{"id":102,"date":"2016-03-23T11:19:38","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T22:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/?page_id=102"},"modified":"2022-02-22T11:46:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T22:46:49","slug":"about-frot-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wordpress\/about-frot-design\/","title":{"rendered":"ABOUT FROT"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nA BRIEF HISTORY OF FROT DESIGN<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

We first designed a website for Cycle Services<\/a> in 1998 – the original site<\/a> is still online and looks pretty much the same as it ever did. We like purple. Despite being designed in 24 hours from a “FrontPage in 24 Hours” book, it looked OK and was very popular in it’s day. If it hurts your eyes buy some shades.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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WWW.FROT.CO.NZ<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

From 2000-2002 we designed and maintained sites for a number of clients, but from 2002 onwards we moved away from website work to pursue other interests. A few of our old client sites are still online, pretty much as we left them way back in 2002, which is a long time in website terms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These days www.frot.co.nz<\/a> is a portal to our own sites that we keep on our server. We don’t do sites for clients anymore. Our main focus is our www.naturefoods.co.nz<\/a> site, which is how we actually make a living, and Deb’s www.diet.net.nz<\/a> site, which we are soon going to fully update because its a bit of a mess and 10 years out of date, but still surprisingly popular (leave just about anything online in with the same URL for 10 years and it will get a few million hits)
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DESIGN PHILOSOPHY<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Despite being relics from a previous century, it never hurts to have an opinion, so here’s a few:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PICTURES<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

More is more – back in the 90’s when people used dial up connections we had to limit the amount of pictures we used per page to keep the pages loading, but now pictures load so fast there’s no reason not to have dozens of them on every page. And decent sizes too – why mess about with puny little images and thumbnails? – google images is the new google.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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SIMPLICITY<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ideally, use a short memorable one syllable domain name. Less is more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have no frames, and distill ideas down to the most important concept. Use a table with one column. Never have side menus. Include images, and write in short sentences.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now that tablets and phones are rapidly becoming the dominant mode of web surfing, all forms of complexity in websites, including side bars, complex drop down menus, and animations, are just old school clutter that can be binned. Tablets are the best thing to ever happen to websites!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have nothing that loads up slowly, like flash files, or multiple pages for the same topic, because waiting is boring. Let the page load while the viewer is looking at the top of the page.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make the links big, suitable for fat finger tips on tablets, and use simple logical menus designed for easy navigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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COLOURS<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The more primary and vivid the better, because a white background with black font might as well be a book, and grey sucks the very life out of people’s minds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a world in which many people are afraid to express themselves with colour, (Or with anything at all really) there is no reason why the internet has to blend in. Whatever colours you choose someone will hate them – unless you choose grey of course, nobody hates grey…<\/strong><\/p>\n

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DO IT YOURSELF<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sometimes it’s worth paying someone else to sort out your site, but like many things, web design has grown into a giant and mysterious subject dominated by “experts” – thankfully WordPress has done a lot to reverse that, but now most people just post their crap on Facebook where it disappears without trace in a few days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

99% of the time no knowledge of “code” (HTML) is required at all to make a fully functional website. It’s not that hard, and very few people other than web geeks take much notice anyway – it either works or it doesn’t<\/strong><\/p>\n

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LEAVE GAPS<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Each idea benefits from being separated by a space – an entire paragraph in one go is far too many words for a person running in information overload mode. Often any more than three lines of text without a space is overload. Time for a picture!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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WWW.FROT.CO.NZ<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

WE MOVED OUR WEBSITES OVER TO WORDPRESS<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When we did our first website<\/a> in 1998 we used FrontPage 98<\/a> and posted our pages on a Paradise Homepage.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2004 we switched over to Dreamweaver MX2004<\/a> and moved our pages to Free Parking,<\/a> where they have been ever since.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We long put off modernising, but in September 2015 we moved our main site Nature Foods<\/a> over to Open Cart<\/a>, and in November 2015 moved our other sites over to WordPress. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the confusing things about WordPress is the huge proliferation of themes, as there are thousands of them, both free and paid.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We basically just want a blank slate with plenty of custom options when designing our sites, and are using a theme called BLDR<\/a> which we find good. We later upgraded to the paid version – BLDR PRO<\/a> which costs a very reasonable NZ$28, because we wanted to get their support and to do a couple of tweaks to the code. They are very helpful and we recommend Modern Themes<\/a> highly.
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Although WordPress<\/a> is known mainly as a blogging platform, it is also the most popular CMS<\/a> \u2013 Content Management System \u2013 and it\u2019s been estimated that as of 2015, over 75 million websites are on WordPress.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We initially considered some other options, such as Joomla,<\/a> but decided on WordPress because we found it easier to use, and the support is really good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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WWW.FROT.CO.NZ<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u00a0PHOTOS<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Most of the photos on this site were taken by Ian Gregson, using small Canon digital cameras. To see more photos, or to read the opinions of a complete punter with a cheap pocket camera,<\/a> see the the photos<\/a> section.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"smash\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We keep experimenting with the optimum image sizes for our websites, so there are quite a mix of sizes here.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"aIMG_0212b\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

