Gordonmac dot com - Free CSS Templates

New CDs!

Thu, 5 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Just bought some CDs from Amazon (surprisingly cheap!!). It's been ages since I've bought music from anywhere other than iTunes.

I got: The Fragile by NIN, The Blackening by Machine Head, TEN (+ 3 Bonus Tracks version) by Pearl Jam, Psalm 69 by Ministry and also Pretty Hate Machine by NIN.

They averaged out about maybe £5 - £6 each - seems I have a budget taste in music :)

Caithnesian - My new website

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I recently completed a new website for myself. How exciting!

Over the past three years Wordpress has almost become my sole occupation, creating client websites using its feature-rich API and templating system. Creating websites with it has become a pleasure, and with a reasonablly smooth learning curve, most people would be able to cobble together a fully functional website in no time at all.

In the past I have built my own little applications for publishing content, much like this site - but having seen the light I've made myself a site. It's for me and Kirsty to publish photos of our walks and outdoor excursions, mostly focussing on our county of Caithness.

If you're interested, have a look at Caithnesian.co.uk

Validating e-mail addresses in PHP

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This is easily the best function I've used for validating e-mail addresses in my PHP scripts and applications.

function is_valid_email($email)
{
	$qtext = '[^\\x0d\\x22\\x5c\\x80-\\xff]';
	$dtext = '[^\\x0d\\x5b-\\x5d\\x80-\\xff]';
	$atom = '[^\\x00-\\x20\\x22\\x28\\x29\\x2c\\x2e\\x3a-\\x3c\\x3e\\x40\\x5b-\\x5d\\x7f-\\xff]+';
	$quoted_pair = '\\x5c[\\x00-\\x7f]';
	$domain_literal = "\\x5b($dtext|$quoted_pair)*\\x5d";
	$quoted_string = "\\x22($qtext|$quoted_pair)*\\x22";
	$domain_ref = $atom;
	$sub_domain = "($domain_ref|$domain_literal)";
	$word = "($atom|$quoted_string)";
	$domain = "$sub_domain(\\x2e$sub_domain)*";
	$local_part = "$word(\\x2e$word)*";
	$addr_spec = "$local_part\\x40$domain";
	return preg_match("!^$addr_spec$!", $email) ? true : false;
}

Use it as follows:

if((isset($_POST['email']) && !empty($_POST['email']))
{
    if(is_valid_email($_POST['email']))
    {
	    $email = $_POST['email'];
    } else {
    	$errors['email'] = 'Please provide a valid e-mail address.';
    }
} else {
    $errors['email'] = 'Please provide your e-mail address.';
}

Displaying recent posts in the Wordpress sidebar

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

To add recent posts navigation to your Wordpress blog, simple add the following code to sidebar.php.

<h2>Recent Posts</h2>
<nav id="navigation-recent">
<ul>
<?php
$recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts(5);
foreach( $recent_posts as $recent ){
	$date = date("M d, Y",strtotime($recent["post_date"]));
	echo '<li><a href="' . get_permalink($recent["ID"]) . '" title="Look '.$recent["post_title"].'" >' .   $recent["post_title"].'</a> '.$date.'</li>'; 
}
?>
</ul>
</nav>

This will display the 5 most recent posts. To change the number of recent posts just edit the following:

$recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts(10);

This will now display the 10 most recent posts.

Pacific Outdoor Equipment Peak ELITE AC - Conclusion

Wed, 9 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Finally, the big pass the buck.

Hi Gordon

If that is the case have you tried calling the Cotswold store to see if they can arrange something via post or a refund over the phone?

We now have no stock of the Peak Elite AC until our next delivery in 2012.

Let me know if you can't find a solution through Cotswold.

Kind regards
Chris

Hardly seems fair, seeing as I've already had one Pacific Outdoor Equipment Peak ELITE AC replaced by Cotswold outdoors.

Can safely conclude that I will never purchase anything else from this company ever again.

Pacific Outdoor Equipment Peak ELITE AC - 2

Tue, 8 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

After contacting Pacific Outdoor Equipment yesterday, I recieved the following response from their Uk Distributor, Burton McCall's Chris Stuckey

Dear Gordon

I am sorry to hear about the problems the you have had with your sleeping pads. It has become apparent that a faulty batch of pads have been shipped to us in the UK and therefore a small number of customers have experienced a slow deflation problem similar to the one you have experienced. We have been assured by Pacific Outdoor that this has been corrected at the manufacturing stage and therefore all the pads coming off of the production line going forward will be fault free.

As we are the distributor and supply to retailers we can't offer you a direct replacement / refund. However if you return your faulty pad to the Cotswold store that you purchased it from and ask for an exchange or refund they can then send it in to us for inspection and we will sort out a replacement directly with the store so they are not out of pocket.

I hope this is satisfactory, again apologies for the inconvenience and please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Kind regards
Chris

With my nearest Cotswold Outdoors being 220 miles away in Aberdeen, I hardly think this is fair. Who is responsible for the fulfillment of these warranties anyway!?

Pacific Outdoor Equipment Peak ELITE AC

Mon, 7 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I have purchased a Pacific Outdoor Equipment Peak ELITE AC from Cotswold Outdoors here in the United Kingdom. This is the second replacement I've had after the first one failing on me, resulting in a night on the cold ground.

Last night, on this mattress's second camping trip, the same thing happened again. A slow deflation 1.5 hours into sleeping on it, then a night on the ground in 0 degrees celsius conditions.

I'm not sure what is causing these failures, as after the first time it happened I have been extremely careful with the mattress when packing, storing and using it - but still the same end result. I only weight 9.5 stones, so I don't think I'm putting much pressure on it either.

At this point I feel unable to trust this product on another camping trip, in spite of it being one of the most comfortable sleeping mattresses I've ever used.

I've sent a note of complaint to Pacific Outdoor Equipment, and I'm awaiting a response.

Very dissapointed :(

Customising the Wordpress admin area

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

If you would like to customise your Wordpress admin pages these functions are an excellent start. In this little tutorial we'll look at customising the Wordpress logo in the Wordpress admin area, editing the Wordpress admin footer to include your own company name and also customising the "Howdy" greeting in the top left of the WordPress admin area.

Edit the Wordpress admin Logo

In your template folder open the functions.php file and simply add the following php code:

/**
  * my_custom_logo
  * Replace WordPress logo in Dashboard
*/
function my_custom_logo() {
  echo '
  <style type="text/css">
  #header-logo { background-image: url('.get_bloginfo('template_directory') . '/images/logo.jpg) !important; }
  </style>';
}
add_action('admin_head', 'my_custom_logo');

Now upload your own logo (must be 16px X 16px) to the images directory in your template folder.

Edit the Wordpress admin footer text

In your template folder open the functions.php file and simply add the following php code:

/**
  * edit_admin_footer
  * Replace footer text in WordPress Dashboard
*/
function edit_admin_footer() {
  echo 'Content management system provided by <a href="http://www.yourcompany.com/">Your Company Ltd</a>.';
}
add_filter('admin_footer_text', 'edit_admin_footer');

Edit the text and link to suit your own needs

Edit the Wordpress "Howdy" welcome message

In your template folder open the functions.php file and simply add the following php code:

/**
  *
  *
  * @param string  $translated
  * @param string  $text
  * @param string  $domain
  * @return Welcome to... instead of 'Howdy'
*/
function change_howdy($translated, $text, $domain) {
 if (!is_admin() || 'default' != $domain)
  return $translated;
 if (false !== strpos($translated, 'Howdy'))
  return str_replace('Howdy', 'Welcome to your website admin area', $translated);
 return $translated;
}
add_filter('gettext', 'change_howdy', 10, 3);

Edit the text to suit your own needs

Hope these help someone.

Relay For Life - Help!

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

On Saturday I will be taking part in Relay For Life in Thurso, and I'm looking for donations :)

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It's also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Cancer Research UK gets your money faster and, if you're a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

So please sponsor me now by following the link below!

Adding attached images to a Wordpress page

Wed, 2 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to display images attached to a Wordpress page/post all you need to do is copy the code below to your theme's functions.php file:


/* Sizes can be thumbnail, full, medium, large */
function getAttachedimages($size='full', $before = '', $after = '')
{ 
	global $post;
	$qty = -1;
	if ( $images = get_children(array(
		'post_parent' => $post->ID,
		'post_type' => 'attachment',
		'numberposts' => $qty,
		'post_mime_type' => 'image',
		'order' => 'DESC', 
		'orderby' => 'menu_order ID'
	)))
	{
		foreach( $images as $image ) 
		{
			$attachmenturl = wp_get_attachment_url($image->ID);
			$attachmentimage = wp_get_attachment_image( $image->ID, $size );
			echo $before . $attachmentimage . $after . "\n";
		}
	}
}

Usage

Using the function is a simple case of calling the function something like this:


<ul id="gallery">
<?php getAttachedimages('thumbnail', '<li>', '</li>'); ?>
</ul>

Have fun!

Prettier PHP meter to feet/inches conversions

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Whilst it's fairly simple to convert meters to feet and inches using PHP the resulting conversion often looks rather complex and untidy.

For example, most conversions will end up looking something like this: 12 meters = 39.3700 feet. This is not very pretty and looks overly complicated when you consider that most people express feet and inches like this: 39′ 4″.

The following PHP function will convert meters to feet in a user friendly manner, easily recognised by most people.

The PHP Code

<?php
function metersToFeetInches($meters, $echo = true)
{
	$m = $meters;
	$valInFeet = $m*3.2808399;
	$valFeet = (int)$valInFeet;
	$valInches = round(($valInFeet-$valFeet)*12);
	$data = $valFeet."&prime;".$valInches."&Prime;";
	if($echo == true)
	{
		echo $data;
	} else {
		return $data;
	}
}
?>

Usage

To echo out the converted data simply call the function like this:

<?php metersToFeetInches(12); ?>

To assign the converted data to a variable call the function like this:

<?php
$feetInches = metersToFeetInches(12,false);
echo $feetInches;
?>

Have fun :)

Digging into Wordpress

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

There is much to learn about the World's most popular publishing platform. From your first steps of learning about WordPress all the way through maintaining a site throughout the years, this book is packed with truly practical information.

The book goes into depth about the anatomy of a WordPress theme. How they work, and how to write the code you need to do the things you want. This means real code that you can sink your teeth into, as well as copy and paste. Beyond theme building, the book also introduces many tricks your functions.php file can pull off and show you ways to increase performance and security through HTAccess.

Get your copy now!

Energy Conservation, not just Generation

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Whilst reading the John Muir Trust's “What we think” page I came across this very compelling point within their manifesto about wind farms:

The current rush for large scale onshore wind developments, connected by a hugely centralised grid system shows a poverty of imagination and thinking rooted in the early 20th Century. If attention continues to be focused on increasing renewable energy targets, without any requirement to demonstrate what each development will achieve in greenhouse gas emissions reductions (including all aspects of the generation and transmission), we face a possible worst case scenario, where we achieve renewable energy targets through inappropriate developments and at great cost to important environments - only to discover that our greenhouse gas emissions are up, along with our energy consumption, and our energy supply is not secure.

I also quite liked Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth take on things:

Climate change is no longer a theory. It is the world's most pressing environmental problem and the anti-lobby, helped by nuclear interests, is trying to undermine Britain's role as a leader in tackling it and to fatally delay action. Wind is the most advanced of all the renewable technologies, but it needs to be followed quickly by solar, wave, tidal, biomass and others," he says. "No one is arguing that wind generators should cover all the national parks. That would be mad. The landscape can and must be protected.

Me, well I think we all think we're in control, and that's why I'm sitting on the *anti* side of the fence and rooting my beliefs in the Gaia hypothesis :)

LittleSnapper and QuickSnapper

Thu, 2 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

“Built to be the designer's digital scrapbook, LittleSnapper allows you to capture, organise, annotate and share screenshots from your desktop and the web.”

What a great little Mac application LittleSnapper is!

With the vast number of sites showcasing web design patterns (my fave being Pattern Tap) it's great to have a desktop application where you can very quickly grab captures of design elements you like from any web page. Back that up with a website to store and share your images straight from the application and you're bound to be up to your eyeballs in a pit of juicy inspiration!

