This isn’t one of those. Yay!

Instead, in addition to our heartfelt wishes for an amazing new year, I’m writing with an announcement that I hope you’ll join me in celebrating.

Hot Glue Media has been restructured for the new year so that we can better serve you. Internally, my team and I will be focusing on WordPress builds, technical development, and remote technical support; we’ve formed strategic partnerships with world-class designers to continue to provide print and web design as well as technical support.

For questions and support, please continue to contact me at mer@hotgluemedia.com or 716.241.1676.

As part of this change, Dani has moved on from her role as owner, design, and project manager, after five successful years with HGM. It’s been a pleasure working with her, and I wish her all the best in her new endeavors.

If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please contact me directly at mer@hotgluemedia.com or 716.241.1676.

Here’s to a fantastic 2012!

-Meredith

I’m not gonna teach you how to write a blog post here. You probably already know, and if you don’t, there are plenty of places where you can learn the basics (we’ve got one right here in fact). But WordPress has a lot of options, a lot of settings, and a bunch of things that just make blogging easier, and those are what I’m gonna talk about today.

So you’ve written a blog post, and you know that once you’re done, you click on ‘Publish’ to publish it. Yes?

But there’s a lot more in that ‘Publish’ box in the right sidebar.

The first tool you’ll find there is ‘Save Draft’. Use this when you’re ready to shut down your computer for the night, when it’s time to switch to another project for a while, or every five minutes while you’re writing. You’re familiar with the adage ‘Save early, save often’, I hope? Yeah. Do that.

The second is ‘Preview’. You want to see what your post will look like once it’s all grown up, right? This does that. Just click ‘Preview’…

…and it’ll open another tab that’ll contain a preview of your magnum opus.

Click it again once you’ve made changes, and it’ll show you what you’ve done.

Say your blog has several people writing for it, and you’re ready for the editor to look over the post you’ve just written. Or you think you’re done writing it, but just want to look over it in a day or two to make sure. You can change the ‘Status’ to ‘Pending Review’ to signify this. (This doesn’t actually make any substantive change in the status of the post itself, but it’s useful for separating draft posts from posts that are almost ready to be posted.)

Or say you’re the editor, and you want your writers to be able to write their posts directly within your WordPress platform, but you don’t want them to have permission to publish until you’ve had a look at what they’ve written. You can use the ‘User Role Editor’ (under Users in the sidebar) to decide who’s allowed to do what. I won’t go into too much detail with this now, but it’s awfully useful.

You can also make posts private — visible only to you — or make them password protected, so only certain people can see them. Or if your theme allows, you can make a post ‘sticky’, so that it will always appear at the top of your blog (more about these here).

And here’s the best part — post scheduling. It took me years to figure this out and boy, has it made my life easier. Write an entire week’s worth of posts (or a month’s worth, if you’re ambitious) and schedule em out. Then wander off and goof around for a while, because WordPress will make them go for you. It’s all under ‘Publish’.

Not sure what you’ve got scheduled to post when? Click on ‘Blog’ and ‘Manage’…

…and it’ll display each post, complete with when it’s scheduled to go.

All done scheduling and private-ing and draft-ing? You’ll notice that ‘Publish’ changes depending on what you’ve done — it might become ‘Schedule’ or ‘Update’. But it’ll all do the same thing — save your post and make it ready to go.

Well, maybe. You’ve talked to your web designers about what you want, and now you’re in the middle of a pile of deadlines and deliverables and stuff that is really important to your business but you don’t know what the hell to do now. Or, you’ve just received a stack (virtual or otherwise) of websites to evaluate, wireframes to look at, or this weird thing called a “design board” that looks nothing like any website you’ve ever seen.

Your child sure is funny-looking at this point and you have no idea what you’re supposed to do with her. So now what?

Rule #1: Know what you’re looking at.

It may sound simple, but it’s easy to get lost in the vast amounts of information that are likely to be coming your way. Are you supposed to be looking at layout? Interactivity? Type and colors? That tiny little thing in the left corner? Maybe we asked you to look at the user experience, but you haven’t a clue what the user experience is.

So what do you do when you’re not sure what to do? Ask. No, really. Just ask. Call, email, tweet, or Facebook message us, and we can walk you through what you need to be looking at, looking for, or otherwise filtering through your brain.

What’s this widget? I don’t understand what ‘accordion menu’ means. And is her head supposed to be shaped that way? Whatever your questions are, we welcome them!

Rule #2: This is business, not art.

