1. Get a makeover
   Your website is your public face to the world, make it look as good as possible. It should have current information & news, be visually appealing and be stylistically contemporary. Where social media is your bullhorn to get attention, your website is where your content really lives, it's where you build your online presence and the narrative that drives powerful calls to action. If your site is looking dated and has dorky phrases like "Welcome to our website!" it's time for an update. 
2. Trim down while saving money
   Having a site you can update yourself makes it faster and easier to keep your content fresh. Consider investing in a site that you can maintain yourself. I'm not talking about forking over big bucks for software and learning html, I mean migrating your site to an easy to use content management system. You will quickly recoup the migration costs by being your own developer and your site will be more effective. By reserving your geek for the high end stuff you'll streamline your process and begin saving money every month.
3. Use positive self talk
   Pretty much every day I hear one of my clients say something like "Well, I'm terrible with computers but ...". I have heard this from 20 year old interns to 75 year old business executives and everyone in between. It's time to start saying that you can do things online and that you are learning. As long as you say you're bad at something you surely will be. Every day things are getting faster and easier to do online and from our local Continuing Education classes to iTunesU there is an endless cornucopia of tutorials and ways to learn for free.
4. Volunteer
   Dale Carnegie said "You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you." I believe this idea is at the heart of successfully using social media. What knowledge can you share? What questions can you answer? What can you give to the world via your social media profiles that will be valuable to your audience? Use social media to give and your site will reap the rewards.
5. Simplfy
   Use technology to simplify your life. Get a smart phone (or upgrade your old one) and invest some time in really learning how to use it. Set yourself up with time saving apps including a good calendar (with reminders!) and a task management app and then resolve to work with them daily. Having your schedule and to do list instantly available saves time and let's you offload things from your memory, which helps keep your mind fresh through the day. Use services like HootSuite and IFTTT to streamline your work and employ techniques like email filtering to free yourself from mundane tasks. It is easier than ever to work smarter and smart phone apps are at the heart of this revolution.

I'm an optimist and as I talk to clients and listen to news I believe that 2013 will bring continued economic recovery, more beneficial political change and increased environmental action to address the world's most pressing threat, global warming. The web makes it easy to connect to a wide array of resources so use the new year to take a creative look at how you can make the most of the web.

2012 was a year of check ins and check outs, both in my life and in technology. The big tech highlights for me were the exciting  improvements in hosted user-editable website platforms and the increasing potential offered by social media. All year I watched things get easier, faster, and less expensive - which is exciting because it means that more people can bring their dream websites to life. It's a great time to be doing what I do, and I feel very, very grateful to have a wonderful collection of clients and vendors.

While 2012 brought the departure of very dear loved ones, it also brought the arrival of precious new ones. The world witnessed the ongoing Arab Spring and gun tragedies but also a reinvigorated presidency and the thrilling Mars landing. Milestones, both high and low.

As we head in to 2013 I'm more excited than ever about new technologies like HTML5, application development and mobile site design. My goal is always to continue my research and gather the best solutions to share with my clients. I am also looking forward to expanding the training that I already do with more newsletters, videos and workshops.

Whatever your goals are for 2013, I hope the new year brings you health, happiness and prosperity. Peaceful joy ~ Ame, Pixel Lava Interactive

Option A: Low Tech – Make your document into an image and upload as a photo

Since photos are easy to add via any Status Update, you can convert your document to a .jpg and upload it as an image. This does require software that allows you to make the jpg out of your Word or other document.

