We were recently introduced to PA State Representative Jesse White - who (along with a few colleagues in Harrisburg) were looking for way to gather voter input on the always complicated task of balancing the state budget.
In less than a week yourPAbudget.com was conceived, designed, programmed and launched. Check it out. And add your voice. Democracy FTW!
We have recently launched an effort to clean up our home neighborhood of Aspinwall - one logo at a time. The first two set to hit the streets in the next few weeks are for The Divinity Salon and Paul M. Bernstein & Associates.
If you are in Aspinwall - and need a new logo - we invite you to Join the Revolution!
One of the common pitfalls of working in an "Online" environment is being around all of the distractions that you can happen upon. The Internet is a endless playground trying to grab your attention. That is one of the reasons we as a company exist. Clients want websites that grab the attention of their audience.
I spend lots of time using websites that take in the best parts of the internet, and display it all at once. Digg is one of my favorites. If something on Youtube, Flickr, Twitter, or any of the popular websites on the internet is worth of my attention, Digg usually gets it. And it comes with great commentary as well. Comments made on the site can be dugg as well, and the best ones make it to the top of the heap.
One of our more recent clients, Golf Pro Girls, has been getting upgrades to it's website via 400lb the past two weeks. As part of our services, we can look at your site, see what is working, and what could be improved. We take inspiration from all of the diversions we find ourselves and bring the best parts of it back to our clients. For example, the font color choice in the custom discussion boards that we built was low in contrast compared to the background. We changed it to a color that made the whole thing easier to read, and thus attracting more use.
When we launched the website, our client needed a way to view and update customer data in a fast and easy way. We presented the data in a table format, and for the time being, it was great. But revisiting it, we have seen some great examples of data display, went back, and reworked the display from the ground up. Now viewing customer data is faster than ever.
Staying on Track
This old walkway is from the abandoned railroad bridge that dominates out part of Aspinwall. It has been out of use for a number of years, however the old structure above still remains largely intact.
So, it finally showed up today in our mailbox. Published in Berlin, June of 1928, Die Neue Typographie by Jan Tschichold is commanding my undivided attention. Clean. Smart. Functional. Legible. Logical. Totally deprived of personality and ornament.
Grids of course can help us all become better designers and thinkers alike. It keeps us defined, keeps us aligned and offers us plenty of unique layouts. When staring at a blank white computer screen, a grid can be a huge sigh of relief. For a lot of us it helps us begin to design or fine tune a work already in progress. When done right, a grid looks like these four examples from the masters like Herbert Bayer, El Lissitzky,Joseph Muller-Brockmann and Jan Tschichold.
Sometimes however, a grid can be come extremely boring and start to look very much the same time after time. Sometimes their is a need for a more organic, less structured design approach.
Either way, it is time now to begin the first chapter of Die Neue Typographie.
I recently had the pleasure of ice skating in the courtyard of the aesthetically unique* PPG Place buildings. Only in the last three years have I begun donning skates, usually reserving my "attempts" for area ponds or stick time hours. My fiancee and I really wanted to enjoy the setting before the rink closed for the season, and not only did I not fall, but we had a great time.
The tie-in here? I've been working on launching a new PPG Place website for a little while now. Last year we took over the old site and implemented our custom Bamboo CMS. Happy with the back-end changes, we were approved for a complete re-design. Speaking from a programmer's perspective, I really think it's one of our strongest designs (thanks to the whole team - it was a group effort).
The new site is set to launch at the end of March, so please check www.ppgplace.com around then to see it! Or, check it out now for a before/after reference. And if you're in Pittsburgh, check out the rink next year!
Here I am, no doubt concentrating on staying upright:
We just got our print samples for a "rapid" (this is called foreshadowing... stay tuned) turnaround direct mail piece for Novum Pharmaceuticals. Novum is introducing a new testing protocol that will shorten response time from 28 days to 7 days called "Rapid Report" (foreshadowing RULES!).
We designed an 8.5x11 folded self-mailer to introduce the program to key customers - and a postcard followup was sent 7 days later.
The folded mailer introduced Rapid ReportTM by drawing a distinction between the old way and the new way. Hint: the new way is way, way better!
The follow-up postcard reminded the customer that had they gone with Novum seven days prior, they'd have their study report - 21 days sooner than industry standard.
So the US Government wants to overhaul the health system. It's been tried for years, but America really can't agree on one definitive direction in which to take the idea. Recently it was requiring everyone to have coverage, and offering a government plan. We could not agree to a majority, so it has been slowly disintegrating in Congress.
I personally have had the chance recently to do some light work in the medical field. Just some minor office work, filing, shredding, seeing how it all works. It was in an office that still has walls and walls of health records. One that recently introduced EHR (Electronic Health Records) into the work flow. While sitting there, figuring out which paper belonged to whom, I had an idea.
Standardize the header.
Yes, it might be that simple. When you go through a pile of correspondence, test results, referrals, and other records, there is no standard of format or even color. White paper, yellow paper, green. Horizontal rows of text, vertical. Practice name on top, on the left, on the bottom. Patient name in bold type, in different fonts. If you can even find it. At times you'll find it in the actual text of the 4 paragraphs of professional correspondence. No Re: Patient Name, or anything.
So as a result, you sit there playing word search with each piece of paper. Put that into 400 sheets of paper, and there goes hours and hours of your time. While EHR lets you put all this together into a record, to actually scan the record in you still have to deal with these pieces of paper.
This may not be as much of a problem when the whole system finally goes electronic. But it's not going to anytime soon. There is no national requirement to do so. And that is understandable. These are private companies, and it is not cheap to purchase the software required.
So make a header that is the same for all documents. Patients name large, date of birth, what its all about (Test Result). The state in which they were seen, the name of the place they were seen, and the date in which this document was produced. There you go, everything you need to know, right away.
This would help save a ton of time filing and identifying what is what. EHR management is in place, but tons of specialists, hospitals, etc will mail/fax paper documents to an office all of the time. If it was the law that any legal medical document had to have this header in place, I think the whole health system would run smoother. Even if you had an EHR system in place, when you needed to print a record, have it automatically append this header.
The second solution.
Electronic Health Records are great. They store all that information as 1's and 0's, and there is not a huge patient chart to haul around. But the way it is implemented in some places could be improved. There is still too much paper floated around. The point is to keep the shred queue at a very low number.
First off is to make an entire medical record available online to the right people. That would be the office who keeps the record, the patient, and whatever office or person those two entities agree can see it. If your going to see a knee doctor, you should not have to sit in the waiting room and fill out your complete medical history. You should be able to have your PCP electronically release your history sheet and whatever else would apply to your knee. Click on the documents you want, click release, and done. No print, faxing, filing, mailing, anything.
Getting Facebook involved.
This is a brilliant yet scary idea. Facebook is easily the largest social networking platform in the United States, and also the world I believe. It has united us together for active conversation better than anything out there. Better than the government, than schools, than anything I believe. So, why not be able to access your record via Facebook.
Immediately I see a ton of problems with this. Facebook is a private company. So if something happens with them, this system goes for broke. But to counter that, only involve them as a branch of whatever online record management system your using. Let private companies develop a platform that lets you access these records online. But, have the ability to also access it with Facebook Connect.
How convenient would that be? You log into facebook, you click a health tab on your profile, and you get to see your test results. No getting them mailed, having to have a followup visit. It's all there for you to review at your convenience. Google Health has already started down this path, enabling a few partners to import health records for you to view online.
So in conclusion, there are a few ideas for bettering the health system of America. When you go to an office, and wait forever, it is at times due to the paperwork that is involved getting to you. When you get your blood checked, and you wait 2 weeks for a result, that is because it's buried in a pile of results, and your name is just buried in the mountain of information that is your test result. Standardize the header, let all documents that float around in the medical sector have the same look, at least for the top 1.5 inches of paper.
The holy grail of my personal PHP programming over the past three years has been having a upload progress bar that works with PHP. I've seen lots of examples over the years, and I've tried to make several of them work to no avail. Then, Thursday night, I finally figured it out.
What I have always tried to do is use PHP. There are lots of methods that use Java, but those are not always universal. Look at Facebook for example. Their photo uploader has been complained about for as long as I can remember them having it. They are finally doing something do update it, with a new uploader on the way.
