Archive for the ‘Note’ Category

It’s quiet in here

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

I know I’ve been quiet for the past month and quite frankly (and as usual), it’s been busy times both on a personal/family level and work level.

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!

Portfolio finally opened!

Monday, July 20th, 2009

It was back in November when I announced that my “portfolio closed down for re-design“. That was 9 month ago! And now I’m happy to say that I’ve finally got the chance to finish the re-design and open it up.

portfolio-finally-open-thumb

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.

Portfolio - Finalized mock-up

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.

One for improving your design skills

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

I wrote an article for The Web Squeeze yesterday and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. The inspiration for it came all so quickly.

designing-great-sites

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.

Another one bites the dust

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Make that “Another year bites the dust” ;) So I’m 6 days late in making this post but I was hibernating … it’s called vacation actually and it felt awesome! Didn’t touch the computer in over 12 days, which must be a record for me. I didn’t even miss it in those first 10 days. So now I’m back at work and back on The Web Squeeze refreshed, revived and ready to get things rolling.

tws

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!

From PSD to WordPress – A tutorial series

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Last Friday, we finally got Part I of our “From PSD to WordPress” series out. From Photoshop to WordPress – Part I – Design took quite a long time in coming and I was very happy to see it finally go live. I actually started writing this Part I back in August!

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.