On Yahoo's: Shine

I've been meaning to review Yahoo's new portal for women, Shine, for some time now. After spending about 15 minutes a day on it for the past two weeks, I think I'm ready to pass judgment.



Here's the rundown:

Shine is in essence Yahoo's first target of a specific audience as opposed to its usual topical approach (Sports, News and Entertainment), but operates under the same principles.

What you get with Shine is an aggregation mash up of original blogs, user generated content and content from major publishing partners including Conde Nast, Hearst, and Time.

Yahoo's press release says:

The idea is to provide women between the ages of 25 and 54 with information "most relevant to their daily lives.

So, how well is the mash up executed?

Average at best. This is yet another attempt by marketers to tell women who they are as opposed to allowing them to tell the brand who they are.

While I like the cleanliness of the design, the massive font is distracting and looks unprofessional. Navigation, sucks it, big time. When you click on a content channel like, say Love and Sex, a secondary navigation bar opens with Related Topics. The thing is when you click on one of them in any channel you are taken to a list of posts in that topic back on the front page design and the topic navigation goes away. Changing the design colors and taking users off channel is a big no no for me and most designers who want their users to actually be able to find their way around. This seems typical for Yahoo though.

Content is dull. Many of the topics and bloggers write in an incredibly sophomoric style and focus solely on gossip, avoiding being overweight and the proper way to leave your husband if he's cheating. Sigh... I realize that I'm not a woman, but they have to be interested in more than Hollywood, affairs and soap operas.

Don't get me wrong, I like my fair share of "lifestyle" and "fluff" content every once in a while, but Shine isn't doing anything new here. It's just boxing it different and front paging some really terrible advice from its users.

Granted, I'm not in the demographic, but if this is who real women are, I'm glad my fiance isn't one of them.

Go back to the drawing board Yahoo! Retool this beast, get away from dedicating prime real estate to the perfect pair of jeans, the next chick flick and get a little substance. Either that or go with a new masthead that says Yahoo:360 - Desperate Housewives Edition. This just doesn't show any innovation. It has potential but needs a soul.

Some cool wallpaper

I don't often post about good design nearly enough anymore. However, today, I was cruising through Smashing Magazine and was taken by this post on using desktop images to serve up calendars. It got me to thinking about how some members of an advertising group are preparing to have people skin calendar software to portray their message. Wouldn't a desktop wallpaper be just as useful?



I tend to think if someone is interested enough in your calendar, and you want to use it on a desktop application, why wouldn't you just make it a wallpaper instead of something that needs to integrate with the software.

Thoughts?

On Digital Magazine Design

I was cruising LinkedIn this morning when one of their Question and Answer topics caught my eye. There was a woman in India looking for advice on how to promote a digital newsletter.

Having just a little experience doing digital publications for several Chevy vehicles, I offered up my recommendations for setting up a method to virally promote the publication.

Then I got a look at it.

Her magazine, Architectural Evangelist needs a pretty big overhaul in my opinion.

It seems clear that the publication was designed solely in flash. Doesn't appear that they're using any of the big magazine, magalog programs.

I'm fine with having to click through to read the type closely... but the font is barely readable even in the sub head sections.

Good design for newsletters and magazines online must be taken into account... otherwise, there's no point in producing them.

Love the tabs on the AE newsletter and I like the interactive graphs, but this needs a serious overhaul from a useability standpoint. If you were the quality assurance engineer on this project, what would you flag first?

On Online Persona Managment

What happens when you Google yourself? If you click that link, you'll see what came up when I did it. Thankfully, my personal Web page hits the top of the organic listings. I chalk it up to proper meta tags, title tags and clean code. I've also gone out of my way to try to properly manage my online persona.

Admittedly, as a young twenty-something in the Internet age, not everything that you'll find my name attached to is necessarily something I'd want everyone, let alone potential clients, vendors or employers to see. Now that I'm a late twenty-something, with a considerable amount of material that I either wrote in my newspaper days or that I was responsible for coding in my Web editing days, I have a nice body of work with my name attached to it.

So, when prospective employers Google my name, mostly the good stuff shows up. Sure, my foodie profiles pop close to the top, but I don't necessarily see them as detrimental to my reputation.

Lifehacker, recently posted a feature on managing your online reputation. While I think it misses out on a few social network identities that are an absolute must to grab, I think the post is informative and has a lot of good suggestions.

