I recently read a post at Superawesome where they were adding their views to the ongoing discussion of why Web Designers are better if they know xHTML and CSS. As one such Web Designer I would tend to agree, but it doesn’t just stop at xHTML and CSS, what about dynamic languages such as JavaScript, PHP or ASP. Continue reading “Designer, Developer, Programmer” »

Recently I posted about my intention to create a personal project, but I was undecided in what form this would take. After some thought I decided to create a WordPress theme. Of course this is nothing original; there are thousands of themes available with almost as many designers creating them.

Usually I would hope to undertake work where I felt I could add value, but releasing yet another WordPress theme to a saturated market would add little value to the mass population. Instead the projects main value comes in me learning more about how to design and implement themes that provide more flexibility to a range of users than the themes I build for a single client at Bronco. Continue reading “Premium WordPress Theme: The Personal Project” »

Last month the new Bronco website was launched but the previous version was not even two years old, so why the change?

Why?

There are various reasons why a website is redeveloped, in this case some were personal and some were company focused:

Personal

When designing the previous website I was fairly new to the company and learning my trade, and since that point I have learnt a lot. I felt the time was right to redesign the website as our current website was no longer indicative of my own or the companies’ skills. By redesigning the website we could present a better image of ourselves as a company to prospective clients.

Initially it was my own wish to redesign the website and as I manage the project solely I anticipated no issues in gaining approval for rebuilding the website. Continue reading “Portfolio Website: Bronco” »

A few weeks ago it came time to upgrade my contract phone and I bought an iPhone. At the time I was aware of some people’s issues with the phone as well as my own such as a lack of internal FM radio and basic camera. However when looking for a new phone that would allow me more use of the mobile Internet the iPhone with its free data and wi-fi package seemed the best option.

Almost instantly the iPhone has become an invaluable gadget. On a recent trip to London the phone not only helped me stay connected while in London but helped me navigate traffic when rushing for the train. Using the internet through the iPhone is superb with its PC like rendering of web pages. However a lack of the ability to open links in a new tab results in a lot of navigation back and forth. Continue reading “Another iPhone sold” »

Recently I’ve been thinking about creating a personal project; to create something to help promote myself and my blog as well as have real world value to its potential users. The problem with this is the lack of idea, time and at times ability.

After redesigning my blog it was suggested that I create a WordPress theme. I’ve steered away from this previously as the bloated nature of designing for a blog is in conflict with my almost obsessive need to have full control over my code, which I usually attempt to keep as clean, and simple as possible. In creating my own blog or those for clients I have a certain level of control that allows me to implement my design to pixel perfection. In the case of creating a theme for external use you must consider all the possibilities, with little opportunity to go back and fix them later.
Continue reading “Would creating a personal project just be a headache?” »

After attending the Future of Web Design (FOWD) conference earlier this year, I have been keeping up to date on some of the other events Carsonified host. Last week it was the turn of Future of Web Apps (FOWA) in London. In the case of FOWA I could not suitably justify the costs of attending the conference as some of the subjects covered would have been little or no benefit to me. This year however Carsonified had expanded the two day conference to include an expo floor, which was accessible for a small cost.
Continue reading “FOWA and Diggnation” »

It’s now been a month since I moved house, and am still without a broadband connection due to BT taking it’s time installing a working phone line. So with access to a working Internet connection it seemed like a good time to catch up a little.
Continue reading “August Update” »

As it’s now been a month since I last posted I thought it was best that I wrote a quick note explaining myself. I’ve always been of the opinion that to run a respected blog you must update frequently, and once a month doesn’t cut it. Unfortunately for the blog I have recently moved house and am without an Internet connection. I’m currently waiting for BT and BT Openreach to get all the necessary stuff done to the phone line and then I can get the broadband setup. This is taking some time.

Hopefully when everything is working I should be able to start posting again, I also have some additions to the portfolio and some photos to add to flickr.

Be Back Soon

So Cuil, another new search engine has entered the market, claiming to be a Google killer with more advanced indexing algorithms. With the search engines founders coming from within the Google and IBM ranks you’d expect they would have a better chance that most, it’s a pity that with the current system it’s little more than a pipe dream.

Sure I’m basing this solely on my own opinion but I do have some reasons to back up my claim:
Continue reading “Hot or Cuil” »

Currently I run Firefox 2.0.0.16 as my primary browser at work. The reason for this is that it provides me with a balance of all the things I need as a web developer. These include code inspectors such as Firebug, add-on’s such as twitterfox and the web developer toolbar, as well as being a fairly standards compliant browser and occupying suitable share of the browser market.

Recently I have started to do more extensive browser testing, beyond just Internet Explorer and Firefox. Today this led me to a positioning problem in Safari, where by floated elements within a floated containing div would not appear on one single line, the containing div would not widen to accommodate all the child elements. This error only existed in Safari and after a few attempts at fixing it I gave up on the problem as it only occurred in Safari and did not destroy the usability of the website overall.

Upon viewing the website at home, where I use Firefox 3, the same positioning problem has occurred. Unfortunately making this a more significant issue and one I now need to fix. However more worrying is that my coding must be against the standards to break in both Safari and the new version of Firefox. A simple solution is to specify the width of the containing div, however that is not an option in this case. I’m usually an advocate of standards compliant coding, but this is one time where I really cannot understand why what I’ve coded is against the standards.