Fri Apr 29
I’m a relaxed and easy-going guy, but when I’ve had a busy and hard week and want to go to sleep it doesn’t help that certain people play dance music far, FAR too loud into the early hours of the morning. Hopefully, and I hope this with every fibre of my being, that we find a new house quickly, as this is becoming unbearable.
Update: the neighbours have been round to complain and threaten calling the police. And I completely agree with them. No-one should have to live with this.
Fri Apr 29
Daniel’s Journey has a few excerpts from this article, most of which ring true for me. My current quote of choice for the current situation I’m in is:
nerds crave actionable items and roll their eyes at “mission statements” and lofty management patois
Tue Apr 26
Width is important, especially if you need some new trousers. It’s just as important when you’re designing websites, as there are a huge variety of different width screen resolutions out there. Fortunately I don’t think there are too many people using the now-consigned-to-history 640×480 pixels resolution. Hurrah! We can design sites for a decent width screen! Let’s quietly ignore the fact that, increasingly, people are accessing websites using mobile phones and palm computers with a width of under 300 pixels.
I think most web designers will agree with me that 800×600 pixels is a good benchmark to make a site work in. It’s cited as being the lowest screen resolution in common use at the moment. So that makes it all the more interesting why some web designers are creating sites that only work correctly - by which I mean not having horizontal scroll bars - in 1024×768 pixels or higher? M’lud, exhibit one. While you could argue that, as a site specifically for geeks, that the average screen resolution may be higher than for a “normal” person, it’s still an interesting shift in the thinking of designers.
Perhaps we’re heading for a watershed, where 1024×768 becomes the dominant resolution. In which case the difference between a site served to a screen at that resolution and a mobile device will be much more marked. Where will things go from there? Who knows - in two years time we may all be using computers with a 3D interface rather than a screen.
In the meantime I think this may be a good solution to that old problem of making things look good at different resolutions. There’s a much easier explanation here. Hopefully I’ll get some time to experiment with that, although I’m still undecided whether I’m joining in the CSS Reboot. I guess you’ll find out on May 1st.
Mon Apr 25
We are looking for a new home. Not just any home, oh no, but the perfect home. Of course we’re not going to find it (is there such a thing as the perfect home) but we’re looking anyway. Quite apart from the usual things that any family would look for in a home such as large kitchen, en-suite to the master bedroom, off-road parking etc, we have an additional requirement. I say “requirement”, but really it’s just a “want” of mine.
My Very Own Office
I say that in an awe-struck, hushed tone, fully immersed in the vision that fills my mind. Let me share with you this picture of Heaven-on-earth.
Opening the heavy, padded, almost-soundproof door you are greeted by soft light bathing the ceiling in a mix of pastel colours. The walls are a light shade of blue, not cold, instead they remind you of the sky on a warm, still summers day. The rear wall is completely taken up with shelves, floor to ceiling, filled with books, CDs, DVDs, records, small boxes of things, notebooks, magazines and endless odds and ends.
Against the far wall is a small desk with a 15″ computer monitor, a keyboard and mouse on it, and an 88-key music keyboard slung on hooks underneath. The desk also holds a stack of audio equipment; an amp, CD player, tape deck, EQ, with a small mixing desk on top.
At right angles to that, almost cutting the room in half, is a much larger desk with a 19″ and 21″ monitor, two keyboards, two mice, assorted books and CDs, and a steaming mug of fresh black coffee. A large, comfortable armless chair sits in front of the large desk, and you can see how easy it is to reach everything from this one position.
In front of the larger desk, at about the half-way position of the room, is a small but deeply-upholstered sofa, liberally covered in an assortment of blankets and cushions. From the sofa the stack of music gear is easily reachable, as are the wires that connect the whole system together. In front of the sofa lies a soft rug, and positioned about 18″ from the far wall, either side of a large window, are positioned two bookshelf speakers on tall black stands. Between the speakers a radiator has been painted a deep blue colour,. complimenting the walls very well.
Then stepping into the room you see that the wall on your right is decorated with several guitars, all hanging neatly on hooks, ready to be taken down at a moments notice and played. The back of the door also has hooks on it, holding a large yet neat collection of wires and leads of various shapes and sizes. The opposite wall has several posters on a musical theme, all neatly framed.
Lastly you notice the guy sat in the big chair, and as he swivels round you catch your breath and murmer “wow, it’s really you…”. His friendly, yet all-knowing smile puts you perfectly at your ease…
==
OK, that last paragraph was maybe taking it a bit too far, but the rest of it is pretty much what I want when I think of my own office. Part design studio, part music studio, part geeks hideaway, part hi-fi haven. What I’ll end up with will be a shed that I’ll have to share with six bikes and a lawnmower, but I can still dream, can’t I?
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