As a side note, I was an early adopter of Twitter, abandoned it, and have since come back. After I left, someone who I won't name, assumed my identity and did some pretty good damage. A lesson learned. I've since grabbed it back, if only to manage it. I'm still not sold on Twitter yet.

Re-launched and re-dedicated

Well - I'm officially redesigned, streamlined and back with Danieleizans.com 2.0. For the most part, I'm really happy with it. I have a little work to do with the sidebar on this page. I've had a bit of difficulty removing the need for unordered lists within Blogger's template rules. Once I tweak it a little more everything should be up to speed.

What I do like about the site, is the redesigned navigation, the absence of the sub-pages and the direct linking to portfolio items. I've done away with a PDF version of my resume. I'm still trying to decide if I'll put that back up or not. I also incorporated two color links to maintain better usability. I'm curious to know your thoughts. Let me know.

In other news, I'll get back to talking about articles, things I come across and work related stuff.

I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, with a redesigned site. Thanks for the patience gang.

Danieleizans.com 2.0 update #3

Good morning.

I'd like to report that my redesign is largely finished. It has been temporarily delayed thanks to work-related content and a Web site I'm developing for a dear friend.

At any rate, I'll launch the redesign sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning. I now have the pain in the ass of working the redesign into the blog template. Basically, what you'll get is still a dark site with light type, but I've reworked the navigation a bit, made links more intuitive and basically streamlined the wordy graphs that once introduced each section.

All in all, I think it will be a more user friendly experience and eliminate the problems I had updating some pages in the past.

Look for my emergence, and return to at least 4 times a week blogging on Sunday.

Thanks for the patience, the e-mails and well... for being you.

Redesign coming along

My redesign has been coming along quite well. Part of what has been slowing things down has been the fact that the last time I updated my portfolio section was some time in 2006. I've completed quite a bit of work since then that I'm actually quite proud of. Therefore, figuring out a way to organize everything has been a little challenging.

I've been surfing around and looking at different photographer and ad exec portfolio pages. And while they're very nice, flashy and pretty, they're not me. Warning: Life rant ahead.

I've always thought of myself as a linear creative. I LOVE really nice clean lines, basic gradients and colors and subtle background patterns.

I'm not sure where this grew from. I always dated artists (until Molly and Vita), and most of them liked crazy patterns, bright colors and bigger, bubbly type. For some reason, I always like to paint myself into the background. I don't like to pop too much with my online presence.

K... Back to redesign.

If it's really possible, the site is getting smaller. By smaller I mean more compact. Somehow, I've managed to increase font size (a common complaint of the current design) and still make things more compact. I'll chalk it up to the fact that I've been doing wireframes and skinning for Chevy I guess.

More later. I have a few articles to sift through and three magazines to plan before 11 a.m.

Danieleizans.com 2.0 - yo.

Hi.

Last night, I began redesigning the site. I couldn't sleep, and was feeling a bit off, but I did get the general look, feel, colors and layout of danieleizans.com 2.0. I really like it. I don't think it will be as clunky as some of the areas are here, and it certainly shows off how I've grown as a designer.

But never fear - it's still simple, standards compliant and CSS based.

I should have it done by the weekend if I continue my planned pace.

More later.

Flashback

So, I'm back to testing software. I'm currently taking a look at the ModX CMS platform for a project I'm helping pitch with Work.

I've also been busily getting ready for the holiday season. Thankfully most of the shopping has already been done. Vita and I are simply in the stage of getting ready for the flurry that will be visiting our extended family. We'll be spending some down time together as well before she hits the general surgery rotation.

Aside from all that business, we're charging ahead on the wedding. And if I can commit to one of the several templates I designed for a mini site a few months back, I could finally get a mini page up to replace our spot over at The Knot.

I'm also toying with redesigning the old danieleizans.com. This thing will be 2 years old in June, meaning it's almost overdue for a redesign.

Just a quick update. Look for my ModX templates soon.

On On Demand Video, on and on.

On the iPod: "Alec Eiffel" - The Pixies

Now, I fully understand that online video is becoming more and more niche oriented. There have been a ton of YouTube knockoffs springing up like weeds across the net. One that Al Tompkins over at Poynter, tipped me off to is GodTube.

Now, I have no problem with Christians or anyone else who practices a religion in the least. I applaud certain forms of evangelism and even plan on making my support. My very best friend and his new bride are two people who I think do it right.