COPYRIGHT<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

As well as photos, most of the artwork on this site is by Ian Gregson, and includes paintings, drawings, and photoshopped photos, logos,\u00a0 and graphics \u2013 if you rip any of it off we will track it down using embedded watermarks and sue you for $500,000 per item\u2026 yeah right.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2015.Kuratau.Lake.Taupo2\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

WWW.FROT.CO.NZ<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u00a0WHAT DOES “FROT” MEAN?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

We get asked this from time to time, and notice that some people are afraid to even utter the word. Maybe they think it means something pervy or deviant. Well actually…<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have been using the word FROT since the mid 90’s, when it used to mean “styling” or “going off” – back then people were just “frotting out” (getting excited about cool things), and getting “frotty” (enjoying themselves).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rather like the word “gay” was hijacked by homosexuals and deemed to mean homosexual rather than happy, the word “frot” has to some extent also been hijacked by homosexuals and deemed to mean men rubbing their penises together. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Having the domain www.frot.co.nz<\/a> is probably a bit like the famous NZ brand of ice cream cones “GayTime” – it sounds a bit pervy, but at least it’s memorable, and what the hell, we thought of it over 20 years ago<\/strong><\/p>\n

Frot was actually first used in the pervy sense to describe Japanese train frotters in the 80’s – men who rubbed themselves up against women in crowded subway trains.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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WHO DID THIS STUFF?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Frot Design is the work of Ian Gregson and Deb Gully. This Frot<\/a> site is mostly Ian’s stuff, while Deb’s stuff is mostly linked to www.debgully.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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WHERE ARE WE?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wellington, New Zealand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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www.frot.co.nz<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"frot.header.1\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FROT DESIGN We first designed a website for Cycle Services in 1998 – the original site is still online and looks pretty much the same as it ever did. We like purple. Despite being designed in 24 hours from a “FrontPage in 24 Hours” book, it looked OK and was very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[10,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20831,"url":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/funny\/fakebook-beat-me-to-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":102,"position":0},"title":"FAKEBOOK BEAT ME TO IT","date":"September 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I woke up with an overwhelming urge to quit using Fakebook. But I also I had an overwhelming urge to have a dump, so I did that first. My desire to quit FB always seems to happen about a month after I forget that it sucks balls and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ART BY FROT"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/LcTxR7u1XKaapBH3qwmEZeimAxECSVo91H6DdUAVt2PqekxPARccSkPPJyFvJe8HTHYe5FFQikUH7Vt5KzzmqXFFj7egyaMkZRryNXKQQif86pKNdFNjmDJF1fqKgW8axCwyyEqqUB28Z4JeJ8Vr8NbHg.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17678,"url":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/new-zealand\/cats-are-cleaner-than-we-are\/","url_meta":{"origin":102,"position":1},"title":"CATS ARE CLEANER THAN WE ARE","date":"June 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Last time I was house sitting in Picton, I was looking after Puss, the furry little monkey who races around the place constantly looking for wild adventures. But she disappeared, and I was wondering where she had gone. Turned out I had locked her in the garage. For 18 hours!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HIVE"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_7723-01b-500x426-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1747,"url":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/frot-design\/what-does-frot-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":102,"position":2},"title":"WHAT DOES \"FROT\" MEAN?","date":"September 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"WHAT DOES \"FROT\" MEAN? From time to time, some pervert asks this. But other people are afraid to even utter the word. Maybe they think it means something pervy or deviant. Well actually... We have been using the word FROT since the mid 90's, when it used to mean \"styling\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ART BY FROT"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/C3TZR1g81UNaPs7vzNXHueW5ZM76DSHWEY7onmfLxcK2iPYm8myH6kEvUWAG3obVnWzGKfuBsRXDnXczJ.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20384,"url":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wordpress\/some-new-frot-art-in-a-random-gallery\/","url_meta":{"origin":102,"position":3},"title":"SOME NEW FROT ART IN A RANDOM GALLERY","date":"July 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"[envira-gallery id=\"20449\"] \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "ART BY FROT"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/IMG_9358-03-01-01-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13335,"url":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/frot-design\/real-art-not-some-stoner-crap\/","url_meta":{"origin":102,"position":4},"title":"REAL ART - NOT SOME STONER CRAP","date":"April 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"DONE BY A PROPER ARTIST There I was walking past a flash inner city art gallery and in the window was a painting that looked just like something I might of done myself after a session with so primo sticky bud. So I took a snapshot of it, but it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ART"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG_4452-02-01-500x281.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17194,"url":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/frot-design\/memes\/","url_meta":{"origin":102,"position":5},"title":"MEMES","date":"May 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"LATEST MEMES BY FROT \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "FROT DESIGN"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/al-gore-was-right-01-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}