DigitalRealm Media Notebook

What to put behind a small business site

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Choosing a booking system for a small business site in 2026.

Upstate Pet Connect is live!

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:00:00 +0000

We have now launched our brand new project, Upstate Pet Connect. UPC is a site that matches loving pet owners with loving pets in need of a great home! We are animal lovers and we wanted to combine our love for animals with our love for the web and design. We think we have created a special project that many people in the Upstate can enjoy and benefit from!

Check it out at http://www.upstatepetconnect.com. You can post a FREE pet listing, browse available pets in the area, find out about local pet resources, and more! The site features an easy to use posting system, as well as complete information on each pet that is listed on the site.

We are very excited about UPC and we are looking forward to connecting great animals all across the Upstate with some great pet owners!

JavaScript Video Tutorial at Yahoo!

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Douglas Crockford from Yahoo! has posted his first of four videos detailing the JavaScript programming language. This first video is a great look into the language and covers some of the basics, history, and foundations of the language. Douglas is a well known guy in the development community, and offers some great insight into the JavaScript language.

If you are interested in starting to learn Javascript, this video is a good start. You can check out the video over at the Yahoo! Video site, right here.

I am really looking forward to the other three videos of this set. This is a great resource for JavaScript programmers!

Firebug 1.0 overview video

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Just in case you have not heard of it yet, Firebug is the coolest little free app out there right now! It is a plugin extension for the Firefox browser that no web designer/developer should be without. I literally use this thing probably 60-70 times on a regular basis each day.

Anyway, there is a great video posted over at Yahoo! by the creator of Firebug, Joe Hewitt. He explains Firebug and talks about the new features in the 1.0 release, including some things that you may not have known about behind the scenes. Check out the video as it is certainly worth viewing.

Project Launch: B&L Mechanical, Inc.

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

DigitalRealm Media is pleased to announce that we have officially launched the brand new B&L Mechanical, Inc. website. The website can be viewed at blmech.com.

The site features a new interface, along with much better organization compared to their previous website. The site was built using XHTML for markup and all of the styling of course is driven by CSS. The site also runs on the Textpattern CMS, for easy maintenance and updating by the B&L folks. Their back-end client management is conveniently handled with Basecamp.

The end result is a very small, very simple website that is easy to use. We enjoyed working with B&L on this project and we are looking forward to continued success with them in the future.

New Mind Petals article now available

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

My latest Mind Petals article, titled What a Client Wants to Hear, is now posted at Mind Petals.

This time around, we focus on making sure that you can deliver what your client wants without getting in over your head. We deal with a lot of client interaction here at DRM and we have had our good and bad stories to tell. With this article, we want to provide a look into a very good lesson of making sure that your clients are always happy and that they get what you promise them

We hope you enjoy the new article….

MooTools 1.0 Primer

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Aaron Newton has created and written a new MooTools primer based on the upcoming 1.0 release of MooTools. MooTools is a JavaScript framework, similar to Prototype. We use MooTools right here on the DRM site to run some of the interactivity on the blog, services, and home page.

Aaron’s new primer, titled the Mootorial, is a great introduction into the new release. You can browse and read over all of the various components of the new version by using the navigation menu found on the right hand side of his page. The 1.0 version is not out yet, but is due any day so this reference may slightly differ when all is said and done. It is certainly worth going ahead and looking over to get familiar with the new version, and Aaron has done a great job with putting together this resource.

If you are new to MooTools, and need a guide to help you along the way, I recommend that you check out the offering here by Aaron. You are sure to get up to speed in no time with this great framework.

Another excellent resource list

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

I stumbled across the DEVLISTING a few days ago while I was searching for some stuff online and I gotta say, this is a great resource!

There are some very good links here, all relating to the design and development community in some way. Everything is categorized by technology to make finding info easy and fast. This is another great resource to add to the list when you need to find out more info on anything listed. Hopefully this list will stay updated quite often and will provide some of you some help as it has done for me.

Check out the DEVLISTING here.

Project update: Upstate Pet Connect

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

We were recently contacted about the status of Upstate Pet Connect, so I wanted to give a brief update of where we are at with the project.

We are currently building the classified posting system and file upload part of the site. This project has been moved to a “work on it when there is time” basis, so it is not a full time project at this point. We are very busy taking care of our growing list of contracted clients, but are actively working to complete the Pet Connect Site.

In case you are not familiar with the project, Upstate Pet Connect is a site that will offer a venue for people in the Upstate to find pets that are in need of loving homes. Visitors will be able to post an ad with a full animal bio, and a photo of a pet that needs a home. Other visitors will be able find a loving pet to become a part of their family. […]

We are hoping to launch the site sometime around the end of February if all goes well! Keep checking back on the progress here as we are looking forward to a successful launch soon!

