First ever post on this, my new site!
This post is slightly off topic. This is not the kind of content I am planning for this blog. Although I work with designers and developers, I am not one myself. My coding knowledge is possibly as good as my cats. But I did have a crack at putting this side together to see how I got on.
Truth be told, Jam – that’s my cat – is probably a better coder than I am. He did manage to fix a couple of bugs I was struggling with just by walking across my keyboard.
So, this being the first ever evenflowdave.com, I thought I would share with you some of my experiences and things that you should watch out for when creating your own blog.
These are the top 3 thing you should know:
1. Design: Keep it Simple. If you’re not careful you’ll be gone before you’re done!
2. Coding: Get someone else to do it!
3. Usability: Internet Explorer 6 sucks!
I’ll break those down for you in a moment. But first, lets watch a Design Coding Rap! Why the hell not?!
Awsome! Thanks Chuck!
1. Design
I think it was Picasso that said “a painting is never finished”. It certainly looks like most of his are half done, but I think his point was that there is always something more that you can do to a painting. Well, there is always something more that you can do to your design, but you can waste your life perfecting it.
I decided to start this late 2008. It’s now April 2009 and I’m writing my first post. To the amusement of my colleagues, most of that time I spent just trying to decide on a word press theme to use.
On the upside, I believe I now know everything there is to know about all wordpress themes going. So if you are looking for a theme yourself and would like to hire me as a consultant, let me know on the comments. I won’t be cheap though, I have to recoup months of time invested.
2. Coding
Get someone else to do it. If you can’t afford to pay a designer, the Internet is full of people that are more than happy to help. Get involved in forums and groups and ask for advice. Techie people like problem solving. If you encounter problems post a thread or ask the question on Twitter. You’ll be surprised how much people are willing to help.
I have to thank Sandy for his help when I got stuck.
3. Usability
One of the things that Chuck rapped about is making sure that your site renders correctly on all browsers. For most browsers this won’t be a problem, but getting your site to look as it should on older browsers can be a real pain in the graphics.
I will name and Shame:
Internet Explorer 6 is a pile of shit! If you are looking at this site on IE6, it probably looks crap, but there’s only so much I can do.
Go get yourself Firefox or Chrome please!
I came across this design post the other day that gave me the idea to put up a splash page with an insulting message when this site is viewed on IE6. Something along the lines of:
Image Source: Hugs for Monsters
I haven’t decided what the message will say yet. Need to get the balance right. Cheeky but not too insulting – I do want people to subscribe to this blog.
Leave your suggestions in the coments!
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5 Comments
daveApril 10, 2009 8:05 am
ilm with you – from now on i am scrounging all the help i can get 
SandyApril 10, 2009 8:37 am
Can’t say I agree with the ‘get someone else to do it approach’ (unless I’m the someone else) and of course IE6 sucks it was released in but 2001. But unfortunately there are more people using IE6 than are using Chrome, Safari and Opera put together.
Education is the key and using a progressive enhancement approach rather than a graceful degradation. Although I say education I do feel that the people who have a choice of browser and stay with IE6 deserve an insulting message, as it means they have turned off their automatic updates or actively chosen not to download the update, maybe they just enjoy the danger of an unprotected system.
If you are able to upgrade then do it! Get chrome or Firefox or maybe IE8 if you like that sort of thing. I’ll have all of them anyway.
daveApril 10, 2009 10:14 am
sandy, didn’t expect you to agree with the ‘get someone else’ approach dude – you’re a developer!
you are the someone else. for everyone else – get sandy to do it for you! http://twitter.com/sandyface 
BouroVorseWesAugust 22, 2009 7:19 am
I just wanted to make a quick post to acquaint myself. My name is Marrielle and I came across here through a quick search and preferred to just say hi. I would like to participate in future discussions and look forward to speaking with everyone.
My best hobby is http://www.squidoo.com/onlinecomputerrepair101 – computer repair
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I Stole Dean Hunt’s bunnyApril 9, 2009 10:05 pm
Good stuff man, I love Chuck’s raps dude! As for the points you made, I couldn’t agree more! Get someone else!
I don’t take this advice myself, I torture myself trying to come up with, tweak, and hack my way to my desired theme!
stupid…I know.