I’m going to quote Mike Montiero here, because he said it best:

“…what you’re looking at is not art. It’s not even close. It’s a business tool in the making and should be looked at subjectively like any other business tool you work with. The right question is not, ‘Do I like it?’, but ‘Does this meet our goals?’ If it’s blue, don’t ask yourself whether you like blue. Ask yourself if blue is going to help you sell sprockets. Better yet: ask your design team. You just wrote your first feedback question.”

We don’t expect you to understand design – that’s why we’re here, after all. But you do know your business, and your clients, in a way that we never, ever will. Think about your clients and how they would use, or be impacted by, the proposed designs. Not sure why we did something, or how that will help achieve your goals? Rule #1 again – just ask!

Rule #3: Be honest!

For as much as it’s not art, it’s still your website – and you still need to be proud of it. If you hate the end result, that will show when you market it to your clients. If something’s not working for you, no matter how good of a reason it may have to be doing what it’s doing, or looking like what it’s looking like, tell us, as early and as succinctly as possible. It will let us explore alternatives that we would otherwise not know we needed to explore.

Rule #4: Be as specific and goal-oriented as possible

Believe it or not, “This is awesome!” is as unhelpful a feedback statement as “This sucks!”. It gives us nothing to go on to make the end result even awesomer or less suck-tastic. (Plus, unhelpful feedback draws out the process, because it requires us to attempt mind-reading, something we’re not particularly good at.)

Don’t forget to keep your project goals in mind as you review, and tell us if they’ve changed! We’re working from the project goals set in the original launch meeting, so if they’ve changed and we don’t know, your project will not be a success. Relate your feedback to your goals, and we’ll be able to move your project along swiftly and successfully.

So, how about some examples of unhelpful vs. helpful feedback?

Unhelpful: “It’s too busy”.
Helpful: “It’s too busy in the lower right corner of the page – there’s a lot of information here, and I’m worried that visitors to the site will miss the call to action and not sign up for our sprockets newsetter.”
Why: The helpful feedback is incredibly specific, and relates directly to one of the site’s goals – in this case, to get newsletter signups.

Unhelpful: “I don’t like red and grey.”
Helpful: “The combination of red and grey is difficult to read.”
Why: The helpful feedback calls out a specific problem – contrast – which we can then address.

Unhelpful: “Make the text size larger and change the red to purple.”
Helpful: “The combination of red and grey is difficult to read. Is there something we can do, such as change the text size, to make it more readable?”
Why: Again, the helpful feedback calls out a specific problem – contrast and readability – which we can then address with the user in mind, in a way that just changing the color or text size may not accomplish.

Rule #5: Invisible feedback is unhelpful feedback

Let’s say you have two internal stakeholders for your project, Mark and Bob. Mark wants a green website, because he thinks green attracts money, and Bob wants a website with an animated clown in the footer, because he read somewhere that animated clowns are the hip new thing, and it’ll make your company look more tech-forward.

If you come back to us with feedback that says “change the color to green and add an animated clown”, we’re going to be rather hard-pressed to relate those two changes to your project’s goals (not to mention a bit confused). However, if you come back to us with “Mark wants a green website, because he thinks green attracts money, and Bob wants a website with an animated clown in the footer, because he read somewhere that animated clowns are the hip new thing, and it’ll make your company look more tech-forward.”, we’ll be able to relate that feedback to your goals and possibly make some compromises (a non-animated clown, perhaps?) along the way.

In other words, tell us why you want the changes you want, not just what they are.

Wrap-Up: Why does it all matter?

It matters because good design feedback is more important to you than it is to us.

• Each bit of good design feedback brings your project one step closer to the end result! (Unhelpful design feedback is a step or two back.)
• Good design feedback makes it clear to everyone what the next steps are! (Unhelpful design feedback can lead to mind-reading and guesswork, a frustrating process for everyone involved.)
• Good design feedback keeps your project on schedule! (Unhelpful design feedback draws out a project through otherwise unnecessary iterations and revisions.)
• Good design feedback keeps your project on track to meet its goals! (Unhelpful design feedback can derail a project quicker than just about anything else.)
• Good design feedback ensures that your baby grows up into a beautiful young woman! (Unhelpful design feedback pretty much guarantees she’ll want her tongue pierced before she’s thirteen.)

So what now?

Ask lots of questions, be specific as possible, and you’ll have a beautiful baby girlsuccessful project in no time.

Enough that sorting through them can make me pretty well inclined to run around my house pulling my hair out. Since this happens pretty often anyway, I try to keep it to a minimum, and since I fount Font Picker, well, there’s plenty of other stuff that stresses me out still, but the fonts, not a problem.

Pick a box (any box, it doesn’t matter) and type your desired text into it (a bit of it, anyway). It’ll immediately display that text in every box — and thus, in every font.