No business is too small for the web

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

I often hear the statement “We are too small to have a website” or “A website would really not benefit us”. Oh really? I strongly beg to differ with both of those statements, and here is why-

There is no such thing as being too small for the web. If your family can have a website to display their family photos, which is quite popular, then your business can certainly have a website, and thrive from it as well. Having a website is no different from having a sign out in front of your business, it is just another way to attract potential customers. Even if that website is nothing more than a one page billboard, you can use it to attract customers and build brand awareness for your business.

Your website does not have to be a huge, 1,000 page mammoth that details everything in the world, it just has to be big enough to tell about you, what you do, and how customers can get what you are offering. It is really no different than an ad in the local phone book. The goal is the same no matter which type of advertising you do.

Your business can benefit greatly from having a website and here is a perfect example. Suppose a customer wants to find out if you sell product X. It is late at night and you are closed, obviously they won’t be able to call you. This is where your 24 hour a day website will do the work for you. Now, they can simply just check out your site and see that you do in fact sell product X. Your phone book ad did not tell them that, neither did your ad in that local magazine. Your website did and once again, the web has proved to be a vital tool to help you attract another customer.

So, do not ever think that you are too small for the web or that you would not benefit from having a website. Recent studies have shown that people tend to search the web for business info rather than the phone book or local trade publications. Also, do not think that a website is not an affordable option for you. You can have a website professionally built for less than you think and it will without a doubt produce as much or more traffic than those overpriced phone book ads.

Consider having a website built for your business and join in on the information age of advertising. You won’t regret it.

New "Living The Dream" article now at Mind Petals

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

The second article of our Living The Dream: series is now posted at Mind Petals. You can check it out in full here.

This time around we focus on the business and legal side of starting a media design company. If you are thinking of becoming a full-time freelance designer or if you are considering starting a business, you will certainly want to read these two articles! We hope they help you once you decide to take that journey!

DigitalRealm Media joins the Mind Petals network

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

I am very excited to announce that DigitalRealm Media has joined up with the Mind Petals network as a contributing author of business and media related articles.

Mind Petals is a community network devoted to young entrepreneurs that produces excellent content for, by, and about the entrepreneur world. Their site is packed full of great information, articles, resources, and people that are coming together to get educated and motivated about entrepreneurship.

DigitalRealm Media has joined this community to provide informative articles relating to the design and media delivery industries. We hope that this venture will prove to be beneficial for us as well as Mind Petals as we provide an informative insight into the media design business.

Our first article, titled Living the Dream: The ins and outs of a design company, Part I, is now online for quick reading. Please check out the article and let us know what you think!

You can also subscribe to our Mind Petals RSS feed if you would like to stay up to date on each article that we post.

We are looking forward to a great partnership with Mind Petals and we hope that you all enjoy the articles that we provide.

Great Mac apps for free!

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

If you are looking for a few cool little apps for your Mac, head on over to iSlayer.

They produce several awesome little mac apps that I truly love! iStat pro is awesome and iStat application is a great little app as well. Check them out!

Full feeds vs. Partial feeds

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Devlounge has posted an awesome article debating the choice to use full feeds on your site or partial feeds on your site. This is a really good read for anyone out there new to generating feeds on their site, or that may be new to feed readers and accessing people’s content via a reader. Check out the article and give it a read.

As for me, I despise feeds that are only of partial content. I subscribe to those feeds in a reader for a reason, and I want the content to be full posts of articles. The article above mentions some great arguments for both sides but still, the partial feed will never see the light of day in my feed reader. I am sure there are several other reasons both good and bad out there, for deciding to use full vs. partial feeds. Either way, those arguments are unlikely to ever convince me to like partial feeds.

Greenville is getting "Artsy"

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

If you live in the Greenville area of South Carolina and you have been keeping an eye on things lately, you will have certainly noticed the slew of new art galleries and art-related spots popping up. This can most notably be seen down around the historic West End district and the immediate area.

It’s cool, as I enjoy great art and going to galleries when I get the chance. I always seem to find design inspiration when I visit art galleries and it is good to see that Greenville has some creative people in the area. That is not to say that all of the local art is good and or creative, it just means that the scene is growing be it good or bad. After going through so many years of being bland, Greenville is finally starting to show that it does have a creative flare to it. I hope that it continues and that the local art community can continue to thrive as it has over the last year or so.

If you are not from this area and you happen to roll through at some point, be sure to hit the Downtown area and check out some of the new galleries that are popping up. I think that you will find something to your liking.

A few small site tweaks

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

You may notice a few small tweaks to this site if you visit here regularly. We have been making some small changes to get the layout more to our liking. There will be some other small changes coming over the next few days as we fine tune the site.

We would love to hear feedback and comments on the new design. We are still getting used to it but overall, we love it. Feel free to post a comment below and let us know what you think about the new layout.

