This week is taking forever… Did you ever notice that the longer the week seems to be, the less productive you are?
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Jan’s been traveling again. Go take a look at her new photos.
What a fascinating idea. Unfortunately it’s a Microsoft product, but the technology behind Surface seems like something that might stick around.
The implications for design seem quite immense. It would sure give layout a more hands on feel. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes, and who besides Microsoft is looking to build on this technology.
I’m enjoying the holiday, but I’m leaving this post for anyone who’s blogging this fine day.
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What a great idea. Documenting day to day life on America’s Southwest border. It’s a moment in history that should be recorded, and here it is. Border Film Project
Thursday again. Time flies when your up to your @#$ in code. Working on a web site build with a tight deadline for the last two weeks. The good news is that it should wrap today, the bad news is that it’s evil twin starts tomorrow, and it’s deadline is even shorter. Figures. When it rains it pours. There are definitely worse things than too much work though.
Are cell phones annoying or what? They make you pay extra for phone features you don’t want, a camera in my case, because that’s the only model they had when I was in. Then when I go to use the feature that I paid extra for I find out that I have to pay extra to use that feature too… I just can’t win.
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and none of those opinions are good.
This is what I really wanted to say in my blog. I WILL NEVER EVER IN 1,000 YEARS USE A MICROSOFT PRODUCT FOR BLUEHOST! NEVER!
Microsoft whores out its customer experience at every turn. - Matt Heaton / President Bluehost.com
Somehow I don’t think that Matt Heaton likes Microsoft… I’ve been boycotting their products as much as possible for years, but I’m unfortunately not in a position to throw them out entirely. Good luck to you Matt, keep up the good work.
You thought I was going to do my own Design Review of NRA .org didn’t you? I’d actually been considering it, but Andy Rutledge beat me to it. Go read his post, it’s everything you’d expect from one of my design reviews… except better written.
Monday is here again. How’s everyone doing? Nice weekend?
I’ve always been fascinated by gadgets, regardless of their usefulness. Here’s one that I recently noticed, though I won’t be buying a $1500 keyboard any time soon.
A $99 mouse doesn’t seem so unreasonable though.
Seen any good gadgets lately?
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We’ve seen this guy before., and it’s about damn time someone called him to task for his behavior.
Man who claimed war crimes in Iraq charged with falsifying record
SEATTLE — A man who tried to position himself as a leader of the anti-war movement by claiming to have participated in war crimes while serving in Iraq is facing federal charges of falsifying his record.
Jesse Adam Macbeth, 23, formerly of Phoenix, garnered much attention on blogs and in some alternative media after he began claiming in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service, which he said included slaughtering innocents in a Fallujah mosque. His story was contradicted by his true discharge form, showing that he was kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003 because of his “entry level performance and conduct.”
Other Macbeth posts:
h/t Michelle Malkin
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Right Celebrity, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam’s Blog, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Nuke’s news and views, Webloggin, The Pink Flamingo, Phastidio.net, The Amboy Times, Cao’s Blog, and Jo’s Cafe, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Rough week in ways. Work is going smoothly, but too many jobs and too little time. That’s the business I’m in I suppose. Feast or famine. Could be worse, could be famine.
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A List Apart: A List Apart has a great post today called Educate Your Stakeholders!
blockquote>As much as it hurts to admit it, most of the important decisions of website development are not made by design professionals. They’re made by the business owners and middle managers who hire us. After all, it is they who hold the purse strings, so it’s only fair that they set the online priorities.
Education is one of the most important aspects of the design profession. We need to both improve our own level of skill and knowledge, as well as pass this information on to our clients. When I was starting in this profession, more than a decade ago, it never occurred to me how important educating the client was going to be. It is one of the most important aspects of the job, and probably one of the most often overlooked aspects as well.
Taking a three day weekend, so this will be the only post of the day. I spent Saturday driving across Virginia. DC and Maryland traffic is even crazier than I remember. When exactly did someone driving seventy in a forty mile an hour zone become a moving pylon for faster moving traffic? I survived obviously, though I may have lost part of my car in the potholes of D.C.
I know, it’s Friday. I was busy yesterday and totally missed the fact that it was Thursday. I’ve been thinking it was Friday all week, I’m not sure why.
Time to get started with the fifth Friday of this week I suppose. This edition of Open House is now open. Comments and trackbacks are open. If your site doesn’t support trackbacks, use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger.
I was happy to see someone at the Roanoke Times with reasonable ideas about how Virginia Tech should deal with Norris Hall.