Eliminate fonts you know you don’t want by clicking the ‘X’; favorite ones you think might be The One by clicking the checkmark. You can unclick the checkmark, too, as you narrow things down.

Listing every font on your computer in one place would be valuable enough on its own — but being able to see what your chosen text is going to look like, and being able to compare one to another without having to switch back and forth, is the really valuable part.

Ladies and gentlemen, this tool is the win. Font Picker. Saving my hair on at least a weekly basis.

This month, after rummaging around in our vast warehouse of eclectic treasures, we’ve come out with an Action Book from Behance (also host to our online portfolio!):

The Action Book is part of Behance’s Action Method product line, the first in a series of Behance projects to help creative professionals boost productivity and make ideas happen … The four distinct zones on each page provide a flexible template to get the most out of meetings and everyday brainstorm sessions. Your Passion is your work, treat it well.

This is nice stuff, too — hardbound, good thick paper with a nice nubby texture, sturdily built. A joy to write in and to use.

How will it be yours? Here’s how:

1. Come up with an AWESOME idea for Dani to use to design June’s wallpaper calendar.
2. Or give Mer some inspiration for her next podcast.
3. Tweet, FaceBook, however you like, share this lil’ contest around. **
4. Seriously, just comment here with your email or some way of getting hold of you, we’re easy.

And in a week (or when we get tired of waiting), we’ll pick one! lucky! WINNAH!

* All five of you — and we’re proud to welcome the most recent two!

** Don’t bother telling us about it unless you really want to, you don’t actually get extra entries this way, but we do like seeing our name in lights.

Thanks to Diana and Karen for finding two little bugs for us this week! Item images are now appearing properly in RSS feeds, and thumbnail display images are no longer being cut off on the left. Thanks, ladies!

A New Feature – Collapsing Navigation!

By popular demand, we’ve added a collapsing navigation widget. This is an advanced, completely customizable widget that allows you to add multiple levels of navigation that will expand on hover, remain expanded when you’re on a related page, and collapse when you’re not. Nifty, huh? Check out this feature in action on our demo shop and at Venezie Designs. We’re running a bit behind this week, but will get the tutorial up this weekend! :)

New Shop Launches

We have two shop launches to announce this week!

Blue Calla Creations offers a collection of handmade bags, purses, totes and clutches, as well as a few items for children and home decor items such as pillow covers and quilts. This shop uses a semi-custom version of the “Chocolate Dreams” template.

Venezie Designs is a designer fabrics and patterns store in Bellingham, MA. They feature original boutique patterns and fabrics from your favorite designers. This shop uses a semi-custom version of the “Malted Mint” template.

Themes

Round about last Saturday Dani got overwhelmed with work and server moves not feeling well, and decided to relax in her inimitable manner (which apparently involves designing stuff that isn’t actually on the schedule).

And so, this week we’re excited to announce three new Wicked Plum themes!

Naturescape — greens and greys, cute little cartoon plants, and a simple, clean layout.

Muffin Shop — pastel candystriper stripes set the backdrop for this shop, with broad, bold lettering.

Bamboo — like Naturescape, only with more bamboo and a scratchy, fun font.

Remember we have about a bazillion other themes to choose from, too — and if none of them is quite right, we offer theme customization starting at just $20. Pick one and make it yours!

We were members of a similar organization in Pennsylvania, and so I was jazzed to find BWER *and* be given the opportunity to create their new website!

Creative Spirit. Extraordinary Women.
Buffalo Women Entrepreneurs Rock! is a group of women who have come together with one common thread: A passion for creative living, expressed through the businesses that they run. They have a number of fantastic events and speakers in the works, with topics like the Law of Attraction, mentors and mentoring, keeping the spark in your business, and more.
Sign up for their newsletter to learn how BWER’s speakers and events can help you and your business grow and thrive.

Get Involved
If you’re a female entrepreneur or business owner in the Buffalo-Niagara area, please come out and join us at one of our open meetings!

Your Name in Lights
Have an idea for an upcoming event, or something you’d like to share with the local women’s business community? Is there someone you’d like to hear speak? Are you interested in leading a discussion, or presenting to the group? Send us your ideas today!

Learn More:
Website | Twitter | Facebook

Being me, though, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. The pre-packaged backgrounds and screensavers are…well, they’re okay, I suppose, but they’re exactly what one would expect, inoffensive, simple, designed to please anyone and thus not pleasing anyone very much. So, designer that I am (and if you’re surprised by this, you haven’t been paying attention), I decided I’d make my own.