My problem with services like GodTube is the tactics under which these "evangelists" are presenting their case. They're being no better than those terrible heavy metal bands with their slick media presentations. People, especially the people online video sites are aimed at, are impressionable. And this site is full of videos that bash homosexuality, evolutionary theory and free thinking. While some of these clips present some interesting theory, they go no further than scratching the surface and presenting guilt laden trickery to sway the minds of the weak.

My biggest problem is the lack of logic that goes into these arguments. Even evangelists, priests, and other clergy should have some sort of basic training in discourse. Wouldn't it be better to show both sides and then pick apart? Wouldn't that make your argument seem stronger. Instead of filibustering on about how homosexuality is immoral or say that you can't understand how a human can evolve from a primate, so it can't possibly be true, make an argument. Give me some proof. At the very least, back it up with some real premise. And for Christ's sake (pun, very much intended) back it with something other than, The Bible "says so." Take the time to support this almighty faith you have. I'll respect you more for it. Have blind faith, but have the reason to back it.

John Brownlee over at Wired, presents a well-stated vision of some of the problems with this site. I tend to agree with him for the most part. I haven't had the time to fully explore GodTube yet, but plan to out of my newly renewed interest in faith, religion and theology. Look for a full report in a few days.

I'm digging for fire.

On the iPod: "Do You Remember?" - Jack Johnson

A user (a Texas A&M Computer Science major named Cole) instant messaged me last night and conducted an informal interview. One of his questions was as to why my bio page was so thin.

Well, I suppose that's because I've done my best to try and keep this page as business as possible, despite the occasional rambling about my engagement, wedding planning or my thoughts on books and film. While it was something I once enjoyed, I don't really care to be the center of attention too much these days.

But since Cole asked me an interesting mix of computer geek and art/music/culture geek questions, I'll go ahead and make that public. Cole and I conducted this little chat via Google Talk yesterday. Here's the transcript, which he graciously allowed me to repost. Thanks for the interesting conversation Cole. Note: Spelling has been corrected, grammar has not.

Cole: Hi Dan. I'm a computer science major in Texas (Texas A&M actually). We're doing this project on CSS in my Web design class and I came across your page thanks to a template you posted in an open source forum. I'm using your personal site as one of five in my case study.

Me: Hi Cole. That's a pretty big compliment, since design is more of a hobby of mine. My job is really content management and programming related.

Cole: Yeah, I saw that on your bio page. I like the design of your site though because it's simple. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me about the site, and some of the things that interest you?

Me: That sort of depends. I'm not big on sharing too much about me.

Cole: Well, I have a theory that a Web designer's personal page is heavily influenced by the media they use and by the Web sites they visit. Would you be willing to answer some questions about that?

Me: Doesn't sound like it will be overly painful. Fire away.

Cole: Awesome. It's pretty apparent that you like music. A lot of different music. Can you give me a top five CDs?

Me: That's like asking me which of my children (not that I have any) I would kill first, but I'll make an effort. (1.) "Pet Sounds" – The Beach Boys, (2.) "A Rush of Blood to the Head" – Coldplay, (3.) "The Moon My Saddle" – Chamberlain, (4.) "Jersey's Best Dancers" – Lifetime, (5.) "World Waits" – Jeremy Enigk/"Aja" – Steely Dan.

Cole: Same kind of list, but with movies.

Me: The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction, A Waking Life, Tape, Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Stagecoach, Melvin Goes to Dinner, The Burbs.

Cole: The Burbs?

Me: Tom Hanks man... his best work ever. Forget Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Big... The Burbs is fantastic.

Cole: Never heard of it.

Me: That's unfortunate. Go get it.

Cole: Any books stand out?

Me: I read non-fiction mostly. Mostly philosophy books by Immanuel Kant, Aristotle. Lately I've been delving back into medieval philosophy though. My fiance can tell you I have an obsession with Thomas Hobbes at the moment, mostly because I think his argument for the State of Nature has a lot of validity to the present state of our world. She'll also probably tell you that she hates whenever I utter the words state of nature.

Cole: Any fiction?

Me: Vonnegut... Salinger, probably all of those insightful writers that most post graduates read to feel liberated, edgy and angry at the world around them. I wasn't all that different than a lot of other upper middle class suburban kids trying to "find the meaning of it all." I was really big into poetics in high school and my first year of college. Frost, Ginsberg, the beats. I was your typical wannabe trendy, arts guy.

Cole: Does that mean you didn't play a lot of sports?

