JS libraries and stuff

Tangle library - Some nice interactive elements

http://worrydream.com/Tangle/

http://worrydream.com/TenBrighterIdeas/


Lists galore!

http://listjs.com/

Photoshop notes

I am the post-it note queen. Or I was anyway, before my recent migration to the world of smart phones.

I have a habit of writing production notes around my desk on post-its, esp for things I don't do EVERY day, so I don't forget. I find I'm not always at work when I'm doign these sorts of things so I thought I'd post it here for my reference

Photoshop notes - photo retouching
- levels
- curves
- hue/saturation
- selective colour

Sharpening:
Duplicate layer
Filter/other/highpass
make the layer overlay or soft light
adjust opacity of layer or erase where not needed
Manualy further sharpen some edges with a dupe layer and set the sharpen tool to 50% mode at normal.



erase everywhere it doesn't need to be

The weekend's work

I had a look at playing with Quicksand on the weekend, one of the jQuery plug-ins I want to use in my revamped portfolio site. Fortunately I found a couple of great tutorials over at the Web Design Think Tank, written by Stewart Doxey. The more basic Simple data filtering using jQuery was fine but I managed to break something when I moved on to Simple jQuery filtering using Quicksand. I need to revisit that in the next couple of days (in between celebrant meetings and dress-trying outings. Did I mention I was also trying to plan a wedding!?)

Anyway, I thought it would be good to get back to some basics and learn a bit more about Javascript. I was looking at purchasing a book to get me started but I've discovered Eloquent JavaScript - a modern introduction to Programming by Marijn Haverbeke. It's online (awesome!) with interactive bits in it. There's an edited version also available to be purchased. So far, quite interesting - the introduction strongly resembles a conversation I had with my Significant Individual (SI from now on) over a couple of very tasty Stouts at the pub on Saturday night...

Yee ha!

OK - after falling off the blogging planet for a while, I've returned.

I've been busy in the new job, upskilling in many areas but I've reached a point where, for sanity's sake if nothing else, I need some non-work projects. I haven't done much since creating a football -themed Flash flip card memory game for my nephew last year (to practice ActionScript3).

I'm looking for a few different things to occupy me, so I don't' get bored. Other than picking up my beading again, there are a few digital things I'd like to develop, starting with an overhaul of my portfolio site. It was 'functional' when I built it (i.e. it did the job it was meant to, holding all of my stuff) but in itself, it was hardly a sterling shiny gem of a site let alone something I felt was a true representation of me or my level of skill (which is sort of what you want from a portfolio site!!).

The first stop is to rethink the way it's structured. I'm in the middle of reading Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" (I'm literally cringing as I read every page, as I realise in terms of usability, how crap my site is). The Adobe Refresh day I attended in Sydney last week also got me thinking about designing for different devices (start designing with the smaller device and add more in for larger devices, instead of the other way around). I'm going to start with a content review and then seriously rethink the navigation, page design - particularly the organisation of the content on the home page. Watch this space for wireframes...

I was tempted to use this as a project to check out HTML5/CSS3 but as it's not supported right across the board, I might just start with the HTML4/CSS2 version and then try developing a beta 'upgrade' version. Before I get carried away - let's start at the start...