Option B: Hijack the Message feature

While the Status Update doesn’t have a document attachment icon, the Message box does…

1. Log in to Facebook and click any friend’s name.
2. Click Message as if you’re going to send the friend a message.
3. In the To field, delete the friend’s name and type in yours. This is so the message is not actually sent to your friend.
4. Skip the message field and, right below it, click the paperclip icon.
5. Attach your PDF document (this method doesn’t work with Word docs, only PDFs) and click Send.
6. You’ll see your sent message. Right click ON the document name and select Copy Link Location.
7. The link you’ve just copied is long & ugly so you’ll want to shorten it. (it will be something like: http://www.facebook.com/ajax/messaging/attachment.php?attach_id=e95c1833ec79ae0a474a882e3d4ef555&mid=id.189289931198938&ext=1339719193&hash=AQAWpIoZYVseAPag).
8. Open a new browser window and go to a link shortening service like www.bit.ly. Paste your saved link into the Shorten a Link field and hit Shorten.
9. Copy the new short link, go back to Facebook, and you can paste it into a status update.

Option C: Use Google Docs

Fast and easy if you have a Google or Gmail account.

1. Sign in to your Google account and go to Documents (soon to be renamed Google Drive).
2. Click the red upload button (to the right of the Create button) and click Files.
3. Navigate to your document, select it and hit Open.
4. Turn off the conversion if asked. You want to keep the document a Word or PDF file.
5. Once finished you should see the document at the top of the list of files. Click on it to open it.
6. Click share and under Who has access click Change, select Public on the Web and click Save. You should now see the link. You can share the link to several services or copy it to make your own status message.

Option D: Use Docs.com or Scribd.com

If you’re not a Googler, here’s an alternative using Docs.com. Scribd.com works great too:

1. Go to Docs.com and click Sign In.
2. In the top menu bar click Add a Doc and select Upload a Doc.
3. In the Choose a Doc field click Browse and select your document.
4. Under Share With select Everyone and Post to your Facebook Profile.
5. Select editors if you like and click Upload.
6. Back on Facebook your Timeline should have a new update saying that you shared a document using Docs by Microsoft FUSE Labs. If you don’t see this, hit the Refresh button in your browser to refresh the page.

Got your own favorite way? Want more tips & tricks? Like my page at facebook.com/pixellavainteractive.
Download a printer-friendly version of this article.

Option A: Freebie
You can create a free site yourself using blogging services such as Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, TypePad.com or a website service like Google Sites.

• Pros: Free, lots of templates to chose from.
• Cons: Can be less professional looking, customization is limited and most are ad-supported.

Tip: You can pay an annual fee to remove the ads on these services but be sure to compare prices. On a recent TypePad site I found that going ad-free costs about $15 per month. When you add in the domain name cost of $20/year and their email plan it worked out to about $20 per month for a service which they are hiring me to help them with because it’s too hard to use. For $29 per month they could have a very easy to use, customizable site, which would make much better sense for their business needs.

Summary: A freebie site is a great option for a novice who is willing to roll up their sleeves and learn and who doesn't require a highly unique or customized site.

Option B: Self-hosted Content Management System (CMS) Site – WordPress/Drupal/Joomla/Etc.
These are sites built by downloading, installing, configuring and customizing free, open-source website/blogging content management system software. They are typically hosted on shared server hosting at about $8 per month.

• Pros: Inexpensive monthly hosting. Most are highly customizable and Wordpress in particular offers thousands of free or inexpensive templates (themes) and plug-ins. Your data is portable and can be moved from one hosting provider to another.
• Cons: Running a WordPress/Drupal/Joomla/etc. site is not for the technologically faint of heart. Because the software is open-source it is continually evolving both to add function and to maintain security. The site owner must be prepared to perform (or hire out) the maintenance, which includes loading time-sensitive security patches, taking back ups, and working with plug-ins. The learning curve is steep. If you need help, Wordpress is a common platform and developers charge around $60/hr. Be aware that Drupal and Joomla developers can charge over $100 per hour.

Tip: Not long ago I helped a WordPress client whose site had been shut down by their hosting company and blacklisted by Google. The client had failed to load a security patch and the site had been hacked with malicious code. It took us weeks to get everything working properly again and get un-blacklisted. Take the maintenance seriously.

