After a number of years "out of the game," February 2008 marked my return to the web design business.

"Well, why'd you leave?" There were a number of mitigating factors. First of all, two very expensive clients burned me out of seven thousand dollars. It wasn't so much seeing them cut and run -- that happens to the biggest of firms. It was because I'd cut great deals for these people due to personal relationships. I knew these people, knew their kids, had broken bread with them, and they chose to not live up to their commitments. Admittedly, that hurt.

Second, it was a rough period for craftsmen who'd fought in the trenches of the dot com era. Dewy-eyed college graduates and even big companies like IBM and Register.com were slinging cut rate, cookie cutter websites for less than I paid in rent. After building one multi-million dollar website from the ground up and redesigning two others, it got a little hard to hear Marcellus Wallace's words of wisdom to Butch.

Finally, it seemed so much easier writing for money -- revisions were less arduous, when things were broken the fixes could be done in one file, not seventy and so on.

But the demand never waned -- design queries kept coming, even when I posted materials on this web site saying, essentially, "go away." So for 2008, I developed "The Specialist" as an answer to all the people who just need to get online now. A better grade of "cookie cutter" guided by my own expert hand, the design sensibilities called upon by Toyota Motor Sales and California Association of REALTORS and American Honda and AOL and so many other clients. As well, I'm once again open for custom web design and production on a case-by-case basis, which would require taking a meeting and paying sixty-six percent up front.

Don't call it a comeback -- The Operative Network's design aesthetic is back to rid the web of inconsistent navigation, shabby user experience design and information architecture bordering on the ham-fisted.

You're welcome!