By Brent Dixon on March 16, 2006
We want to thank Shane at Unmatched Style for featuring us on his fantastic behemoth of a CSS showcase site today. His review was probably the nicest thing I’ve ever heard that didn’t come from my own mother’s mouth. It has lead to some incredible feedback and an enormous influx of visitors.
We’re all completely blown away and are really appreciative to him – and all of you for dropping by. Also, I have a question for you all after the jump…
One piece of feedback that we’ve heard through the comments on Unmatched Style involved the amount of content we include on our homepage. Here’s a segment from one:
“It‚Äôs very nice graphically, but seems a little cluttered. My first impression upon visiting was that there was too much packed onto the page, everything seemed to demand my attention at the same time.”
I’d like to hear some thoughts on this from you guys. Our reason for going for the one-page vibe was actually to simplify the amount of jumping around visitors had to do to round up information about us. It’s kind of an interesting balance to try and strike, putting enough information right in front of users, while not cluttering up the message.
This is especially an issue because our target market, credit unions, are generally not the most web-savvy group out there.
Thanks again for dropping by, we’re all looking forward to your comments. We like to get better at this thing however we can.
*Update: We just noticed that we were also added to CSS Mania, another fantastic CSS showcase that currently indexes over 2300 sites. Check them out right this second. And also, we somehow made it to the del.icio.us popular page. Honestly, we’re astounded. Thanks guys.
By Brent Dixon on March 15, 2006
You know what’s flattering? CSS design showcase CSSElite has been kind enough to include us in their growing gallery of sites deemed “visually-well-to-do.” Go check it out, and you’ll quickly see that we are in very good company, which is especially cool.
At around one week old, CSSElite is a very young site. The word must have spread rapidly, however, because we’ve already seen a distinct rise in our site traffic since being added. To those who’ve come to us from their site: Hi there. Welcome. Stay awhile.
Word is they’re going to be rolling out a new design in the future, along with expanded features and a contest to win an iPod nano. So if you’re a fan of webdesign and quality creative inspiration, or want a free iPod, CSSElite is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
By Trey Reeme on March 13, 2006
We can’t hold the good news in any longer – we’re working with the Filene Research Institute to build their new site! We’ll be finishing the redesign in June.
More good news – my laptop’s hard drive failed on Friday. I’m happy because I get a new (well, new to me) Dell on steroids (currently Matt’s laptop). Matt’s happy because Uncle Trabian will be getting him a new MacBook Pro Mac PowerBook. The boy won’t stop smiling.
Plus, the Aggies made it into the men’s tournament, so 75% of Trabianites have a reason to say “Gig ‘em” this week. Looks like my alma mater finished with a 4-23 men’s record. Ouch.
By Brent Dixon on March 10, 2006
Web accessibility involves making sure your website is usable by anyone and everyone, especially those with disabilities. With such a broad and sometimes overwhelming spectrum to consider, including screen reader accommodation for the blind and speech recognition compliance for those who can’t use a mouse or keyboard, accessibility can be a very difficult thing to assess.
Web standards, accessibility, and usability specialist Roger Johansson has recently released part one of a three-part series explaining how to make your site the most usable for the widest audience.
From his introduction:
Many people, web developers as well as website owners, are new to website accessibility and find it difficult to evaluate. This three-part article series is intended to make it easier for non-experts to perform a basic accessibility check. I hope it will be helpful enough to make at least a few websites more accessible.
If you’re interested in allowing your site the farthest possible reach, but aren’t sure where to start, this series of articles is definitely worth checking out. Visit the link below for the full article:
Evaluating Website Accessibility Part 1, Background and Preparation
By Trey Reeme on March 02, 2006
Yesterday, we launched the new www.sfcu.org. Stanford Federal Credit Union. THE first financial institution in the world to perform an online banking transaction. (Can you tell we’re beaming?)
This morning we got wind of a comment pointing out, “I really like the look and was impressed enough to research Trabian. Where have I been? Who are these folks? Their corporate site is fun, but doesn’t say much about the principals or when they emerged on the scene.” So, with no further ado, here’s the History of Trabian (abridged).
We’re a small team; there are four of us, to be exact. We (or Trabian DBA Matt, our founder/CEO/face) started building sites back in 2000. When he graduated from Texas A&M in 2003, Trabian incorporated. Shortly thereafter, Chad (now a developer at successful company in Austin), Brent and I joined the team. Mark climbed onboard about six months ago.
Our initial business plan called for developing for a wide range of industries while looking for vertical growth opportunities. And before we picked credit unions as our niche, we’d been helping other non-profits connect to their members. In August 2004 our first credit union site launched and along the way we saw a real need in the industry for exactly what we do best. Plus, we truly believe in the credit union movement.
We were all born in the 80s if that gives you a clue about our ages. We’ve got a stellar board of directors, a solid business model, and clients who’ve been happy to provide the feedback necessary to keep us growing.
Briefly about our team members: I love writing. Mark loves Rails much more than he loves .NET. Brent loves drawing and being a repository for tons of useless knowledge. Matt loves business even more than he loves technology and coding.
Please feel free to ask us any questions, personal or professional, in the comments below.