Check out my QuickSnapper page…

Fantastic Cat

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Coolness!

Momusu's Engrish

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Funny as!

CMS buttons

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

At the moment I'm working on a small CMS project (just for fun) and have been trying to make the back-end admin part look reasonably good. This has meant a lot of time piddling around in Adobe Fireworks.

Seeing as I'm in a good mood I thought I'd give away a few of the buttons I made.

You can download the PNG source here.

Enjoy …

なぜ僕らは夢を見るの？

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

ç®±ã��é��ã��ã��ã�¨ã��æ§�ã��ã�ªå¤¢ã��ä¸ã��ã��é£�ã�³å�ºã��ã��ã��è¦�ã��ã�ªã��ã�ªã��ã�¤ã�³ã�¯ã�§æ�¸ã��ã��ã��ç§�å¯�ã�¨ã��ã��ã��ã�®ã��ã��ã��è�ã��ã�¨ã��ã�£ã��ã��ã�®ã�«ã�¤ã��ã�¦ã�®å¤¢ã��é£�ã�³å�ºã��ã��ã�®ã� ã�£ã��ã��

ç§�ã��ã�¡ã�¯ä»�ã�§ã��è�¥ã��ã�¨ã��ã�®å¤¢ã�«å�ºå�·ã��ã�¦ã��ã��

Recursive file deletion

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This is a handy PHP function (I can’t remember where I found it) which performs a recursive deletion of every file in a given directory. I’ve been using it to periodically flush cache files created by my CMS on this site.

function destroy($dir) {
    $mydir = opendir($dir);
    while(false !== ($file = readdir($mydir))) {
        if($file != ”.” && $file != ”..”) {
            chmod($dir.$file, 0777);
            if(is_dir($dir.$file)) {
                chdir(’.’);
                destroy($dir.$file.’/’);
                rmdir($dir.$file) or die(‘No deletey ’.$dir.$file);
            }
            else
                unlink($dir.$file) or die(‘No deletey ’.$dir.$file);
        }
    }
    closedir($mydir);
}

Example usage

Set the server path to the directory:

define(‘PATH’, ”/path/to/directory/”);

Then let rip…

destroy(PATH);

Have fun, but use with caution!

Spacer

Sat, 2 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

View a larger version

One to the head

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This is the All Japan Kendo Championship final of 2004. Someone ended up with a sore head.

Watch closely for the winning hit. It's very fast!

Grinner

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Every once in a while boredom strikes, and Adobe Fireworks is opened. This is my latest doodle made when awaiting IM responses.

View a larger version.

Styling previous and next links

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Previous and next “pagination” is a fairly common design element found on sites. As the name suggests, it's a simple navigation structure designed to allow users to move forward to the next, or return to the previous page in a sequence of documents. The purpose of this type of navigation is simple; it allows the author to break a large amount of information into smaller pieces instead of displaying a massive amount of information on the same page.

This little tutorial is an example of the HTML markup and CSS which could be used to make this type of navigation look nice, and also user friendly. Here is what we'll achieve.

The HTML markup

For this mini navigation we will use a simple unordered list with two list items. One for the link to the previous page, and one for the link to the next page in the sequence:


<ul id="pagination">
<li class="pagination-next"><a href="#" rel="next">Next</a></li>
<li class="pagination-prev"><a href="#" rel="prev">Previous</a></li>
</ul>

That's simple enough. We've all seen an unordered list before. However, I'd like to point out two things which I consider to be important in this instance:

I could have placed the link to the previous page first, but assuming that the user is logically moving their way through the paginated content, it's safe to also assume that they have already viewed the previous page. Therefore placing the next page link first in the list makes the most sense.
You will notice that I have added rel attributes to the anchors. Rel attributes convey relationships between the current page and the page that the URI points to.

Minor details, I know, but worth mentioning.

The CSS

The CSS required to style our page navigation is very simple. A few floats, background images and nothing complex.

First up, let's give the basic styles to the unordered list element.


#pagination
{
	font-size : .8em;
	list-style-type : none;
	margin : 0;
	overflow : hidden;
	padding : 2px 0;
	text-transform : uppercase
}

Updated: I had previously used overflow : auto;, but it seems that this generates horizontal scroll bars in Firefox 2 when you click on the links. Fixed now thanks to Richard.

Again, this is quite simple to understand. We set the font size, remove the bullets from the list, reset margin and padding and set the text to display in uppercase. You will also notice that I have added overflow : hidden; to the list of rules. The reason for this quite cool. We will float the links inside the unordered list. Because they will be floated we have to find a way to ensure that any content coming after the pagination links does not collapse inside the floated links. The overflow rule ensures this without us having to use any clearing elements after the floated elements.

Now we will do something to the list items.


#pagination li
{
	display : inline
}

List items are block-level elements. This means that without the intervention of CSS they would appear on individual lines. Setting the to display inline allows us to place our next and previous links on the same line.

Let's now add some basic link styling.


#pagination a,#pagination a:visited
{
	color : #999;
	text-decoration : none
}
	
#pagination a:hover
{
	color : #000;
	text-decoration : none
}

I chose to remove the link underlines with this rule, but you can replace them if you like.

Now, let's float our links. Previous page link to the left, and next page link to the right:


#pagination .pagination-prev a
{
	background : url(previous.gif) no-repeat left center;
	float : left;
	padding-left : 20px
}

#pagination .pagination-next a
{
	background : url(next.gif) no-repeat right center;
	float : right;
	padding-right : 20px;
	text-align : right
}

You'll notice that I also added the arrow images as backgrounds to the links. The padding is simply to stop the text appearing on top of the images. The float directions simply move each element to the defined edge of the parent element.

You can view the finished navigation and download the source code and image files.

Thanks for reading

Elasticity

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Recently I have been learning more about em-based (elastic) layouts, and have to say that they are a lot more robust than the old fixed pixel width layouts that I have so consistently used in the past. That's not to say I disliked my previous design, but I disliked being limited to the tiny, cramped area that designing within a 780px box allowed me, so my apologies if people with smaller resolution monitors have to do a little horizontal scrolling now.

As you can see I have stuck to a slightly Japanese-esque theme, with perhaps a little less character than the last design, but I still think this is quite nice too. It's brighter and I think the typography is much improved.

On the front-end I have taken advantage of Microformats on a fairly grand scale as I, and many other developers, strongly believe that this is the way to go in terms of semantically structured documents. The Microformats I have implemented include hCard, hAtom and rel-tags.

On the back-end I have improved the caching of dynamically generated content using PHP output buffering. Hopefully this will help people to move through the site a wee bit faster than before. I have also taken advantage of some ajax, and a little bit of dom scripting to get things done that couldn't be achieved with CSS and browser support in it's current state.

I hope you enjoy this version of the site, how long it will stay looking like this I don't know.

No sex since 1955

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A crusty old Sergeant Major found himself at a gala event, hosted by a local liberal arts college. There was no shortage of extremely young, idealistic ladies in attendance, one of whom approached the Sergeant Major for conversation.

She said, “Excuse me, Sergeant Major, but you seem to be a very serious man. Is something bothering you?”

“Negative, ma’am,” the Sergeant Major said, “Just serious by nature.”

“The young lady looked at his awards and decorations and said, “It looks like you have seen a lot of action.”

The Sergeant Major’s short reply was, “Yes, ma’am, a lot of action.”

The young lady, tiring of trying to start up a conversation, said, “You know, you should lighten up a little. Relax and enjoy yourself.”

The Sergeant Major just stared at her in his serious manner.

Finally the young lady said, “You know, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but when is the last time you had sex?”

The Sergeant Major looked at her and replied, “1955.”

She said, “Well, there you are. You really need to chill out and quit taking everything so seriously! I mean, no sex since 1955! She took his hand and led him to a private room where she proceeded to “relax” him several times.

Afterwards, and panting for breath, she leaned against his bare chest and said, “Wow, you sure didn’t forget much since 1955!”

The Sergeant Major, glancing at his watch, said in his matter-of-fact voice, “I hope not, it’s only 2130 now.”

Doncha just LOVE the 24hour clock!!!!

Merry Xmas!

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I'd like to wish everyone who knows me and/or visits Gordonmac dot com a very happy Christmas and best wishes for 2008!

Don't drink (way) to much and take care.

Gordon M

Cheeky for Xmas

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Even the cat won't escape decoration.

Nihon Sutairu (日本スタイル)

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Recently I've enjoyed making layouts using some of my Adobe Fireworks drawings. Part of the motivation is that I hate crappy stock images and would rather finish up with a product made completely by me.

This is my latest effort. It's a fluid layout with a Japanese flavour. I like it a lot and I'm seriously tempted to replace my current design with it.

10 songs…

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

If I had a very small capacity MP3 player instead of a brick of an iPod I would choose these songs…

I'm bored as hell today; hence the 3 blog posts!

Yeah, no-shit-sherlock this page don't validate.

Styling search forms

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Many people argue against removing browser default styles for form elements, especial replacing the default submit input with an image. This for the simple fact that text in an image cannot be resized by the user.

However, forms are a continual interest for me, and where possible I love to pretty them up:

In this very quick little tutorial I will show you how to style a search form so that it looks just like the one in the image above, but if you can't be bothered reading, and just want the images and the source there are downloadable as a zip archive. You can also view a live example.

The form markup

Forms generally don't differ much in terms of markup, and there is very little to them. Here is the markup used for the example:

<form id="form-search" method="post" action="#">
<p>
<label for="input-keywords">Search:</label> <input type="text" id="input-keywords" value="" />

<input id="submit-search" type="image" src="img/btn_go.jpg" alt="Search" title="Search" value="submit" />
</p>
</form>

One thing I noticed when experimenting with this is the need to remove white space from the text input and the image submit input tags. Otherwise the space is also rendered on the page.

Obviously you will have to add name attributes to provide the application which conducts the search to receive the values of the form's variables. You may also need to change the method attribute to "get". Simply look at how the current search form on your site works and take it from there.

The CSS

The first required rule simply zeros margins, adds enough padding to clear the form content from the background image of the little search icon:

#form-search
{
background: #FFFFFF url(img/icn_search.jpg) no-repeat left center;
padding: 0 26px;
margin: 0;
}

Next we zero margin and padding for the paragraph which contains the form contents:

#form-search p
{
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}

The next rule is important, it uses the "vertical-align" property to neatly line up the form label, text input and submit button, it's also going to zero out any nasty default margin and padding:

#form-search label, #input-keywords, #submit-search
{
vertical-align: middle;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}

The following rule is simply a matter of taste and adds some typographical alteration to the label text:

#form-search label 
{
font-size: 10px;
text-transform: uppercase;
}

The final CSS rule applies a fixed height (submit image = 22px height - 1px border on top and bottom) and width to the text input. It also adds a nice border:

#input-keywords
{
border: 1px solid #7F7F7F;
height: 20px;
width: 200px;
line-height: 20px;	
}

You will notice that I have also added 20 pixels of line-height to the text inside the input. Adding a line-height value equal to the height defined for the parent effectively centres the text within on the vertical axis.

That's all there is to it folks, go and make pretty search forms!

Free Template ~ “Simple…”

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Here is another quicky template design for you to use for your projects. It's only some CSS practice of mine but I hope someone will find it useful enough to use for something!

Features

Here is some quick information about the template before you go and download it.

3 columns, fixed-width
CSS horizontal navigation (scaleable)
Secondary CSS vertical navigation
Valid XHTML Strict
Valid (commented) CSS
Editable Adobe Fireworks PNG image source file included
Styles search form example
UTF-8 encoding (Supports Japanese text)

Browser compatibility

The template has been tested on both Microsoft Windows and OS X based computers and supports the following browsers:

Safari (OS X)
Camino
Firefox (Windows & OS X)
Opera (Windows & OS X)
Internet Explorer 5.01+

It also degrades gracefully in earlier browsers.

Lemme 'ave it already!

Ok, ok!! from here you can either preview the template, or download the zip file.

Relearning CSS

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

One of the very sad things about not doing something is the speed at which you forget, and this has definitely been the case for me with CSS.

