Bill Kracke

On The Redesign

The dust has finally settled, and here we are: the new BillKracke.com

I managed to go live 3 days ahead of schedule, including a hosting company meltdown, which was a surprise. It will be a little longer before I compleetly backfill the articles and portfolio, but some of my best and most recent stuff is up and I am happy with it. Let me show you around:

A New Identity

My previous logo and theme were what I put together when I finally took the plunge and went freelance. I was under a deadline and a little unsure of myself, so I played it very safe: text only, and too many drop shadows. This new logo better reflects who I am and what I do. There is less visual clutter, and I had fun playing with my intials to come up with the logo. The new tagline – design, develop, communicate – also better reflects my strengths and passions. So armed with a new log, a new color scheme, and a new sense of purpose, it was time for a new web site.

Built on WordPress

The Content Management System I selected was WordPress. I went back and forth about that decision for a while, largely because WordPress seems to be the solution to everyone’s problems these days. I do not believe that for a second, but version 2.7 pushed me over the edge. I pitch WordPress to many of my clients because of the easy back-end – it looks like Word (kinda) and its easy to get around once you get the page/post difference. But for me, easy text updating wasn’t going to do it. Firing up Dreamweaver and FTPing my content is just as easy as logging in to the admin panel.

I went with WordPress because my list of what I was trying to do was already baked in.

• Automatically generated thumbnails? Check
• Database driven? Check
• Easy to style? Check

Instead of putting in the time to code a custom PHP solution, hook into an appropriate JavaScript library, and start debuging, I just clicked install and let my hosting company do the heavy lifting.

Technical Coaching?

This is a new addition to my official “services offered”, but it is, in fact, something I’ve been giving away for a long time. I enjoy researching new technologies, taking them for a test drive, and filing that information away for later use. So when my friends and clients ask me about online email options, I have an informed opinion. When they want to know how I’ve tricked out my gmail account, I can tell them what I did and why. Online task tracking? Audio editing? Free ways to put together a DVD slide show? The difference between POP and IMAP email services? Web hosts with decent “build your own site” systems?

I am your geek for hire.

I’ll be adding a few Technical Coaching items to the portfolio soon, but for now check out: BKTutorials.com