The key to doing it correctly is to use Flash. It's a technology that covers well over 99% of the web. The uploader works well also, your able to select as many files as you like. It even has a progress bar for each upload and the overall upload.
This will be integrated into our Bamboo Content Management and used on most projects looking forward.
More than a year in the making, our most in depth and technically-advanced site - GolfProGirls.com - finally launched this week.
GolfProGirls is a subscription-based site that runs on the latest Bamboo CMSTM platform modules. The site offers subscribers the expereince some of the greatest and most exclusive golf destinations on the planet - with the GolfProGirls as your behind the scenes guides.
We built the subscription and member area from the ground up to be a seamless user experience from start to finish. GPG admins use Bamboo to add content and HD videos that flow thru a custom-designed Flash Player.
Anyway, if you love golf and/or pretty girls who are better at it than you are - check out GolfProGirls.com today!
A Cupola or cupola furnace is a melting device used in foundries that can be used to melt cast iron, ni-resist iron and some bronzes. It
is also a cool word that has been given the honors of being the title
for this blog posting.
But the real issue here is not the cupola, but the hard working people that use the cupola, Pittsburgh Foundry & Machine Company. Pittsburgh Foundry & Machine Company came to 400lb. for an identity and website. We recently completed both of these
tasks and the new identity and website is up and running.
We wanted to
let the history and the character shine through while still promoting
the business that has been alive and well (for the past 108 years). Thanks to the incredible record keeping and photography storage by
the Smith brothers, we were able to scan and integrate photos from the
early 1900s into the design. Be sure to check out the history page so that you can see some true old schoolers. But for now, just check out the cupola tapping below.
As the year comes to a close, we're getting ready to launch some BIG projects. So BIG, in fact, that our much ballyhooed new website has been put on the backburner. But not for long! We've got the new cards, new collateral on the way, and a website design the team is finally behind. All that's left is the case of MTN DEW EXTREME CRAZYBLUE CAFF-TASM to fuel the programmers.
In the meantime, to satiate the need for fresh 400lb-ness, here's a look at the first cut of our new reel. Enjoy!
Stanford Home Centers is a close-knit group of hardware professionals. They pride themselves on their relationships with their neighbors (their customers) and the strong connections that they have with their vendors, bringing you the lowest possible price for quality products.
When Stanford Home Centers came to 400lb. for a little website makeover, I was shocked. Stanford Home Centers, that close knit group of hardware professionals, are from my hometown! That hometown just so happens to be Plum Borough, Pennsylvania (Fact: Plum Borough is the second largest borough in Pennsylvania). As of July 2008, the population in Plum Borough was 26,198. I would bet at least 26,197 of those people have either heard of or visited Stanford Home Centers on Route 286.
Now, after being a long-time customer of Stanford, I get to be a part of their company on some level. Designing the Stanford website was fun for 400lb but was a special treat for me. From seeing familiar faces to promoting local businesses, I have really enjoyed this assignment.
So, when you see this building, be sure to stop by and say "Hello!" Who knows, I might be in there, too.
After much discussion and research, the 400lb offices begin a four-day workweek today. Besides the obvious (3 day weekend!), we will be saving money on energy consumption - no small thing these days. The extra time in the office each day will also benefit our clients.
While doing research, we found out that state workers in Utah went to a four-day workweek last summer. A year later and 70% of those surveyed said the prefer the shorter week. Judging by everyones reaction to the decision here, I doubt that we'll be at less than 100% next year... here's hoping at least! Utah had an eye for energy savings as well, and while they have yet to reach their desired cut of 20% (they are at 13% now), figuring out how to turn off their massive heating and cooling machines on Fridays are mostly to blame. Even I know how to turn off our A/C, so I think we'll be fine there.
You might be wondering what we will do in case of emergency on Fridays. Well, dear reader (hi mom!), we are creating a "Friday form" on our website (and given to our clients) which will be sent directly to our cell phones/email/twitter/younameit so that we can take care of it as soon as possible.
How do I plan on spending my extra weekend day now, you ask? Probably more of this (see earlier blog posts re: new house):
As you may have noticed, 400lb.communications also has a website template business called It's An Orange. So far we have had clients near and far, dealing with everything from high school basketball booster clubs to promotional business material (reminds me that I should order those 400lb tri-colored pens...). One of our initial launches was for Fresh Eyes Editing - a site dedicated to biomedical editing. Even though the very kind proprietor lives in another part of the country, we felt a kinship due to living in UPMC... er, Pittsburgh. Seriously, everytime I drive around I notice a new or bigger hospital. There has to be a local market for biomedical editing!
It was a pleasure working with the folks at Fresh Eyes, so it was an extra special bonus when we recently received a care package filled with a few Baltimore specialties. (I call dibs on the chips and coffee!). Thanks, Fresh Eyes!
In the past week or so 400lb was given the honor of naming a brand new invention which will literally save peoples lives on a global scale. This invention uses one of the most abundant resources in the entire world. This wonderfully free flowing substance covers 70 percent of the earth. This low viscosity, high surface tension substance would be water. Something like 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons (326 million trillion gallons) of water can be found on our planet. If you don't like saying million trillion (even though Carl Sagan would have worded it that way), you could always call it by its other scientific name, quintillion. If you still haven't counted yet, that number requires 18 zeros. That is a lot of water.
The disheartening thing about this figure is that nearly 1 billion people on this earth have water borne illnesses. This is due either to poor water quality or simply not having an adequate source of healthy water near the people who need it most. But, 400lb is here to help. We are partnered with a company that has a solution for this water problem. That company now needs our help to create a brand around this wonderful and thirst quenching invention.
We are still in the early development stage of naming. We have done large amounts of research on water dating back from the time of Phoenicians in 1300 B.C. up to how modern scientists think water will treated in years to come. We've wrote names backwards and forwards, right side up and upside down looking for that perfect tongue twisting, brain-sticking name. We've spelled it accurately and phonetically. We've translated it to Latin, back to English and then turned it over to the dead language of Sanskrit. It is a long and entertaining process but to see the final global result will be worth the effort.
This is just a small shot of our process so far....
Sources: http://www.howstuffworks.com/question157.htm // California University of Pennsylvania, Earth Science, 2002
Clean Power Resources is a clean power company out of North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. CPR creates state of the art air conditioning, heating and air
purification solutions designed with temperature and humidity control
in mind for a clean environment. Clean Power serves three main industries which are the robotics industry, thermo energy conversion industry and the off-road industry (applying to things like Mining, Logging and Rail Construction).
In creating these logos, 400lb and Clean Power Resources wanted to make each of these three categories instantly recognizable not just through a long string of words, but through a set of logos that call out each of these topics specifically.
Yesterday, Ben and I traveled to Butler Airport to spend some quality time with a Ferrari F430 Spider from Foreign Traffic. We had an idea to create a series of 30 second video spot for select FT cars: and what better to start with than an F430.
As mentioned on our Facebook page, we can finally say that we have closed the book for 2009's Bradford Viewbook Season!
It was very exciting to recieve the last proof from the printer and then look back at all the work that was done for this year's viewbooks. It is always a bitter sweet during/after viewbook season. I mean you will have your usual stressful days but when everything comes to a close, it is really neat to see the final product. This year's Viewbook Season (dare I say) went very smoothly! I was banned from saying that when we were on press checks. (Don't jinx it!) The new covers and pictures look great! So thank you to everyone who made this Bradford Viewbook Season a smooth and great year!
As we do the prep work on on new website (expected launch: June 2009), are finally getting around to take advantage of all the social networking sites out there. All of the 400lbers are personally on Facebook, (including office Bird, Sam. Go ahead and friend him; especially if you are female cockatiel) and we figured an office account was a good excuse to spend even more time there way to connect old friends, colleagues and clients.
Twitter is stuck in the news lately. First Ashton raced to one million followers, and now lots of other popular media people are using it.
Twitter is a simple web program that asks the simple question "What are you doing?". You answer it, using 140 characters or less. If someone is following, they see the update when they check their account. It's dirt simple, and people love it. Like right now, I'll post a message telling everyone I'm writing my second blog entry of the day! Anyone who is following me will know.
