Posts Tagged ‘resources’
I’ve been doing some work with email newsletters of late. It is, of course, a bit of a challenge, given how email is even less reliable at properly interpreting standards-compliant CSS code and the like. (Seriously, one of these days, all these companies will get together and start implementing code consistently, across the board, and web designers across the world will suddenly find that what used to take ten hours now only takes one. Companies like the fabulous BrowserCam will go out of business. Why is so much of our economy built on busy-work? Screw the unemployment rate, I want efficiency!)
Anyway. Two things I’ve learned:
- Gmail doesn’t care about your CSS text-formatting. That’s right, that means you’ll need to use <FONT> tags. Gross. I haven’t used those in at least five years!
- Outlook 2007 will make things look ugliest. Apparently, this is because it uses the MS Word rendering engine. Now, seriously? Why? If you’ve ever tried to design anything in Word, well, you know how impossible it is. They do, however, provide this handy little “validator” to check to see how/if your code is going to work, which is nice for those of us who get the shakes just opening Outlook. And it’ll plug into Dreamweaver!
On a vaguely related, but mostly unrelated, note: remember to vote, kids! This is the first year in a while I haven’t been directly involved in doing design work for a campaign, and as a result I’m less jazzed about the election than I usually am, but it’s starting to get to me as the day goes on. Go! Vote! (Or at least spoil your ballot (though it’s illegal to do so). Or vote Libertarian, if you can! Efficiency 2008! Down with Busy-Work! Alright, now I’m excited.)
Tags: business, css, design, email, politics, resources, typography, websites
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I usually use Scriptalicious for my AJAX needs, but I’m working on a set of AJAX-ified forms on a website that’s already using jQuery, so I figure hey, it can’t be that hard to change over! Twenty minutes later, cue the loud cursing and growling. I mean, the whole thing seems far more powerful, but every time I’ve wanted to start implementing it, I’ve been turned off by how complex it seems to do simple things. (Like slide down a div window, which I hope to have accomplished before I turn 30. On a side note, I’ve been feeling old because I turned 25 today, until my little sister sent me a message saying that I’m “plenty young, for a president!” Which I suppose is technically true, so I don’t feel quite so washed up anymore.)
Anyway, back to my jQuery-induced headache: this very helpful thing to the rescue! If I can stop being distracted by the gorgeous site design, I might be able to figure this stuff out, after all, without having to spend all day teaching my brain new methods of programming. I do so love programming tutorials written for designers. Thank you, pretty colourful website!
Tags: design, pretty, process, resources, tutorial, websites
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Well, it’s been a long, long, long time in the making, but I’ve finally updated my portfolio a teeny little bit (not too much to be overwhelming, of course!) There’s this portrait of my gorgeous little sister:
and a “new” website (that was completed months ago). I really don’t like updating my own website!
But I’m determined that it’s about time to do it, especially given that I’m about to move again, and that means that my address as listed on the website will be even more wrong than it is currently. (Sure, in theory it only takes two minutes to change it, but that’s not how I work…if I’m going to spend two minutes, I’m going to be there three hours trying to fix all the little things.) At any rate, all the little things have really added up, and it’s time for some major-ish rearranging. (continue »)
Tags: chocolate, design, process, productivity, projects, resources, typography, websites
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So, let’s say you’re having a problem with your email, or if you’ve found a bug in your website. Your first instinct, naturally, is to fire off an email to your trusty web-person. But wait! Before you hit send, make sure you’ve included as much detail as possible—what you were trying to do when the error happened, what sort of error message (if any) you got, what software you were using at the time, etc. This will help your trusty web-person track down the problem far, far more quickly.
An excellent way of supplementing this information is by sending along a screenshot. I’ll often request this of clients when I can’t replicate a reported bug—if you’ve sent one to begin with, I can be that much more effective.
Here’s how you do it.
(continue »)
Tags: design, how-to, information, resources, screenshot, tutorial, websites
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A quick introduction to the two major types of file formats you’re likely to run across, and what to use when. (continue »)
Tags: design, education, how-to, logos, process, resources, websites
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I’ve been working on this redesign for a long time. It’s actually been redesigned three times, and of course it isn’t 100% ready to launch, but I’m quite sure it never will be, and it was about time I updated my stagnating website.
Lots of stuff is new. Everything’s been restructured and rebuilt using Ruby on Rails. There’s a resources section that’s pretty wiki-like up. There are RSS feeds of the news and the projects. There’s more content everywhere. And reason why I’ve been so quiet the last little while?
…plus a tonsillectomy, and computer woes like you wouldn’t believe, and learning a new programming language.
Say hello to Marigold, who’ll be working with me from now on. Marigold will be taking over some project management duties so that I can become more of a hermit.
Say goodbye to Dinah, who disappeared in November and probably isn’t coming back.
New projects are in the pipeline, and I have officially quit my job in order to go freelance full-time. Need some work done? Now’s a great time to ask, while I’m still a little paranoid about that whole not-getting-a-paycheque thing.
I’m excited. Everything is new and I am learning things at such an exponential rate. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.
Tags: design, pretty, projects, resources, websites
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I’m working on a complete overhaul of the website — every day I add a few more items to my todo list and make more corrections to my Illustrator template. In deference to this A List Apart article, this isn’t just an aesthetic redesign — actually, I initially hadn’t intended to redesign, but then I started reworking my logo, and everything’s been stemming from that. I’m planning on more content, including a resources wiki that will contain a whole slew of explanations of the technical stuff I tend to babble about and then find myself needing to explain to all my clients. Anyway. Hopefully, that should be along soon.
In actual project news, I had a busy spell at work but now I’m in a slow spell, since Cricket ‘07 seems to have wrapped itself up in preparation for a November release. I’m gearing up for a much-anticipated tonsillectomy October 2nd, so hopefully I’ll be able to wrap up a few ongoing projects before my convalescence commences. Ongoing projects include a website for the Bluenose Lodge Casual Dining, a redesign of the Nova Scotia Young Liberal’s website, and logo/identity projects for Ninja Monkey Knits, Traveller’s Joy, Inside-Out Cleaning Services, Norwood Media, and the BusStop Theater.
In other news, the Switch has just finished recording their first album, featuring a cover designed by yours truly. I also did some posters to match and the website is in progress. Make sure to come out to the album release party (September 29th at the Attic) to snag your copy and for the chance to see me introducing the band while dressed as Gene Simmons. No, I’m not kidding.
Tags: design, projects, resources, websites
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