I'm in the process of designing a logo and deciding which font to use for my online identity. It's quite easy to know which fonts are wrong but I'm getting absolutely nowhere with deciding which fonts are right. At the risk of sounding like Stuart from The Apprentice, I'm branding myself - well the online persona of me as a front end developer anyway. There are two problems with this. The first one being that I need to learn more about typography and the second and most important that my new brand should reflect it's personality and that's where things get tricky.
With my last venture I had a very clear vision of exactly what my business was and knew it's personality so my branding was fairly straight forward. It was almost like buying an outfit. You know your size and which types of clothes you like. I knew what suited my business and it was easy to steer clear of anything that wasn't right. I knew nothing about design and had never even heard of typography and my corporate font was chosen from the available fonts on my mac.That font was the infamous Comic Sans.
As a rule of thumb if you're dealing with the under tens then Comic Sans may be an option for you - using it for anything else is probably a bad idea. Luckily I opened a shop selling children's clothes and toys which meant that Comic Sans was acceptable (I hope) but there are a lot of other instances where the use of this font can be deemed inappropriate and sometimes just plain wrong. This link takes you to a place which can explain the horrors far better than I can Comic Sans Criminal The people who created this site have used humour as a way of highlighting a bad habit that people have got into. It helps to educate the masses about our Comic Sans habits and helps people understand the importance of typography.
The problem with knowledge is that it sucks the fun out of ignorance. When you don't know any better you roll along quite happily. Once you know that you might do something wrong then the pressure is on to do it right. If I'm not comic sans - what am I? I'd like to be some kind of script. Classy and elegant but that's not really me. That's who I'd like to be but isn't who I really am. That's the equivilent of seeing me in a ballgown and heels but the real me is far more likely to be seen in jeans and a hoodie. Now that we've established that I don't want to be a Comic Sans Criminal I now need to figure out what I should be. It's easy to see fonts that aren't me, but a lot harder to find ones which are. How much of my personality do I want to include in my business and how much of my business do I want in my typography?
Ignorance really is bliss. How do I say that I'm smart, dedicated and professional with a sense of humour through a font?
Answers on a postcard
Friday, 4 November 2011
Complaining In Another Language
Yesterday Mr WorthyOnTheWeb asked me what I was doing (and why was I muttering and swearing) I replied that I was emulating a server so that I could run my scripts. I then proceeded to whine about the fact that I was using Xampp, Apache and MySQL were running but it still wasn't working. At this point, he retreated and left the rambling weirdo to her swear words and nerd speak. Not particularly surprising. Not long ago I wouldn't have understood any of the things I'd said either, in fact I wouldn't have even heard of it. I'm complaining because I'm struggling to do something that I hadn't even heard of six weeks ago.
If I fast forward three months into the future I won't have to fight with Xampp because I won't keep making whatever mistakes I keep making at the moment. Unfortunately I'm currently a whiny swearing impatient muppet who can't get things to do what she wants them to quickly enough. Learning new things take time. I know that, but the reality is that I don't want it to take time. I want to be shown once and be able to get on with it. Not at all practical, achievable or even particularly useful. Faster isn't always better.
As well as the web development I also take a class in dressmaking (Not as part of my degree, combined honours doesn't stretch quite that far) Although there's a part of me that wants to be able to do everything straight away to an excellent standard - my brain seems to understand that I can't run before I can walk. So I don't. I hardly ever swear when I'm dressmaking. I just take my time and work at my own pace. The question is - why can't / won't I do the same with my web development. They're both hands on skills that need to be learnt and they both need practice, so why do I respond so differently? Is it because one's a hobby and one's going to pay my mortgage one day?
I'll let you know if I figure out the answer but for now I've got a fake server to do battle with.
If I fast forward three months into the future I won't have to fight with Xampp because I won't keep making whatever mistakes I keep making at the moment. Unfortunately I'm currently a whiny swearing impatient muppet who can't get things to do what she wants them to quickly enough. Learning new things take time. I know that, but the reality is that I don't want it to take time. I want to be shown once and be able to get on with it. Not at all practical, achievable or even particularly useful. Faster isn't always better.