Well for me as a web developer, Twitter has some extra power. I use it to broadcast information to myself and others. Using their API, I can post tweets from a website, and using my programming, I can tell it what to say. For example, a user comes to my website and creates a Classified Ad. He or she goes through the process of posting it, and sends it to me for approval. When I click the link in my e-mail that tells my website that the ad is ok, it also runs code to create and post a message to Twitter. Something like: Red Stapler For Sale - $4.99 - http://www.tinyurl.com/fakestuff . Then anyone following the Twitter feed I created solely for my website can see there is a new ad, without having to keep checking the website.
It's also good for being notified of new contact form information. When someone visits my website, they might fill out a contact form. I can have the website post a twitter message alerting me of the new message so that I know to look for it and respond.
Another method which I thought up might be using Twitter as a control center for certain applications. Say for instance you have a website that you are going to launch a certain section of it on a certain day. You've created this website and it's all finished, there is just one stipulation in the database that says as long as the column "live" is set to "no", then do not show the website, otherwise show it. I can set up a cron job to check my twitter feed every 5 minutes. If I were to post a Twitter message that would say "Command: Enable Website", I could have that code switch that "no" to a "yes" and make the website live, all with a tweet.
Thinking outside the box is certainly possible even with simple web applications like Twitter.
Digg is one of many community link sharing websites. You post a link to Digg, and if others find it interesting, they will "digg It", and so on until it becomes popular enough to show up on the front page. Then you get lots of free visits to your website. It is also one of the most popular link sharing services, inspiring lots of copycat services.
The Internet is somewhat like high school, to be relevant, you have to be popular. There may be 20 alternatives to Digg, but they probably will not work as well without the mass user participation. The same is true with alot of services. EBay is a great example of this, as many small auction sites struggle to exist under EBay's mighty hand. Why sell it on Yahoo! Auctions when I can make lots more on Ebay.
This is where I personally believe standards would help these services thrive. With Digg, you have "diggs", with Twitter you have "messages", with craigslist you have ads. If there was a national standard database in which all of these things lived, then you would be able to share and discover them better. No checking 5 different sites for the best deal.
For example, I want to sell my Stapler that sits on my desk. I will sell it for $5.00. It's red, and it sits upright. My listing will be located in Leechburg, which has the 15656 zip code. I want to offer it on the open market until midnight April 30th. So I post it somewhere, like craigslist. Any number of users on craigslist can search stapler and will eventually find my ad. But what if when I posted it, it also went to ebay as a Buy It Now, and also got posted to MySpace Classifieds. Also, to my website 15656.com classifieds, and to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette classifieds. Why not throw in the "New and Used" section of amazon.com. I would have a really great chance of selling it then. Also, when I sold it, it would dissapear from all those places immediatly.
So why not?
There really is no clear reason why. To create something like that, you would have to:
Be sponsored by a large company or organization.
Have to make some money back for them, most likely.
Have the Government create a national standard.
Have Google Do It
Social networking websites are starting to do it. My Flickr pictures can be posted to facebook and myspace. My Twitter updates as well.
Working with StartingGate has been an awesome experience. As we talked about before, we've rebranded them, re-webbed them, revamped their offices and this weekend we will be kicking off their (and our) first TV campaign on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh during Saturday's PGA Event, the Verizon Heritage.
The spot is meant to introduce StartingGate to a wider audience and convey the message that now is the time to start a business.
We worked with Andrew Knox of AKnoxmusic on the sound design and KDKA productions for the final edit.
Check it out below and let us know what you think!
Well, the Penguins are in the playoffs again so it's time to put away the razors for (hopefully) about two months. We're huge hockey fans at 400lb, and last year Clint, Nate and I all let it grow in order to help our team through the most grueling competition in professional sports.
Admittedly, this year I've been debating going through with it again. First off, let's just say I might not be cut out for a "beard." It was the first time I really let it grow, and to very mixed results. I'm not sure I'm ready for the occasional verbal barb directed at my stunted follicles (ok... they might have been a little more than occasional). Second, the Pens fell short of the ultimate goal. While I'm not naive or superstitious enough to believe that a small nation of fans growing their facial hair can actually help a bunch of professionals put a puck in the net, I do believe that my beard has an effect on the teams fate. If they didn't do it last year with my help, why should I go through with it again?
Well, in the three days that I have to ponder the decision, I will be eagerly awaiting the drop of the puck. And googling "playoff beard" to come up with more like this:
Where do you turn for the most entertaining in Arts, Culture & Lifestyles in the Columbus (Ohio) area? Channel 17, WDEM-TV.
WDEM-TV however turned to 400lb. communications for an identity and a website which could reach a wide range of viewers and hit on the four key elements to WDEM -- History, Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Music. 400lb. decided to take this one logo and make it into a series of four different logos to add some extra dimension to Channel 17. The cool thing about each logo being a different color than its counterpart is that the website, when prompted, changes along with its logo. At the bottom of the website, there is an area in the footer which says "Random Color". Clicking on that will generate the new look.
I have recently been engaged in the biggest decision of my life to this point - buying a house! After 6 months of searching, I found what appears to be the perfect house (for me). This past weekend, the house was inspected. I sat in on the inspection and got a first-hand look at all of the work that will need to be done (some immediate, some longer-term). While I know that it will be very difficult at times, I'm really looking forward to tearing out carpet, ripping out old plaster, insulating, and getting rid of drop ceilings (I'd really like to meet the person who originally thought, "These ceilings look great... I want them throughout the whole house!"). I now know where my free time will be placed, but I'm embracing it.
This had me thinking: diagnosing and repairing an old house is a lot like taking on an existing website and updating it to our standards (stay with me, construction workers, plumbers, electricians, etc.). First, I look at the existing website as it looks on a web browser to get a sense of how it all works together. Then, I take a much closer look at its structure and code. Just like an old furnace, code can have a lifespan. Today, we have ultra high efficiency furnaces as well as the relatively new PHP coding language. Both improve on older styles. So, I purge the site of unwanted code and replace it with a more efficient version. Instead of a labyrinthine site with so many unecessary pages, I can consolidate a whole site into a few pages of code - making it easier for the website user (and current/future web developers).
Everybody has their own method at getting a satisfying result, and we here at 400lb think we have a pretty darn good content management system. My methods for going about home repairs is a bit greener, but I'll be asking a lot of questions to anyone with a lick of experience in the matter! Thanks to my work in web development, I now have a pretty sound approach to diagnosing and repairing issues.
Just another beautiful day here in Aspinwall...overcast and rain. OK, well at least yesterday was a beautiful sunny day! Yesterday I took a short walk down the stairs and approximately 10 steps to the stationery store (Nota Bene) right below us -- quite the distance...I know! Anyways, I was taking a bunch of photos of their store/product for an upcoming ad in Whirl Magazine, which is quite exciting! Below are a few photos that I thought I would share with you.
Nota Bene is a wonderful stationery store that offers custom stationery, personalized invitations, and unique gifts. If you are in the area -- Stop in!
Keep a look out for Nota Bene's ad in Whirl Magazine!
...and yes I realize that it is not quite April but the phrase seemed to fit. Wishful thinking I suppose -- If only March had a fun phrase. : )
As Ben mentioned in his previous blog post, we have been working with Foreign Traffic on a new 2:30 video spot to highlight their awesome inventory and service chops.
Here's the video in its current, almost-finished state:
After a short drive down our beloved Rt. 28 and onto Rt. 8 I ended up at my destination, Foreign Traffic. I was then forced, through intimidation tactics, to take photos and video of exotic and extravagant [not to mention super powerful] European and American automobiles. Can you believe they made me do that? ...No? Well, I guess they didn't really force me, but they really did have to twist my arm.
The sun was shining, the temperature was a comfortable 43 degrees [comfortable for February in Pittsburgh] and there wasn't a cloud in sight. On previous visits, Nissan [NSX & GTR], Porsche, Aston Martin, Mercedes & BMW were in the mix. For today however, Ferrari and Audi made an appearance. Close-ups of executive leather interiors, high-tech ignition ports, and curves, which would make any car enthusiast [beginner or expert], gasp!
Hats off to Foreign Traffic for their hospitality to those interrupting their workflow for videos and photos, as well as keeping these cars astoundingly clean.
Last Friday, the 400lb crew was treated to a wintery respite from our cozy office in the form of a skate on a local pond. Nate, Clint and I donned our skates and grabbed our sticks and pretended we were Canadian for a day. Made me wish I grew up north of the border! To boot, we couldn't ask for a better day, weather-wise.
