I don’t know how to effectively segue into anything. Welcome to the new courtneysummers.ca!

Pretty sexy, huh? It was designed and coded by the talented guys at BraveNewCode, whose work I’ve been a big fan of for some time now. They were nothing short of brilliant and a total pleasure to work with and I would highly, highly recommend them to anyone in the market for a (sexy) website. You can’t do better than BNC and I’ll tell you why in a second, but first, click around! See what’s new. There’s new stuff to click. I could walk you through it but that takes the fun out of it and also I’m lazy.

* Before I continue: if you have been so kind as to link me, please update your links from http://courtneysummers.ca/blog to http://courtneysummers.ca–the blog link is still active, but the front page is so sexy, I’d love to see it get its due. Thanks!

Okay, so I’ve been wanting a new website for ages. I’ve certainly had “fun” mucking around with the freely available WordPress themes out there, but I could never quite find that theme. You know. The theme. The theme that could marry the blog thing and the author thing and could look exactly the way I wanted it to at the same time. Also a theme that no one else had. Now, I’m not completely naive. I knew I wasn’t going to find that theme for free (duh), and so I began the process of looking for a webdesigner.

Which was an experience, let me tell you.

Warning: long entry ahead.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit that BraveNewCode was always my top choice. But I DID make a point to solicit recommendations from people and look around myself because getting a website made is a big investment, and exploring your options is what you should do when you’re making a big investment (tip: research your options if you’re looking for a website redesign!).

So I did that, compiled many notes, and as it turns out, all of my notes lead me back to BraveNewCode, least of all because they were the only ones who understood minimalism and functionality in the ways I needed. I filled out the quote form and Dale scheduled me in and it was all very exciting. Phone calls were had! Many emails and many, many mock-ups were exchanged! And then they made the site! And it was magic! As you can plainly see!

Exclamation mark!

This whole process has taught me a lot and because my website is primarily educational (did you know the human head weighs thirty pounds?), I want to share my experience. So much of my own research lead me to vagueness; designers who preferred to cloak all aspects of their process in ~*mystery*~ and clients who didn’t really talk about what getting a website made for them was like. Maybe they think it’s boring? I don’t think it’s boring. I wanted to know because I like to know everything. If there’s a loop, I demand to be in it. And if you’re keeping me out of a loop, I resent you for it, just so you know.

These are the two most important things I learned when I was on the hunt for a webdesigner:

#1 Your site should never hold you hostage.
#2 Your webdesigner should never hold your site hostage

Regarding the first point: while I understand the necessity of having a webmaster for some, no one should be afraid to create, update and manage their own content. I was alarmed at how many webdesigners make content management sound incredibly intimidating (but don’t worry–they’d take care of it for you… for a fee), if they didn’t neglect to mention it at all.

Internet fear mongering, skirting around and trying to downplay or totally write off a potential client’s role in the management of their own website after it’s been made is a pretty glaring oversight, if you ask me. When I sent BNC pages and pages of notes about what I wanted in a site, I let them know it was important that the finished product be one that could evolve and one that I could manage on my own. If I hadn’t had the foresight to want that for myself, I know BraveNewCode would’ve wanted it for me. They did want that for me.

After I sent notes, the site was mocked-up in Photoshop and sent to me in .pngs for my approval. When we had the design down (read: after I was done round one of nitpicking), the coding happened. I got to see the site live and then I got to nitpick it some more. Can I just say I never realized I was such a nitpicker? People, I am a nitpicker.

Once my nitpicking was really done (tip: if you’re on the lookout for a webdesigner, maybe just ask them point blank if they’re as patient as the dudes at BNC and if they say “no,” RUN AWAY), Dale and Duane then uploaded a demo site and proceeded to make sure I knew how to get the most out of it now and in future. These guys are very committed to all aspects of their business. They don’t just make websites, they go to great lengths to make their websites understood.

Regarding the second point. A few designers I came across would only design sites that were hosted on their servers. The reasoning behind that usually touched on the unreliability and instability and scariness of every other server on the entire internet. If that didn’t immediately set off my ?! detectors, the huge price gap between their monthly hosting fees and mine did.

People’s needs will vary–as I said, some require webmasters and many people are happy with designers who create, host and manage their site for them. But what can I say. I’m a Wary Wanda when it comes to relinquishing control of the space on the net I’m carving out as uhm, MY OWN. I wanna be the master of my domain. A good webdesigner does not take a website OFF your hands, they put it INTO your hands, which is exactly what BraveNewCode did for me. It’s very simple, and blogging platforms like WordPress make it simpler every day.

BraveNewCode’s work process sheet speaks for itself. I personally had a great experience working with them for the relaunch of courtneysummers.ca and it’s going to make me feel warm and fuzzy inside to direct people who are looking for great designers their way. Dale and Duane are very meticulous and every last bit of code that shapes this site was typed by them. They don’t mess around with pre-existing WordPress templates or icky WYSIWYG editors and leave errant bits and invisible code gremlins to clutter up space and steal server resources. The work they do is specified, careful, clean, professional and, well, sexy (bringing the sexy back was very important to me).

Over time, people have commented on how much they’ve dug the minimalism of my site. I heart minimalism. BraveNewCode was able to retain that minimalim and step it up. In fact, one thing that really stood out for me was how they went through my blog so they could get a sense of my identity and bring me a new design that didn’t look like it was meant for someone else.

They involved me in every part of the process (tip: never expect less if you’re looking for a webdesigner!), left no question unanswered and there was seriously not one thing they COULDN’T do. Also, they are Canadian (Canada represent!) and also, they are PSYCHIC. Dale actually changed a link colour to the colour I wanted to change it to before I could even ask him to (seriously!).

Beyond this–and perhaps most importantly–in all of my communications with BNC, I got the sense of people who loved what they were doing. You know when you read a book or watch a movie and you can tell the people involved really dug what they were doing? And it makes a huge difference? That was definitely the case here.

So thanks, BraveNewCode.

Man. It’s gonna feel SO GOOD to not have to scrounge around for a WordPress Theme that is kinda sorta maybe what I want and won’t drive me freaking crazy in six months because I have this.

Hope you guys love it as much as I do.