For many months I had no interest in anything much, especially not CSS, then I decided I'd redesign my site… I used to enjoy doing that frequently (a little too frequently at times).

The problem with that soon became apparent as I discovered that workarounds for dipshit browsers and all their quirky quirkiness had been long forgotten… what a bugger!

The great thing about the web development community is their general willingness to share information, and the sheer volume of available info online is amazing. I started checking out some up to date tutorials at Community MX, Project Seven, A List Apart and Sitepoint, I also re-read Andy Clarke's awesome “Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design” book.

Now instead of wasting time nattering the computer time away on MSN, Mixi and Facebook (grr) I'm relearning something I used to love.

The best way to learn anything is by doing something interesting, and for me CSS without an element of design included is monotonous to say the least. To stave of the bore of code I decided to create a worksheet to practice, which is actually beginning to look like a decent page!

The fruits of my labour are here for all to see, and I'm glad to be back!

Free Template ~ “Somewhere Peaceful”

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

As promised I have finished a new free template called “Somewhere Peaceful”, and it's ready for everyone to get their hands on. This is my Christmas gift to the web development community.

The design is based around an image I drew earlier this month in Adobe Fireworks CS3 and looks quite Japanese-esque. As usual the template features only homemade graphics instead of 2^nd rate free stock images. Much better, don't you think?

Features

Here is some quick information about the template before you go and download it.

3 columns, fixed-width
Tabbed CSS horizontal navigation (scaleable)
Secondary CSS vertical navigation
Valid XHTML Strict
Valid (commented) CSS
Editable Adobe Fireworks PNG image source file included
OS X-style search form
UTF-8 encoding (Supports Japanese text)

Browser compatibility

The template has been tested on both Microsoft Windows and OS X based computers and supports the following browsers:

Safari (OS X)
Camino
Firefox (Windows & OS X)
Opera (Windows & OS X)
Internet Explorer 7
Internet Explorer 6+
Internet Explorer 5.5+

It also degrades gracefully in earlier versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer allowing users of these (primitive) browsers to still use your website even if they haven't visited the Windows Update site in a long time :)

Lemme 'ave it already!

Ok, ok!! from here you can either preview the template, or download the zip file.

Somewhere peaceful (Template)

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

It's been a long time since I have released a free template, and tonight was an extremely boring night. The result of that boredom was a little creativity based on some drawings I have been working on recently:

It's not quite finished at the moment, but hopefully I will have the zip file, complete with Adobe Fireworks PNG, ready within the next couple of days. Until then you can check out a larger image, or better still a live preview of the page.

Stay tuned.

面頬

Sun, 9 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I don't know why I'm enjoying drawing crazy pictures these days, but I think this creation is as bad as the other one. I was attempting to draw é�¢é ¬ (“mempo” - Japanese Samurai visor), but unfortunately it deviated slightly:

Here is a larger version. It looks more like Captain Spaulding.

Eh? What's this about?

Fri, 7 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

If you didn't (or don't) speak Japanese, what would you think this ad was speaking about?

lol… do your best to give me a caption.

Well, it says:

ã�ªã�·ã�¨ã��ï¼�è�¸ã�¯æ®�ã��ã�¦ã�¤ã�»ã��ã��ã�®ã��

ã��è�¹ã�¯ã��ã��ã�±ã��è�¸ã�¤ã�»ã�¯ã�¤ã�¤ã�¼ï¼�ä½�ã��ã��ã��æ�¹æ³�ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã��ï¼�å��ã�®5æ�¥é��ã��ã�¤ã�¨ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�£ã�¦…

… I'll leave you to your own imagination though :)

Japanese for Christmas

Fri, 7 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

With Christmas fast-approaching I thought I'd share some words and phrases in Japanese which relate to this time of the year.

If you have some Japanese friends, either online or in real life you can try some of these out on them…

If all you can see are squares instead of text that means you do not have Japanese language support installed on your computer.

English Word/phrase	Romaji/Pronunciation	Japanese Text
Christmas	kurisumasu	ã�¯ã�ªã�¹ã��ã�¹
Christmas card	kurisumasukaado	ã�¯ã�ªã�¹ã��ã�¹ã�«ã�¼ã��
Christmas Tree	kurisumasutsurii	ã�¯ã�ªã�¹ã��ã�¹ã��ã�ªã�¼
I wish you a merry Christmas	kurisumasu omedetou gozaimasu	ã�¯ã�ªã�¹ã��ã�¹ã��ã��ã�§ã�¨ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��
What do you want for Christmas?	kurisumasu ni ha nani ga hoshii no?	ã�¯ã�ªã�¹ã��ã�¹ã�«ã�¯ä½�ã��æ¬²ã��ã��ã�®ï¼�
A Christmas gift	kurisumasu no okurimono	ã�¯ã�ªã�¹ã��ã�¹ã�®è´�ã��ç�©
I'm looking forward to Christmas	watashi ha kurisumasu wo tanoshimi ni matteimasu	ç§�ã�¯ã�¯ã�ªã�¹ã��ã�¹ã��æ¥½ã��ã�¿ã�«å¾�ã�£ã�¦ã��ã�¾ã��
I had a Christmas party	kurisumasu paateii wo hirai ta	ã�¯ã�ªã�¹ã��ã�¹ã��ã�¼ã��ã�£ã�¼ã��é��ã��ã��

I hope these help!

WTG Elizabeth I!

Thu, 6 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I recently watched the film “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” and thought that Cate Blanchett played the most awesome Elizabeth I; even better than her first time round as The Virgin Queen. She looks stern, a true hard-ass monarch, but absolutely beautiful! Red hair, armour, on a white horse... those things may give the current Queen Elizabeth hemorrhoids and an allergic reaction to nickel and tin. They don't make them like they used to.

Aside from the way Cate Blanchett looks in the film, I love the things she says, particularly in reference to the country not being beaten by Spain:

Let them come with the armies of Hell! They will not pass!

Sadly I've never heard any Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher say anything as comforting as that about our current domestic and foreign enemies.

I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.

So, c'mon Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond get your ugly arse faces into some ballistic armour, grab an SA80 and go get 'em, we'll follow ya… promise.

Plain weird 3

Wed, 5 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Third Fireworks rendering of the image I drew yesterday. I have enhanced the eyes and added some texture to the forehead and eye areas:

Here is a larger version.

Plain weird 2

Wed, 5 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Well, here's the second Fireworks rendering of the image I drew yesterday. I have enhanced the eyes and changed the shape of the “face”:

Here is a larger version.

Plain weird

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Well, I dunno what the hell this one is supposed to be. I was just messing around with paths in Fireworks and this was the result:

Here is a larger version.

Japanese for Instant Messaging

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

A lot of people use instant messaging as a way to exchange languages. I do this as a way to learn Japanese.

Here are some Japanese words and phrases you may find useful during an IM conversation with a Japanese person…

English Word	Romaji/Pronunciation	Japanese Text
Be right back	Suguni modorimasu	ã��ã��ã�«æ�»ã��ã�¾ã��
ASL?	Nenrei, seibetsu, shusshinchi ha?	å¹´é½¢ã��æ�§å�¥ã��å�ºèº«å�°ã�¯ï¼�
Screen-name	Sukuriin neemu	ã�¹ã�¯ã�ªã�¼ã�³ã��ã�¼ã�
What's your name?	Anata no onamae ha?	ã��ã�ªã��ã�®ã��å��å��ã�¯ï¼�
Where do you live?	Dochira ni osumai desu ka?	ã�©ã�¡ã��ã�«ã��ä½�ã��ã�§ã��ã��ï¼�
I live in (place name), you?	(place name)ni sundeimasu. Anata ha?	(place name)ã�«ä½�ã��ã�§ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã�¯ï¼�
No problem	Mondainai	å��é¡�ã�ªã��
hahaha/hehehe	hahaha/hehehe	ã�¯ã�¯ã�¯/ã�¸ã�¸ã�¸

I hope you find this useful.

Barbara Luna （バーバラ・ルーナ）

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Yesterday I was watching Sunday afternoon TV and came across the 1968 movie Firecreek. There are a few very famous actors in the movie including James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens… but the one who caught my eye most was Barbara Luna.

Barbara Luna is probably most famous for playing the part of Marlena in the classic Star Trek series, where she looked as beautiful as she did in Firecreek.

She had also parts in many other TV series' of that time, including Buck Rogers, Mission Impossible and Bonanza to name but a few.

There is something amazing about the actresses of yesteryear. I am a big fan of Grace Kelly, and think that she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, but having watched Firecreek I have to say that Barbara Luna is a damn close second place!

Image borrowed from Barbaraluna.com.

蛍の光 ~ Auld Lang Syne in Japanese

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

If you're learning Japanese, or any other foreign language for that matter, educating your tongue to defy gravity is an important, and difficult part of the learning curve.

I recently came across a great example exercise… the Japanese version of the Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne” by Robert Burns.

The Japanese call it “hotaru no hikari” (Glow of a firefly) and It looks like this…

ã�»ã��ã��ã�®ã�²ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã�©ã�®ã��ã��ã��
æ�¸ã��ã��ã�¤ã��æ�¥ã��ã��ã��ã�ã�¤ã�¤ã��
ã��ã�¤ã��ã��å¹´ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�®ã�¨ã��ã��
ã��ã��ã�¦ã��ã��ã��ã�¯ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��

ã�¨ã�¾ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¨ã�¦ã��
ã��ã��ã�¿ã�«ã��ã��ã�µã��ã�¡ã��ã��ã�¥ã�®ã��
ã��ã��ã��ã�®ã�¯ã��ã��ã��ã�²ã�¨ã��ã�¨ã�«ã��
ã��ã��ã��ã�¨ã�°ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�µã�ªã��ã��

ã�¤ã��ã��ã�®ã��ã��ã�¿ã��ã�¿ã�¡ã�®ã��ã��ã��
ã��ã�¿ã��ã�¾ã�¨ã�»ã��ã��ã�¸ã� ã�¤ã�¨ã��ã��
ã��ã�®ã�¾ã��ã��ã��ã�¯ã��ã�¸ã� ã�¦ã�ªã��ã��
ã�²ã�¨ã�¤ã�«ã�¤ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�«ã�®ã��ã��ã��

å��å³¶ã�®ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã�¯ã��ã��
ã��ã��ã�¾ã�®ã��ã�¡ã�®ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã��
ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�«ã�«ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��
ã�¤ã�¨ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¤ã�¤ã��ã�ªã��ã��

That's simple enough huh? Now stretch your tongue a few times to warm it up, take a good deep breath and repeat after me…

ã�»ã��ã��ã�®ã�²ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã�©ã�®ã��ã��ã��: hotarunohikari, madonoyuki,
æ�¸ã��ã��ã�¤ã��æ�¥ã��ã��ã��ã�ã�¤ã�¤ã��: kaki yomutsuki nichi, kasanetsutsu,
ã��ã�¤ã��ã��å¹´ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�®ã�¨ã��ã��: itsushika nen mo, suginotowo,
ã��ã��ã�¦ã��ã��ã��ã�¯ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��: aketezokesaha, wakareyuku.

ã�¨ã�¾ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¨ã�¦ã��: tomarumoyukumo, kagiritote,
ã��ã��ã�¿ã�«ã��ã��ã�µã��ã�¡ã��ã��ã�¥ã�®ã��: kataminiomofu, chiyoroduno,
ã��ã��ã��ã�®ã�¯ã��ã��ã��ã�²ã�¨ã��ã�¨ã�«ã��: kokoronohashiwo, hitokotoni,
ã��ã��ã��ã�¨ã�°ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�µã�ªã��ã��: sakikutobakari, utafunari.

ã�¤ã��ã��ã�®ã��ã��ã�¿ã��ã�¿ã�¡ã�®ã��ã��ã��: tsukushinokiwami, michinooku,
ã��ã�¿ã��ã�¾ã�¨ã�»ã��ã��ã�¸ã� ã�¤ã�¨ã��ã��: umiyamatohoku, hedatsutomo,
ã��ã�®ã�¾ã��ã��ã��ã�¯ã��ã�¸ã� ã�¦ã�ªã��ã��: sonomagokoroha, hedatenaku,
ã�²ã�¨ã�¤ã�«ã�¤ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�«ã�®ã��ã��ã��: hitotsunitsukuse, kuninotame.