Summary: A self-hosted content management system site can be a good solution if you're willing to handle the maintenance yourself or hire a pro.

Option C: Hosted Content Management System site – Weebly/Dashboard/Ning/SquareSpace and others
These sites are created on a hosted website platform, sometimes referred to as "software as service". Rather than downloading free software and running it on your own server, you pay a monthly fee to access the system where your site is built and hosted. These sites are backed by companies with developers and support staff who continually work to improve the system and keep it secure. Your monthly fee frees you from worries about database backups and security patches.

• Pros: You get a custom site within a quick turnaround time that’s ready to use. It is search engine optimized automatically and comes with lots of built-in features like blogs, calendars, photo slideshows, video support and e-commerce. It’s automatically backed up, you never need to worry about security patches or upgrades. You can update the site yourself from any computer at any time with no special knowledge or software. Set up cost is about the same as the two options above but you save money and time every month in being able to maintain the site yourself.
• Cons: The hosting is typically more per month than shared server hosting. For example, a 10 page Dashboard site costs $29/month, a user-centric Ning site costs $25/month. However, there are entry-level plans starting as low as $3 per month. Also, your site is less portable because it's built on that system's software.

Summary: Hosted content management system websites are my favorite kinds of sites for most clients. After using them for several years now I believe they offer the best combination of price, scalability, effectiveness and ease of use.

Option D: Custom HTML site
These are sites built from scratch by a developer usually in xhtml and css (or a database language such as php) and are hosted on shared server hosting (Blue Host, GoDaddy, Network Solutions or one of those services).

• Pros: Inexpensive monthly hosting costs – usually about $8 a month, sometimes less depending on the options. Also, you can have any kind of site since it’s built just for you.
• Cons: Your options for maintaining the site are to request changes through the developer or you can purchase html editing software (Dreamweaver is the industry standard) and learn how to use it. Very few hosting companies offer an online website editor which works well, although that is changing all the time so I keep hoping!

Summary: A custom site might be a good fit if you have very particular specifications or require a highly customized site. While these used to be the norm, in my practice these have been replaced by content management system sites which cost less, can be up & running faster and are easier to use.

Putting It All Together

The options put forth here are based on what I’ve learned in working with over 300 sites since 2003. As you can guess, my best recommendation for small business owners is usually a hosted content management system site, but no two people or businesses are alike so the solution depends on your particular needs.

For most of my clients, loading security patches and learning html is not their idea of fun. It makes more sense for them to get a website that’s easy to work with and worry-free so that they can focus on writing compelling copy, getting great photos, and developing their marketing. The extra cost per month in hosting is quickly recovered in the time you save in being able to quickly and easily work with your site - especially in being able to promote it with search engine marketing.

I see a lot of sites that are seldom updated because the owner can’t remember how to work with the site and can’t afford to hire help. This dramatically reduces the site’s effectiveness for search engine optimization, not to mention the fun of having a site. I believe that the hosted content management system sites offer the best combination of value, scalability, and ease of use. They provide a great foundation to build a business upon. If you’re interested in trying out a free demo, just drop me a line.

There are more options and details than listed here of course, my goal is to peel away hype and complexity and give you simple, useful options you can immediately put into action. I'm here to motivate you to take the first step and help as you learn ... and there’s never been a better time to jump in. Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments and feedback!

Specifics referenced:
If you are looking to start a freebie blogging site, I recommend Wordpress.
If you are looking for high quality, inexpensive shared server hosting I use and recommend Blue Host.. You get a free domain ($12 value) with their $6.95/mo. hosting. I’m proud to be an affiliate and recommend them because of their stellar support.
If you are looking for an easy to use hosted content management system site I recommend Dashboard, again based on ease of use and terrific support.

One More Getting Started Idea:
If you are interested in just setting up a Facebook Business Page to begin with, I offer an inexpensive FaceBook Start Up package that is a quick and easy way to get online in no time.

