Idealonweb Design and Marketing: Professional, affordable, personal service, Hosting

Portfolio
These are a few examples of my web development work:

Watercolor Artist Linda Striedieck

Linda Striedieck is a celebrated artist living in the beautiful state of Vermont. Her abstract watercolor paintings are organic in the sense that they emerge and evolve out of themselves. They are, in part, a reflection of the organic forms in nature.

Linda was new to the Internet but felt that an online exhibit would be a great tool to help increase her exposure to galleries and commissioners outside of her area.

We worked closely with Linda in developing a site that is deserving of her exceptional command of color and form. Along with the look and feel, the site features a full image gallery and special coding that randomly switches the image on the home page with an image from the gallery section to keep the site fresh on every visit.

"Steven Hoffman has designed a clean, interesting, informative website for me that shows the world my paintings to full advantage. His help in setting up the site has been most creative and comprehensive." Linda Striedieck

Ariel Jones Fine Art Photography Studio

For the past ten years, Ariel had worked in a New York city studio as a digital designer and portraiture photographer. In 2000, she relocated to Western Massachusetts and needed a venue to exhibit her works and services as well as offer photographic prints for sale.

We developed a site that does all of that and more. Categorized thumbnail galleries display the talent behind the lens. A "Print Shop" section acts as a gallery and a retail outlet with transactions processed through a secure shopping cart. Clean design, so as not to compete with the art of Ariel's photography, and simple navigation help make each visit an inspiring one.

"Steve has been great to work with. He listens to what I want and is sensitive to the image I need to project on my web site. Combining those needs with his own talent has produced a web site I am very excited about. He has also been great with follow-up changes, tweaking and adding pages as my studio evolves. I recommend him constantly to friends ready to set up professional web sites." Ariel Jones

Garden Hands - Pacifico Palumbo

Originally hand carved by stone sculptor Tim De Christopher and reproduced in a stone composite, Garden Hands have been featured in major gardening/landscape magazines including English Gardens.

We created a site that captures the look, feel, and essence of the product. Image-swapping techniques help to demonstrate the multitude of uses for this unique line of sculpture. A large catalog section with a secure shopping cart easily facilitate the transactions.

Grey Gardens - Pacifico Palumbo

Celebrating the delights of the herb basil, farmers, artists, chefs, restaurants, and friends come together in Western Massachusetts for a very special annual event - a Basil Festival.

We developed a tasteful site for the festival highlighting the schedule of events and programs taking place throughout the weekend along with links and directions to participating vendors and sponsors.

Green Emporium Restaurant and Gallery - Pacifico Palumbo

The Green Emporium is a restaurant of fine dining, an art gallery, an events center, an outlet for locally produced goods, and a community gathering place.

The challenge was to create a site that was large enough to encompass all aspects of "That Special Place" while balancing a country-metro look and feel.

We did it. Ease of navigation, fast-loading, search engine-friendly design, and a secure shopping cart system help make this business a success story.

The Boys of Taormina - Pacifico Palumbo

Internationally recognized neon artist Pacifico Palumbo needed a venue to exhibit his works as well as make them available to the public for purchase.

The result is an e-commerce/gallery site that does just that. We've coupled ease of navigation, complementing design, and a secure shopping cart system into a site that's a work of art in it's own right.

"It is truly a pleasure to work with a professional when it comes to creating web sites. Steve at Idealonweb knows what he is doing, and he takes the time to explain and help you. His business should not be called Ideal on web but rather: I know how to deal on the web." Pacifico Palumbo

Artist Linda Hoffman

Linda Hoffman, an internationally trained and renowned visual artist and poet, wanted to expand her online presence. Her old site did not receive much traffic; it loaded slowly and did not rank well in search engines.

We worked closely with Linda and developed a new site that is search engine friendly and visually appealing yet unobtrusive to her works. Our design incorporates an informative and fast-loading, text-based navigation system that aids both visitor and search engines throughout every corner of this online gallery. Carefully selected color schemes, layout, and a variety of gallery presentation techniques compliment our client's work. For example, we used Flash animation and careful timing in delivering the lines of poetry, random image display on page loads, thumbnail image galleries and more.

After successfully creating Linda's portfolio site, I worked with Linda on two other web sites: Old Frog Pond Farm and Wild Apples.

Old Frog Pond Farm - Linda Hoffman

Old Frog Pond Farm is a 25-acre certified organic farm with a 'pick your own' raspberry patch, apple orchard, and the sculpture studio of Linda Hoffman. In the fall, fruit pickers can see Hoffman's work along with the art of other sculptors on the outdoor Sculpture Walk. In addition, the farm houses the office of Wild Apples, a journal of nature, art, and inquiry.

