AliasBDI

Merry Christmas Desktop Design

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:54:00 CST

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PatternTap

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:36:07 CST

When I started off my Midweek Motivation, I planned on highlighting those sites that have been motivating me to quality design and development. But, last week I stumbled upon a site that made me flip out. It's called PatternTap. (And, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why it's called that.) It is like a web design gallery with a specific usefulness to web designers that the galleries fail to pull off.

PatternTap groups elements together so that you can focus your ideas in a more precise way. For example, suppose that while designing a site, you hit a road block on how you could effectively layout the breadcrumbs. You could search through hundreds of sites and galleries setting aside those that have breadcrumbs for you to examine later. Or, you could hop over PatternTap and click on the category full of breadcrumb examples by very well designed sites. You would likely spend less time seeking examples, have better examples, and more at your fingertips.

Then, to top it off, you could save your favorites and group them as well. The accounts are free. And you can compare your sets with other users doing the same. Long story short, you may be able to drop all of those other gallery and listing sites that you use when designing and stick with one - PatternTap. It has over 45 categories including: footers, forms, lists, navigation, and much more.

Google Analytics

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:09:50 CST

Has Google taken over the world yet? Not really, but I think that it has conquered the web - especially for free web services, and especially ... especially, for Web Site Analytics. I am running a great risk by suggesting Google Analytics this week. Not because it is a bad suggestion, but that it is so well known and widely used. In fact, if you are not using Google Analytics, you should fire yourself from the web world - you have 10 seconds to comply.

To all others, let me be redundant. Google Analytics will track almost everything that occurs on your site in reference to the user experience - except for facial expressions. You can find out a lot about your users and what they do on your site. You can know the location from where they are access your site, their browser, version, computer, screen resolution ... Okay. I know that you saying to yourself, "Big deal, I can do that with my sharp PHP skills!" But, can you:

Isolate and analyze subsets of your traffic
Expose data relationships that would be difficult to see in traditional reports
Generate custom reports
Compare keywords in campaigns
Set a custom dashboard
Integrate AdWords
Set benchmarks
Track ecommerce
Site overlay for mouse clicks
GeoTargeting
Email reports

I could go on. But c'mon, this is Google. If you are not using Google Analytics, then you're just dumb.

Visit the feature list, blog and tour the application.

Tuts

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:14:30 CST

This week, I am covering four sites at once. All of these sites are tutorial sites made by Envato (the makers of last week's MidMot, Faveup). Each site has a similar design with the exception of some highlight colors and so if you are familiar with one, you are familiar with all of them. This can be very helpful when moving from site to site. Plus, the design very slick, simple, and easy to navigate.

You will find wonderfully helpful tutorials (now coming in video format), articles, and free downloads by a variety of sources. In fact, one of the sources could be you. The owners will pay for some of the better submitted tutorials. You can also submit some freebies if you don't need the money (c'mon, you're a freelancer).

So, if you fall into the vector group, photo group, web group, or audio group, you will find your place at one of these sites: VECTORTUTS, PSDTUTS, NETTUTS, AUDIOTUTS.

Faveup

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:38:43 CST

A good friend steered me to this Midweek Motivation. It's called Faveup. It was created to be a "gallery of inspirational designs" according to the site. However, due to the way it is structured, you can also promote your own designs (provided that they are worthy of Faveup's design standards). So, I have found the site to be both an avenue to inspire others as well as an avenue to be inspired. And well, I guess that makes sense.

Faveup is a simple and clean site. There is nothing strange about how to navigate. The sleek look helps your eye to hone in on what's important - namely, the designs. The galleries are hung over a dark grey and black which really allow the work to pop off. The designer information is clearly evident yet not in a way the fights for your attention. You can vote by means of an Ajax rating system, and easily scroll to the next design.

Unlike many other galleries, Faveup does an excellent job at providing only those that are worth your time. I admit that I spend most of my time there being inspired by the logo and business cards more than anything else. Still, their web site galleries are not that far behind. Plus, with each design there is an accompanying link to the designer in case you want to see more. Faveup prides itself with giving credit where credit is due.

Kuddos to Faveup for giving us designers an avenue to inspire and be inspired.

Smashing Magazine

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:37:24 CST

Nearly every morning, I visit Smashing Magazine. Founded by Vitaly Friedman and Sven Lennartz, this online magazine will "smash you with the information that will make your life easier" (according to their slogan). The "you" and "your" is not an ambiquous reference. It assumes that you have arrived at the site for some information on web design and web development. Therefore, you are into web site creation. And since you are into web creation, you will be smashed with making-your-web-creation-life-easier information.

I would agree.

In an interview with Juxtaviews, Friedman mentions that their basic aim "is to help web-developers get the information they are actually looking for." So, instead of spending several hours looking for inspirational Wordpress themes or shopping carts or desktop wallpapers, you can run to Smashing Magazine and spend minutes and likely have better results. The featured designs and tools that are posted on the mag are hand-picked by the contributors - who really have good taste. So, the postings can be trusted.

What type of posts should you expect from Smashing Magazine? Here are a few line-ups:

Free Fonts
Design Tutorials
Blog Themes
CSS Techniques
Stunning Photos
Icon Sets

This is a small list, but you get the idea. If it has to do with web design and web development, it has already been featured here at least once. However, most of the time, things aren't featured one at a time. Smashing Magazine is notorious for bombarding you with with many at once. One post is collection of 6 questions answered by 50 designers. Another post features 50 movies posters. Here are some other with titles that should smash you: 100 Wordpress Themes, 80 AJAX Solutions, 70 Best Photoshop Tutorials, and the list goes on. These folks don't know how to do small things.

When they say smash you, they mean it. So get smashed!

P.S. Even their ads are helpful!

CSSMania

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:51:26 CST

I will probably catch some flack for what I'm about to say, but it won't offend me. I typically look at other people's designs when planning out my own designs. (Queue those in the back who think I'm a shark.) It's true. I'm not afraid to admit. I derive a lot of inspiration from others' work. Sometimes when I'm stuck on something, they can really bail me out by giving me some good ideas.

