Being a web designer in the midst of redesigning my own website, I do a LOT of surfing on the web. Usually I start out searching the web looking for inspiration. But what I end up finding are websites that do little to inspire.

I’m a pretty picky person. But I don’t think I’m picky to the point of being unreasonable. I think numerous sites on the web these days don’t think about the ultimate goal of a website. While the goal for each site will be different, I think it’s safe to say that a site’s ultimate goal ought to provide answers to questions, and content that helps you with the information you’re looking for in the fastest way possible.

There are websites out there that try to be slick using new cool web tools or tricks. And I agree. They are neat. But when it necessitates extra clicking, I wonder just how useful it is. Here’s a WordPress theme I ran across today. It’s a minimal design but in trying to keep it minimal, I wonder if some of the content currently hidden behind a click, would be better used in a sidebar or some other way. I admit the technique is cool. I’ve actually thought of using something similar on my own website. But after viewing this theme, I think I’m going to reconsider. I think using a cool effect just to be using it is a mistake I see more often than not.

I’m a busy person and I detest wasting time. If I have to click, click, click, looking for the information I want, it does nothing for me except anger me.

Case In Point

I’m not trying to batter WordPress. However, I was surprised last night when I tried to find my API key for a default plugin on a WordPress install I did for my dad. Can you say needle in a haystack? I will admit to usually being a web savvy person and know my way around the web but for some reason, I got completely mixed up last night. It could have been a case of tiredness. I also admit that I am not 100% up to snuff on WordPress.

In looking for the API key for this plugin, I went to WordPress‘ website. The ‘dot’ org one. Never once on any of the main link pages, did I see a place to sign up for WordPress except in the Extend and Docs section. Not really thinking whether that was the right place to be, I signed up. Twice. Afterwards, I realize I’m still not signed up in the right spot for what I needed. I know where my own personal profile is but I was trying to sign up for my dad. Why I didn’t think to just log out of my own dashboard and sign him up that way is probably due to my tiredness. None the less, after three tries, I got dad signed up, just to get the API code. Dad will have no interest in actually being a member on WordPress.com’s site.

The point I’m making is that I would have thought that WordPress.ORG would make it a bit more clear or at least have a “Sign Up” graphic or something that would lead you back to WordPress.COM. This would have been great to have seen on the .org site:

Looking for your API key? Register your blog or get a free blog here!

That would have been clear enough and would have saved me more than a few minutes of my time. In fact, I was rather surprised that WordPress.ORG does not show you a clear path to sign up for their product at WordPress.COM.

Hopefully this post doesn’t bore you. I just had to get this off my chest as I sit here continuing on my endless quest for inspiration.

I ran across this article this evening and I thought it was an interesting idea and I thoroughly enjoyed reading and viewing the results. Cameron Adams of The Man in Blue actually took my curiosity about this further than I would have thought in that he actually contacted well known type designers and asked them to send in scans of their handwriting.

Handwritten Typographers

The month of July is going to be a busy busy month. In addition to the Fourth of July holiday, I have my birthday the day after. Yea! I plan on putting my original domain back up and get it running. However, I might not get any content or a design up because toward the end of this month, we’re going to be moving.

So yes, this month is a busy one. I’m really eager to get my site back up where I can have more control over the contents. While this wordpress site has been a pleasant place to park my thinking, I am looking forward to having more control in what and how the content is displayed.

Even though I have had an account at Flickr for quite a while, I never really got into it like everyone else. Tonight, I finally added some pictures. I eventually want to use this as a place to store screen shots of different website designs I like and don’t like. There’s not much there yet but I’ll be adding more stuff as time allows.

As for the move? Well, let’s just say I’m not looking forward to that part.

My second oldest daughter Stephanie, had a design for a t-shirt approved for scoring. People can vote on the shirt for 7 days and then they’ll decide if it’s popular enough print it. It’s really a long shot to actually get a design on a t-shirt so check it out and if you like it, please give it a high score. This would totally make her day. Thanks!

In my last post, I talked about some annoyances I have with various websites. Here’s some more.

