Web Design

Dueck Brothers Website
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I finished the Dueck Brothers website awhile back, and finally got signoff on it. It's officially done. I am happy to say that it turned out fairly well. Most important is that the Duecks love their new site. I created a skin for a CMS called Dot Net Nuke (pain in the butt, after using the software I'm not a big fan), then rewrote/reformatted all the content, added a flash gallery, and just made everything a lot more cohesive. Seems to work fine in Firefox 2 & IE6. Check it out at http://www.dueckbrothers.com/

No matter how often I say that I'm not going to do any more design work for awhile, another little contract always seems to pop up. It seems like spring is working her wiles on me, and sending creativity breezes my way. Just can't say no!

I took a couple of hours 2 weeks ago to evaluate a friend's website and make suggestions for him to implement, so that wasn't a lot of work. I've also been asked how much it would cost for 3 t-shirt mockups / 1 final design for the town fair coming up. It sounds like kind of a fun job, so I've given them a quote. We'll see where it goes from there. I really was trying to stop working though, especially since it's almost to the point where baby could arrive any day and I won't have much design time. Not getting jobs done on time = bad.

Question of the day: why do people still make websites where you have to choose Flash or HTML? You're duplicating your content, which leads to content differences and errors. You're forcing your users to think, instead of just using the website intuitively. You're wasting homepage real estate! Forcing users to choose is such a designer's-way-out option! Grr.

You need options? Run some stats on the browsers surfing your site, and choose either all flash or all HTML, based on your users. Better yet, integrate both: just make sure the navigation isn't flash if you've got a lot of old-browser nonsense going on. You could also do a browser/bandwidth-detect to decide which site to send them to if you absolutely must have the two separate options. Invisible is best! Let people use your website without thinking so hard, and let the code do the work.

Rant over.

Almost.

My other pet peeve of the day: a design company who makes a website and does a shoddy job. Our town spent some dough to get this website, and it's not living up to the task. The WYSIWYG editor control (word-type-editor) isn't saving changes and frustrates the users who have to update the site. They don't get consistent support or timely answers to their emails in response to problems they're having. And to top it off, the site is visually ugly, has poor navigation, lacks content organization in a bad way, and could really do with a ton of UI changes. It looks like a poorly-customized frontend template to me. Joomla backend - at least they did that right! Many bah-humbugs go out to the design company.

Poor websites are just something that gets me up in arms. Can we ban them? Or at least start a TV Show like the home makeover ones. Introducing... *insert drumroll here* Extreme Website Makeover! Watch us peel away those ugly layers of bloated code, heavy graphics, and poor UI. We'll start with surgery, then stitch it all back together and leave it with a gloss not topped by any wax on the market today!

Life and Dick VanDyke

Dick VanDyke
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The photo to the right is the final painting in the set of 3 that I've been meaning to do for several years. It's now complete, with Dick VanDyke, Audrey Hepburn, and Sean Connery. I'm quite pleased with the way this one turned out. Now one more wall in our house looks a bit less bare! So huzzah for that.

The baby and I are still doing well: we're nearing the end of the 36th week now. At my doctor's appointment this week my stomach was apparently measuring a bit small, so I've got an ultrasound scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon. I'm not too worried though, since baby is moving around a lot and seems to be fine otherwise.

In library news, I seem to be putting in a lot of hours, but it doesn't really feel like work. The shelves have now been re-ordered, due to the help of three lovely ladies, and are labeled, with room on each shelf for new books. We have a few display shelves to show off our newer items, and the music and DVDs are all out and organized to a T. It makes me quite happy. Maybe I'll take pictures sometime. I'm also pleased to note that of the bulk of the books and items I purchased awhile back have been circulating. It's a relief, since this is my first time doing anything like this and I'm not 100% sure what people want.

Jeremie's job isn't stressing him out quite as much these past couple of days. Why might that be? There's an overtime ban, so he gets off around 5:30pm every night. I can definitely see how the extra time off is helping him out. The week before he worked 6 days, and often until 10 or 11pm - so we're quite thankful that he has some more time to chillax, get things done, and have a bit of space.

In novel news, I've also been reading up a storm - I've read about 6 or 7 novels by Ted Dekker, really enjoyed The Host by Stephenie Meyer, tried out some of the Yada Yada novels, was quite impressed with a novel by Sharon Shinn. I think I'll try to track down a few more of her books. I'm also embarking on a 'read my way through the authors in our library' quest. One book per author, just to get a feel for them. And if I don't like the book, I'm not going to force myself to read all the way through it. We'll see how it goes!