As well as the web development I also take a class in dressmaking (Not as part of my degree, combined honours doesn't stretch quite that far) Although there's a part of me that wants to be able to do everything straight away to an excellent standard - my brain seems to understand that I can't run before I can walk. So I don't. I hardly ever swear when I'm dressmaking. I just take my time and work at my own pace. The question is - why can't / won't I do the same with my web development. They're both hands on skills that need to be learnt and they both need practice, so why do I respond so differently? Is it because one's a hobby and one's going to pay my mortgage one day?
I'll let you know if I figure out the answer but for now I've got a fake server to do battle with.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Real Work, Real Clients, Really Scared & Really Busy
The whole point of being a web developer is that you create websites for people. I'm now at the stage in my craft when I can actually do that - so I am and it's all starting to get very scary.
The issue with creating things is that there is no point when you've tried everything. One minute you're wandering about and the next you've had an idea for something. Technology has a similar issue. You start off knowing nothing and you never ever ever get to the point where you know everything. As soon as you've learnt everything you think possible to know about something, some smart arse goes and invents something else.
If you decide that you're going to spend your life creating things with technology, then you will probably have a lot of days where you feel like a plank who doesn't know anything! Negative self talk aside I have realised that I will never get to the end. As soon as I master a piece of software or a programming language there'll be a better way to do it. In fact before I even start there is somebody sat at home inventing a better way. I don't know what Ruby on Rails is yet but I'll bet you a fiver that somebody is already working on an upgrade.
The first time I looked at a piece of source code and understood what I was looking at, I felt like a genius. In fact the warm, smug feeling lasted for days. Unfortunately more and more frequently I keep finding things I haven't learnt how to do yet. I recently started learning web scripting - so all the smugness I've built up by mastering HTML has been replaced with insecurity about my abilities with PHP. The problem is that I'm impatient. I want to know how to do everything now. Right now, right this minute!
The plan behind the web development came from my position as a frustrated retailer. I had an e-commerce site that didn't perform and couldn't afford to pay somebody else to do it for me. Therefore I decided to go to university and learn how to write my own websites. A little OTT perhaps but being at uni keeps me out of mischief during the day and lets me look after my family during the school holidays, which is more than can be said for my previous life as a shop keeper or the one before as a senior manager.
My love of retail comes and goes, so whilst I'm perfecting my craft, I'm producing sites for other people. At the moment I'm building sites for people I know and who more importantly, know me. Despite the fact that I'm working with my friends, these are real sites for real people so I have to get it right. My work will be used to represent their businesses. Out there in real life. It is not like the website university are making me create for a ficticious conference centre - these are real people with real businesses in the real world and that is scary. In fact some days it's absolutely bloody terrifying but the best way to conquerer your fears is to just get up and do it. The more sites I create - the better I get at it and the friends I'm building sites for at the moment will be getting updated sites next year when I know even more.
So between the coursework, the client sites, the family and the procrastination it looks as though I'm going to be really busy for the forseeable future.
The issue with creating things is that there is no point when you've tried everything. One minute you're wandering about and the next you've had an idea for something. Technology has a similar issue. You start off knowing nothing and you never ever ever get to the point where you know everything. As soon as you've learnt everything you think possible to know about something, some smart arse goes and invents something else.
If you decide that you're going to spend your life creating things with technology, then you will probably have a lot of days where you feel like a plank who doesn't know anything! Negative self talk aside I have realised that I will never get to the end. As soon as I master a piece of software or a programming language there'll be a better way to do it. In fact before I even start there is somebody sat at home inventing a better way. I don't know what Ruby on Rails is yet but I'll bet you a fiver that somebody is already working on an upgrade.
The first time I looked at a piece of source code and understood what I was looking at, I felt like a genius. In fact the warm, smug feeling lasted for days. Unfortunately more and more frequently I keep finding things I haven't learnt how to do yet. I recently started learning web scripting - so all the smugness I've built up by mastering HTML has been replaced with insecurity about my abilities with PHP. The problem is that I'm impatient. I want to know how to do everything now. Right now, right this minute!
