Unbelievable!

I should’ve been a little more specific in my tweet. I was talking about designers who don’t have even the most basic HTML and CSS skills to turn a flat design into an actual site. Not people who intentionally choose not to code; those who can’t. And I’m also referring only to front-end code here; of course it’s ridiculous to think that designers should also be amazing back-end programmers (although there are exceptions).

This quote is from Elliot Jay Stock on his post Web designers who can’t code, a debate he started up yesterday morning on twitter. What a great way to start the day!

As Elliot pointed out, it created quite a stir on twitter. My favorite reply is this one by Andy Budd which Elliot has also quoted:

However if you’re designing fairly large scale sites it’s often not desirable, possible or practical to do the coding especially if the complexity of the various components (e.g. complex JS functionality) outweighs your technical ability.

Now, quite a few have opened up their blogs to keep the discussion going:

• Rachel Andrew – Should web designers be able to build their own designs?
• Richard Rutter – Why designers should and shouldn’t code
• Mark Boulton – On Designers writing HTML

Reading all those and the comments are sure to keep you away from doing any work so… beware!

Just did the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do… but it’s for the best… I think.

I tweeted that yesterday at around the same time I’m writing this. What does it mean?

Well… it means I left The Web Squeeze. It was a hard decision, very hard decision for me to take since Jacob, Linda and I (along with Marc Fraser) started it all almost 2 years ago. It was something we all really loved doing. At first it was a hobby and that was great but lately, it’s become something more. Owning a Web Magazine is a full time job (as most of you know) and I couldn’t keep up. I don’t have the luxury of sending request to people to write for us, or deal with advertisers, etc… I have a full time job already. And I have a family that I enjoy being with. With client work (that I freelance on the side) and TWS, it wasn’t leaving me a lot of time to spend with my darling little girl who’s growing up too fast and that bass-playing husband of mine that I love so much.

You’ll still see me roaming around the forums once in a while. But I won’t be there very often.

So what’s going to happen now? What am I going to do?

Not much will change actually tho I’ll have more time to deal with client stuff. And there are a few things I want to do, projects I’ve been eager to start so I might jump into that. One thing is for sure tho… this blog will finally get it’s much needed redesign! I’m going more tumblr-like. I’ve a got a few mock-up in PSD that I’m playing around with so you can look to me posting a bit more on here now.

So that’s it… Jacob, Linda and I are still friends and I wish them the best of luck with The Web Squeeze.

Even tho I ain’t part of @thewebsqueeze anymore, be sure to check ‘em out yeah? Promise? Ok good! Moving along!

Tweeted this morning … and I mean it!

From Photoshop to WordPress – Part II – Coding

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… lesson learned. I never thought it would have taken me so long to write it but life comes at you with unexpected road bumps and you just have to deal with it. From now on tho, if I ever do another series, I’ll make sure all the parts are written before publishing the first one.

I’m just so happy that it’s out there and I hope it will help some of you learn how to slice a Photoshop mockup.

Like anything else in Web Design, understand that this is merely one way of doing it. It’s how I’ve done it for the past 10 years and it’s worked great for me.

As for Part III, I’m starting it this week and I hope to publish it in the coming weeks.

Thank you for you patience!

This project was started last year when Jacob proposed it to Linda and myself. Actually, I suggest “Draft 1″ back in February of this year but the whole company name, domain, etc… was started late 2008.

Anyways, it was a long time coming especially when all 3 of us have day jobs. The time devoted to all things The Web Squeeze is pretty slim. But we made it! And we’ll be starting the whole process all over again with another booming project

Now… go get awesome hosting from Collision Hosting!!!

I usually never do much in the summer because that sun is just way too inviting to stay indoors, but this year it’s been a pretty crappy summer… around here anyways. Well… enough about the weather and on to why and what’s going on.

First off, the blog will be changing a bit in the coming days, weeks, months? as I really think I’ll be going for a more “tumblelog” effect. Adii’s re-designed blog is really inspiring and I’ve been thinking about doing this for quite some time. Now to see it in action gives me the added “humph” to do it to mine. The design in itself will probably very similar as I’m quite liking these colors so it’s more a re-arrangement of the actual content that will be taking the heat.

Secondly, since launching my portfolio last month, I’ve had quite a few job inquiries so that’s really great. And I’ve had lots of great comments on it too! Bonus! I’m also planning on writing a bit on the design process for it as well. Things like why I went with WP, colors selection, etc… These are all things that I LOVE to hear about from other designers so hopefully others will enjoy what I have to say as well.

Third, over at The Web Squeeze, we’re working like crazy to get our newest project off the ground. We’re really shooting for a September 1st launch and that’s in 2 weeks!!! *gasp* We still have quite a lot to do but we have such a great team that I’m sure we’ll make it! *crosses fingers*

Lastly, with the above 2 points taking all of my time, I still haven’t finished that dreaded Part II tutorial. I know people are getting antsy… I am too and I totally understand. There’s really nothing more to say on the subject except that I hope you’ll all enjoy Part II.

So that’s it. Stay tuned!

I pretty much stuck to the mock-up I had originally planed, except for the little “My Work” section. I decided to keep the sidebar intact throughout the site instead.

I’ve also added a Blog portion where I’ll talk about client work and process behind certain designs.

Anyways… I’m really proud of this. What I like best is the different colors I used. I think that teal banner really makes it stand out more.

Let me know what you think and if you’ve run into some problems with it.

Our forum is such a great place to get inspiration for writing. That’s where that one came from. A few members getting critiques on their portfolios or sites and utterly discouraged when the end response is always “It could be loads better”. It’s not fun to hear that but thankfully they don’t quit

You must learn to walk before you crawl

I hope this article will help them see that everyone started off like they are starting off now. That how it goes.

I’ve just put out a news post on The Web Squeeeze called 2009 is here and it should be rockin’!. A fitting title while listening to some Opeth and Vanden Plas on this Tuesday morning Anyways … like the post said, we have many projects on our plates that we hope to tackle this year. Our first priority however, is to get version 2.5 out and soon. Hopefully tonight actually. Some slight design “fixes” … yes fixes, since the design itself won’t change. Just some things we felt (and the readers as well) that weren’t quite right.

To make sure you don’t miss a beat, follow The Web Squeeze on twitter and subscribe to the TWS RSS feed!

As for me, I’ve been slacking off on getting my portfolio up. I really need to get going on it. I really just have the portfolio page left to go but … taking all those screenshots again is really not motivating me. I need a better way to manage that part of the site. Everytime I redesign, I have to redo them.

I’m also going to get Part II of the “From PSD to WordPress” series out by the end of this month, early next month at the latest so keep a look out for that

Hope everyone had a great Holidays and wishing all of you a Happy New Year!

So what took me so long? I would reply the usual “lack of time” but a lot of it was mostly “lack of interest”. Just a few weeks after I started writing this tutorial, there came an influx of similar articles and tutorials so it really bummed me out (for a lack of a better word). I was wondering if I was doing the right thing. Then, I came to the realization that we needed this article on The Web Squeeze. We didn’t have one and that meant our public had to go elsewhere for the help.

We have quite a few knowledgeable members in the TWS forum for WP help so this article could hopefully bring a few of the WP beginners to the forum. WordPress is by far the most popular blogging CMS. There is so many things/plugins/etc… that you can do/add that these types of tutorials, no matter how many there are, are all helpful in my opinion.

Even tho they all have a common goal, these tutorials are all done by different writers, therefore are all different. Techniques used, designs, ways to achieve the same results. The more techniques you know, the better you can create something more useful for your client.

So stay tuned for Part II – HTML/CSS coding to come sometime in the next month.