After nearly a year with the previous web design, it was time to refresh our website with a new look.

Still built on top of WordPress, our favorite content management platform, this new web design contains a some new features, such as a brand new custom photography portfolio display for our McAllen Photography pages.  What started out as an experiment with Galleria (a Javascript image gallery written in jQuery) and NextGEN Gallery (a WordPress photography gallery plugin) turned into a very easy to manage, and cool-looking (non-Flash based), photography portfolio.  The best part is that it is all controlled through the WordPress administration.  It could probably use some additional tweaking to be a truly great feature, but it does a good job right now.  You can see an example running on our McAllen Wedding Photography portfolio page.

It’s always a welcome challenge in web design to find the perfect balance between function and form.  Over the 12+ years that I’ve been developing websites I’ve found that I really love to make a website as simple as possible for the end user, while retaining powerful features and functions for a site administrator.  That’s one of the primary reasons I love WordPress so much.  It’s very balanced in terms of it’s power and simplicity.

I hope you find this website visually appealing and intuitive to use.  Please feel free to comment on anything you see here!  And as always, think of A Divine Studio for your Pharr, Edinburg, Mission and McAllen web design, development and creative needs.

From a web design perspective it was fun and challenging to come up with several prototype website designs that achieved the goals of the project.  Ultimately, the most advanced and “out-of-the-box” website design was selected.  I was pleasantly surprised at this choice because it is more common that a more typical web design is chosen for government and corporate websites.

I am a big fan of using WordPress as a content management system due to its flexibility and power.  As a result, WordPress is going to be powering the new Pharr website.  As a CMS it can be employed to do just about anything due to its great plug-in capabilities.  The new City of Pharr website will utilize over a dozen plugins, some custom developed by me, to do things like manage downloads, event calendars, an employee directory, a business directory, and even send out email notifications to the public when important items are posted to the website.

The official website launch is coming up next month (February).  I am looking forward to receiving the public’s reaction to the site, as well as the feedback from the staff who will actually be using the management tools to keep the website updated.

This will be yet another great WordPress success story for my portfolio!

Divine Wedding Center is a local wedding resource site for the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas.  Its goal is to provide specific information regarding weddings and events in our local market, as well as a directory of local businesses in the wedding industry.

The business featured in the wedding center directory represent some of the most talented, well-respected and established wedding vendors here in the Rio Grande Valley.

This is yet another great example of how WordPress (as a content management system) can be customized for just about any purpose imaginable.  Another great feature implemented in this site is the advertising management system, OpenX (openx.org).

Thanks for looking!

Space will be limited, so serious students should enroll early.  One objective beyond the tutorial sessions will be to identify top students who are considering careers in web development as candidates for paid work as outsourced talent for our web development projects.

Curriculum will include:

• Website concept design using Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator
• Web Design Best Practices
• Hand-coded CSS/XHTML
• PSD to XHTML/CSS conversion (slicing and coding)

• Form processing and data validation
• AJAX
• SEO (search engine optimization) prinicples
• Social media integration

• Content Management using WordPress
• PHP, MySQL and dynamic content
• jQuery/Javascript
• Custom blog development

• Extreme WordPress hacking
• Google API integration (Google Maps, Feeds)
• Web application development using PHP/MySQL/AJAX
• Custom theme development for WordPress (or WordPress skinning)

… and more.

Class sessions are offered for three levels of current experience, Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.  Through some quick questions I can help you identify the level that would be most beneficial to you.

Right now is a great time to enhance your skills and knowledge, set yourself apart from the competition and earn more money!

Head on over to the Web Design Courses page to learn more.

A Divine Studio is a creative and technical team of experts in McAllen, TX, and the Rio Grande Valley, with years of experience designing and developing successful websites and web marketing campaigns.

The talent and principles we employ are, without a doubt, the best of the best.  Why?  Let us explain…

The primary objective of A Divine Studio is very simple: To develop the most effective websites and web marketing campaigns on the planet.

This is a big promise, and we intend to use it as our guide in all that we do.

We’ve learned a few things over the years.  First of all, our reason for existing is not to win awards or applause. It is to deliver the best darn product for our client, period. The result of our work speaks for itself.

Secondly, nothing is worth doing unless it is done right and done for the right reasons.  In practical terms this translates into only developing websites and web marketing campaigns that will reach a client’s goals.  The goal may be to bring in new business, sell a product or simply deliver a message to a key audience.  It is the purpose of our team to help a client determine what the goal is and then go to work to develop a product that will reach that goal. Why else would we be in business?

Finally, it has become clear that to be driven by and passionate about our work is our only guarantee of success.  In other words, we live for what we do.

A Divine Studio is available to take on any project, large or small.  Give us a call (956 655 4136) or send us an email.