wordpress themes, The Studio/ Blogsite Studio

A Friend Indeed is a Theme Developer You Need

May 5, 2016September 25, 2012 by Mari Kane

When you’re new to blogging and you see all these free WordPress themes available, you wonder: who are these geeks giving away their themes to people like me? Are they trolls hunched over computers in their parents basements until the day they finally get their big chance to work in a real software company? No.

Theme developers often are the software company and giving away free WordPress theme is not their main occupation. They give away free themes with the intent of possibly selling you a premium theme or plugin once you are ready for it. Theme developers are professionals, not volunteers and as such, it is worthwhile to enlist a theme developer’s help when you have a problem with their theme.

Responsive WordPress Themes Future Proof Your Site

May 5, 2016July 9, 2012 by Mari Kane

Currently, the hottest thing in the world of WordPress is responsive theme design. A responsive theme will detect what devices are being used to view your site and will reshape the elements to fit into the space in a way that reflects the site’s original design.

In olden times of the internet, this kind of viewing issue was about making a site friendly to various browsers: Explorer, Safari, Netscape, etc. Now, the increasing use of iPhones, iPads and other devices have forced designers to make WordPress sites visually pleasing on various screen sizes.

The key to responsive design is fluidity. Like water, the grids and images on a site move to fit a limited space. One way to determine from your computer whether a site is responsive is to grab the right side and collapse the screen. Does the navigation bar re-arrange itself? Do the columns stack up? Do the fonts keep their sizes? Those are all signs of responsive design.

Up until recently, mobile plugins have done the job of reshaping your site design to fit on a phone, but it basically reduces it to a simple stack of text boxes. But that look is just plain boring.

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I was in the process of creating my website and needed help, Mari Kane came to the rescue and got us up and running. She was quick to respond to what needed to be done. Mari’s extensive knowledge with WordPress and creative abilities were easily recognized, and her intuitive and calm nature was a delight to work with. Thank you Mari for all your help and always being available to answer questions when needed.

Joeqyna Bolirinno, Owner, Illuminaté Restorante

http://illuminaterestorante.com

09/12/2019

I was in the process of creating my website and needed help, Mari Kane came to the rescue and got us up and running. She was quick to respond to what needed to be done. Mari’s extensive knowledge with WordPress and creative abilities were easily recognized, and her intuitive and calm nature was a delight to work with. Thank you Mari for all your help and always being available to answer questions when needed.

Joeqyna Bolirinno, Owner, Illuminaté Restorante

http://illuminaterestorante.com

09/12/2019

Working with Mari Kane at The Studio was phenomenal. I appreciated her ability to find solutions for unique requirements. She is skilled with plug-ins and WordPress and so was a perfect choice for the site build. Mari never let me down; she is flexible with timing, willing to work to a deadline and has many talents to offer. I've already recommended Mari and The Studio to others.

Dee Moore, Pearl Media BC

https://illuminaterestorante.com/

09/12/2019

In February 2016 Derby Reach/Brae Island Parks Association (DRBIP) wanted a new web site, one which was handsome, but simple (no glitz!) and easy to navigate. Once the initial design was established the real work began. Without Mari’s assistance, expertise and incredible patience, the site would never have gotten off the ground. By June, drbipa.org was online. It was a pleasure to work with Mari throughout the whole process and beyond. We have achieved what we set out to do and DRBIP would be extremely happy to work with her again.

Joan Martin, DRBIP

02/11/2019

Mari is exceptionally knowledgeable about Wordpress. I was able to rely on her familiarity with all aspects of web design and I knew that her technical knowledge would result in a reliable and useful presence online.

Valerie Adolph

https://www.vadolph.com/

02/15/2019

It has been a great pleasure working with Mari. She is patient, knowledgeable, professional, and extremely responsive! Our old web host was going out of business. Mari not only helped build a brand new website for us, but she also took the stress of finding a new web host away from us. Thanks Mari. We would not have been able to do it without you!!

Dr. Tigerson Young, Diversity and Emotional Wellness Centre

https://diversitycentre.net

04/19/2019

When we realized that our site needed a total makeover we contacted Mari. She had some great ideas on how to implement that, starting with migrating the site from an old, overpriced hosting account to a modernized, cost-effective web host. She then restructured the content, edited old web copy into fresh text, and revamped our whole blog. We especially like how she converted content from old pdfs into modern accordion displays. She made our membership list searchable and filterable for users, and easier for me to update. There are so many aspects of the new site that we just love. And Mari was a pleasure to work with the whole time. Thank you Mari!

