Understanding Web Accessibility

The internet exists to function for all people regardless of physical or cognitive abilities, quality of technology, or environment. When this is true for an online platform, tool, or application it means it is accessible. Web accessibility allows for communication, interaction, research, entertainment, and more online opportunities — many of which can be excluding in the physical world. This creates a need for developers and organizations to create inclusive designs to make their content accessible to all.

Everyone should be able to easily navigate the web or contribute to it if they wish. This is what makes this virtual space so special. Easy navigation can mean that information is presented clearly or through various alternate sensory channels.

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HMG Creative Receives W3 Award for Capital Factory Website Redesign

HMG Creative is honored to be a two-time recipient of a W3 Silver Award for exceptional web design. Following a 2016 award in web design and development for nonprofit Raise Your Hand Texas, HMG has secured another honor as a result of this year’s work for local community hub, Capital Factory.

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Project Highlight: Glucology

Back in April we met Dr. Lisa Gorn, the developer of Glucology and part owner of garcinia cambogia, an all-natural blood sugar dietary supplement. She came to HMG Creative adjustable dumbbells with the need for a complete online web presence with e-commerce capabilities that could handle the various purchase options Glucology offers. Dr. Gorn also needed a platform to communicate with her audience and keep them up-to-date with product news and related information. Reliability, responsiveness, and ease-of-use were additional critical factors we took into consideration when planning her new website design.
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Adventures of Huckleberry

Mark Twain had Huckleberry Finn in the late 1800’s. You (read: everyone) had the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in middle school. And in 2014, we all have Huckleberry- the leading website for professional quality facial treatments delivered to your door.

But let’s rewind a bit to Chapter 1 of our Huckleberry tale. It was a warm September afternoon when Joyce, the founder of Huckleberry, and I sat down to discuss her business idea. A Princeton grad and entrepreneur at heart, Joyce is no stranger to determining her goals and carefully executing on her plans to reach them. The goal on this particular day: world domination. Kidding, she chose to save that for 2015. The idea she approached me with was simple: provide high-end products and services at an affordable price to everyday folks in the convenience of their own home. What type of products and services you ask? The types you’d find at your favorite luxury spa- facial treatments. In the comfort of my own living room, you say? Yes indeed! But this plan needed a team that could deliver the functionality she envisioned in an easy-to-use platform and, for lack of a better word, badass website. Enter HMG Creative.

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The Best Household Boredom Solution: Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader

Ever see those stacks of books people have in guest bathrooms at their homes? Home décor magazines, outdated tabloids and self-help books may come to mind. You might even be guilty of having a large (and growing) stack in your own bathroom. We present to you an alternative: Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. What is it, you may ask? Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader is a series of books filled with short articles chock full of trivia ranging from history to sports to pop culture—and they’re funny, too. But despite its name, Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader isn’t only for the porcelain throne. Leave the book on your living room table for guests to peruse, or bring it with you on a long family car ride for some laughs along the way.

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Volunteer Texas: Volunteering Has Never Been Easier

Many people often say, “I wish I volunteered more,” or “I wish I could somehow give back to the community.” Often, people simply just don’t know where to look for volunteer opportunities, and the idea becomes pushed back into their minds once more.  The nonprofit, government-funded organization Volunteer Texas, one of our newest clients, makes volunteering a more viable reality. Ultimately, the organization makes it easier and more cohesive for people to volunteer all across the state. Volunteer Texas connects both residents and out-of-state volunteers to opportunities throughout Texas.

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PrimoDish’s Premier Website


If you’re anything like me, when I sit down at a restaurant it takes a good 15 minutes for me to look at the menu and finally decide what special item I’m going to choose for my oh-so-important meal.

Entrée decision-making has now become much easier thanks to our awesome client, PrimoDish.  Based out of Austin, Texas, PrimoDish is an online company that provides information and ratings of the best, and worst, dishes at various restaurants and bars around the nation.

As a web-based company, PrimoDish came to us with extremely complex tasks that needed to be tackled.  In the kickoff meeting, we teamed up with our client to identify a list of critical factors and determined the desired target market to keep in mind throughout the re-development of the website.  By using storyboards, we were able to focus our attention on refining the overall user experience from the standpoint of an end-user.  From there, we constructed wireframe mock-ups that went through a series of revisions and additional enhancements.  Once the wireframes were solidified, we were able to build-out the GUI, or as I like to say, the “gooey.”  This is a graphical user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices using images rather than text commands.  Once our work was finalized, we handed over the front-end design (HTML, CSS and Javascript) to PrimoDish, where their dev team completed the implementation and successful launch of their new site!

Their website now provides visitors with a clean layout, accessible information and the these functional features:

  • Restaurant / Dish Rating System
  • Form Search using Google Maps (Auto Detect Location)
  • Social Sharing
  • Membership (Create Profile)
  • Social Networking (Friend-ing, Bookmarking, Sharing, etc)
  • Tagging
  • Blog

Signing up is super easy– so if you’re already wondering what you’re next meal will be, I’d suggest taking a look at their new and improved website.  Just provide an email, password and username and you’re set to search for the best dish in town!

Hungry for more?  Give us a call today and we’d love to chat about your next website!

Wireframes

Design Mockups

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Zenith Massage and Spa

We are so very excited to announce the new website launch of our local Round Rock client, Zenith Massage and Spa.

Unfortunately, our work for them didn’t entail testing out free massages and spa therapy, shucks.  Instead, we focused on what WE do best.  We started by creating a full corporate identity for Zenith by designing a powerful and lasting brand package.  To compliment this robust package, we created a logo to that would represent their uniqueness and produced a variety of stationary collateral.

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On The Twelfth Day of Christmas, HMG gave to me: Twelve Websites Winning

Web design has changed exponentially since the advent of web 2.0 in the early 2000’s. What used to be static-only websites have now been replaced with dynamic ones that incorporate many design features including widgets, social plugins and much more. Here are 12 tips to keep in mind when building or rebuilding your website.

1.  Show value– give people a reason to visit your site and keep them there.

2.  What does your website do? Are you informative, are you selling something? Include a call of action and let it be seen on the site!

3.  Simplicity– Keep it simple while still getting your point across.

4.  Myspace is out! That means no blinking text or magic cursors!

5.  Popups– Do I really have to explain this?

6.  Keep the home page accessible. I’ve been to many sites where once I click a link on the navigation bar, I cannot get back to the home page- so frustrating!

7.  Follow in Apple’s shoes and drop Adobe Flash– it’s processor heavy and there’s no place to embed SEO.

8.  I KNOW THIS MAY SOUND DUMB BUT DON’T CAPITALIZE ALL OF YOUR CONTENT.

9.  Speaking of words and content, check your grammar and spelling please!

10.  Use keywords and descriptive text that relates to your business. However, don’t over-embed keywords in your content- keep it natural.

11.  Be accessible, yes add a Contact page and put an email, phone number, something!

12.  Navigation is key! Keep a global navigation bar that allows accessibility to all of your pages.

I know the post reads “12 Tips” but I’m throwing in a BONUS, yay! 

13.  Social media integration- the key to the popularity and national/global success of your website and business.