May 29, 2004
Fighting The Temptations
After checking my post on my last entry, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to apply the template to this weblog. Seeing the default MT template just really drives me nuts. Given that I've finalized the colors and most of the structure, that little devil inside my head whispered, "Why don't you apply the template to your weblog? It would give you a boost in excitement and help you finish the redesign." Of course that's not true. I would get mired in making the weblog look good and then once I went back to the main design, I'd realize I have to make a change and all the work spent on the weblog would be wasted.
So I have to reign my lust for applying the template and keep plugging away at getting it done. Besides, the only template that is completed is the front page. I still have to design the content template and the forums template. There's a lot of work left to do. Why is it I hear this song in my head all of a sudden? "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go..." ;)
Posted by mashby at 09:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Breaking Away From Standard Colors
After playing around with colors yesterday and this morning, I finally found the balance I was looking for. The only "bad" part about it is that I had to choose a non web safe color. It's in the logo section and I could make that whole thing a graphic, which I may still do, but at least it's a minor section of the site.
What's so bad about a non web safe color? Whenever you choose a color that isn't web safe you run the risk of what the actual color will look like on the end user's monitor. There's a wide range of differences between mac and PC as well as the color depth chosen on the users monitor. Web safe is a palette that was created in the early days of web design and it was a selection of colors that looked good on almost any monitor. Today there's a lot of debate concerning whether or not the web safe palette is still required, of even needed any more. I'm not going to go into that right now, however I try whenever possible to stick to the web safe palette just to be safe. That's not to say that I haven't strayed every now and then, but it's a good rule of thumb that I still apply.
Now if only I could come up with a new logo...
Posted by mashby at 09:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 28, 2004
Getting Motivated Again
I just haven't been all that motivated this week to get back to work on NPUG. I went on vacation last week and I've been recuperating. I guess we just wore ourselves out on holiday, because today is the first day that I've felt more like myself. I played around a little bit with the design some more. I focused on colors and simplifying the code for the main template.
Posted by mashby at 03:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 13, 2004
Ouch
Well MovableType 3.0 was released today and although that's great news, that puts a little bit of a kink into the backend of npug.org. Why? Well, because SixApart (the makers of MT) have a different pricing structure now. Prior to 3.0 they offered a commercial version and a free version. Since NPUG is a volunteer organization I assumed that we could use MT free of charge. I may have been off on that assumption, but I think it's reasonable since NPUG has no revenue to speak of.
Technically we can still use MT for free, but the free version is limited to 3 weblogs. At this point in time we're standing at around 5 weblogs, so that would mean that we'd have to purchase a personal edition. It's not crazy expensive, but again, NPUG generates no income, so it would have to come out of my pocket.
Which brings up a thought that has been bouncing around in my head for awhile now - should I open a bank account for NPUG and begin accepting Amazon Donations and PayPal donations? Hmmm... going to have to give that some more thought.
Posted by mashby at 10:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 10, 2004
About Us Page Updated
I updated the About Us page updated. I added pictures for Charlie, Randy and George that I took at the last meeting. Still missing some bios, but hopefully those will come soon.
Posted by mashby at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Leadership Council Meeting A Bust
Last night I held an IRC meeting for the Leadership Council. The idea is that once a month we meet online to discuss the management of the PUG. Unfortunately only one other person showed up, so it was just Randy and I. Charlie at least e-mailed me letting me know he couldn't attend at the last minute, but otherwise not a peep from anyone. It was a little discouraging and left me questioning myself a good bit. Am I demanding too much from the council members? Am I not making my intentions clear? Am I a poor leader? I feel a bit like a failure, but I'm not letting that stand in my way. Randy and I made a lot of headway and made decisions on a lot of issues, so I'd say the meeting was a success even though there were only two of us.