Want to have a Mint?

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

So, I have been using Mint for a few days now and I am hooked! If you are not aware of what Mint is, let me explain….

Mint is a small piece of software that you install on your server to monitor your site. Things like page views, referrers, screen resolutions, etc. can all be viewed and monitored. This is great for several reasons.

You can accurately see how people are finding you and your site.
You can get an idea of what people are checking out when they come to your site.
You can get a real good idea of the type of visitors you are getting to your site. Their browser, their operating system, their screen resolution, etc.

Monitoring your site is very important and something that you should take very seriously. These figures can really help you to determine how the site performs, what is popular, what is not, etc. All of this is very good info to have, especially if you run some type of service-based site.

So what makes Mint different from any other analytic piece of software? Well, nothing really I suppose, other than Pepper. Pepper is basically an add-on to Mint that allows you to do various other things with the software. Each Pepper is written by individuals and each of them perform a specific task. This really allows you to boost the performance of Mint and have it provide some really good details about your site. Also, it is developed by Shaun Inman, one of the coolest guys of the design and development industry. I always try to support people that write software, especially good software.

All in all, Mint is a pretty cool little app. Head over to http://www.haveamint.com and check it out for yourself. If you are looking for some site monitoring software that does not cost a fortune, this may be your ticket.

sIFR 3 Beta is now available

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

sIFR is now in a version 3 beta release. The popular text replacement tool looks as though it has acquired quite a few nice little enhancements.

We used version 2.0 of the sIFR tool on the Renfrew Baptist Church site and loved it! I am looking forward to playing around with version 3 and seeing what it has to offer.

You can read more about sIFR 3 beta here .

Will older browsers ever stop getting support?

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Is there ever going to be a time when people stop supporting older web browsers? I mean seriously, people that are still using any browser older than say IE6, should really consider making some drastic changes.

I don’t understand the purpose of supporting older, legacy browsers, especially with all of the new advanced features that are implemented into websites these days. People that are still using those browsers, in my opinion, deserve to be left out of the loop. Now, that may be harsh, but so be it.

Personally, I no longer see the need to support old, outdated technology for 0.00045% of the people that use it. So what is the solution to the problem? I am really not sure but I have to imagine that if everyone simply stopped supporting these old browsers, it would eventually force people to update to newer stuff. I am sure that there is a logical way to gracefully stop support on older stuff.

Anyone have any suggestions on this? What makes people continue to support old, outdated browsers?

The DRM 2007 outlook

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

Well, 2007 is officially here and we are looking forward to it. We launched our new site this morning and things are going great so far. We still have a little work to do on the site but for the most part, it is finished and ready for the world.

If you notice anything weird going on with the site, please drop me a line to let me know about it!

So what is going on in 2007 for us?

We have quite a few new things planned that are really excited about. First, we will releasing a new eBook tentatively titled Web Aptitude. This is going to be a free ebook that discusses websites, the web in general, and how small businesses can benefit from having a great website. The book should be ready for download right here on the site in just a few weeks.

We are also going to be working really hard to launch some great new projects in the first part of 2007. In 2006, we really never got off of the ground with some things that we wanted to so we are going to make sure that they happen in 2007. The new site was the first priority and now that we have that out of the way for the most part, we can start working on our other projects.

We are looking forward to working with a vast majority of new clients this year. 2006 was a pretty good year for us in the client department but we know that it can so much better in 2007. This is going to be our year to really turn out some amazing stuff for our clients.

Good luck to everyone out there in 2007. We here at DRM hope that you have a great year and we wish you all the best!

Speculation from Sitepoint makes me wonder

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

A recent blog post on Sitepoint got me thinking, “Just what might be the big thing in 2007?”.

For the most part, 2006 brought us some cool stuff that I was kinda glad to see. I was stoked to see the surge in JavaScript frameworks although that may level off in 2007 for sure. I use MooTools here on the site and I love it!

So what is going to be the big thing in 2007? Well, here is my opinion on it all….

Windows Vista

After playing around with Vista a little, I came to the conclusion that it is certainly a step forward in the OS department. I think that it will certainly clear up some of the security flaws that are currently out there in Windows XP. Not that it will matter, typically, it is just a matter of time before people break stuff.

Apple and Mac

I think the surge of users switching to Mac will continue in 2007 as well. Their user base has slowly grown each year and this year will be no different. I think people see the benefits of using Mac vs. PC and I am glad that it is starting to turn a few people on to the Mac platform.

Web 2.0 will taper off?

I strongly believe that we will see a lot of the web 2.0 sites go under in 2007. I think it was cool for a minute but really, some of the mash-up sites out there just do not stand the ability to survive long term in my opinion.

