Going through my bloglines for interesting linkage to write about is taking longer than expected these days. Now that I have added more and more of the best web designers in the world, plus quite a few hilarious and thought-provoking blogs – it’s taking much more than my hour-long lunch break to peruse them all.
Thus, I now anoint my blogline to backlogline. Yeah, it was funnier when I said it. Anyhow, enjoy what I found this week.
I tried the new hicksdesign background today. Well, my work computer monitor either shows a "-ho" and "from hicksdesign" (tiled) or a red background (tiled). Obviously built for the BIG screen, not the small to medium. Ironically, I have been using a hicksdesign wallpaper for my work computer for the last few years. Many of you might remember it: A grey background with a photograph of a leaf in the middle third of the image. Suits almost any office decoré. I have tried other images, including U2 photographs from Adelaide, but have always returned to it.
According to all my blogline sources, this is the must-download of the month: The Firebug. I have installed it, and am slowly discovering the incredible advantage of it. One word: Wow.
Like going to racing-car events only to see crash-scenes, I’d like to know what brought this on.
Like Roger suggests, commenting is the bread-and-butter of many web-designers. By letting our peers, students, and fanatical readers leave little message of adoration, questions regarding the many facets of web-design, good writers are able to concoct thousand-word essays on amazing subjects. OK, some seem elementary – but its that little twist or new wording that makes the difference and enable the information to sink further into the motor-neuron sockets of our brains.
It’s ironic (that word again) that Jeff should mention he is a member of the three monitor club. I will shortly also join this illustrious group. My brother mentioned over the weekend that he has three monitors in his office for his web-work. None of them speak to each other, nor ever will be conjoined in the same way that Jeff’s do. So I really don’t know why he needs this situation. But since reading Jeff’s article, I will most certainly be purchasing two more monitors and the necessary hardware. SimCity4 will never be the same again!
Want. Just because I refuse to purchase an iPOD.
I can totally relate to Faruk’s article. I also began the art of journalizing my adventures online prior to taking the journey into web design. I too have taken to photography as a secondary hobby. These three fascinations have crossed each others paths – and I spend a lot of time searching for more unique images to capture in the digital realm, more ideas to convert to web-site designs, and more interesting articles to write up into a story worthy of reading by the few that find my corner of the internet.
But some online addictions go a step further. Like investing in blogshares. Anyone can do it. Starting with $500 only two years ago, my portfolio now sits at around five billion. The wife calls them points. My ego calls them dollars. Unfortunately, no bank will cash them out. Sigh.
Thankfully I always return to my first love (after my wife!) of web-design. It wins out over everything. Thankfully it makes me happy when the CSS and HTML works effectively together.
Here is the journal of a fellow Australian who is successfully blogging about topics that interest me every time I slide by his site. This particular article caught my in regards to the "cortizone injections" into his kneecaps to rid himself of arthritic problems.
I doubt my wife would allow me to spend this amount of money to fill my kneecaps with caulking – but the idea seems tempting. In our previous office I managed to mash my right knee on the keyboard-raisers at least three times a day. Being a typical male, I dealt with the pain by walking it out. But now it seems to be catching up with me. Thankfully the new office doesn’t have this problem. Instead my six-foot frame has to manoeuvre the horizontal bar that supports the desk … right in the line of both kneecaps. Sigh. From one hell to another.
Here’s a quote I can definitely associate with, "I’m pretty mad at myself that I haven’t been able to produce that yet. I’ve just sort of been, putting it off." i have been doing something similar for the last few months. Predominately with my own site, ezcreate.com.au, but also with a few other projects I have wanted to work on for some time. I applaud Bryan for his removal of all things named "bloat" from his site. This may be my track shortly. I know I have a site structure that serve no other purpose than to show off what I have learnt. It’s high time I removed them – and applied the skills to areas of the site construction.
Maybe I too should strip back to the bare bones. Thanks Bryan for being the catalyst. I have nine-days leave over Christmas. Time for a change of scheme, contrast and harmony.
Don’t you just love the simple grey-hues of simplebits? The top-navigation is simplicity at its best. But what intrigues me most is the veerle-background. Do you see it? Look right at the top of screen. But I am not knocking it – I tried it once. I should do it again. Good new design Dan. Definitely what I aspire to.
Seems even Nick Cowie is considering a new and complete site design.
I doubt any of us are even thinking of CSSReboot! Reading through Nick’s article on the reasoning, it would appear that web-design and the newer browsers and users thereof are influencing the way we all want to attract traffic. No, that’s not right. It’s not about traffic at all. That’s just a by-product.
No, we just enjoy web-site design that is compliant, colorful, appealing and easy on the eye – and most of all – matches our personalities. Never an easy task. But Nick says it all in his second to last sentence: "…currently done most of the design work with pen and paper, it is the case of putting it together with a computer". I always thought I was the only one who had reverted to notepad after learning DW, but it would appear that all the best, qualified or not, have realised that nothing is done right unless you have got your hands dirty with raw code. Personally, writing in Notepad is the only way to know exactly whats going on and into the HTML. As we all know, DW has an abhorrent habit of inserting <br>’s, leaving out </p> completely, or creating a mishmash of anti-semantic code that makes us cringe moments before we switched back to Notepad. Right? Right.
I await Nick’s new construction.
This post should fill the pot for a few days while I strip the ambiguous and pointless CSS from my site. I even have a radical idea for a dynamic journal. It’s nothing revolutionary – but it avoids comment-spam, downloading any blogging software – and I am already doing it on an internal page! It surprises me that I never thought to do this before. Anyhow, before you all say you know what I am talking about, leave me be to create the new masterpiece.
(Psss. Thanks to Dustin Diaz for unknowingly hitting-the-nail-on-the-head on this idea. More about that later…)
Creativity & Artwork of Stephen Mitchell 
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