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 The former static, brochure-like site’s outdated look and feel, lack of functionality, and difficult maintenance had become liabilities. Outdated photos and information gave an inaccurate picture of facilities that have undergone significant renovations.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.
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!
Charles Buchwald & Friends is proud to announce that we will be completing yet another site renovation. This one is for Salt Spring Island’s own Mouat’s Trading Company, parent to 5 stores, 4 restaurants and 22 Ganges rental properties. We have some innovative plans to help bring this successful company into it’s 104th year in the Gulf Islands, and we’re very excited about working with this cornerstone of the business community here on the island.
Isabelle Hampton Stone’s new Coaching for Success website has gone live with Charles Buchwald & Friends… or rather, it’s been live for a bit now, and the client and we have finally tied it all together. Check out Isabelle’s site for an inspiring look at her varied, in-depth experience as a coach and trainer in a variety of disciplines.
Friends and neighbours Peter and Lynda asked me about creating a modest site to promote their lovely commercial property in Chemainus, across from the spectacular Emily Carr mural there. ChemainusRental.com is the result of a half-days work, and deep knowledge of available CMS and WordPress resources. As I hope you can see from the site, there is a real advantage to knowing many of the really brilliant and innovative designs and technologies available for producing a CMS site quickly and easily. Read more
No. 1 best selling author Ronald Wright has a new web site, RonaldWright.com, and he’s gone live with the help of Charles Buchwald & Friends.
By converting and updating a static, iWeb based site into a modern, user-editable and user-maintainable CMS based site, CB&F kept cost and time under control. The new site allows for easy updates, an RSS feed, tagged articles, and more fluid categorization, too.
After winning a demanding and thorough selection process, CB&F helped Raffi and the staff of the Centre for Child Honouring to craft a direct, consistent and powerful online message.
Working with Centre staff, Charles facilitated the move from an older site, focusing and expanding the message, and keeping it on point, conceptually and visually.
The CMS-based site delivers… through a clean, friendly design incorporating social media and rich media. An open architecture ensures the site can expand as it increases it’s important role in their vital outreach and education programs. Hosting on CB&F’s carbon-neutral, green server was a natural for this group. Easy, secure online donations and a basic web store will help raise funds for the next stages of their meaningful growth.
Rock Paper Scissors Show Invitation
Today I am a part of an art show again, for the first time in 24 years.
From the invite: “Rock Paper Scissors, an exhibit by four emerging Saltspring artists, Peter Allan, Heidi Cowan, Chris Leischner, Charles Buchwald, at Noble Studio.”
I’m entering six photographs, maybe seven if Peter and Lynda will consent to show the print of mine that they won at auction last year. There are four landscapes and two (or three) marine photographs.
It was meant to be an intimate little preview, a “pre-show” as practice for something more serious in the Spring, but it’s turned into something bigger, with gallery owners invited. I think we may have a hundred guests before the afternoon is over, but then again it’s raining today and maybe islanders are already in hibernation mode.
From my artists statement: “I’d like to dedicate these works to my partner, Jeannie Vasilakos, for her patient generosity and continuing support. Thank you to my teachers, professors Walter Zurko and George Olson, photographer Rudy Calin.”
Charles Buchwald & Friends is pleased to announce that Spire Publishing has signed on to work with us to develop custom database components for their web site. With a 7 year record of success in the publishing industry, and a commitment to social, environmental, and community-building practices, their direction is close to our hearts and we’re excited to contribute. If you are an author, or aspiring author, check out their publishing packages. If you just enjoy a good book, check out their online book store.
CB&F is pleased to announce that Denise Okan of West Wind Translations has contracted with us to develop a web site for her growing business. The site will be in both English and German, with a possible Turkish version to follow. Taking advantage of the multilingual capabilities of modern CMS systems will be key to keeping this project accurate and efficient.
In a related note, Charles Buchwald & Friends is now offering translations services for web content!