The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 25
Wow, 25 episodes! Join us as we look at the great Typekit table, Flashpoint studio strobes, a bizarre spam comment about Troy, Nate’s random thought of the week and our picks from DesignersMusic
Google A/B Testing with ExpressionEngine, Structure & Freebie
It’s been far too long since we had a proper ExpressionEngine tutorial here so without further adieu I present to you a solution for running Google A/B Tests with a Structure setup. Be warned, if you’re not familiar with how Structure works or basic EE templating you might get lost. I just can’t cover all of that here.
We had the pleasure of working with a kick awesome company called Firmex a few months ago and built them out a sweet Structure based site. We didn’t actually design this one - credit goes to Laura Wills at Messenger Design for that. But we did do all the HTML/CSS and ExpressionEngine work.
One of the main things Firmex wanted to be able to do was use Google’s A/B Optimizer to track the effectiveness of just about every page on the site. Wait, what – every page I hear you say? That’s right. And that’s some serious flexibility right there. But let’s start with exactly what A/B testing is.
A/B Testing - A Quick Overview
Let’s say you had the best homepage ever on your site. But you weren’t sure if the picture and header at the top of the page were sending the right message. With the A/B testing you could setup multiple versions with different pictures and headlines and track the results to see which is the most effective.
In order to do all this you need a few things:
Keep ReadingThe Kick Awesome Show: Episode 24
Episode 24 brings the crazy with Nate’s “Emo twin brother” grilling gear, and brain painting. And don’t forget about the music picks!
The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 23
Episode 23 is leaner and meaner. And crazier. Join us as we look at the Pickmaster Plectrum Punch, the SLR Camera Simulator, a ninja spam comment and our picks from DesignersMusic.
Learning to Say No
Do you know when to say no to a new job? I don’t either. But I’m learning.
First of all, why is it so hard to say no? Because we want people to like us? Because it’s easier to say yes? Because it avoids conflict? Probably yes to all of the above. No one likes to be the bad guy, right?
“But I might not get that job and have enough money to keep my lights on!” you say. “My client will get angry and fire me!” “Deep down I want everyone to love me!” A lofty, but unattainable goal. Get over it.
Keep ReadingThe Kick Awesome Show: Episode 22
Ze Double Deuce is upon us! Watch as we talk about a 007 getaway, mega menus, what gear we use to make the show, a surefire test for your cool indie rock and our picks from DesignersMusic and Dribbble. Oh! And a spam comment.
The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 21
We’ve got high fives going out to Apple, Beatmaker2 from Intua, and a look at a cool new plugin from Dev Demon to manage images in ExpressionEngine. And did, I mention we are going to LessConf? Sing along and let us know where you want to see the Kick Awesome Show this conference season!
The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 20
We’re already at #20! Join us as we talk about Geckoboard, the Photojojo Ring Flash, whether we need more dancers, a tutorial on raw image editing, our dribbblist of the week and our picks from DesignersMusic.
The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 19
Bringin’ 19 like a fiend! Join us as we talk about Hipmunk, Intializr, what we’ve learned over the years, Illustrator Tips and Tricks, our Dribbblist of the week and our picks from DesignersMusic.
The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 18
This week we bring you motorcycle light fixtures, Star Wars as told by icons and we mix in a healthy dose Illustrator lovin’. There’s also a great tip on creating tag-a-long elements on a web page, Dribbleology, music picks and more!
The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 17
We now return you to your regularly scheduled craziness. Join us as we talk Seth Godin, the New Adventures Web Design Conference, why we don’t shoot the show on more beaches, CSS3 syntax, a dramatic spam comment reading and our picks from DesignersMusic.
The Kick Awesome Show: Nottingham
Nate travels to Nottingham England for the New Adventures in Web Design Conference and chats with Erskine Design and some, uh… locals.
What’s Up With the Twitter for Mac Icon?
Here’s the thing. I really try not to gripe about things like an application icon. If it’s horrible you can always go make one yourself, right? But the Twitter for Mac icon saga warrants some kind of discussion.
In case you didn’t know, Twitter for Mac is actually sort of Tweetie for Mac 2. The difference being that Twitter hired the creator, Loren Brichter and so version 2 was aptly re-named. In fact, the original Tweetie for Mac was so good that many people kept using it long after it went months without updates and no promise of a new version.
Keep ReadingThe Kick Awesome Show: Episode 16
We are back outside in the cold this week as we talk about Lego letter pressed posters, the information super highway, the departure of our buddy Aaron the intern, New Year’s resolutions and music picks!
The Kick Awesome Show: Christmas Special
This is our short between Christmas and New Year’s holiday special, and boy, is it um… special. Celebrate that lazy week between holidays with us as we sing, get beaten with bells, and play Tic Tac Toe on Santa’s belly!
A Look Back at 2010 for FortySeven Media
It’s time for the semi-regular year end post from FortySeven Media! 2010 was a nutty year filled with lots of traveling, some great client projects and some even better personal projects. Let’s get started, shall we?
Speaking, Conferencing and Traveling
While we got our first taste of web conferences back in 2009, 2010 took it to a whole other level.
LessConf
First off was LessConf in Atlanta. With speakers like Jason and David from 37 Signals, Cameron Moll, Chris Wanstrath from GitHub, Dan Martell, Clay Hebert and Peldi Guilizoni of Balsamiq we were energized and encouraged to keep making kick-awesome stuff.
EECI2010 US
Next was EECI2010 the US Edition in San Francisco. I got to speak at this one and we were reunited with a bunch of our old friends from the Leiden conference back in 2009. The city was fantastic and we even got to meet a few of our long-distance clients while we were there!
Keep ReadingThe Kick Awesome Show: Episode 15
Episode 15 brings the funk! Join us as we talk about mirror TV’s, all things 8-bit, what we’ll be up to in 2 years, Infinity Blade, fun with company names and our picks from DesignersMusic.
The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 14
Episode 14 is chock full of goodness! Join us as we talk about a missionary’s flying car, a wooden iPod amplification dock, questions about @font-face, a solution to CSS3 background images and our picks from DesignersMusic.
The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 13
Get your rabbits feet and lucky charms because it’s time for Episode 13! This week we high five Dropbox and Gear Patrol, talk about hyphens or underscores in our URL’s, the power of asking nicely, a brand new geeky segment called if:else and our picks from DesignersMusic.
FortySeven Media Camden Military Redesign Featured in .net Magazine
A few months back we were fortunate to get an email from the fine folks at .net magazine asking us if we’d like to write an article for their upcoming issue. Why of course we would!
Well, its finally out now and you can read all about our makeover process for Camden Military. We talk about the design process, photography shoots, the backend setup in ExpressionEngine, Wufoo form integration and the benefits they’re already seeing in traffic and conversions. Pretty exciting stuff!
