Author Archive
The (not really) final photograblog
Hey so yea i didn’t get enough sleep clearly. I was working on my blog locally on my computer using MAMP and totally forgot to upload the changes to my server. Here it is:
Sorry about the mixup Mushon.
Catching up on work
Hi Everybody! (Hi captain nick!)
So I didn’t get a chance to present much on Friday, but I have almost finished my blog. Its got a few things still undone, but its getting there. Heres what its supposed to look like:
and here is what it is:
http://blog.charleswaite.com
As you can see its a bit unfinished but I would welcom comments since its been a while since i’ve elicited them. Also anyone know how to get items in the menu? Do you have to manually edit the php, or is there some option in the admin pages?
On to the Open Source project:
So I’ve made contact with the devs and gotten some great feedback on what I had designed for them. Some were very valid criticisms and others seemed like more a personal preference by a the main guy on how he feels that the Average User would navigate and use the program. Either way, he’s gone ahead and implemented one of my suggestions already in the Subversion build of the program (which I unfortunately dont know how to get and build… Here is the message string for those who are interested:
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=2026429&forum_id=685966
Anyway kinda cool that the guy went ahead an integrated a UI change that I proposed and in an hour no less.
But thats it for the update. Let me know what you guys think of the website as its a still evolving work in progress.
Later
CP
aTunes Interface simplification
So aTunes is the classic example of feature creep and trying to fit a whole bunch of features into a limited space. The developers admit to not giving the interface much though other than all their buttons and crap actually have some amount of room to fit in. This is my attempt to get rid of all the clutter and present a simple interface that doesn’t get caught up in all the features of marginal usefulness. The problem witht he interface is that while Programmer types like to tinker and fiddle with options and whatnot, as far as the average user goes, he just wants to be able to play his music, make a CD/playlist to burn, and thats about it. Every once and a while he would need to use of of the more advanced features, but 95% of the time the buttons only serve the purpose of cluttering the interface. So without any more ado:
Above is the Main interface page, as the developers have it currently.
This one is the one with the changes I made.
The following series is a breakoff Playlist pane or maybe a minimimal playlist only window.
Again the above is the original.
And this one is the modified one.
Let me know what you guys think. The mockup is a bit rough, but it serves the purpose of illustrating the cleanness of the interface that I am trying to do.
MAMP and Wordpress: installing on your computer locally for easy testing
Hey guys, I did a bit of creative googling and found this site: Installing MAMP and Wordpress
Its obviously only for macs, so unfortunately this wont help you out susanna, but this is pretty quick and easy so if you want to get a local wordpress server setup this will do it. If this was covered during the workshop I wasn’t at this thursday then excuse my ignorance. the only thing that messed up with me was when you click on install near the end, I had to go back and manually edit the wp_config.php file because it had added localhost:8889:8889 instead of localhost:8889. I also changed the root directory to my Sites folder in my main user directory. Other than that it worked and its seriously MUCH easier to do it locally then upload the folder when the site is done. Hope this helps you guys.
CP
Updated Page
Hey guys. A little update here. I reworked it with what I feel to be a better design based mainly on Ryans feedback (because that was all i got). Anyway let me know what you guys think, preferably before class tomorrow.
CP
A Photoblog
Hey so I just found this blog as I was procrastinating working and It has a very similar look and feel as my site. Its much more spartan than mine but I do like how the photograph is the main focus of the page and the text is really secondary. I think this should definitely help me flesh out my design. Never underestimate the power of random link clicking…
http://outafocus.my-expressions.com
CP
My Photograblog
Wow I just thought of that name and I think I am going to use it. I’ve been having real issues trying to name my blog something that isn’t Photography Blog, so maybe I’ll use Photograblog. Anyway here is the mockup of the site. I haven’t finished coding the CSS yet and am having issues with Background images but I will post back with more specifics soon when I get closer to having a final site up.
For the moment I an having a dilemma between the regular all black page or one with a grey border around the edge which is supposed to draw a parallel between photographs you make in a darkroom with borders around the edge. Anyway let me know what you guys think. I realise that nobody in class has seen this design before so give me all the feedback you can muster. Thanks guys.
Cool CSS site
Thought i might share this site with you all: http://www.designdetector.com/demos/css-house-2.html
Pretty impressive that this is all dont with divs and lines of color. Very tedius, but impressive. Theres also this which is far more useful: http://www.designdetector.com/demos/css-gradients-demo-1.php
Its basically a generator for gradients. It creates a css file with 256 defined divs and then each div is defined as a color in that gradient. Like spans but instead of width they are 1 pixel tall lines of color. Anyway its a pretty cool thing if you were looking for a way to put a gradient or something for a background but didn’t want to use a background-image tag…
Mushon I will post my Wordpress design shortly, sorry I totally spaced.
CP
My Website
I uploaded my site to the cleverly named charleswaite.com
check it out: http://www.charleswaite.com
This is more of a rough than final in that I havent put in the images yet. I was struggling for a good while trying to put a drop shadow onto my divs but I couldn’t for the life of me figure it out so I figured I would leave it until later (if I even need them).
An image of what I intend to design is here: http://www.charleswaite.com/tutorial.jpg
Has anyone else had problems with getting colors to look right on the web?? Mine are always too light compared to the photoshop versions….
Stick it to the Man (in the Adobe hut that is…)
Man that was a killer pun….
I am presenting on Open Source alternatives to the ubiquitous Adobe Suite of design applications. There are a number of image editing apps out there that intend to replicate Photoshop, but the one that far and away is the best is called the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Project): http://www.gimp.org/.
The Illustrator alternative that offers the best functionality is called Inkscape: http://www.inkscape.org/.
The alternative to InDesign is called Scribus: http://www.scribus.net.
Finally, something that will actually be useful to all of you (using a Mac at least) is NeoOffice a very well polished open source alternative to Microsoft Office: http://www.neooffice.org/
Here are a couple of programs that I use on a daily basis that are all Open Source:
Adium: An IM program that covers all the major IM kinds. I like it because of its customization options and the fact that it is not made by AOL (which I personally despise). Best of all its Open Source and Free!
Text Wrangler: A free text editor that is really useful for editing HTML and CSS. It color codes the code you write so its easier do read HTML and CSS and even more techie types of coding.
Quicksilver: This is that launcher program that I was using during the demonstration in class today. I think its probably the most amazing program ever. If only because it saves you from always going to the Applications folder and then hunting for the right program. I find it impossible to use computers without quicksilver now though so keep in mind that it spoils you! This very elegantly designed program has an equally spare and elegant website. Just click on the quicksilver button and click the dowload button in the tab that pulls out and you are set.
