Todd Silver Design : Great Design Grows Business

One of my favourite designers, locked in a box, in Middle Earth, singing old Police classics. Needless to say, a great time waster.

And who says that legibility and puctuation isn't street? Great Cartoon.

Wow. Someone really thinks highly of his writing, and very little about most anything else. His editors' response is great.

Some of my favorite software:
The buzz over Coda seems to keep growing by the day, but I'm sticking with BBEdit for all of my web development. I need to have multiple windows open, especially when I'm working on XHTML/CSS, and never felt comfortable when working with the Coda tryout version. Panic, the makers of Coda, do have a great FTP/SFTP client, Transmit, which is worth every penny.
Finally, there is Billings. It's time-tracking and invoicing features are great, though it's estimate features could still use some work. I like to provide clients with a thorough estimate, including timelines, deliverables and a breakdown of the project in terms of budgeting time. It's possible to do all of this in Billings, but it involves using TextEdit and cutting / pasting, which shouldn't be necessary. Also, you can't provide different totals in the same estimate. So, if you want to provide your budget-conscious client several options, you'll be forced to provide separate estimates.

How about some geeky online tools? Well, to start off you can base the colour palettes you use in your work on some of the world's greatest works of art: Colour Lovers. Or how about checking out how Internet Explorer mangles your code: IE Net Renderer. (Warning: much cursing of Redmond will occur.) And to finish off, a link to what is still the best Web Development themed podcast: Boagworld.

Fame is a fickle mistress. Todd Silver Design was featured on CSS Mania, if only for a short time. But given the high volume of sites they showcase, my time on the front page was short. And like that, it was gone...I feel like Chazz Palminteri running out into the street as Kevin Spacey drives off with Pete Postlethwaite.

The Programmer Hierarchy: It's a PDF (but only 20k) but well worth the download. I think they have JavaScript programmers a little too high as most of the JavaScript wizards I've come across are current or former XHTML nerds and therefore tend to not think of themselves as programmers per se. Also, the list is missing ActionScript/flash experts whom I find tend to think of themselves as not only programmers but rock-stars as well. Still, great nerd humour. Via Daring Fireball.

Jason Gaylor: The man designs a mean Photoshop brush. They are both big (suitable for print work) and beautiful. And the price is right, he doesn't charge for them for most commercial use. Though, please read his terms of use before using any of his work. Thank you Mr. Gaylor.

If you want to see some truly stunning CSS based web design, look no further than CSS Remix. These guys are probably the most particular in terms of who makes the final cut in their CSS gallery site. Although, CSS Mania, CSS Import, and CSS Thesis are also very good. Still waiting on one of my sites making the grade though.

Idealistic, but pragmatic all at the same time. This is probably my favorite Canadian political blog. Clear and reasonable, with all opinions based in reality, which is so much more than we can say about modern political though nowadays.

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Working With Kids and Animals

August 1, 2008

Hollywood has a saying: Never work with animals or children. The reason is simple, it is damn near impossible to avoid being upstaged by an adorable puppy, precocious 5 year-old or even an ill-tempered llama.

But while she doesn't have to worry about being upstaged per se my brave, beautiful wife has taken it upon herself to work with not only our temperamental cat and offbeat dog but with our twin children as well.

Continued...

Hello World

July 22, 2008

So much for keeping up to date on the blog. Yikes.

I do have a good excuse, of course. Adopting twins will eat away at your time, both before and after getting them home. Between the paperwork, scrounging up every last penny and childproofing the condo the wife and I had very little free time before heading off to Ethiopia to pick up our kids.

Afterwards? Well, try running around in a circle bent at the waist while repeating "get that out of your mouth" over and over again for six hours and see how much work you get done.

Continued...

How To Kill Time

March 15th, 2007

The very best, and most efficient, means by which you can waste valuable time:

1-Visit Wikipedia: While vandalism is a problem, and you can't always trust the information on the more contentious issues—those with nerd-ish interests can waste vast amounts of time surfing the online encyclopedia. Want to check out a few of the better photos of the moon Titan? Have you wondered about the lasting effects Dark-Beast has had in the Marvel universe or wondered about the finer points of the pre-Revolutionary Romanov dynasty? Wikipedia is the place to be. Cryptozoology? Hey, if you wanted to know the all the beasts that walk the Earth in Mongolian folklore Wikipedia is a great place to start.

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Re-Design

March 13th, 2007

No. I didn't like the brown either.

In an attempt to both stick with the latest in colour trends as well as set myself apart from the typical portfolio site, the previous design used a palette consisting of a subtle blue gradient (which was really quite nice actually) and brown. Lots and lots of brown.

Brown? Yes brown. Why not brown? Walk down a street and you'll see blue and brown hiding around every street corner, on mannequins wearing the latest fashions, on billboards extolling the virtues of the next great condo complex, on the Vancouver Police Department's newest uniforms...Okay, not the uniforms, but you get the idea.

Continued...

Pippin: Thain of The Shire, Squire to Lord Denethor

March 12th, 2007

Todd Silver Design has a new employee. He's short, furry and really doesn't get all that much done in a work day. My beautiful wife gave me a puppy for Christmas (he was born a week before Christmas Day) who has just recently joined our home.

Continued...