Websites You know - those things like what you're looking at now.

If you think you want a website, and you can't be bothered to read all this stuff, you may as well contact me here right now...

So you want a website - and the question you gotta ask yourself is, "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya?

Because there's a lot of people out there selling snake oil under the guise of 'leading edge technology', like SEO for instance (that's Search Engine Optimisation to you - see right).

Plus a lot of people who don't know how to listen, but have a lovely website of their own (making you think they could do the same for you: they often can't).

Oh, and don't forget the friends/neighbours/family members who 'know a bit of IT'. Be scared. Be very scared.

Have a chat with me, have a look at what I've done, sit back and consider while supping a glass of wine. Just remember: luck won't have anything to do with it.

What's the first reason anyone wants to buy a Ferrari?

Clue: it's the last one in this list...

It goes fast
It's beautiful
It's a puller
It's great to drive
It makes me look good
They've heard of it

If your website is designed properly, and you have the patience to wait a few months (the average time it takes Google to get a grip), it will show up in relevant searches.

Try typing 'Indonesian restaurants' in Google.co.uk... and they still get spam emails informing them that their website can be optimised!

My websites work, my prices are reasonable and I'm rather cuddly. Nuff said?

Laurels upon which I rest

Much of my web work was done before setting up Slovene Dream, so the techniques used are not current. Having said that, the principles are exactly the same: use what is available to ensure the site works now... and as far into the future as possible. Like these:
Active Cargo | Sofa Chairs | Janet Penfold... all of which are over seven years old, and still going strong.

But of course, you want a website now, using now stuff, and that'll be still functioning after another seven years. Like these:

The Bridge
The Apartment Whitstable
CBT London Bridge
Bali Bali
Slovene Dream

THE BRIDGE (adaptive)

I designed the original Bridge website some ten years ago: it was lean, mean and it worked seemlesly right up to now, which I guess proves the longevity of my work!

But it needed to be updated, not least to ensure that it would be available to potential clients on whatever device they used. Now it's possible to start to look into your state of mind whether you're using a 50 inch monitor or a smartphone.

THE APARTMENT WHITSTABLE (simple)

A bijoux little B&B apartment in the bijoux little town of Whitstable.

The new website is completely adaptive, in that it is viewable on all devices (squish your browser around on a large monitor and watch the panels and columns flow around each other). An increasingly important aspect of web design, given the take-up of tablets and smartphones.

Also, fully W3C XHTML and CSS compliant.

CBT LONDON BRIDGE (simple)

A bijoux little psychotherapy practice, needing an easy to read/navigate website. Contact details needed to be quickly available, psycho-waffle at a minimum and everything calm and relaxed.

A two column website, using CSS and JavaScript. Viewable in all browsers in all systems.

BALI BALI (not quite so simple)

Fab Indonesian restaurant in London's west end. Needed a visual representation of their tangy yum-yums, plus an easy-to-use enquiry form.

Fully adaptive site, using CSS and JavaScript. Viewable in all browsers in all systems.

SLOVENE DREAM (seriously sophisticated)

Travel website requiring a detailed overview of Slovenia and holidays therein, plus a new-fangled booking system and a huuuuge amount of information.

You name it, this site uses it - CSS, JavaScript, database programing, Flash, Google maps... and more. Viewable in all browsers in all systems. Natch.

Who dat? Just some bloke who seems to think that he knows some stuff.

Created in 1991, my original business specialised in advertising and design for domestic and professional audio companies, eventually building a client list that included some of the best of both industries. I later expanded my services to include website design, exhibition design and copy writing. Furthermore, the client base broadened: psychotherapy, freight-forwarding, jewellery and jazz being a few cases in point.

In 2005 me and the missus created Slovene Dream, the UK's only travel agency that specialised in Slovenia.

It still is, but us and Thomas Cook are feeling the pinch. The thing is, the problem for Thomas Cook is they can't supplement their dwindling income by building stonking, efficient, browser-friendly websites.

I've also done some other stuff...

Exhibitions
Brochures
Advertising
DBT
Laughs

My first exhibition was commissioned (like so much more) by Chris Hugill at Bowers & Wilkins. I figured that all the other hi-fi companies would go 'techie'... so I hired thousands of tropical plants and made a jungle.
Nobody forgot that stand.

Here's some later stuff...

My first brochure commission was for Aura. The product shot was taken by the fabulous Ron Lucking, and is one of the best of its kind I've ever seen... a long time before Photoshop.

As soon as I can find a minute to scan'em, you'll be able to pan 'em.

Advertising was where it all started. Commissioned by B&W UK to make an advert for their new Aura Brand - I submitted four scetched ideas... and they took them all. Could never have achieved this without the pre-Photoshop airbrush skills of the amazing Tim Taylor. And a little of my imagination, natch.

DBT - Divide by Ten. The best thing by far that I ever did for a client. B&W commissioned this without knowing what they'd be getting. Given that I proposed a 10.0 surround movie (or more accurately, 'soundy') that would run for over an hour, and that it had never been done before, I wasn't entirely certain of what they'd be getting either.

It was, indeed, truly gob-smacking - as the client admitted. Looked like I would be developing the concept for them, taking a tour around Europe, editing and publishing a 5.1 version, introducing new, innovative techniques and processes... all for some twerp manager of the clients to decide that they wouldn't bother.

Which is why I stopped all of that malarkey and set-up our travel business. Only to be dicked around by the government and the banks.

Sometimes I really do think, if you can't beat 'em, shoot 'em.

Back in 2002, I made the Flok wallpaper website. Here are some choice hangings...