J's calculator watch

J's calculator watch
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I just haven't felt like blogging lately. Maybe someday soon.

the big belly

the big belly
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I seem to have been falling behind in my blogging. Which is funny, because I thought that not having a job would give me a lot more time to do things like this. I've found that I can fill up as much time as I have, regardless to how much there is. I'm taking a break from swimming laps today due to a busy week - and starting to get too tired doing all the everyday things I normally do. So all I have planned for today is some cataloging/shelving at the church library, and making some dinner. We'll see where my fancy runs for this evening.

On the baby front, the doctor says the measurements of my belly are 'average' and everything seems to be going well - especially since I don't have many complaints. I'm not too waterlogged, my back doesn't ache much, I can still tie my shoes, I'm not feeling sick... all good things, as far as I'm concerned! Monday marked the 34 weeks milestone, so there's a bit less than a month and a half left until baby is born. This week has been the week of sewing crib bedding, and I'm almost done - I just have to sew ties on to the bumper pad to keep it attached to the side of the crib. I've tried to do an item per day this week to divvy out the work, so I feel like I've been sewing all week. And crawling on the floor to cut out the fabric (the table's too small) was a bit tricky at this stage of fatness, since I find it hard to breathe when I'm bending over. Good thing I didn't wait until next month to do the sewing!

This week has been a bit hard on Jeremie, since one of his co-worker friends got laid off the other day, due to the oil industry downturn. It's been happening a lot lately here - the place Jeremie worked at up until January has laid off 2/3 of its staff. The company he's working for has laid off several people this week, which creates an atmosphere of anxiety. I heard from a friend over lunch yesterday that her boyfriend's company has been laying off people every wednesday since January. Talk about not wanting to go in to work! We feel very blessed to have a job for J that's fairly secure (as much as these things ever are), since he's working in a division that's still getting new jobs and has enough work to keep him employed. At the same time, it's a hard climate to live in all the time, and all the people getting laid off stresses Jeremie out - mostly for the sake of all the people without jobs.

My trip to Edmonton a couple of weeks ago went well. I managed to see 90% of the friends I wanted to catch up with, and got to visit with the family in the city as well - Maria, Erika, Jenna, Jesse and Sheleena. It was great to have a chance to do that before we start visiting with baby in-tow, which is sure to change the dynamics. I also spent a lot of money - mostly on eating out with friends, buying some different maternity clothes (shopping here is the pits), and some stuff for the baby - like a car seat, and some diaper accoutrements, since we're doing cloth. I think my favorite meal while there was at Chianti's. They do the best home-made pasta ever. I'll have to try it at home sometime!

Anyway, I'm getting tired again. Time for a nap!

I'm off!

grabbing a ball
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've decided to take a little trip to the big city, just like Madeline did. I'll be visiting and catching up with several lovely individuals I haven't been able to see in way too long, and so I'm quite looking forward to the whole thing! That is, if my car will start. Apparently it was cold out last night, and the cord to my block heater is broken. Bah.

On the trip schedule is coffee, shopping, visiting Alby and her new baby, some sister time, and whatever else happens to happen. I think I'll also be looking for some fabulous baby stuff and clothes for myself, since all the shirts that were just a bit snug are now too snug to wear. I never mind an excuse to shop, but staying on budget might prove a bit of a challenge if I fall in love with too many things!

The photo is from our 'nerd bowling' youth group event a couple of weeks ago. Everyone dressed up as nerdily as they could and headed out to a 5-pin lane that reminds me of the '60s. Our 'team' didn't really try very hard, but we did find out that if you bowl two balls in quick succession, they only count as one roll. Three is iffy - it works sometimes, and sometimes not. Oh, and I also got a strike with an under-the-left-leg shot. A total fluke.

In other fun-ness, I received the shipment of books for the church library! I'm still quite excited about the project, and have found that it's quite peaceful to take an hour and shelve/catalog some books. I'm also looking forward to going through all the really old stuff and culling some of what isn't used to make more shelf space, which will lead to a better display of the titles we do keep. And room for more fresh materials! I'm trying to keep in mind that my agenda isn't the only one, and that we have to be careful of other people's needs and opinions as well. Hopefully that will continue to happen.

I'm also happy to say that I should start receiving mat leave benefits this week or next, which should help out the money situation. J and I made a budget (exciting, no?) last week and we both feel better about our finances now, as we can keep track of our own spending and know about how much we can spend on certain things. Like groceries. We also gave ourselves a spending allowance, for whatever we want/need that month, which I look forward to. So far I've spent some of my March allowance on a new scanner (the old one just went bust), some books, and a smashing pair of earrings (dangly ones with the pendant from this neckace) from a jewelry party I went to last night by Stella & Dot. Joselyn also made her Black Bean Dip to Die For. I love that stuff.

I'm off to track down some tunes for the road trip. Wish me luck!