http://nerdburn.com/ RSS feed of recent articles by Shawn Adrian en-us Copyright (C) Shawn Adrian This week I received a random phone call from a startup founder down in Virginia - a young woman planning a fashion startup. In hindsight, I could have given... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/get-a-cofounder-build-something-sell-something http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/get-a-cofounder-build-something-sell-something This is a quick response to Lazy Writing, a post yesterday by Sacha Greif (who I'm a big fan of). While I agree with the general sentiment and I love... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/in-support-of-lazy-writing http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/in-support-of-lazy-writing I read this article just now, talking about how startups are running out of cash and failing all over the place. I found that the tone of the article... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/build-a-business-not-a-startup http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/build-a-business-not-a-startup This article is my perspective on articles written this week by Matt Galligan, Jon Crawford, and Bubs Monsef about work / life balance. I... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/theres-no-such-thing-as-work-life-balance http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/theres-no-such-thing-as-work-life-balance That Adele album is really good. I know everyone's kind of over it now, and it's been overplayed, but it's a damn good album. In Chris Anderson's... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/the-power-of-restraint-in-design http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/the-power-of-restraint-in-design A positive trend I'm noticing lately is the flux of US tech startup investors peering into the global economy, seeking new opportunities outside of Silicon... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/investing-in-our-neighbours-is-good http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/investing-in-our-neighbours-is-good Lately I've been awed by the generosity of investors, advisors, mentors and people I've encountered in the startup community here on the west coast, so I... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/startup-growth-tip-ask-for-advice-and-pay-it-forward http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/startup-growth-tip-ask-for-advice-and-pay-it-forward In startup life, there are a number of things you can focus on that can all draw attention. Lately my distraction is wondering how much more quickly we would... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/startup-growth-tip-focus-on-your-product-customers-team-and-self http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/startup-growth-tip-focus-on-your-product-customers-team-and-self Twitter reports that there are over 250 million tweets per day and over 30 million new websites are created every year. The web has become the global... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/who-will-curate-the-web http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/who-will-curate-the-web I'm addicted to creating side projects - I literally generate an idea a day, and the exciting ones have me wanting to drop everything and start on them... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/how-to-get-motivated-on-your-side-project http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/how-to-get-motivated-on-your-side-project Lately I've been reading books about economics - it's really a fascinating subject. One of the economic principles that has stood out to my wife and I the most... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/time-management-tips-saying-no-saying-yes http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/time-management-tips-saying-no-saying-yes So, prior to today I had been using the same design since 2007. It's currently June 2012, so that's a solid 5 years with the same old design, hosted on the same... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/custom-blog-refresh-using-caffeine-lessjs-and-disqus http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/custom-blog-refresh-using-caffeine-lessjs-and-disqus We're only a few days past the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, and I have plenty to be thankful about. Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat with Hiten Shah,... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/giving-back-is-getting-ahead-three-tips-from-hiten-shah http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/giving-back-is-getting-ahead-three-tips-from-hiten-shah We've all heard that great customer support is one key to success in business, but sometimes it's difficult to measure it's effect on revenue growth. Well, over... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/great-customer-support-measurable-revenue-growth http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/great-customer-support-measurable-revenue-growth Are you constantly fighting to achieve, but not quite seeing the success you want? Do you look at your failures and cringe, frustrated and eager to improve, but... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/three-key-ingredients-for-success-in-business http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/three-key-ingredients-for-success-in-business Lately I've been putting like buttons on most web sites, and while I'm designing it's always tricky if I don't have a proper transparent PSD of the like button.... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/facebook-like-button-psd-download http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/facebook-like-button-psd-download The year of 2010 marked a turning point in my life. I had been designing web sites for 15 years, in every capacity. I'd been a freelance designer, a UI... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/designer-turned-coder-three-apps-i-launched-in-2010 http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/designer-turned-coder-three-apps-i-launched-in-2010 If you're a web designer, I'll bet the majority of your time is spent thinking about projects. New projects, old projects, the value of each project, exciting... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/a-web-designers-story-getting-off-the-merry-go-round http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/a-web-designers-story-getting-off-the-merry-go-round This is a small list of a few things I feel are worthy of sharing on my blog today. If you into designing web apps, like I am, or creating UX and UI, you'll... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/6-things-freelance-designers-should-check-out-today http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/6-things-freelance-designers-should-check-out-today Well, today is Canada day, and also the first day that the new HST takes effect in BC. If you live in BC, as I do, you're probably wondering how the new HST... