andrew dakin http://blog.andrew-dakin.com a little blog about my life Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:59:06 +0000 en Web Companies That Make Me Sick http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/10/28/web-companies-that-make-me-sick/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/10/28/web-companies-that-make-me-sick/#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:59:06 +0000 admin http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/?p=124 Not that I have anything to really say since I can’t seem to get all the websites I have completed, but I wanted to start making a list of Web Design companies that I honestly can’t understand why they consider themselves web designers. They are more like the people that go out and buy an expensive digital SLR and then consider themselves professional photographers. These people bought Adobe’s Creative Suite and decided they could figure out how to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver on there own and become amazing web designers. It just irritates me that you can get away with this in a world that uses the web everyday. I don’t think that people should have to put up with terrible web design or even bad user-interfaces. I think that we’re beyond that now. Anyway enough of my griping here is the start of my list:

I don’t think that they are all bad for the same reasons, but there are certain things that you don’t need to do if you’re a confident and talented designer. I’ll write more of my thoughts when I have time to…but I should probably get back to working.

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/10/28/web-companies-that-make-me-sick/feed/ Oops… http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/09/05/oops/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/09/05/oops/#comments Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:36:01 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/09/05/oops/ Someone forgot to feed their kid at target.

Andy

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/09/05/oops/feed/ Someday http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/14/someday/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/14/someday/#comments Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:23:32 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/14/someday/ I’ll get around to making this look a little better. I have no time.

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/14/someday/feed/ Apocalypse Camera http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/07/apocalypse-camera/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/07/apocalypse-camera/#comments Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:33:13 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/?p=119 If anyone is interested in watching something bad happen tune into the live broadcast of the initial run on the Hadron Collider on Septemer 10, 2008. I like how the scientists say that nothing bad will happen, but the intention of the collider is to replicate the energy formed at the big bang. And it’s suppose to be REALLY hot, something like 100 times hotter than the sun (that may be way off, but I know it’s hotter than the sun…which is still super hot). And they believe it could create small blackholes. And then they follow that up by, “but nothing bad will happen because all of those things will be contained in a small controlled environment.” Mmmm hmmm, I bet that’s what they said when they first started playing around with nuclear fusion. And when have we ever been able to contain any other fission reaction? H-Bomb anyone?

I guess they know what they’re doing though. Luckly I’ll get to play Spore for one day before we get sucked into a black hole.

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/07/apocalypse-camera/feed/ New Theme, or Lack of Theme http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/03/new-theme-or-lack-of-theme/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/03/new-theme-or-lack-of-theme/#comments Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:45:11 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/?p=117 I have to applogize for the lack of personality in this theme, but after looking for a REALLY complete theme to build my own theme off of I found this, Thematic.

They consider it to be a “theme framework” and it seems to be really complete. They have a lot of the options available for a wordpress theme already included and should be a great theme to start with.

Anyway, time for bed.

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/03/new-theme-or-lack-of-theme/feed/ Sarah Lacy Event http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/01/sarah-lacy-event/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/01/sarah-lacy-event/#comments Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:41:40 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/?p=115 I had a blast seeing and hearing what Sarah Lacy had to say about her new book and entrepreneurial ventures in Silicon Valley and Omaha. I think her book is going to be very interesting and I’m looking forward to reading it.

On the other side, I really enjoyed meeting all the people that are interested in making web development something special here in Omaha. I really appreciate everything that Jeff Slobotski (Silicon Prairie News) and Dusty Davidson (Brightmix) are doing for the web community here in Omaha.

With as interesting as last night was I’m really looking forward to going to BarCamp Omaha on August 15-17.

And also one last thing that I found out about last night is Refresh Omaha, which I think is a great idea and I would really like to be involved as much as I can. I think Omaha has the talent to make it a great place for web development to thrive and it’s a great place to be involved in the web scene since it seems to be growing at a great speed thanks to the individuals who are willing to take on the challenge of starting their own company.

So all in all I had a great time last night and the future looks pretty bright here in Omaha.

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/08/01/sarah-lacy-event/feed/ Working with Designers http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/07/31/working-with-designers/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/07/31/working-with-designers/#comments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:10:56 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/?p=106 This is a great resource for people who need to work with designers. Communication is key when you’re trying to develop a good design and this would help clients a lot. I think.

This is my favorite part of the article:

10) Don’t tell your designer how to design. That’s not your area of expertise. Give a designer your requirements and preferences, but also the freedom to create something that answers them as effectively as possible. If you micromanage a designer, they won’t be motivated to do anything but cash your check.

http://www.will-harris.com/design/working-with-designers.html

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/07/31/working-with-designers/feed/ Dreamweaver CS4 http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/27/dreamweaver-cs4/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/27/dreamweaver-cs4/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 22:04:33 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/?p=102

It’s about time! They are finally adding a standards compliance rendering engine for their “live view.” They are going to be using the open source version of the Safari browser engine called WebKit. Now to test it out at home tonight.

Dreamweaver CS4 Info

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/27/dreamweaver-cs4/feed/ Pheonix: Mars Lander http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/27/pheonix-mars-lander/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/27/pheonix-mars-lander/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 21:49:37 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/?p=101

They’re starting to receive new images from the newest mars lander. It’s pretty exciting seeing another successful mission for NASA. What I want to know though is why is there a welcome from earth CD on there? Anyway here is the Mission Page on NASA’s website:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/

]]> http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/27/pheonix-mars-lander/feed/ Camera Tossing 3 http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/06/camera-tossing-3/ http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/06/camera-tossing-3/#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 00:12:05 +0000 Andy http://blog.andrew-dakin.com/2008/05/06/camera-tossing-3/ My favorite.

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