November 7, 2008
Galleries, NextGen Solution
Filed Under Blogging, Photography, Web, painting | 1 Comment
I have been working on a new site for Margaret Roach that will be known as The Sister Project. It has greatly expanded my belief in blogging as the new publishing and WordPress as the leading software. I will be writing more about The Sister Project (TSP) after we launch in late November.
One of the five TSP blogs is Galleries where we will display curated submissions of poetry, prose, photography and art. The Galleries need software to organize and present the art and photography. There are many WP gallery plugins available but our research led us to NextGen Gallery. It offers a variety of options and seems to be well maintained–many plugins are not. As with many Open Source programs, the instructions and tutorials could be more thorough. After spending many hours “under the hood,” I think I know how NextGen runs but some things are still not clear. That is why I am doing this test post using paintings I made almost twenty years ago. I want my clients to be aware of this solution and it gives me a chance to post some paintings from one of my favorite series.
Below and in the sidebar are thumbnails of my Field Report art. Almost all of the drawings and paintings are based on one avocado plant that I grew in my apartment. Other works based on the direct observation of nature are also included as part of this series. This last week I went to the Morandi exhibit at the Met. I suppose Field Report is my “Morandi” statement.
(This is the navigation for the NextGen Gallery.)
September 14, 2008
Pronto! Buongiorno Marco. Galleria?
Filed Under Cllents, Web | Leave a Comment
Last Spring, Marco Ventura told me that he wanted to have his illustration portfolio on-line and asked me to design it. Marco lives in Milan but his reputation and clientele are international. I met him when I was assigning illustration for the Time magazine feature Spotlight. (Before I knew Marco, I was unfamiliar with Italians answering the phone “Pronto.”) He had digital files of all his work and sent them to me by email. I made my presentations to him using Skype.
Marco wanted a very minimal site with a white background and images that were not too large. Like many of the artists and photographers I have dealt with, he was concerned with… Read more
September 11, 2008
Nice Job, Bub!
Filed Under Cllents, Print, Web | Leave a Comment
Today I updated crime and mystery writer Donald Westlake’s website with three of his books that are being republished by Chicago Press. (see for yourself) So, why am I blogging about it? Because I admired these cover designs. I mentioned it in a reply to the publisher (“Tell your cover designer ‘Nice job, Bub.’”) and they wrote back that they were designed and illustrated by David Drummand. I Googled him, found his portfolio/blog and added him to my Blogroll. Reading about good design process is always rewarding.
This also gives me a chance to talk about Donald’s website and some of the business lessons I learned. He is a friend of a friend and about ten years ago I heard him mention at a party that his webmaster was changing fields and he needed to find someone to take it over. That is how… Read more
August 23, 2008
Damn Scam
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This week a web client emailed me asking:
Did all of your clients get this (domain transfer) notification?
I assume it’s legit? I just paid for the five year renewal of the domain name.
Will you handle the transfer or should I?
Well, it was not legit and it makes me furious. The client had received a snail mail letter informing them to transfer their domain name to Domain Registry of America (www.droa.com). It was worded in such a way that they thought it was imperative. Sneaky bastards.
I did a search:
1. This from PCmag.com – http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2007/10/beware_of_domain_name_scams_in.php
2. From someone who describes a letter like my client’s: http://trinaallen.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/domain-registry-of-america-scam/
droa.com letter
3. In trying to explain why the registration WHOIS information is public, I found this:
“The problem is two-fold: ICANN (the guys who “overlook all the domain stuff on the Internet”, for lack-of better phrasing) voted in a new rule that states all domain owners _MUST_ have legitimate contact methods shown in their WHOIS records. That is, the owner of the domain must put a legitimate address and telephone number in their WHOIS records.” (from http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,16948194 )
(see UPDATE 4 below)
August 6, 2008
Novo Navigation
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I have spent many hours exploring the terrific navigation methods developed by Gerard Fernandez at DHTML demos. This has been a great education and I would like to write about all that I have learned: DHTML, CSS, JS, SVG, VML, XML, AJAX, Spry, MooTools and DOM. But I think I will wait until I get feedback from you, my loyal readers, about which subjects are most important. Also ask about browser redirection. Not all of these work in older browsers. (Add surfing you web site on a smart phone to the list of future discussion.)
July 24, 2008
July SYSTEMS
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Another July deadline was completing the redesign of the SYSTEMarchitects.net website before the opening of the Home Delivery exhibit at MoMA on July 17th. This was an exciting challenge. Jeremy Edmiston is a talented architect, who does brilliant work and is the principle of SYSTEMarchitects LIc. Several factors fascinated me about this assignment. First, I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a major in architecture and worked for a number of architects in Minneapolis before I was sidetracked by the other muses. But my design foundation was most certainly laid back then. My professors used to say that architecture is the mother of all arts. Let’s just say that it is a “culture” I am familiar with and love. This was a wonderful opportunity to reacquaint myself while working with a visionary in the field.
Second, Jeremy had unique demands. He showed me some sites that he liked and told me he wanted his site to be “an experience.” This would be a test of my design methods. Generally, my approach to site design is Read more
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