å��å³¶ã�®ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã�¯ã��ã��: sen shima nookumo, okinahamo,
ã��ã��ã�¾ã�®ã��ã�¡ã�®ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã��: yashimanouchino, mamorinari.
ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�«ã�«ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��: itarankunini, isawoshiku,
ã�¤ã�¨ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¤ã�¤ã��ã�ªã��ã��: tsutomeyowagase, tsutsuganaku.

Try saying that after a few New years drinks without biting your tongue off!

毎秋

Sun, 2 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

A quick doodle. “Maiaki” ~ Every Autumn.

雪月花の時最も君を憶ふ

Sat, 1 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Just another attempt at drawing using Fireworks CS3. Here is a larger version.

Want to see some more?

Japanese art in Fireworks CS3

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

As anyone who knows me will know… I love anything that's Japanese. I don't think there's a single person in the world who doesn't find Japanese art either aesthetically pleasing or inspiring. Today I decided to have a go at a Japanese(esque) image in Adobe Fireworks CS3.

I'm happy with it for a first attempt. Here is a larger version.

The text says “å¿�ã�®å¹³é��” (kokoro no heisei), which really means "tranquility of mind".

I also made a second attempt using some more Japanese text:

Here is a larger version.

It's good fun… crank up your image editor and have a go!

Styling dates with CSS

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I have seen similar styling of blog post dates on many blogs, and always thought it was a rather neat way of doing it. Tonight I decided to have a go for myself and discovered that it's pretty darn simple really. All it takes is an image, a few span tags and a sprinkle of basic CSS.

Here's how it's done…

The HTML markup

The average blog post heading contains a few common textual elements; the date of the post, the title of the post, the category which best describes its theme and often the person who posted. With those things considered I decided on the following markup:

<h2>
<span class="date">
<span class="month">
Dec
</span>
<span class="day">
25
</span>
</span> Blog Title 
<span class="meta">Posted in HTML by Gordon Mackay.</span></h2>

Seems like there are quite a few span tags, huh? Well, to do what we want I think that's the bare minimum.

The heading (<h2>) tag makes sense for obvious reasons, here are explanations of the others:

"date" is the wrapper span, and will give dimension to the date box large enough to place the calendar image as its background.
"month" will allow us to keep the name of the month on it's own line and allow us to style it individually.
"day" … for the exact same reasons as month.
"meta" will allow us to place other information on a new line directly under the main title, and also allow us to style it individually too.

Simple stuff really [^.^]

The CSS

The CSS is pretty simple and consists of only four rules. Here is the first one:

.date
{
float: left;
height: 52px;
width: 52px;
background: url(date.png) no-repeat;
margin-right: 10px;
padding-top: 0px;
line-height: normal;
}

This rule moves the span to the right of the parent heading element using a float. It is set to the same dimensions as the calendar image.

Some margin on the right is given to stop the text of the main title from butting up against it, and top padding and line height are reset.

.date .month
{
display: block;
text-align: center;
color: #FFF;
font-size: 11px;
padding-top: 4px;
text-transform: uppercase;
}

This rule places the month on it's own line by forcing it to display as a block level element rather than the inline span that it is. The font size is set to 11px so that we can make it a pixel-perfect fit inside the top date section of the image.

Some padding is given to center it vertically and the text is set to display in uppercase.

.date .day
{
display: block;
text-align: center;
padding-top: 5px;
color: #222;
font-size: 18px;
font-weight: bold;
}

Yep, you've guessed correctly… the day rule does almost exactly the same for the day as the previous rule did for the month.

.meta
{
display: block;
font-size: 11px;
color: #666;
}

The final rule places the post meta info nicely under the larger main title. That's all there is to making your dates look great [^.^]

Browser compatibility

This method works in all common modern browsers on both Apple OS X and Windows (Yeah Internet Explorer 6!!).

Example

You can view the finished product here if you like, and you can also download the files and Fireworks PNG source for the calendar image.

Have fun!

Japanese for the internet

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I don't know whether or not many of the people who visit my website will be interested in reading this, but I thought I'd compile some notes for using Japanese online, starting with some Japanese web terminology and then moving on to an example of an introductory message/email in Japanese.

Let's begin with some simple words.

Simple Words

These are words are the ones very commonly used in Japanese sentences. Don't go anywhere without them.

English Word	Romaji/Pronunciation	Japanese Text
Me/I	watashi	ç§�
You	anata	ã��ã�ªã��
We	watashitachi	ç§�ã��ã�¡
They	karera (masc.) kanojora (fem.)	å½¼ã��(masc.) å½¼å¥³ã�� (fem.
Y'all	anatatachi	ã��ã�ªã��ã��ã�¡
The	sono	ã��ã�®
Of/belonging to	no	ã�®
Person	jin	äºº

Countries

Part of any introduction with people from a different country will almost always make reference to nationality, so here's a small list.

English Word	Romaji/Pronunciation	Japanese Text
Japan	Nihon	æ�¥æ�¬
UK	Eikoku/Igirisu	è�±å�½/ã�¤ã�®ã�ªã�¹
USA	Amerika	ã�¢ã�¡ã�ªã�«
Australia	Osutoraria	ã�ªã�¼ã�¹ã��ã�©ã�ªã�¢
Italy	Itarii	ã�¤ã�¿ã�ªã�¼
Spain	Supein	ã�¹ã��ã�¤ã�³
France	Furansu	ã��ã�©ã�³ã�¹
Germany	Doitsu	ç�¬é�¸

Knowing the country name also easily allows you to say which language you speak by adding “èª�” (“go”) to the end of the Japanese text for the country. For example:

French = “furansugo” => ã��ã�©ã�³ã�¹èª�.

Unfortunately it's not so simple for English, which is “eigo” => è�±èª�.

OK, with the simple words out of the way let's move on to some Japanese for internet terminology.

Internet Words

These are words we all use online every day, and this is how Japanese people say and write them.

English Word	Romaji/Pronunciation	Japanese Text
Website/site	uebusaito/saito	ã�¦ã�§ã��ã�µã�¤ã��ï¼�ã�µã�¤ã��
E-mail	denshimeeru	é�»å�ã�¡ã�¼ã�«
Blog	burogu	ã��ã�ã�°
Link	rinku	ã�ªã�³ã�¯
RSS Feed	RSS saito samarii	RSSã�µã�¤ã��ã�»ã�µã��ã�ªã�¼
Photos	shashin	å��ç��
Images	imeejizu	ã�¤ã�¡ã�¼ã�¸ã�º
Comment	komento	ã�³ã�¡ã�³ã��
Page	peeji	ã��ã�¼ã�¸
Design	dezain	ã��ã�¶ã�¤ã�³
Web designer	webudezainaa	ã�¦ã�§ã��ã��ã�¶ã�¤ã��ã�¼
Graphic designer	gurafikkudezainaa	ã�°ã�©ã��ã�£ã��ã�¯ã��ã�¶ã�¤ã��ã�¼

Ok, now that we have some vocabulary let's string some of it together into something that could be used as a random e-mail to a Japanese personâ�¦

An E-mail in Japanese

This is a simple introduction e-mail which isn't too formal and at the same time, not informal either.

Here goesâ�¦

å��ã��ã�¾ã��ã�¦ã��

“Hajimemashite”

=> Pleased to meet you.

çª�ç�¶ã�®ã�¡ã��ã�»ã�¼ã�¸å¤±ç¤¼ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��

“totsuzen no messeeji shitsurei itashimasu”

=> Sorry for the random/sudden message.

æ�¥æ�¬èª�ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ç§�ã�¯æ�¥æ�¬èª�ã��æ�¸ã��ã�¨å¿�ã��å°�ã��é��é��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��

“nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimasu. watashi ha nihongo o kaku to kanarazu sukoshi machigaeru, gomen.”

=> I understand a little Japanese. If I use Japanese I am bound to make some mistakes, sorry.

ç§�ã�®å��å��ã�¯[INSERT YOUR NAME]ã�§ã��ã��ç§�ã�¯[INSERT YOUR COUNTRY]äººã�§ã��ã��

“watashi no namae ha (name) desu. watashi ha (country) jin desu”

=> My name is (name). I am (nationality).

è�·æ¥ã�¯[INSERT JOB TITLE]ã�§ã��ã��[INSERT SOMETHING YOU LIKE 1]ã�¨[INSERT SOMETHING ELSE YOU LIKE]ã��å¤§å¥½ã��ï¼�

“shokugyou ha (job title) desu. (something I like) to (something else I like) ga daisuki!”

=> I work as a (job title/occupation). I love (something) and (something else) a lot.

ã��ã�ªã��ã�®[ã��ã�¶ã�¤ã�³] [å��ç��] [ã�¤ã�¡ã�¼ã�¸ã�º] [ã�¦ã�§ã��ã�µã�¤ã��]ã�¯ã��ã��ã��ã�§ã��ã�ï¼�

“anata no [ dezain ] [ shashin ] [ imeejizu ] [ webusaito ] (choose one, or place “ã�¨” between two things for ”and“)ha sugoi desu ne!”

=> Your (design) (photos) (images) (website) is/are cool!

ç§�ã�®ã�¦ã�§ã��ã�µã�¤ã��ã�¯[INSERT YOUR WEBSITE URL]ã�§ã��ã��ã��ã�£ã��ã��ç§�ã�®ã�¦ã�§ã��ã�µã�¤ã��ã�«ã��ã�¨ã��ã�©ã��é��ã�³ã�«ã��ã��ã��ã�¦ã��ã� ã��ã��ã�ã��

“watashi no webusaito ha (link to your website) desu. kattara watashi no webusaito ni mo tokidoki asobi ni ira shi te kudasai ne.”

=> My web site is (link). Come and have a look around if you like.

ç§�ã�¯[INSERT YOUR COUNTRY]äººã�ªã��ã�§ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�£ã��ã��ä»²è�¯ã��ã��ã�¦ã��ã� ã��ã��ã��

“watashi ha (country) jin nan desu ga, yokattara nakayokushite kudasai.”

=> Although I am a foreigner from (country), let's make friends.

ã��ã�®ã��ã��è©±é¡�ã��æ¥½ã��ã�¿ã�«ã��ã�¦ã��ã��ã��ã��

“tanoshii wadai o tanoshimi ni shiteiru wa.”

=> I look forward to interesting conversations.

ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��é¡�ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��

“yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.”

=> Thank you for your consideration

[INSERT YOUR NAME]

And that's all there is to it!

Now go and find some Japanese people and be friends :)

Japanese Comedy Game Shows

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In the UK we have people hosting game shows who pretend to be nasty. For example, Anne Robinson in the Weakest Link. However, in Japan it seems that, for some, a great deal of pleasure and amusement is gained from watching TV shows where the name-of-the-game is to completely humiliate and/or cause pain to the participants.

Take this example for instance…

Want to watch more Japanese game shows?

I wonder how they manage to find volunteer guests for their shows! lol

Favicons, Favicons

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Today I decided it was time for a new favicon. The previous one was bright orange, and not in keeping with my new design, therefore I decided I would make a new one using my little Japanese guy who features in the main graphic of the site. Here's how…

I copied him onto a transparent 32 bit PNG file like this:

Then I took myself along to Dynamic Drive's Favicon Generator, which helped me to make everyone who visits my page address bar look smashing:

I know, I'm easily amused [^.^]

Getting the current URL

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

When I was creating the "Quick Navigation" page section I wanted to add as much helpful stuff as I could and place it in a readily accessible area of the layout. It contains a skip navigation link, a breadcrumb trail and a permanent link for easy bookmarking.

The functionality of those tools are automatically generated using a tiny amount of PHP, and it was whilst writing these functions that I discovered a really awesome little function which returns the complete URL for the current page, along with any URL variables attached.

It also gets my cool vote as it also works with https:// addresses and with sites (normally testing servers) running on different ports, making it a very useful and reusable code snippet. Here it is:

function curPageURL() {
$pageURL = 'http';
if ($_SERVER["HTTPS"] == "on") {$pageURL .= "s";}
$pageURL .= "://";
if ($_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"] != "80") {
$pageURL .= $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"].":".$_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"].$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
} else {
$pageURL .= $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"].$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
}
return $pageURL;
}

Source: http://www.webcheatsheet.com/PHP/get_current_page_url.php

I hope this will be useful to someone.

