thinkdave.com featured on CSSmania

After trying to get listed on CSSmania for about 6 months, and I’ve finally made it!

If you’re visiting from CSSmania, enjoy your 2 seconds on my site. If don’t know what CSSmania is, it’s a showcase of websites built using (almost in my case) valid XHTML/CSS. Some of the world’s best designs are featured on the site, so it’s definitely worth a visit if you’re planning a new website for your business.

I don’t think that a CSSmania listing is quite as spectacular as it was a couple of years ago, but it’s still nice to see that my work is good enough to be featured.

Incidentally, my site is running a modified version of the VibrantCMS theme by Woothemes, so they deserve a lot of the credit for it. Thanks guys.

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Proof that WordPress does work as a CMS

WARNING: Geeky Web designer content ahead.

I’ve read a dozen or so articles proclaiming that WordPress, the world’s best blogging platform, can be used as a Content Management System (CMS) for business websites. So when Craig from Presslink asked me to develop a new 100+ page site for Air Products South Africa, we decided that we wanted to give WordPress the opportunity to prove itself as a CMS, a decision which made me more than just a little nervous.

WordPress was obviously not designed to be a CMS, and unlike open source CMS solutions like Joomla, it lacks certain functionality out of the box. That said, it’s a bunch of fun once you add in some plugins (of which there are literally hundreds available) and do a little bit of custom PHP coding.

Not being the world’s best PHP programmer (in fact, I may be among the worst) it took me a little longer than it could have to pull RSS feeds from Air Products’ US site, and I’m still not completely happy with the way I showcase blog posts on the home page. But the final product turned out fantastically. The client loves the design (that was Craig’s doing), I love the way developing with WordPress is faster than with Joomla (and it almost validates too!), and Presslink’s staff are impressed with the ease of populating the site with content.

If you’re a designer looking for a new CMS platform to make designing corporate websites easier and more user friendly, give WordPress a bash. It’s my new CMS of choice.

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Wax In The City Website design

Recently I was given the opportunity to design a website for Wax In The City. This upmarket salon provides waxing (in all sorts of places), pedicures, manicures, tanning and a range of other personal grooming services.

The client’s marketing department handled the graphic design and content generation for the project, and I put it all together as a static XHTML/CSS driven site.

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About me

Welcome to thinkdave.com, owned and managed by Dave Wilkinson.

I have been building and managing small business websites since 2003. I have an academic marketing background and 9 years experience as a business-to-business marketing manager.

I am a self taught web designer with a passion for helping small business owners grow their businesses online. Read more…

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