Website design and development news

Welcome to the DesignedByDay.com website news blog.  From time to time new websites, new features and resources will be posted here so be sure to either bookmark this page or subscribe to the RSS feed!

What is a CMS (and why you want one)
Posted 4 Days ago

A CMS, or Content Management System is exactly what it sounds like - it's a way for you to manage the content within your website.  You've probably heard of some of the popular do-it-yourself CMS's such as WordPress, Open Source and Joomla.  A CMS can allow you to perform a few simple things like updating the existing conte...Read more

The time is right to update your website
Posted 26 Days ago

Over the past year we've heard about the economy and how tough it is out there - and it's true.  One thing I have seen a lot of however, is businesses re-thinking their approach to the web and the technology available. Yellow page listings are a thing of the past - investing in quality SEO (search engine optimization), a new websit...Read more

More HTML encoding help
Posted 1 Months ago

I know I just posted yesterday about some fantastic little sites that help with encoding or decoding HTML and special characters for websites... but I have another one to add.  When coding with XML, sometimes you need to include links or images and the like, and you need to turn those < and > symbols into an entity - for example, <...Read more

Designed By Day Website Search Engine (an alternative to Google Search for Sites)
Posted 1 Months ago

I'm a big fan of Google - as big a fan as the next guy.  I like their option to embed a Google search right into your website and give users the ability to search your site or search the web... there are a couple of downsides though: Google loves it some Google - everything Google is naturally branded... Google.Giving a potential custo...Read more

Encoding URLs made easy
Posted 1 Months ago

The current project I've started working on has a lot of dynamically created links to external websites, and not only that but some of those links contain affliate information or redirect urls.  To do things properly, some of these redirected links should be encoded using hex values to replace things like ampersand, slashes and the like...Read more

Longtail Flash Video Player
Posted 1 Months ago

If you're looking for a great customizable flash video (.flv) player for your website, LongTail Video has the perfect solution.  I've been using this little number on a few different sites (weddingsbyday.com, braunfilm.com) lately and I couldn't be happier.  You can specify a still image, a link, the resolution and if you r...Read more

Re-Launch of Designed By Day website
Posted 2 Months ago

It's finally done! I'd like to welcome you to the new (and improved) designedbyday.com.  It's hard to believe but it's been over 2 years since I had made any major updates to the previous version of this website. Since 2008, I have been working with dozens of new people on new projects, and throughout that time I have been...Read more

CSS Navigation and more icons
Posted 2 Months ago

A fantastic resource for CSS layouts, menus and other tips and tricks is CSS Play.  They cover a lot of the basics like using alignment or positioning to move text or produce simple effects, but they also have some fancier navigation and layout ideas that are helpful when trying to design that table-less website. While you're at it, if...Read more

Really Simple Setup - Podcasts
Posted 2 Months ago

Recently I had someone asking me about setting up a podcast.  I'd never really considered using that avenue before, simply because I don't create music, nor do I have a talk show.  What I compeltely missed was that podcasts can also be video - ah HA!  So naturally I NEEDED to know how this was accomplished, and even more i...Read more

World's Worst Websites and licensing your work
Posted 2 Months ago

This blog isn't for the faint of heart.  I along with many other web developers and designers take a great deal of time and effort to make sure I produce a good-looking well formed website.  From color selection to layout and font size, we (developers) will spend hours trying to get things just right. This is an example, a perfect...Read more

All Visiting Designers must-see
Posted 3 Months ago

If you're a web designer and you've stumbled across this website, you certainly need to make sure you check out this little number.  I'm a big fan of this website for a number of reasons.  Free icons are always a plus in my book, but all the tricks and tips are fantastic as well.  It's a Wordpress powered website...Read more

You Tube Video junkies - this one's for you
Posted 3 Months ago

I've got a little video tool here that a relative of mine found that lets you export YouTube and other video site videos to mp4 format so you can download them to your computer.  I honestly don't know how great a quality you're going to get from a video that's been compressed to upload, compressed upon upload and once again ...Read more