New Wallpaper

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

New wallpaper which I created for myself based on my new blog design.

Download (1280 X 1024) Download (1024 X 768)

Local Searches

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The Local Searches Pepper for Mint has to be one of the most entertaining aspects of my Mint pageâ�¦ some of the things people search for are hilarious, and these are poor examples compared to some.

I wonder if people know how much their activities on a website are sometimes scrutinized? :)

Time for a change

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

As you have probably noticed my cheeky looking cow has been replaced by a rather weird looking guy speaking in Japanese.

Some areas of the site are not complete, but are still available via the navigation.

I decided it was time for a change of graphics, and I hope that everyone enjoys the new version of the site.

Heather、僕の友達

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Nice to know someone finks so, sniff.

This is my pal Heather, she's a Texan gal.

初めまして！

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Just messing around. Fun though!

Crazy Cow

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I decided to make a desktop wallpaper based on the crazy cow image I drew for this site's design.

If anyone wants it you can download it here (1280 X 1024).

Moo!

僕はひどく退屈して

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

å��ã�¯ã�²ã�©ã��é��å±�ã��ã�¦ï¼�“Boku ha hidoku taikutsushite”ï¼�... That's me.

Over-inflated iTunes Library

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I'm seriously running out of space for my iTunes library and need some sort of cheap large capacity storage option. Any ideas?

240 gigaBytes (7000+ media files) is quite easy to rack up when it includes TV Shows, Movies, CD artwork and music... then comes backing it all up!

Cool OS X Leopard Features #1

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

This is actually one of my fave parts of OS X Leopard. The dictionary also seems to be very concise... common Japanese swear words are included, hehe.

Although, I doubt it compares to Eijiro. We'll see.

WTF!!! is Adobe playing at!?

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Apparently Adobe Fireworks CS3 is compatible with OS X Leopard, but my OS X Leopard is telling me something a whole lot different!

Clearly there is some sort of problem when you go to cleanly reinstall Fireworks under the new Apple OS, and I can't express how utterly pissed off I am about the whole thing!

I miss the Macromedia days!

Current iTunes Playlist

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

This month I have discovered many good bands through the iTunes mini store and an obsession with Last.fm. Here is what I'm listening to at the moment…

As you can see, it's quite a mix and mash.

Song	Artist
Unfamiliar Ceilings	Fightstar
Auto Rock	Mogwai
Burst Generator	The Chemical Brothers
Just Like Honey	The Jesus And Mary Chain
Mutiny, I Promise You	The New Pornographers
Burn	Alkaline Trio
The Salmon Dance (feat. Fatlip)	The Chimical Brothers
Everything	Lifehouse
Bodysnatchers	Radiohead
Challengers	The New Pornographers
Sometimes	My Bloody Valentine
What Hurts	The Most Rascal Flatts
Keep the Car Running	Arcade Fire
Do It Again	The Chimical Brothers
SEX	Geeks
Settle for Satin	Alkaline Trio
Death Bed	Alkaline Trio
Emma	Alkaline Trio
It’s Too Late	Evermore
Dark Blue	Jack’s Mannequin
Brighter Than Sunshine	Aqualung
Something Wicked	British Sea Power
Dumb Luck	Dntel
I Know You Are But What Am I?	Mogwai
Mercy Me	Alkaline Trio
Nausea	Beck
Prepare For A Wound	The Blackout
Please Stand Up British	Sea Power
The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth	Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
E.M.P.T.Y.	The Clientele
Five Day Morning	The Clientele
Going Nowhere	Cut Copy
Transatlanticism	Death Cab for Cutie
The End	Geeks
Barracuda	Miho Hatori
All On Black	Alkaline Trio
We Used To Vacation	Cold War Kids
Your Heart Is An Empty Room	Death Cab For Cutie
Patent Pending	Heavens
Over And Over	Hot Chip
Love Like Semtex	Infadels
The City Is At Standstill	Liam Frost And Slowdown Family
You Could Have Both	The Long Blondes
Fast Cars And Freedom	Rascal Flats
My Wish	Rascal Flatts
Here Rascal	Flatts
You Only Live Once	The Strokes
The Saints Are Coming	U2 & Green Day
New English	Ambulance Ltd
Janie Jones (Strummerville)	Babyshambles
White Collar Boy	Belle & Sebastian
To You	The Bipolar Bears
It Ended On An Oily Stage	British Sea Power
remember me	British Sea Power
Bookshop Casanova	The Clientele
Reflections After Jane	The Clientele
That Old Pair Of Jeans	Fatboy Slim
Mr. Ambulance Driver	The Flaming Lips
See The World	Gomez

I'm looking for additional ideas, anybody got some?

感じがない

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

ç§�ã�¯ã��æ��æ��ã�®ã�¯ã��å�£ã��æ��ã�£ã�¦ã��ã�ªã��ã�£ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ç§�ã�®å�ªå��ã��ä»�äººã�«èª�ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã��ã�¨ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã��è¨�ã�£ã��ã��ã�¨ã��ã�©ã��ã�»ã�©ç§�ã�®æ°�æ��ã�¡ã��å�·ã�¤ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã�§å��ã��ã�£ã�¦ã��ã�ªã��ã��ç§�ã�«ã�§ã��ã��ã��ã�¨ã�¯å�¨å��ã��å°½ã��ã��ã��ã�¨ã� ã��ã�§ã��ã��ã��

æ��ã��ã��ã�«ã��ç§�ã��è¨�ç�»ã��å��æ�´ç��ã��ã��ã�®ã�§ã��å½¼å¥³ã�®ç�¶è¦ªã�¯ç§�ã�«è�¹ã��ç«�ã�¦ã�¦ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ç§�ã�¯ã��ã��ã��æ®�å¿µã�«æ��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��å��ã��å�·ã�¤ã��ã��ã�¤ã��ã��ã�¯ã�ªã��ã�£ã��ã��

ã��ã�®ä¸�ã�§æ��ã��ã��ã��ã�®ã��å¤±ã��äº�ã�»ã�©è�¦ã��ã��äº�ã�¯ã�ªã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ç§�ã�¯é��é��ã�£ã��ã��ã�®ã��ã�¹ã�¦ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��

ç§�ã�¯å½¹ç«�ã��ã��ã��ä½�ä¸�ã��ã��æ¬ ã��ã��ã��ã��æ��è¦�ã��æ��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��

æ�²ã��ã��äººã��ã��ã�®ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã��

MSN Opening Lines

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Some people don't know how to start a conversation on MSN, some people are very good at it, but some people just say some of the craziest things.

Here are a few examples of random things people have said to me when starting an MSN conversation:

“I think I want to take fencing lessons again.”

“Cutting off boy toys is no fun.”

“No more charity walks I am fuckin destroyed today”

“Dude, I think I work with the dirtiest whore ever in life”

“Penis people are weird”

“Right, why do some guys who claim to be straight want it up the butt”

“Celebrity gossip sux”

“I am back in pop culture purgatory”

“Nude mosh dudes are funny”

“Alright handsome you need to explain to me why guys like to send unsolicited pics of their junk at random”

“One day I am going to tell one of these fucks that god hates the english and that's why they are bald”

“Dude do you hate it when you go out and there is no sexy to look at?”

“zeig heil”

“Bosses are wankers”

“The FBI are a bunch of queers”

“Sitting in the corner is a good thing lol”

“Damnit my place still smells like gin, sour milk, sweat and stale smokes”

“Damn his bunghole is still in tact!”

“I hope the lady at the salon welds my ex's bunghole welded shut next time he gets his crack waxed”

“I am afraid of pretty boys with mutant cocks”

Funny thing is, these are all from the same person haha. You know who you are!

Stun gun… Only a guy would do this.

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

This was submitted by a guy who purchased his lovely wife a “pocket Taser” for their anniversary.

Last weekend I saw something at Larry’s Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 22nd anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife, Toni. What I came across was a 100,000 volt, pocket/purse-sized taser.

The effects of the taser were suppose to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety…. WAY TOO COOL!

Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two triple A batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I’d get the blue arch of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. Awesome!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Toni what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn’t be all that bad with only two triple-a batteries… right?There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, taser in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries. All the while I’m looking at this little device measuring about 5” long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-a batteries, thinking to myself, “no possible way!”

What happened next is almost beyond description, but I’ll do my best… I’m sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, “don’t do it master,” reasoning that a one-second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn’t hurt all that bad… I decided to give myself a one-second burst just for the heck of it.

I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and HOLY MOTHER, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION@!@$@$%!@ *!

I’m pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again.

I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs.

The cat was standing over me making meowing sounds I had never heard before, licking my face, undoubtedly thinking to herself, “do it again, do it again!”

Note: If you ever feel compelled to “mug” yourself with a taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one-second burst when you zap yourself. You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. A three second burst would be considered conservative.
SON-OF-A-... that hurt like he**!

A minute or so later (I can’t be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. How did they up get there??? My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs.

I’m still looking for my testicles! I’m offering a significant reward for their safe return. Still in shock,

Tony

Sheep Rescue Team

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

ã��ã��ã�£!! Very simple drawing made in FW to pass the time of day.

Long English Words and 五十音図

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Tonight I was looking at some crazy English words. They’re hard enough to say in English… so I decided to have a go at translating them to Japanese using Katakana… it was fun… but I think I’m a balder man than I was before I started LOL…

Here goes…

The longest word in the English dictionary (45 letters):
PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS
(Some sort of lung disorder)

My Katakana translation:

ã��ã��ã�¥ã��ã��ã�¦ã�«ã��ã�©ã��ã��ã�¯ã�ã�¹ã�³ã��ã��ã�¯ã�·ã�©ã�¤ã�«ã�´ã�©ã�«ã�±ã��ã�³ã��ã�ªã��ã�¹

The longest chemical term in English (29 letters):
TRINITROPHENYLMETHYLNITRAMINE
(An explosive)

My Katakana translation:

ã��ã�ªã��ã��ã�ã��ã�§ã��ã�«ã�¡ã�·ã�«ã��ã��ã�©ã��ã�³

The longest word used by William Shakespeare (27 letters):
HONORIFICABILITUDINITATIBUS
(honorablenes)

My Katakana translation:

ã��ã��ã�ªã�¤ã��ã�¡ã�¤ã�ã�£ã��ã�©ã�¤ã��ã��ã��ã�¤ã�¿ã�¿ã�¤ã��ã�¹

The longest place name in the UK (Wales) (lots of letters):
LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIO
GOGOGOCH
(I’m serious!)

My Katakana translation:
ã�©ã�³ã��ã�§ã�«ã��ã�«ã�°ã�¤ã��ã�«ã�´ã�¸ã�£ã�¤cã��ã�¤ã�«ã�³ã��ã�ã��ã�©ã�³ã��ã�·ã�ªã�ªã�´ã�´ã�´ã��ã�¥ (HAHA )

I GIVE UP!

LOL, I probably made a lot of mistakes, but that was fun!

Reign Over Me

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Last night I watched the movie “Reign Over Me” starring Adam Sandler.

I know, a peculiar choice of movie to watch on the eve of the September 11 tradgedy’s aniversary.

Anyway, the story is about a young man who loses his wife and three children on one of the planes which flew into the buildings… he is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and retreats from the life he once knew, into a reclusive existence in order to escape his memories.

One day he meets his old college room mate, who quickly notices that there’s something wrong with him. He also appears to be trying to escape his life, but for more trivial reasons.

They both become dependent on each other… and ultimately fix each other.

Anyhow, the movie is one of the most disturbing movies I’ve seen in a long time… I watch a lot of horror, but it’s not real… this story is probably true for many people who lost people on that terrible day.

Today many people will write and talk about 9/11, many of them will be distracted with hatred towards the actions of the terrorists, and also the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom.

What I’d like to see is less talk of politics, and more thoughts being directed towards the victims and families of people affected by the tradgedy, the members of armed forces still on active duty in the middle east and to the innocent non-combatant victims in Afghanistan and Iraq who have been caught in the middle.

