Posts filed under 'Design'
This is my project
Why then do I struggle more to find my individual concept, than I would when faced with a design criteria placed upon me by a client.
I think from a designers perspective to present oneself becomes a far more daunting task, than to create something when given the desired constraints of a client.
I know my abilities, and that of my competitors, that is indeed the crux. When every word you write is cold hard screen media, the decisions you make directly relate to your on screen presence.
I have my blog, if you are reading this, you are here. This is my experimental zone, and does not translate well into a marketing strategy, or first impressions presence for potential clients who are looking for a website to project there product to the internet savvy world.
I have been sat on ‘oikofugic.com’ for almost a year now, with the
desire to promote my skills as a web site designer in the southport area.
I am on my way, make space. Remember Oikofugic.com is on it’s way. My /blog is a temporary stocking filler.. Stay tuned..
October 18th, 2007
Today’s remarkable tunes:
Titties and beer Frank Zappa
Slow blues Hendrix
Masks Van der Graaf Generator
and also\
An interesting selection generated by the ghost of ZAPPPA baby.
Just a quick one before I retire for the night.
I have a design job, not going to go into details at this point, other than to say it has been a most enjoyable experience so far.
My client.. Seems strange referring to ‘him/her’ as such. We have had a meeting, chat, discussed goals, styles. I assured the ‘client that I could achieve what was required..
And never one to divert from set task, jumped in I did with a frothy splash reminiscent of how you might feel jumping into a hot tub after a long walk through a dry and sandy desert. Initially webdesign… Initially a quest.
To get to the point I have a nice design in my head, lots of good content. The site is partially rendered, all involved are happy, apart from that is my schizoid me-O. Everything works as it should, but from within the darkest recesses I know with a hint of javascript a dab of php a stroll into the programming cosmos.. (it is a vast space.) Things could be supA seXy. So as a make-shift artist where do you decide what you currently know will do as opposed to what you know could be done if indeed you had the necessary and diligently acquired skill base.
My example:
I have pics to be displayed as feature pics on a page, from a category holder.
When displayed pics need to hover, showing a before and after scenario. These pics are to be displayed either horizontally or vertically, and as such I require only the two page templates to render the images.
If images did nor require ‘on hover’ I could use a spot of javascript to change the image to be displayed without having to call a fresh page.
IE:
<script language="javascript">
function ChangeImage1(){
document.getElementById("image1")
.src= "location of the first thumbnail";
}</script>
I imagine I ought to be able to use php to insert image code into standard template, maybe I will suss it over the next few days. Any ideas?
Update
I got over the above situation by making lots of pages, but it wasn’t so bad.
I have almost finished the job now, will post links to it soon.
During the building process I have implemented a number of techniques that were known to me, but hadn’t got around to using. Basically I have been using the php include function to pull the various repeatable aspects of the pages together. For example the top section [header] and [footer] at the bottom can be called from a file written once, and stored safely not to be tampered with, giving the site a delightful continuity that can sometimes be lost if pages are built individually.
I received a few more images this evening to add to the site, and there is some tweaking to be done, behind the scenes tidy up. I am going to leave you with a pic from Lynseys’ portfolio, an example of the abstract and original content you will find in her site. Enjoy..
September 5th, 2007
Layout techniques using css. Cascading style sheets.
Over the next few weeks I am going to build an external working page (I will link to soon) with pictures, graphic images, text, navigation and anything else that pops into mind at any given time along the course of the project. In an effort to keep this blog going I will post in smallish segments, to enable me to write more frequently.
Disclaimer:
I have uncovered all I know from the web, and my own investigations. All tutorials are given in the understanding that information acquired here might in some cases not be the best solution to any possible hypothetical situation. Hold me not responsible for any psychiatric episodes you may experience on your personal quest to build a web site.
Enjoy:
The beginnings
Above is a div. It can be any size as specified by the style sheet or style rules.
html:
<div id="maincont"></div>
css:
#maincont {
width:350px;
height:200px;
border:2px solid green;
margin-left:30px; }
A div is just a box/container and is used to create a page layout. Divs can be placed within other divs, next to each other, or in any other combination you can imagine.
Below I am going to put another div inside the first and align it to the left.
html:
<div id="maincont1">
<div id="lfttbx"></div>
</div>
css:
#lfttbx {
width:150px;
height:50px;
border:2px solid red;
float:left; }
Floating a div like this is a common way to achieve a multi columned layout, or even more elaborate designs.
Below I will add another containind div to the structure, but align it to the right.
html:
<div id="maincont1">
<div id="lfttbx"></div>
<div id="rttbx"></div>
</div>
css:
#rttbx {
width:180px;
height:70px;
border:2px solid blue;
float:right; }
August 21st, 2007
I came across this today. Doing this quiz your tastes, and styles are matched to a famous photographer:
Here are my results:
One of my own: Clearly he acquired all he knows from his former master.
August 15th, 2007
Just reading through a few e-mail news/web dev articles, when I came across this post on SitePoint Forums.
I decided to post this link just for the fun of it, some interesting comments along the way.Enjoy:
March 25th, 2007
Rachel brings out album no.2
Well the hard work is over the album recorded and produced.
I have almost finished updating the website ready for the domain transfer in the next month or so. See previous post.
Site moved to dreamhost, all went well, just a few additions over the next few weeks to add some dynamics to the site Rachels site:
You should check it out:
March 6th, 2007
feel like I’m starting over
Please read for intro: WordPress as a CMS
I have to document this in cyber land, or the chances are I will forget, or not be able to decipher my hand written notes.
So I have my basic design, and I’m using the Blix theme, because I am already familiar with it, as it provides the scaffolding for this blog.