Me: No, actually, I love sports, both playing and watching. I may have been that guy in the coffee house talking up girls with my guitar, but I was also the guy who played every intramural college sport I could get involved in. I also coached soccer for a while. I believe I was really good at one point. I'm a bit more stationary these days, but I do love sports.

Cole: Are you playing any right now?

Me: Does walking my dog count? Ha, no I'm not at the moment. I've been looking at getting back into drop-in hockey, roller hockey, and I'll do a lot of camping/hiking and paddling this summer if I follow through on my plans.

Cole: Outdoorsy then?

Me: Absolutely, I love being outside. I'm big on camping, paddling rivers, in canoes or kayaks. I spent a lot of my summers in northern Michigan, fishing, hiking and getting into trouble. My brother does extreme outdoor sports. I'm much more laid back about it. I enjoy recreational top-rope climbing, some sport climbing, fishing and paddling.

Cole: What are some web sites you visit a lot?

Me: Pingmag.jp is a big one for me. I also visit designobserver.com, typofile.com and a lot of newspaper web sites.

Cole: Any other media we should know about?

Me: Actually, I dig video games too, though I don't play them nearly as much as I did in high school or college. I haven't gone so far as to get an X-Box 360 or a PS3. But I do play my PS2 from time to time. I also have an old Sega Genesis and an original NES that get dusted off from time to time.

Cole: What games specifically?

Me: I play a lot of sports games. Boxing, Hockey, Football and Track and Field. I also like some war strategy stuff. I'm a big fan of the Metal Gear series. Anything that's semi-tactical, I really enjoy.

Cole: Thanks a lot. I'll send you a copy of my report when I'm done.

Me: My pleasure.

should i ...hush... up?

On the iPod: "Again and Again" - The Bird and the Bee

Last night I couldn't sleep. I kept digging through old records and designing on my laptop. I'm convinced that I need to properly brand ...hush... The reason I've never done so in the past is because there are already a lot of other hush things out there.

There is Hush records, which puts out some fantastic music from the likes of Kind of Like Spitting, Norfolk and Western and the ohh so popular The Decemberists. Then, there is hush restaurant in Laguna Beach, CA. And who can forget this piece of crap solo artist, or this, piece of crap rapper, who just happens to be from Detroit.

Click on that link and listen to that terrible "Miss Music," where they ruin that bad ass Mr. Mister song "Broken Wings" by sampling the whole track. I swear, if he ruins "Kyrie," I'm going to start a riot.

Now, I've always used the ellipses with my branding of ...hush... but as of now, I've been toying with the idea of re-naming, re-branding and becoming my own Limited Liability Company. So I'm curious. What are your thoughts on ...hush...? Do you think it's too much a throwback to my "indie" wannabe days. What might be a better name for my company? At this point, I think it better to re-brand and rename now. Because I'm sure I'll be a juggernaut in design in no time.

I'll be putting up those race car designs I talked about a while back, along with some potential names and logos for the new, whatever-I-might call this would be company.

Edit:



This is one idea, Ruhe Design Co.

Ruhe is the German word for peaceful. The fonts used are "The Sans Semi Light" (Capitals) 620 spacing on top, 880 on the bottom. The bottom font is Sans Semi Light normal.

Some great foodie Web sites

On the iPod: "They Know Where You Live" - The Joy Circuit

I covered foodie sites in my column today. See below.

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I won't lie to you. I'm a foodie. And I blame it all on my mother's stellar cooking.

This passion has become so severe that I am now striving to find the best corned beef, the tastiest recipe for French onion soup and the most unique way to incorporate pomegranate arils with my salmon. And I'm doing all of that online.

So, if you're looking for a new spot for a business lunch locale, a new recipe or even if you're just looking to read up on some new wine, try these links out.

Chowhound.com is a site I visit daily. There you'll find message boards, recipes, restaurant reviews by region and a host of other tidbits. Thanks to chowhound, I'm now a fan of smoked porters, pickled red onions and Autumn squash ravioli with sage brown butter sauce. One day I plan on trying to make my own pancetta.

If new wine is what you seek, I highly recommend Wine Spectator's site (thanks to my boss Chris Crain for that one). Even if you’re a little new to wine (as I am), there is a wealth of information to get you started. At the very least, you can learn how to fumble your way through a presentation during your next business meeting. There are also some great videos about various regions. My favorite so far is on the art of champagne sabrage.