• Cover Photo: It's big! And it should be a high quality, appealing graphic that communicates your brand image. There are some limits as to what the Cover photo can contain, but overall it's a great opportunity. 
• Improved Custom Views: This is a biggie! Custom tabs used to be reached via the small icon/menu items on the left below your profile photo. Custom Tabs - now called Views - can now be reached via a row of thumbnails at center screen and the graphics are editable! You can make one a button with a call to action, make another a link to join your mailing list, or even just do something fun with them. Huge improvement and one to think creatively about. 
• Larger Stories, Milestones, and Page Timeline: The new layout allows you to tell stories through bigger photos and milestones that can include dates, locations and other content. There are zillions of clever ways to highlight your organization using these features. Zillions!
• Pinned Posts: This is cool, now we can pin a post to keep it at the top of a Page for up to seven days. This is great if you're running a promotion or advertising an event and want to keep it front & center.
• Admin Panel: The Admin panel is new too and it gives you great at-a-glance access to things like analytics and other common admin features. The Show/Hide toggle is nifty too. 
• Activity Log: As your page's Admin you can now see all of your Page activity and there are easy to use tools to  highlight, hide and/or delete posts. You can even change the date of a post easily now.

If you have recognized the power of Facebook and are ready to get started give me a call. I offer great packages which include page set up, customization, and training. It's everything you need to get rolling without having to spend hours figuring things out and getting set up properly. I can also help you dial in an existing page or profile with custom Timeline graphics and ways to make the most of Milestones and other new features. Contact me for a free quote.

Activate your home page: Your home page is most effective if it immediately conveys what you do, has fresh & lively images and text, includes social media engagement and has a CLEAR call to action. It's time to power up your home page with a little dragon energy!

Use social media: Aside from the time it takes it's free and this is one little dragon that you can manage in as little as 15 minutes per day. Considering the power it packs, it's worth the time. 

Make a Strategy for 2012: If you're not actively promoting your site it is simply not going to be effective. There are many easy, inexpensive ways to use the web for promotion such as optimizing for local search marketing or starting a simple quarterly e-newsletter. Identify just one new "Little Dragon" you can use to energize your marketing mix for 2012. Just pick one, right now!

If you need help getting any of these ideas rolling just give me a call. As many of you know, my focus is on helping you get the most out of the time you spend on your site and the main thing is simply to begin... energize with the Year of the Dragon!

”I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." - Thomas Jefferson

Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer are the main internet browsers for desktop computers. They are all free programs and you can use any you like regardless whether you are on a PC or a Mac (with the exception of Internet Explorer, there is no IE for the Mac). Firefox, Safari and Chrome tend to stick to the W3C (Worldwide Web Consortium) standards and thus provide a better browsing experience. Internet Explorer is still the most popular browser but it is also the most prone to malware and due to it's lack of adherence to standards, frequently renders sites incorrectly. If you're looking for a recommendation, I would personally recommend Firefox.

Browsers do a lot of things to speed up the delivery of information and one of these things is caching (storing) files that it thinks you'll need in the future. The problem is that when you work on your own website and make an update, you might not see the change right away because your browser is displaying the files from your previous visit to that page. The solution is to empty your browser's cache. Here are detailed instructions for how:

Firefox | Chrome

Internet Explorer 9 |  Internet Explorer 8 | Internet Explorer 7 |
Internet Explorer 6 (do not use - upgrade to at least Internet Explorer 7).
If you don't know which version you have, click on Help in the toolbar and then About Internet Explorer. The version number can be found there.

Safari for Mac | Safari for Windows

iPhone | Android

If any of those links break, here's a permalink to the ever-updating instructions at WikiHow (thanks to over 155 contributors for the great crowd-sourced article!

Back by poplar demand it's my collection of holiday treats from around the web! Each image below takes you to a new adventure - old classics and new favorites. From a breathtaking ski run to a warm hearth, from a heart warming radio special to painfully cute puppies. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Warm regards and best wishes for 2012!