Lately, I have been running across more and more websites that suffer from bloatedness. It can be ads, or just plain junk stuff that is being pulled in from other websites. This particular site is composed of almost all images with very little text. Not great for loading times nor particularly great for search engines. And this is the main page for the site.

Whether it’s ads, images or outside content, sites like these tend to load slowly. I’m an old school web designer. I remember hand coding each page of a website. None of this automated stuff. Nowadays, it seems more and more content on a webpage, is being pulled from another website. I can see the point of some of it but when the majority of the website consists of outside content, then what’s the point. There are some that tend to overdue it to the point of breaking the site.

Another thing really bothering me is the number of websites I run across that don’t seem to have any concern for web standards. I mean I remember the big web standards debate years ago. I used to think it had gotten better. Now I’m not so sure. I recently ran across a website that had over 1600 warnings/errors in it’s code. I’m surprised the page even loaded at all. I do realize that some sites attempt and try to use web standards but then get into trouble when inserting code into their site that loads outside content. I’m also still amazed at how many people DON’T have a title name for their page. Gosh, that’s so last years’ news. At least I thought it was. These days, most people are at the least, specifying background colors.

I really don’t have a lot of beefs about most websites, however these things above are major abuses. I thought we would have been past a lot of this by now. I guess not.

Okay, after checking this post out, I see my site is showing errors. That’s why I was always a hand coder and didn’t rely on a piece of software to do it for me. I knew exactly what was going into a page and what wasn’t. I had control over it. Oh well.

Despite the bad news, the new ColdPlay album is awesome!

Yes, another Twitter post given by another Twitter user.

My Twitter

• Twitter has become a great resource for me. Following people I have admired for years has been especially grand. Not so much in knowing their every move but in knowing what they think about different tools and technologies and whatnot on a day to day basis. I just hope they don’t come to think of us nobodies as stalkers.
• Twitter is one of those things I still can’t get my family to grasp. And it is a bit strange trying to explain how 140 character messages can make you feel like you’re a part of something bigger or that you feel close to the people you follow.
• Twitter to me is also like one of those private joke things that unless you were in on it, you wouldn’t get it. Like this: My twitter post illustrated by cats.

All in all, Twitter is a great social media tool that can be used in many ways to enhance your business or your own personal connections. You can’t beat the powerfulness of that when your limited to 140 characters or less.

I do a lot of surfing on the internet so I visit a lot of many different websites. In doing so, I encounter several things that really just irk the stew out of me.

The list:

1. Long pages with no link back to the top of the page. Not even a smaller logo to click on. No way to go up unless you scroll or hit your home key on the keyboard. And some of them are designers. Here’s an example: http://dannyblackman.com/ – A great looking site and it’s very easy to use. It utilizes a scrolling technique that takes you from one section to the next. It’s kind of like you’re reading a book. He offers a link back to the top of the page with every single section except when you get to the very very bottom. Then there’s nothing to get you back to the top of the page.
2. Another on my list of irks is the lack of a “print this post” button. I do a lot of reading and there are times when I’d really like to print an article out but there is not a print button to do so. Which means, I have to select the text and ask my sweet ol printer to print just the selection. Not a huge deal but more work on my part.
3. There are some sites that do offer that print button but include extraneous stuff, like their graphic logo, that sometimes takes an extra page of paper because they stuck their logo on there.
4. Sites that automatically play audio with no way to shut it off. GRR

These are just a few of my irks with site. There are more.

Someone I follow on Twitter mentioned this group called Eels. And I have to say, “Wow.” I really love this group. My favorites are Beautiful Freak and Fresh Feeling. Both songs are great. They’re also on myspace and You Tube.

Yea! I just submitted my first t-shirt design to Threadless T-Shirts.

I have actually submitted two shirts. I submitted them for critiquing first. “Humpty Dumpty” and “Do you smell what the wok is cooking?”. Humpty just got fully submitted but the other is still being critiqued.

Here’s the wok one still being critiqued:
Do You Smell What The Wok Is Cooking?
The other design is pending approval. I want to wait and see if it’s approved before I’ll post it.

Absolutely great video with an awesome soundtrack. Enjoy!