The New Dork
Give Your Site ‘Traction’
Notice anything different with my website? It’s been completely overhauled. It’s not as fancy as the last version, but I have been dealing with some lag issues recently and I wanted to experiment with a new theme to see if it would make a difference. I was running the Magazeen theme which was kindly donated by We Function, but it was unsupported and had a lot of issues right out of the box.
I am now running the Traction theme which has some really nice features and customizations built in and is a free download from The Theme Foundry. Thanks goes out to them for creating such a well designed and configurable theme. Make sure to check out their site because they have a lot of cool stuff available. Titan and Vigilance are two of their most popular themes that I came across last year and it might be suitable for your website as well. These are great springboard themes if you are just starting out with your first WordPress site or professional development. Oh… and don’t forget that website development is all about ‘compliance’ these days. Design and content should be separate and your site should render perfectly in all the major browsers. Your not only giving your visitors a better experience, but your making it easier on yourself as well.
Give Your Site Traction!
MacJournal
I have started experimenting with MacJournal as a simple way to enter blog posts without the need of logging into WordPress everytime. With the exception of image formatting, I think this will be a much more efficient way to update my site on a regular basis. Let me know what your preferred tools are for posting articles to your own site.
Ulrich Schnauss – Einfeld
I’m a big fan of Ulrich Schnauss. A German composer from Kiel and Berlin, his music is ethereal, beautiful and always engaging. It’s difficult to find videos of his music, but he has such a strong following of fans across the globe that they create homemade videos to go along with his music. I created one of my own below.@anywhere
Creative Brilliance
Drew Wilson of drewwilson.com continues to expand his portfolio of work into many areas by creating great designs, code, communities and artwork that blend together so they are seamless, intuitive and a sight to behold. In a previous article I wrote, I mentioned how Drew is easily one of the best designers in the interactive media space. Below is a list of what Drew Wilson has created. I’m not a coder by any means, but I have the fortitude to continually learn more and implement ideas when it’s needed to enhance the user-experience. I hope you will be inspired by these projects as well.
Drew Wilson Personal Projects:
Web Applications
Open Source
Corporation
Learning from others is a big help and I hope Drew Wilson’s passion for great work sparks interest in you as well. Check back often as I will be updating the list with background information for each. I’m anxious to see these projects grow in quality and size as Drew’s style of design, interface and code becomes more ubiquitous throughout the web (note: I’m linking to an Objective-J article until the Titan framework becomes available.)
The Hipster PDA & Wallet
A recent visitor to my website by the name of “JMTee” was interested in my continuing efforts to tame the email monster using “Things.” At the bottom of my article, JMTee asked how it was going. I replied that it’s been working slowly but surely. I decided to peruse JMTee’s website and I came across a great article on his version of the Hipster PDA that furthers the idea of “Less is More.” I love the concept of the 43 Folders Hipster PDA since it reminds me of when I owned a Moleskine® to handle my day-to-day tasks before the iPhone was released.
Whether it be reducing email, common tasks or even the size of your wallet, we all gain something by having peace of mind that life can be a little simpler.
Drew Wilson.com
Drew Wilson’s work was introduced to me last year by a fellow designer and now friend. Drew is probably, if not easily, one of the best designers in the interactive media space. He not only designs websites, but full-blown experiences that make your browser melt away into the background. Browse his website and you will see what I’m talking about. Whether he is building a CMS, Social Network or cutting-edge graphics and effects, there is always something new and exciting around the corner. Drew was recently added as an exclusive (mt) MediaTemple Partner.
Open Atrium – Open Source Intranet
I have been searching for a suitable collaboration tool for many months, if not years now. Things by Cultured Code has been my day to day workhorse as a GTD for completing tasks, but online collaboration with team members is fundamental in managing deadlines, projects, documents, files and calendars.
37 Signals‘ Basecamp has set the bar over the years as the most popular and admired collaboration tool available. Along with Highrise, Campfire and Backpack, they have created one of the most appealing suite of online tools available for project management. However, cost and the fact that you can’t self-host the software has been an issue for many in deciding whether or not it is worth it.
Well, today I think I have finally found one of the best options available. It’s still in the early stages, but Open Atrium is an open-source alternative that combines many of the same features as Basecamp and more. It was created by the incredibly gifted and professional team at DevelopmentSeed.org, who evidently have been around a long time developing open-source software for Drupal and promoting projects for a variety of global causes. As always, there is a bit of a learning curve when installing and running open-source alternatives, but in the end I think Open Atrium is worth the effort.