I think all these people are more deserving of our thoughts than the governments and factions who created this mess in the first place.

Those are my thoughts for today.

愛

Sun, 9 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

å��ã�¯æ��ã�«æº�ã�¡ã��å¿�ã��äº¤é��é�¢ä¿�ã�®å§�ã��ã�«ã�¯ã��äº�ã��ã�«é¦�ã�£ä¸�ã�§ã��ã��ã��é� è·�é�¢æ��æ��ã�¯ç�°ã�ªã��ã�¾ã��ã��å ªã��é�£ã��å¤ç�¬ã�¯äººã��ã�«å¸�æ��ã��ç¶�ç¶�ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��

å¸�æ��ã�¯ã��ä¸�å¹¸ã�®ã�©ã��åº�ã�«ã��ã��è��ã��è¦�æ�¨ã�¦ã�ªã��ã��ã��ã��ä½�ï¼� ç²�ã��ã�«ç �ã��ã��å¤¢ã�¯ç§�ã��æ��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��å��ã�¯ã��ã�¤ã��å®�å�¨ã�§ã�¯ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã��

æ°�å��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã��å��ã�¯ã��ã�¹ã�¦ã��æ��ã��ã�¦ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ä»�äº�ã��ç��å�½ã�»ã�»ã�»1ã�¤ã�®ã��ã�®ã� ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��

♬ The Sounds ♬

Fri, 7 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Every once in a while I find a band, or even a song that I feel like listening to on repeat.

Last night I found once such band, with numerous songs that I feel like listening to on repeat!

They're called The Sounds, and they're from Sweden... but sing in English.

Their music is very cheery... and good for Friday afternoons (^^).

You can check out my two fave songs:

Enjoy

Macbeth

Wed, 5 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Tonight I was doing some reading about Macbeth… not so much the Shakespearian play (ã��ã�¯ã��ã�¹ã��ã�¦ã�£ã�ªã�¢ã� ã�»ã�·ã�§ã�¼ã�¯ã�¹ã��ã�¢), but about the real King Macbeth of Scotland…

Yep, he was a real guy… not just Shakespeare's invention… he was King of Alba (the old name for Scotland) for 17 years.

The name "Macbeth" has a lot of lore and legend… it's also considered to be an unlucky word in the theatre, and the Shakespearian play "Macbeth" is normally just referred to as "The Scottish Play".

I used to think that people in some other countries had peculiar names… until I read that Macbeth's full name was actually:

"Mac Bethad son of FindlÃ¡ech son of RuadrÃ son of Domnall son of MorggÃ¡n son of Cathamal son of RuadrÃ son of Ailgelach son of Ferchar son of Fergus son of Nechtan son of ColmÃ¡n son of BÃ¡etÃ¡n son of Eochaid son of Muiredach son of Loarn son of Ercc son of Eochaid Muinremuir."

Shakespeare would have had fun trying to market his play with a title like that hehe.

The reason for my interest in Macbeth is simple, his history and the history of my county (Caithness) have strong ties. And one of those ties also adds more intrigue to Macbeth's name.

During Macbeth's reign over Scotland my corner of the country was colonised by Vikings. Macbeth, wanting control as King of Scotland wasn't very happy about this, so many battles ensued in the North Eastern Highlands between Scots and Vikings.

There is an ancient book (still being printed) called "The Orkneyinga Saga", written by an anonymous Noresman. It contains accounts of battles which took place in Orkney and Caithness at that time.

It makes reference to a King of Scotland known as "Karl Hundason", who reclaimed rule over Caithness from the Viking, Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney… this confused many historians, as they thought that they knew for a fact that Macbeth was King of Scotland at this exact time in history…

… However, it turns out that those old Vikings had a sense of humour… the name "Karl Hundason" was in fact a direct reference to Macbeth… but when translated into old Norse language, the language of the Vikings, it means:

"Churl, son of a Dog", hehe

… a derogatory nickname given to Macbeth by his enemies in the North.

Anyway, that was a lot of useless information, but I thought it was quite funny in a stupid sort of way… … and for some crazy reason I thought I'd share it with you.

Funny Japanese Phrases

Wed, 5 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Eijiro Dictionary is one of my favourite learning tools, although I sometimes question its content... here are some very funny example phrases I found when looking at the ä½� kanji:

ä½�ï¼�ï¼�ã�¾ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã�¨ã��ã�³ã�³ã��ã�¼ã� ã� ã�£ã�¦æ¯�å��ä½¿ã�£ã��ã��ï¼�
"No, no way. I used a condom every time!"
ä½�ï¼�ï¼�ä½�ã��ã��ã�£ã��ã�®ï¼�å¥¥ã��ã��ã��ç§�ã��ã�¡ã�®ã��ã�¨ç�¥ã�£ã�¦ã��ã�¾ã�£ã��ã�®ï¼�
"What happened? Your wife found out about us?"
ä½�ï¼�ï¼�ç��ç��ã��è�ªå��ã��ä½�æ§�ã� ã�¨æ��ã�£ã�¦ã��ã� ã��ï¼�ï¼�ã��ã�¤ã��ã��ã��ã�¤ï¼�çµ�å©�ã��ã�¦ã��ã��ã�ï¼�
"What?! Who the hell does he think he is!? How old is he anyways? Isn't he married?"
ä½�ã��ã��ã�®ã�«ã��ã��ï¼�
"What's that smell?"

I hope these won't be useful to anyone LOL

Stupidity

Mon, 3 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I used to think that people in the web dev community said the craziest things, but now I realise that it happens everywhere.

I read the following ridiculous thread on a Mixi page today:

Yesterday, I was sitting in a Tokyo park talking to friends. Standing in front of me was a cute one legged pigeon begging for food. He stood there a long time but I did not have any food at the time so I went to buy something I could give him/her. When I returned he was still waiting so I started to feed him.

Many Japanese walked by and saw that he did not run (because he could only fly). They would point and say “How cute” or “What a friendly bird”. Many people walked by. It was a beautiful day.

Once when all the other birds flew away a White guy noticed that this one bird does not fly away and came back to scare it... “Whah!!“ he said as the birld scared away.

As a Gaijin myself I kind of felt sad that the only aggressive person had to be another Gaijin too!?

Why would he like to scare a pigeon!?

Anyway, do other people think that white people or gaijin are too aggressive? too violent?

It seems that some people want to be super-gaijin, better than every other foreigner in Japan; but using pigeons to say that white people are really bad is just plain dumb!

I don't think the guy even knew the definition of the word “violence” before he spouted off.

Cats

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Haha, this is so funny ... the music and the captions are amazing!

Look out for "Monorail cat" Haha!

å¿«æ´»ã�ªå��ç��ã�ã�£ã��ã�·ã�§ã�³ã��ã��ã�³é�³æ¥½ã��

Heheã��ã��MONORAIL CATã��ã��å¾�ã�¤ã��è¦�å®�ã�� ã��

Mixi for Gaijin

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

If anyone out there has been curious about the Japanese Mixi (ã��ã�¯ã�·ã�£) SNS service, but not been able to figure out how to get onboard, I have some good news.

My good buddy Leon has a site that tells you in plain English how to get through the sign up process, and also how to use Mixi to best effect once you get there.

If you're at all interested in Japan, or learning Japanese you'll love Mixi!

There are two snags. Firstly, Mixi is an invitation-only service. However, that's not a huge problem as you can request one by filling in this form. This is where the second snag comes in. If you take Leon up on this offer you have to be his friend for three months, LOLï¼�ç¬�ï¼�.

If any of you do decide to join… ã��ã�¯ã�·ã�£ã��ã��ã��ã��!

焦げる（＞＜）

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

æ�¨å¤�ã��å��ã�¯ã��ã��ã�¹ã��ã�ã�¼ã��ã��é£²ã�¿ã�¾ã��ã��ã��

ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã��ã��å��ã�¯ã��ã��ã��æ�°å��é��å�·ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¹ã��ã�§ã��ã��ã�»ã�»ã�»ä¸�å�£Iã��æ��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¨ã��ç�ºè¦�ã��ã��å¾�ï¼�ï¼�ï¼�ï¼�ã��

ã�¢ã��ã��ã�¤ã�¹ã�»ã�»ã�»ã�¡ã��ã�£ã�¨å�·ã�¾ã��ã�¦ã��ç�±ã��ã��ã�¡ã�«é£�ã�¹ã�ªã��ã��ã��ã�«ã��

ä»�æ�¥ã��ã��ã��ã�©ã�§æ°´ã�¶ã��ã��ã��ã�§ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ï¼�ï¼�ï¼�ï¼�ã��

日本の写真撮影

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

ç§�ã�¯æ�°å¹´é��FLICKRã�®ä¸�å�¡ã�§ã��ã��æ�¥æ�¬ã�®å��ç��ã��å¤§å¥½ã��ã��

FLICKRã�¯ã��ç§�ã�«å¤�æ�°ã�®æ�¥æ�¬äººå��ç��å®¶ã�®ä»�äº�ã��è¦�ã��æ©�ä¼�ã��ä¸�ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã��

ç§�ã�®ã��æ°�ã�«å�¥ã��ï¼�

ï½�ã��å�³ã��ã��ã��

Reminiscence

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Tickets, bags, leaflets, JR Railpass and other assorted things I found in my bag after returning from Japan.

One of the cool things about returning from a holiday is finding all the bits and pieces that you took back with you… not the souvenirs or grand purchases… but just the little things.

They provide you with a great opportunity to reminisce on all the lovely things you got up to during your time away.

Tonight I decided to have a look in my backpack's zipper pocket, and found tickets, my JR Railpass, lots of receipts, some Japanese money, a pack of tissues that people kept handing to me on the streets, leaflets for places Tomoko and I visited… ♥♥

Everything that returned to Scotland with me in my bag has become a set of truly treasured possessions… which perhaps just looks like litter or junk to anyone else.

On another note, some of you may wonder what all the Japanese text is about. Well, I'm learning Japanese, and the best way to learn is by doing.

今の仕事に満足していますか？

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

ä¼�ç¤¾ã�¯çµ¶å¯¾è¾�ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã�£ã�¦ã��ã�£ã�¨æ��ã�£ã�¦ã��ã��ã��ã�©ã��ã��ã��ä»¥ä¸�è�ªå��ã��æ®ºã��ã�¦ç��ã��ã�¦ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã�¦ã�§ã��ã�ªã��ã��

ç§�ã��æ�°ã��ã��ä»�äº�ã��è¦�ã�¤ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã��ç§�ã�®ã�¯æ��æ�ªã��ã��

ã��ã��ä½�å¹´ã��ã��ã�¶ã��ã�¶å��ã��ã�¦ã��ã��æ��ã��ã�§ã��ã��ä¸�å�¸ã�®é«�é£�è»�ã�ªæ��åº¦ã�«ã�¤ã��ã�¥ã��æ��æ�³ã��å°½ã��ã��ã��ã� ã��ç§�ã�¯è»¢è�·ã��è��ã��ã�¦ã��ã�¾ã��ã��

æ��ã��ã��ã��å��ã��ã�¡ã��ä¿¡ã��ã�¦ã��ã��ã��æ�®ã��ã��ã�¯ã�â�¦â�¦ã��å®¶æ��ã�§ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¦ã��ã�ªå®¶ã�§ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¼ã�¨ã��ã��ã��ã��â�¦â�¦ã��ã�¦ã��ã�ªè»�ã�¨å®�å®�ã��ã��è�·æ¥ã�«ã��å�¥åº·ã�ªå®¶æ��ã��ã�ªã��å��ã��ã�¡ã�®è��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ï¼�

ç§�ã�¯æ�£ç¿�ã�«å·®ã��è¾¼ã�¾ã��ã�¾ã��ã��å��é�¿ã�¯ã�ªã��ã��ã��ã�«è¦�ã��ã�¾ã��ã��

ç§�ã�¯ã�°ã�©ã�³ã��ã�¼ã��ã��ã��ã��

サースティ・キャット

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

ä»�æ��ã��ç§�ã�¯å¥�å¦�ã�ªé�³ã�«æ°�ä»�ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã�»ã�»ã�»ã��ã�£ã�¼ã��ã��ã�£ã�¼ã��ã�¹ã��ã�©ã��ã�·ã�¥ã�»ã�»ã�»æµ´å®¤ã�®æ�¹ã�§ã��ã��

