Iron Ion Blog

  • Choosing a Good Web Host

    Choosing a Good Web Host

    I’ve encountered a lot of situations where clients are having trouble with their web host. Most often, it’s related to how slow their website is loading after adding a content management system to their previously static website. Content Management Systems (CMS) such as Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, etc. tend to add a bit more load to […]

  • Colors on the Web RGB vs. HEX vs. HSLa

    Colors on the Web RGB vs. HEX vs. HSLa

    For people just starting out in web design, finding out about all the different languages and their various nuances is difficult enough. Add in the fact that web languages change on a daily basis–even plain old HTML and CSS have hundreds of considerations to take into account, and all this stuff can be pretty overwhelming. […]

  • CSS Tutorial: Simple Text Transitions with CSS3

    CSS Tutorial: Simple Text Transitions with CSS3

    With CSS3 comes some very fancy effects including text transitions that you can use to create a bit of animation and interest in your websites. Some CSS3 transitions work with pseudo classes to create an effect when a user hovers their mouse over a link or image. I will only be covering transition effects for […]

  • CSS Tutorial: Using Text Shadows

    I’m seeing more and more designs utilizing text shadows to increase legibility or create beautiful typographic effects. While I was planning my redesign, I wanted to incorporate the text-shadow effect to maximize the flat illustrative look that I was going for. Text shadows are a cool CSS trick that can apply a blurry or solid […]

  • How to Remove the Smiley Face on WordPress

    So you’re working with WordPress, possibly editing a theme, maybe making your own, or applying a theme you just downloaded. Everything is working OK and looking fine until you get to the bottom of the page and notice this: What the heck is that smiley face doing there? At this point, you might be going […]

  • Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Designer

    Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Designer

    All too often I encounter clients who are unhappy with a website that they had designed because they were working with a web designer who a) didn’t communicate with them, or b) didn’t know what they were doing. This sort of thing happens way too much and continues to happen. So here are some quick […]

  • Two Easy Ways to Pair Typefaces

    Two Easy Ways to Pair Typefaces

    Typography is the love of most graphic and web designers. But for some, it can be an intimidating task. Pairing together the right typefaces to create a cohesive design comes from years of experience studying type and understanding how one typeface interacts with another can depend on a huge amount of factors. Here are some […]

  • Resources: Some Useful Design Books

    Resources: Some Useful Design Books

    Most of my first two years of higher education were spent in a dark room with ten to fifteen other people, drawing from a still life or live model. Sometimes we were loosed outside to sit in the frigid autumns of Canada to commit a landscape to paper. Later on, I started getting more design, […]

  • A Short Bit About Graphic Design Contracts

    The second most boring possible subject involved in being a freelance designer would have to do with design contracts. The most boring are taxes. Whoopee. But contracts are essential for the operation of your business. This write-up isn’t meant to be a full contract tutorial, or a complete list of things you need to include […]

  • Not So Innocent WordPress Themes

    The ease of setting up a WordPress blog is fairly common knowledge. WordPress themselves talk about the easy 5-minute installation. And it really is that easy! What isn’t so easy, and what a lot of people often overlook, is the maintenance and security of their blog after the initial installation. WordPress security is about as […]

  • Installing Magento on XAMPP

    Installing Magento on XAMPP

    E-Commerce is getting big, and one of the biggest e-commerce systems in use is Magento. It is an open source software package that allows users to set up an online store. While “easy” isn’t the first word I would use for Magento, it’s certainly one of the better options out there if you’re looking for […]

  • Installing WordPress on XAMPP

    Installing WordPress on XAMPP

    One thing that concerns me with some inexperienced web designers, is their penchant for developing or designing a site directly on a client’s web server–either they use a subdirectory on the server or start making changes to the live site itself. There are a number of reasons why developing directly on a client’s live server […]

  • The Difference Between Arial and Helvetica

    The Difference Between Arial and Helvetica

    Back in high school, whenever I looked at Arial, I would think, “The World’s Most Boring Font”, then skip it and use something else like Tahoma or Verdana for my sans-serif needs. But then, back in high school, I didn’t know too much about graphic design until college drilled into me the importance of typefaces. […]

Where have I been?

Since late-2017, I have decided to go back to my roots as an artist rather than continue as a designer/developer. The articles featured in this blog are very old, many are out of date, but I did not want to archive all of these posts even though they are old. As the internet fills with more and more things, sometimes old information that may be crucial to solving a problem or helping someone understand a concept, becomes harder to find. So, I wanted to keep these posts up in the off-chance that it helps someone, someday.

If any of these posts have helped you, please consider checking out my current whereabouts on alumandink.com. Best of luck and be well! ❤️