The plan behind the web development came from my position as a frustrated retailer. I had an e-commerce site that didn't perform and couldn't afford to pay somebody else to do it for me. Therefore I decided to go to university and learn how to write my own websites. A little OTT perhaps but being at uni keeps me out of mischief during the day and lets me look after my family during the school holidays, which is more than can be said for my previous life as a shop keeper or the one before as a senior manager.
My love of retail comes and goes, so whilst I'm perfecting my craft, I'm producing sites for other people. At the moment I'm building sites for people I know and who more importantly, know me. Despite the fact that I'm working with my friends, these are real sites for real people so I have to get it right. My work will be used to represent their businesses. Out there in real life. It is not like the website university are making me create for a ficticious conference centre - these are real people with real businesses in the real world and that is scary. In fact some days it's absolutely bloody terrifying but the best way to conquerer your fears is to just get up and do it. The more sites I create - the better I get at it and the friends I'm building sites for at the moment will be getting updated sites next year when I know even more.
So between the coursework, the client sites, the family and the procrastination it looks as though I'm going to be really busy for the forseeable future.
Friday, 7 October 2011
The iPod: My First Love
This week saw the passing of the legendary Steve Jobs. I am quite prone to using the word legendary in a fairly haphazard way but in the case of Steve Jobs I think it's fair to say that the term is entirely appropriate.
Apple didn't really exist for me until I was given an iPod as a present. The logic behind this fantastic gift was that I'd be able to upload my CD collection onto one piece of kit and get rid of my CD's. This would mean that Mr WorthyOnTheWeb wouldn't have to put up with me leaving them all over the house. Unfortunately his logic was flawed and owning the iPod didn't affect my beloved collection of CD's or the vinyl and cassette collections that preceded it. Despite exasperating my husband and costing him a large amount of money, the iPod is for me the best present I have ever owned. My children are the only thing I have been happier to accept into my life.
Everything about my iPod was gorgeous, even the packaging. In fact the packaging was so wonderful that I have only recently thrown it out. There were layers of specially shaped polystyrene, making a box which had a sleek black sleeve around it. Even the carrier bag felt luxurious. The iPod itself has twice the depth of the current classic model and feels much heavier than it's modern counterpart. It was shiny on the back, glossy on the front and came with a docking station and associated wiring. It was the most gorgeous piece of technology I'd ever seen and I loved it instantly. In fact I loved to so much that I bought a Mac Book. I didn't need one, I just wanted one. It was also sleek and glossy. In fact it was so sleek and glossy that I totally ignored the fact that it didn't do any of the things I actually needed it to do. I had to go out and buy the iWork suite of apps because despite costing me almost £800.00 I couldn't use it for spreadsheets or word processing. Garage Band and Comic Book are all well and good, but at the time I didn't want or need any of them. I still don't if I'm honest. I can count on one hand the number of times I've used Garage Band and the only reason I've ever used the other is because it's there. Granted they are both pretty cool but it's like paying over the odds for a car with a snowboard carrier when I don't snowboard and then having to buy a steering wheel and headlights.
My love of the iPod formally became a love of all Apple products. I have an iPhone and a MobileMe account. All of which works well unless you attempt to use any of it with anything that wasn't created by Apple. Unfortunately in my experience it doesn't play well with others. Write a page on iWeb and upload it to MobileMe and it's all happy days. I wouldn't recommend writing a page on iWeb and trying to host it elsewhere and I would strongly advise against writing your own web pages in HTML and CSS and trying to host them on your MobileMe web space. My iPhone only tolerates sending emails from my mobile me accounts, attempting to send emails from my other accounts generates sniffy messages about receiving accounts not accepting relayed messages. If I turn off my WIFI, say the magic words and do a special dance it sometimes works, but it's generally easier to just reply from an Apple email address because that just works.
Essentially the problem is that I loved my first iPod so much that I assumed that every member of it's family was just as wonderful. I now know that they aren't. My Mac Book is still awesome but newer versions of the Mac Book and the newer feline operating systems have rendered it almost obsolete, despite it working perfectly (so far) The realisation that not everything I buy from an Apple store is entirely lovable has changed my view a little and taught me to be more careful about the brands I fall in love with. It was an expensive beautifully designed lesson.
