Today, on a bright but breezy February Sunday, I opened the Trainline app and booked a day out in Chester. It’s a city I’ve not visited for about 25 years, I reckon. When we lived in the Staffordshire Moorlands, Derby or Hanley were closer, but we made the occasional drive to Chester and I had fond memories of the place. First things first, Chester is just 50 minutes away by train from Manchester Victoria, which is just a 15 minute walk from home in Miles Platting. I’d visited Leeds and Liverpool, before Christmas, in a resolution to do this each and every Sunday. But like the NY Resolutions ..read more

Yung Wylin – “Good Energy” One song I’ve latched readily on to in recent months is by Yung Wylin – “Good Energy”. I play it often and it’s become something of a motif for life in Manchester. You’ve probably heard snippets of it on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok reels but the full YouTube version is here: I think what is so great about it is not only its sound but its lyrics. So what has this got to do with a Manchester web designer? Manchester has good energy, by the bucketload. It’s a place I lived close to from 1987 to 1996, as an English teacher working at Crompton House in Shaw, Oldham; F ..read more

How to choose a web designer in Manchester I’ve not sat and physically counted, obviously, but a quick Google search yields 100 + results for web design Manchester. No wonder. It’s an area that is expanding, with a city centre that is booming and many businesses are keen to ride the surf of population and economic expansion. Park up and look up. The skyline is awash with new residential towers, co-living and co-working spaces with huge demand for rental apartments and homes to buy. Manchattan It’s been called Manchattan, locally. Some object to the way it’s changed and there is clear evidence ..read more

We’ve completed two complex website projects recently for an offshore wind company in the north east (offshore wind is becoming something of a niche of mine) and a Fulfilment one in Nottingham, recreating and improving it from coded PHP to WordPress and Elementor. Each client is very happy with the results. That means we now have some capacity in October for new website projects. Prices start from £799 + VAT for simple brochure websites with logo, 12 months of updates and tweaks, going up to £2500 + VAT for Premium or eCommerce websites. Each includes hosting, a dedicated 20i dashboard to add ..read more

Last week, in a change from my usual reading fare, I downloaded a short book on Kindle Unlimited called “Being Sober on a Drunk Planet” and read it in a few hours. Very easy read and reinforced my own habit of sobriety which is now in its 7th year – with not one lapse since I gave up for good in December 2016. I do actually find sobriety enjoyable and that surprises many. Because. Being sober means no hangovers. It means no loss of impulse control. No morose thoughts, even depression, when you’ve reached a tipping point of melancholia. Sobriety gives me freedom – no soya milk at 10 pm for brea ..read more

Letting go – two simple words and yet something you and I probably struggle with. I’ve been in numerous challenging situations in my career and personal life, where I know letting go was the right path to take. Yet I chose to ignore logic, advice and the other path pointing to a new way. I’ve read self-help books, listened to podcasts and watched YouTube videos on letting go and, perhaps, finally, my brain is developing as a muscle to practise what is preached at me. The past is a heavy burden for all of us. We are always looking back at it, thinking about it and considering how things could h ..read more

Has Manchester changed for the better? I could end this blog right now with a resounding one word answer. Yes. It has. In my opinion, of course Many people rue the Manchester of the 70s and 80s claiming it has lost its soul. Its identity has changed for good, some claim, with the many towers dotting the often pudding grey skylines. I don’t ascribe to that view though Why? As a city, Manchester has always appealed to me, from when I first moved to Oldham in 1987 and used to spend most weekends travelling from my home in Shaw via train. I taught English at Crompton House School back then and Old ..read more

The Moravian Settlement was found today I love discovering new places as a web designer, social media marketer and copywriter. Manchester, as a home and workplace, fascinates me. It is exciting, vibrant and tolerant. Walking to Droylsden Today I decided to complete a long walk with Cassie. The destination? Droylsden, Tameside, about 4 miles from home. Luckily there were only three roads to cross – Butler Street, Miles Platting, Old Mill Street in New Islington and Fairfield Road in Droylsden. The rest was along the Rochdale canal and the Ashton canal. I chronicled the walk on Instagram and Tik ..read more

Blackberry I want to talk about responsive web design. Websites need to render on smartphones, or, like the brand Blackberry, you may die a slow death. Recently, at HomeMcr, I watched “Blackberry”. It was about the rise and fall of the brand and its devices. I used to love my Blackberry Bolds and Curves in around 2008 to 2011, but they died a death, despite it trying to evolve with its own App Store, and a later move to Android. Blackberry was killed by Apple and the iPhone. Bundled minutes and text allowances were once its killer feature, but once data became the king or queen, and the intern ..read more

I’m a coeliac, as is my son, James, daughter, Ruby, and border collie, Cassie. All four of us are allergic to gluten, found in wheat, oats, rye and barley, with two of us even suffering from avenin, the protein found in gluten free oats. Manchester is, however, an excellent city for us – even though my son and daughter live in Norwich and I thought I’d list my favourite places to safely eat out with being glutened: Pizza Express. Yes, the ubiquitous chain, with two in Norwich and 4 in Manchester city centre. It does gluten free dough balls, pizzas and two desserts, with never an issue. Prince ..read more