Being that it was my first time on skates this year (and that I only learned last year), I excluded myself from some of the competitve activity. Still, it was a great time and I only fell about 3-4 times. Not bad considering the pond had some rough, snowy patches. I guess the zamboni was shut down that day?
A recovering and voiceless Rebecca shot a lof of footage on Nate's new HD toy, so I'm sure there will be some smartly edited footage available soon. By smart I mean: make me look good!
We were also visited by Nate's wife and kids, so having Liam and Addy running around (or eating cereal, in Addy's case) added to the experience. The only bad thing is that it's supposed to be in the sixties this week, which means no more ice. Why did we only discover this near-perfect sheet of ice in February! Here's hoping we get in a few more skates before the pond transforms back into a little fishing hole (or maybe that will just create a different type of break...).
Absolute Construction and Remodeling is located in Greensburg PA. They service the local region and beyond and do it with the utmost precision. Absolute Construction and Remodeling needed a mark that reflected that accuracy. They wanted a logo that would keep them on the upper crust of the construction world, not just physically but visually speaking as well.
The initial fear was a cliché logo showing a hammer and a saw. However, after a little bit of research and some long hours staring deep into the monitors glow we decided that this logo should be a bit more impressionistic.
The final logo is part house, part “capital letter A” and part tool. It has more of a ‘feeling’ rather than a definite meaning. Keeping the mark a bit more inexplicit will help to resist the baggage that viewers may bring with them as they quickly glimpse at the logo in search of their next contractor.
Just yesterday we launched a pair of sites for Pittsburgh-based Novum Pharmaceutical Research Services. Novum conducts Phase I and Clinical Trials for generic drugs hoping to get FDA approval.
NovumPRS.com is the corporate site designed to sell the company to Big Pharma as a respected and trusted partner to get their drugs to market. At the same time, we launched GoNovum.com as a way to attract research study participants.
*This was one of my favorite songs from college - and searching for
the YouTube video is so much easier than staying up till 2AM on a
sunday hoping to catch it on 120 Minutes.
This is one of the many little things that I have been working on in the office. One of our clients contacted us to help create a surprise for their boss. We were to take a picture of him and draw his face so that they could get chocolate coins made in his likeness with the phrase: "In Marlin We Trust." So I took the photo that was provided to create a vector image of his face in Illustrator. I think that it turned out very well!
I am told that it looks exactly like him. I have never actually met Marlin but from the pictures that I have seen - I would have to agree.
Every time you load a news website into your browser, there seems to be at least one bit of bad news about the economy. I've always thought that the economy was a creature with its own mind. If you keep feeding it bad news, it will do things to make it worse. Such as, less spending, less hiring, less lending, less making it all work.
We have to keep spending, hiring, and lending. Money flows freely in a good economy. We also have to ignore some of the bad news. Depression in itself can compound, and dig itself a deeper hole. Lets think positive!
It's not even halfway through January and we have a cool print piece to show off. You can view it below along with our 2008 Holiday Card.
2008 brought about a big change in my professional life, as I began to take on the role of a full-time web developer in the 400lb.com offices. What is it like, you ask? Check out this video shot in our office by Nate. Thanks to a lot of help from Clint, countless frustrating hours of (but ultimately successful) testing and editing, and a good bit of cracking the spines of books I'd previously glossed over (if even glanced at on the shelves), I feel as if I have a solid foundation with which to build on.
This doesn't mean I'm going to rest easy in 2009 - on the contrary I am making a resolution to hit the books even harder and grow into a strong web developer. In addition to taking on more of our clients websites, I plan on updating my band's website using all of the most recent bells & whistles that Clint and I have been working on. While I may not start drinking ounce after heart-rattling ounce of the latest energy drink (I prefer natural tea, a good night's sleep, good diet and excercise, etc... but to each his own!), I do resolve to earn my own two minutes of fame via yet another ace 400lb video.
Hi everyone. My name is Finnian Pol Kress. But people call me Finn. Or Finner.
My daddy and uncle work at 400lb.com - and sometimes my brother and sister even spend some time there. Pretty soon, I'll be playing with the computers and watching videos in the conference room, too!
I was born on December 27 and weighed in at 7 lbs., 10 oz: which i am told is a family record.
Mommy and Daddy are both doing well. Daddy should be back to work on Monday, January 5.
Anyway, maybe I'll see you around the office one of these days. For now - it's back to mommy's hospital bed for some lunch.
At the 400lb.mothership, we have replaced the traditional western calendar with Bradfordian model. In this system, a year is marked from November thru May - culminating in the year-end Festival of the Printing Press.
This year's season shapes up to be an exciting one as new locations and new programs are thrown into the 12 school mix.
I will forever remember Pittsburgh's Light Up Night this year. (Long Story Short) My boyfriend now fiance proposed to me by the river behind Station Square during the fireworks! We have talked about getting married for a little while now but he completely surprised me with his proposal! Which is pretty amazing considering the fact that we have a really hard time keeping secrets from each other.
Now things all make sense as to certain questions he asked/said throughout the night but at the time I thought nothing of them. I gave him a few odd looks but just thought to myself he hates crowds and that is why he seems a little odd tonight. Not to sound cheesy but his proposal was perfect in every sense of the word! : )
Jared and I have been planning our wedding for a little bit now and things are really coming together. I have taken on the huge task of making a lot of decorations/detailed things myself to bring the cost down. So far so good! Planning a wedding has been really fun for me - I love planning events and such! I mean don't get me wrong we have had our ups and downs but all in all it has been pretty smooth.
Here are a few pictures from Light Up Night/Our Engagement:
We as web publishers can only write so much. People tend to want some relief
from our lines of text. Line after line after line of text. People have a very
short attention span when it comes to taking in things on the web. However,
there is alot more than just pictures you can embed into a webpage.
As a CMS creater, I am tasked with the job of letting people add these
outside pieces of content. Widgets from Flickr, Videos from YouTube. I can spice
up this initally boring blog post with a great YouTube Video:
And that is just one of many embeddable pieces of content on the internet. Lets say that you use Flickr like I do. And you might just have 9,523 pictures uploaded to Flickr. But seriously guys, that's not me. I would never upload that many. Never... Anyway, we have an account for 400lb as well. Using a piece of embed code that they provide, we can show those pictures to you, right here, right now:
Seadragon, a very intersting piece of software being developed at Microsoft, allows for smooth zooming of images, no matter their size. While this new ajax embed tool they created isn't exactly the core software code they developed, it does the same thing. Seadragon Ajax allows for smooth zooming of super large images. Here is a panoramic picture I took of a lake that was nex to Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota last year:
So embedding can be fun and helpful. Without having to do much work, I was able to pull content from 3 different places and share it with you on the same page.
This past month, I took my first extended vacation since going to Thailand in March 2007. This wasn't a "fun in the sun" trip - most of the time, relaxing meant sleeping for 4 hours at a time in a cramped conversion van with four of my closest friends, my band mates. That's right - it was time for our little rock band to hit the road again. After months of planning (Myspace makes it much easier, but being around for a while and building contacts in other cities has been crucial), and after a successful evening that allowed us to celebrate the release of our new album TWICE (outside even - it was a nice crisp night, not too cold luckily!), we piled in the van for a two week+ trip that would send us in a counter-clockwise compass dial starting east, from the Atlantic ocean in Rhode Island to Montreal (which included, as it always does, a pretty nerve-wracking border check that has been known to turn away perfectly legal/legitimate bands) to Columbia, Missouri and finally to Louisville, our home-away-from-home.
It was a very successful (by our standards) trip, and though I was running PHP code through my head every now and then, I look forward to doing it again in the spring!
Also - big thanks to Rebecca here at 400lb.com for all of her design help! Our CD wouldn't look nearly as good as it does without her expert design help.
Starting out the day around 10:00AM and then a group walk around Noon sounds like a pretty nice day of work. The walk, typically around the block or to a fine deli in the area usually is accompanied by a tennis ball, football or whatever other piece of sporting equipment that can be found around the office. Of course, an iPhone comes in to play whenever you can't quite put a finger on who St. Scholastica is or why there is a school named after her in the neighborhood. (You will surely be let down after reading about all of the achievements of this determined Saint). Whether it is the adult macaroni and cheese (which I tried and enjoyed) or just a sweet dessert for lunch (which was given to me for free just for showing up at the deli), your hunger will always be satisfied. However, what happens next after the brisk walk through the quiet yet surprising borough of Aspinwall PA is something that doesn't happen at every office.
