My old template, I felt, wasn’t focussed enough on the photos and the new one was too busy even though it focussed on the photo. By mixing the two, I’ve got the less important content hidden again using an accordian script and I have the photo content more prominent. I really quite like how it turned out.

The above screenshots were on 1024×768 resolution, so that would be the minimum for viewing my photoblog. This is so I can keep my photos at a width of 800 pixels.

Photo details, like image notes and exif data comes down above the photo. Comments come down below the photo. I’ve removed the image fade, even though I did like it, but it conflicted with the scrollovers I’m using in the navigation (which I liked and very much wanted to keep). I’ve also added ratings to my photoblog, so photos can now receive a rating of 1-5 (I hope people use it!).

I still have some work to do. I’ve got a Freebies page there that I need to complete today, I need to fix the code a bit to make it validate and just some other random things that aren’t a major priority.

I’ll consider releasing the template too, once I’ve cleaned it up. :)

Visit my photoblog

About PPost Refresh

There isn’t a lot special about it, except the fact that it’s completely restyled to look more modern. But I suppose that isn’t the only thing. The navigation has been moved and fixed to the viewport so it’s always at reach.

There are currently 5 colours available, but I will take requests for different shades/colours (though it’s fairly simple to do it by just changing some hex values).

All areas are styled, with the comments sections having their own classes for approved and moderation (Akismet page comments, if turned on, have the same styling as moderation comments)…

…as are the on and off add ons.

Using PPost Refresh

1. Upload admin_index_colour.css to Your Pixelpost Installation > admin
2. Upload ppost-refresh folder (contains images) to Your Pixelpost Installation > admin > img
3. Rename admin_index.css to admin_index_original.css (or something similar). This is to ensure that you still have the original CSS if you wish to go back to it. If you don’t rename it, no problem. You could just download Pixelpost to get the admin_index.css file or someone will give it to you.
4. Rename admin_index_colour.css to admin_index.css
5. Refresh!

Tested On

• Pixelpost 1.7.1

• Firefox 3.0
• Firefox 2.0.0.14
• Internet Explorer 7
• Internet Explorer 6*
• Safari 3.1.1 for Windows
• Opera 9.50

All tests were done on Windows Vista Ultimate SP1
* tested on Windows XP Pro SP2

Further information is available in the readme inside the download.

Download PPost Refresh

PPost Refresh 0.2 (15.35 KB) - 31 downloads

June 18, 2008: Added Defensio styling

But that isn’t why I’m using the theme. My reasons for a temporary theme are simple — I planned on having the redesign done and up by now but I’ve had other projects pop up, which I’ve put as my priority (I need the money, I won’t lie). Those things, along with my regular day job, reduces my time. But I’m losing traffic by leaving my site in maintenance mode. My solution was something for “in between” and that is what you’re seeing.

And yes, I might even release it as a basic theme for others once I’ve got the redesign finalized and all of my other projects out of the way. That is, after I’ve polished it up and made it a bit more interesting.

Since putting maintenance mode into action, I’ve upgraded WordPress to 2.5.1 and for those subscribed to my feed — yes! It’s fixed. What was the problem? I guess I was hacked at some point and it totally slipped the radar. A script was placed into footer.php which was generating a lot of viagra links right into my code, which was rendering the feed invalid. Damn that evil viagra. It’s everywhere! :| Luckily, that was the only thing touched.

What else? Oh, I forgot to check my download hits before I upgraded, as I knew the download manager I was using previously didn’t work with 2.5… oops. So, everything is at what I remembered it at last… which isn’t helpful because most of them I can’t remember hehe. I do remember though that my RSS Feed Icons were almost at 7,000 downloads, so I’ve just put them back at 6,500. I’m waiting for them to get to a nice rounded number to release a follow up ;)

As for what I’ve been doing that’s keeping me away from my redesign, I did yet another redesign for the purenarcotic.com blog:

Most challenging aspect was the fact that I used .png’s with transparency. Instead of using .png fixes for IE6, I skipped that part, created a new stylesheet and targeted IE6 specifically with different images. Doen’t look quite as good but it works. :)

That’s all for the moment. Look out for some upcoming posts with some freebies, and maybe even some tutorials.

Because of those things, my creativity level has been very, very low. I haven’t been able to find much in the way of inspiration and any time I did, I just could not execute. Even my photography suffered and I didn’t update my photoblog for ages.