So, when it's time to get motivated, I go to CSSMania. It is a gallery of well designed web sites. A quick peak at their home page will give you a good idea of what to expect. Each week day, an average of ten sites are added and so there is always fresh stuff to look at. They admit being the largest site of its kind. With the site being fairly old in web years (since March 2004), you can imagine the extent of the gallery. On a recent post on their blog, they mentioned a number near 12,000 sites so far. Back in May 2006 they reached 3,000. You do the math. The point is that it is fresh all the time. (We designers need that!)

Am I jumping the gun here? Do some of you not know what a CSS gallery site is? Let me quickly bring you up to pace (as for you others, skip this paragraph and read on). CSS gallery sites are simply what they are called. Imagine walking into an art exhibit (also called "art gallery"). You enter a rather contemporary building and slowly walk throughout the rooms paying close attention to the displays of artwork hanging on the walls. From piece to piece you move observing and criticizing. If you are an artist, you also storing up ideas and thinking of new ones. This is what a CSS gallery is. Although, instead of paintings in frames, they are electronic screen screenshots of web sites hanging there on your monitor. Now, imagine the room being far too large for you to make it through in one day. This is CSSMania.

CSSMania is not the only gallery site on the web, but it does appear to be the one spearheading the others. In fact, I'll notice that sites will appear on CSSMania.com one day then popping up on a number of other sites the following day. I don't know if the others are just slower or that they take their leads from this one (I lean toward that idea). Still, while it may not be the only, it is far from being the least. In my opinion, CSSMania trumps the other ones.

The site is still very small (in the sense of functionality) simply because it is a gallery site. I suspect it to grow as needs arise (like the API and Advertise section). But in the meantime, here are somethings to expect when you get there:

Expect to see lots of design-inspiring sites.
Expect to find an easy to use search to find some needles in the haystack.
Expect to filter through the sites with the gallery filters (date added and topic categorized).
Expect to gaze at a different home page each day.
Expect to use their submission tool to get your own designs added.
Expect to catch up on some interesting things from their blog.
Expect to click on the sponsor links - more useful sites.
Expect to be motivated and inspired.

That's expecting quite a bit. But, CSSMania delivers. Expect excellence. Expect inspiration.

While on the subject, you might find some of the other CSS gallery sites useful. I do. While CSSMania is the first site I visit for inspiration, there are a number of others that can also get your brain moving. Here is a short (and I mean short) list for you to consider:

CSS-Imagine
CSSclip
CSS Elite
CSSArts
CSS Breeze
CSSFreshBlend
CSS Dance
InspirationUp
CSS Remix
CSS Import
CSS Blaze
BestCSSDesign.com
BoxedCSS
CSSBased
CSSumbrella

deviantART

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:36:15 CST

A long time ago, some people had this crazy idea that designers and photographer would want to showcase and share their works with others as well as deviate those works. I call it design-swinging. They call it deviantART.

It was a small site at one time. If you have ever visited the site, it being small never crosses your mind. The site is massive now. In fact, without a paid account, you cannot even see all of the works that have been uploaded by so many users. From scanned freehand drawings to digitally manipulated photography. The site makes no restriction. (Of course, with "no restriction" comes "no responsibility" so be aware that some of the works featured can be risque and even horrific.)

Designers can create an account for free (although there are certain privileges to a paid account). Then, with a few questionnaires and settings, you can upload your own work and leave it for display. Other people can look at your work, pin it as a favorite, and even watch you like you would someone on Twitter. It is really fun. I follow a few comic book artists!

Recently, the site added the ability to upload videos and animations as well as printing services where you can sell and purchase deviants for print. I have always been interested in this site and have been excited every time they roll out some improvements. You can count the team there to make their site better and better as the days go on. Give it a visit (with some discretion).

Browsershots

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:26:54 CST

I may have given you the impression that I was following a progressive path in web creation processes in my first Midweek Motivation, but that is not true. I only thought it interesting to start with Only2Clicks because I felt it a good place to begin - given that it is in some sense a good foundation for the motivations ahead - namely, it can collect all of them for you without muddying up your browser.

So, if we were progressing through web creation processes, this midweek motivation would be near the end. I'm glad we're not, because I have found this site to be the most helpful to others this past week and it warrants such recognition. It is called Browsershots. It is here that you "Test your web design in different browsers." Now with risk of sounding redundant (after all, their heading does say it all), let me give a case and overview of the site.

I work on a Mac. I use FireFox. However, my clients usually don't, nor do their customers. Still, I was contracted to create a web site that is useful to their customers and effective in their marketing. So, I must make their web site look and work the same way across the board of browsers (at least those that their customer base uses). But how? Even though sites can be programmed to meet web standards, browsers still render the programming differently.

My objective then is to preview the site in every browser necessary to please my client. Therein lies a problem. Being a Mac user, I have no way to preview in Internet Explorer. (Yes, I know that there are some Mac versions, but let's be honest, they are generally junk at best, and no one who owns a Mac really wants to stoop to the level of IE.) So what do I do? What do you do? You could have the opposite problem. You could be making sites on a Windows computer and not be able to test on a Mac-based browser.

Well, if you have the money to fork out, you can purchase a virtual host to run on your computer like Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion. Then you would have to purchase a version of Windows XP and Vista (or Mac OS X, depending on your needs). And you may be spending a few hundred dollars by the time you are done. Or, you can save all of your money and visit Browsershots.org (and get even more for free).

Browsershots is a free service that allows you to ... well, "test your web design in different browsers" (I know, real original). When visiting the home page, you will be prompted to enter a URL to test. Below the URL text field is a myriad of browsers (some of which I have never seen). You can select all of them or select those you wish to test. Generally, I use Windows Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Macintosh Safari 3, and Macintosh Firefox. The idea is to select only those you are concerned about. Then submit your request and wait for your screen shots to appear.