1. Use the Archive feature (or archive your newsletters by hand if not using Constant Contact). Newsletters don’t just drive traffic to your site, they also boost search engine optimization.
2. Write a subject line with 40 characters or less – they have the highest open rates.
3. Try sending your messages at 10:30am on a Tuesday. The time a message is sent can dramatically improve click through rates.

I’m amazed at all the things it can do and at $15 per month it’s just plain dirt cheap. If your business is struggling in this economy, why not take advantage of free/inexpensive promotional opportunities like Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn, and email marketing! You can sign up for a free Constant Contact trial in less than 5 minutes.

Email Ninja – Over ‘n Out!

When I began working for myself in 2003 my job was to create great websites and be available (often seven days a week) for edits and updates. Those changes were emailed to me by clients, I then fired up trusty Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Flash and got the updates done as quickly as possible. About 70% of what I provided was ongoing service. It was a challenge to respond to requests as quickly as expected – especially when a lot of requests came in simultaneously – and getting away on vacation was really tough. I did teach many people how to use Flash and Dreamweaver but for most folks, the learning curve on those apps was just too steep.

In the same way that we don’t need to know how a car works in order to drive one, I’ve always felt that one shouldn’t have to know xhtml & css to be able to maintain a website. Finally, I’m seeing this come to pass and the old 70% service model is (wonderfully!) shifting.

Thanks to the proliferation of blogs, Facebook and photo editing software, users are much more web savvy now and my job has become more about connecting these users to the cool new user-editable platforms and tools available. When I get a new client now our conversation centers around what THEY want to do with the site, not just what the site will do for them. For example, will adding a Google scheduling calendar make it easier to book appointments for the over-burdened receptionist? Cool, let’s do it! Will sending contact form submissions via text message be best for a contractor who’s in the field all day, no problem. It’s great fun thinking about how the goodies I find in my adventures across the web can best be used, it’s like having a box of shiny tools that do amazing things – and I get new ones all the time!

In addition to what I now offer as a reseller (Dashboard) I’ve been researching and working with a whole new class of platforms which are cloud-hosted and start from function-centric approach. Dashboard is still my favorite for ease-of-use but SquareSpace, Jimdo, CarbonMade, Tumblr and many others offer their own unique pros and cons. With each new platform, I learn more, get excited all over again, and find my mind racing with the possibilities for what my clients can use them for. In the next few months I’m working on a new site for Pixel Lava with lots of demos and case studies, I can barely wait to work on it each afternoon.

It’s an exciting time to be a geek!

Please note that Pixel Lava will be closed for the holidays starting December 23rd, reopening on January 6th. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

I’ve tested Ping.fm, Brizzly and several others but Seesmic rises above for both it’s desktop and mobile versions. You can log in to use it in a browser, download a desktop version or get the app via your Apps Store (iPhone/Android/BlackBerr flavors available) with all the details at seesmic.com. No kickbacks or anything here, I just love it and want to share.

Once installed you have the ability post one 120 character update to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other configurable service ALL at once. One post = many places = yay! It features a built-in link shortener and photo uploader, even adding video is easy.

It also surprised me by providing a very appealing way to view others’ updates. With Twitter’s new photo and video preview, Seesmic transforms my Twitter experience into a magazine-like display. Much nicer than scrolling for 10,000 years! If you try it out, let me know what you think. If you have a different one you love, tell me about it.

“As many of you know, breakfast is an absolute MUST in my book. Eating a hearty breakfast helps reduce levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin, keeping you satisfied throughout the morning and allowing your mind to focus on things other than your next food fix. While you probably don’t have time to make a gourmet meal before work each morning, that’s no excuse to skip breakfast. There’s nothing easier than pouring low-fat milk into a bowl of whole-grain cereal; more involved recipes can be made ahead of time, or you can cut down on the morning workload they entail by preparing the core ingredients the night before.