What really happens as an intern at 400lb can be summed up in one word -- Hockey. But not just any game of Hockey. This is broom stick and sweaty/community glove hockey. A tennis ball instead of a puck and plenty of artwork and expensive computer monitors around serving courageously as the perimeter. A tennis ball to the gut and your unprotected bones breaking with every move to the butterfly position as goaltender was my first experience with this office Hockey league. When playing this non-officiated (non-officiated which is a made up word for "no referee or official") game of Hockey you are on offense and defense, so you better stay sharp! Whoever scores the most goals and allows the least amount of shots cross the goal line (aka the wood molding on the bottom of the wall) wins.
After Hockey, and you are perspiring a little more than you would like to be during the day, you settle down to the computer for a little design. Websites and photos, fonts and colors are all part of your day while interning. Overall, it is a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere which makes this internship a great learning experience and a fun one too.
If you don't get my headline pun - you don't know low budget New York advertising for The Wiz!
Anyway, we just launched a site for our friends at GiANT Sports. It's our first .Biz site, btw. Where have you gone, .com. Damn you domain hoarders!
But enough domain ranting, the site turned out cool: it is a smooth blend of our Bamboo CMS and a neat and tidy Flash homepage. The emphasis of the site is launching the GiANT brand - so we went heavy on the graphics. It also marks our first foray into the world of large background sites. mmmm...graphic-y.
We have been working to rebrand Pittsburgh-based AgRecycle for about a month now. And yesterday, Rebecca and I were invited to one of the company's facilities for a first-hand demonstration of composting on a massive scale. And it was very impressive. AgRecycle collects compostable materials from municipalities (leaf and other yard waste) and restaurants and other public facilities (organic materials like food waste and compostable packaging) and turns it into the world's finest compost. And saving untold tons (actually, I'm sure they know the exact tonnage, but I don't...) of refuse from our landfills each year.
Here are a few shots of what we saw:
This is the organic materials that is collected each day.
After a lot of sorting (people still are not perfect in sorting their trash accordingly - and all non-organic materials need to be removed), nature goes to work.
Here's a closeup of the compost that is a month or 2 away from going to market. The steam is released as the compost is turned. The temperature of the pile is about 140F.
We saw this old logo on one of the many massive pieces of machinery that sort, move and churn the compost as it goes from stinky garbage to awesome compost.
Here is a mock-up of the new identity we are creating for AgRecycle. The client mandate was to create an identity that had a vintage feel and was as far away from the trendy "green" movement as possible. The logo takes design cues from vintage seed packets of the late 18th century. Kickin' it old school agrarian.
The Internet is certainly about blogging. Everyone wants to post content. Vacation pictures, funny stories, videos of their kids falling down while trying to walk for the first time. If you count this blog, I offically write for 3 different blogs. I have a personal blog that I've been using since 2002, This blog has been up since 2006, and last week I got invited to guest blog for http://www.paadventure.com. Twitter could count also!
Pennsylvania's tourism site, http://www.visitpa.com, is getting an overhaul to include more user created content. I found a posting about sharing PA experiences, so I applied, and was accepted. I'll be blogging about my accomplishment of visiting all 120 PA State Parks in One Summer. So that's 120 blog entries, more than I have here.
Here at 400lb.communcations, we create blogs, and we help people integrate user created content. From uploading pictures, to sharing stories, it can all be done using our custom bamboo CMS software.
In the past few weeks we have been begun re-branding assignments for four diverse clients. So in the coming weeks, look for our dire case of Shoemaker's Syndrome to go into temporary remission as we post new logo packages for Giant Sports, AgRecycle, Somerset Welding & Steel, and Specialty Seal Group.
First off, we can all learn a lot from Dr. Leo Marvin. I could stop right there and it might just be the best blog entry I've ever written. But I'll go on. That's how I roll.
On the subject of rolling, I came in to work on the scooter for the first time this season. And I don't think it's a coincidence I had one of my most productive days in quite awhile. Something about flying along at 50mph just a few inches from the ground that gets the synapsis firing and the blood flowing. As soon as I can figure out how to text while riding, I'll be golden.
I'm going to treat this, my blog re-entry, as a kind of half-assed "notes" column that are all the rage with lazy sports columnists.
You heard it here first:
It's vacation season at 400lb. I just got back from the family retreat in Scottsdale, AZ. At times it felt like we were actually living inside an old Strawberry Shortcake Eazy Bake Oven. My sister had one, OK? Rebecca is next with a trip to the shore lined up in the next few weeks. Clint continues to plot out a way to somehow visit all 76,126 State Parks in the continental US in only 15 days. Need something from Clint in early September? Better have a good reason and knack for tracking empty cans of RedBull across the US interstate system - 'cause him, the wife and the pups will be on the open road. Caulen and his band are currently in the planning stages of their 2nd US tour which should kick off sometime in the fall.
We are finishing up a few cool projects that should be going live soon. Most notably, a new website for RedZone Robotics is set to launch on the 25 of July. Fingers crossed!
Bradford Viewbook Season (which now stretches from October thru June) has come and gone and this year Rebecca was here to take the reigns. She put together an awesome new design (pics coming soon) that is a great step forward. Is it wrong that I pass the time in Viewbook Years? When was Addy born? Easy - metallic PMS year (Liam goes all the way back to the halcyon days of the 4 Square Die-Cut).
I am on the lookout for a mint condition PogoBall.
We work in an industry that requires change. New technologies come around, and new ways of doing things become popular. Some people jump on the bandwagon early, and then get burned when everyone does not hop on. Other blaze the trail ahead and come out quite sucessful.
I personally as a PHP programmer have learned alot since I joined 400lb.communications limited back in 2004. We have molded our flagship CMS, the Bamboo Content management system from scratch. We added HTML editing, and AJAX interactions as time has gone by to improve the users experience when using our product. Most of the major gripes have started to fade away and we stand now looking at a product that we feel is able to compete with other CMS programs.
Yet, that's not good enough.
Today I am starting down a path to learn OO PHP. That's Object Orienated for those of you who are not into programming. It deals with classes, methods, and objects. In the end, it will most likely improve our end product. I consider Bamboo to be a framework form CMS, and I want to make the framework an even faster environment to work in.
Now the pretty stuff.
I spent my Sunday driving about 300 miles to see 5 different state parks and the Flight 93 National Memorial in western Pennsylvania. Here are a couple pictures from the trip:
Flight 93 National Memorial
Blue Knob State Park - 2nd Highest Point in PA Also joining me in this picture is Max and Madison. I'm STANDING because I'm always called out for kneeling next to the dogs.
My boyfriend and I both live out in the middle of no where. He is surrounded by beautiful mountains (closest neighbor - 1 mile) and I am surrounded by farms and such. During the summer Jared goes back home for work. So needless to say, we travel quite a bit to see each other during the summer (a 5 hour roadtrip). During a recent visit, we were driving through the mountains on some dirt roads when we came across this sign. Someone had a sick sense of humor when they put the "Watch Children" sign next to this street sign. I will let you see it for yourself. Keep in mind that we are out in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road. Sketchy - but also very funny (in an odd way). I couldn't resist taking a picture.
So, tomorrow the Kress family packs up and heads west for our annual 2 week pilgrimage to the valley of the sun. check out this solid 10 day forecast. and say it with me: "it's a dry heat."
This Ain't No Disco is probably one of my new favorite sites! I was just surfing the web and I came across this site which has different agencies from all across the world that show off the interiors of where they work. The site states: "...once you look inside nothing will ever be the same again." ...and I agree. Some of the workspaces on this site are amazing! I often wonder where they find the money. The soul purpose of this site is to let others marvel at what others have created inside their four walls. If you have free time, take the time to scroll through the site -- marvel at what they have done with their workspace and maybe even get ideas for your own workspace.
A few weeks ago, Liam (age 5) came to a Penguins game with me and his Uncle Caulen at (in his words) the "upside down saucer" that is Mellon Arena. And he came away suitable impressed with the experience. It helped that the home team won 7-1 and he got to yell his head off for much of the afternoon.