Finally, I give you my favorite local foodie blogger. Lisa Leutheuser (the Kitchen Chick) is an Ann Arbor resident. Here you'll be treated to some fantastic food reviews, great pictures and some real insight. She has totally turned me on to Biwako Sushi in Saline, thanks to this review.

Working, working, working.

On the iPod "Always a Game" - Nada Surf

Today is one of those days I'm really glad my job doesn't require me to constantly interact with people, either face to face or by phone. Sure, I have to take on assignments, build things and get them signed off on, but there are certain days that I can skate by on minimal interpersonal interaction. Today I'm doing my best to avoid conversation that gets me anywhere past the absolute necessity.

I'm in a serious work mode and have found myself being surprisingly efficient despite a heavy than normal workload. Current projects include developing a major section front that incorporates 20 blogs that will be written by our 20 in their 20s.

Integrating blog functionality into Saxotech Online isn't exactly the easiest of tasks. I've been using the subscriber module to build them, but am considering a shift to the Custom Content Engine.

Have any of you fellow Saxo developers worked with a non-third party solution for Blogs? Let me know.

Web site fixes, new features

Web site fixes, new features

On the iPod - "The Fine Art Of Falling Apart" - Paint It Black

I've fixed the problem with the CSS that was effecting the display on several browsers. I hadn't noticed that when I had modified the copyright information in the footer of my static HTML pages, that I had reset the margins in some way. This problem was rectified by using a 48% margin from the left to return the page to center.

Don't you feel better for knowing that? Also, I wanted to let you know that soon, I'll have finally finished the photo galleries that I had intended on creating some time ago for the site. I just needed to think of the best way to display them without allowing them to be taken. I've solved said problem by going to a Flash based solution called SoundSlides.

I had experience with SoundSlides when I was working Monroe, but hadn't been aware that a PC version of the program had been developed. I bought a license for my home computer and the work machine and am already hard at work on cranking out a few galleries. I like this solution as an alternative to a lot of the crappy slideshows that are oh, so prevalent on the MySpace profiles (sorry darlin').

At any rate, keep your eyes peeled, but don't let them dry out. I'm full of empty promises lately.

On Web 2.0

On iTunes - "I'm On Fire" - Bruce Springsteen

I've been doing a lot of reading lately on Web 2.0. The reading led me to thinking about the wealth of information available on the Internet, how the changes that have occurred in the last five years have affected our privacy, how we communicate and how we interact with our world. I wrote about it in my Web World column today. I've posted it below.

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One of the qualities of the Internet I am most fond of is access to research and shared content. There is never a shortage of weird news or items that intrigue me.

For instance, did you know that Lipstick kills?

Research done on manual dishwashing performed at The Ohio State University found that food left on dishes after washing harbors bacteria, but lipstick can have "antimicrobial" properties.

Other research that has really been intriguing me lately is that done by Michael Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. Wesch studies media and produced this little beauty and posted it on YouTube.

The video shows us the evolution of the Internet, the evolution of HTML and the Web to the mysterious Web 2.0. And if you still don't know what Web 2.0 is, the short answer is that you are Web 2.0 because you are the editor, organizer and gatekeeper. It's a fascinating concept, but really makes you think about privacy, sharing and the shrinking world.

If you're looking for more of a theoretical analysis of what Web 2.0 might mean to media outlets as we know them, I highly recommend Epic 2015, an interesting mockumentary about the merging of Google and Amazon. It details the rise of Google and predicts what might happen in 2015, a year where the press doesn't exist. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem all that far off to me.

Can the press exist with Web 2.0.? We can now all broadcast our own thoughts via podcast, publish through blogging, share through RSS and open our entire lives via Web 2.0. I'm interested; what do you think?

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So. What do you think? Leave me a comment.

On being busy.

On the iPod - "The Boy's No Good" - Lifetime

My apologies for being really, really busy. I have a few things to touch on, so let's get right to it.

First and foremost: MySpace. Yes, I deleted my personal profile. I'm working on a new page that I will use solely for business and marketing purposes. I have a lot of reasons for deleting my personal account, the main one being that the people I was writing or commenting to on a regular basis are already directly touching my life in some way. Everyone else was hanging on to threads that were long frayed anyway. And, to be perfectly honest, I don't have the time, energy or will to give anyone reason to hang on to a fading heartbeat.

It's never been a secret to anyone I'm close to that I go through periods of extreme isolation and that I eschew relationships on a fairly regular basis.