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/complete-list-of-tax-increases-in-bc-with-hst http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/complete-list-of-tax-increases-in-bc-with-hst Yesterday I wanted to create a little stats panel for a client that would tell me how many new people had signed up that day. Then I wanted to compare that with... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/how-to-select-all-new-entries-from-today-with-mysql http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/how-to-select-all-new-entries-from-today-with-mysql This is just a quick post to let everyone know that Jon and I have finally launched QuoteRobot :) The official launch date isn't until tomorrow, June 1st, but... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/quoterobot-lives-try-it-free-for-30-days http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/quoterobot-lives-try-it-free-for-30-days My wife Stephanie has been working on this idea for a while - a classifieds site where women (and men theoretically) can sell their used clothing and... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/buy-and-sell-used-clothing-and-accessories-on-exching http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/buy-and-sell-used-clothing-and-accessories-on-exching While writing a custom CMS for a client, I was approached with the request to enable it to accept any YouTube URL and add that video to a video gallery page on... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/simpleyoutube-php-class-for-getting-video-details http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/simpleyoutube-php-class-for-getting-video-details I have a confession to make. I've been designing web sites for almost 15 years, in a variety of capacities, and I had never once logged my actual working... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/time-tracking-hassle-or-help-freckle-enlightens http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/time-tracking-hassle-or-help-freckle-enlightens My good friend Jon and I have been working over the holidays on a dream of mine I had a couple of years ago called QuoteRobot. It's a web app we're building... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/quoterobot-helping-designers-create-quotes-and-win-jobs http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/quoterobot-helping-designers-create-quotes-and-win-jobs Sometimes all it takes is seeing a single design element on a web site to inspire me on a project - that's why I've created this PSD of UI elements and buttons.... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/20-free-handmade-buttons-and-ui-elements-in-one-psd http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/20-free-handmade-buttons-and-ui-elements-in-one-psd As a freelance web designer, I'm always thinking of ways to smooth out the natural ups and downs of project based income. One of the ideas I've been toying with... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/most-people-want-to-pay-monthly-for-web-design http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/most-people-want-to-pay-monthly-for-web-design As a freelance web designer, one of the trickiest skills to master is maintaining a steady flow of cash. In years past, friends used to chide me about my "feast... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/freelance-designers-how-to-level-income-with-ongoing-contracts http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/freelance-designers-how-to-level-income-with-ongoing-contracts Lately I've been reading a lot of blog posts, rants, and articles demonizing the effects of crowdsourcing, cheap labor, spec work, and other such evils in the... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/stop-complaining-and-start-educating-potential-clients http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/stop-complaining-and-start-educating-potential-clients I never intended to become an advocate for Google Docs, and I'll probably write web apps to accommodate my needs some day, but lately I've found myself using... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/5-ways-i-use-google-docs-as-a-freelance-web-designer http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/5-ways-i-use-google-docs-as-a-freelance-web-designer Today I learned an interesting lesson I thought I'd write about. I signed up for Ballpark, the terrific new app from Metalab Designs in Victoria, right in my... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/ballpark-proves-theres-room-for-another-invoicing-app http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/ballpark-proves-theres-room-for-another-invoicing-app Over the last 3 months I've been struggling in my mind with the balance between doing what I love, and making a living as a responsible adult. The 9 to 5... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/art-vs-design-passion-vs-cash http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/art-vs-design-passion-vs-cash Google maps makes it very easy to add a map to any page - but it's not so easy to extract meaningful address data from what Google returns. The goal of this... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/how-to-parse-google-maps-returned-address-data-a-simple-jquery-plugin http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/how-to-parse-google-maps-returned-address-data-a-simple-jquery-plugin My eyes feel grimy, I have a coffee buzz, and my feet keep tapping to the unrelenting drum beat in my head as this week comes to a close. My task list feels... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/chubby-cms-framework-mark-boulton-and-other-friday-news http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/chubby-cms-framework-mark-boulton-and-other-friday-news A subject I enjoyed in high school was English. Unfortunately in my 11th year, my English class was directly after lunch break and I enjoyed being outside with... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/the-5-ws-in-web-application-design-10-useful-questions-to-answer http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/the-5-ws-in-web-application-design-10-useful-questions-to-answer In my previous article, I touched on the idea that users of web applications perceive error messages as direct communication from the developer or proprietors... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/tactful-error-messages-in-web-application-design http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/tactful-error-messages-in-web-application-design The other day over sushi I was having a conversation with a few guys and we found ourselves chuckling over a peculiarity we found with the women in our lives.... