Let’s start by showcasing the primary Pink for October website, designed by the INCREDIBLY talented Natalie Jost. So creative, so clean and easy to navigate, too.

The team at 525creative have created one of my favorite Pink for October designs so far. I love the clean lines, the use of different pink shades and their introductory text showing their support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I love that so many men are showing their support of Breast Cancer Awareness and that they are using their pink so creatively! For Dan Rose, the pink works great for his portfolio site!

Adventures in Motherhood is the personal blog of the very talented Shazia Mistry. She always comes up with something fun for Pink for October and this year is no different. Fabulous.

Totally creative. Totally fun. How could you not want to at least think about hiring that Fred?

Natalie Jost designed this year’s Pink for October site (see top) and has designed some of the most beautiful P4O themes and designs over the years. Her own site went pink for October too – complete with a random header design so you don’t know which piece of pink goodness you might get!

Sometimes less is more. I love the subtle use of pink in the design for Without Words. Just perfect.

Designer Jim Renaud really thought out every detail of his Pink for October transformation. The pink stocking cap is the best! Great work Jim!

Dani launched a new design for Anidan Designs recently and while I doubt it was created specifically for Pink for October, the use of pink is gorgeous in this very bold design. Always good design from Dani – she is another one of my favorite designers.

Kristy’s blog, Good Like a Medicine got a super sweet pink update specifically for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Stupifier, a digital design company, went for shocking, bold shades of pink for their October look. Interestingly enough, the entire site is a single page with navigation that takes you to anchors within the code.

Dean Robinson opted for the very low key, keep it simple and easy on the eyes pink transformation this year. Very nice.

Rose colored glasses anyone? Bainbridge Studios did just that with their rosy P4O makeover. Is this a trend – another single paged portfolio site?

Which one is your favorite? If you or someone you know goes Pink for October, leave me a comment! If there are enough new designs I will post a follow up and spotlight even more pink designs.

Social media is hot and its here to stay! One of the biggest trends in web design right now is adding icons or buttons for all the various social media sites you use to your web site to make it one step easier for friends, customers and potential customers to connect with YOU. So where do the designers find all these cool icons? They are all over the web and many are free, but you have to go looking for them.

Fellow designer Randa Clay and I got tired of looking high and low for the best social media icons and decided to create a single hub where you can find the best, free social media icons, buttons and graphics to use at your site. We would like to introduce you to our new website, mysocialbuttons.com, a one-stop resource for all the coolest social networking buttons you can use to let the world know where and how to connect with you or your company online.

All of the buttons on the site at the moment are free. Yep, free. You can help yourself. We just ask that you save the buttons you want to your computer first before you add them to your site or your clients’ sites.

And, if you really want to show of your social prowess, check out some of the t-shirts, mugs, mousepads and other goodies we have created to go with the social movement. They make great gifts, awesome conference schwag, and they are perfect for use as doorprizes or ice breakers at corporate training sessions.

Anyhow, the site is still in beta, but we just can’t keep it to ourselves any longer! Please check it out, let us know what you think, bookmark it, share a link with your friends on Facebook, give it a Tweet, or love it anyway you see fit!!

The big question was what to use for this version. I opted not to create a custom theme from scratch because frankly, I don’t have time to reinvent a wheel that already works great. There are so many great free and premium themes readily available to use as a base, starting from scratch really didn’t make sense.

As one of Brian Gardner’s recommended designers for his Revolution series of themes, Revolution was a front runner for quite some time. I know it inside and out. Its well coded, highly customizable and I’m rather partial to it.

HOWEVER…

I had been hearing a lot about Cory Miller’s Flexx theme (part of iThemes) and how customizable it is for the average small business owner, blogger, or non-code loving designer. Some of my clients were buzzing about it and I was getting requests to do Flexx customizations. How could I make recommendations, do efficient customizations, and really do my clients’ work justice if I hadn’t really put Flexx through the paces yet myself?

RESULT… Essential Keystrokes has been re-flexx-ed.

I knew I wanted to keep the same basic header design, but I wanted fresh colors, a sleeker palette and greater flexibility. After browsing my favorite color palette inspiration sites (Color Schemer and Colour Lovers), I came up with about 7 different header variations and sent them out to my friends and advisors for input. The color scheme that is on the header now was the almost unanimous favorite for everyone so it won.

So, what makes Flexx so special? Flexx has its own customization screens that allow you to upload 1-5 different header images from your WordPress admin panel. In other words – no FTP needed. Additionally, you can pick the background color and pattern the same way – and it will give you a preview of the color/background pattern before you opt to save it.

