http://carvingcode.com/home/blog/ carvingCode: carving unique nooks in the web en admin@carvingcode.com Copyright 2008 2008-05-05T13:53:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/a_new_project/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/a_new_project/#When:13:53:00Z The weblog has been in WordPress, but had outgrown its feature set unless the owner installed some custom plugins.  Under ExpressionEngine, the new features will be easy to implement. I’m working on a new project.  It’s essentially a redesign of a weblog which I am porting into ExpressionEngine and making use of its features to extend what the weblog does.  This is a weblog which displays pictures of greeting cards that are individually designed.  There’s a description of the techniques used, primarily associated with the use of rubber stamps, color schemes, cards stocks, etc. The weblog has been in WordPress, but had outgrown its feature set unless the owner installed some custom plugins.  Under ExpressionEngine, the new features will be easy to implement. I’m looking forward to working on this.  Color scheme, basic template design, etc. is complete.  Next comes implementing the real content management.  I’ve tested the import of posts from WordPress and it works, although there’s no suitable option that also auto-creates the categories.  (Frankly, I think EllisLab should provide this import functionality instead of designers needing to rely on outdated and unsupported 3rd-party hacks.) More on this project as it moves forward. Planning 2008-05-05T13:53:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/making_site_theme_my_own/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/making_site_theme_my_own/#When:11:14:00Z “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” ~ Buckminster Fuller I just replaced the theme I had re-launched this site with just over a week ago.  That’s the problem with web development—it’s so easy to make changes that I find myself tweeking the site instead of doing other things. While the previous site was fine, it wasn’t my own.  I bought a theme and re-worked it.  Nothing wrong with this; I often recommend reworking themes, but in this case—for my own site—I decided, after the fact (and over 20 hours of work), that it wasn’t the way I wanted to go. Process I started with the grid of the homepage and placed borders around everything so I could see the margins and padding.  The previous theme was a little too tight, so I designed in more white space and created a two-column design instead of three.  This give more room for the content and allowed me to increase the font-size a bit. I then worked on the header region, creating a shorter space for the logo and site navigation.  I’ve enjoyed designs I’ve recently come across that minimizes space requirements for header stuff, allowing users to get to the real purpose of the web site quicker. Main site navigation went through a few versions before deciding, again, on a minimalistic approach.  Many sites are using a tab-based navbar, so I decided to steer the other direction and keep it simple.  I then followed up by placing the site navigation in the footer region also. The color scheme stems from the basic and white with the black moved a little toward gray.  For a third color, I originally used a shade of purple, but in the end opted for a brilliant blue.  As I’m using that is only a few places, it counters the starkness of black and white well. Still to do I’ll be adding a portfolio section soon, but I need to rethink how I want to present that.  I also may be combining the “articles” and “blog” sections as I’m not sold on having those independent.  Expanding categories and using them to selectively display content seems to be the way I’m leaning.  I’m also going to do something with the image region on the homepage, possible a little rollover effect which displays a color version of the image. Planning 2008-05-03T11:14:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/a_warm_thought_for_any_teacher/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/a_warm_thought_for_any_teacher/#When:15:29:00Z I received an invite through my LinkedIn account this AM from a past student.  He’s really become a success and it was good to hear from him, and good to hear that I had some impact on his life.  A welcome for any teacher. It has been a long time since I last talked to you when I worked for you as a teaching assistant at Clinton-Massie in 2000. I would like to thank you as I have used many of the basic skills I picked up in your classes. Teaching 2008-04-30T15:29:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/prospects_open/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/prospects_open/#When:00:57:00Z Life is short.  A stable life is illusionary.  Change is the only constant. When you let others have more control over your life than you do, you leave yourself exposed.  In careers, there’s no security.  No one cares about your future, about your success.  It’s up to you to gain control. Bosses got to be boss by caring about themselves more than those they worked with.  Colleagues care more about their status than yours. No matter where you are in your life—in your career—it is important to have options.  Explore options whenever circumstances warrant. It’s your life to control. Living 2008-04-30T00:57:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/help_the_planet/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/help_the_planet/#When:01:43:00Z I’m a proponent of simple things.  So, let me share… Living 2008-04-23T01:43:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/heres_my_choice/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/heres_my_choice/#When:00:55:00Z I usually wait a little longer to decide who I’m for in a Presidential election, but I can’t find a reason to wait. I’m for Obama. There’s many reasons, in terms of his overall policy plans, but the most important for me is that I believe we need major change.  The country can’t keep going int he direction it has and survive.  Obama is more of an outsider to Washington politics and I believe this is a huge necessity to have any chance for change. I won’t use this as a forum for political announcements, etc.  There’s going to be far to much of that before November.  But I do feel it’s appropriate to make this one announcement. Living 2008-04-22T00:55:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/cause_and_effect/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/cause_and_effect/#When:14:52:00Z I’ve been reading a lot about Cause and Effect recently and have been interested in the frequency this is referenced, from philosophy to theology to mysticism to science.  Yet what I find really amazing is no matter how ancient or recent the writings, or its focus, all are in agreement about what Cause and Effect represents.  This is rare—it’s rare to have history and the vast differences found throughout history to be in such agreement about a single idea!  Amazing, isn’t it? Learning, Living 2008-04-20T14:52:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/first_meeting_no_gig/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/first_meeting_no_gig/#When:17:54:00Z The meeting yesterday went fine, although I didn’t come away with a gig.  There wasn’t any budget, something I had anticipated.  I still wanted to meet and discuss the project and the person I met with is a past student. I ended up giving him some advice which I think he appreciated.  There really wasn’t anything to be accomplished by doing the PHP work he had asked for as it would not have met the true needs of the project.  He may end up using ExpressionEngine for the project, just as I would have. So, first meeting; no gig.  No worries.  Next steps: put together marketing plan. Planning 2008-04-19T17:54:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/leaping/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/leaping/#When:02:24:00Z I’m anxiously optimistic as I move forward in formally launching my web design/development practice.  It’s several years late, but better late than never as they say. The plan is to handle as much of the work myself as I can and contract the remainder.  I plan to continue in my teaching position for the foreseeable future.  In the next couple of weeks, I’ll make initial contact with a number of existing web design firms in the area introducing myself and offering my services for contract work as well. I have a preliminary meeting with a client tomorrow for a PHP project.  It could be interesting work; a backend system for a member-based site.  A little e-commerce mixed with a social site.  If all goes well, it will be the first of many paid gigs. Living, Planning 2008-04-18T02:24:00-06:00 http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/typo_test/ http://carvingcode.com/home/blogpost/typo_test/#When:12:07:00Z H1 test H2 test H3 test ALERT TEXT INFO TEXT WARN TEXT Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  Your blockquote text here.  List item if ($yourChoice == "carvingCode") {        $accolades = "many";    }    echo "Contact us today!"; Playing 2008-04-17T12:07:00-06:00