Now, the only drawback to this service (which is totally understandable and realistic) is that you must wait for the images to be created. This will depend on how many browsers you selected, how many visitors are requesting shots, and the complexity or size of your site. This is nothing in comparison to the response you get when the time comes (which is generally a matter of a minute or two). The shots are not just captures of the web (like some of the CSS award sites). They are actually shots from a computer requesting the site. They have the browser frame and buttons in the shot! They are very true to what an actual user will see. And, they capture the entire page.

This leads me to some basic practices that are worth mentioning:

Wait until you are ready.
It can get frustrating at times waiting for shots to be made when you are going back and forth making small changes to a site in a hurry. The best thing to do is wait until you are really ready to test your page.

Test what you need.
Building on the last principle, your shots can take some time to render so the less you request, the quicker the response. Now, the service will provide the shots as they are completed so that you don't have to wait until they are all finished, but if you make it spend more power on one or two shots, then you will have your shots much faster.

Begin with none.
By default, browsershots.org has a variety of the browsers selected. I got a bit frustrated each time I accessed the service and needed to uncheck over 30 browsers before I was ready. Luckily, there is a text link below the browser list that will deselect all of them. Make use of it!

Stick to the commons.
You may not have a specific set of browsers to use. If that is the case (and many times it is), stick with the common ones. The w3schools.com site has a monthly updated table of statistics on user's browsers across the web. You will find this most useful when you are testing. As of August 2008, IE5 is less 0.1%, so there is really no reason to test in that browser. Odds are, those few people will not visit your site anyways (I won't go into why right now).

Chrome is available.
I was happy to hear that Google came out with their own browser. I'm sure that it will be popular before we know it. However, as of today, Chrome is only available to Windows users. So we Mac people will have to wait. The good news is that Browsershots is already equipped with it (and IE 8)!

Not to steal the thunder from Browsershots (which I think is close to impossible), Mac users can download and run Paparazzi! for free. This application take screenshots of sites without the browser frame. It won a Macworld award in June 2006.

Only2Clicks

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:51:26 CST

It just so happens, that the first Midweek Motivation is an application where I store all of the links to the forthcoming, worth-the-mention, motivations. It is the hub of bookmarks and it is not what you are probably thinking. It is clean. It is simple. It is useful. It is Only2Clicks, a visual bookmarking service. It made sense that I would begin here.

I try to keep my computer as clean as I can. I'm not real big on clutter. In fact, I hate clutter. It bothers me. It steals my energy and stresses me out. Even when it comes to my applications. One kind of app in particular, and closely related to this midweek's motivation, are browsers. Mine have to be clean since I use them the most. I don't want stuff to muddy them up and slow them down - even bookmarks.

I bookmark sites just like anyone else, but I have to keep my favs restricted to those that I use regularly each day. For example: my blog, my work, my clients. So, for my other favs, those that are very useful but not necessarily needed each day, I add them to my free account on Only2Clicks. Here are some the things worth highlighting about this service:

Bookmark Categories
For anal-clean-freaks like myself, categories are another way to set us at ease. Like folders in a drawer separating your bills, categories can keep your similar bookmarks together. This will make it easier at a later time to find the one you are looking for. In my account, I have categories like Tools (full of online apps that make my creative process speedier), SEO (sites that assist me with my search engine optimizations), Resources (my favorite media library sites), and more. The point is, group your favs - you may forget the name of a site, but remember what it does. You can find it later this way.

Automatic snapshots
Speaking of forgetting the site name, maybe you remember what the site looked like. When adding bookmarks to your account, Only2Clicks automatically takes a snapshot of the site and embeds the result as a thumbnail. This is a life-saver for at least two reasons: (1) it provides an easy way to identify the site when combing through many, and (2) it doesn't require you to do anything - it does it for you. Simple and fast. I like it. (Of course, you can embed your own image if you like - but why?)

iPhone Ready
A newer feature that popped up sometime last year is the ability to call the site through a smaller interface on your iPhone. I have an iPhone and use it quite a bit for the web. So, being the genious that I am, I created a category called iPhone and saved all of my favorite iPhone sites there. When requesting your Only2Clicks account via the iPhone, a stripped-down and easy-to-use web page is returned. Perfect for the iPhone (maybe next, they will make an iPhone app).

Boomarklet
One of my favorite additions to the service, is the bookmarklet. The point of having a service like this is to make things easier and faster. It would not make all that much sense to have to go to the site every time you wanted to add a new fav. The makers of the service, created the bookmarklet feature. It is basically a javascript that can be saved as a bookmark on your browser. When clicked, it will give a floating window that allows you to save the current site in the category you desire - in your account. Sweet!

Import Bookmarks
Something worth mentioning (also something that I have never used) is the import your existing bookmarks function. At anytime, you can grab all of the bookmarks from your browser and import them into your account.

Change Your Skin
What web service would be without the ability to change your skin?

There are other features for you to check out, but the above ones are those that I like the most and think that are more common to others. I love this service and recommend it to you with great confidence. The makers of the service are working to gradually make it better with more features. You can track them at their blog. And, to top it off, it is absolutely free. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

SmudgeGuard

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:59:40 CST

As you may know, I recently purchased a Wacom Cintiq. After my shock of its sheer beauty and power, I found myself running into a some small problem that turned into a major thorn in my side. While drawing on the Cintiq, my hand would sweat or become oily and then make it quite difficult to glide across the tablet. (For you artists you know how this can be - even when drawing on paper.)

My quick solution was to grab a small ankle sock and cut a whole out for my thumb. I wrapped it around my hand and I was good - except for the fact that I could not move my fingers. But, it kept me from sticking to my tablet (and in affect, stop making ugly oily smears).

While checking out some videos on YouTube of other tablet users, I noticed that many of them had what looked like a spandex glove with only the pinky covered. Perfect! Now, where the heck can I find myself one of those?

