Charles Buchwald & Friends» : Charles Buchwald & Friends

Waterfront Saltspring: Live with CB&F!

Charles — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:17:19 +0000

The challenge: get additional market exposure for an outstanding waterfront acreage and house for sale on Saltspring Island.

The solution: build a clean and simple, optimized site using the WordPress CMS. Highlight the best features of the unique location, the exceptional natural values of the property, and the benefits of the house, dock and boathouse with a rotating header area and an accessible gallery; configure it all so that the owner can update and upgrade the content simply and quickly, as time allows.

The site: waterfrontsaltspring.com Check it out!

Cedar Beach Resort: Live with CB&F

Charles — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:48:21 +0000

Cedar Beach Resort, one of the largest resorts on Salt Spring, has gone live with Charles Buchwald & Friends. The newly revised site is a major upgrade and expansion of their former site, incorporating new photo galleries, interactive maps, contact forms, a revised and updated logo, online reservations, and a state-of-the-art Content Management System (CMS) allowing them to maintain and grow the site themselves.

With estimates of as much as 90 percent of travel planning taking place online, this family oriented resort was feeling the need to open up a clearer conduit between staff, customers, and potential customers. The former static, brochure-like site’s outdated look and feel, lack of functionality, and difficult maintenance had become liabilities. Outdated photos and information gave an inaccurate picture of facilities that have undergone significant renovations. After a thorough selection process, CB&F was brought in to make changes.

We created a flexible framework to show not only the updated facilities, but just as importantly the carefully cultivated family friendly atmosphere at the resort. The result is a site that can be easily and quickly kept current, and shows off the business to good advantage. Key communication channels are quick, easy and reliable, encouraging quality contact from returning and potential customers.

Check it out! And if you’re coming to Saltspring with your kids, and need a place to stay and swim and soak in the island atmosphere, be sure to contact the friendly folks at Cedar Beach Resort.

Full Moon Sail

Charles — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:55:35 +0000

Friends went on an evening trip to see the full moon, and took me along.

Here’s a quick VR movie from the sail…
FullMoonSailVR (Quicktime required. Click and drag to pan; shift or control to zoom.)

… and a simple, flat panoramic photo of the same thing.

Web Hosting Giveaway, July

Charles — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:27:56 +0000

Charles Buchwald & Friends is providing 3 free web hosting accounts for Salt Spring community groups or charities in the month of July.

Just like our business customers, groups can host their website with Charles Buchwald & Friends for a year, including web pages, email, mailing lists, file transfer, and more.

Hosting is fast, very secure, easy to manage, and well supported by an enthusiastic and community-minded local business. It’s also carbon neutral.

Join groups including the Bandemonium Music Society, Salt Spring Community Education, WOLF Kids, and many others.

UPDATE: Save Our Surgery is the first recipient of hosting this month. Only 2 accounts left now.

As long time residents of Salt Spring Island and the Gulf Islands this is one of the ways we give back to the community and the people we love.

If you are a charity or a Gulf Islands community group, please contact us.

UPDATE: July applications are closed. 2 additional community groups have received donations, but will wait to announce their projects. Thanks, everyone, for another great month of small scale philanthropy!

Save Our Surgery

Charles — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:54:04 +0000

CB&F has donated hosting to Save Our Surgery, a local Saltspring group working to affect change in policies governing use of the local Lady Minto Hospital.

According to the group:

In 2004, a new “state of the art” operating room was completed at Lady Minto Hospital, together with an excellent Central Supply Room to provide sterilization of instruments as required by the new standards.

This project was funded by the Capital Region District ($1.1 million), the Vancouver Island health Authority ($1 million) and, at the request of the VIHA, $780,000 from the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation.

Since July 2008 this state of the art operating room sits empty and unused.

Please visit their site to sign their petition, learn more, or obtain contact information.

Illustration for Monimos

Charles — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:05:35 +0000

We were rather excited to complete this recent project for Monimos in Victoria, BC, a developer with a “mission to foster strong community relationships in order to provide future sustainable growth and development”.

This 3D rendering of a building project in Sooke was completed expediently, thanks to Google SketchUp and a 3Dconnexion Space Navigator controller… and several years of experience as an architectural draftsperson. It’s amazing how efficient and flexible modern architectural visualization tools have become. Since working with the original upFRONT software, which surely must be a direct ancestor of SketchUp, work has become fluid, immediate and direct. No more waiting to see a shaded rendered version, or carefully and slowly switching views.

It will be fascinating to see these same technologies applied to upcoming design projects. Do you have experience using SketchUp and the Space Navigator for design? Then please leave a comment!

Greenway Partners

Charles — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:18:29 +0000

Sometimes Facebook can actually be useful and productive. A case in point: I recently reconnected with a friend from Northfield High School. David Narum is a partner with Greenway Partners in Arcata, California, promoting and using regenerative design to go “beyond sustainability”. It’s great to find like-minded people working to reconnect people and the planet.

From their site:

GreenWay Partners provides a range of design, planning, research and engineering services to improve our clients’ economic, environmental and social performance. Our mission is to play a leading role in the development and implementation of the policies and practices that effectively regenerate both human and natural systems.

We work with governments, tribes, schools and universities, private firms, and other organizations using a design perspective and innovative methods to develop solutions that respond to the unique context and specific needs of each of our clients.

See more about their successful “Plan It Green” conference, too. And if you are working to make the world a better place, please connect with me on Facebook or here on the web.

Protected: Photo Editing for Photographers

Charles — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:46:55 +0000

Creative Wellness Live with CB&F!

Charles — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:50:07 +0000

After an extended renovation period, Lynda Monk’s Creative Wellness is live and online with Charles Buchwald & Friends.

Highlights of this project included:

working with Lynda and her team to develop a custom WordPress theme incorporating the strong visual elements of the older site by Renee at earth spirit creations, to preserve the consistency of look and feel with Lynda’s existing print and digital assets
using a variety of great WordPress plugins to increase the functionality of the site, from the sophisticated and customizable menu system, to the AJAX-powered client testimonials, to custom forms
and most significantly expanding the control Lynda herself has over the site and it’s growing content.

The WordPress CMS provides a friendly, efficient interface for managing content, including adding new articles, editing existing materials, and working with images, audio and video. Video is especially important to Lynda’s plans, and YouTube content is already becoming a part of the site.

Lynda said, “Charles cares deeply about the work he brings forward in the world and is dedicated to making a difference with his work and within his community. He is a true artist, not just at the helm of website design, or with camera in hand, but in his way of seeing what is possible. I value my connection with Charles on many fronts and highly recommend him on any project that calls to his muse.”

I know we’ll see great things to come from this creative and inspiring dynamo!

Community Education Live with CB&F

Charles — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:30:48 +0000

Charles Buchwald and Friends is proud to be donating free hosting to Salt Spring Community Education. They have a great, active, friendly slate of classes of all kinds, including Photo Editing for Photographers. They are another one of our community’s wonderful non-profit, charitable societies. If you are on Salt Spring Island, check out their ever changing list of courses, lecture series and other learning opportunities.