Lately, he has been really into playdoh and creating pretty intricate scenarios. Like a "woodlands scene" (again, his words) that included a large tree, a butterfly in its chrysalis form (that Montissorie schooling really is paying off!), a spectacled bear, a stream, and a woodpecker among other things. Last night he really did his pops proud in constructing a fairly detailed scene from a hockey game. Included in the scene (see if you can identify each):
I always hate walking into a store, and seeing a big sign for bamboo. Most stores around this area do not sell bamboo. They sell Dracaena sanderiana, or better known as lucky bamboo. The only way it's related to real bamboo is that it's green and it's a plant. I've even seen pictures of the plant on packaging of bamboo cutting boards. Lame.
So, our CMS, the Bamboo Content Management System, is named after my all-time favorite plant, bamboo. Aside from it being an awesome name, it does relate to bamboo in many ways.
Bamboo, and I mean the real bamboo, is a plant that grows fast and spreads quickly. Every spring, bamboo shoots start to rise in our part of the country. They come up quickly, and grow to great heights. Each shoot, eventually a culm, becomes yet another part of the whole. Our CMS is based on many culms, or modules as they are better known. While each culm may appear to be it's own plant, it is in fact usually tied to several other culms, if not hundreds. The strength of bamboo, and our CMS, is the ability for each part to strengthen the whole.
Picture: A bamboo shoot rises out of the soil.
This year we have done a lot of new things with our CMS. We redeveloped our blog to use tags in a way that's both fast and easy for the end user. We elimiated the culm that supported tags, and strengthend the blog culm to naturally include tags. With improved MYSQL queries, we can select multiple columns of multiple database tables at once, making the work and magic happen faster.
We have also developed an AJAX based image selector that helps you mine your pictures out of your image library faster than ever. We feel that with the usage of these new technologies and a bit of creativity, we will be able to make our Bamboo CMS one of the best around.
My brother and his wife had a beautiful baby girl last week! I am an
aunt again - not that being an aunt was ever taken away from me but it
is fun to have another little one around. To me she is much smaller
then her older siblings - even though she was only 5 oz smaller then
her sister. I will say though that my nephew takes the cake - weighing
in at 10 lb. 6 oz. Now he was a big baby! Anyways her are a couple pictures
of my new little neice.
Growing up, my parents never traveled much. They spent a good bit of their 20's living in Florida, but as a child, I never went to Florida. SeaWorld Ohio was my biggest trip. So naturally, when I reached 18, I started to travel. I've covered thousands of miles and consider each new place I visit to be a milestone. Visiting Canada was going to be one of those milestones.
I've never left the country, so going to Canada was really exciting. Rachel and I traveled to Niagara Falls for the weekend, to see the falls and visit Canada. I am somebody who notices every little difference between two places. The road signs are one of the biggest, being in k/m instead of mph. Good thing most car speedometers have k/m on them. I lucked out on having to convert money, as the exchange rate was almost perfectly even.
Niagara Falls in indeed, two waterfalls. I had always pictured it as one large waterfall, but it's really split in half by an island (Goat Island). The American Falls, pictured below, are a very straight set of falls. The horseshoe falls are shaped, you guessed it, like a horseshoe.
So of course I clicked the link eagerly anticipating the video of sweet, adorable Abby. Instead I watched a ridiculous Rick Astley's - Never Gonna Give You Up music video. (classic 80's song - really lame video - which makes it pretty awesome and makes me laugh)
In my confusion and sometimes blonde moments, I emailed my friend back and told him that he sent me the wrong link. "Unless that is the video that you wanted to link me to?" He then emailed me back saying "Yes, Rebecca, you've been RickRolled." Ok, so I have been RickRolled. What does that mean?!? I then proceeded to watch another link that was in the second email: rickrolled
In conclusion, I found out exactly what RickRolled means and its history. The link was claiming to be something more interesting -- which is why I clicked it but discovered that I was RickRolled. So pretty much RickRolled means you have been tricked into watching a really ridiculous 80's music video and thus it is awesome. (I don't know) So if you receive an email similar to this one you will now know what it means.
I now have a trust issue with my friend since I receive links about Abby all the time. : )
We recently completed a 6 month re-branding assignment for the new business incubator formerly known as The Beaver County Corporation for Owner-Operator Projects (BC CO-OP). So, you can see why they would want to change it, right?
The process started with a lengthy discovery process in which we interviewed past and present CO-OP contacts: everyone from current tenants of their incubator building to local government officials who have a hand in funding and other economic development decision-makers.
This phase uncovered some known facts (uh, the name is confusing and a tongue-twister to boot) as well as a few bits of information that would help us as we moved into the naming phase of the assignment (that CO-OPs target audience considered themselves craftsmen/women first and foremost and business-owners a distant second).
Naming a new business is alternately one of the most satisfying and frustrating experiences in our line of work. Satisfying in that you get to basically shape an entire company's persona: the power to establish how someone answers the phone is a lusty one to be sure. And it is frustrating because nearly every combination of name and website address has been taken already.
I'll skip the weeks of post-it notes on the walls and swearing at F%$@*&% domain name squatters and get to the good stuff.
Meet StartingGate. With the cool new tagline "Ready. Set. Grow."
Feedback from the client on the new logo and identity has been 100% positive - both internally and externally. We're pretty happy with how it all turned out in the end as well. We are now moving forward with StartingGate to brand their new 107,000 square foot business incubator, the StartingGate Proving Grounds.
In many ways, I believe that our exisiting CMS system, the Bamboo Content Management System, is complete as far as CMS's go. Sure, there is not versioning, rights management, or user locks, but those all can be added quite quickly if the customer wants it. It's flexible, and each content managed piece is its own file.
These strengths came to light when we had to do a redesign for an offspring of our CMS. Once we altered the CSS, and added some AJAX menu drop downs, the admin pieces fit right in. We had to alter the width of maybe one table to make it look better. For the client in the next blog entry, StartingGate, we were able to create an AJAX based multiple form viewer that loaded a ton of content without changing the page. With an admin that works as well as this, it's hard to come up with new things.
I believe web based programming can be overthought. The more features you add, the more confusing the admin can be for the user. I've read many articles on "How to Create the Perfect CMS", or "The Best Features of a Good CMS", but they seem to be overbearing. It's almost easier for the end users to just learn to program PHP and use Dreamweaver than to use these complex CMS.
One feature that we keep seeing and would like to add is the ability to drag and drop. More and more, we are required to let users change the layout and structure of the underlaying pages. Parent pages and children pages, and children of children pages. That can get confusing, so hopefully drag and drop will help solve some of those difficulties.
Hey, new sign!
I just wanted to show off our new sign that Nate designed. It adorns the hallway outside our entranceway. Only thing left to do is to get one outside our building. There are still two signs for the law office that was in this building years ago.
Well, it finally happened. After a good year or two of age-induced anxiety, I turned 30 last month. Actually, I wasn't as consumed by the thought of being done with my 20s as it sounds. After all, the measurement of time and its practical use (calendars) differs around the world. Here in the US (and most of the world), we use the Gregorian calendar (which was created in the 16th century). There are plenty of calendars that are dictated by the sun or moon, including the Persian calendar (500 years older than the Gregorian), whose New Year is celebrated on the first day of Spring. And, even though I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, it's funny to note that there is a calendar based on the epic. It is a lot to take in, so you can check it out here.
The Interwebs say it's about 60 degrees outside today. Finally, after days of programming at the 400lb.office megaplex, I took a stroll out into the mean streets of Aspinwall. My original goal was to take 100 pictures, but I was having trouble coming up with 100 quality shots. I then dropped my goal down to 40 quality shots. 3 of the were blurred, so I came out with 37 shots. Here are some of my favorites.
Old Church Window
This guy looks like he has seen everything.
There are tons of these all around town.
I personally love green moss. Nate, however, is at war with it back home.
Last week, 2 old pals made me proud. Ted Williams and Nick Cobler and I started 400lb.communications way back when we plied our trade under the banner of Mullen Advertising more than a seven years ago. Today, only Nick remains - where he now has the rockin' title of Creative Director, Interactive. Ted is the head of digital design for another Pittsburgh agency, Giant Ideas. And I'm having fun with a new gang at 400lb.communications. So, I guess each one of us has turned out OK. We don't see each other much any more - blame work, families, and inertia. But I still consider them good friends who forever hold a place in my heart.
And we made one heck of a bowling team.
Anyway, I got an email from Ted the other day announcing his return from Cotopaxi, Equador - where he, Nick and a few other scaled the 19,400 ft mountain to raise money and awareness for breast cancer as part of the Climb for Hope. Ted and Nick have both lost loved ones to the disease and saw this as an opportunity to make a difference.
Over the past many months, they've trained their asses off in anticipation of the climb. And they did it. Congratulations, guys.
You can read more about the climb here and see some awesome pics here and here.
Everyone in the room who does not understand/care about programming can leave. I'm about to talk about using functions in PHP and how it has helped us create better code during the past few years.
When I started programming at 400lb.communcations limited, I was just a beginning at the PHP programming language. I knew how to use it, if it was set up just like my website. We use MYSQL databases on most of our websites, but back then, I only knew how to use a program called phpmyadmin to access it. I didn't know you could access it using SSH, or from a GUI like Navicat.
But now I do.
When we made our first bamboo content management system, it truly was 100% custom designed from the ground up. But this also meant that it was not portable. If we wanted to reuse some of that code on a new project, it almost took just as long to make it. Eventually I learned how to use control structures in the language to make my code modular, thus the module based bamboo 2.0 came about. Now that we don't have to improve the entire bamboo programming language, we can work on the things that needed fixed. If users needed to upload images, we create an image library. If they want more options, we only have to work on one piece.
There have been 3 things in PHP that were never my strong point: arrays, classes, and functions. Each of these can help you greatly when you code, but are hard to grasp. One thing that I would advise anyone who is learning how to program, learn about functions!
Functions are portable pieces of code that allow us to simply write the function's name with some parenthesis and we can reuse that code. For example:
function showit(){ echo 'It has been shown.'; }
The above function will simply write - It has been shown. - any time it is called. How do you call it? Simple, use this:
showit();
We are currently developing a multiple program website for one of our clients, and it is full of functions. Just about everything that is done on the site is done using a function. So if I need to do something, I simply call the function. I don't have to write all of that code each time. The above code is wasteful, but it will be helpful in the long run if you end up calling that function 4 or 5 times. You actually have less text.
I can use it on larger things, like outputting user demographics or loading in homework assignments. There is even a function that alters the database to show that a user has logged in at a certain date.
And, if you're reading this, most likely I loaded this whole story using blogentry(31);
So, I turned 35 this past weekend. And if that didn't make me feel old enough, 2 things this weekend really drove the point home:
1. My son finds a 2 foot long grey hair (definitely NOT mine) and declares, "This must be daddy's because it's silver."
2. I saw there is a tribute CD out marking the 15th anniversary of R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People. Wow. If Cameron Crowe ever gets around to filming the story of my life, this CD will dominate the segment detailing my junior year in college.
This week I got to do some Macromedia Flash development. When I was still in high school, I created some poorly designed websites, almost always using flash. That was Flash 5 back then, now we use Flash 8. Creating things with Flash is simple. Objects exist on keyframes, and it runs as a movie. You can create an interactive document, or website, using different commands within the movie.
However, when you make a website using Flash, the usability of that website tends to suffer. If you are a normal user, you are very used to the way websites work. You click on a link, you wait for a new page to load, and you view your new content. Flash websites almost always stay within the same page. This creates lag, thus nothing happens immediately when you click a link. Plus, web browsers have those forward and back arrows for a reason, in case we hit the wrong link.
One of my favorite examples of this is mycokerewards.com. This is a site where you can enter codes off of Coca-Cola bottle caps and such. This site is entirely built from flash. The user experience is nice, but you have to do everything flash style. When you click on the button to enter a code, there is a little pause. Boy, that’s annoying! But if you went to a normal site, clicked a normal link, and the whole page loaded, it would take just as long, if not longer, but it just feels better. Why? Because you get more out of your click!
Also with Flash, everything you do has to be perfect, or the program screws up. Sometimes I’ll be entering codes, and then I’ll stop to browse some of the rewards you can get. Clicking on one of these will stop the whole program dead in its tracks, and you have to reach for the refresh button (F5) to start from scratch. The flash was probably half way through processing my last command, and then I interrupted it.
When we create websites, and more specifically content management systems, usability is most important. If the users can not use the system quickly and with ease, we have failed as CMS developers. That’s why extra attention is given to these. Users want to update or add content immediately, with less hassle. Our Bamboo CMS is flexible, so if users want to be able to update their homepage text immediately after logging in, we can make it so.
In closing, Flash websites are cool looking, but they lack in usability. You have to retrain users not to use their back and forward buttons, and the pages load differently. It’s like trying to learn how to drive without using reverse. If you miss your turn, you have to go around the block again to make the right one!
Stephen King had the best answer to the question, "Who is your favorite author other than yourself?"
"Anyone who writes something I wish I had thought of first."
On that note, let me introduce you to what I think is the best new website I've come across in awhile. And if you have kids under 12, pay special attention. Readers, meet webkinz.com.
Their business model is great: get kids to pester their parents into purchasing a $15 stuffed animal that comes with a unique ID that you enter into the "Adoption Center" at the webkinz website. If you are in the 30-35 year age range... think Cabbage Patch Kids gone all Al Gore.
Anyway, so my wife and son bring home this stuffed animal and I admit I am skeptical as Liam and I sit down in front of the laptop to "adopt" the stuffed animal heretofore known as "Barky." Within minutes I am impressed with the layout, functionality and philosophy (they don't gouge you for more money after registration... kids earn "cash" to buy stuff for their pets by completing activities and interacting with other members of the site). MySpace and Facebook could take a few lessons in the simplicity and consistency of the user experience from these guys.
So if you have kids and they come screaming that they NEED a webkinz doll... go for it! Hidden upside: my wife and I have been dominating the other kids in online checkers. Barky has to eat, yo!
We tend to put our problems on a grander scale. Something like a recurring JavaScript error or misprinted color on a brochure can seem like a major crisis. Well, today we got a bit of perspective. A microburst hit Aspinwall last night causing major damage all around. Residents look to be out of electricity until maybe Saturday. Somehow, our street was spared major damage.
We took a walk around town during lunch - weaving around down power lines and an army of bulldozers and tree shredders. Here's a a shots of the damage.
So, I came across this the other day. It's a list of lessons learned by designer Stefan Sagmeister shown at his recent presentation at TED2007. Sagmeister, you see, is a designer of some repute. And a really cool guy to boot (met him when he spoke at a Pittsburgh AIGA event a couple of years back). I've been reading over this list since I first found it. I really can't find too much to disagree with. What do you think?
Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid, I have to live now.
Being not truthful works against me.
Helping other people helps me.
Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Assuming is stifling.
Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
Trying to look good limits my life.
Worrying solves nothing.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doeses.
Just got back from 2 weeks in Scottsdale, AZ. Deep in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. In June. Average temperature is 108F. The locals looked at us like we were nuts for being there. Apparently, the summer months are treated like we Eastcoasters treat winter: Stay in doors or preferably leave altogether.
But we go each year around this time. You can count on the sun shining and the crowds are sparse (see above.)
Anyway, it is (kinda, sorta) good to be back. Here are Five Things I Learned:
1. 113 degrees is hot. HOT. H-O-T. Sunburn in less than 5 minutes, burn your feet on the pavement, mushy melted Tivas HOT.
2. It is nice to see a city that takes design seriously. Even the highways are beautiful. Afterall, this is the home of Frank Lloyd Wright. His influence is seen all around. Last year, we toured Taliesin West - Wright's winter home and a still-functioning school of architecture. Inspiring. And did you know FLW's son invented Lincoln Logs?
As Clint mentioned 1 post below, today was a picture-packing field trip thru the streets of Aspinwall. Here are some more shots.
Veggie Tales. Some of the fresh fruits and vegetables sold at the Billiant Market. This mom and pop grocery store has been in business for 95 years.
Eclectic Aspinwall. It seems like there is an ongoing challange among the residents of town as to who has the largest, brightest address lettering. Meet the current champ.
Bicycle Made for 400lb.com. This antique has been sitting in the exact spot for 6 months now. Rain or shine, only the stuff stacked around it seems to change.
John Woo, Aspinwall is ready for its closeup. Caught these pigeons leaving the municipal building.
