The pundits always seem to see history repeating itself, e.g., "The last time Apple had a head start, Microsoft came in and cleaned their clock". A statement which compares Apple's success with the iPhone to the original Mac's debut and success in the '80s.
So as I was working today on managing the hundreds of Search Engine Marketing ads for our client Tire Barn, I thought to myself - I better recommend that we move some of their advertising budget over to Bing - after all they're not that far behind Yahoo. So I do a little research and come up to the page where you can sign up for Microsoft's Ad Center for more info, and I click the Sign Up Now button, and I get this message...
The current browser is not supported. To see a list of supported browsers, see About System Requirements.
But wait, it gets better.
Recently, I had the good fortune to see my newest book published, Beginning JavaScript and CSS Development with jQuery. Suffice to say, I've become a pretty big fan of jQuery, and how effortless it makes certain development tasks. If you're not familiar with jQuery, consider having a look at my book, which provides a relatively comprehensive introduction to this ever more ubiquitous JavaScript library.
This past month we've been working hard to help Estridge Homes setup and launch its website for the season finale of Extreme Makeover Home Edition - http://www.estridgeextremedream.com/. The site has been the center for volunteer and sponsor signup and every day I check the site or I hear from Estridge how many people have gotten involved, I'm just amazed at the way people come together when given a great cause. There's obviously some level of self promotion involved in all this - I'd be lying if I didn't admit we used this project as a push to finally get our own website complete in anticipation of some increased web traffic. Lets face it, most companies get involved in projects like this to gain exposure in the marketplace - everyone from a local cabinet company to national TV sponsor Sears, which supplies all the appliances in the homes built on the show. But they also get involved to contribute to something larger than themselves, something worth doing. And I think that's why the show seems to be such a huge success week to week: no one builder really constructs a house all by themselves.
Well here we are, just about 3 years from the day someone on the Westlake Design team said "Our website sucks.". I might be exaggerating the time a little, but I'm not that far off. It's been a really long road and we've finally arrived at something we feel represents who we are today...
