fio is on her hols.

one has been playing far too much guitar hero, mario galaxy and FF7.
i have access to so many games and consoles here, it's GOOD.
the internet is a bit pap though.

I've started working on the second CSS sheet for my site, as well as trying to find out how to set up my own web cam feed. i can't seem to find much really useful information about setting up a web cam feed, i've downloaded several programs but have no idea how to get the feed onto my site. more research needed methinks.

here is what it looks like so far:


needs ALOT more work, just hoping that my CSS swappy code works fine in the end. need to think of more patterns to use. at first i was going to go with something a bit floral, inspired by this pretty tree in the backgarden, but decided to go with pink cubes of doom.



not much is different from the original CSS sheet really, still need to work on the fonts and links.

i've also been reading this REALLY big book.



for my final major project i want to do something with processing, at the moment i'm still trying to find out what's possible (it's seems that almost anything is really). i'm just hoping i'm not biting off more than i can chew.

workage.

here's what the home page now looks like:

i've decided to go with a 2d illustrator kokeshi instead of a 3D one, mainly to save on time. i've also decided to make a different kokeshi for each different CSS layout, as well as changing the site logo, background, and any other elements that i can faff around with. there's also going to be a sad robot next to my flickr feed, but i've yet to make him.

and here are the info and play sections of the site:



same basic CSS, just different backgrounds. the info section is going to hold a lot more than it currently does, still thinking about what i'm going to put in there. and the play section is basically going to be a list with some small thumbnails of random things i've made for the heck of it, and as it says, there's nothing to put up there just yet.

CSS and that

although one has not been posting, one has been working.
one has been making pretty patterns:


look at me using small files!

and one has been working very hard on hand coding the CSS for the index page (resisting the temptation to be lazy in dreamweaver, i could make it all in five minutes if i wanted to but i don't want to i want to do it properly, dammit.), trying to make the layout as flexible as possible, so i can be as creative as i want to be with coming up with new layouts. thinking REALLY hard about what content i want to include and what it needs to look like to fit in with possible future layouts. thinking about what i want to do with my twitter feed, trying to get my head around flashr (me no likey actionscript), and screaming at the college computers when the links don't work properly or when browsers wont refresh my page properly, making me think my CSS is wrong.

i'm glad the site is finally starting to get past the conceptual stage, and is finally taking shape. there's still alot to be done but i feel like i'm getting somewhere now.

here's what the layout looks like so far:



i don't know where the little patterny idea came from really, i think it's my little obsession with origami paper. i've always like patterns i just never thought that i'd make them really. these are mostly based on my small collection of origami paper, simplified a lot.

mmm... pixels.

i've also been working on a little 3d kokeshi doll to hold a sign with my twitter feed inside it. or a thought bubble of something. i was originally going to try to make a pixel art one, but i've been missing maya recently so i thought that i'd give 3d a try.

here she is so far:



i'm going to doodle my ideas over this render later, then i can build her up some more.
and since i'm currently considering entering this competition it could come in handy.

nice web design hints

both of my following linkys are from pingmag a nice little tokyo based design site. here's five steps to CSS, if you're looking to refine and tidy up your CSS a bit (i am), and a nice little article about the website development process when you have to work with a client. it's so cyoooote.

choco leibniz

= freakin' awesome.

i've lost the ability to speak, everything keeps going whoooshy and my throat insists on causing me great pain (which is extremely unfair as i don't even have tonsils... i haven't had them since i was nine and only now is it starting to freak me out a little) but i have orange lucozade on tap and gosh darn it i'm going to do some work today.

not much probably, but some will do.

i've had a little idea... my main problem with designing a site that i'm happy with is that i tend to get bored of the design while i'm making it, or just about when i've finished it. but i've discovered a little CSS trick which lets you use several possible CSS templates on one page... i've seen it on a little webcomic i read called little gamers. if you look in the linky section there's a set of buttons which allow the user to pick from several templates. they've only used it to change the background of the site but i think it's really rather clever and could be put to more use.

i also read how to do it in these nice new shiny books i got.



YAY BOOKS.

this means i can set up the basic site, with the pages and files where i want them, and then when i get bored of a layout i can just add a new one. a the moment i'm just thinking of a simple idea where you can invert the colours on the page by choosing a different layout.