When my iPod eventually started playing up and subsequently died I was practically distraught. I had a genuine sense of loss. The pain must have shown because Mr WorthyOnTheWeb bought me a new iPod Classsic. It's technically superior to the first one, but it's not as gorgeous and although I love it - the attachment isn't as emotional as it was with the first. Luckily I still owned the original CD's, which justified my crazy hoarding tendancies, but there was something different about the new one, almost like replacing a cherised family dog with a new puppy. The first one was so fantastic that even it's replacement can't compete with it. I opted for a black one this time. The back is still shiny, but the front finish is matte instead of the glossy finish I was expecting. It has a slightly different shape and has lost a lot of the weight. Environmental concerns have transformed the packaging. The polystyrene casing is a thing of the past. It came in a cardboard box a quarter of the size of the original one. It's a good looking box but there is a lot less drama to unwrapping it. I was almost disappointed when they put it on the counter. Thankfully the carrier bags are still quite luxurious and when I got it home and started using it, I got over myself. It's only a music player for goodness sake.
I still have my original iPod, I can't quite bring myself to throw it away. Maybe deep down I'm hoping there is a way to fix it. At some point I'll probably buy an iPad to join my Apple collection but no matter how gorgeous it is, I doubt if I'll love it in quite the same way as I did my very first iPod.
The legacy of Steve Jobs is bigger than the technologies he created. The ability to create a piece of technology that people not only find useful and functional but also become emotionally attached to is undoubtedly not only marketing and commercial gold but genuine genius.
Apple didn't really exist for me until I was given an iPod as a present. The logic behind this fantastic gift was that I'd be able to upload my CD collection onto one piece of kit and get rid of my CD's. This would mean that Mr WorthyOnTheWeb wouldn't have to put up with me leaving them all over the house. Unfortunately his logic was flawed and owning the iPod didn't affect my beloved collection of CD's or the vinyl and cassette collections that preceded it. Despite exasperating my husband and costing him a large amount of money, the iPod is for me the best present I have ever owned. My children are the only thing I have been happier to accept into my life.
Everything about my iPod was gorgeous, even the packaging. In fact the packaging was so wonderful that I have only recently thrown it out. There were layers of specially shaped polystyrene, making a box which had a sleek black sleeve around it. Even the carrier bag felt luxurious. The iPod itself has twice the depth of the current classic model and feels much heavier than it's modern counterpart. It was shiny on the back, glossy on the front and came with a docking station and associated wiring. It was the most gorgeous piece of technology I'd ever seen and I loved it instantly. In fact I loved to so much that I bought a Mac Book. I didn't need one, I just wanted one. It was also sleek and glossy. In fact it was so sleek and glossy that I totally ignored the fact that it didn't do any of the things I actually needed it to do. I had to go out and buy the iWork suite of apps because despite costing me almost £800.00 I couldn't use it for spreadsheets or word processing. Garage Band and Comic Book are all well and good, but at the time I didn't want or need any of them. I still don't if I'm honest. I can count on one hand the number of times I've used Garage Band and the only reason I've ever used the other is because it's there. Granted they are both pretty cool but it's like paying over the odds for a car with a snowboard carrier when I don't snowboard and then having to buy a steering wheel and headlights.
My love of the iPod formally became a love of all Apple products. I have an iPhone and a MobileMe account. All of which works well unless you attempt to use any of it with anything that wasn't created by Apple. Unfortunately in my experience it doesn't play well with others. Write a page on iWeb and upload it to MobileMe and it's all happy days. I wouldn't recommend writing a page on iWeb and trying to host it elsewhere and I would strongly advise against writing your own web pages in HTML and CSS and trying to host them on your MobileMe web space. My iPhone only tolerates sending emails from my mobile me accounts, attempting to send emails from my other accounts generates sniffy messages about receiving accounts not accepting relayed messages. If I turn off my WIFI, say the magic words and do a special dance it sometimes works, but it's generally easier to just reply from an Apple email address because that just works.
Essentially the problem is that I loved my first iPod so much that I assumed that every member of it's family was just as wonderful. I now know that they aren't. My Mac Book is still awesome but newer versions of the Mac Book and the newer feline operating systems have rendered it almost obsolete, despite it working perfectly (so far) The realisation that not everything I buy from an Apple store is entirely lovable has changed my view a little and taught me to be more careful about the brands I fall in love with. It was an expensive beautifully designed lesson.
