Praise for Ripplewerks

I needed a web designer in 2009 because my site, xiaxue.blogspot.com, was previously skinned way back in 2006. The reason why I took so long to get another designer was because I was terrified that my new skin would pale in comparison to my old one.

I needn't have worried though. Because my current Ripplewerks skin is not only better, it increased my hits by 10,000 unique visitors a day!

You'd think that design alone would not improve hits that drastically, but it does! Lionel included a twitter bar, a little twitter speech bubble, an "I like it" button ala Facebook, and a clever iframe within my site so that I can constantly update with photos from my phone. It's all very Web 3.0 or 4.0 or whatever it is right now!

But that's not all that's needed for a great designer. Besides an eye for aesthetics, being good with geeky codes and keeping up with new tech trends, one must also have the passion and efficiency.

Nobody likes to wait a thousand years for their skin.

And that's what's the most impressive about Lionel. As I've been telling everyone around who didn't have enough sense to ask me who designed my new skin: Lionel is so swift, our MSN conversation literally goes like this: "Can you change xxx to xxx? And the archives are wrong, it should be starting from July..."

Most people would say they'd let me know once they do it. Lionel's reply? "Done." Fixed within 1 minute. He doesn't even waste time to reply and say that he's fixing it. And fixed properly too.

It's amazing what we have achieved together on the skin via communicating only through chat programs. We bounced ideas off each other, and despite being the quiet sort of guy, he really listens (sometimes I think he's ignoring my blabber), and totally understood the style I wanted, among other nity grity details. You'd think a straight-laced guy like him would not do pink and princessy well, but I think I unleashed the inner princess in him! HA HA!

I love my skin to death and foresee that in future, I'm gonna have the same problem I did back in 2009. I'd think that whatever new skin I get would definitely pale in comparison. Afterall, it's hard to beat a Ripplewerks skin.

Stay fab Lionel!