It appeared to be some kind of a pool shark or a strange golf tricked-out glove. But, it was neither. Rather, it was a specialty glove made by an artist and made for artists. The artist/inventor of the glove was a stay-at-home mom who needed something to bring in some extra income and this did the trick.

Jeannie Lit is that inventor. She is the maker of SmudgeGuard, the end-all to smudge worries. I quickly purchased a glove for myself. Within hours, I received a personal email from Jeannie confirming the order. (She was far too nice to be in sales – especially online sales.)

My SmudgeGuard glove arrived a few days later and I slipped it on. What a great fit. Really snug and breathable. I grabbed my tablet pen and began drawing. I was very pleased at how my palm was sliding across the tablet face My worries were gone. The glove works perfect. And it even works for traditional penciling!

The SmudgeGuard glove is such a greatly thought-out and executed product. My hats off to Jeannie and I hope that her career as a mom and a glove maker never stop being productive.

SmudgeGuard: Priceless (but you can get one for the amount it would cost you to see a movie downtown).

(Read this article on how Jeannie came up with the SmudgeGuard and how she and her husband pushed through some of the modern troubles of being a stay-at-home mom.)

Fireflies and Justus

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:23:11 CST

I just finished a job that was rather interesting (thanks to Dunamis Media). I was asked to composite a design for a bilboard. They wanted a child looking at fireflies. (Those are the flying beetle-like bugs that are sometimes called "lightning bugs" because they have a bioluminescent butt. No joke.)

In my experience, their flashing fannies happen quickly so that you only have miliseconds to see them. And since it is dark outside, you don't really know where to look unless you stand back and are lucky to find a swarm of them. I have had that opportunity before. Pretty neat. They don't look so much like floating fairies as much as they do shooting stars. I think that the eye generally sees somewhat of a streak. So that is what I tried to capture. Glowy dots with little tails.

Step One: Gather Photos

Sometimes this is easier said than done. My client gave me a few links to some photos on shutterstock and istockphoto, but I was discontent. They didn't capture what I was wanting. (Try telling that to a client!) I decided to branch out a bit. I ran into my son's room (he is only 5 years old) and grabbed a green shirt (the client's favorite color), grabbed my Rebel and ran outside with my son. (By the way, he was stoked when I told him that is this was going on a big sign on the road.)

He acted like a professional model. Not sure where he learned it. He posed and did exactly what I said. I snagged several shots for safe keeping and ran back inside. It was the middle of the day and there was a little bit of overcast since it had been raining so the lighting was pretty good. However, my camera work is terrible. Notice the way I allowed the light to blur throughout Justus' head! This caused fuzzy edges and discoloring, but oh well. I'll fix it in Photoshop. I can work better there than on a camera!

I imported the photo of Justus you see on the right. Then imported a rather great looking photo from the client depicting some of their land that makes mine look like the amatuer shot it is. I thought that it would look perfect with the perspective I needed. Plus, the blue sky should provide a good compliment to the glowing orange/yellow butts. And, it lacked the extreme complexities that some of their photos had with trees and animals. I didn't want to draw too much attention to the background.

Step Two: Compositing

I began compositing. First, I cut my son out. (Look at how tough my job was since I am so lame with the camera!) He's got some long eye lashes that don't cut out well (don't envy him ladies). I also went ahead and adjusted some of the coloring to prepare for the shadows. I was really tempted to hop on my Cintiq to take this over, but was too nervous since I am a newbie at it. I stuck with the old mouse.

I slipped the photo of Brushy Top and blurred out a bit to give it depth of field. My imports were done and the image looked ready for fireflies and fine-tuning.

Step Three: Adding the Fireflies

For the fireflies, I set my photoshop brush to a about 5px and gave a few sparatic dots in front of his eyes to make it appear as though he was looking at them. This needed to be repeated quite a bit with even smaller brushes. And of course, all of them had a 0% hardness giving the dots a glow effect. I also added a glow using Photshop fx to make them pop even more. The fannies themselves were white. The glow was a blend of orange and yellow. Then, with the smudge tool, I smeared a streak off a few of the dots to make it look like a tail of light and it gave it the idea of motion.

Step Four: Fine-tuning

Some more shading and color correcting to the composite and the bilboard image was ready. (The final is below.) Now, Dunamis Media will slap on the finishing touches (like logos and copy) and the client will have it plastered on a large bilboard down I-10. I'll have to run out there and take a picture - unless I have any volunteers?

Feeling Cintiqy

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:11:07 CST

When I was a young boy, I couldn't stop drawing. I did it everywhere I went. While at a resturaunt, I drew on napkins and child's placemats. In school, I doodled on the back of my worsheets. In church, I scribbled something cool in the buletin. I was a lover of the pencil.

As I grew up and was moved toward a different form of art - something more technical. I became a musician and started a brief career as an audio producer and engineer. Still, the pen (replacing the pencil) was still my best friend - only we didn't talk as much. The urge was still there nevertheless. While recording or producing, pads and napkins displayed my handiwork.

Noticing my talent to draw, a man sat me down in front of a computer with a small pen tablet made by Wacom. He turned on Photoshop (something I had never seen before) and selected the black brush with about a 5pt tip. He told me to play. And play I did. I drew a photo of Spider-Man spinning from his web. (I wish I still had it.)

He was convinved of my talent but knew that I lacked the technical knowledge to pull it off in the computer world. So, he hired me to work for him and just put me in a back office with a stack of Total Training DVDs. I became a master (of sorts) of Adobe in a matter of days. And yes, my brain was hurting.

I never really went back to the tablet and rarely went back to the pen and paper until recently. Getting frustrated with using my mouse to draw and paint, I quickly coveted the Wacom tablet of our time. So, I began to save my dollars until one day when I would be able to slap the money down on the counter and say give me the tablet. Well, the day has come.

Drum roll and que choir harmony ... It has arrived! Finally, I will be returning back to roots and my first love while merging it with the technical tools of our day. I now have the Wacom Cintiq. I was so excited to receive it that I took some memorable pictures to share with my friends - who knew how excited I would be.