When my iPod eventually started playing up and subsequently died I was practically distraught. I had a genuine sense of loss. The pain must have shown because Mr WorthyOnTheWeb bought me a new iPod Classsic. It's technically superior to the first one, but it's not as gorgeous and although I love it - the attachment isn't as emotional as it was with the first. Luckily I still owned the original CD's, which justified my crazy hoarding tendancies, but there was something different about the new one, almost like replacing a cherised family dog with a new puppy. The first one was so fantastic that even it's replacement can't compete with it. I opted for a black one this time. The back is still shiny, but the front finish is matte instead of the glossy finish I was expecting. It has a slightly different shape and has lost a lot of the weight. Environmental concerns have transformed the packaging. The polystyrene casing is a thing of the past. It came in a cardboard box a quarter of the size of the original one. It's a good looking box but there is a lot less drama to unwrapping it. I was almost disappointed when they put it on the counter. Thankfully the carrier bags are still quite luxurious and when I got it home and started using it, I got over myself. It's only a music player for goodness sake.
I still have my original iPod, I can't quite bring myself to throw it away. Maybe deep down I'm hoping there is a way to fix it. At some point I'll probably buy an iPad to join my Apple collection but no matter how gorgeous it is, I doubt if I'll love it in quite the same way as I did my very first iPod.
The legacy of Steve Jobs is bigger than the technologies he created. The ability to create a piece of technology that people not only find useful and functional but also become emotionally attached to is undoubtedly not only marketing and commercial gold but genuine genius.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Claire's Adventures In The Reading Room
Over the summer I managed to get a 2 week internship at a leading Manchester Digital Media agency called The Reading Room. I applied following a free guest lecture by their Director Garry. The lecture should have been of interest to at least 200 students, but unfortunately at least 195 of them were busy that day. This was the chance of a brief lecture on how to get a job in digital media, being offered to digital media students, free of charge and on campus, but only 5 of us turned up. Fortunately there were 4 members of staff to boost the numbers. Part of me wondered what on earth was wrong with people, but most of me just thought that I'd stand a better chance of getting an internship if most of my future competition had better things to do.(Getting a bit mercenary in my old age)
When I was 13 I wanted a career in hairdressing and signed up for 2 weeks work experience at a local salon. By lunchtime on the first day I knew for a fact that I most definitely did NOT want to be a trainee hairdresser. By default trainees, particularly those on work experience, are not allowed to do much. It's mostly sweeping up and brewing up. The most important part of work experience is spending time in the environment that you intend to work in. You probably won't get lots of hands on experience, but you'll learn a few things and in most cases be able to gauge whether you're aiming for a career in the right field. Following my brief foray into hairdressing I decided that I wanted to be a car mechanic. Trainee mechanics do a lot of sweeping up and even more brewing up than hairdressers. (There is also lots of arguing with other trainee mechanics in a bid to get out of both.) Being allowed to gap spark plugs and change oil filters whilst wearing a hideous boiler suit and steel toe cap boots isn't for every 16 year old girl, but it was for me.
We all make mistakes as we go through life. The trick is not to make the same one twice. The 2 weeks I 'wasted' sweeping up hair and making tea for clients potentially saved me a couple of years at college and I was determined to experience digital media first hand and make sure that I was heading in the right direction. My time as an intern at the Reading Room in Manchester have thankfully confirmed that a career in digital media is for me, which is good news because if it wasn't I'd have to I tell my husband that I've wasted 4 years at university and now want to do something else.
