It’s not too late to sign up for my first ever web design seminar, Website Tips for Small Business Owners.  The event is taking place THIS Thursday, January 26, from 7-9pm at St. Paul’s Bloor Street.  It’s going to be a casual and interactive workshop, and we’re going to explore the following topics:

Let’s Start with the Basics
An overview of what makes a website attractive, so you end up with a gorgeous site, not a hot mess! Learn the basics of clean layout and website navigation.

Crafting Your Content
Get out that red pen and get ready to cut, slash and edit. We’ll go over some tips on how to write for the web to make sure your message is actually getting through.

Thinking of Going DIY?
Get advice on when you can build a website yourself, and when you’ll need professional help. We’ll look at a few of the DIY options out there (including an overview of WordPress, Etsy, and Shopify).

Don’t Fear the Nerd: How to Find and Work with A Web Professional
Design is a process, not just an end result. Tips on how to find the right web professional for you, and make sure you get the most out of your working relationship.

You’re Online… Now What? How to Keep Your Website Fresh
It might seem like the end, but launching a website is only the beginning. What’s your plan for ongoing site maintenance?

Following the presentation, there will be plenty of time for questions and advice. This seminar is great for small business owners who already have a website (that might need some tuning up), and also for those that are looking to launch a new website.

You can find even more information, and register online here.

A lucky friend of mine received an iPad for Christmas, and I promised I would share a list of my favourite apps for watching videos with her.  And then I thought, why don’t I share my list with all of you?  So here goes.  Note – there are probably a bunch of apps that I’m not aware of, or not using.  So if you see something missing from my list, please share!  Oh, and these are apps that we can get and run in Canada.  I know there’s a VLC player app, but we can’t get it here (for some weird reason).  No Hulu, PBS, Comcast, or Cablevision either.

Apps that provide you with content:

Netflix (free app; content requires a subscription). When Netflix first launched in Canada, it got a bad rap for having inferior content.  But they’ve improved – adding lots of new stuff.  I like the documentaries and TV shows, and Clara likes Sesame Street.  The quality is good and streams fast.  Well worth the small monthly fee.

BBC iPlayer Global (free app; some free content, some paid content). BBC iPlayer finally launched in Canada (yay!). The subscription/paid section is worth it for Sherlock alone.

CBC TV (free). You know, for when you just must catch up on Corrie Street.  Or Republic of Doyle.

CTV for iPad (free).  Same thing as the CBC app – you can watch CTV shows.  Not all the shows from the network are available though.

TEDTalks (free). If you have an extra few minutes, watch a TEDtalk. I’ve never found one I didn’t like.

Apps for watching your own video content:

CineXPlayer ($3.99). Since VLC player isn’t available in Canada (I know, right?), I use CineXPlayer.  It’s a simple app for playing Xvid files on your iPad (you know, the ones that you can’t add in iTunes). Sync up your video collection, and you’re golden. Note – it stores the files on your iPad’s hard drive, so you might hit your storage limit fast.  Easy to take files on and off though.

AirVideo ($2.99). AirVideo streams video content from your computer, directly to your iPad.  It supports AVI, DivX, MKV file formats, converting them and streaming over your network quickly. I love AirVideo because it doesn’t chew up my iPad’s storage space, like CineXPlayer does. Supposedly you can stream online, even when you’re away from your local network. I haven’t tried that yet – I figure if I’m going away (on holiday or something), I’d load up videos using CineXPlayer.  But when I’m at home, and I just want to stream to my couch, AirVideo is great.

I get that question all the time.  And apparently, so does my colleague and client Sue Edworthy.  Sue is an arts marketing specialist / publicist / strategist / consultant / planner, and she has a pretty great blog about marketing trends.  Last week, she asked if she could interview me for a blog post based around the question “Does anyone know how much it costs to set up a basic website?”

Of course, I was happy to oblige, since I have lots of thoughts on the subject.  You can read our interview over on Sue’s blog by clicking here.  Enjoy!

["Complicated Bicycle" illustration by Marc Johns. It has nothing to do with basic websites.  I just like it.]

Have you heard about Ladies Learning Code?  They’re a Toronto-based women-run not-for-profit that organizes workshops for ladies (and gentlemen too) to learn new technical skills.  Their workshops offer great quality instruction, in a fun and hip atmosphere.  And it’s really affordable – the workshops are only $40, and that includes a full day of instruction, breakfast AND lunch!

Ladies Learning Code is hosting a WordPress for Beginners workshop on January 14. If you’d like to attend, registration begins at 7pm TONIGHT. Follow this link to register. When they ran this workshop in November, it sold out fast.

If you do sign up, then I’ll see you at the workshop. I’m volunteering as a mentor to help out. I’m really looking forward to it- should be lots of fun.

[photo of the November WordPress for Beginners workshop from the Ladies Learning Code blog]

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged about a font.  Must be all that baby stuff crowding my brain… but when I saw this typeface (called Populaire) in the MyFonts newsletter, I had to share.  Isn’t it fun?  I’d love to use this font in a website project (since it comes in a web font version too).  I’m glad to see the handwritten font trend is still going strong.

If you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably noticed some of the recent changes, and you may have heard that there are even more coming.  One of the more nifty changes is the “timeline” that you can enable on your Facebook profile.  It will be available to most users in the next couple of weeks, so you can wait to see what it’s all about, or you can get a sneak peak now.  There’s a screen shot of mine, above.

To enable the new Facebook timeline feature, follow these steps as outlined over at Mashable.  It’s really not that hard or technical.  The most difficult part is signing up for Facebook mobile, which you can promptly disable after you’re done playing with Timeline.

Here’s (yet) another gadget that I certainly don’t need, but boy do I want it… the Jambox speaker by Jawbone.  The tiny little speaker (think portability) runs on batteries, and connects to your iPod, iPhone, or iPad wirelessly by Bluetooth.  Don’t have Bluetooth on your device?  That’s okay, there’s an old-school audio-in jack for an auxiliary cable.

What’s different about this than the dinky iPod speakers they sell everywhere is that the Jambox apparently has killer sound.  I would love to have one for playing music on the back patio in the summer, or for using as an external speaker when I’m watching movies and TV shows on my new iPad.

At a cool $200, it’s not really in the budget right now… but my birthday’s coming up…

And no, it’s not an iPad2.

I usually think it’s a good idea to not buy first generation Apple products, as the second generations tend to have better features (and are usually cheaper). So I held off on getting an iPad for a year, just patiently waiting for the iPad2.

I was pretty disappointed with last week’s iPad2 launch, but I was pleased to see the prices of the original iPad drop dramatically. So I picked up a 32 gig first generation iPad for about $200 less than it was selling for previously.

I’m just starting to set it up now, and load it with apps. There are so many that are different or better than my iPhone apps… I’m having fun looking and discovering new stuff.

If you have an iPad, what are some of your favourite apps?

One of my favourite shows on CBC Radio, Terry O’Reilly’s Age of Persuasion, is now available in podcast form.  Now I can add The Age of Persuasion to my long list of podcasts I need to catch up on (This American Life, The Moth, and my all-time fave, RadioLab).

Isn’t this typeface gorgeous?  It reminds me of hand-lettering, which I wish I was better at.  Maybe that will be my New Year’s resolution… try/practice hand-lettering.  In the meantime, I’d love to use Breathe by Lian Types in a project.