Blog
How to Write Effective Content: Titles and Introductions
When writing content, whether it's for your website, marketing materials, a press release, a lead capture page or another project, there are a few rules that you'll want to follow as you write the title/headline and introduction. The title and intro are (arguably) the...
Matcha Design garners a record 27 trophies at the 2014 SIA Awards
Matcha Design was honored with 27 national awards, including one Best of Show, from The 11th Annual Service Industry Advertising Awards (SIAA) for work in the print design, video production and website design fields. More than 1,700 entries were received from more...
5 Ways a Website Can Break (and what to do about it)
Web developers, at least good ones, try not to release the programs they write without having full confidence they'll work under normal (and many abnormal) circumstances. Testing is an absolutely necessary part of every development cycle. Despite a dizzying variety of...
The Mobile Web: A Developer’s Overview
When a customer requests a website which scales well between mobile browsers and full screens (better known as "responsive design"), often they don't understand why it requires so much extra work. But designing a responsive site requires a unique sort of design...
How to Write Effective, Reader-friendly Content
Do you need to write content for your website? Content writing can be a challenge, especially for those individuals who aren't experienced writers. But the following approach can be helpful to anyone who's uncertain of where to begin and how to go about authoring an...
Matcha Design Takes Home the Gold at the 2014 International Davey Awards
Matcha Design was presented with six awards at the 2014 International Davey Awards, sponsored by the International Academy of Visual Arts (IAVA). With nearly 4,000 entries from across the US and around the world, the Davey Awards honors the finest creative work from...
Using HASHTAG Part 2
Now that you understand more about the basics of hashtags and how beneficial they can be to your business, here are some helpful tips on the etiquette of using hashtags. Understanding the “Do’s and Don’ts” of using hashtags is helpful in keeping your online image...
Using HASHTAG Part 1
You’ve seen them everywhere from Twitter posts to late night spoofs with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake - the hashtag. You may be asking yourself, what exactly is a hashtag, what does it do exactly, and how can it help strengthen my marketing efforts?...
Matcha Design Earns Silver Winner at 2014 W3 Awards
The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts announced the winners of The 2014 W3 Awards today. Receiving over 4,000 entries, The W3 Awards honors outstanding Websites, Web Marketing, Web Video, Mobile Sites/Apps & Social content created by some of the best...
Why Are User-Centric Design Solutions So Challenging to Implement?
Many inexperienced web developers embark upon the challenging task of creating a website, but many amateur website designers run into the same road block: they find that it's extremely challenging to create a site that's user-centric! A web design that lacks...
The Art of Creating the Right Content
There's a saying that 'content is king' when it comes to creating a successful website or web-based marketing materials. But that 'content is king' phrase refers to high quality content only. Poorly-written content can do much more harm than good! So when you're...
Matcha Design Wins Twice for The Best Web Design for Sky Loft at First Place Tower and Home Design Studio at the DesignFirms Web Awards
Matcha Design recently brought home two big wins from the DesignFirms web awards in the web design category for local Tulsa clients, Sky Loft at First Place Tower and Home Design Studio. The DesignFirms™ web awards showcase some of the best work on the web from...
QR Code Demystified – Part 6
We've covered almost everything we need to create QR Codes. The next thing we need is version information blocks. The version information blocks simply tell the reader what version the symbol is, and therefore how many modules wide and tall it is. Table 11 shows the...
QR Code Demystified – Part 5
Now that we've got the data and error correction sorted out, we're almost ready to place it in the symbol. As seen in Part 2, the data and error correction modules basically go everywhere that isn't taken up by something else. The reason we're not quite ready to place...
QR Code Demystified – Part 4
I had planned on holding off the error correction until later, but it really fits better right here. Before error correction is done, the data that we've generated must be broken down into "code words", which are just 8-bit bytes. All we have to do is take our "bit...
QR Code Demystified – Part 3
Now we'll cover how the data is encoded. There are several steps involved. First, the encoding method is chosen, then the raw data is converted to binary based on the encoding method, then the error correction algorithm is applied, and then the data is placed in the...
QR Code Demystified – Part 2
The next important thing we'll look at is the structure of a QR code. The below diagram shows names of the different sections of a QR symbol. Then I'll go over each one in more detail. Keep in mind that below if I mention one copy of something being the original and...
QR Code Demystified – Part 1
Recently I undertook a task to develop a QR Code generator. I was surprised to find how difficult it was to find complete information on the QR Code specification. Most of what I found only explained part of the puzzle. So my new endeavor is to completely explain the...
Simple jQuery Snippets to Spruce Up Your Website
Matcha Design - Tuesday, May 17, 2011 The purpose of these tricks is to take existing, perfectly valid code, and add little touches to it. They all use jQuery, though could potentially be adapted. They're meant to be called after the DOM has loaded, such as...
A New Way to Share – Facebook Send Button
Matcha Design - Tuesday, April 26, 2011 Yesterday, Facebook announced that they've added a new social gadget to their growing arsenal - the Send button. Clicking the Send button on a web page will open a dialog allowing the user to choose from their Facebook friends,...
5 Traps to Avoid in Creating a Great Website (Part 2)
A couple weeks ago I detailed some things that can keep your website from living up to its potential. In part 2, I focus heavily on user interaction, highlighting some common problems that are usually a result of focusing priority on the wrong goals (i.e. anything...
5 Reference Resources for Developers
Every developer needs some reference now and then. Whether you're dealing with a new problem you've never encountered before, learning a new scripting language, or you just can't remember which function you need, these web sites will help you get the job done. 1....
5 Traps to Avoid in Creating a Great Website (Part 1)
Before you can break into the realm of having a great website, you have to make sure you have one that isn't annoying. Even a great design can be ruined by a simple blunder influenced by over enthusiasm. Here are a few things you'll want to avoid when designing and...
5 Common CSS Mistakes
As promised, this week I'm continuing my list of common mistakes, but moving from HTML to the realm of CSS. The rules are a little different with CSS, as you'll see, but I'm still not going to tell you that you shouldn't use perfectly valid practices just because of...
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