My very first tattoo ever. And no, it doesn’t mean anything… it just looks nice :)

If you don’t know and understand the presentation layer… how can you effectively design for it?

This post somewhat inspired by Jeff Croft’s But who owns Javascript?.

As seen by the iphone.

Fast-forward 3 years (to earlier this morning) and I officially weigh 198lbs. It’s the first time I’ve been under 200lbs in probably 6 years. Yes, I shed a tear or two. How did I lose 75+lbs? I walked a lot. Selling my car and living in a city helped force me to walk more, but that’s pretty much all I did… I walked a lot.

Before & After Photo

Left: Fall 1999 | Middle: July 2004 | Right: March 2008

If you see me at the conference, say hello and whatnot. We can chat about politics and religion… you know, casual conversation. Or web stuff - that works, too. And if you’re interested, come to my “Core Conversation”:

Examining the Different Ways We Can Work

Tuesday March 11th (11:30 am - 12:30 pm in Ballroom E)

As professional web designers and developers, we have more options than ever for how we want to spend our days. Maybe we do our best work at home? Or maybe it’s amongst a large group of people where we really shine? Regardless, technology (and flexible employers) have given us more freedom to examine these new avenues. Join us as we discuss and share the pros/cons of these new venues. What works? What doesn’t? And why?

TransitCamp (Feb 23rd-24th)

When: Saturday February 23rd (2:00pm in Room 2)
Where: Palo Alto, CA
What: “New Rider Stories” Panel (Joshua Lane, Tara Hunt, etc)

TransitCamp will highlight the public transit system in the Bay Area Region and will bring together transit officials and citizens to discuss stuff like: getting schedules on the go, the future of the Bay Area transit system, experiences and observations (not complaints, though), the websites, cool ideas for attracting more riders, etc.

SXSW (March 7th-11th)

When: Tuesday March 11th (11:30 am - 12:30 pm in Ballroom E)
Where: Austin, TX
What: Core Conversation: Examining the Different Ways We Can Work

As professional web designers and developers, we have more options than ever for how we want to spend our days. Maybe we do our best work at home? Or maybe it’s amongst a large group of people where we really shine? Regardless, technology (and flexible employers) have given us more freedom to examine these new avenues. Join us as we discuss and share the pros/cons of these new venues. What works? What doesn’t? And why?

HOWEVER, I’m pretty happy with how the site turned out. Everything is more logically organized, and the product shots are front-and-center for customers. There are A TON of other little things I did on the site (and will comment about in further blog posts), but for this instance, I’d like to focus only on the grid.

Primary Grid

The primary grid is made up of 6 columns that are 140px wide with 10px of space in between. The screenshot below shows the grid overlaid on a “Product Category” page.

Smaller Grid

The smaller, secondary grid is made up of 12 columns that are 65px wide with 10px of space in between. The screenshot below shows the grid overlaid on the “Shopping Cart” page.

Grid Usage

Every single page on the new UrbanOutfitters.com follows the same grid structure… from the home page, to the shopping cart, to all the form fields on the site. Take a look around the site and I think you’ll start to pick up on it. And if you need a little help, check out my flickr set where I’ve dumped a bunch of screenshots with grid overlays.

Don’t you know that vertical stripes are slimming! And horizontal stripes do the EXACT OPPOSITE. And as someone who is actively trying to get into shape, trying on items of clothing with horizontal stripes is a constant reminder of my horrible physique… *commence sobbing*

So, I guess, thanks for making me feel self-conscious… jerks.

Apartment

At the moment, my new apartment is very empty… no desk, no shelves, no tables, no rugs, no chairs, no couch. I have a bed, a couch due to be delivered in a few weeks, and my computer propped up on some boxes. Living the dream! I’m hoping to get things in order over the next couple months, but not having a car makes furniture buying a little difficult.

Job

For those who haven’t heard the news yet, I’m the new Senior Web Designer / Information Architect at Creative B’stro in San Francisco. It’s a small interactive agency that does a little of everything. They had a need for a senior-level web designer with IA experience. They also needed someone who knew the ins and outs of html and css. It’s a pretty good fit :)

Life

I haven’t done a great deal of socializing yet, but I’m taking my time I guess. Eventually I plan to get involved in some local design/web groups. And luckily I have a couple friends from college who live here, so I’m not completely lonely.