Try this vegetarian egg bake — it’s packed with high-volume, low-calorie veggies and lots of healthy protein that will keep you satisfied and prevent energy lags later in the day. The salsa adds a nice kick! Make this the night before and give it a quick warm-up in the microwave in the morning.”

Here’s the link to the article and recipe. Keep those ghrelin gremlins at bay and maybe you’ll have more energy for your website and social media intiatives!

• Integrated Blog
• Secure online payments for DVD and classes through PayPal
• Secure online class registration form
• Embedded YouTube videos
• Jquery photo slideshow

Dr. Suzanne Forbes-Vierling’s dazzling dancing! Check it out at www.tribalenergycardio.com.

• Integrated blog with comment moderation
• Integrated event calendar linkable to online registration and payment solutions
• Easy to create photo galleries and slideshows
• Secure contact forms
• And more!

Plans start at just a buck a day ($30/mo.) Several projects are rolling now, I’ll post links as soon as we’re live. Super exciting!

Ning is an amazingly powerful online community builder which allows individuals to find, join and share in relation to shared interests. For nonprofits and other community-based organizations Ning offers an incredible toolset for connecting people and inspiring them to action. Some of it’s features include user profiles, member activity & status, multimedia, internal subgroup pages, fully-integrated blog, and a growing number of third developer apps which extend the core system exponentially. The service is free with ads or you can pay a small monthly fee to be ad free or even run your own ad program. It’s flippin’ amazing! I am now offering a full Ning website implementation package and have two Ning sites in development right now, I’ll post links to them as soon as we’re live.

WordPress.com is where you go to start and run a free online blog. Here you have a bit less customization available but you also avoid the headaches of hosting and maintaining the software on your own server. For beginners, WordPress.com is probably the place to start. Read more at WordPress.com.

A recent radio interview caught my ear because the guest has just completed a book about the decline of Starbucks…the epitome of mass customization. Starbucks is a great example because people are able to place unique coffee orders (customization) and receive their item immediately within a cost range no different from their peers (mass marketing). Hanging out in a Starbucks or sipping from a branded cup imbues hipness. It communicates that you have $4 a day to spend on coffee, insist on only the best, and know what you want.

But, the value of that image is declining because coffee and coffee houses meant something very different before Starbucks. People are remembering that for hundreds of years coffee houses have been places where people gather to discuss, debate, assemble and find community. The allure of mass customization is giving way to the simple yearning for simple human contact.

This is great news for the little guy! It’s comforting to see the rise of websites like www.etsy.com, which value genuine customization. We want to know where our food, clothes and baby toys come from. People want to have a relationship with the providers they interact with – and it’s never been easier for individuals, small businesses and non profits to offer that than with the advent of social media.

Personally, I can’t offer my clients a fast turnaround on a huge, blaring website with tons of bells and whistles and I’ve never wanted too. While at times I’ve had more business than I can manage I have not outsourced simply because I love what I do. I make small, hand crafted sites with (hopefully) a lot of character. I work very collaboratively with many of my clients and we can hear each other’s smiles when we speak on the phone. Maybe it’s taken a Starbucks on every corner to realize that what we really want is genuine service and a sense of connection.

And a special holiday story from a Pixel Lava client:
We have a local fish place that sells locally caught fresh fish and crustaceans for prep at home, as well as various dishes made for eating at the café.. I had a rough Monday at the dentist and decided to treat myself to a halibut lunch. When I arrived at the fishery, I placed my order then walked over to peer at the live lobsters in the tank. Why do I punish myself by doing this? All I think is, poor little spiny sea bugs, tomorrow it’s the boiling pot for you. Well, I was peering in the tank when I spied quite a large one. I mean, very large. And I know that the older these creatures get, the bigger they get. This one was 4 times the size of anyone else in the tank, and after talking to the fishery team, they deduced that this lobster was approx. 30 years old. Wow – that means it was born when I was 17; to live that long and end up in the pot and on someone’s plate just seemed wrong, wrong, wrong to me. The long and short of it? After 10 minutes of fundraising on the phone, I was able to raise the $79.49 (thanks for the donation, if you are one of the folks that coughed up some dough to do this) that it cost to buy the sea bug, and after a thorough conversation with two local lobster fishermen covering all the necessary details, the day found me huddled in my rain coat (yes, we actually had some weather here this week) climbing down rocks into a rain soaked bay, setting a 30 year old lobster free.