The urge to remove the bloodied building is understandable. Many people scarred by the shootings say they will never enter it again.
Time will soften the memory. Current students will graduate. In 10 years, new students will remember what took place, but for them it will be tragic history, not personal. - Don’t rush into Norris Hall decision - Roanoke.com
The urge to do something now is hard to resist, but it should be resisted. If they raze the building, there’s obviously no going back. Let it sit empty if nothing else, and reevaluate the situation in a few years. Not everything has to be done immediately. You need to be able to step back and look at the situation with some sort of separation… that will take time. Fortunately time is something they have.
Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, Rightlinx, third world county, Big Dog’s Weblog, Adam’s Blog, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, Gone Hollywood, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
I’m still in a food induced stupor from this weekend. My wife was in a cooking mood, and I ate all weekend. I’ll try to pull myself out of it for blogging purposes, but not promises… Do I smell leftovers?
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Jan at CascadeExposures sent me a link to another great historic photo blog. Love the name, love the photos.
GhostCowboy.com :: Travel With Cowboys In The Old Wild West
Trackposted to Pet’s Garden Blog, Perri Nelson’s Website, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, and DragonLady’s World, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
And now back to our regularly scheduled Design Review series. OK, not very regular, but I’m working on it. Today’s choice of subjects is Grouchy’s Liberaltopia. It’s a fairly new site, having been started earlier this year, but the design has a very mature and professional look.
Style:
Their style starts off with a bang. Anyone who can design a WordPress theme around a header image of the US Constitution and flag has my vote. A dark red gradient background anchors the page nicely.
Good use of color. While I normally cringe at making links blue (often looks unintentional), it works very well here as an accent to the red background and white page.
I’m particularly impressed with the layout, a very nice use of space. They have avoided the common blog design error of crowding and cluttering. Everything is nicely space, and highly readable.
Using a flag image in the blockquotes adds a nice touch. It balances nicely with the rest of the theme.
Overall good marks for style.
Structure:
This is a WordPress site, and as you might expect from me, I like the site structure. It’s not perfect however. There is some sloppy coding I don’t like. After a quick look I’d guess it’s a widget or two. Nothing wrong with using them, but I don’t always like the code they produce. More of a matter of personal preference than anything, I’d be shocked if this coding caused any problems, it’s pretty insignificant.
Content:
Content is well written by authors that have a sense of humor. They take their subjects seriously, but not themselves. All of these things are pluses in my book.
What would I change:
I’d think about changing the login bar at the top. To my eye it’s not quite right. I’d say it either needs to be more prominent, or less. Removing it and putting those option into the sidebar would be another solution.
I’d make an effort to clean up the code somewhat, but that’s likely produced by widgets or code from external sources so that may not be an option.
I’d consider changing the use of the flag image in the blockquotes so that it doesn’t repeat in long quotes. I like it’s use, but I’d fading it out in long quotes rather than repeating. This is one of those things I might change my mind on as soon as I tried it, but I think it would visually work better.
I’m personally not a fan of animated site elements for the most part. I’d likely replace the rotating gear element that begins each post.
Summary:
A very good design, with decent execution. While I see things that I’d personally change, I don’t really see anything I’d consider an error.
The coding could improve, but that could be said for most blogs. I don’t see any coding issue that’s likely to cause a problem.
What would I not change? White space. The use of space is good, and I’d be very careful about changing that.
Like their friends/rivals the Rotties, they’ve got the beginnings of a good branding effort going here, and I’d make an effort to maintain that in future. I think the use of historical imagery, and the red, white, and blue color palette should continue on any future design updates.
I’m fond of this theme and give it good marks, and I think the owners and designer of it should be very pleased.
Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, third world county, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Pirate’s Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, Dumb Ox Daily News, Pursuing Holiness, The Yankee Sailor, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
I was busy this morning, so I’m going with the better late than never theory. Here’s Thursday’s edition of Open House.
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10 Signs You Need a Website Makeover!
8. Your Sales Staff Shudder, Your Tech Staff Dream Bad Dreams.
The other nine reasons are just as good. This one really drew my attention though. I recently saw a case that ran along these lines. The salespeople for an organization had stopped giving out the URL of their own site. They’d even removed it from their e-mail signatures. Their site was so bad that they tried very hard to make sure that their clients didn’t see it. They were in dire need of a makeover. Fortunately they got one, but it made me think. Who makes the decisions about your website design and function? The management, or the people who use it? In my opinion, more emphasis needs to be placed on the views of the everyday user, and less on the management. Liking your own site is nice, but if your salespeople are embarrassed to give out the URL, what good is it doing you?
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