Category Archives: thoughts

Russell French Vehicle Sales

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If you are looking for Russell’s car sales website, please read this first:

I first want to point out that this is just my personal, unfortunate experience, and should be taken as only that.

My initial dealings with Russell French Vehicle Sales were positive. Located rurally, the fact that they weren’t a typical looking car showroom did not bother me. After telephoning for a Sunday appointment, my Dad and I were heartily greeting, and were both able to test drive the car alone, and park it in a nearby lay-by for an inquisitive inspection. Continue reading →

Everything that can be invented has been invented

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“Everything that can be invented has been invented”

Quote anecdotally misattributed to Charles H. Duell, Commisioner, US Patent Office, 1899

Apparantly a misquote, sometimes the web can feel like this at times. You work on a idea you have just thought of, only to find it already exists.

Whilst working on something for http://10k.aneventapart.com/ – an event where you can submit a little web app which is no larger than 10k, I did a bit of googling to find the exact same thing has already been built.

Colour Palette Creator

After seeing Andy Clarke’s post ages ago about creating colour palettes, I thought it would be a great little tool to have – and the 10k event was the perfect opportunity to make it. But I was beaten to it: http://slayeroffice.com/tools/color_palette/

And again…

A while ago I had the idea of a neverending book idea, where everyone can add a sentence to continue the book. Yep, already been done.

The same goes for website designs. I saw a blog design with the identical look to one of the rejected mockups for this blog. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t take mine further than the PSD stage; good job too.

Why am complaining?

Most of my ‘ideas’ are just that – they never get past a quick doodle in the Moleskine. I should be grateful these people are building my ideas!

Back to the drawing board

So once again, I am thinking of things to make for the event. Lets build it quick before anyone else does!

The Merits of WordPress

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After talking recently about the pros and cons of building your own CMS with a colleague, and especially the time that goes into building one. Is it really worth it?

Now I must state that as primarily a designer, the developer role doesn’t come as easy to me. The main reason I use WordPress on this blog is that is was so quick and easy to set up.

However with speed being a major factor with mobile web, Google rankings and the complexity of WordPress, I’m pretty sure that a billy-basic CMS would load a lot quicker. But do people really care?

Reality probably means that I’ll stick with WordPress, upgrade to v3 and be able to write blog posts like I am now on my iPhone.

So, have you ever written your own CMS, or wanted to, or do you think that off-the-shelf systems are more than capable?

The Constant Redesigner

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This site has, it seems always remained in a state of flux. In it’s current ‘version 3′ guise I have never been 100% happy with it.

The many redesigns are usually due to me getting bored with the site. My skills and design knowledge have improved and a personal brand redesign along the way have changed the look also.

Part of the problem comes with a lack of purpose for the site. Although a designer I don’t have much of a portfolio on the website – mainly because I am currently in full-time employment and do not show any work I do during office hours. The site also isn’t a promotional tool either so it only exists to be a place to blog and host experiments.

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Language Agnostic Programming

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Having coded in many languages, and recently when using MooTools instead of jQuery, i’ve come to realise that most actual programming is pretty language agnostic. What I mean is that most languages do the same thing, just very differently, but it is how you contruct your code that makes you a good programmer

Chances are, if you are good at jQuery you will be pretty good at MooTools (after learning the new declarations etc). The same goes for in a larger extent SQL/MySQL/Oracle or ASP/PHP/Ruby etc.

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On ‘Magpie Designers’

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In an ever-changing web world, new technologies are constantly evolving. With the emergence of alternative font display systems, new CSS effects and the increased uptake on modern browsers, designers are using these new techniques more and more. Add this to a sprinkling of current design ‘trends’ such as the noise filter, and pixel perfect line details and it makes for some very similar looking websites.

It is inevitable then that these new and shiny capabilities will catch a web designer’s eye (especially after years of browser constraints) but are we turning our eagerness to use the latest styling techniques into a world of monotonous and similar designs?

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