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Small Business & Collecting Payments in a Bad Economy

October 8, 2008/0 Comments/in Business /by

Let’s face it, our economy has become incredibly unstable (thanks to good old Uncle Sam and a few choice banks amongst other things). It seems as though smaller businesses sometimes are delayed in being paid come bill collection time because larger corporations know we don’t have much leverage over them. There are a lot of us who share the same issues, so I’ve come up with a few (hopefully) helpful tricks and tips to prevent some anxieties that probably accompany most small business owners. Make Read More >>

Webmaster Jam Session 2008: We Be Jammin’

October 3, 2008/0 Comments/in News /by

After a lovely drive, a short train ride, and a lot of walking, the OnWired crew is coming to you live from the Webmaster Jam Session 2008 in Atlanta. We’ll be posting throughout the day and keeping you updated on the happenings, the quotable quotes, and the tidbits of wisdom we pick up while we’re here. Friday 10AM — Managing Your Personal Brand Brian Oberkirch, marketing consultant and founder of Small Good Thing, led this session. “Do epic shit.” Yes, that’s right — that’s Read More >>

Dislodge the Creative Block

October 1, 2008/0 Comments/in Design /by

Everyone has creativity but not everyone is a creative. Creative status depends on whether you choose to use your creative ability or not. Creativity can be found in anything from a world-wide marketing campaign to a lie from a five year old trying to get out of eating broccoli casserole. People have been on a hunt for creative inspiration for thousands of years. Creativity was only a concept to Plato and his posse back in the day; it simply meant “to make.” To the ancient Greeks, the artist Read More >>

Exploring Kohana as an Alternative to CodeIgniter

September 29, 2008/0 Comments/in Development /by

I have been developing with CodeIgniter for about 5 months now, and in that time I’ve come to enjoy this corner of PHP development. CodeIgniter allows me to take my ideas and execute them very quickly and, statistically speaking, on most any web server on the planet. However, like any healthy relationship, we are not without our arguments. To name a few: Nuking of the GET array, namespace conflicts (having to name a controller Cart and a model Kart), reading and extending PHP 4, cookie based session Read More >>

Adobe CS4 Broadcast Review

September 23, 2008/0 Comments/in Opinions /by

Foreword I went to bed early last night with butterflies in my stomach, for I knew that on this day – the 23rd of September, 2008 – Adobe Systems would debut yet another new Creative Suite, this time CS4. Yes, it is that time again, and yes, I am that guy (didn’t peg me for a software nerd, did you?). I can’t help it: I get wound up whenever Adobe promises us the creative world with their “new” releases. But why get excited, you wonder. I mean, they do these upgrades every Read More >>

Confessions of a Serial Intern Part 2

September 22, 2008/0 Comments/in Business /by

This is the second of a four part series. If you missed the first one,here ya go. August 8, 2008: The majority of this week was spent playing, on Photoshop of course. In the interview, Tony told me that I could spend some time during my internship just learning, and I happened to have never used Photoshop. (This is a big deal to a Web designer.)Sean started me off by giving me links to good beginner’s tutorials. I taught myself as much as I could and played around with it, only wishing to Read More >>

Our ExpressionEngine Recipe

September 19, 2008/0 Comments/in Development /by

For me, setting up a system in ExpressionEngine is a lot like cooking with chicken — add some simple ingredients and it’ll improve the meal no matter how you cook it. So in every EE project I start, I always include a handful of add-ons to help me as I develop the site. Modules Freeform — This is a must if you plan to have any forms on your site. Take a little time learn how to use it properly and you’ll be amazed at the different capabilities your forms can take on. Pages — Read More >>

Confessions of a Serial Intern Part 1

September 5, 2008/0 Comments/in Business /by

This is the first of a four part series. Catch up with the second one here, third here, and fourth here. August 1, 2008: I walked into work with a smile on my first day. OnWired is written in Sharpie on a piece of painter’s tape on the door. It is clear that this growing start-up company is still adjusting to their new office. Nonetheless, it is a great office, clearly decorated by designers, and I am happy to join the team. Jon, the creative director who interviewed me with Tony, gave Read More >>

Calling All Print Designers: Time to Transcend

September 3, 2008/0 Comments/in Design /by

I should start off by saying that I love print design. My roots in design will always trace back to my background in print. Yet, print is endangered. Why kill a forest reading the newspaper when you can view it (and more) online? Why fumble through thousands of pages in the encyclopedia looking for something when all you have to do is type it in Encyclopedia.com and boom - like magic - it’s right there. With the internet becoming more of a daily tool, employment in print is fading. Plus, Read More >>

Here We Grow Again

June 3, 2008/0 Comments/in News /by

In the past few weeks, the OnWired team has doubled in size. After reviewing hundreds of resumes and and conducting more than our fair share of interviews, we found a few up-and-coming stars that we just couldn’t pass up. Megan Richhart is our newest web designer. She recently graduated from Ball State University, where she studied journalism graphics and digital publishing. Given the fact that she was taking a class on designing digital media for the iPhone in her last semester, it’s Read More >>