My motivation for getting into the digital media field comes from my time as a frustrated retailer. I had a website for my business which didn't do what I needed it to do. The problem was that I didn't know what it needed to do when I ordered it. I handed over a big deposit and a copy of my logo and a couple of months later I got my website back. At which point I did my happy dance. There was my shiny new website. The logo looked ace and my kids were on there modelling the clothes I was selling. What was not to love? Unfortunately when I decided to close the bricks and mortar side of the business and focus on e-commerce I discovered a few things. Mainly that my website was crap. I knew nothing about web design at the time and was so busy doing my happy dance that I didn't notice a few things. For example a third of the screen was taken up with my super cool logo, customers didn't know the cost of postage and packing until they were at least half way through the checkout process and don't get me started on how annoying it was to look at other items in the same department. Unfortunately to the company that built my site making these changes classified as a rewrite which I simply couldn't afford to do. The bottom line is that the site didn't perform. That's not all down to the design, but if you're running an e-commerce business then the design is pretty high on your list of priorities. Would you place an online order without knowing the P&P charges? Would you waste time making click after click to get back to a part of the site you've already been to? I wouldn't. At the time I didn't know what usability was, but when I tried to use my site as a consumer I did know that it wasn't easy to use. I also knew the site needed to change and that I couldn't afford to get somebody else to do it for me, so I enrolled at university. My intention was to create my own sites and rebuild my retail empire. The plan got a little off track once I got here because I'm a lot less in love with retail than I once was, hence the switch to a career in digital media. (I'll save the tangent on the changes to independent retailing for another post)
Spending time working with actual digital media professionals helped me clarify a number of things, firstly my desire to be a Web Developer is too vague for the simple reason that web development is too big a field. I don't want to try and be a jack of all trades. I live in the world of front end development. If back end development was my true vocation I'm pretty sure that I'd have discovered it by now. I fully intend to meander into the world of back end development from time to time, but it's not where I live. In a big agency it's easier to see the demarcation. Designers design. Front End Developers create sites and the scary but cool stuff is done by the Back End Developers. It's a simplified view and there is obviously overlap between the areas, but this time last year, I planned to learn everything about everything and do it all myself. This time last year I was an arse! This year my plan is to become an employee. I'm good at being an employee. I'm punctual, efficient and conscientious. My entrepreneurial skills could still do with a little work, so my current goal is to be an employee, preferably a well paid one. This is also my husband's goal for me, on the basis that employees get paid and can therefore afford holidays and contribute to household bills etc. (I think we're starting to see why the blog is called Tangent Land)
I was very apprehensive about the prospect of starting my internship but I'm pleased to report that everybody was lovely. The whole team made me feel really welcome - and I didn't have to sweep up once. There are two people that I'm especially grateful to the first being Di Eskine who explained the project management side of things to me and gave me some useful info to refer back to and secondly the legendary Darren Cousins, who quite literally had me perched next to him for days on end whilst I bombarded him with endless questions. I'm also grateful to them both for allowing me to actually get hands on and do some coding whilst I was there.
Two weeks may not seem like a long time but when people are willing to spend a fortnight going out of their way to show you new things, teach you new techniques and answer your boring questions, then that's a huge investment, which will be appreciated long after I finish my degree.
When I was 13 I wanted a career in hairdressing and signed up for 2 weeks work experience at a local salon. By lunchtime on the first day I knew for a fact that I most definitely did NOT want to be a trainee hairdresser. By default trainees, particularly those on work experience, are not allowed to do much. It's mostly sweeping up and brewing up. The most important part of work experience is spending time in the environment that you intend to work in. You probably won't get lots of hands on experience, but you'll learn a few things and in most cases be able to gauge whether you're aiming for a career in the right field. Following my brief foray into hairdressing I decided that I wanted to be a car mechanic. Trainee mechanics do a lot of sweeping up and even more brewing up than hairdressers. (There is also lots of arguing with other trainee mechanics in a bid to get out of both.) Being allowed to gap spark plugs and change oil filters whilst wearing a hideous boiler suit and steel toe cap boots isn't for every 16 year old girl, but it was for me.
We all make mistakes as we go through life. The trick is not to make the same one twice. The 2 weeks I 'wasted' sweeping up hair and making tea for clients potentially saved me a couple of years at college and I was determined to experience digital media first hand and make sure that I was heading in the right direction. My time as an intern at the Reading Room in Manchester have thankfully confirmed that a career in digital media is for me, which is good news because if it wasn't I'd have to I tell my husband that I've wasted 4 years at university and now want to do something else.
