It’s Thursday, April 25, 2024 and 81°F in Austin, Texas
AUSTIN
the most beautiful
My Top Ten Most Beautiful Pictures of Austin
I have spent years looking at pictures of Austin - and these are my favorites - the most outrageous beauties! I have added some comments about colors and life in Austin.
TECH ADVICE
stop them once and for all
How to End Annoying Robocalls - OMG a Solution!
Get rid of Robocalls. There is a free solution that really works - it's called Nomorobo and we love it.
WEB DESIGN
big breakthrough in color research
Want to Use the Viking Color Palette in Your Website?
Scientists have discovered the favorite Viking colors and now you can use them in your website!
WEB DESIGN
be prepared - choose wisely
Checklist for Law Firms Looking for a Web Designer
Here are some helpful hints and direction on the skills and knowledge your web designer should have.
WEB DESIGN
essentials for success
New Home Builder Website Checklist
Here's a list of the essentials you'll need to create your new home builder website. It's a list of all of the building blocks you'll need to make your site a success.
WEB DESIGN
max speed
7 Tips to Speed Up Your Website
Optimizing the speed that your website's content loads - will inevitably increase customer satisfaction, keep them on your website, reducing its bounce rate, and hopefully make them return visitors.
AUSTIN
save as many as you can!
Top 10 Reasons NOT to Move To Austin
With Austin making headlines and ending up on virtually every "Top 10 Best City for..." lists -- we now have about 150 people moving here daily!! We figured we should warn potential new residents of the hidden dangers of moving to Austin.
ANCESTRY RESEARCH
Howdy Grandmother!
Pocahontas ancestry and DNA - Sullivan Family Connection
How I discovered my ancestor Pocahontas and her Sullivan family descendants of Northern Virginia using the web - a genealogy posting by Bob Atchison.
Anonymous Love Letters - $500
Did you know that really was a profession? In 1961 you got paid $500 per letter, that would be $4100 today!
SEO Tips for Home Builders
When we build a new website for our home builder clients, we always try to focus on implementing "best practices search engine optimization (SEO)" to maximize their placement in organic search engine results.
GEDmatch Used to Snare Golden Gate Killer - Hackers Get MyHeritage Data
As you have probably read it has been extensively reported that Golden Gate Killer was found using data from GEDmatch. It's an amazing story.
Keller Williams Real Estate Agent Website Created
Pallasart launches new real estate website for Matthew Church, an Austin Keller Williams Associate. The site has many cool features that will help Matthew offer his services and attract new customers.
Hummingbird Farms Upgrades Images on their Website
Hummingbird Farms, the famous maker of body lotions seen on QVC , upgrades website with huge new product images, which increases sales
Top Texas Home Builder Redesigns Website
Olson Defendorf, the top award-winning Texas custom home builder, creates a new brand image and redesigns website. Click here to see what they just did in 2018.
The Best Antique Roses for Your Austin Garden
Here's a list of the best antique and old roses for your Austin garden plus a few recommended David Austin Roses
Maine Resort Redesigns Website
The Moorings in New Harbor did a total redesign of its website and added an availability and booking system.
My Favorite Semi-Precious Stones for Hardstone Animals
Here are some images showing my favorite semi-precious stone animals with jeweled eyes from my collection and stories of the stones and where they come from.
Why do my website fonts and photos look blurry in Windows 10?
When users install or upgrade to Windows 10, "display scaling" may be turned on "by default" to either 125% or 150% resulting in blurriness when viewing websites or applications on certain monitors.
5 Common Website Mistakes to Avoid Making
We've been in the web design business since 1996, and have seen many small businesses make these easily avoidable but often costly mistakes with their websites.
Should You Use Live Chat in Your Website?
Here's an informal overview of live chat options, outlining how Olark, one of the leading providers, works and its features. We explain how live chat can increase online sales and generate leads no matter the size of your company.
Where to Find and Buy Old, Antique and David Austin Roses Online
Bob Atchison's guide to find rare, antique and cabbagey roses to order online. Here you'll find the best sources with roses I especially love and recommend for your garden.
How to Add MLS Listings to Your Real Estate Website
If you are a realtor or real estate broker, you need a website to advertise your business and attract new clients. Get clients to stay on your website by providing access to Multiple Listing Service (MLS) real estate listings.
New Real Estate Web-Tools Just Released
Now it's possible to have a website that surpasses the very best in real estate. You can get an incredible design with powerful databases that can do anything and everything you could dream of...
Overcoming Your UNNATURAL FEAR of Cursive Fonts
The unspoken fear all web designers dread - you've been asked to use cursive fonts! There is no escape... yes, it has happened to me, Bob Atchison, many times and I have the battle scars to prove it. Here are some cursive fonts I actually like.
Should You Use WordPress for Your Website?
We get asked this question all the time... Should I use WordPress? Here are some of the top considerations to examine when deciding if WordPress is the right choice for building your website.
Drone Photography for Home Builder Websites
As homes in Austin, Texas are getting more expensive and selling for well over $1 million, many home builders and real estate agents are turning to aerial drone photography and videos to showcase their listings.
Is Scotty Bowers Telling the Truth About Hepburn and Tracy?
Is Scotty Bowers, the famous Hollywood pimp telling the truth about Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn being gay? Here's a confirming story...
Bob Atchison's Guide to Bronze Patinas
Most people do not realize that bronze statues have artificial patinas applied to their surfaces. This blog article discusses the types of bronze patinas and how to recognize them.