Now, on being really busy. I have a wedding I'm in the middle of planning with the finance (not a typo, that's what I call her. It's endearing), working solo in a three person department and dealing with a fussy dog and a few personal demons. Thankfully, most of that is melting like a lot of the snow here in the mitten. The wife-to-be will soon be home and I can get some sleep again.

In design related news, I'm plugging right along on learning Flash, Dreamweaver (you'd think I'd know that one by now) and the ins and outs of my new CS2 Suite. I've also got a new client that I'll tell you all more about in a future post.

So, that's my quick update. I have also been reading a lot when I can't sleep. I have some articles to reference throughout the week, so this shouldn't be static for long. Also, I'll clean up a few pages around my own site. I'm getting an off center display on some machines and browsers. Are you seeing things dead center or are they off to the side? Comment and let me know.

Thanks.

I've got maps.

On the iPod "Mr. Ambulance Driver" - The Flaming Lips

One more update for the day before I start watching Sunday night cartoons on Fox. I added myself to Jade Tree Records' MySpace page a few weeks back. A lovely young woman from Pittsburgh made a comment about the photo I had added to said profile while marking my location on the map. After doing a little looking into things, I thought it might be fun to add a map of my own to the Contact area of this site.

Below is a screen capture. Go add yourself if you'd be so kind. I like to know who's eyes are prying. Good night.

On Wedding Web sites.

On iTunes - "In the Sun" - Michael Stipe

I've been subjected to a lot of "wedding" stuff lately. My best friend is getting married here in Detroit at the end of March, and I'll be in the wedding party. I suppose this is also just as good a forum as any to let any of the rest of you who don't already know - I will be getting married in 2008. I proposed to my wife to be on the 20th of January. If you feel offended for not knowing sooner, don't. I'm just keeping a low profile these days and am trying to stay focused on other things.

But back to the topic at hand.

I should first point out that I think weddings are a racket. But despite my thoughts on this, I've been subjected to viewing many of the "popular" online wedding destinations.

First up: theknot.com.



Yes, I know every woman loves this Web site for "how easy" it makes planning the big day. Still, let's take a good hard look at this design and what it is attempting to convey.

The problem with the Knot is that it's trying to cram way too much information into one space. It's sensory overload. Newspaper sites like The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have similar problems. The "My Knot Tools" area along the left hand navigational bar should really be moved to the top. I always praise top navigation sites, but if the site's designers are insistent on using the left navigation, they should move those to the upper left. The current navigation on the top is more for bridal searches. If you need a gown, place etc. That is the stuff that should really be in the left.

I come to this conclusion because most users are using theknot.com for building a wedding web page. Yes, it's used for planning, shopping, etc. but the overwhelming use seems to be for building individual pages like the one belonging to the aforementioned best friend.

I like some of the features, but am of the opinion that the knot's design sort of sucks. Solution: I will build my own wedding announcement Web site via danieleizans.com.

Next: brides.com



Now this site is more of what I think a well designed, thought out Web site should be. Brides.com has a nice, eye-catching graphic in the upper left landing space that immediately grabs the attention of the user. They have navigation running not only across the top, but across that attention grabbing image. There are numerous ways to get to the key areas of the site and the information is organized into logical dhtml tabs that expand upon mouseover. It also has planning functionality and numerous tools for the busy bride to be.

So far, I prefer the look and feel of brides.com. But thankfully, I don't have to do too much of that upkeep. I'll write more about these wedding sites in the coming months and as I become exposed to them. I'll also provide a sneak peak to my own wedding page when I get closer on the color palette and font choices.

That's all for now.

Once upon a dream.

On the iPod - "Pillage the Village - Chin Up, Chin Up

I've got to mention right now that I'm extremely frustrated with blogger at the moment. I'm peeved that I can't seem to find a way to get my archives back up without posting them all by hand. I only had 30 postings on this version of my blog, so it's not that overwhelming, but there are better things I could be doing with my time. For the sake of record keeping, I'll follow through.

I've been working with JavaScript for the first time in a long time the last two days. It has been a nice little exercise. I'm branching out a new menu for work that includes a rotating area for refreshed content. So far, things haven't been a struggle, but things have the tendency to get hairy fairly quickly around here.

I've also been networking with a lot of other Saxotech developers who are planning on attending this year's user conference in St. Pete Beach Fl. The overwhelming topic of interest is Saxotech Online's CCE module.

I hate the holidays.