Tara Good, Vice President WineAmerica

https://wineamerica.org/

01/27/2020

"As we are on the move a lot, traveling and busy with clients, Mari supported creating and building our website on a new platform. The new site is fresh and more of who we are and what we offer in the world. Thank you, Mari !"

– Patricia and Bill Clum, Evolution of the Heart

https://www.evolutionoftheheart.com/

05/23/2017

"We couldn’t be happier with the job Mari did of redesigning the BCHF website. Throughout the process she was accessible and responsive to our concerns and has provided great follow up service. We’ve received fantastic response to the site and it has been an effective source for outreach, donations, and ticket sales. We would definitely recommend her for website projects in the future."

Alan Sacks, Executive Director, BC Hospitality Foundation

https://bchospitalityfoundation.com/

10/11/2016

"After going through two other people that unfortunately did not come through for me with a great website, I finally found Mari! Mari is brilliant, knowledgeable about so many things about websites and also about blogging. Mari came through with so many suggestions and hints and feedback on things and I didn't have to ask her about these things, she just offered the information because bottom line she cares about her clients! Whenever I had issues or problems with my website, she was right there helping me all the way. I've asked her advice about so many things such as good scheduling programs, webinar systems, member login in pages, so many things! And she came through every time without charging me an extra cent! Mari has a big fat heart LOL when it comes to helping her clients. I love Mari. She is my go-to person and guru of so many things regarding social media and I would never change her in for anyone else ever! Thank you Mari!"

Laura Haskell, Evolution Healing Center

http://evolutionhealingcenter.com/

04/22/2016

“Mari changed the look of my website from “homemade” to professional in no time at all. She has an excellent working knowledge of WordPress and was able to tweak the little things on my website to make it look and function seamlessly. However, the best aspect of working with Mari was her ability to explain the complex intricacies of working with WordPress at a level that a new user such as myself could understand. I would not hesitate to recommend Mari to anyone who needs help learning how to use WordPress or wants to update their website.”

Mark Sekela, Author

http://marksekela.com

10/31/2013

"Mari Kane did an excellent job at helping me get my website up and online.She is very adept with Word Press and gave me numerous options while creating the site. Once we knew what direction we were taking she offered several inventive ideas. Mari is a good problem solver and came up with quick and clever expedients. I’d definitely recommend her services."

Howie Moscovitch, Producer, H2M Sound

http://howiemoscovitch.com

10/24/2013

"Mari Kane’s help has been indispensable in upgrading my online presence. You can put up a website and start a Twitter account and a facebook page, but then what? Mari understands how these platforms work and how to use them to their best advantage. All the details that will improve your search engine rankings and web crawl. How Twitter REALLY works. The difference that one word can make on your homepage. Discovering these things on my own would be either impossible or an incredible drain of my valuable time. Well worth it."

Bill Wertzberger, Winemaker, Wertzberger Wine

http://wertzbergerwine.com

04/13/2011

I love my new updated look and it is a big hit with our readers . Within the first week of launching the new MyVanCity.ca our site visits were up almost 5%. Page views are up and the bounce rate is down! The new look of MyVanCity.ca is everything I asked for and I love how it looks. The new design gives the website both a classic and current look that will serve me well into the future. I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done to create the new MyVanCity.ca website and making my WordPress easier to use. You have really upped our game with this new look!

Valerie van der Gracht, Publisher, My VanCity

https://myvancity.ca/

01/11/2019

“Mari has helped several of our park partner groups create new websites. She’s great at explaining technical stuff in layman’s terms. She’s efficient, responsive, helpful – and very patient working with people who don’t have expertise in website design!”

Jeff Rotin, Metro Vancouver Regional Parks

https://keeps.org

02/06/2019

"The way Mari Kane laid out our site, made it accessible, and showed technophobic members how easy it was to communicate with each other has made our group more cohesive. She then converted our old HTML public site to mirror the members-only site, so we have a public site and a private site that share the right information between them. Additionally, hooking both sites to Facebook, Twitter and Paypal has streamlined our promotional efforts and our revenue management. Mari has brought our 23 year-old writers group into the 21st Century and I would recommend her to anyone who wants to effect a similar change."

Pat Evans, Secretary/Co-Chair, West End Writers Workshop

http://wewriters.org/wp2

07/24/2012

"Mari designed a beautiful site that graphically represents the travel experience using a theme that allows us to showcase our photography. She listened closely and found the solutions we needed to present the information the way we wanted it. Additionally, thanks to Mari’s thorough training skills, our members are now able to design and create their own profile pages as well as post to their heart’s content. I would whole-heartedly recommend Mari for both designing sites as well as training users on WordPress."

Karoline Cullen, Treasurer, British Columbia Association of Travel Writers

http://bcatw.org

09/22/2012