Tagweb

Resume Rebuild

Realizing that this resume template that I’ve been using for over a decade now is a bit out of date, I’m rebuilding it from scratch using responsive design techniques.

Almost completed with the base content and design. Just started the creation of the icons.

Visualize CSS Patterns in 3D

I was recently introduced a Firefox extension that allows you to visualize your website in 3D. Tilt, is an amazingly powerful tool that can help you immediacy see the nested layers of CSS elements.

 

Robbie Manson: The Mindful Designer

Another great talk on web design, that feels like it shifts a little outside of the World Wide Web. What I learned:

  • We are more efficient when designing away from the computer.
  • One of the techniques he uses is called “6-Up Sketching”, where you set a timer for 5 minutes and try to quickly come up with 6 unique concepts. After the 5 minutes is up, you and your team try to find the strong and weak points in each concept.
  • Intent has to be balanced with Experimentation. As slick as CSS is, it’s not flexible and an accident usually results in an error, not an innovation.

My notepad…

Legos for CSS Design Patterns

Thanks to Natalie Downe‘s Practical Maintainable CSS slideshow for this inspirational idea of using Legos for design grids for laying out web pages.

Learning Web Development

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide Dive Into Python - FREE downloadPython Programming for the Absolute Beginner HTML, XHTML, and CSS (Visual Quickstart Guide)

I have made a few web pages in my life, but most are pretty darn simple with minimal code snippets. I’ve built a skeleton database using MySQL and PHP. I have set up phpBB, Drupal and WordPress sites, hacking them in order to get them functioning the way I need. However, I haven’t had the chance to really “build a website”, at least not by my own definitions. Well, this has got to change now, as I’m a little tired of hacking templates to get them to do what I need. As much as I would like to focus strictly on my graphics work, the world won’t let me… for now.

So begins the geek streak.

I’ve started reading this HTML, XHTML & CSS Visual Quickstart Guide that I picked up at the local thrift store. It was published in 2007 so I’m sure that some of the information is outdated, but most is still valid. I’m about half way through it and it’s helped solidify my pretty loose knowledge of CSS. Once in awhile, I put the book and my highlighter down in order to verify some stuff on the computer. HTML5 is something I keep referring to, in order to compare to XHTML. Trying to get a feel for what the future holds.

Boilerplate appears to be a good template of standards to start with. There’s some HTML5 code examples out there and even a test site that gives your browser a ranking based on the number of HTML5 features available.

I think that once I finish with the boilerplate demo video below, I will walk through this code demonstration of common HTML5 techniques.

Web Programming with Python

Going to go super geek for a moment here, but I will keep this very short.

I know that I need to be versed in web programming, because nearly everything that I have done, either personal or project related, ends up on the web in some format. I’m realizing that WordPress, Drupal, Joomla or other content management software solutions will not give me the flexibility that I need.

I’m turning to Python, due to it’s simplicity, use of PERL style regular expressions (w00t) and (most importantly) it’s integration in nearly every 3D animation package that’s out there.  Is Python programming for the web going to be more of a pain than just utilizing Ruby or PHP?  Maybe, but there’s always frameworks, like Django.

Without further adieu, here’s a blog, made in 8 minutes.

Vector Park

Procedurally animated art game? These little toys are sure to warm your heart. Simple and brilliant. Please take a moment to checkout some of the work on Vector Park.

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