Technology | Tobin Lehman: Blog

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Tobin Lehman is a designer and educator who lives in Frederick, Maryland. His professional portfolio can be found at www.tobinlehman.com, and you can contact him at contact [at] tobinlehman [dot] com.

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Tobin Lehman celebrates our first year!

We are proud to announce the successful completion of year one of Tobin Lehman Design + Interactive!

We would like to thank all our clients and colleagues who supported this company from the beginning for your business, advice, and guidance. Our growth in the past year exceeded our expectations and for that, we are very grateful. In the coming year we hope to continue to beat expectations for our clients in our strategic consulting and account management, as well as our continual focus on the highest level of quality in each and every product.

In the next quarter we will be doing some outreach to our clients with surveys and new product offerings. Our research break over the past week, has only opened the door to new strategies and channels available for our clients, and in 2010 we will expand our offerings to bring more of those channels in reach and more consumers to your doors.

Thank you again for a great year one!

Tobin Lehman

CATEGORIES: Advertising, Business, Productivity, Technology, Tobin Lehman | 1 Comment » | October 2009

Browser Compatibility Policy Update: Fall 2009

This post is a general update to inform all on the position on Tobin Lehman Design + Interactive on browser compatibility for new Web site development.

As the Internet continues to be a wonderful place to explore, participate, and consume, the technology we use to engage this plane of reality is in a constant state of development by software developers and their communities. As builder of site that use this technology, we must provide the most progressive and robust experience possible to our clients and their customers, keeping up with these advancements. In this progressive response, we must also leave behind software of the past to continually provide a cost effective solution to our clients. The following list states the current minimum browser standards covered in our development projects.

Microsoft: Internet Explorer 7

Mozilla: Firefox 3.0, Camino 1.5

Apple: Safari 3.0

In addition, as future web browsers emerge on the market, compatibility for your site and these new browsers may become suspect to new issues.Â As a proactive approach, you or your marketing department should be conducting an evaluation and review of these new browsers as they emerge. Happy browsing!

CATEGORIES: Advertising, Business, Community, Design, Productivity, Technology, Tobin Lehman, Web design | No Comments » | September 2009

Clearing Firefox’s Cache for Testing + Updates

All browsers retain versions of previously viewed files to make your web surfing experience faster. But when it comes to testing your new site prior to launch, those old files can get in the way. The following is a step-by-step guide for clearing Firefox to remove old files and any other remnants you would like to remove. You should perform this task daily during testing. Read the rest of this entry »

CATEGORIES: Business, Productivity, Technology, Tobin Lehman | No Comments » | May 2009

Early Eulogy for IE 6

IE Death March With the soon coming release of a full IE8 and Microsoftâ€™s continuous commitment to half steps in the browser development arena, there has been a lot of murmuring about the eventual fall of Internet Explorer 6.Â If you are a PC user who may have never been susceptible to the automatic update that pushed many users into IE7, you might be wondering - whatâ€™s so bad about IE6? Well, IE6 has been the â€œthorn in the sideâ€ of web designers and developers for many reasons, but much to the use of Microsoftâ€™s proprietary CSS box-model which creates the need for every web site to be built twice, or at least in 1.5 times using different style sheets. Let alone the additional bugs that exist in IE6 that make every task in programming just feel a little more taxing. Read the rest of this entry »

CATEGORIES: Education, Productivity, Technology, Tobin Lehman, Web design | No Comments » | March 2009

Why We Need Email Development Standards

As with every type of construction, there exists a standard where consumers and industry professionals come together to define a minimal definition of quality.Â That definition must be met to guarantee that everyone’s investment is sound, secure, and will last into the future. These standards protect not only the consumer’s investment, but a piece of mind and safety in working with vendors who provide these services. In turn, vendors can define their level of quality and success to those standards, which help delineate a possibly overcrowded field of competition. Read the rest of this entry »

CATEGORIES: Advertising, Business, Craft, Technology, linkedin | No Comments » | February 2009

