There goes a couple months of my life…

My latest contract was allll consuming, and one of the first things to go was blogging time.  So sad.  The good news is, I’m launching the thing, I’m proud of it, and the client seems pleased as well.  You can’t ask for more than that.  There is that list of revisions they’ve requested though…I’ll get on to that after I’m done here.

The two biggest technologies employed by the project I’m wrapping up are Drupal and PHP…both of which I was relatively new at and both of which I now know much, much more.  Drupal’s been a real pleasure to work with, and I anticipate doing most of my work through it in the future.  Themeing was relatively simple and I added custom PHP code to it without too much trouble.

Anyway, I’ll do a post-mortem when the thing is actually up.

The really important tidbit of information is that Bethesda announced another expansion for Fallout 3.  Be excited.

Here’s the skinny.

Killing aliens…America’s other favorite sport.

Ok.  Back to code.  Nerd points etc.

From designer to developer: a logical leap

What goes on in my mind is comparable to stew. There is no recipe for stew, really. You just sort of throw a bunch of crap you think might work well together in a pot over medium heat and hope for the best. More often than not, the result is delicious (or maybe I’m just always hungry). One of the great strengths of stew is its improvisational nature: you can hit on unexpectedly great flavor combinations by combining “incompatible” elements. Unfortunately, the flip-side of this strength is that it’s incredibly hard to discern how you arrived at that amazing flavor, should you try to reproduce your legendarily tasty stew.

In terms of my brain, I like to pour in whatever interests me at the moment, let it simmer in there for awhile with everything else I’ve been thinking about for awhile…and then do something. It’s incredibly hard for me to separate all of the individual influences on an idea or experience, or obtain a “recipe” of any sort whatsoever. All I know is that I’m having quite a bit of fun at the moment, and my current direction is a culmination of years of disparate interests coming together.

It’s strange to me how we label ourselves in order to try and achieve some idea of an identity. For me, I’ve been wandering around as a “creative.” I’m not arrogant enough at the moment to call myself an artist, but I’m certainly artistic, have a keen interest in art (of all forms) and have occasional bouts of self-expression. This label has its origin in my high school experience of social and micro-cultural ostracism. I was an “art guy.” A select few fellow bizzar-o friends got it, and everyone else just knew me as the dude who drew pictures and produced the weekly school news program.

There’s an incredibly self-limiting stereotype that goes along with being a “creative.” It’s born out of a paradigm that came about in the era of corporate vertical organization and has been dead for years now. Ready for the lie I told myself for years? “I’m a creative. I’m a designer. I don’t do code.” This is a ludicrous statement that I subconsciously absorbed and believed until very recently. In truth, a designer (and especially a web designer) that “doesn’t do code” is akin to an architect who “doesn’t do floor plans.” The deeper I delve into code, the more I realize it’s a tool every bit as vital as Photoshop, and I regret not starting the journey sooner. If you desire to do any work online the bottom line is you must learn code.

For me, my quest to learn code began from a purely economic standpoint. There’s far less competition for jobs involving code, the jobs pay better, and much back-end functionality is similar enough that if you’re doing similar projects you can build on and improve existing work you’ve done in the past. Sold. I started adding developer sites and blogs to my reading alongside my ramblings on design blogs. I also took a trip to the book store and purchased some books (I still love margin notes too much to do everything online). To my unexpected delight, I found that creating code is actually incredibly creative! My brain loved it! The stew got tastier.

One of the most intimidating aspects of getting started with code is the sheer number of languages you can learn. As a designer, I already had a working knowledge of HTML and CSS, and I did a lot of work with WordPress and Joomla. Both of these technologies are open source (free) and driven by PHP, which is also open source. Therefore the next logical step for me was to learn PHP. This gives me the capability to create advanced applications for clients, such as custom e-commerce solutions, or Content Management Systems (CMS). The next language I plan to learn is Flex, which in an open source development environment for apps that run in Flash Player and AIR (desktop applications – ex. Tweet Deck). This would allow for the creation of gorgeous interactive interfaces and media presentation methods. Do you see the logical progression of creative capabilities by taking this path? Let me break it down:

• HTML : contains a page’s core content  (examples: every web page ever.  resources: W3 Schools )
• CSS: controls the presentation of that content (example: CSS zen Garden.   resources: site point)
• PHP: allows your pages to communicate with your web server and prepare HTML in a manner customized to individual users’ needs.  In other words, allows for interactivity.  (examples: Facebook, WordPress.  resources: php.net , Learn PHP 5)
• Flex: allows for the creation of dynamic and elegant interfaces etc.  (examples: Adobe Official Site.  resources: learn Flex in a week)

So there you are.  My path from designer to designer/developer was a kind of unintentional flow, a mash-up of  “conflicted” interests, and now makes for a very tasty stew.

Two amazing tools…

I just finished putting together the initial design/framework for Athens Area Habitat’s new web site using Joomla and I found it to be fairly pain free.  If you need to get a fairly complex, flexible site up fast this is recommended.  I didn’t have to code a single line of PHP, so mission accomplished!  It’s available at Joomla’s site, and can be installed very easily via Fantastico on Blue Host’s servers.

Also, thanks to a tweet from IdaApps, I learned about Ning this morning.  I wanted to set up a Social Network for Athens Area Habitat’s volunteers and supporters but thought it would be impossible.  The Ning site took about 15 minutes to set up.  No joke.  This is a great resource.  Check out the Habitat Community!

Easter Blues

Unless you’re in retail, holidays seem to be universally bad for business. Everyone, and I mean everyone I’ve been working for became magically unreachable this past week due to the one-two punch of St.Patrick’s day and Easter.

“No, I haven’t mailed the check yet.”

“No, I haven’t looked at the proofs.” ‘

“No, I haven’t checked any email today.”

Are you kidding me? I’ve got a body that needs feeding here! Needless to say, the whole thing has caused me some stress. Instead of sitting around panicking about it, my wife and I decided to enjoy the weekend and really take a holiday. I’m hoping Monday will bring clients back into a productive mood.

Besides enjoying Easter, I’ve been dabbling with PHP so that I can begin configuring a shopping cart for one particular client. It’s incredible to me how much of my time is spent trying to furiously learn new concepts to deliver what people are asking for. It feels exactly like being in school, except now I get paid for doing my homework. The continual personal expansion is one of my favorite aspects of this sort of work. As a designer, I’ve always shied away from code, but more and more I’ve realized there’s no way around it: good design requires programming. I don’t work for a firm, so I can’t rely on the guys down the hall. I have to know this stuff. Once you decide to learn it it’s really not that bad. The confusing thing is that I’m trying to comprehend both Actionscript 3 and PHP (along with databases in general). It’s taking me about twice the time to complete projects (I never bill for research time) but the long term benefits are worth it. People demand flexible pages with complex data, and customizable pages are a huge feature to be able to offer. My skills are slowly developing from pages that might as well be in print, towards truly interactive design. As usual, I’m impatient with my progress.

Another issue I’m trying to comprehend is choosing a platform to base shopping carts on. My host (Bluhost) offers Agoracart installation for free. This open source platform might do the trick.  Teh problem is, open source programs tend to be bad for beginners and require much more knowledge to get rolling.  I have a colleague that uses Cartweaver and seems to like it. It carries a $300 price tag, but is designed to work within Dreamweaver. As I work through the project, I’ll let you know what I end up doing.

Happy Easter!