Floss the Face

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:16:28 CST

Nothing like a bit of marketing money well spent, right! I decided a couple of weeks ago to put together a shirt in order to give out to whomever would sport it. Luckily, it was fairly cheap and had a great response. The face has been a long-lived and long-loved icon for my work and so I plastered it on the front of a tee, right in the superman position. On the back is simply my alternative domain and memorable phrase, "Visit the face," with a dot com to sow it on up.

White on black. Sleek and professional looking. And, of course, it is eye catching. Generally when I wear it out I will get double takes maybe because of the interestingly simple the face is and how it stares you right back (and my not-so-good looks). That is just a hunch.

It does have some kind of mystery to it. Some people stop and ask me what the significance of the face is (sometimes called a mask). So I just turn around to show them the call to action. Since I can't really track these people and their visits to my site (unless hundreds have been given out relatively quickly), I have no idea if it really is working or not.

Still, branding is everything. I'm wearing the brand and getting into their minds. That is what counts. Plus, all those face fans can now wear it with pride.

Want to floss the face? Hit me up on twitter, I have a few left.

Looking for Work?

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:27:51 CST

I am in need of some PHP and Flash Programmers, Graphic Designers, and Motion Artists. If you are a freelancer seeking some work, please let me know, I could use the help.

I Saw The Dark Knight

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:04:10 CST

Well, the pier pressure has finally gotten to me. I stopped working Friday night and dropped some electronic cash on a pair of The Dark Knight tickets. (Actually, I have been anxiously waiting ever since it opened at the theaters.)

I haven’t had some time off in quite a while and my body was just shutting down. I called my wife and asked her out on a date. She accepted. We both are big fans of The Mummy series and number 3 was also playing. So we hired some childcare and rushed out to see them both. Oh yea, two movies in one night. I really don’t get out much.

We decided The Mummy 3 would be our first sitting, since we didn’t think it would really compare to the Bat. Plus, from the raves that we have heard, we probably want to see sinister Joker in action last – it might leave a dark and strange mood with us afterwards – we didn’t want it to taint any movie following it. So we made it our second of two.

The Mummy 3 was a good flick. He started off slow to me but as soon as the action started, I felt like I was back in the mummy mood. I loved the first two and was really hoping this one would be as good. It took a while to set in. But it did. I had one complaint and it really was like a thorn in my side throughout the whole movie. Where was Rachel Weisz? Brendan and her were the perfect duo! I thought that Rachel’s successor was really not fit for the shoes she wore. Rachel was a better dame. All in all, it was good. I’ll buy the DVD. But nothing like what I was about to witness next.

The Batman … From the beginning to the end, it was a cinematic dream. There was something about this movie (the combination of the music and somewhat distorted crime) that really made this movie so believable and intense. The story line was extraordinary. The acting was superb. The creative way they filmed (ie: when the joker was hanging upside down). This is a remarkable film and one that I think may be the best one this year.

The portrayal of Joker was so wonderfully made and put together. He was insanely wicked. I loved and hated him. I pitied and judged him. I was altogether intrigued. And the same goes for Denton, Gordon, Alfred, and the Bats. This is a uniquely produced movie.

And this topped it off for me … it was not dirty. The film communicated strong evil tones without ever getting two gory, vulgar, and sexual. It was lean on language and blood. It was missing all of those things that many say make a great movie today – and yet it was one of the greatest movies that I’ve ever seen!

My hats off to the Bat.

**Oh, I think I just wrote my first movie review. How nice.**

Reality Recreated

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:53:58 CST

(The following is a writing based on a recent project that I pitched to Real Youth Houston, a youth ministry for Christian Tabernacle. The proposal was accepted and the project is now underway. A video was created to announce the project and can be viewed here.)

Today’s online technology is geared at social networking. It has been branded “Web 2.0” since it has upgraded in the past few years. People have pulled off the information highway to park on various virtual-hangout spots. Stuff is for the stiffs. Today’s Internet user is flexible and open, and doesn’t want pure data. They don’t want to know, they want to feel.

Motivated by the need to feel included, they have practically moved their social life from the real world to a computer. Even friends, who live only a house down, have a much easier time conversing virtually rather than in person. Some parents have adjusted to this new lifestyle and pinged their children for dinner instead of hollering from downstairs.

The World Wide Web has changed things. It has made some parts of living that much easier. So easy in fact, that we tend to neglect the real world. Bills are paid online. Groceries can be ordered from your computer. Need to read a book? Hop online and get it electronically.

But ease is not the only thing. Often, the Internet keeps us safe from real world troubles. On the net, relationships are more open, so there are fewer arguments. Tolerance is more popular so I can say what I want with almost no repercussions. Our identity is usually hidden so we can be free to do what makes us feel better.

Unfortunately, this kind of secrecy and freedom also has some downsides. As fallen human beings, we tend to lean towards selfish things. And well, if we are all seeking self, then real hurt occurs. Cyber-bullying and Internet predators exist. There is a far more tragic downside to this way living. It is a less acknowledged problem and for the most part, hidden altogether. It is the problem of influence.

Influence exists in all facets of life. It is best described as a way of molding something else – at least when the web is concerned. See, today’s web is not mono-directional, or even bi-directional. It is multi-directional. In other words, it is not organizations communicating to eager people in a one directional way. Rather, the organizations are merely platform builders. They are almost outside of the conversation. The eager people are communicating with other eager people in a multi-directional way.

Successful Web 2.0 sites are not providers of content; they are the platforms of providing the content. So who provides the content? The people provide the content. Build a site for social networking and sit back to allow the people to fill the site with things that interest them. In essence, we drive the sites now, not the organizations.

Many marketers understand this and have levered it for their benefit. But, the majority of users today (mostly young) have the wool pulled over their head. The belief that we control the web is all but inaccurate. The organizations still have the remote. They still make the calls – only subtly and secretly.