Then comes the layout menu. It is totally point, click, what you see is what you get, so easy your tween could do it. Want your pages listed above your header image? You can choose it. Want pages and categories below the header? No problem. Not sure how your site will look with 2 columns? How about 3? Point, click, and watch the layout diagram change before your eyes. It doesn’t get much easier that that. (For a full description, screen shots and more check out these posts: Web Chicklet Flexx review, WP Fun’s Flexx review)

Each of the compartments in the layout are controlled by widgets. This is another feature that makes it easy for the average web site owner to customize the look and content of their site without needing to modify PHP files or knowing how to FTP files up to the server (although this is a good skill to learn and its as easy as 1-2-3).

Over the next few weeks, I will be integrating my work portfolio, hire me details, and tweaking the content in the different areas of the site, but for the time being I am very happy with how it turned out. Not to mention, I have now got a really good feeling for what makes this theme tick and can efficiently customize it for clients.

Photo: iStockPhoto

Diary of a Website did the design for the main Pink for October site this year and used the same theme for her site. Very nice!

A little paisley and a little pink makes Adventures in Motherhood very eye pleasing.

Brendan Cullen does a nice job with the black and pink – I like how the footer is tied into the design as well.

I love the combination of the vertical stripes and the simple layout on the interior of SourceWave.net.

Swank Web Style always has something fun in the works – including their Pink for October look.

I love this shade of magenta! Blissfully Aware takes pink to the extreme.

Retro comic book funk is the best description for The New Pink – love it!

Anidan Design takes a very minimalistic approach that really works!

A little bit of sass and professionalism rolled in to one gives MarnieB my vote.

ScribbleScratch made my favorites list last year and has a new design this time around – she also has quite a few pink WordPress themes available for download.

Bonita in Pink has done an amazing job of customizing my favorite Adii theme. Very striking!!

Who can resist a cupcake? This is one of Scribble Scratch’s yummy designs.

One of my design pals, Selene of iDesignStudios, gave her normally pink design an extra bit of punch for October.

If you have a favorite Pink for October design, please take a minute and share it with us. Or let us know which of these designs you happen to love. Thanks to all the designers for taking time to support a great cause by sharing your creativity and voice with all of us.

Regardless of which of these answers came to mind first, you were right. Each of those concepts is part of website optimization. In Andrew King’s most recent book, Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets, he methodically takes you through all aspects of website optimization from:

• Search Engine Marketing Optimization
• Pay-per-Click Optimization
• Conversion Rate Optimization
• Web Page Optimization
• CSS Optimization
• AJAX Optimization
• Advanced Topics (Server Side and Client Side Optimizations)

While Website Optimization is well written with plenty of screen shots, useful graphics and case studies, this is not the kind of book that you sit down and read in an afternoon. Rather, I recommend focusing on one chapter of the book at a time – reading, understanding, then implementing the recommendations.

Andy King’s first book, Speed Up Your Site, was released in 2003, but the web landscape has changed so dramatically. His new book takes the trends, tools, and technology of today into account. For example, in 1997 the average web video was 45 seconds – but thanks to faster computers, faster connections, YouTube, Flash, MySpace and digital video cameras, the average web video in 2007 was 192 seconds. As a result, his new book contains about 10 pages on optimizing multimedia for better server and end-user experiences.

Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets, is a great reference book not only for web professionals, but anyone who wants to know how to tweak a website so it performs at its very best. You can also visit the  companion site of Website Optimization Secrets for sample chapters, chapter summaries, full-color figures, and the latest news.

My favorites:

Konigi – Specifically for web designers, information architects, and other visual designers, Konigi features high-quality graph papers in a variety of formats complete with title bars and non-photo blue so you can easily remove your guides when scanning.

Incompetech – Need to get really fancy? Incompetech goes beyond your standard graph paper and has dotted paper, axonometric perspective paper, circular, asymetrical, and engineer’s paper plus many more unusual and artistic grids for unleashing your creativity.

Are you a notebook junkie? Even though it is nice to be able to print the graph paper I need one sheet at a time, I have to say I also have quite the collection on notebooks, sketch journals, and notepads floating around. My favorites are:

• Moleskine Large kraft Soft Cover Squared Cahier Journal (set of 3)
• Dot Grid Book by Behance
• Orla Kiely’s funky notebooks (you can get different paper styles)
• 5×5 Quad Ruled Composition Book, 7-7/8″x10″ RED43475

If you have any other sources for good graph or grid paper, let me know – while I love the convenience of printing it out as I need it, I definitely have a soft spot for fun and funky notebooks and sketchbooks.

This is actually a post I did in October of 2006, but it is a useful tool that many of us often forget to use or don’t know exists.