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Austin - Number One City for Dogs
Well, it has been said — "put a cute dog on a website and you can sell anything". Today is July 4th and what better way to celebrate the holiday than to talk about dogs. Americans well we love our dogs, they are part of our families. There are around 80 million of them sharing our lives here in the USA and that's a lot of dog food (who can guess the number of fleas!)....
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Austin Housing Construction Takes Off
Today I read some encouraging news for home builders in Austin. There are signs the market in Austin is about to take off. Shonda Novak of the Austin American Statesman reports new home starts in Q2 of 2011 totaling 1,794. This means builders are close to a turning point.
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Schaffer Collection of Russian Art Treasures
Here are page views from the "Schaffer Collection of Authentic Imperial Russian Art Treasures". This is a historic catalog of Romanov items - mostly from the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, which was the private residence of the last Tsar, Nicholas II and his family....
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The Mystery of the Romanov Treasures
There was an article in the New York Times Antiques section about a new exhibition opening at the Virginia Museum of Art. The exhibition has been organized by Geza von Habsburg, one of the recognized experts in Faberge...
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Bob Atchison's Guide to Bronze Patinas
Most people do not realize that bronze statues have artificial patinas applied to their surfaces. This blog article discusses the types of bronze patinas and how to recognize them.
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Artists Still Scared of the Web??
The art market on the web is exploding. Collectors are out there spending thousands online for the works of people like yourself — paintings, graphics, sculpture, fine crafts — anything you can create. Now this assumes you have something people want to buy and the price is right...
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Isis Mobile Phone Payment Technology
Recently we have been talking in our blog about mobile payment technology and new initiatives in this area. Beginning in 2012 Austin smartphone users will have this option....
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Amazon and Texas Close to a Deal
The Austin American Statesman is reporting a possible deal between the State of Texas and Amazon over online sales tax. Barry Harrell reports that Texas is negotiating - and may be close to a deal - to create 5,000 jobs and invest $300 million in the state.
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Choosing Colors for Luxury Websites
Here I have created three images showing the same items and text on a white gray and black background. I had to change the text colors a bit because white text and black text would not show up on the same colored backgrounds...
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More Pictures - Artemis Diana and Hounds
Here are some more pictures of the new life-sized bronze of Artemis Diana and the Hounds we posted a few days ago in the blog...
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Luxury Websites Cut Out the Middleman
There was a very interesting article in the New York Times today on a new start up e-commerce website targeting the men's luxury market, J. Hilburn....
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When is the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin?
The U.S. Grand Prix is going to be hosted in Austin on June 17, 2012. According to the official website of Formula 1...
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Russian Imperial Style - Part 2
A year ago we commissioned a special Savonnerie carpet to be made by one of our suppliers. There are two types of classic rugs, the Aubusson, which is a flat weave and the Savonnerie which has a sheared pile...
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Russian Imperial Style - Part 1
In 2001 Pallasart ordered a number of replicas of furniture from Russian Imperial Palaces to be made by wood carvers and gilders that worked in the palace museums of Tsarskoe Selo...
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Apple's Announcement - iCloud is Here
This past Monday Steve Jobs unveiled iCloud, and Apple has now joined Amazon and Google in this new phenomenon. iCloud - like its counterparts are rival companies, will store documents, photos and other content on the internet and sync it across multiple Apple devices at no cost...
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HostGator to Double Staff in Austin
HostGator has announced they will be increasing staff from 280 to 500 within 12 months...
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Wondering About https and SSL Certificates?
As follow-up to my blog on stock photography I'd like to share a list of favorite photographers on Dreamstime...
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Google Says No Support for Old Browsers
Google has posted an important announcement online today....
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The Big Pile of Boxes in My Garage
Today we learned that Governor Perry vetoed taxes on sales by online retailers...
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The Coolest Wine Site of the Future?
Recently we were doing a redesign and reprogramming in PHP of a popular wine site. They have been a client of ours for 10 years. I had a chance to look at many of the famous wine sites again and I have a few comments for this blog...
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My Favorite Stock Photographers
As follow-up to my blog on stock photography I'd like to share a list of favorite photographers on Dreamstime...
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Stock Photography in Websites
We have more than 20,000 images in our stock photography database here at Pallasart. They come from a number of stock sites on the web...
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Success Factors in Luxury and Fashion Websites
Customers often ask me what they can do to make their site a success. Pallasart has built many luxury and fashion websites for customers in Austin, all over the USA and abroad...
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ClearXchange to Compete with PayPal
In a move to counter the growing popularity of PayPal as a payment system, three of the four largest banks in the USA have announced the launch of a new system that allows the transfer of money from checking accounts...
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Music on the Cloud
Recently, I discovered Amazon Music, which seems to sell DRM-free high quality MP3 albums at price points that are a little lower than those sold on Apple's iTunes Music Store - I bought an Amazon album for $6.99, which is $3 lower than the $9.99 charged for the same album on iTunes...
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Fonts and Typography on Modern Websites
"Browser text" -- or text that is rendered by the browser has always proved challenging for web designers....
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Is Twitter A Passing Fad Or Here For The Long Haul?
The social networking universe is a fast moving juggernaut of companies whose fortunes seem to rise and fall overnight. Many companies have transformed themselves from dorm room ideas into multi-billion corporations with worldwide reach that sometimes even impact current events...
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Social and Community Based Shopping Websites Are Increasingly Popular
One of the hottest areas in online e-commerce these days are websites that allow like minded individuals to buy and sell goods to others with their same interests...
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You should update your Flash Player too
Many users have updated, or should update to the latest browser versions for an optimal web experience. Generally, all the leading browsers had big new releases in late March 2011 -- many timed their product launches to SXSW the big interactive, film and music festival held annually in Austin, TX each spring....