ç§�ã�¯é�³ã�®æ�¹å��ã�«æ�¥ã��ã� ã��ã��ã�®é�³ã�¯ä½�ã� ã�£ã��ã�®ã��ï¼�ã��è��ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ç§�ã�¯æµ´å®¤ã�«å�¥ã��ã�¨ã��ã��ã�«åº�é�¢ã�«ç�®ã��ã�¤ã��ã��ã�»ã�»ã�»æ°´ã�®ç�«è¶³è·¡ ã��

ç§�ã�®ç�«ã��å¤§ä¾¿å�¨ã�«è�½ã�¡ã�¦ã��ã�¾ã�£ã��ã�®ã��ï¼�ï¼�ã��ã�¼ã�ã�¼ã�¡ã��ã��ã�¯æ£æ°�ã�§ã�ªã��å��ç�©ï¼�ï¼�ã��

å½¼å¥³ã�¯æ¸�æ��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã��ã�²ã�¼ã��ï¼�

不況に喘ぐ

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

ä½�ã�«æ��é��ã��ã�¯å�¨ç�¶å��ã��å�¥ã�£ã�¦ã�ªã��ã�ã��

å��ã�¯æ��é¬±ç�¶æ��ã�§ã��ã�£ã��ã��ä¸�æ³�æ��ã�«ã�¯ã��ã�¿ã��ã��ã��æ�ªå¾ªç�°ã�«é�¥ã��ã��ã�¡ã� ã�� èª å�ã��ã��ã��å��ã��ã��ç§�ã�¯æ�¥æ�¬ã�§æ¥½ã��ã��ã� ã��å¸°ç��ã��ã��ã�»ã�»ã�»å½¼å¥³ã�¯ã��ã�ªã��ã�¦ä¸�äººã�¼ã�£ã�¡ã� ã�£ã��ã��

å½¼å¥³ã�¯ã�¾ã��ã�ªã��ç§�ã�®å�½å��ã�«å�¥ã�£ã�¦ã��ã��ã��å½¼ã�®æ��ã��ã�¤ã�¯å½¼å¥³ã��ã�ã�¹ã��ã��ã��ã�¨æ�´ã��ã��ã��

å��ã�¯ä»�ã��ã�³ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã�� ã��

ミクシィ

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

å¤�å�½äººã��æ�¥æ�¬èª�ã��å¦ã�¶ã�®ã�¯é�£ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��æ�¥æ�¬èª�ã��æ�¸ã��ã��ã��ã�«ã�¯ã��ã��ã��ã��ã��ç·´ç¿�ã��ã�ªã��ã��ã�°ã�ªã��ã�ªã��ã��

æ�¥æ�¬èª�ã�®å��ç§�å¤§å¦ã�¯å¤�ã��ã�®å�½ã��ã�§å�å�¨ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã��å��ã�¯ã��ã�¯ã�·ã�£ã��æ�¥æ�¬èª�ã��ã��ã��ã�£ã��ã��ã�«ã��ã��ã��

ã��ã��ã�¦ã��æ�¥å¸¸æ�¥æ�¬ä¼�è©±ã�®ç·´ç¿�ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�¨æ��ã�£ã�¦ã��ã�¾ã��ã��

彼を笑ってはいけない ~ Don't Laugh

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

ç¬�ã�£ã�¦ã�¯ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��ã��è�ªå��ã�§ã��ã�£ã�¦ã�¿ã�ªã��ã��ã��

I managed to last about 2 minutes without laughing… that guy is so funny… my Japanese is probably worse than his English, hehe.

See how long you can watch without laughing…

誠子さん

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT

èª å�ã��ã��ã�¯ä¼�æ��é��ã��ã��ã�«ã�¹ã�³ã��ã��ã�©ã�³ã��ã�«ã��ã�£ã�¦æ�¥ã��ã��

ã��ã�®æ��æ��ã��æ�¥æ�¬ã�®äººã��ã�¯1é�±é��ã�®ä¼�æ��ã��æ¥½ã��ã�¿ã�¾ã��ã��æ�¥æ�¬ã�®å¤©å��ã�¯ã��å¤�ã�¯æ��ã��ã��æ¹¿åº¦ã��é«�ã��ã��ã��ã�¾ã��æ��ã��ã�®ã�§å��ã��ã�ªã��ã��

8æ��ã�®é�¨ã�¯æ�³å��ã��ã��ã�¾ã�§ã��ã�ªã��ã��ã��ã�¦ã�¨ã��ã�¼ã��

æ¥½ã��ã�¿ã�«ã��ã�¦ã��ã��ã�¾ã��ã��(^^) èª å�ã��ã��ã��ã��ã�ªã��ã�¦å¯�ã��ã��ã�£ã��ã��

Holidays in Japan

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Just in case anyone has thought that I've vanished I thought I'd make a quick post just to say that I'm on holiday in Nagoya, Japan.

It's AWESOME

Here are a couple of pictures from Ueno Park in Tokyo:

This is me standing in front of the statue of Saigo Takamori in Ueno Park.

Posing in front of a pagoda.

Anyway, I'm off to have dinner. Japanese beef. Yummy!!

ISAN: Gunnera

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

ISAN are for me a really cool sound at the moment. Check this out:

Female vocalists

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Over the past few months I've been listening to a lot more music than I ever have, and I have found that my taste definitely swings towards strong female artists. These are my current three favourites:

Asobi Seksu

PJ Harvey

Regina Spektor

For anyone who hasn't heard any of this lot, do yourself a favour and check them out, but for anyone who has, and think the know the sort of music I like, please offer me some suggestions for new iTunes purchases. Thanks!

BallGirl

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Bigger version

Anyone know a person shaped like that? I don't, but I seem to keep on drawing these really stupid little pictures.

Weird

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Bigger version

Even more stupidity in Fireworks.

MyMonster

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Bigger version

Just more messing around in Macromedia Fireworks.

Xbox 360 games

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hi folks. After purchasing an Xbox 360 last month I have been enjoying playing two games: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent and Project Gotham Racing 3.

These games are excellent, and they're both in the game genres that I like.

With this in mind, I'm wondering what others would suggest for me to buy next, as you can only play the same games for so long :)

Testing a new layout

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

After buying a larger monitor I have noticed how crappy my site looks , even at only 1280 X 1024 resolution.

It made me realise just how important fluid layouts are in today's world of big-assed browsers, and forced me to attempt a redesign (slowly). This is how far I have got, which isn't very far at all: Gordonmac gets fluid.

Anyway, at this point I'm just playing around, but at the same time I would like some feedback.

Thanks in advance.

iTunes iMix (Publish to The Web)

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I just discovered “Publish to the web” in iTunes iMix:

Pretty cool!

24 Season 6

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Four episodes in and 24 season 6 is amazing!!. Definitely the best so far.

Updates

(25/01/2007) - Where the hell did they get the actor for Jack's geeky evil brother, Graham? Does he really look like anyone who could be responsible for the nuclear bomb that just detonated in LA??

Why parents drink

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

A boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had not phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.

“Hello.” “Is your daddy home?” he asked.

“Yes,” whispered the small voice.

“May I talk with him?”

The child whispered, “No.”

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, “Is your Mommy there?” “Yes.”

“May I talk with her?” Again the small voice whispered, “No.”

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, “Is anybody else there?”

“Yes,” whispered the child, “a policeman”

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked,

“May I speak with the policeman?” “No, he's busy”, whispered the child.

“Busy doing what?”

“Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman,”came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the ear piece on the phone, the boss asked,

“What is that noise?” “A helicopter” answered the whispering voice.

“What is going on there?” demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.

Again, whispering, the child answered, “The search team just landed the Helicopter.”

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, “What are they searching for?”

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle: “ME.”

Famous at last

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Taking a Fireworks comp to a CSS-based layout in Dreamweaver over at the Adobe Developer Center.

Why do people steal?

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Why do people steal other people's designs? They always make such a hips of it, and they always allow the originator to track their copy.

Update

After sending a cease and desist letter to the author of the infringing site I received a positive response and an apology. I have therefor removed the link to the site.

Dead Airport Express

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

After only thirteen months my little Airport Express appears to have died.

I loved my Airport, but like so many other people reviewing it on the Apple store, I'm completely gutted by the fact that my £90 investment has bitten the dust after such a short life span.

I am SO disappointed, and don't really know if I want to fork out more money for the same product with perhaps the same defect. This is the first time that I have been disappointed with any Apple product.

Does anyone know of any reliable alternatives to the Airport Express?

Removing file extensions from a string

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This is a question, and I ask because I need some help :)

I have been trying to figure out the best way to remove file extensions from a string, but being completely crap at regular expressions (that's no understatement by the way) the best I could come up with was something along the ugly lines of this:

function ridExtensions($thefile) {
  $ext = substr(strrchr($thefile, "."), 0);
  $thefile = str_replace($ext,'',$thefile);
  return $thefile;
}

Does anyone have a better method?

Wee Island

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

See full-size version

SwordDude ™

Sun, 1 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Another attempt at drawing something stupid:

(View full size version)

Now I need some more ideas for things to draw. Any ideas?

Things I like at the moment.

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This isn't a meme. It's just me thinking about some of the random things I like at the moment, hehe.

Here goes:

Cocteau Twins’ song “Iceblink Luck”
NCIS
MTM Pro Ops watches
WebDAV
.net Magazine
Drawing silly illustrations.

There are other things, but those were the first that came to mind.

A Dolphin

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This is supposed to be a dolphin, but I got carried away with the scenery.

(full size version)

Gorilla doodle

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

A rather crappy doodle of a gorilla :)

I wish I was better at this stuff.

Holy cow

Sun, 3 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

How do you like my new mast head?

I decided to actually use one of my crappy drawings and replace that sun that looked like an explosion in a fried egg factory :D

Keeping on drawing

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In my quest to learn how to draw with more skill in Fireworks I think I have found the perfect method. What I have been doing is selecting a simple object to draw on a daily basis.

Some of the things I have been attempting are:

Simple three dimensional shapes, like cubes and cylinders
Cartoon faces
Cartoon penguins :)
Trees
Ugly looking houses :(

These experiments have gone rather well, and through my attempts I have picked up some rather nifty imaging techniques that I will be able to apply to more advanced drawings at a later stage in my development. You can download the templates using the link below. They should only take a moment to download on your standard broadband connection.

I said that the experiments have gone rather well, but unfortunately a lot (maybe most) of them would be embarrassing to show here. So I will stick to presenting you with only the PNG files that I'm most proud of :)

Last night I attempted to draw a flower, one that doesn't actually exist in nature :P I managed to easily get the flower looking pretty darn good, and in turn I felt pretty darn good too. So much so that I got carried away and added some sky, then some clouds, then some more clouds, then some grass and ground to plant my flower in.

The amazing thing about starting off simple is that your highly unlikely to be completely disappointed with the fruits of your labor. In fact, in my case it made me more enthusiastic.

So much so that I don't find this picture embarrassing enough to make me want to hide my face for a year if I show you it:

(Download the PNG source file here)

If you're really serious about designing web sites you should consider learning to draw in Fireworks. It's a lot of fun and it's also a great way to create graphics that are unique to your own designs.

I hope that some of these posts I have been making are enough to whet your appetite.

Have fun :)

Boredom, ideas, productivity… and penguins.

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

When I'm bored I sometimes watch TV, I sometimes read a book, but most of the time I switch on my computer and fire-up Fireworks, then iTunes and then start drawing things.

For me boredom generates productivity and ideas. The need to do something during those times normally leads to a PNG with a doodle planted slap-bang in the middle of it.

The images folder on my Mac contains around 500 Fireworks PNG files that consist mainly of random ideas that have poured out of my head and onto a blank canvas. Not all of them are good, and some of them are downright ugly, but that's not the point, the point is that I can go back to them at some time in the future and maybe use them for a project, or for something to tutorialize at CMX.

Boredom led me to make this post, so I will share with you the product of that boredom.

