Been a long time

So you might have noticed it’s been quite a while since I last posted on this blog. There are a couple of reasons for the hiatus, but foremost is the fact that I’ve gotten back into producing music again. By comparison, spending my spare time blogging about my job seems kind of spirit sapping. However I don’t want to throw in the towel just like that. I intend to keep posting articles to Pixel Acres, but with less regularity. Hopefully the reduction in quantity will also equate to an increase in quality. I won’t be tripping over myself to make sure I post to Pixel Acres every single week, and will only write on topics that get me fired up. Basically I no longer want to feel like a slave to my blog – after all I started Pixel Acres because I thought it would be fun, not a chore. I hope that my regular readers (if I still have any left!) will stick around to see what I come up with.

Picking clients who help your business

I have heard it said that a successful business never turns down work. I think that’s poppycock. For a graphic or web design firm to develop a solid portfolio they need to be selective about the clients they work with. Lately I have been working with a client who is not a terribly good fit for my business, and have been thinking about strategies for choosing projects that help my business to move forward.

Ouch, my head just exploded

Remember the Max Headroom pilot, in which hyper-fast subliminal advertisements called ‘blip-verts’ caused viewers’ heads to explode? Well, that’s how I feel after absorbing 5000 web 2.0 logos in 333 seconds. Anyone get the feeling the world might have enough web apps already?

Me, me, me

There’s an interview with me over at designinterviews.com where I answer questions about my background, the challenges of freelancing, and my client work. The site also features interviews with luminaries like Andy Clarke and Mark Boulton, which are definitely worth reading.

Time to ditch IE6 support already?

Almost exactly a year ago I was musing about the possibility of dropping support for Internet Explorer 5 when testing websites. Time marches on, and now we are seeing calls to ditch support for IE6 too.

6 Photoshop time savers for web designers

Like many web designers, Photoshop is my tool of preference when it comes to doing website mockups. As such, I spend a decent chunk of my time working with the program, and have picked up a number of techniques that speed up my workflow. I’m not talking about creating shiny image reflections, or beveled starbursts, but rather simple tricks that shave a few minutes off your working day so you can go home earlier.

Papervision 3D

Papervision 3D logo

If you work with Flash at all, by now you will have heard of Papervision 3D, the open source project that has turned the Flash world on its head by introducing a 3rd dimension. I had a quick play with Papervision 3D a few months ago and found it surprising easy to pick up. It is now in public beta so I decided to dust off my old project and rewrite it in Actionscript 3.

File download icon

I spent an hour yesterday sprucing up the ‘file download’ icon I use on one of my websites, and I’m putting my Photoshop file up here for you to use if you like. I’ve made it very easy to change the color scheme of the icon, or to modify the graphic on its label, so you’ll have no trouble adjusting it to suit your own needs.

Row of file download icons

Pixel Acres turns one

Today is the first anniversary of Pixel Acres’ launch. Actually, in my time zone the auspicious event occurred yesterday, but lets not bring the international dateline into this… In any case, my first blogging anniversary seems like an occasion worth marking.

FormBuilder update: send variables by email

I have made another update to my FormBuilder class. Version 1.4 features a new function, emailResults, which can be used to automatically send the user-submitted form variables to any email address. A number of readers asked for this functionality, which eliminates the need to write your own form processing routine. Have fun!