Hey All, I have been busy as hell with my Philly Soft Pretzel Factory and haven’t had any time to devote to danengler.com. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to release a few designs and do some good writing.

See Ya!

In roughly one week I will be relaxing on the lovel Topsail Beach in North Carolina. This is my third year going down for vacation and hopefully won’t be the last. I absolutely love the private atmosphere the beach provides. It’s just you, your friends, some tunes, the ocean and a bottle of corona in your hand. The rest of the world is 9 hours away =)

Here are some pictures from our first trip down, 3 years ago:

It’s tough to stay motivated knowing there’s a vacation around the corner…

I am quickly learning that it is harder than it looks to develop a successful Wordpress theme design for public release. You can spend hours designing the best damn theme ever to be released in the history of web design, but if the users cannot “use it”, it won’t be successful.
Read the rest of this entry »

I am proud to announce the release of my first public wordpress theme, Slick Shoes. I wanted to design a theme that is simple, but somewhat slick. A design that could showcase a personal blog while still handling the needs of a more professional matter.

Check out the Slick Shoes Theme or download it directly from the Wordpress Theme Site and take her for a spin.

Today - April 22, 2007 - I am officially launching DanEngler.com.

Here are the current stats:

4 Posts.
1 Reader.
1 hit per day (me!).

I know many other sites chronicle their trip to nothingness to fame. My goal of the “Building A Blog” series is to showcase how I grow DanEngler.com from a brand spanking new site to an “Internet Powerhouse” in less than 6 months.

Let’s keep this in perspective - My definition of an “Internet Powerhouse” is to be a “Technorati Top 100 Blog” with a PR rank of at least 4 and a few thousand readers a day.

Hopefully you will be able to take away some techniques and strategies to help grow your own website.

So check in often to see updated stats as gems of information I add to the site.

Cheers!

A few weeks ago my cellphone broke and I was forced to get a new one. I decided on the T-Mobile Dash as it seemed like a nice hybrid between a fullblown pda and a normal cell phone.

I wanted something that could handle internet browsing and email with a nice sized screen, but wasn’t too bulky and clunky. The Dash is a perfect fit - only little bit bigger than a credit card.

If you are thinking about upgrading from a traditional cell phone to a PDA, but don’t want to make the jump right away, then check out the T-mobile Dash. It is a great phone to get your feet wet.

As a web designer and small business owner there are often times when I fall into a creative funk. Sometimes the work can grow tiresome and other times I simply lose inspiration. It happens to everyone at some point.

So what do I do when I hit that wall?

I walk it out.

My dog, Roxy, is always looking for a trip around the block, so I am able to work on two problems at the same time. The trick is to not think about what you were working on, but to focus on the stuff around you - or not think at all!

I often envy Roxy. She doesn’t have a care in the world except on which front yard is she going to do her business on next. If only life was that simple for all of us.

So focus on the simple things and let your mind wander a bit. It will help you find clarity and work through those tough moments.

Hope this helps.

This entry was somewhat inspired by CPA-Affiliates

One of the biggest problems I often encounter as a web designer is choosing colors for my sites. I generally want something unique that will separate that particular site from the zillions of other websites on the Internet.

Here is my process:

1. “Form Follows Function” - First, I look at the content of the site I am designing. This will generally dictate the colors I will use. For example, if I am creating a professional site for a company, I usually stick to the colors of their logo (if applicable) and use no more than 2 or 3 colors. If I am designing a personal page, or one that is more creative, I will use a few more colors and depend less on the “whitespace”.

2. Whitespace - One of the most underrated pieces of web design is the amount of whitespace a layout has. It has to be just right. Too much whitespace makes the website look sparce and too little makes it look crammed. One I decide how much whitespace I want, I start to look at the actual colors.

3. The User - This part is very similar to number 1. I look at the users who will be using my site. Generally speaking, if it is a younger audience, I will use more color and graphics. If it is an older audience, I will use less colors and keep it simple.

4. Experiment - Once I have an idea of what colors I want to use, I start to experiment. I usually go through at least 4 or 5 revisions before I settle on a color. Once I have a few colors down on a page, I will tweak them to fit together.

That’s about it. It is a simple process for the most part.

If you are having trouble finding color inspiration, check out the color scheme gallery.

Stay tuned to a quick guide to choosing a layout.

The most important word(s) in the world is a person’s name

I am sure many of you have heard this before. My first encounter with this idea was when I read “How To Win Friends And Influence People” by Dale Carnegie (a great read by the way). As I meet more and more clients each day I am finding this idea to be so true.

People absolutely love to hear their name, especially if you can remember it for your second encounter. Think about it. If I person remembers my name after only meeting me once, I think “Hey, that person must think I’m important. They remembered my name.”

There is a hoagie shop down the street from where I work. Whenever I stop in there, whoever is working the register greets me with “Hey Dan, how’s you doing?”. Every time it blows my mind that they remember my name. Especially, since I don’t stop in that often.

So how can you apply this to your website or the online world? Email.

Send personal email (time permitting) to your users thanking them for their support and readership.

Try it out and see how people react. You will be surprised with the results.

I guess I should start this off by saying welcome to DanEngler.com. You are probably wondering who I am, why should you care what I have to say, and all that good stuff. I guess the easiest way to do this is a quick bio of my background.

I am 24 years old living just outside of Philadelphia, PA. I went to the University Of Pittsburgh and received my bachelors in Information Systems. I worked for Deloitte Consulting as an IT consultant for 2 years. At Deloitte I worked on projects in many sectors such as: Public Sector (Austin, Texas), Energy (Bryn Mawr, PA), Health Care (Red Bank, NJ), and Non-Profit (New York, NY). I left Deloitte to open a Philly Soft Pretzel Factory, which is where I am at now.

While I consider myself a Jack of all trades, my main passion is in running websites, web design and a small amount of programming. Until I can afford to do these things full time, they will just be a part time hobby of mine.