Wild Apples - Linda Hoffman

Wild Apples: a journal of nature, art, and inquiry is a new twice-yearly arts and literary publication. Taking its name and inspiration from Henry David Thoreau's essay, "Wild Apples," the journal brings together the work of artists and writers who are connected by the common threads of care for the environment, engagement in social concerns, and commitment to the arts and the way they shape our world.

"Working with Steve Hoffman on my website was wonderful! He was quick both to make suggestions and to implement my suggestions. He is sensitive artistically and a computer whiz at making the site run effectively. I couldn't recommend him enough. It was a pleasure!" Linda Hoffman www.lindahoffman.com

Fabric Artist Deborah Kruger

"Kruger is an award-winning fiber artist and nationally recognized speaker. Her presentation explores the overlap between the work of fiber artists and the work of feminist activists."
Amherst Bulletin 10-24-03

Working with Deborah has been a real treat. Her beautiful pieces and sensibility for color resonate with my design styling. I used hand-coded HTML, CSS, and PHP navigation. Additional image work was done with Photoshop, removing the backgrounds from all the images of her work and then laying in a drop shadow to pop the pieces off the page.

"As a non-technological person, I dreaded the task of making a website. Steve Hoffman was a pleasure to work with and made the undertaking easy. He de-mystified the process and gave me a step-by-step list of tasks as well as explaining exactly what he could do for me. As a result of our collaboration, I feel my website is an extension of my artwork. I look forward to having a long working relationship with Steve and Idealonweb.com as my art career grows." Deborah Kruger

Sue Katz - SCNK Studio

Sue Katz is a successful graphic designer and fine artist with works all over the nation.

We were contacted by Sue to help her re-design her existing web site. We decided to build new from scratch. We worked closely on the design, and the result is an extensive portfolio site featuring her most recent works.

This hand-coded site is fast loading, search engine friendly, and easily updatable (to keep up with her).

"Steve was the best in a very talented class of graphic design students at Greenfield Community College. I recommend him to everyone and I am hiring him to redesign my own web site! Not only are his designs clean and attractive, but his ideas are very clever and creative!" Susan Katz

Oh My Soul - The Cathedral Project

On this project, we were hired to take an existing site primarily made up of images and convert it to a faster-uploading, easily-updatable, search engine-friendly, text-based version without changing its appearance.

This was a challenge as the text contained within the original images often overlapped a complex background.

We "Photoshopped" the text out of the original images, often having to recreate the background that was erased in the process, re-wrote the code eliminating the original frame-based design, placed the modified graphics (text removed) in the background, then retyped editable text in the foreground. It looks just like the original site, but it's a completely different animal.

"Steve is always ready to help. Efficient and affordable, he consistently goes the extra mile to make sure you get what you're looking for and what you want. His personal attention is a welcome relief in this age of nameless and faceless "service" providers." Tim De Christopher

The Bobby Darling Show

East coast entertainers "The Bobby Darling Show" needed a site that would match the professionalism of their performance. Their old site had gotten stale, and it lacked cohesion as it was worked on and updated by multiple designers/coders.

We provided a new layout/design template which the client is using to create a new site himself. It's a fast-loading, hand-coded design utilizing pure HTML and CSS.

"I first contacted Idealonweb after being impressed with their site designs on the web. After discussing and assessing my needs and growth goals, Steve not only created a new design, he also gave me valuable information about efficiently running and maintaining my web site. And he did this faster than a speeding byte. I highly recommend Idealonweb." Joe Lada

The Shoe Shoppe

Located in Folsom, California, The Shoe Shoppe offers quality footwear and specializes in ensuring that it properly fits your lifestyle as well as your feet. They understand foot problems such as malalignment and compliance issues, which enables them to provide expert advice and foot beds to address specific situation.

I was contacted by the proprietors of the The Shoe Shoppe with a specific challenge. Their store was going to be featured in a special segment on TV News 10 (California) and was to receive regional and possibly national exposure. They knew that marketing a web site within that news segment would turn some viewers into new customers. The problem was they didn't have a web site and the segment was to air in less than a week.

To make a long story short, we made it. This is a simple web site built with expansion in mind. Its hand-coded, text-based design loads fast and is search engine friendly.

