By Simon on June 11, 2010
Just last night I was asked to make a few changes to the Niseko Pizza site to promote the World Cup Soccer promotion they are having , it was relatively easy since it has been set up on the Joomla framework and also kind of fun. We were able to disable a few pages and modules and change a few graphics and get the site looking already for the World Cup, Joomla! is cool!
Anyhow check the screen shot below and the site for more information and get along there to watch some soccer and eat some pizza, as someone said GET A PIZZA THE ACTION.
newsletter can be found here , we have also been doing this for Niseko Pizza over the winter season.

before

Posted in design | Tagged niseko pizza
By Simon on May 5, 2010
This is a design site, if you want to BOOK LUXURY NISEKO ACCOMMODATION you should visit shikiandkoyuki.com
Just putting the finishing touches on this site. I will write up a project description for the projects section soon but just thought I get it out there to get some feedback. Let us know what you think? shikiandkoyuki.com or check the screen shot below

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged projects
By Simon on March 11, 2010
To my surprise a photo I took a few years ago and then gave to the new buyer of Niseko Balloon out in Annupuri has made the cover of the JTB summer brochure.
Niseko Balloon is now going into its third season, the first season they flew their balloon at Sun Sports Playing Fields in Hirafu and then moved out to Annupuri after acquiring the Annupuri Balloon from the previous owner.
Check out the JTB brochure and the and a couple of original photos below.



Posted in photography
By Simon on February 25, 2010

I was just mucking around and made a real simple solution for the Niseko Linked In Group since we didn’t have one. Check the group out here and join if you feel it be worth while.
Posted in design | Tagged design
By Simon on February 20, 2010
Thought that it would be good to test Type Kit as lots of people in the past have wanted to have a non web compliant font on their website! Well now you can and for free to test, so head over to typekit or contact us to get different fonts on your page.
I tested “orgovan-rounded-web” and “metalista-web” and I experimented with using the CSS selectors and also using CSS rules in the style sheet to play around with setting the size of the font. Also notice the little badge down there that you have to have if you use the free account.
All in all the process was fairly painless once I worked out that you need to use both font-family values otherwise you may end up with a bit of a mess, like this “Hickle-Dee-Pickle-Dee”*)
HAVE FUN!
Posted in design
By Simon on October 22, 2009
As more and more web designers adopt web standards for making web sites and web standards come the norm across the industry the focus of web design development will turn more to Data or Performance based design. Check out Luke Stevens interview on Data Driven Design. Definitely worth a read for web designers and for someone looking at hiring a web professional.
Posted in development
By Simon on October 13, 2009
Posted in development
By Simon on October 12, 2009
Posted in Uncategorized
By Simon on October 12, 2009
Open Source is hot right now, but really what does it mean? I think that when talking about using open source there are many factors involved from it is not always economical, it doesn’t quite fit your application, to it will work as long as we invest time in it. Very rarely does an open source application fit the bill perfectly, however it is good in many ways from pushing big corporations to continually evolve to allowing small busy equal opportunity with fast evolving technology.
I recommend the two articles below to get a better idea about open source.
why open source will never rule the desktop and why it doesnt matter
linux is important but will never be mainstream
Posted in Uncategorized
By Simon on October 6, 2009
The 19th of September 2009 was Software Freedom Day(SFD) around the world. It was a day that promoted Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and how high quality FOSS should be used in government, education, in the the office and at home. I found the Software Freedom Day site about 2 days before the day and started The Hokkaido Initiative the day before SFD and had all good intentions to mail out to people I know to let them know about the day, that did not happen but this blog is the first step to let people know that I as a web designer using open source software am right behind making people aware of the benefits of open source. If you would like join the group and help out in the 2010 day please get in touch by adding a comment below.
Posted in Uncategorized