My poor blog has had no love for two months. I’m afraid I’m going to have to put this thing on hiatus. With my current job, I just don’t have as much time (or energy) to put into this blog as I’d like to. Not sure how long it’ll be– at least until I can figure some things out. I haven’t even been able to update my portfolio, but hopefully I’ll be able to do that much. Thank you if you’re still checking in.
Everybody check out the BARK About Healthcare Blog. Molina Healthcare, where I currently work, is a member of the BARK consortium, and I designed and developed the blog in Wordpress. The blog is for people who are seeking government and other health and financial resources they might need after being laid off or if they’re having financial troubles. BARK’s being piloted in Missouri, and if it takes off, there’ll be a BARK for other states as well!
I’m definitely thinking ahead here. I’m hoping work does not get too crazy and the upcoming obstacle course of birthdays and holidays does not take up all my free time because I would love to launch a redesign. I want to keep within the brand identity I’ve set for myself, despite the few critics out there. If it’s anything I learned during my networking and putting myself out there during my unemployment after graduation/my move back to CA, it’s that this is a pretty successful look, and I don’t want to lose the recognition I’ve gained so far. I’ve had some great creative involvements and met some great people who identify me with this design. Though My Friend Bobby used to introduce me to people as someone who plans to take over the world, I think I really just want a bite of it.
I’ve got some other plans for an overhaul of the site structure– I may be changing file naming conventions, which would be a complete headache with the years of permalinks I have and setting up redirects, but having more contextual links would be the best thing to do. I’ll be messing with the metadata and maybe installing some useful and fun plug-ins (Wordpress has grown so much since I first installed it three years ago). I’ve really let accessibility slide for a while, and I want to work on that. Also update all of my professional work, resume, etc. I’d love and appreciate some feedback on anything any of you would like to see here, even in terms of post content. I find that I spend a lot of time ranting about brand identities, but I know my few branding/design advice posts get lots of hits, so that may be something to consider moving forward.
I know it’s been ages since I posted any real content, but I’ve got a few posts in the works. Some of the topics coming up are: branding and self-promotion through blogging, the art of the written note, and leadership. I’ve been so busy these past couple of weeks both personally and professionally– many changes going on. I’m looking to schedule some new posts starting next week so check back in soon.
In the meantime, I will leave you with this commercial. Not because I particularly like it, not because I think it is clever or the tagline is any good, but because I just enjoy seeing angry chinchillas waving guns around.
New JavaScript portfolio presentation is up. Added work for Million Million Monkeys and Jennifer Designs. Work for ARTC Culinary Arts Academy will go up after the site launches next month.
Just so it’s out there, I’m working on my portfolio this weekend. Only a few updates in terms of content, but I’m altering the layout. If you would like work samples, please e-mail me, and I will provide you with a PDF of select samples until the new portfolio is launched on Monday.
So, I finished combing through the archives this past weekend to insert <p> tags where there were none so I could turn off the Wordpress wpautop function. I flipped the switch, and lo and behold, some paragraph and line-break tags have mysteriously disappeared, as they sometimes tend to do. I’m combing through the archives once again so if you see some odd formatting today, it’s being fixed.
I just implemented the My Comments Elsewhere Wordpress plug-in from Improving The Web. I thought I’d use it to track my comments on other design and arts & culture blogs, kind of a way to share interesting posts. Check it out.
In converting the site from HTML to XHTML (transitional), I’ve discovered an issue. Wordpress has a function to insert <p> tags automatically, which I’ve come to rely upon. Well, while validating the site, I’ve found that WP inserts the paragraph tags around div elements, etc., so of course the site is not valid XHTML.
I found a simple hack on the forums (disabling the wpautop filter in default-filters.php), but that means that any time I was lazy and did not enter in a paragraph tag, which was often, the style gets messed up. I’m currently going through the archives to bring everything up to code, so bear with me. I’ve got the first couple of pages of previous blog posts done, but the Quote Collection is a complete mess.
This also includes turning all YouTube and imeem embeds into this XHTML-valid code, via bernzilla.com:
For imeem, simply add the additional <param> tags they have and close them up with a “/” instead of leaving the tags empty, and be sure to use the URL that instructs the player not to auto-play, if you have used that option.
In the meantime, I’m keep the wpautop filter on so there will be no formatting issues.
So I’ve finally upgraded to Wordpress 2.7 (I was at 2.3 before, I think). That means I’ve activated Gravatars (that sounds like something out of Transformers or something, doesn’t it?). The default avatar for those commentators (is that right?) who don’t have a Gravatar is none other but one of the stick people from my old doodle site Lovely Drawings, seen at right. That reminds me, I really should bring those back, at least for an archive. I did resurface one some time back for a Sketchbook Sunday. Hmm, things to keep myself busy…
So I’ve finally upgraded to Wordpress 2.7 (I was at 2.3 before, I think). That means I’ve activated