http://www.romandesign.ca Toronto Web Design RSS feed - news and updates about RD-CMS Content Management System, SEO, and other Toronto Website Design topics. en-us Copyright (C) 2012 Roman Design - Award-winning Toronto Web Design Studio Responsive Web Design is a new and hot trend in web design. No more separate websites that (inadequately) cover mobile devices. Single layout modifies itself for all devices. I'm vonsidering implementing it into next version or Roman Design CMS, however I see several problems with that.Some of Roman Design clients are small businesses with not much content on the website. Most Responsive Web Design sites are see use very minimalistic design to insure that elements still look good when reshuffled. However if there is not much contents and you also strip design to bare minimum, the website will look bland and unappealing.Also, I had great concerns about Flash compatibility with responsive web design. Info on the web is very sparse, but I suspect the sites that are created with responsive web design in mind will have to use no Flash at all. And I'm fond of flash-based headers, they make website look lively while still fully gracefully degradable. I actually solved Flash issues and now responsive web design works with Flash, but Flash is dying anyway, so I advise using HTML5 animation instead. It also works better with responsive web design concept.Nevertheless this trend is definitely here to stay, so I will try and think hard about how it can be integrated into typical Roman Design visually rich web design concept. http://www.romandesign.ca Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500 I've heard it many times: my clients formerly hired a freelancer or a studio in Toronto, spend money and time and got endless delays with poor results or just a bad job, then got frustrated and came to Roman Design (via Google search or recommendation from a client).Just a few advices about how to choose a web designer or web design studio in Toronto, however it not only applies on Canada but almost anywhere:Ask questions! It's important to know how the company operates, where are its designers, what forms of payments they accept, what's the payment structure, etc. You want to get as much information as you can about the designers so you can form an opinion on whether you can trust them.Never hire web design company that uses outsourcing! Ask about outsourcing, where the company's designers and developers are located. If the price looks too attractive - it usually means web design company uses outsourcing (usually to India or sometimes eastern Europe). Outsourcing, by countless previous experiences of Roman Design clients, means total or partial failure in most cases. It just doesn't work. Even if the programmers are OK, time delay, difference in mentality, linguistic and logistical problems are a almost guaranteed recipe for disaster. Sorry for the plug, but Roman Design never uses outsourcing! And more and more businesses come to the same conclusion. Saving money and paying cheap prices sounds good, but in the end you will pay more to fix the damage.Check out online portfolio. Designer or a studio without a nice portfolio is a definite no! Make sure you like the design style, that all works in all budgets look professional and modern. Also it never hurts to check for fraud - I not only get regular phone calls from other businesses about people I've never met who that say in the resume that they worked at Roman Design, but some of them also steal portfolio examples from Roman Design. Simple way to check is actually go to some of the websites mentioned and see if they link back to the designer and if that's really the person or company you are researching.When requesting quote - be very specific and descriptive about what you need. Make sure everything is written in your specifications, to eliminate any later misunderstandings and to make sure you get accurate quotes. Roman Design has a nice and detailed Quote Request Questionnaire that will help you with that. Writing out everything also protects you from your designer asking to get more money from you later for something you want but haven't clearly mentioned when requesting the estimate. http://www.romandesign.ca Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0400 We are proud to announce a new redesigned Roman Design website launch! New design together with RD-CMS Content Management System version 7 introduces many changes both visual and under the hood: A new and exciting designTransitioning to HTML5 and CSS3 code baseFully working Responsive Web Design code - adapting to any device and screen size on the flyMoving away from Flash and to the HTML5 video standards (MP4, OGG Theora) to anticipate a Flash platform rapidly becoming obsolete. All animation is now done in HTML5 for browsers that support itNew font engineMore efficient database operationClient testimonials page and random testimonials on most website pagesMany added features and improvements http://www.romandesign.ca Sun, 21 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0400 RomanDesign.ca is one of the first Toronto based web-design studio websites to implement Responsive Web Design and Adaptive Design concepts. Last update of RD-CMS Content Management System now filly supports both concepts. Responsive Web Design is a concept that allows a website to use CSS3 to scale down for optimum usability on any device, such as desktop, laptop, notebook, netbook, iphone, ipad and other smartphones and tablets, instead of serving a separate mobile website version that can't be tailor-maid for every device and therefore will not look optimal on most devices. Depending on the screen width images resize, font sizes change, content elements appear and disappear, navigation hides and changes appearance etc.Unlike most Responsive web design websites, RD-CMS retains full Flash compatibility. Flash is only rendered for devices with displays more than 800 pixels wide, while for lesser screens static images are rendered. Both Flash and static header images scale down with screen width, and layout scales back accordingly. With smaller screens less important design elements start to gradually disappear and font sizes increase until you see a slimmed-down version intended for smartphone use with vertical screen orientation, and unique phone-oriented functionality appears - such as "call" button allowing to call Roman Design directly, VCard download etc.The new Responsive Web Design features can be explored by resizing browser window and making it gradually narrower. Please note that in order to see static image intended for smaller screens page would have to be refreshed while it's less than 800 pixels wide. http://www.romandesign.ca Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400 It looks like Toronto is still confused by latest Google updates - Panda and Penguin. Some sites are hit hard, others have not suffered. Everybody is giving out advice about how to avoid penalties for the affected websites, bit I have a suspicion nobody really knows what's happening. Most advice are just common sense, but have little relevance to the updates and tend not to improve the situation. In any case, it's only prudent to be reasonable and stick to white-hat tactics only. http://www.romandesign.ca Sun, 22 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400 As you might know, Roman Design ranks #1 at "Toronto corporate web design" query. However the most desired search term is obviously "Toronto web design" and at this term there are dozens and hundreds of black-hat SEO driven websites that spend tens of thousands to buy links and seed link farms to get their ranking.That does pose a tricky moral dilemma: use dark side of the force and get more business or maintain moral high ground and only use white-hat SEO tactics and good code practices? I decided that Roman Design will never use black-hat tactics and never spoof organic search results. I hope that honesty will pay off in loyal clients and far less risk of Google ranking problems. http://www.romandesign.ca Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400 RD-CMS 6.5 brings some cosmetic changes and new Quote system, including new Free Quote Questionnaire that allows clients to create project specifications online. Potential clients can select desired services and fill in detailed specifications in the fluid and dynamic form that adjust to required services. http://www.romandesign.ca Thu, 12 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Giant Tiger store opening photoshoot on location was fun - I sat Giant Tiger mascot at a giant camping chair they sold there (who would need such a thing?) and made some good shots, which I delivered electronically the same day. http://www.romandesign.ca Sun, 08 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0400 NoVA Surveys Inc. website is using RD-CMS v6 and has a custom quote processing module that allows on-line quote request with user registration, issuing quotes, accepting and payment via PayPal. It's just another example of how RD-CMS can be adapted to specific business needs. http://www.romandesign.ca Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0400 I've completed RD-CMS code review in order to evaluate if it can accomodate Responsive Web Design principles. I found out that yes, it can be adapted to use Responsive Web Design. The question is if it should. If any of Roman Design clients in Toronto or Canada request this feature - it's definitely feasible without a major CMS engine rewrite. However it introduces other problems of the design nature. I might write a post on that later.The advantage of introducing responsive web design framework into RD-CMS is that it's the future of web and Canada so far is trailing in its acceptance. So, if RD-CMS supports it soon, then it will be among very few truly Canadian solutions that do. http://www.romandesign.ca Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0400