Inspired by the iPad interface, Spaceflux dynamically loads and displays your posts in a way that makes them easy to filter, view, and share. The Spaceflux WordPress theme is a clean and stylish solution for bloggers and content hoarders. Plus, it looks great on mobile devices and it’s only 5 bucks FREE!

Price: FREE!

Features

• Custom Theme Options
• WordPress 2.9 compatible
• jQuery and AJAX dynamic content loading
• Auto-generated thumbnails
• Widget-ready sidebar
• Easy installation
• Tested in Safari, Firefox, Chrome, IE 8 + IE 7
• W3C validated XHTML

Frequently Asked Questions:

• How do I install wordpress themes?
• Can I customize the logo?
• Can I modify the themes to fit my website’s needs?
• I found an error, will you fix it?
• Under what terms are these themes released?
• Read full FAQ »

When you start thinking about your soon-to-be website, your excitement might fade when you realize you don’t really know where to begin. What should you do first? And how should you organize your thoughts so that they’ll be useful to your designer? Here are some tips:

Create a Basic Outline

Start by opening up your favorite word processor and mapping out your table of contents. What should your navigation look like and what content will your site consist of? A basic table of contents might look like this:

1. Home
2. About Us
3. Archives
4. Links
5. Contact Us

You get the idea.

Next, take some time to expand on each of those sections by writing a little about what you expect to be on each of the pages. If you don’t have all your content ready yet, that’s okay! But some description is better than nothing.

Compile Your Content

Creating a table of contents will help you see the larger picture. Now that you know what kind of content you’ll have, it’s time to start producing that content. If you have an About Us page, type up your biography or mission statement. If you have an Archives page, decide if you’d like to archive by month, year, and/or category.

And don’t forget about your Homepage! Figure out what content is most important and think of the best way to deliver it. When someone comes to your site, they should immediately be able to find what they’re looking for. Long winded welcome messages are unnecessary. Get to the point and show them the goods!

Collect Your Assets (Images, PDFs, Videos, etc.)

If you want quality photos on your site, you’re going to have to provide them to your designer so they have something to work with. Visit a stock photography site and purchase your photos so that they’re available for your designer to use. And if videos are a big part of your site, you’ll want to have a few of those ready too — if possible.

Prepare Some Direction

If you’ve ever experienced working with a great designer, you might start to think that they know what you want better than you do. But expecting as much is unrealistic. To make sure your designer has a good sense of what you’re aiming for, create a list of links to websites that you admire or have elements that you hope to emulate. Make sure you include a description about what it is you like about it.

Here’s an example:

• Hip Web Design (http://www.makeyouhip.com) — I really love the colors of this site. It pops. I’d like the colors to pop on my site too.

Acquire the Essentials

There are a few technical requirements for starting a new website. I posted an article a while back called “What Do I Need for a Website,” but I’ve broken it down simply here:

1. Hosting
2. Domain name

Typically, you can get both these things at the same time from the same provider. If you aren’t sure what you need, ask your designer/developer before hand.

Once you acquire these, compile a list of user names and passwords that your designer/developer will need to start setting things up for you.

Put It All Together

As a designer, one of the worst things is when a client trickles everything in to you. When content comes in spread out over dozens of emails, it’s easy for things to get lost or over looked.

Once you’ve got everything we’ve discussed above, make sure it’s organized and appropriately labeled. Then, ideally, put it all into one folder and compress it into a ZIP file. If you’ve got a lot of photos or videos to send, you may need to spread this out a little, but when it comes to the basic information, having it well organized and together will let the designer move ahead faster.

You’re Good To Go

Now that you’ve created a nice little package, send it off to your designer. He/she will be grateful that you’ve made such efficient preparations. This will leave more time for your designer to focus on the important things — like designing your site.

If you come to your designer unprepared, they may not be able to attack your project with the high morale needed to produce something genius. Waiting for material and instructions to come in can bog down the entire process and kill your project’s momentum.

And as always… Hip Web Design is standing by.

I learned to do web design pretty much the same way Adam Savage learned to be a special effects artist — I just jumped in. When you’re learning something new, failure is unavoidable. But failure is necessary. It’s the mistakes that make you better at what you do. They refine you, provide you with wisdom, and, as Adam Savage put it, strengthen your intuition.

There are limits to what a person can accomplish given a particular set of boundaries. As a freelancer, it’s up to you to test those boundaries, and at times fail, so that you develop a greater understanding of yourself, and therefore know what you need to get the job done for your clients.

Yes, technically speaking, you can do some pretty neat stuff with Flash, but there are three major drawbacks: they’re difficult to manage, they can potentially destroy your search engine optimization, and they can be incompatible on some mobile devices.

Let’s start with management. Flash just isn’t as portable and flexible as other methods of coding. From a programming perspective, integrating a full-flash website with a user-friendly content management system can be challenging and arduous (aka expensive). Major changes to your design, depending on its complexity, could cost you a pretty penny, not to mention the inconvenience. Simply put, it just isn’t as practical to build a site in Flash, especially if the client wants to manage it on their own.

Then there’s the search engine problem. This is probably the most dangerous drawback to a full-flash site. Unlike  HTML or other methods of coding, Flash doesn’t render text or coding in a way that is easily accessible by search engines. Because of this, search engines can’t pull information from your site necessary to rank it. You might as well not have a website if you’re hoping to get traffic from search engines.

The final drawback is compatibility. In order to view Flash in your browser, you must have Flash installed. It is pretty standard these days, but there’s still the off chance your visitor doesn’t have it, or is running a very old version. More importantly, some mobile devices don’t even support flash. This could have a negative impact on your business if visitors find issue with your site.