I'm still in the learning process with what the purpose and goals of the Leadership Council is exactly, so I know that this is all part of the learning curve. I'm not feeling down, or negative regarding the poor attendance, I'm just looking at ways that I can make it better. This was a good learning experience if nothing else. Live and learn
Posted by mashby at 11:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 09, 2004
Keeping Things Private
One of the things that I forgot to consider when designing the new NPUG design was that I have to create a private section for the Leadership Council. I was reminded of this when I went to post the chat log from our last IRC meeting. I've got a couple of pages kludged together, but it's hardly a "section" of the site.
I run into this problem with just about every site I do. There's always a need for 3 levels of access. 1) Visitors - they access public pages, 2) Site Administrators - they access the backend of the site and usually have access to everything, and 3) Super Users - they need access to "private" stuff, but not full access to everything.
Even though every site I'm involved in needs these 3 layers of access, none of the CMS tools I use really provide this level of access. Instead, it's up to me to figure out how to make it happen. Each site is a little different and incorporates different software so I always seem to be re-inventing the wheel. Looks like I get to do it one more time here on NPUG. :)
Now I just have to figure out where to put the navigation and how to integrate it into the look and feel.
Posted by mashby at 07:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 08, 2004
Itching To Code
I'm almost done with Chapter 11 in "Designing With Web Standards" by Jeffery Zeldman and I'm itching to begin appling what I've learned thus far. This book has really made an impact on me and I'll never design a web site the same again. I know that I need to finish the book before I jump back into coding, and if this week is any indication of my progress, I should be done by the end of the weekend.
Oh and BTW, I'm posting this entry via mo:Blog. I tried using this program awhile back, but found it too simple to use with my main weblog. Since my goal is to keep this weblog as simple as possible, it's a perfect fit with the Dana Wireless by AlphaSmart.
Posted by mashby at 12:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 04, 2004
The Beta Stuff
I just realized that I never posted the rendering of the new NPUG design. You can find the image at this link. The rendering is the workup I do in Adobe Photoshop before beginning the coding of the actual HTML/XHTML, etc.
If you want to see how the site is coming, you can see the "Beta" section at http://www.npug.org/beta/.
Posted by mashby at 12:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Plowing On
I worked on the redesign some more. I gave up on the CASS layout and added tables to get everything to line up. There's still plenty of tweaking to, but at least the rough framework is done. :)
I should have posted the details on the meeting instead yesterday, but I thought I would have more time to work on NPUG yesterday than I ended up having. I figured I'd finish the tables and then post the meeting info, but I ran out of time. I should get it posted today.
The books arrived yesterday afternoon and I began reading Designing With Web Standards. So far I'm up to chapter three and it's looking like a really good book. I'm still in the first section though and it deals with the history and background of web standards, etc. I'm tempted to jump ahead so that I can find answers to some of my questions/problems, but I'm going to stay the course. Zeldman is a pretty good writer and I tend to like knowing as much as I can about the background of something, so it'll all be good in the end.
Posted by mashby at 10:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 03, 2004
I Need A Book
I've been working on the redesign of the NPUG website for about a week now. Based on my apathy for the current design and the initial feedback of the poll I've been running this month, I felt it was time for a change. NPUG has had the same design for close to 4 years, so it's high time for a change.
My initial goal was to design the new look to be completely standards compliant with CSS and XHTML. Unfortunately my grasp of both of those technologies is a little lacking. It looks like for the time being that I'm going to have to use a hybrid style and design the layout with tables. No biggie, but I had really hoped to go the other way.
I've ordered some books, Designing With Web Standards and Eric Meyer on CSS:. Hopefully they will help, but I will still have to read them and absorb the information before I can put the information to work. In other words, I'll be with the table layout for a little while.
Oh, if you want to see how it's coming, you can view the new design at this link.
Posted by mashby at 03:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mic Check... Testing 1 2 3
Welcome to the "Administrator's Log". This is my personal weblog for my activities with the Nashville Palm Users Group (NPUG). Think of this weblog as a personal diary of my thoughts and activities as the Director of NPUG. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be posting, but hopefully you'll find it interesting and, if I'm lucky, maybe even a little insightful. :)
Posted by mashby at 12:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack