CSS Issues

When starting a style sheet everything seems to go fine. One thing I have to watch carefully is to connect each page to the same style sheet, so that's easy enough. However, an issue I am finding is sometimes I will try to set a style and it will not work. This dilemma leaves me guessing over and over again for long periods of time. I fool around with making the style external and even internal to get it to perform. This trial and error can leave me with repetitive and even useless code in my style sheet. So, these are the cliches I need to work out. When this happens I look in the code and I just can't figure out why it is not working. I am guessing there must be a style already defined that conflicts. I know the rule of thumb is "work from the outside in." That might be my problem too.

826michigan

I donated a piece to 826michigan. Although it did not sell at their silent aution they are now trying to sell it on their ebay auction. The details of their auctions can be found here.

"826michigan is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around our belief that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success."

If you have never stopped by 829michigan, you really should. They have turned the front half of their building into Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair - which is way cool. They even have a 2-XL robot in there!! Does anyone remember these guys? Stop by there some Friday night, its a blast.

Flash...yes I know..

No, I have not forgotten about you my dear Flash. I just want to give each and every vehicle of my design the attention it deserves. I have dabbled in animation years ago in a college course. I also used to be addicted to Final Cut Pro for a few years, and that program is similar to the setup of an animation program. I have used sound software as well, so I am not completely ignorant to Flash's infostructure.

I am going to learn Flash as soon as I am finished with handy dandy CSS course. These days a designer needs to know everything. It seems like there was once upon a time where everyone had their responsibilities. There was a designer, an illustrator, an animator, a web designer... Nowadays you have to be cross platformed, no doubt about it.

Anne Mondro

Here is a video featuring Anne Mondro. I consider Anne a mentor, a professor and a friend. She is amazingly talented and detailed.

New Site!!

Okay, after viewing the traffic of my fine art site I decided to redirect all my attention and focus solely on my design for now. The new site Ann Arbor Designs showcases my graphic and web design portfolio. Once I feel comfortable with the success of this site I will rework my fine art in later. I am still in the process of completing my last CSS course and then it is on to Flash! Then perhaps I can add some more pizazz to the new site.

CSS Craziness

I have been building this site and using my new found (still developing) CSS skills. So I think I am ready to revamp the Ann Arbor Artist site. I could just go on and on in constructing a site. It is amazing how far it comes from where it starts. I put it up and I think its done..nope. When it comes to design in general, that is just the way it goes. The design has to sort of "settle" after putting it together. There has to be a period of time where the designer is allowed to detach from the work. Unfortunately in the real world, things have to be put together so fast that natural perfecting of design is not allowed to happen, so the designer must force himself/herself to step away.

When I'm designing I end up closing and opening the window I am working in, just see what my first reaction is to the design as it pops up. I try to put myself into a third party perception when I do this. I do it more than one time over and over again, and usually my eyes will continuously go to the same spot, then I know that is the element that needs adjusting. There is a time, however, where everything just "flows." Its a perfect jive, well at least for now until a few years goes by and you look back and realize you would have done this or that. That is the way it should be though. If there ever comes a time when I can't look back and reflect on all I have learned, then I am not doing my job as a designer.

One Last Class!

I am enrolled in one last web site class. I have now taken Dreamweaver, HTML, intermediate HTML and introductory CSS and this final course is intermediate Dreamweaver and CSS. My idea was always to gather up as much information as I could before jumping into the site's redesign. I wanted to go into it knowing how it was suppose to be built as to not have to backpedal (I hate backpedaling). So, I hope to get the new site up by the end of next month. It is really hindering not having a successful place to exhibit my work, it looks as if I am some amateur. Well in some ways I am but not for long!!