As 400lb.basketball has cooled off as it was too hot outside, walks occupy our lunch breaks this week. Aspinwall is a cool place, with lots to look at, and interesting people. During our walk today, Nate and I took some photos of lovely Aspinwall. Here are a select few from my set:
Unidentified Aspinwall Police Officer Takes Time to Mull the Situation.
Lots of Old Time Trees Inhabit These Streets.
If It Has Your Name On It, You Own It!
I took 20 photos in all, but these three were ones that were my favorite. My photography skills will never rival those of Frank Walsh, but I highly doubt that his programming skills are close to what we did for the Highmark eHealth Collaborative Website.
Here at 400lb we love to use new technology for the websites we lovingly handcraft. In the past year, we have integrated ajax, and a wysiwyg editor into our programming. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, yet they are each invaluable as a development tool.
What you see is what you get.
The wysiwyg editor has been a real treat for our customers. Instead of having to lay down a "How to code HTML" manual in front of people who want to update content using our Bamboo CMS, we simply say: "If you can use Microsoft Word, you can use our CMS". The disadvantage can be that not everyone knows how to operate Word. For these situtations, we also offer an editorless mode where you can enter plain text.
Ajax.
No, it is not dish liquid. It is a technology. Ajax can offer many things to web development. Basicly, with ajax, you can eliminate the need for pop ups and page refreshes. This technology uses Javascripts ability to load new pages and content without reloading the page. If we want new information from the database, a simple call can get the information we want.
You may be thinking, How does this affect me? Well, did you ever fill out a form, only to have to refresh the page 5-6 times before you got it right? Using ajax, the pages we develop can check the information for correctness as you type. Simple things like checking for blank fields can be done sans ajax, but checking to see if a username is already taken needs at least one query of the database. We can submit a request to the database, see if the username is taken, and report the information back in under 2 seconds. No more waiting for the page to load, we have already figured out if the username is good or not.
Congratulations to Molly and her husband Joe as they welcomed Carter Joseph into the world on May 19th. Family is doing well and Molly is teaching young master Smoller the finer points of Google Adwords in between naps and feedings.
As we get set to play another round of 33 here at the 400lb office, I'm starting to think my one-man wrecking crew of a team should have a moniker. The past few days I have been doing work for a new client involving a lot of sports teams. Mostly database entry, which entails entering all of the teams nicknames. Now, there are a lot of NCAA Division 1 teams to enter, so naturally i'm running across some names that strike me as... odd. There are team names that belong to a different era, like the Commodores, Volunteers, Boilermakers and Trojans (a much earlier era than most!); teams that represent the various wildlife that inhabits (or inhabitted, as is the case with a lot), such as those omnipresent Bearcats of Cincinnati, the Bulls that run in South Florida, and the notorious Tigers that roam Missouri. Others are just plain Biblical: Demon Deacons, Blue Devils, Sun Devils and Friars will all add insult to injury by sending you to eternal damnation on top of a 35-14 loss. I can't wait to start digging up smaller conferences for some real treasures! I think I might settle on Golden Eagles, with the hopes that I can copy one of Clint's dunks.
Like the perfect jumper from behind the arc, 2 sites were launched today without a hitch. We've been helping our client, First City Development, promote two different housing plans around the Pittsburgh area with a series of print ads and today we launched websites for each development.
In other news, the 400lb.communications lunchtime basketball endless two-bounce tournament rolled on despite the oppressive 84 degree weather. Now that is dedication. Nate opened the day with a convincing victory in game 1, but the fireworks started in game 2. As Caulen got in position to take his shot, Clint decided to take matters into his own hands and sent a message by sending Caulen to line. By kicking the ball right into an unsuspecting Caulen's upper lip. Clint then rode the emotional lift to his first victory of the season.
Game 3 saw Nate return to form while Caulen continued to feel the effects of a slowly fattening lip as his normally money jumper took the game off. With Clint unable to sustain his momentum, Nate cruised to an easy victory.
Absent when it counted, Caulen's game decided to make an appearance in the mop-up game as he rolled to controversy-laden victory. Int he 400lb.version of two bounce, the game must be won by landing exactly on 21 points. If you go over, you need to reach 31 to win. Another facet of the game is fouls. When person fails to hit the backboard on a shot, he is assessed a foul. Get 5 fouls and you lose 5 points.
Leave it to Clint to find a loophole in this seemingly perfect system. As I missed a potential game winning free throw, Clint mentioned that seeing as I sat with 4 fouls, I could merely take an intentional foul and drop back to 15 points. This sent into effect a series of strategic gambits the rivaled the great Kasparov / Deep Blue matches of the early 90s. Let's open this up to debate: Is the intentional foul / point dropping legit?
Seriously, check this out. This is what the internet is all about. First commentor to send in a YouTube video of the gorilla running amock wins a special prize.
Crazy times indeed. Let's start with the client work. In the past four months, we:
Criss-crossed the state shooting and designing the Highmark 2006 Community Report.
Completed our fourth year of Bradford School collateral. For the uninitiated, that's custom viewbooks, posters, applications, self-mailers and interview books. This year's design was our best yet - and marked our first foray into the wild world of metallic PMS inks. Oh yeah!
Worked with a new client, Clean Power Resources, preparing a multimedia presentation for a global distributors conference in Munich. Super Kühlen sie ab!
Launched our first eCommerce site fully integrated into our Bamboo CMS.
Other excuses include (with website diversion index number. 100= Maximum Diversion):
Penguins playoff time. WDIN:72
Lunchtime 2-bounce tournaments. WDIN:61
Admiring new office artwork. WDIN:44
Anyway, it's been a long time coming. But we like what were able to put together. Hope you do too.
Today marked the first day that normal people who had gained access to the Halo 3 Beta could start playing. Like clockwork I received my 15 digit invite code via e-mail before 4AM, started downloading the beta at 7AM, and was playing by 7:30. I got more than 8 games in before I had to leave for work at 8:30, and played each map at least 2 times.
Reaction.
Like all new games, at first you are overtaken by how things are different. A couple of different button changes, the jumping is just not the same, etc. You start to dislike these changes at first, but your also mad because anything and everything is shooting at you and your just not used to the game. The levels are as expected, very detailed and pretty. Frankie, who writes a weekly update about the progress of Halo 3, kept going on and on about how amazing the water looked. He was right, it looks very real..
The buzz on the internet was amazing. Message board posts that quickly reach over 30 pages, every gamer blog had something about it, even I am writing about it. I believe I read a story about Halo 3 being the most pre-ordered game ever. I'm amazed at how much video games now depend being able to be played online since I myself stayed playing games way before that concept had become mainstream. It used to be that you would have to invite your friends over to play games, and if you couldn't, you could rely on the game itself to keep you entertained. Now it seems that the multi-player aspect is the most popular of them all, and the games are coming second.
Databases
Bungie Studios (Who makes the game) has a great game statistics database on their website. Every game you play, your kills, deaths, etc are stored into a large relational database kept by them. What is more amazing is that they recall, by using the database, every single location of every single interaction. So if player A from the bridge shoots player B down in the steam, the game remembers this by storing it into a database.
Databases have literaly changed the way we construct websites. Even this blog entry right here is stored in a table in a database running at the 400lb.datacenter. When you loaded this page, the server that runs the website contacted the database, asked for the information about the entry with ID #16, and the database delivered it back. Many years ago you would have to make a brand new page using your web editor, give it a unique name, upload it to the server, and properly link it. Not any more. We can also count how many letters are used, search to see how many times the word "Halo" is used, and change the formating of the text.
Panoramic Images
In offline life yesterday Rachel and I took a trip up to Crooked Creek Lake near Ford City. We visit this place at least 3-4 times a year. One of the best features in a piece of land that extends into a bend in the lake. I think crooked creek lake must be manmade, because of how much it twists and bends. Madison (Mastiff) loves to swim, and she scratched me up pretty good by using my right arm for assistance with her doggy paddle. Nothing hurts worse than having a powerful dog scratch the length of your arm in cold water. Well, I'm sure there is worse, but that was really bad.
I took a series of images to stitch into a panorama last night, so here it is. It's 10MB, so if somehow your still on dialup, be patient. I use Photoshop CS2 to stitch photographs together.
Digg is one of many community link sharing websites. You post a link to 