Of course, this is not always true, but generally speaking, the idea of moving the web is not quite as accurate as we may think. Each day, billions of users post blogs, send notes, upload photos, make comments, and move avatars feeling like they have made a contribution. In some deep way they feel as though they are making the web. And technically speaking, they are.

But, what if you were not making the web. What if the web was making you?

To understand this, we must have a shift of thinking here. Culture is the way of life that is cultivated. Culture is caused and formed. Culture is shaped and molded. Culture is taught and learned. Each time we push to the web, the web is pushing back.

The web is forming us, making us into something. Teaching us to think a certain way, to act a certain way, to converse in a certain way. It is making our reality. This is not to sound like a paranoid prude, but to just bring to the forefront something that may be otherwise never talked about.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but most of the times, it is. We have gotten more comfortable in our office chair than in a lounge couch. We drink our coffee with our best friends online. And this Internet culture is changing the way we do life.

What if we could take this tool by the horns? What if we do as John Wesley said of time, and redeem the Web? What if we focused our energies on interjecting the gospel into these online users?

What if we recreated reality?

eControl Version 1.0

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:53:22 CST

Our custom creation and pride, eControl, was finally deployed as version 1.0 this month. The beta app was tested on the Adminstaff Small Business Classic web site and was a good success. However, some implementations were required to make the application more universal for PHP/MySQL servers.

So, as time has permitted, we made those changes and additions in order to rollout a second release which we declared as the first stable version. Thus it was deemed 1.0. It was initially installed on a Hostway server to administer the SCORE Houston Chapter web site. It prooved to be stable enough to set it loose.

And set it loose we did. The eControl was then installed on Resonant Hosting (rh) servers a few days later to run over 5 web sites. Each install helped us wiggle out some of the bugs in the application. Minus the bug fixes, the installs averaged about 2 minutes or less! It was quick. Of course, this included uploading files. Configuring the CMS really only took seconds.

We plan to create an install tool and deploy the core on the (rh) servers for hosted clients in 2008. If you wish to join in on the fun ... contact (rh) for hosting plans.

Alas, Alias

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:51:08 CST

Our clients have forced us (well, me really). In 2007, my workload kept me working far too much without sleep and family time. I hold down a family of five now (along with my wife who deserves most of the credit). So my time is much more valuable than before. My clients have become friends, and their friends have become my clients. And so the load snowballed.

As I brought in some of my trusted (and often fancied) colleagues to help, I learned by some elder wisdom that I might be financially hurting myself since I am acting like a business but not appearing as one to the government (those friendlies we call the IRS). So, I brought along some additional help and teamed up with some other familiar companies and incorporated AliasBDI.

It was this time last year that I finally launched a web site as AliasBDI.com and as I mark the 1 year anniversary, I celebrate as many rather than one. So Alas, Alias is incorporated and taking our first steps as a company. During these next few weeks, we will be doing our best to back track some our files to pull up some favorites to post in our portfolio as well as keep you posted on our new endeavors (one of which has been much more fruitful then expected - eControl.

Request a Projonnect Account

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:25:10 CST

The following information will be required to get you started on your own Projonnect system.

Introduction

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:21:24 CST

When there is only 24 hours in a day, work can get pretty hectic. Some of us freelancers juggle part and even full-time jobs while moonlighting. I know the feeling. Five o’clock comes. You’ve just worked 8 hours straight. Now it’s time to work, again.

Being your own employer while being employed is quite difficult. Some of us don’t have the pleasure of doing “one” thing. And so jobs stack up along with the paper work. We get behind. We get stressed. We can’t relax. We just want to design and program.

Suddenly we are mangled and confused. We lost track of projects. Clients are mixed up and angry. Where’s the management? Where’s the order? And where’s the money?

With a lack of good management and order, there will be a lack of money. I know this to be true. I used to be that dude with bags under his eyes sitting down the hall from you. It was not that I partied too much the night before. Rather, I slaved in front of the computer. I worked until it was time to shower and leave for work.

Freelancing is hard folks - even when you don’t moonlight. I never did want to run a business venture. I just wanted to make things cool. So, I did. I made a cool little project manager to manage my projects. It is simple. It is sleek. It works.

Want to get in on the simple-sleek-working cool thingy?

Click here to request your Projonnect account today!

(pc) Project Connection

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:23:30 CST

While at Administaff, I creaed an online management system for our (Marketing) department. It was a collaberation tool whereby other departments in the company could submit a form (via our intranet) to request our services. The form would then generate a series of emails to notify our project managers as well as add the project to the system. A manager would then access the system from their office computer and manage the project.

They would be able to set due and completion dates, milestones, calendar events, task descriptions, and various codes for filing away. Those who worked on the project were then notified once the project was enabled. Their "dashboard" (which was their personal home page) also listed a kind of "honey-do" list for the day, week, or month. As they progressed and logged their time and work, the system would notify all inolved (as they were needed) and projects were tracked.

Now, working on my own and being the poor project manager that I am, I decided to make a similar (less robust) system for myself. I called it the same thing we did at the corporation, Project Connection. I needed something faster than what I was using (sidejobtrack.com) but couldn't find anything that did all that I wanted with charging an arm and a leg. I couldn't find anything.

So one weekend (when I was free of time), I made it. Taking less than 30 hours, I had a project management system that would allow me to input projects, project milestones, client information, contractor information, vendor information, and even an invoicing portion. It is a bit bare bones, but that is growing on me. It is simple and easy - that is what I like.

I have set it up for another freelancer to give it a try and I don't mind setting some more up for any others. After it is to a point where everyone is happy, I will like make it available to the public for a really small fee. I noticed that most of them out there can get pretty high in monthly costs. I wish mine to be almost free. So we'll see what happens. If you are interested, just email me.

Painting for REAL

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:20:26 CST

"Ummmm .... yea, I'll do it." My response took a few seconds to be worded. I had to think quickly and about much.

