stuff

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:58:03 PST

Yes, this suspiciously looks like a blog. Actually, I had one going here for two years and then just got too busy to keep it writing it. Sound familiar? Well every website evolves (it should) and I've decided that there is a use for our blog tool on this damn site. So we've created this Chatter & Banter area to post news, updated information, interesting facts and to repost some of the hundreds of my more interesting blog entries.

I'll post something later about why 'blogs' are a tired concept and, while it's a great tool, you should be using it in other ways on your site.

Paul

YWD Updates - July 25, 08

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:57:02 PST

Your Web Department - Updates July 23, 08

Hello YWD partners. We have lots to update you on. Many of you have already noticed some of the updates. Everything we're describing here has already gone live as 'soft' rollouts to make sure there haven't been any surprises. In fact many of you have already commented on some of the changes and asked for changes on the changes, which we have already implemented. Thanks for all your input. Deep breath, here we go.

:: Changes to Page Properties

Page Properties now has a new feature called, Suppress Page Headers. What is the significance of this feature? Prior to this change, a page header was always forced. Either it would be the menu name or the optional Long Name. There was no easy way to just not have a name at the top or if you wanted to use a graphic heading to liven up the page rather than using system fonts. Now you have this flexibility with the Suppress Page Headers feature.
It is accessible in the Page Properties as a radio button.

:: Favicons- NEW!
Favicons are those little icons that you see to the left of the URL. Your Web Department has made it really easy to include this feature. Here's how you do it:

Make an icon 16 x 16 pixels square (it must be in .gif format)
Name it 'favicon.gif'
Upload it to the Assets Manager (anywhere, doesn't matter)
There, you're done. Your Web Department will automatically enable this feature. You can also see confirmation of its use in the YWD Designer tool in the Images Tab.

:: Google Webmaster Verification- NEW!
When you sign up for Google's Webmaster tools to optimize your website and use their web tools, Google will ask that you verify that your site is legitimately your site. They do this by asking you to put some Google html code into your site. Google will confirm that you have done it, verifying your website, and you can move on and take advantage of the rich tools Google offers to help you make your site more visible, check statistics, improve your campaigns, etc.

In Your Web Department you do this using the Meta Tag Builder tool with the newly added field 'Verify Ownership'. The Verify Ownership Meta Tag option is required to use Google Webmaster Tools. Google only asks for this tag to be present in the home page.
In order for you to verify ownership of your site, you must have a Google account. It's easy -- and free!
To learn more about the Google Webmaster Tools and to get a Google account, go to this address: http://www.google.ca/webmasters/tour/tour1.html.
Once you have an account, the next step is to verify your site by selecting Google's 'Add a meta tag verification method'. You will be provided some code from Google. You paste it in the Meta Tag Builder, save, click on the Site Tab, click on your Home page, click on Add Content and select Meta Tag Builder. Publish your page. Go back to your Google Webmaster Tools and click the button that lets Google confirm you have added this code. Your done.

:: Changes to Blog
The Delicious, Diggit and Facebook social networking links are now available in the Blog. This is a useful tool for increasing site traffic and Google rankings.

:: Managing 404 Errors- NEW!
404 errors or as they are commonly known as 'Page Not Found' errors can happen for the following reasons:

People have saved a link to a page on your site that no longer exists.
Google has indexed a page that no longer exists on your site.
You have switched from your old website to Your Web Department and none of the sub page links that Google indexed or users have linked work any more.

Usually this brings up an ugly, undescriptive or useless 404 error. This also doesn't look very good on you. So, to fix this problem, we have created a way to capture these dead links and redirect people to your home page or to a page that is a bit more descriptive.

Here is how it works:

Create a page in your site with the name '404' or 'Page not found', this page does not need to be part of the site navigation. To do this, in the page properties for that page make the following selections:

Hidden: Yes
Navigation display
Primary: No
Top: No
Bottom: No
You can then add a message on this page, funny, sad, or indifferent redirecting them to your home page.

:: Changes to Catalog Tool
We have made the catalog tool easier to use, now you can chose how you want the catalog to behave. We have created 'Catalog modes' with 4 choices: Brochure, PayPal payment, Internal and Requests.

Brochure mode is the basic mode for the catalog, the product info is only displayed.
Paypal payment mode will provide fields for adding the Paypal code to the products and SKUs (you need a Paypal account to use this)
Internal mode let you keep the full shopping experience without the eCommerce part. Your customers will be able to browse and add products to their shopping basket, which is used to place an order that can be paid on delivery.
Request mode is similar to the Internal mode, but the language and collection of information is targeted for a request for quote.

As well, we added the ability to customize the message for the confirmation email that your customer receives after placing an order or requesting a quote submission.

:: Changes to WordProcessor
You will need to clear your browser cache to see this change. The editor has been improved and we've made the contents of it look closer to the way your website looks.

:: Update to News Manager

Friendlier interface
Two headline selection modes for either automatic (by data range and/or number of headlines) or manual (individually picked headlines)
Multiple formatting for date format, position, headline size, etc.
NOTE: Pages with the News Manager content type must be published to work

We've also made some exciting improvements to the YWD Designer system.

:: Reclaim Top Space
All Your Web Department websites forced a space on the top. This is there to accommodate the use of the top navigation option. People use this often for Home or Contact Us menus. However, if you have no intention of using Top Menus you can now reclaim this space, tuck your website up higher, and make it aesthetically more pleasing. You will find this feature in YWD Designer in the Layout Tab.

Click on the Reclaim Unused Areas drop down menu and chose from:

reclaim left navigation
reclaim top navigation
both or none

:: No Borders
You can access it by going to the Layout Tab and selecting Page Width. Your options are:

Normal (930 pixel banner site with border)
Narrow (750 pixel banner site with border)
Normal - No Border
Narrow - No Border

:: Menus above Banner and No Left Navigation options
Horizontal menus can now appear above the banner. Additionally, if you're using drop-down navigation you can now suppress the left navigation so your website's navigation is driven purely from the drop-down navigation. To find these options go to the Advance Tab and select Horizontal Navigation and Menu Style. Your options are:

Regular* (horizontal navigation under banner plus left-hand navigation)
Drop-down + Left Nav*
Drop-down without Left Nav
Above Banner, Regular*
Above Banner, Drop-down + Left Nav*
Above Banner, Drop-down without Left Nav

* The Reclaim Unused option will have an effect on the asterisked options.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

The Your Web Department team