In early November of 2007 I was shopping for holiday cards and found this amazing print by Hasui. I had always loved the work of the Japanese Ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (famous for Thirty-Sex views of Mt. Fuji) but Kawase Hasui was a new discovery. As I gazed into the card I readily imagined the snowy scene coming to life. I could feel the brisk air, smell the snowy trees, and hear the gentle crunch, crunch, crunch of a villager passing by to get a New Year's lantern. I had recently found a Flash script which allowed objects to inversely react to the motion of the cursor so I plugged that in and then spent many hours carefully assembling the graphics and finding the music. 2007 had been a particulary intense year and the quiet peacefullness of this scene was very therapeutic. I still view it as my favorite Flash piece. 

2007 Holiday Message

As the year draws to a close I wanted to take a moment to thank all of my loyal customers, friends, and family for your continued encouragement, trust and support.

The highlight of 2007 for Pixel Lava was the successful integration of web 2.0-type services for several clients. I've enjoyed the tremendous enthusiasm with which many of you have embraced new offerings including blogs, e-newsletters, and YouTube videos. As I've been learning how to use these new services myself I've been offering them on a "beta" basis to some of my more patient clients. In 2008 I'll be offering these services much more widely. Details coming soon!

As the year draws to a close, it's an opportunity to look back at our sites as they have evolved from simple, table-based builds to Flash and even a few full CSS sites. While the differences are visually subtle, the advantages of moving to css are many. You can count on Pixel Lava to continue to learn the best, most reliable new ways to deliver your print, video, and web projects. Soon this site will be all CSS itself!

The most important part of any collaboration is service. Over the past year I have focused on offering services that put you, the client, in control. I am a big fan of Blue Host and Constant Contact and, indeed, I am striving to model my own company after these stellar providers. My goal is for you to be able to reach me or any of the companies through which I offer service easily by phone or email and have your question or problem speedily resolved. Sometimes technical issues can be particulary trying, but as most of you know, I will stick with whatever problem or request you have until I find a resolution.

I started Pixel Lava because I believed that I could provide fast, reliable, friendly service doing the "geeky" stuff I love. After two years, I'm amazed and grateful to find that my dream has come true. One of my clients is going to save the earth, another offers microcredit to women in poverty, a third provides cutting edge theatre. Artists, writers, plumbers, architects, film foundations...the list goes on. To have made a tiny contribution to the efforts of these amazing people is a blessing I could have never anticipated. Thank YOU all so much. You are the reason I can't wait to turn on my computer every single day.

Jazzy and I wish you a holiday filled with peaceful joy. Blessings for a lucky 2008!

Ame Stanko
Head Geek
Jazzmin P. Barko III
Chief Security Officer

And if you're wondering how to do it in straight up HTML, you'll place the following inside (yep!) your img tag. If you don't know what an img tag is, use the technique above or just shoot me an email and I can do it for you.

img src="images/filename.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; width: 129px; height: 86px;" (you'll swap in your own values of course).

Fun! Feel free to leave me comments and/or questions below.

The Sew Boat

Custom fitting

Pattern planning

Judy at the sewing machine

Enjoying the ocean breezes

Gorgeous views

Lunch gathering

Aerial View

The famous gondoliers

Project Name

Project description text can go here. Type as much as you like. Back to Gallery.