It’s slowly changing though and my to-do list is growing larger and larger, as you can see below

• WordPress update. I still haven’t updated to 2.5
• Redesign - I still haven’t redesigned and have been planning on it since last year. But I have some ideas, finally
• Commissions - I have a couple of redesigns to do for other people built on WordPress
• Complete various art projects of my own
  • Vector-vexel-styled image of David Forbes, referenced from a photo taken by Kym van Vliet
  • Some journal CSS projects for deviantART
  • More wallpapers, tutorials etc that I plan to release here on my site
  • Updates to PocketT for WordPress 2.5 to it works 100%, plus other bits and pieces for it
  • A new free theme
  • And finally, actually getting free html/css templates up like I was supposed to but never got to
• Just more activity in general, both on my blog and others

I’m sure there is more! So hopefully, starting today, I’ll be updating more regularly. Fingers crossed life doesn’t go “boo” again. :)

While browsing minidisc.com.au, I came across the Cowon iAudio D2 which seemed okay. I had recognized the brand though I didn’t know anything about it since it’s not quite mainstream in comparison with stuff like Apple, Creative, Sony etc so I researched the player to see what it was all about. I was happy to find many good reviews for it, and even a community for Cowon’s iAudio range.

I guess you can figure out now that I ended up getting it and I’m completely in love with it. I ended up getting the white 4gb version and it turned out to be more than I expected.

So, what’s the deal with this player? Well, just to give a quick overview of some of it’s features:

• Premium mp3 player - Music & Video
• 2.5inch touch screen
• Virtual click
• SD card slot
• 74mW sound
• Battery life: 52 hours music playback, 10 hours video playback

Obviously, there is a whole lot more to this player, but the thing that hooked me in was the battery life and SD card expansion. I haven’t played with it enough yet, but I’ve loaded up a heap of music. The D2 came fully charged so I had music playing all night to give the battery a test. It didn’t even drop one bar, which would have happened on any other player I’ve tried.

This isn’t a review, just sharing my new toy because I’m happy about it, and I don’t get to buy myself a lot of gadgets. And let me just say, the sound on this thing is amazing! Everything sounds great and I can hear things I’ve not noticed previously. I’ve taken some pictures, check them out below.

The D2 (left), official Cowon leather case in lime (right) and the stylus (front)

The stylus that came with it. Bit too small but it does the job, though it’s okay to use fingers. It also doubles as a stand for the D2.

The D2 in the leather case, displaying the music playing screen.

What I really like about this player is the theming and wallpapers. In the photo above, I’m using my own wallpaper. I’m also using a user created theme, which you can’t see. I’ll probably create some of my own themes eventually.

I also have a video of me playing with it if anyone wants to watch. There’s no talking, so I haven’t explained what everything is. But there is background music. I can’t be bothered uploading it anywhere, so you can download it and watch it on your computer (avi).

More infomation at cowonglobal.com

Also, just wanted to mention that I applied for my visa this week for the UK. I’ll hear back in a couple of weeks I guess, but hopefully I’ll get it! :D

My aim is to give something a little more than what you would expect, design wise, in a free template. A lot seem quite generic in terms of design, so I want to try and do something a little more flash to crush my design block (and ultimately, my complete creativity block). Hopefully it will help.

Look forward to that coming in the next week! :)

So, my life has been a little on the down side. I’m still designing a little bit, but not as much as I should be. I’m just so busy lately organizing my documents for my visa application (more on that on my other blog later). I still have no redesign for my website, but maybe soon. I’m not going to say for sure anymore! But there will be one, one day! ;)

It’s very different from the previous design (and a bit cleaner I think). I’ve gone for a darker style, particularly around the photo since I find (not quite) black works best with most of my photography as opposed to the previous white I had. I’ve also added some javascript to hide the photo details and other information below the photo.

Unfortunately, I’m not very familiar with javascript and it was one of the first times I’ve really used it to such an extent. I’ve tested it as much as I can (in Firefox 2.0.0.11, Opera 9.24, Safari (Windows beta 3.0.4) and Internet Explorer 6). It works in all of them, and seems to run best in Firefox and Opera, Internet Explorer then Safari. It seems Safari has issues with the javascript but it’s still usable. This could be because it’s beta though so I’d appreciate it if someone on a Mac can check out how the javascript runs for them.

There is a fix that needs to be made in the CSS for Internet Explorer 6 but it isn’t major so I’m not going to rush. I’ve not seen in it IE7 yet so it may have the same problem. You just never know any more with those two browsers.

And since I was redesigning anyway, I upgraded my Pixelpost installation (which broke). And while I was redesigning, I removed some things I had previously and added a new textual Archives page (below).

I also added a Comment Stats page (below) which displays the 5 most commented photos and the top 20 commenters.

And last but not least, I’ve finally burnt my feed with Feedburner so I can keep track of my subscribers.

Also, as silly as it may sound, I have been using WordPress for over 2 years now and had never, ever done a manual upgrade before. It was indeed my first time ever. I suppose in the past it has always been daunting and was worried I would break it but amazingly enough, I didn’t break anything, all the plugins work etc.

I also cleaned up my plugins. I upgraded all of them (the ones that needed it, which was most of them) and got rid of the ones I don’t use anymore (with the exception of a couple that I may be using when I redesign).

Anyway, just a heads up that I did upgrade. I don’t think there are any problems, but if you come across anything, drop me a line and let me know, please.

Learn about the changes at Updates for PocketT - January 2008 or  head to the Download page.