It’s not everyday a current or former Denver Bronco lands on my portfolio, but anyone who knows me knows that it makes me giddy every time I see it, and couldn’t be more thrilled with this partnership.

The post Announcing Partnership with Karl Mecklenburg’s REACH Foundation appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

WordPress released version 3.5 today — be sure to backup your site then upgrade! Mad Lab offers WordPress maintenance packages that include backups and upgrades, so be sure to give us a call if you’re not comfy doing this yourself. Remember, an up to date WP site is a happy WP site!

The post WordPress 3.5 “Elvin” now available appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

We have a client with a highly customized WordPress site, and the first thing we have to do is sort out the code the previous developer did and make sure it runs well. Then we reskin the site with some new marketing materials, then the fun stuff begins. This is just one of several projects that we need a little support on.

You need to be comfortable with WordPress themes and plugins, as well as custom post types and taxonomies. You needn’t be a designer, though an eye for balance is helpful. Attention to detail and thorough follow-through is an absolute must. Goggles and lab coat optional.

This is a contract position (1099) for a LOCAL (Denver/Boulder) freelancer. Total number of hours on this project is unknown at this time. Pay rate is negotiable.

Interested? Please fill out the following form – this initial project is ready to go immediately!

[contact-form-7 id="619" title="Maniacal Developer"]

The post Seeking Maniacal WordPress Developer appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

But the best applications with the best user experiences (UX)/user interface (UI), don’t do either. Or perhaps more accurately, do both — they guide. They walk along with the user, they make you feel like every step is natural, and you’re not being forced either by being forcibly pushed or gently pulled – the “system” is walking along with you.

Our goal is to build systems that walk with the user, so he or she never feels pushed and never feels pulled, but guided. What do you think makes a good “guidance-driven” interface?

The post The two sides of building a website appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

I think we’re safe for now. Read it here: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/04/can-the-computers-at-narrative-science-replace-paid-writers/255631/

The post Is my writing ability being surpassed by a computer? appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

MadLab Media is here for you because, while social media marketing is simple in concept, you’ll need some serious know-how put into the job to make your company stand out . . . (and a few little tricks some mad scientists can cook up are helpful too). So let us help get you past that wall and onto better things.

Get in touch with us about that job that’s just over your head and we’ll get back to you shortly.

We’d love to hear from you!

The post Are You Driving Into a Wall? appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

While paid advertising is essential, social networking is a new and exciting opportunity to further develop your business. Did you know more than 800 million people are active users of Facebook, more than 50 million actively use Twitter and you can connect with them about your company and products? That’s millions of potential customers! Learning how to use these new opportunities now gives you a competitive edge over your competitors who wait until later, or choose not to join in.

Simply create a profile page for your business on Facebook and sign up for a Twitter account. It’s fast, easy and free.

Click here to create your page on Facebook and sign-up for your Twitter account here.

One important aspect to the strategy of successfully using social networking to your advantage is content. Quality and quantity are important. By consistently adding content to your Facebook or Twitter page you will constantly be flickering through the minds of passers-by. Catch their attention. Hold it. Make them remember you. If they like what they’ve read from you in the past they’ll take a moment to read your new update or status in the future.

Much of the social marketing world is an online version of word-of-mouth advertising, which is the most powerful kind — powerful because it’s based on trust. If your friend “likes” a hair salon on Facebook or follows them on Twitter and you’re unhappy with the salon you’ve gone to for years, won’t you consider trying theirs out because you trust and value your friend’s opinion? I thought so.

While social networking is an effective outlet for you to tell the world about your services remember that the effectiveness in the long run is solely dependent on your service. News about your company will spread whether it’s good or bad—it will spread the quickest if it’s exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. When companies treat their customers remarkably well and offer great products the talk going around will match the outstanding service.

The post Have You Utilized Social Network Marketing? appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

It’s a general rule for me that if I’m installing WordPress on a host I’m not familiar with, I will not use the automatic script but instead will opt to install manually.

Side Note: When at all possible, we try to use WebFaction for hosting – we’ve been using WebFaction here at Mad Lab for all our hosting for a few years now, and especially for our Django and WordPress projects, WebFaction has been nothing short of fantastic. If you’re looking for a host, give them a try. Their control panels aren’t exactly the most intuitive as they’re geared towards the more tech savvy customer, but their customer support is second to none. Final disclaimer: if you do sign up, please.use one of the links in this paragraph, and Mad Lab gets a tiny cut of what you spend. In closing, USE THIS LINK.

So back to it. Network Solutions forces WordPress into a subdirectory, which can wreak havoc with your .htaccess rewrites (I know it can be done, but why complicate matters?). So in order to put WP into your domain root, you have to do it manually. Not going to walk you through this… the part that’s a bit of a bear is the wp-config file. Normally, you’d put in ‘localhost’ as the DB server. In this case, Network Solutions needs the IP to the database server. So you need to go to your Network Solutions control panel, find the DB you created (manually of course), and find either the host alias or the IP to that DB server, and when creating your wp-config file, replace ‘localhost’ with that value.

Simple little fix, but knowing this will save you all sorts of time looking for the right way to connect the database to the WordPress installation.

The post WordPress and Network Solutions appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

That’s right. We fix IE, since IE is too helpless to fix itself. Now I’m not a huge fan of browser hacks, but our analytics show that we still see between 40 and 60% IE users across our sites. That’s too significant to ignore.

Along comes CSS3Pie.

CSS3Pie is a little javascript and browser behavior file that takes all the CSS3 behaviors that we are learning to know and love, and jams them down the throat of IE (well, technically, IE8 and earlier, since IE9 supports many of these properties), allowing a more consistent cross-browser user experience. That’s right – so all your rounded corners, linear gradients, box shadows, all at your fingertips to all browsers. It’s just a couple extra lines of code. So THANK YOU to the folks at CSS3PIE. Give us a hollar if you’re ever in town, we’ll take you out and buy you a slice – of the traditional kind, the kind Homer dreams of.

The post Homer would be proud appeared first on Mad Lab Media.

So if you don’t think you can help, you’re wrong. Even as a user, by filing DETAILED (the key here is detailed!) bug reports when you find a problem in some open source software, you’re helping out big time.

(stepping off soapbox now)

The post Giving Back To The Open Source Communtiy. appeared first on Mad Lab Media.