So 2007 looks to be a fun year in the world of internet and tech-related stuff. We shall see how things go. Here at DRM, we are looking forward to launching some new projects and getting involved in some new things. I am not sure if there will be a big thing that takes us all by storm, but it will be fun to watch what happens.

Hope you have a great new year, whatever it is you may be doing.

Finishing Up Projects for 2006

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:00:00 +0000

As 2007 approaches, we are working hard to complete all of the projects we have going on. We are hoping to be ready for a prosperous New Year, with a new site and some new directional ideas. [The two of us] would like to thank everyone for their support and feedback throughout 2006. Our workload has doubled, and our client base has continued to grow. With a little luck, and a lot of hard work, we hope to press on and get into more complex, diverse projects next year.

Why being busy is good!

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Wow, the last few weeks have been super busy for us here at DRM and we are loving it. We are working on some great projects right now and we have a few site launches coming up in the next couple of weeks. Being busy is good when you are working towards a goal that you are looking forward to seeing!

Upstate Pet Connect
This project is being pushed back a few weeks due to some client changes and getting the flow of the site set up to handle the pet classified submissions automatically from the interface. This is a project that we are really looking forward to launching because it is a great cause for the Upstate community.

New DRM Site
The DRM site is in the works and is progressing slowly. We are working on implementing some new technology into our new site and it has certainly been a learning curve. This site gets worked on in between client projects, which lately, have been very steady so the site is a little behind. We are looking forward to a fresh new look as well as some new features to our site.

Project X
Project X is a project that is just now in development stages and does not even have a name yet! It is going to be a site that will incorporate all of the coolest and best political blogs into one location. Should be a pretty cool project and a useful site for the political/news junkies out there.

We also have three client projects that are in development with one almost completed. So, all in all, it has been a great couple of months for us and we are looking forward to the upcoming new site launches. If you happen to need some work done, give us a yell and we will discuss your project. We are always ready to take on cool, refreshing stuff so get in touch with us!

Keep your customers informed

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 12:00:00 +0000

When you run a business, it is very important for you to keep your customers informed of what is going on with your business. Customers often want to know about things that are happening, specials that are going on, and how you are making your business better for them.

This is when a website becomes an important part of any successful business model. With a website, you are able to keep your customers informed about important events, happenings, and specials that they need to know about. Best of all, you are keeping them up to date on their time, since they can access your website 24/7. So what are some good ways to use your website to inform people?

Here is a quick list of good ideas…..

News section
Blog
Online calendar
Specials section (with printable coupons)

All of these web features will keep your customers informed and will most likely have them checking back in pretty often to see what is going on. Websites drive large amounts of traffic for businesses and it is very important to make sure that customers are getting what they need when they visit your site. If your current site is lacking the tools you need to inform your customers, you should really consider redesigning the site and giving it a fresh facelift. It really can translate to more leads, more sales, and more recognition.

Gaining Momentum Through Positive Advertising

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 12:00:00 +0000

On any given day, the average person encounters somewhere between 1,600 and 2,000 advertisements. Some are misleading, and some are just what they appear to be. There are a litany of companies whose success depends upon their ability to connect with the consumer. Some of those companies employ an entire staff, while some maintains separate business entities whose sole purpose is to create and dispense advertising promotions. And then, there are the few small companies that use good ole’ word of mouth and the occasional guerilla marketing approach. I am sure we fall somewhere into the last category, as do some of our clients.

What method of advertisement brings a company the most success varies, but the true constant that seems to lend balance to the consumer market is truth and fairness in advertising. Loyalty to a product or service is gained by providing a great value for a reasonable price. Return or repeat business is gained by drawing the potential customer in with honesty, and continuing to stand on that reputation after the sale. What does all this mean? Simply put, tell your customers what you can do, do it, and say thank you for their business.

Where do we go from here?

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Heading into our sixth month of swimming with the sharks in the website design ocean, it has become very clear to me that I should keep close to the shore, for the time being. There are so many little fish out there like us, that I am waiting for the proverbial hook to hit the water. While we have steadily gained momentum, getting numerous small print and web redesign jobs, we are far from being able to swim with the big guys, not that we are trying to.

In order for those who visit our website to get a clearer understanding of who we are, as related to what kind of studio we are building, I have decided to keep a blog that will let potential clients know what we are up to. Trying to be something we are not is not in our company profile, nor is it built into the business model we created. History has demonstrated that a family owned business can potentially collapse over the strains of differing views. When we initially decided to start DigitalRealm, I admit that [my partner] had to rein me in a bit. I had dreams of a huge company, driven by the changing tides of business, and centered on the great American Dollar. Now, six months later, I am wiser to the fact that being great has nothing to do with being big. Knowing this has made our company more stable and prepared for consistent steady growth.

As you visit our site, keep in mind that we believe in quality first, and letting everything else fall into its place. We are about to begin several new projects, and we also invite you to check out what’s going on here in our blog section.