"I appreciate all of your efforts on such short notice." Julianne Staub

Holistic Design and Space Planning

Holistic Design and Space Planning assist their clients in achieving a healthful living space and a balanced lifestyle while minimizing their personal impact on the Earth and its natural resources. Through proven principles in sustainable design and the application of best practices in green construction they seek to improve the environment by fostering healthy and harmonious habitats, one home and one workplace at a time.

We mirrored the importance and benefits of space planning when constructing this site. We worked closely with the client from inception to finish resulting in a harmonious web experience.

"Idealonweb gave us a site that is both beautiful and functional. It has the spatial depth, clarity and ease of navigation we were seeking. Working with Steve was especially rewarding in the way that he produced and modified our design quickly and carefully. He worked tirelessly with us in capturing an appropriate domain name. He kept us on track and on schedule, and delivered a site which will serve us well for quite some time to come. We wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone looking for a highly professional, equitably priced and very talented website developer." Laura Catanzaro

Godwin Legal Associates

Godwin Associates, a legal consulting firm specializing in medical case review, needed a venue to communicate new medical findings, spotlight legal cases, and advertise their services to the law community of Massachusetts.

We developed an appealing, simple site that does just that. With careful tweaking of the elements within the page, our search engine results are remarkable for a relatively new site.

"Steve has always been responsive to my business needs and is very creative and giving with his plans for my website and E-mail management." Missie Godwin

Safari East Multicultural Presentations

Vishnu Wood, jazz bassist and music educator, has performed and/or recorded with jazz greats including Dizzie Gillespie, Freddy Hubbard, Thelonius Monk and Charles Mingus, just to name a few. He needed a site which promoted his educational Safari East Multicultural Programs as well as documented his rich musical career.

We created a clean, fast-loading layout which opens with an audio splash page then proceeds to individually customized information pages. Soon video clips of recent performances will be added to round out the site.

"I'll tell the world how wonderful you are." Peggy C.

J & M Futon

A long time retail outlet for quality futon frames, mattresses, and covers, J & M Futon entered the online marketplace with a homemade web site when the Internet was just getting started. As their online business grew, they needed a professional grade site that would expand with their business.

We developed a stylish site that has now grown to over 150 product pages. We've incorporated many techniques to make the shopping experience a pleasant one. This site incorporates both a text and image-driven navigational scheme, professional product imagery, effects to zoom in for a closer look at fabrics, and a secure shopping cart to facilitate a smooth transaction.

"Our site has been up for five years and generates as much income as our retail store. We couldn't have done it without Steve Hoffman and Idealonweb. Steve set up the shopping cart, helped with the design and graphics, set up a system so that I can update parts of our web page from the Internet, optimized the file sizes for easy viewing, and mainly allows me to sleep at night knowing my customers are seeing our products the way they should. It's been a great investment." Jeff Ainsworth

Lapis Mountain Apothecary

Lapis Mountain is an herbal pharmacy, acupuncture center and teahouse nestled in Western Massachusetts. A traditional Chinese apothecary at heart, Lapis Mountain is committed to offering the best selection of high quality teas, herbal remedies and supplements from around the world.

Starting with just their extensive selection of teas, Lapis Mountain Apothecary needed a site that would be easily expandable to include their ever growing diversity of products and services. The overall look and feel needed to be in harmony with their clientele without being overly cliche'.

We continue to work closely with the client in the continued development and marketing of this unique web site.

"I continue to be impressed by the manner in which you have helped me take initial unformed concept I had about bringing my business online, through the creative and design hurdles to a working site. You have negotiated the countless changes in direction that I have presented you, and created the most direct possible path to a functional online presence. Your skills as a designer are clear, but truly your talent resides in your ability to listen to what others are struggling to develop - and help to build something real." Jake Mayer

The Merry Lion Press

The Merry Lion Press is a publishing company specializing in offbeat cookbooks. A companion web site to the "Pudding Hollow Cookbook" was needed to promote the book and upcoming related events. The site would need to be updated constantly with new recipes and information as well as links to other sites of relevant interest. A shopping-cart system would need to be added to sell the books online.

We worked closely with the client to incorporate existing color schemes and styles from the book into the delicious design. It's built to be easily expanded as business needs grow. Its fast loading, search engine-friendly design makes navigating through the content a breeze. Check out the tasty recipes.

"Steven Hoffman, known to me as "Steve, the Fabulous Web Guy," made my entry into the Internet a snap and has made my continued web presence a joy. He is gifted at turning amorphous verbal ideas into vivid visual reality. He is also easy and charming to work with, reasonably priced, and quick in his response to any queries." Tinky Weisblat