Please, please, please be very careful searching for  adding new free themes to your site.  Read this:

http://tinyurl.com/49fx2t5

If you’d like to alter or replace your theme, I welcome you to ask me.  I will help you keep your website safe.

For all my clients using WordPress and updating their own websites – There is a new version of WordPress out We’re currently running 3.0.3

At the top of your Dashboard you’ll see an option to automatically update.  Go ahead!  Be Brave!  Click the link and wait!

You may also need to update some of the plugins on the plug-in page.  They will now also update automatically if you click the link to do so.  Updating WordPress helps secure your website.  I do eventually get around and update those sites that are needing it; but it takes me a while to get through a hundred or so of them.

Questions? Concerns?  Zap be an email and I’ll be happy to assist.

Behold the Sun
At midnight hour,
And build with stones
In lifeless clay.
So find in world decline
And in the night of death
Creation’s new beginning
And morning’s youthful strength.
Let heights above reveal
The Gods’ eternal word,
May depths preserve and seal
The peaceful treasure-hoard.
In darkness living
O now create a Sun!
In substance weaving
O know the Bliss of Spirit

~W. Goethe

Everyone is having fun on Facebook these days. It is happily uniting friends, family, and businesses.

A few clients have asked me to establish Facebook Pages for their businesses and to install various Facebook feeds on their websites. I’m delighted to do this for any client.   Just let me know.

I’ve been quite busy renovating several websites and moving some to content management systems. I’d also like to welcome a New Dawn – Therapeutic & Medical Massage and Simco Shelties to the Lazytea Family.

I’ve noticed that some of you have had me move your websites to WordPress but aren’t updating your websites.  Having troubles?  Just don’t have the time?  I can help so just ask.

I hereby resolve to get my billing done within the next month.  I’m simply horrible about billing, so look for your statement soon.  There, I put it in print so I have to make it happen.

Happy Summer Everyone!

We’re using WordPress 2.8.6 now. It just keeps getting easier and easier for the average user to publish their own website. Those who are truly confused can use the wonderful assistance provided by GoDaddy.com to get their sites up and running. So, what’s left for me to do? Well, I’ve been updating the websites I have under contract and gradually more and more helping them transfer to WordPress so they can manage their own sites. I continue to provide hosting and domain registration coordination for over 175 websites.

The question for this past year has been, “How shall Lazytea Creations proceed into the future?”

Not an easy question to answer. I have spent long hours of research and contemplation. Current clients need not worry. You will continue to receive full support and services you currently enjoy. My rates will not go up though I will be changing my billing schedule to be on an annual basis starting in January as opposed to your anniversary date. I will not longer accept new clients for web design and development.

I hope to further develop this website as a resource for those wishing to obtain and develop their own websites. Sites are not developed in the same way as they were 10 years ago or even 2 years ago. Today it is most important that sites load quickly and with a minimum use of bandwidth. With the mobile web growing exponentially, a site that does not load on a mobile device such as an iphone will be missing out on a lucrative audience. Content is king – Visibility is the emperor.

Most blogging platforms such as wordpress, typepad, and blogger now have static pages, photo storage, and attractive themes on reliable hosting services. They eliminate the need for the lower-end developers. Obtaining a domain name and setting it takes a bit of knowledge. GoDaddy.com is an excellent place to begin even if you choose to host on WordPress.com. There are dozens of applications which can plug-in to the blogs making your site lucrative, visible, and inter active. There is no reason at all to not take advantage of the “new” web.

Web development and design tends to rank among the most stressful and depressing occupations. This is partially due to the disparity between the rapid advancements of the internet and the slower development of public understanding. We quickly tire of explaining and being evangelists for the new web. We truly cannot proceed to develop in the same manner we did in the 90′s. Sorry, no bordered wall paper or 800×600 res defaults. Internet Explorer is long dead – let it lie in peace.

More on the future in the next post…..

To all who visit my website and my clients, friends, and family I’d like to wish a peace and joy filled holiday season and year to come.  2008 passed with amazing speed.  Lazytea has moved to a new server with upgraded operating systems and connectivity.  I’ve also moved on to limiting my client base so I have time necessary for homeschooling my grade school age daughter.

On the internet front we see many advances in content management systems. Several of my clients are now on WordPress.  They just released a brand new version that makes updating your own site much more user friendly.  This is exciting!  I hope to upgrade this site to WordPress 2.7 in the near future.

Seems fall went by in a flash.  Barely mid October and we have snow on the ground.  This is the time of year I would like to have 2 clones of myself so I could get everyone’s work done as quickly as they and I would like.  Since my degree is in English and not Genetic Engineering, I fear I will need to opt for chipping away at Denali with my teaspoon.  Updates a rolling in daily.  Honestly, I get to them as fast as possible.  Soon it will be time to dress the websites for the holidays.  I continue to have several builds going on and more that should be.  Stress does not seem to make me work any faster or better, so I refuse to let the pressure build.

