Blog

Around the Office: custom grids, proper CSS3 use, what Google knows, more

Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week. A post on Web design blog Six Revisions this week confirmed our notion that CSS3 sites are only as good as the experiences they create. Author Delwin Campbell explains that CSS3 hasn’t ushered in anything new in terms of fundamental design and visual presentation principles. And while cosmetic CSS3 properties work…

The Path to Accessibility: Six AODA Questions to Ask Your Web Developer

With about 15 per cent of the world’s population living with some form of disability (pdf), accessibility is increasingly becoming an issue that cannot be ignored when, for instance, hosting an event or planning a building, yet it’s still often an afterthought for websites. (Updated January 2018) In an effort to simplify the process of making a website accessible, the W3 Consortium (W3C) set out to provide a set of recommendations to make Web content more usable by everyone in…

Around the Office: banking apps, Ninite Updater, font mustaches, more

Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week. How does Wayne manage to stay on top of the latest software updates? It’s not precognition, just Ninite Updater, which keeps software at its latest stable version. Where other software updaters tell you when new versions are available, Ninite goes further by automatically downloading and installing all your updates in the…

Kobayashi Online gives Hair Dynamix a corporate identity makeover

Hair Dynamix is a top-notch salon and spa in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood. We’ve known them for a while, having redesigned their website years ago. And when they decided they needed a corporate identity refresh, we were very happy they came to us again. This corporate identity makeover involved creating a new logo and reworking marketing materials What resulted was a new, unified impression across its business cards, brochures, signage, and monthly email blasts. Why go to these lengths? It all serves…

Accessible Web design: Why make your website accessible?

The World Health Organization estimates that about 15 per cent of the world’s population lives with some form of disability. Furthermore, nearly everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in their life and those surviving to old age will experience increasing difficulties in functioning. Though often ignored, disability is part of the human condition. Accessibility is increasingly a concern when planning a building, yet many websites are designed without accessibility in mind. Accessible design helps make online…

Around the Office: TEDxToronto, Khan Academy, a massive IE crash, and more

Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week. Wayne’s been doing some night school at Khan Academy, a website that has 2,400 odd educational videos on topics ranging from Black Holes to US social security, the French Revolution to linear algebra. Wayne’s been watching some of the finance lectures, but he’s interested in pursuing more topics. Given enough time, he might be able to…

Kobayashi Online wins WMA WebAward for Word11.com

The Web Marketing Association announced the winners of its coveted WebAwards on Thursday with Kobayashi Online being recognized for Outstanding Achievement in Web Development for Word11.com, the website for Toronto’s first 24-hour blogging festival. The WMA also awarded OPTIMUS | SBR and Grace Marketing the Consulting Standard of Excellence for the OPTIMUS | SBR Corporate Website, which Kobayashi Online helped develop. The WebAwards have been around since 1997, and are judged by a team of independent Internet professionals representing various relevant…

Around the Office: Rating Places, Winning WMA Awards, “White is the New Green”

Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week. This was a busy award week with the Web Marketing Association awarding its WebAwards for excellence in website development. Kobayashi Online won a coveted WebAward for designing Word11.com, the website for Toronto’s first 24-hour blogging festival. We’d also like to congratulate our friends at OPTIMUS | SBR and Grace Marketing which…

Around the Office: Augmented reality, Web radio and background music

Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week. Daveed has been enjoying the TuneIn radio app for iOS, which is free with ads or only 99 cents without. Other Internet radio appliance are cool, but they can cost hundreds of dollars, and still can’t do most of what TuneIn can. It’s the best radio software he’s seen yet. 360…