While catching up on some good blogging info at MomGadget, I came across a post by Katelyn. It was about Wayback Machine and checking domains for skeletons in their closets.

The Wayback Machine is actually a very cool tool. You enter a domain name and you can go back through its archives and see what the site looked like in 1996, 1997, and every year thereafter. Archive.org also has tools for finding old music, videos and other media too.

Katelyn was lamenting her difficulty in getting a certain site of hers indexed on Google. She did everything right, from what she could tell, but still no success. She checked her site on Wayback Machine and suddenly it all made sense! The entity that had the domain before her was in a totally different market from her and let’s just say, the content wasn’t rated G, PG, or even R.

In the event that something like this happens to you, you can contact Google directly and plead your case, but I doubt there are any guarantees you’ll be able to convince them.

Tip of the Day – Check Wayback Machine before you buy your domain! You might uncover some skeletons.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on keeping up with the Joneses when it comes to web design techniques, development, and programming.

If you are a designer or developer, you have probably come across this predicament at least once in your career. You launch a new web site for a client using the “latest and greatest” techniques, have the trendiest graphics, and all the right SEO techniques built in. The client is thrilled and you have a shiny new star to add to your portfolio.

Then, 8 months later you look back on the site and say to yourself “what was I thinking?” After all, the coolest designers are now using something new, the drop shadow effect on the logo looks so dated compared to the new glossy logos everyone is sporting, and Google went and changed the search algorithm AGAIN.

Do you:

• Approach the client and ask them to pony up for a brand spanking new site design?
• Recommend a few subtle tweaks to update the site a bit?
• Stick with the attitude that if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it?

And what about that new site you are getting ready to design – you know the one that the client wants to do everything under the sun but their budget just isn’t going to be enough? How do you approach that kind of challenge? Do you design what you know using the fastest, least expensive method even if that means reverting to older techniques that you can do in your sleep?

Keeping up with the latest design trends, platforms, techniques and standards is a lot of work! How do you balance what you invest in professional development with actually earning money using what you already know? And when is it important to keep up with the Joneses and when is it okay not to?

Yes, I know I asked a lot of questions, but these are just a few of the things that are on my mind. Join the discussion and tell me your thoughts on keeping up with the Joneses!

5ThirtyOne is very pink and created a special WordPress theme for the occasion.

WordPress Theme master, Brian Gardner, is sporting a very sophisticated shade of mauve.

I just love the combination of the black and pink on the Calla Mae site (and check out the beautiful bracelet, too)

I created a custom header and changed up the CSS at my Casual Keystrokes site to make it really pink.

Conserving Made Chic is one of my new favorites for so many reasons!

Charity at Design Adaptations gave me the final push I needed to get my pink site live when I saw that she had released her Pink Adaptations theme.

Geek with Style created this gift-like Pink for October theme.

Kiss My Code’s very creative theme at I’m Blogging That just might be my favorite.

Not only did Randa Clay give her own site a beautiful pink makeover, she also release one of her themes in a pink version, Pink Bird.

Scribblescratch also contributed two themes – I really like this snappy plaid one.

Natalie Jost contributed some beautiful themes and color schemes to help inspire us to go pink. This one is her personal design.

This is another one of Natalie Jost’s Pink for October themes – just gorgeous.

How can you resist pink sunglasses? Surrounded by Girls did a great job going pink – something tells me they have had a bit of practice with the pink palette.

If you have a favorite Pink for October design, please take a minute and share it with us. Or let us know which of these designs you happen to love. Thanks to all the designers for taking time to support a great cause by sharing your creativity and voice with all of us.

PS – This is a Thursday Thirteen post.

I took the survey and have been looking forward to seeing the results of the survey. The 82-page report of findings was released today. WOW! The team at A List Apart did a great job of pulling all the data together and presenting it in an easy to read and meaningful format.

Visit A List Apart for the full report and if you really want it, you can get the raw data too – mmm, crunchy!

What did I learn from the report? In many areas, I am in the minority – but that doesn’t surprise me, nor does it bother me.

• Age: Since I am now a ripe old 39, I fall into the 39-50 age group – along with 10% of other web professionals who took the survey.
• Gender: 16% of those surveyed are women (another reason I am so proud to be on that W list)
• Education: I’m with the majority here – I have my Bachelor’s Degree but like 46% of those surveyed, its in a totally unrelated field – Economics
• Work: Like 23% of my peers, I am self employed. I have been in the field for more than 10 years like 9% of those surveyed. (Does that make me a dinosaur in web years?) And 35% of us do web work full-time.

Enough about me. The report is goes into much greater detail on salaries, where we work, perceived and actual bias, skill sets and more. It is definitely an interesting read – especially if you took the survey or you are in the web design field.