Just to make this an even more tempting task there’s a lot of gorgeous pre-Raphaelite art out there available in the public domain. And I love me some pre-Raphaelite art. The romance, the medieval influences, the drapey, flowing clothing, the hot babes…ahem, pardon me, got distracted there.

Anyway, so I made wallpaper — a stylized, cropped “Golden Head by Golden Head” by Dante Rosetti, which is not only pretty, but fitting, ‘cos it was art designed to pair with the written word (the cover for his sister Christina Rosetti’s poetry book “Goblin Market and Other Poems”).

And I made twelve screensavers from a variety of public domain pre-Raphaelite painting, greyscaled and adjusted so they’ll make your Nook all purty.

And because I’m a generous soul (and because I figured why the heck not), I’m making them available to you too! Just click here to download the zipped file with the whole shebang. Installation instructions are in the readme.txt file, and it’s pretty easy to install.

Disclaimer: I’ve only tested this on the B&W Wifi Nook (cos that’s the one both Kate and I have), use at your own risk (I don’t know how you’d brick your Nook with this, but if you manage it, that’s all on you), your mileage may vary, offer void in Shambhala and the western suburbs of Atlantis, etc., etc.

Enjoy!

Available as 1680×1050, 1600×900, and 1280×1024. (Left-click to preview; right-click to download.)

Wicked Plum has a couple more brand new shops in the works — and we’ll share them when they’re ready, but right now they’re Top Sekrit until they’re ready for a Grand Unveiling, and with that I’m done with the random capitalization.

In the meantime, we at Wicked Plum believe strongly in encouraging everyone to buy from our Wicked Plum shops. Every one of them sells something beautiful, something unique, something you can’t live without. (Plus, the more you buy from them, the more lovely little customizations they can pay us to put in their shops.) And with Mother’s Day coming up soon, that’s all the more reason to go shopping.

For the crafty Mom, we have a couple of selections. Does she sew? Set her up with some beautiful fabric from Venezie Designs one of our newer Wicked Plum shops. Karen of Venezie Designs carries a wide and comprehensive selection of fabrics, and patterns for everything from aprons to quilts, tote bags to trench coats.

Does she knit or crochet? Off to Southern Purls for everything she might need. Southern Purls is one of the first Wicked Plum shops, from back in our beta days, and you can tell — she’s got a shop bursting full of everything a crocheter or knitter might want. Beautiful yarns, notions, instruction books, shawl pins, and more kinds of knitting needles than I knew there were.

What if she’s a snappy dresser? Nothing like dolling yourself up for a night on the town. Well, we’ve got that buttoned up, too. Check out these sexy vintage boots from Jaunty Dapple — just because she’s a mom doesn’t mean she has to be all June Cleaver!

Pair them with a beautiful necklace from A Beaded Affair. Chalcedony, pearls and black spinel — simple, but by no means plain. And if that one’s not to her taste, Lois has more necklaces … and earrings .. .and bracelets … and more beautiful jewelry than you can shake a stick at. (Okay, I’m not sure why you’d shake a stick at it anyway, but whatever.)

And if she’s that crafty Mom we talked about above? Lois has beads, wire, chain, findings, and more, plenty enough to start making jewelry instead of buying it.

Back to your fashionista Mom, though, and we’ve got this beautiful crinoline from PrettyCoolShops. Hypothetically crinolines are supposed to be worn under another skirt, but I’d just wander around in this, it’s so pretty. “Excuse me miss, your slip is showing.” “Why yes, yes it is.”

Put that with those boots and that necklace? Yeah, she’s looking fine.

Lastly, the Mom who needs a little pampering in her life. And what Mom doesn’t? Let’s be honest here. She put up with you. She deserves something nice. (And by ‘you’ I mean ‘me’, and by ‘she’, I mean ‘my mom’.) We’ve got a couple of options for that.

Betula’s Botanica makes some really, really lovely and creatively-scented soaps — this Woodland Fir and Lavender is an example, but only one example. You want earthy? She’s got Patchouli and Rosewood. You want to wake up in the morning? Basil and Citrus, or Lemongrass and Cedarwood. You want it, she’s got it.

Not into soap at all? She’s got moisturizing cream, sugar scrubs, and lip balms, too.

And speaking of pampering, there’s Om Shanti Handcrafts’ gift sets, too. Is she a gardener? Here’s a gift set for her — bug spray, sunburn spray, a salve to heal those little scratches and dents she’ll get digging in the dirt, and for cleaning up afterwards, your choice of soap.

Not a gardener? Check out gift sets with lip balms, bath salts, body scrubs, and soaps, too.

Here at Wicked Plum we’ve got something for just about every Mom you’ve got.So go forth and get with the shopping!