Three Free Information Tools From Google

It could easy go without saying that businesses thrive on information. Lucky for us, we live in a day and age when more and more information is available to us freely for our gathering. No longer must you pay inflated IT costs or set up designated task forces to research your markets. There are many resources available to us right now, free of charge, that allow us to gather this input and make better business decisions. The three tools noted below offered by Google will give you a jump-start into your data collection process. Read the rest of this entry »

CATEGORIES: Business, Productivity, Technology | 1 Comment » | February 2009

Mobile Web Design by Cameron Moll

Finding a consistent message in mobile web design these days seems a bit daunting. Reading numerous publications, news feeds, and articles, tends to bring on a sense of vertigo on which practices to take on, ignore, or follow. Overload aside, there has been a glimmer of hope in this short folio by Cameron Moll.

I’ve come to know Cameron Moll only in name, through his numerous mentions in design articles and his strong body of work found at cameronmoll.com. I decided to pick up his book simply on the fact that the consistency of his writing on design and web have never wavered, always bringing insight and clarity to the current atmosphere of mobile web design. And with this purchase, that sentiment stays true.

The book is a lightweight in size, but seems to capture a lot of the introductory concepts with mobile design that can apply to a larger audience whether it be account executive, designer, or client. I find the style and pace easy enough to recommend to my clients, as a primer on mobile design and considerations when taking on a project. His pragmatic approach allows the reader to understand the advantages of the various methodologies, and make a firm decisions based on your own case. This is a solid reference manual, and a must buy for those looking to understand what goes into making a mobile site happen.

Learn more about the book here, http://mobilewebbook.com/

CATEGORIES: Business, Graphic Design, Technology, linkedin | No Comments » | December 2008

Typeface.js : The right track

Typeface.js uses the browsers inherent vector rendering capabilities to render typefaces in using VML.Â The script is still in its very early form, but something about this feels right, its feels typographic.

I think this JS application is going to have some serious legs for growth. We get around the whole notion of image based titles, or using flash to render titles in a particular typeface. This is going to keep things very open for spiders and accessibility, which has long term benefits greater flexibility and growth to change. (No more searching or recreating that lost title.psd in photoshop.)

Overall I think this iteration is a great start to what this could really do with vector rendering in browsers. Now if we can just convince Google to buy it and proliferate it, we might see some great lengths to proliferation of real typefaces on the web.

CATEGORIES: Graphic Design, Technology, Typography | No Comments » | November 2008

Campaign:Digital

Last night, the event Campaign:Digital, which I hosted for the Greater Frederick Advertising Federation showcased three speakers, in three different areas of online marketing. The audience of the event was filled with eager to learn GFAF members, but also some of my Hood College MBA classmates as well.

David Gurzick, from Hood, gave a very insightful talk on the emergence of bad advertising in social networks. It seemed that the theme in the conversation was that no matter what network you work with, the method of advertising to that audience has not been perfected. The various iterations of Facebook’s ad injections, have only bother or lightly inconvenienced its users, not driven them to click on ads.

Jason Gindele, from Real Magnet, reminded us all of the true effectiveness of email marketing. I had almost forgot about the power this medium has not only the awareness marketing, but in relationship marketing as well. The tool his company provides, Magnet Mail is a simply amazing and worth checking out for large scale email campaigns. I think its time to look at email again.

And finally, Justin Seibert of Direct Marketing Online, gave a fun and insightful primer in the SEO and PPC. It wasÂ basic, but did explore some of the tactics and general state of the market in search. The field is getting so broad and competitive that I forecast that more SEO and PPC marketing firms like his will be come fixtures in advertising, if they are not already.

All three of these speakers did a wonderful job of working the audience and delivering some great information for everyone. Hopefully we will present another event like this with the GFAF for the local advertising community. If you attended this event and have feedback, please let me know.

CATEGORIES: Education, Graphic Design, Technology | 1 Comment » | November 2008