About Done In Style

Done in Style is my brainchild and alter ego. I'm BJ Novack, and I've been designing websites since 1996, shortly after the Web became recognized and started to make the trip into our homes. I sometimes have the help of Zaigham Rana, a truly talented young designer.

Things have changed a lot since I started designing for the web. The medium has matured, and the methods used are much more robust and less chaotic than they were when I started out. I began with table layouts and tag soup written in simple html, and now I'm designing and writing code for complex systems such as Ecommerce Applications and enterprise level Content Management Systems that need much more precision and a separation of the presentation layer from the rest of the site. And the applications, especially open source applications, have matured to the point where the small to medium sized business or non profit organization can have an interactive website full of functionality that would have been unthinkable ten years ago. Using programs such as Drupal, WordPress or ZenCart mashed up with other programs such as Vanilla Forum or J-Board or the Tolranet Directory Script, a plethora of functionality and interaction between the site owner and his or her visitors can be achieved, resulting in an active, vibrant and, most importantly, "sticky" website, one which visitors will return to repeatedly.

My love is creating sites for other creative people; writers, entrepreneurs, artists and artisans, bloggers, collectors, photographers, and others. Though I could possibly make more working the higher end in a corporate setting, I prefer self employment and working for other self employed types. The most fun challenge, and a strong talent of mine is to match the personality of the site I design to that of the site owner and his or her online endeavor. I also have a firm grounding in the Search Engine aspects of Web Design. If people can't find your website it doesn't matter how pretty it is.

I've never been one to follow trends in fashion, or web design, or anything else, for that matter. My feeling is that this does my clients a disservice, since following the latest trend will guarantee a site that looks dated in a year or two. It's better to develop a unique and trend setting look that suits the purpose of the site and personality of the owner, rather than following the crowd. Case in point- how many sites do you see out there with round corner boxes? They've become a visual cliche, one I will only emulate if forced to.

I live in the mid Delaware Valley in the old River City of Easton, PA. When I'm not in front of my computer I'm working with the GreenSpeakers, driving my cat nuts with my beginning (and truly awful) fiddling, writing songs, working in my garden, or shopping for mad vintage.