My oldest daughter Jean is busy with her writing career.  Maybelle is 7 and we are homeschooling.  If you call during the daytime, you will most likely get my answering machine as I do not answer when we are working together.  Edward is here to assist since he has retired from the Municipality of Anchorage.  Feel free to talk with him on the phone if he answers.

Several have asked when I will update my own dog site.  www.talyn-acds.com  It is in the works.  The site is about 3 years out of date and I have a whole new family now.  Hopefully, over Christmas, I can give myself the gift of time to update my own site.

Seems Alaska passed on summer this year.  It’s been unusually cold and rainy.  After a wonderful break to visit with family in Seattle, I returned home with renewed resolve to put family first.  I haven’t accepted any new clients and have steadily worked to reduce the mountain of updates and redesigns.

Maybelle begins first grade in a few days.  She will be homeschooled again this year.

Enjoy the last few dog days of summer!

It is officially springtime!  Of course, in Alaska that means mud, standing water, first crop of mosquitos, and lots of cleaning to be done.  Amidst some extra visiting dogs and the stacks of homeschooling records to be file sorted, submitted, or returned, I have managed to keep up with building & renovating several new sites.  I’ve also found myself helping extinguish small “web fires” that have ignited when hosting companies go under or other developers raise their prices.  It has been most interesting.

During May, I went to Greeley, Colorado for the Shetland Sheepdog National Specialty.  There I visited with a few clients and enjoyed a preview of spring.

In June I will be away for nearly the entire month attending a Young Living convention in Utah and then visiting family in Seattle.  If you are in the Salt Lake City or Seattle area during June, let’s arrange to meet.

I’d like to welcome aboard Bullards Bull Terriers

Congratulations to client Dave Dalton and his Gang for a beautiful 3rd place finish in the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Terr. Canada!  Well done Dave!

The Iditarod heads out of town this weekend bound for Nome.  The excitement in the air is palpable – well audible as well since we live near one of the main veterinary clinics for pre-race checks.

Many changes are taking place here.  Lots of new things for the new year.  New computer, new software, new OS on the server, new new new.

We are also mourning the loss of 2 friends and clients in the last few months. Kay Evers of Sunset Grille St.Pete and Linda Bernard of BrisketBasket.com The two were close friends and business partners.  Linda brightened many of my days with her sense of humor and brilliant ideas.  I know there’s more “razzle dazzle” in heaven now.

Happy Trails and Good Luck to All!

A friend once joked with me, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to build a web page.” And he was right. In this day of $50 “Website Construction Kits” practically anyone with a little time and money can put together a web page. These packages work well enough for simple, personal web pages, but often lack the depth and attention to detail that is necessary for a business website. If these packages truly made it that simple the web would be filled with nothing but beautiful, professional sites, and I’d be out of business.

The truth is that creating an effective professional website is more complicated than simply putting some pictures and text on a page. Like creating a “bricks and mortar” business you need to consider an array of variables that affect the size, scope and style of the “site” your are creating. Who is your potential web market? What does your website add to your existing business? What is the most effective way of capturing their interest, and their loyalty? These are only a few of the questions you should ask yourself as you go about the business of creating your online presence.

What a very busy summer this has been at Lazytea Creations! There have been many changes and readjustments in schedule due to the changing needs of our family.

As the berries are ripening, our summer frenzy is bearing fruit.
My photographs have become very popular with the local dog crowd as well as in my CafePress Store .

To accommodate the requests for prints and special photo sessions, I have established a dedicated photo gallery

You can still view my gallery at Flickr.
If you find something there you like, simply request permission from me before you use the image.

I will be attending the Bernese Mt. Dog Club of Alaska’s Specialty Draft Tests and Show the September 1-3. Request for ringside candids should be made as early as possible to avoid conflicts.

September 21 – October 3 I will be in the Seattle/Mt. Vernon Washington area for the Australian Cattle Dog Club of America
and the Cascade Australian Cattle Dog Club Specialties.

I have already received many deposits for candids there but can still accept a few more.
Copies of the 2008 Lazytea Calendars will be available for preview and orders can be placed anytime for items or prints of photos taken at these events or other events.

With many years of experience as a web designer. I provide organized content, intuitive navigation, and visual appeal. With these ideas in mind, I create clean, professional designs for all types of businesses and organizations, big and small.

I also know that listening to clients’ input is essential in every phase of a successful project. Using standard web development tools, we transform designs into live websites quickly and flawlessly. We build sites with care, mindful of web standards, varying browsers, and search engines.

Great results – on time and at reasonable prices.

Contact me to learn how we can help you.

This renovation to Lazytea.net is long overdue. I am not exactly finished; but it is time to forge ahead. I used this upgrade to practice some new skills I will soon use to spiffy some client sites.

Resources will be enhanced as time permits. I will also add to the FAQ to cover some questions that I’ve received pertaining to these resources.

If there is something you’d like to see added to this site, please drop me a line. The contact form will be active in a few days.

The daily Web Dev posts will still be at the usual blog. Please sign up for Feed Blitz or Feed Burner to stay current on developments.