With that in mind, and the fact that transmuting the theme to my will in the first instance was, lets say a task doing it all again for a new and totally different project presented more challenges.
There is out there a fairly heated debate as to the best platform for building dynamic sites. I like wordpress, but I also like corel photopaint opposed to photoshop, I guess it’s just the old familiarity.
The details
I have intergrated the design with Blix and all seems good.
What I want to begin with is a static front page, but also have that page easily updatable by the client.
Small sites I have done in the past have always been down to me to update, so to have a non-designer come in with additions and customisation in mind presents some accesibility issues.
So back to wordpress, I think the interface is reasonably intuaitive, and if problems arise I can be on hand to guide the way.
How dy’a do it?
Firstly: As basic as possible I copied the index.php file and saved it to a spans.php (whatever) this would allow me to use that template for created pages for the semi-static side of the site.
Secondly: Copied the index.php and saved it orig.php, so I have it in case of meltdown.
Thirdly: Deleted the posts loop from index.php so I can use all the good stuff without the clutter hitting the front page by default.
Please note, at this point I would love a highly qualified mentor!!
Update
Been playing in code, I have the feeling again, when things begin to come together.
I am at this point going to show how to use WS_FTP LE
I think it might come in handy GO..
Latest News and Updates
The project I’m working on as mentioned above required a static front page, and I have outlined how I planned to achieve this. Well anyway it didn’t work, i geuss it has something to do with the blix extended page functions, which ironically was the route of the probelm I am about to describe below.
Introducing the latest version of wordpress
WordPress 2.1
I came across this whilst browsing for a solution to the static page quest. I was delighted to see that the latest version of WP came with the option to make a page static, (to take it out of the loop), and designate post pages to another location.
Excellent i thought and checked to see what dreamhosts’ version was. 2.1 to upgrade or install, and since the project is on the table in it early stages I thought i’d give it a shot.
Again it didn’t work, worse than that any created pages were not showing in the nav bar. I assumed it was to do with the tinkering on my part in customizing the design to mine.
A destryed database later and a reinstall and the same problem. What’s going on. flipped through a couple of themes and the navigation worked as expected. So it’s a blix thing. Major pain in the ass. It is to do with the extended special bx-functions.php. Not even begin to dabble with that code. So it has to be a new base theme, or a fix.
The fix
Not fully tested yet, but in early stages seems to work.
Check this development blog here for more details, and futher possibilities.
February 20th, 2007
Isn’t that what it is?
As wordpress organizes and categorises posts, archives, all sorts of things, you think it would be a simple task to use it’s structure for a non-blog style website. With this in mind:
I have found myself high and dry above the web triangle, my compass spinning.
The goal
To use wordpress as cms for a non-blog website. I have a load of links: See below that I think will help accomplish this task.
I will build this site and document the progress, It will a be useful learning oppurtunity.
This post is just for general reference and a guide to myself as I without bearings head into the anything is possible with WP dimension.
To be fair I have been scratching my head a little, but now feel ready to undertake this task as a theoretical, hypothetical diversion into what might, or indeed could have been..
So the thing is:
I have a site design nice-ish, needs a little work and was planning to use a content management system (CMS) to allow the owner of site the ability to update and maintain content.
With my move here to dreamhost many new and exciting options became available, and I initially looked at Joomla for the job. I don’t know perhaps I didn’t give it enough time, perhaps I am not up for the task, these thoughts have plagued my waking hours.
Deny the gremlins
The urgency that was here to begin with has subsided, I feel now ready to undertake this coding challenge, and to make it beautiful..
Check these links:
WP as CMS
Page as front page
Inclued page
February 18th, 2007
The site as it stands was produced about feb 06, I was resonably happy with the design at the time, but rachel has moved onwards and is in the process of releasing her second album.
Name to be announced any time soon.
During the last few months Rachel has been busy playing gigs around the uk, building up her exposure, while I was consumed in other projects. Consequently aspects of the site became a little rushed, and thrown together at the last minute.
With the imminent arrival of the new album I wanted to freshen and clean up the design, as well as the underlying code.
The design process involves many factors, most of which I have learned the hard way.
One of the most obvious problems and one that is often overlooked by the fledgling designer is browser compatability.
Whilst my pages may look good on the machine I use, it is not guaranteed to look the same on all systems.
Before we even delve into the issues involving valid css and xhtml markup, I would like to quickly mention colour.
Having built up my knowledge on a 800/600 monitor, not advancing from windows ’98 until fairly recently in the scheme of things, I was quite shocked to see the massive difference in colour when I viewed my work on my new laptop.
So things needed to change:
You can look at the new, only slightly updated and inprogress design here for now, need to get approval to move the domain and reboot on the Dreamhost servers.
January 8th, 2007
Oikofugic Design has branched out
It wasn’t anything I had considered until recently, hadn’t come across any myspace pages whilst browsing, and hadn’t even looked at what the site had to offer.
A few days ago I changed my mind
Chatting at work, and it turns out that these social networking pages are indeed very popular, apparently over 50 million unique users.
So I searched Mat with one ‘T’ , one in a million. Mat’s place. and whilst there I found DJ Burger aka Chris, check his home and thought to myself why the hell not, no-one ever looks at my website, and so far I’ve had nowt but spam on the new blog, so I decided to take the plunge.
That was a few days ago, but didn’t get round to following up my plans until I came across an article by Mike D of Mike industries titled hacking a more tasteful myspace.
He has provided copy and paste css and instructions you can download, you do a little image tweaking and whatever modifications you desire and you are away with a myspace page you can be proud of. Cheers Mike
October 20th, 2006
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