I was asked by my church to help them with some of their renovation work in the youth building. The main office had become a wreck. There were stains on the carpet. The walls were old and ugly. The desks and furniture were falling apart. I'm not a handy person, what could I help with? They were going to deck the walls - but not for Christmas. They were getting bigger on branding. And they wanted their logo nice and large so that you saw as soon as the door was opened.

I'm not a painter. I did some cartoon characters on my son's wall before, but nothing serious. The logo would be tough. It had gradients. Oh yes, gradients. I paused before I answered to come up with a way to pull it off. After figuring it all out (at least in theory), I responded positively.

I love challenges. This was a big challenge for me but it had little risk. I knew that if I messed up, I could just paint over it and start again. (I actually did that a couple of times, too.) I thought it would be interesting to chroncle how it went, but due to a few dissappointments and wasted paint, I tended to forget to take pictures. The joy of it was not always there. Still I managed to take some. Here's what I did:

DAY ONE

I first converted the image in Illustrator to a black and white outline. Then borrowed a transparency projector and traced it onto the wall. They wanted it big. The diameter was about five feet long. It was big. I then took some orange and white paint and created the fills. My idea was to paint from back to front (visually speaking) so the core objects were first.

It required a few coats of paint. I didn't use acrylics because I had to cover so much wall. The acrylic paint was only sold in small amounts. Plus it was more costly and I was trying to pinch pennnies for the church.

DAY TWO

I returned the next day and began taping off some things. I was going to lay down the first gradient. It appears towards the top half of the logo and should be a lighter shade of the orange. So I mixed a yellow with my orange. Oops, too brown. Again I mixed yellow with the orange. It was ready.

Now, my idea was to dry brush a lighter shade of orange and gradually darken as I come closer to the middle and finally reach the base orange. I practiced a little. It was terrible. It looked like yellow hair lines or grass. It was bad. I then tried using shades of orange mixed with white instead. It had the same result. It was lame. I suddenly felt like the whole thing had gone sour. I wasn't going to do this unless I could get the gradients. They were far too important.

My brain farted and I rushed to Lowe's to execute another idea. I grabbed some spray paint. Aha! It worked. Using the same pressure on the spray button and gently moving my hand to and from the wall - I created a gradient (a bit hard to see in the picture).

DAY THREE

I taped off the bottom half to paint the darker gradient. It is actually just a red coat. By cutting the paper and bending the tap just right, I was able to make a swirve in the logo.

I sprayed and killed some brain cells. But it was worth it. The gradient was looking nice and so my hope was restored.

DAY FOUR

The final gradient belonged on the outer ring in the white. It was suppose to give it a gell or chrome effect. So I grabbed the lightest grey that I could find. Lowe's is definitely not a store for artists - especially not graffiti ones. But I made due. I snagged a grey with gloss and was on my way to the church.

I taped off a bit more (some of it was still there from the last gradient so it was faster this time around). I began spraying. The can was acting strange. Spurts of paint were shooting out and so the wall looked like those old comic book prints with the small dots. It was noisey (for you Photoshop users).

I wasn't happy with that so I painted white back over it and left it to dry. I would come again. I'm not quitting yet.

DAY FIVE

Okay, maybe I am a quitter. I was wanting to quit. I thought of all the reasons to quit. Does that make me a quitter? Whatever the case, I gave it another shot. It took a few attempts before I got it right. But the important thing is ... I got it right.

DAY SIX

I was dead set that this would be my last evening here. Alll I had left was the white outlines. They were the final touches. I was eager to get done because this job tired me. I had been on too many roller coasters during this job - hopeful to wanting to quit to hopeful again. Plus, my freelance work was sitting on my desk at home eyeing me down. It was not getting done. It was just growing.

I arrived a little early this time to give myself sufficient time. The parking lot was empty. The doors were locked. I don't have a key. I made a few phone calls before settling on the fact that day six was not going to happen.

DAY SEVEN

You know, God rested on this day. Well, I would too. This day was I going to finish. The base was there. The three gradients were there. The tape and paper were trashed. The logo just needed its fine trimming.

I attacked it gently. Any mess-ups would mean that I would have to redo some gradients - that could not happen. No way. So I moved slowly and softly. Three hours later and I was done. The logo was painted. My challenge was conquered. I felt great and my work was admirable.

All in all, it was a good experience. I learned that brushes do not make good gradient tools, certain brushes coat better than others, certain paint should not be mixed, just a little black goes along way in orange, spray paint and a closed room do not go together, and Vitamin Water tastes terrible. (Okay, so I left a lot of the story out, but trust me you don't want to know.)

Good. Great. Dandy. Nice job. They were pleased. I was pleased. I won.

Do it again? Not a chance! :)

Amazon Highlights DigitalChalk

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:24:20 CST

Last night, Amazon published a success story on DigitalChalk:

DigitalChalk is an online learning system that gives anyone from credentialed professors to independent instructors the ability to easily create online training videos. When the DigitalChalk team, based in Asheville, NC, starting building their application in early 2007, they quickly realized that they couldn't meet their go-to-market strategy with the poor service from their existing managed hosting provider. Seeing Amazon Web Services as a promising alternative to a traditional data center, they began moving their application onto Amazon S3, EC2 and SQS.

- Amazon

Click here to read the full article.

