Introducing: www.margarethiley.com

This month has been mostly busy with proper paid web design work, which is just how it should be. I've already introduced the Wellington Yoga Centre website in my latest - it is now properly online and live, and can be admired here: www.wellingtonyogacentre.co.nz

Next up was a business website for a client in the UK, Margaret Hiley. She is the sister of a fellow budding illustrator friend I met online, and a specialist on Tolkien and music! A little while ago she asked me if she might cite from my Travels in Middle-earth CD booklet for a review she was writing, and things sort of developed from there. Incidentally, her father is a professor of Musicology, and the author of a big fat scholarly study and reference on Medieval Plainchant, which has been gracing my bookshelf long before I ever met either of his daughters. Such is the smallness of the planet.

Margaret is a professional academic and keen folk musician, and - having grown up bilingual - has recently set up a business offering English/German translation, editing and proofreading services for academics, writers, and the cultural and creative industries. Her areas of specialist expertise include fantasy and science fiction literature, music and musicology, myth and mythology, media studies, and breweries … so we do have quite a few interests in common!

This site has been a real pleasure to work on - not least because I could play with the beautiful cartoons created by Margaret's sister Catherine, an illustrator and print maker currently residing in Edinburgh.

I am really pleased with the look of this site, and even more pleased with some of the behind-the-scenes functionality, which is based on some smart and economical application of PHP scripts: for instance the "testimonials" page, where new referrals can easily be added by uploading a text file to the appropriate folder on the web server. This task is easy to do even for the not so computer initiated, and it is a much more simple and streamlined solution than setting up a complex content management system requiring a database.

Have a look at my latest brand spanking new website! Proudly introducing: www.margarethiley.com

Some feedback from the client: "Well, what can I say - I love it!!! Very clever what you have done with the watercolour image - thanks!" :: "I can't wait till the site is up and everyone can see how great it looks!"

Asni: Multimedia Art & Design:: http://webdesign.asni.net :: http://www.asni.net