So, pretty much what I’m saying is don’t get too excited about Flash. That’s really all that it is. Something flashy to be used in moderation. There are better, more efficient ways to create a dynamic site, like using jQuery, which will keep your site easy to maintain and search engine optimized. There are many examples of jQuery on this site, which include scrolling elements, tooltips, overlays, and galleries.

In the end, if you mention to your designer that you want a Flash website and (s)he raises no concern, you may want to reconsider whether they have your best interests in mind.

Let’s face it, trends come and go, especially on the internet. A stunning website you had designed just a year ago may pale in comparison to a website designed today. In my opinion, a design has about a 6 month shelf-life, and then it starts to go stale.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to scrap the whole thing and start back at the drawing board (although you might). Just do something different.

Bloggers should be especially aware. You may get the same TIME magazine every week, but at least the layout changes. Internet readers want the same thing. Keep your design fresh, and your functionality fresher, and your readers will keep coming back. You’ve got to keep up with the creative flow, otherwise your visitors will find greener, more interesting pastures.

It’s important, however, that you don’t over do it and lose the sense of identity you’ve established. In some cases, you may WANT to lose that identity, but generally, you need an anchor. Something that strings one design to the next, while still pushing the envelope.

Take Pepsi, for example. They recently made-over their logo. But, hold it up to the old one, and you’ll see that there’s a great deal of subtlety involved. Employ this same sense of subtlety when approaching a re-design. Even something slight can get people talking, and that’s good for business.

Another example is Tropicana. They gave themselves a new look, got some attention, then went back to their more traditional style. Don’t be afraid to reinvent your aesthetic. In another six months, you may want to pull it back, but you’re still keeping your site fresh and in the minds of your visitors.

Well… sort of. You see, like anything (making coffee, riding a bike, lumber-jacking, etc.) you have to be willing to learn to use your tools. Fortunately, the tools are getting easier to use every day. Hip Web Design makes sure that those tools — the easy ones — are at your disposal, and that you’re informed enough to dive right in.

Still seem a little daunting to you? Have you ever written an email? A Word document? If you’ve ever done those things, you can blog. Never done those things? Well you made it to this website, didn’t you? The key to these “easy tools” is their intuitiveness. They rely more on common sense than technical expertise.

You might be thinking, “Okay, easy tools. Great. But I want it to look cool. Not like all those other ones.” You can have that too! Don’t be fooled into thinking that an easy to manage website means dumbed-down. It’s just the opposite. Here’s the brilliance in what Hip Web Design offers: completely custom designs, cutting edge style, all sorts of bells and whistles, but all the content is manageable by YOU. On your own time. In your pajamas. Between coffee and… lumber-jacking.

If you’re on the fence, contact Hip Web Design. You’ll be blogging (or running an online store, sharing your portfolio, advertising your business) in no time.

The big question for many is “What am I gonna need?”

Aside from an idea and a web designer, here are some essential things you’ll end up needing:

1. A domain name. A domain is the address where people will find your site. Like, example.com
2. Web hosting. Think of this as the house that your address (domain) points to. A web host will provide you with a “space” to put your website. GoDaddy.com is a popular web host. You usually buy your domain name and web hosting from the same company since it’s more convenient that way.

In some cases, as it is with Hip Web Design, your web designer can help you acquire both these things, so don’t be afraid to ask. However, since you’ll be paying for it, you should be familiar with what exactly it is you’re getting.

There are also some things that will apply depending on what kind of site you’re hoping to build. If you plan to open an online store and accept credit card payments, you’re going to need extra services.

1. A shopping cart. This refers to a feature found on most online stores in which you select an item and put it into a virtual “shopping cart.” This shopping cart keeps track of the shoppers purchases and provides some accounting to show the visitor what they owe. There are two basic types of shopping carts: One that is bought and installed by your web designer, or one that is built from scratch by your web designer. The price for this has a few variables, so you should talk with your web designer about what is right for you.
2. A payment gateway. A payment gateway is just like a point-of-sale terminal at a retail store. Instead of swiping your card through a machine, you pay a service to process your credit card payments electronically. A payment gateway is a service that provides you with the ability and security to accept credit card purchases through your website. This price also varies from company to company, and may depend on what kind of shopping cart you want.

Don’t be scared away if you’re intimidated by some of these points. Here at Hip Web Design, we’re more than happy to talk you through it and get you the best deal possible.

So… is that all? Those are the bare essentials; Hosting and a domain name a must. Shopping cart and Payment gateway if you want to sell products.

If you’re a beginner and you want to teach yourself more about what it’s like to have a website and participate in the online community, you should try opening (and regularly using) a Twitter or Facebook account. You could also start with a free blog from WordPress.com or Tumblr.com. These are both companies that give you a free, limited domain and hosting for a pre-designed, ready-to-use blog.

Prime Minister Brown predicts that foreign policy will never be the same again. No longer with the social elite be in charge of making decisions on behalf of everyone else. With the internet, anybody can publish their views and connect with other people from all around the world instantaneously. It’s the people who reach out and use these new tools of communication who are going to hold sway in a Global Society and bring to light the issues and points-of-view that will spark real action.

Don’t think this grandiose idea doesn’t apply directly to you. The true power of blogging and communicating online may still be undiscovered, but at its most base level it’s still a tool that embodies the Global Society idea. Whether you’re a casual blogger or a business owner, there are many benefits to be gained from blogging and building a community around niche subjects.

Take a look at Gordon Brown’s talk and think about how this might apply to you, your ideas, or your business, and make a decision about the role you want to play in dawn of the Global Society.