It's time to put the face on. Find out why.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:25:02 CST

Midweek Motivations I get a lot of questions about sites and resources that I often use for my work. Queue Midweek Motivation. I'm committing to reviewing one site per week that I use for my day-to-day and ever so often activities. Hopefully that will help you all with your design, development and overall inspiration.
Truth411 Relaunched One of my very first web designs (even before eControl was released) has been relaunched. The design itself was only changed slightly since it has prooved to be effective. The site was integrated into eControl (1.5) for hacking capabilities.
SmudgeGuard A common need produces an idea for a simple but effective product. Jeannie Lit, a stay-at-home mother invented the SmudgeGuard glove for lefties and tablet artists. I recently gave it a try and fell in love with it. Read about the SmudgeGuard.
Floss the Face Now, you face fans can sport your pride with this new sleek black and white tee. The face on the front, the call to action on the back. And it works.
Help Wanted! I'm looking for some eager freelancers to add to my network. If you are a PHP or Flash Programmer, Print or Web Designer, or a Motion Editor or Animator and want some work, please submit your information to me. I could really use the extra hands behind some of my projects. Click here to send me your information.
Comic Book Coloring? You're insane. Well, maybe I am for taking the gig. Two days to color. No time to sleep. I just added some samples to the print portfolio. The comic was unfortunately canned due to the time restrains, but I was commissioned to do a full page handout with the comic characters. See the portfolio for a close-up.
Projonnect^BETA Some things in life are free. But rarely do you find something that makes you money. Introducing Projonnect, the online project connection for busy workers. While (pj) is being completed, it will be free - no strings attached. Click here to find out more.
Faveup.com The design inspiration gallary, Faveup.com, has featured some of our work. You can hop over there and vote on each one. (Be sure to vote nicely, though!)
Paint for REAL Oh boy. My hats go off to painters of all sorts. I learned quite a bit about painting (mainly that I am not a natural). I just finished a seven day challenge. No, it was not a speed diet. It was painting. I'm an artist. This should be easy, right? Wrong. See what I did (and didn't do) and feel free to send me some pointers.
ctab.org Honored Client Christian Tabernacle experienced a jump in visits this past few days. A closer look at why and we found out that their web site was honored by a few CSS design showcases. One of the showcases was on CSS Mania, which spearheaded the visits. They were not really the visits that the client was wanting, but they were visits nonetheless. Trailing behind it were ChurchBeauty, CSS {Imagine}, Most Inspired, InspirationUp and DailySlurp.
eControl Hosting Working together with Resonant Hosting, eControl has been pushed to its final limitation in its first version. We have been developing a newer version with plans to release this Fall. While the programming is running as planned, we had to make some major adjustments in hosting. So we moved to a dedicated server on Media Temple. More on this later.

Branding

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:22:09 CST

Quizums

ScopeSky Communications

Pacific Hi-Tech

Thrive (Young Adult Church Ministry)

GospelMen (Men's Church Ministry)

Pam Littrell Ministries

DigitalChalk

SniperHill

Infinity Learning Solutions

The Gap Chat (gc)

Christian Tabernacle

REAL Youth Ministries

Bunker Communications

DHI Limited

Salem Christian Community

Rawa'a Wasit

Truth411 (t411)

Lukatchoo

C&B Asset Management

Web

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:28:16 CST

Weddings with Tara
Wordpress Design

Scopesky
PHP / CSS

Christian Tabernacle
PHP / MySQL / eControl / CSS

DigitalChalk
PHP / MySQL / eControl / CSS

Southern Charm Photography
PHP / MySQL / eControl / CSS / Shopping Cart

Truth411
PHP / MySQL / CSS

Teach. Share. Learn
PHP / MySQL / CSS / Account System

DHI Limited
PHP / MySQL / eControl / CSS

Projonnect
PHP / MySQL / eControl / CSS / Project Management System

In the Gospels
PHP / MySQL / eControl / CSS

Sniperhill
PHP / CSS

Hebriac Heritage Christian College
CSS

Bunker Communications
PHP / CSS

Calvary Hill Baptist Church
PHP / CSS

Pam Littrell Ministries
PHP / MySQL / eControl / CSS

The Preacher's Library
PHP / MySQL / CSS / Account System / Library System

Print

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:15:36 CST

Global Vision 2008
Christian Tabernacle (Missions Conference Advertisements)

Hero Saves the World
Real Youth Ministries (Handout)

Superhero Series
Real Youth Ministries (Comic Book)

Hebraic Insight
Hebraic Christian Global Community (Magazine Cover)

Restore!
Hebraic Christian Global Community (Magazine Cover)

One Page Advertisement
CPU Quick Fix

The Journey ... Into Your Private World
Christian Tabernacle (Advertisements)

The Journey ... to Easter
Christian Tabernacle (Advertisements)

The Journey ... Exceeding the Limits
Christian Tabernacle (Advertisements)

Brochure
Lindsay Lakes

Motion

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:28:09 CST

Canceling the Curse
Sunday Untucked, Christian Tabernacle

Four Regions, One Goal
Fall Campaign 2008 / Administaff, Inc.

Global Vision 2008
Global Vision / Christian Tabernacle

A Coming Force
Global Force / Christian Tabernacle

Reality Recreated
Real Youth Houston

Get it Sold!
Spring Campaign / Administaff, Inc.

Cross Over
Christian Tabernacle

The Strongman Prophecies
Dennis Rogers

Adminiforce Activate!
Administaff, Inc.

Flame
Prayer Conference / Christian Tabernacle

DVD Slate
Nuk Ruk Records

Ten Second Countdown and Identity
REAL Youth Ministry

Name
Email
Website
Details (tell me about yourself)

Name
Email
Company Name
Billing Address (to show on invoices)
Logo	(95px x 95px; Only JPG, GIF, ZIP, DOC, PDF allowed.)

AliasBDI

Merry Christmas Desktop Design

PatternTap

Google Analytics

Tuts

Faveup

Smashing Magazine

CSSMania

deviantART

Browsershots

Only2Clicks

SmudgeGuard

Fireflies and Justus

Feeling Cintiqy

Floss the Face

Looking for Work?

I Saw The Dark Knight

Reality Recreated

eControl Version 1.0

Alas, Alias

Request a Projonnect Account

Introduction

(pc) Project Connection

Painting for REAL

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY THREE

DAY FOUR

DAY FIVE

DAY SIX

DAY SEVEN

Amazon Highlights DigitalChalk

It's time to put the face on. Find out why.

Midweek Motivations

Truth411 Relaunched

SmudgeGuard

Floss the Face

Help Wanted!

Comic Book Coloring?

ProjonnectBETA

Faveup.com

Paint for REAL

ctab.org Honored

eControl Hosting

Branding

Web

Print

Motion

Projonnect^BETA