Here it is:

(Right click to save the PNG to your desktop)

I don't know about you guys, but there is something about penguins (maybe it's a Linux thing, hehe) that makes me happy.

Anyway, please feel free to tear the PNG apart, edit it… use it… do whatever you want with it… just have fun :)

RSS Icons in Fireworks

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

One of the things I hate when it comes to design is being forced to use un editable, flattened images in designs, especially when they are icons or symbols.

One of the most commonly used icons on modern blogs is the RSS one that first appeared in the Mozilla Firefox status bar a good few versions ago. It looks like this:

Like most good icons it's very simple, so why use other people's versions of it when it's so easy to recreate in Fireworks. Here's how:

Let's get drawing the icon

Open up Fireworks and create a new 100 pixel by 100 pixel canvas. The reason it's 100 pixels is just to give you enough room to play.

Set the canvas color to black so that it's easier to see what you're doing.

Select the Ellipse Tool () and draw a 40 pixel by 40 pixel circle in the middle of your canvas.

Set the fill to "none", and set the stroke to a 3 pixel soft line. Your circle should look like this:

Now clone the circle you just drew (Edit > Clone) and set it's dimensions to 24 pixels by 24 pixels and position it centrally within the larger circle:

To make our little "RADAR" from these circles we use the Knife Tool () to make two cuts through our circle:

From the 9 o'clock position right through to the 3 o'clock position
From the 12 o'clock position through to the 6 o'clock position

To do this select both the circles and and drag the Knife Tool along the same paths as shown in this picture:

Now delete all the excess paths so that you're left with something that looks like this:

Now draw a 10 pixel by 10 pixel solid white circle and position it like this:

Now all that's left is to place a nice orange filled rectangle behind it, and change the canvas color back to white:

That's all there is to it. Feel free to get creative and use different background colors for your rectangle. Here is a PNG that I made (right click to save to your desktop):

Have fun :)

Doodling in Fireworks

Fri, 4 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Hey folks,

I don't know how most other people draw up inspiration for their design work when using Fireworks, but for me it normally begins with a series of basic shapes. Rectangles, squares, polygons, whatever, are the core building blocks of all graphics. You can't do anything without them.

When you start punching holes in those basic shapes, joining their paths, changing their colors, or even just overlapping them, they start to gel together as a more creative formation… then all-of-a-sudden it hits you! BANG!! You have an idea!!

Maybe it's simply because your crazy array of pixels has begun to actually look like something that you could possibly use for a current project, or maybe it's something you could archive in some deep, dark directory on your HDD for future use.

Either way, it's possibly one of the coolest feelings you could have sitting in front of a computer (OK, I have left myself open to some fairly creative comments with that statement :D .)

(This is the method that I have used when creating the Design Elements and JumpStarts over at Community MX.)

Just the other day I was staring at a blank Fireworks canvas, feeling the effects of designer's block and I started pushing random shapes around in the way I just described. Would you like to see what happened on my canvas? Well, here it is, right here.

It's not the coolest of creations, granted, but it could be something I may develop into a bigger “something” in the future, who knows.

While I think that it's important to learn how to use Fireworks' (or whatever graphics package you use) massive library of functions, I still believe that it's more important to play around and get creative without being all technical about it. So think back to when you were a kid, and all you needed to make you happy and creative was a box of crayons and some rag paper, open Fireworks with that feeling fresh in your mind, and get doodling!

Cartoonised

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

When you know people like Chris Flick you can be pretty sure that you're not going to escape being drawn :S

Isn't his artwork awesome!?

Chris is the guy who does all the CMX Suite cartoons over at Community MX. He's also the guy that I'm going to be having the pleasure of working with on a small (top secret) project.

I'm very much looking forward to the experience.

BeansBox relaunches

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Belle Liu of BeansBox has done an amazing job of redesigning the new version of the company web site for her Hong Kong based web development studio.

CMX Design Elements - Carbon

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

My latest template :) Check it out over at Community MX.

Two new Macromedia® Fireworks® files

Mon, 6 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The great thing about annual leave is the way it leaves you time to indulge in the things that you enjoy. I guess that's what being on holiday is all about.

Sadly, for the past few days the Highlands have been subjected to some fairly horrific snow storms that have made getting out and about pretty much impossible, and because of that I have been suffering from a mild form of cabin fever.

On the flip-side, the isolation of being amidst a snow drift has left me a lot of time to spend in front of my computer; actually doing stuff! The results can be found in the Macromedia® Fireworks® downloads section.

Enjoy!

Designing for CMX

Fri, 3 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Ok, so this post is a bit of a shameless plug, but may be of interest to some :)

In the time that I have been a partner at Community MX I have designed two “JumpStart's”. JumpStart's are ready to deploy templates that come with extensive documentation and full support via the Community's set of 30 odd professional web developers.

The first JumpStart I created was called Inverness (the capital city of the Highlands and Islands). Inverness is a blog-theme design that includes example styles for the most commonly used elements of a generic blog.

The JumpStart that was released today is named Minneapolis. It's a three column, fluid layout based on the elements of eCommerce design. It's quite nifty :)

The really great thing about the CMX JumpStarts is the support, like I said, having a backup team of 30 + professional web developers can never be a bad thing, then add the sweet price of only $29.99… you just can't go wrong.

The templates come with a Dreamweaver extension that allows them to be rapidly deployed, but they also come with a generic zip archive containing all the files required to use them.

All-in-all JumpStart's are an excellent way to, erm, “jump-start” a client design if you're lacking time or inspiration and they are also a really great way to learn about using CSS, Adobe ™ Fireworks™ and Adobe™ Dreamweaver™.

Two new templates

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

As a celebration of the new version of my site I have released two new templates. As always they are the result of me attempting to redesign Gordonmac dot com, but failing to be happy with anything I come up with.

I hope that you like them, you can grab them at the normal location.

Seeing as this a new version, and hopefully a new beginning for Gordonmac dot com I am looking for anyone who has suggestions for new content, please let me know.

A live redesign/update

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the beta for the new version of Gordonmac dot com. This is a live redesign, so a lot of what used to be here hasn't been updated yet. This wont take long though, and I assure you that it will all be worth waiting for,

I have discontinued the older templates and PNG files in order to replace them with fresher, more contemporary designs. They will be available shortly, so please be patient :)

Domain transfer

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

I am currently transferring gordonmac.com to a new web host, so please accept my apologies for any disruption.

The reason for my change of host is due to my current host's lack of interest in updating PHP to version 5, and the development of my new CMS and design has taken advantage of the need for some of PHP5's features.

Does anyone have any tips for the smooth transfer of hosting? I would be delighted to hear them!

He lives

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

OK, so it has been a while (erm, bloody long time actually!) since I have posted anything here, or in fact done anything at all with this site. There have been a number of reasons for this, and none of them are lack of interest in the subject.

One of the most interesting reasons for my absence is due to the fact that I have been writing tutorials on a range of subjects that include PHP, CSS and XML for a project called Community MX.

Community MX is a subscription based resource for people who use the Macromedia (now Adobe) Studio application suite, and it's made up of a group of extremely intelligent and friendly bunch of web professionals (that doesn't include me by the way ;)) who provide fresh content on a daily basis, it's very cool.

My short term plans include re-designing this site, it has been a long time since I have done that, and I used to do it far too often.

In the background I have been playing around quite a bit with various layouts, but I had never actually settled on anything. I will show you two of the rejected ideas I had for my redesign if you're interested

Those were just ideas, the design that I have settled on is much different than the efforts I have made in the past, and I can't wait to let it loose for all to see.

Please stay tuned :)

My musical baton

Sat, 21 May 2005 00:00:00 GMT

It's been a while since I posted anything here, just not a lot going on really but I received the “Musical Baton” from Stephanie Sullivan at Community MX. I guess I have no choice now but to write something :)

Total Volume

9.47GB.

Last CD Bought

Ok, it's been a LONG time since I bought a CD, I have been using iTunes for ages now and only really by single music files, the last whole album I bought from there was “;Progressive History-X” by Fluke.

Song playing right now

“Strict Machine” by Goldfrapp.

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

Hmmm... this is what my iTunes says that I listen to most:

“White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane.
“Thumper” by Fluke.
“Like Glue” by Sean Paul.
“Black Steel” by Tricky.
“A Warm Place” by Nine Inch Nails.

Five People to Whom I'm Passing the Baton

My awesome new keyboard

Tue, 5 Apr 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This is the canine’s gonads of keyboards, and it will arrive at my door in 24 hours :)

Have a look at it

Hobbyist CSSer

Mon, 4 Apr 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Although I have not been saying much on this “blog” I have been designing lots of little bits and bobs. It's what I do when I ain't working.

I don't know if anyone really wants to see these, they are far from perfection, but I had fun making them.

Here is the list:

Sorry about the weird names for them, but they made sense to me at the time :D

Time for another makeover

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT

At the moment everyone seems to be in some sort of site redevelopment state of mind, but I have always been afflicted. Mostly because after having looked at my site for a few months it really begins to look crap. Seeing so many other beautiful designs on the go doesn’t help my condition at all :)

I have decided to change a few things in addition to the design. One of those things is the removal of the CMS I made with the intention of keeping updated regularly. That never happened, and will never happen as far as I can see it :)

What I am planning to have on the index page is simply a tiny application to allow me to link to things relating to design that I find interesting. It wont have comments or anything like that, just a link and a description. They will be archived and categorized.

Anyway, I will leave the link to the test directory for my redesign, you can watch me make an arse of my CSS and adding bits and bobs as the time passes if you like :)

Here is the first draft

The image at the top is a Japanese woman painting a decorative fan. I bought it as an antique print (circa. 1870) for 25, and love it!

Thanks for looking :)

A New Pill

Mon, 28 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT

'nuff said.

Stringy List Navigation

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT

I don’t know if this is of any use to anyone, neither do I know if it
works in Mac browsers but I’m sure someone here will be able to tell
me :)

The more I use relative | absolute postioning the more I see it’s practicalities when it is used properly.

Anyway, the link is here. CSS is not externalized for easy source viewing and the very basic Fireworks PNG file I used for the graphics is here.

Hope someone can make something pretty with it :D

Another PNG 4U

Thu, 3 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Playing around with Fireworks before dinner tonight and made a little something that maybe someone could use.

It’s just a really simple little layout idea, but maybe of use to someone.

Go grab it

Free Fireworks MX Symbols

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Don't know if they will be of any use to anyone, but you can grab em here.

Happy Chinese New Year

Tue, 8 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Oh, and I think the common way to greet someone from China at this time of the year is “Kung Hei Fat Choy”.

Flash Paper 2

Tue, 1 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMT

I was looking for a cheap way to generate PDF for use on my web site and toyed with a few different application possibilities. Adobe Acrobat was one of those options, despite being much too powerful for my humble needs.

Today I found a pretty much inexpensive and versatile application to cater for that requirement, Macromedia Flash Paper 2.

It allows you to generate either a generic PDF or a Macromedia Flash File Format (SWF) of your printed media.

Here is what Macromedia has to say about Flash Paper 2:

“FlashPaper 2 allows anyone to convert printable files into Flash documents or Adobe PDF files with one click. Instantly generate Flash documents that can be accessed by over half a billion web users. Or transform files into secure, compact PDFs for e-mailing, archiving, and printing. FlashPaper 2 is an affordable solution to create web-ready documents easily that can be shared on any website.”

Just thought I would share that :)

Version 9.5

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

A lot of things have to be done yet. I have to set up my FAQ application again, I have to find all the PNG I intend on giving away and then I have to re write my gallery application.

Anyway, I hope you like this… any suggestions are welcome (unless they mean a lot of work for me :) ).

Designers Block

Tue, 25 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

I don’t know if this is a common malady among people who participate in both design and application development, but it’s certainly affecting me with symptoms manifesting themselves as extreme mental fatigue and tongue twisting salvos of blasphemy.

As if trying to recall the logic of things like the box model and the nuisance of Microsoft Internet Explorer in general wasn’t bad enough you then have to go about firing all your frustrations in to something that looks original!! OMG

Still, ain’t it fun? :D

Helloha

Sat, 22 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Ok, the new version of this site is nearly finished. Still some things to do with it.

Will be up and running soon though, promise.