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/error-messages-in-web-applications-and-customers-perceptions http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/error-messages-in-web-applications-and-customers-perceptions While weather in Vancouver flips flops between winter and spring and the stock markets continue to flip flop daily, we've just flipped over to 2009, and I'm a... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/productivity-and-inspiration-to-kickoff-2009 http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/productivity-and-inspiration-to-kickoff-2009 E-commerce is one of those areas where great design really adds to the user experience. Whether it's injecting some extra excitement into the shopping... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/4-great-ui-designs-for-e-commerce-web-sites http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/4-great-ui-designs-for-e-commerce-web-sites I rolled over this morning at 7:15 AM to the sound of the alarm on my iPhone, lazily reached around for a minute to shut it off, and then groggily checked my... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/3g-nanaimo-outpost-for-basecamp-and-my-iphone http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/3g-nanaimo-outpost-for-basecamp-and-my-iphone Like many freelancers, when I decided to go full time freelance back in March of 2007, I was unsure what to charge. After polling my freelance friends and other... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/average-web-designer-incomes-how-to-set-your-freelance-hourly-rate http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/average-web-designer-incomes-how-to-set-your-freelance-hourly-rate Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs I was constantly told, "You can have the best product in the world, but if nobody knows about it you're still going to... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/freelancers-two-methods-for-making-sales-the-easy-way http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/freelancers-two-methods-for-making-sales-the-easy-way I found a great blog site today on CSS Mania (a nice resource for inspiration) by author Jason Bradbury and thought I'd share it. Jason Bradbury I love how... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/some-web-design-inspiration http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/some-web-design-inspiration Maybe it's the books and blogs I read, or maybe it's the rise in popularity of the disaffected emo rocker in mainstream media, but it seems lately that everyone... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/stop-kicking-and-ride-the-not-quite-dead-advertising-horse http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/stop-kicking-and-ride-the-not-quite-dead-advertising-horse So today I downloaded Silverback because I noticed it's finally available, and wow am I impressed! Great work guys. This is going to be perfect for my upcoming... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/silverback-helps-usability-testing http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/silverback-helps-usability-testing I don't usually just write about a web site without getting into bits of its UI design, but I came across Pattern Tap while cruising around for inspiration on... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/awesome-ui-design-resource-pattern-tap http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/awesome-ui-design-resource-pattern-tap Yesterday I came across a fantastic little web app called Jott that allows me to add tasks to my to do list with my voice. Not only that, but it's nicely... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/ui-design-examples-from-the-web-jott http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/ui-design-examples-from-the-web-jott If time really equals money, then I've spent a decent amount of money purchasing awkward silence with strangers over the years. What I'm talking about is the... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/mastering-meetings-10-tips-for-freelance-web-designers http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/mastering-meetings-10-tips-for-freelance-web-designers Originally, like my last post, I was going to write one article with a bunch of links to great UI design examples, but as I got into it the article became... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/ui-design-examples-to-inspire-you-vimeo http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/ui-design-examples-to-inspire-you-vimeo Most freelance web designers would agree; one of the greatest discomforts of freelancing is the lack of a regular paycheck. I was recently hired as a user... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/maintaining-a-regular-income-as-a-freelance-web-designer http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/maintaining-a-regular-income-as-a-freelance-web-designer In my previous article I offered my thoughts on how to make it as a freelance web designer. One of the things I mentioned was the need for a solid contract and... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/sample-web-design-contract-budget-timeline-and-proposal http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/sample-web-design-contract-budget-timeline-and-proposal Before I took the plunge and went freelance full time in March of 2007, I was a little nervous. How would I survive without a cushy agency job? Could I sell... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/tips-on-how-to-be-a-freelance-web-designer http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/tips-on-how-to-be-a-freelance-web-designer Now that Viviti is rolling along with full beta steam, we're getting a lot of feedback and I find myself re-thinking parts of the user interface design. I... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/web-user-interface-design-example-study-viviti-toolbar http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/web-user-interface-design-example-study-viviti-toolbar As today is officially Firefox 3 Download Day, I eagerly went to the Get Firefox page expecting to add my triumphant download to the mass of other fans, and was... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/firefox-3-download-day-drama http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/firefox-3-download-day-drama While cruising Google for GUI inspiration the other day, I was surprised at how difficult it was to find great, up to date, user interace design examples from... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/graphical-user-interface-design-examples-from-the-web http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/graphical-user-interface-design-examples-from-the-web Today on LinkedIn, I discovered a question titled "How do you define Web 3.0?" and my stomach turned. Are we really going there? Has mankind fallen so far as to... http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/the-web-30-devolution http://nerdburn.com/blog/post/the-web-30-devolution