My motivation for getting into the digital media field comes from my time as a frustrated retailer. I had a website for my business which didn't do what I needed it to do. The problem was that I didn't know what it needed to do when I ordered it. I handed over a big deposit and a copy of my logo and a couple of months later I got my website back. At which point I did my happy dance. There was my shiny new website. The logo looked ace and my kids were on there modelling the clothes I was selling. What was not to love? Unfortunately when I decided to close the bricks and mortar side of the business and focus on e-commerce I discovered a few things. Mainly that my website was crap. I knew nothing about web design at the time and was so busy doing my happy dance that I didn't notice a few things. For example a third of the screen was taken up with my super cool logo, customers didn't know the cost of postage and packing until they were at least half way through the checkout process and don't get me started on how annoying it was to look at other items in the same department. Unfortunately to the company that built my site making these changes classified as a rewrite which I simply couldn't afford to do. The bottom line is that the site didn't perform. That's not all down to the design, but if you're running an e-commerce business then the design is pretty high on your list of priorities. Would you place an online order without knowing the P&P charges? Would you waste time making click after click to get back to a part of the site you've already been to? I wouldn't. At the time I didn't know what usability was, but when I tried to use my site as a consumer I did know that it wasn't easy to use. I also knew the site needed to change and that I couldn't afford to get somebody else to do it for me, so I enrolled at university. My intention was to create my own sites and rebuild my retail empire. The plan got a little off track once I got here because I'm a lot less in love with retail than I once was, hence the switch to a career in digital media. (I'll save the tangent on the changes to independent retailing for another post)
Spending time working with actual digital media professionals helped me clarify a number of things, firstly my desire to be a Web Developer is too vague for the simple reason that web development is too big a field. I don't want to try and be a jack of all trades. I live in the world of front end development. If back end development was my true vocation I'm pretty sure that I'd have discovered it by now. I fully intend to meander into the world of back end development from time to time, but it's not where I live. In a big agency it's easier to see the demarcation. Designers design. Front End Developers create sites and the scary but cool stuff is done by the Back End Developers. It's a simplified view and there is obviously overlap between the areas, but this time last year, I planned to learn everything about everything and do it all myself. This time last year I was an arse! This year my plan is to become an employee. I'm good at being an employee. I'm punctual, efficient and conscientious. My entrepreneurial skills could still do with a little work, so my current goal is to be an employee, preferably a well paid one. This is also my husband's goal for me, on the basis that employees get paid and can therefore afford holidays and contribute to household bills etc. (I think we're starting to see why the blog is called Tangent Land)
I was very apprehensive about the prospect of starting my internship but I'm pleased to report that everybody was lovely. The whole team made me feel really welcome - and I didn't have to sweep up once. There are two people that I'm especially grateful to the first being Di Eskine who explained the project management side of things to me and gave me some useful info to refer back to and secondly the legendary Darren Cousins, who quite literally had me perched next to him for days on end whilst I bombarded him with endless questions. I'm also grateful to them both for allowing me to actually get hands on and do some coding whilst I was there.
Two weeks may not seem like a long time but when people are willing to spend a fortnight going out of their way to show you new things, teach you new techniques and answer your boring questions, then that's a huge investment, which will be appreciated long after I finish my degree.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
The Perfectly Groomed Nails of the Lazy Coder
I'm a nail biter by nature, but from time to time if I'm not doing any gardening, moving furniture or having any personal traumas my nails have the capacity to grow extremely long. For some reason when I'm working and it doesn't matter if I'm doing my accounts, coding a website or writing an essay I'm guaranteed to be biting my nails. The fact that my nails are currently so long tells me that not only have I not done any of the above this week, but that I haven't done any of the above for over a month.
I had so many plans for this summer and as it gets closer and closer to winter it's blatantly obvious that none of them are going to get done. Now when I say I haven't done anything this summer I have. I've been taking care of my family and doing a very good job of it. I also did an internship at a leading Manchester digital agency but if I'm going to catch up with the mouthy teenage boys (see earlier post) then I need to be doing a lot more than I am currently.
The problem with summer is firstly it seems to be so much longer than it actually is and for some reason despite being a parent for over half my life I still expect to get things done whilst there are children in the house. (How have I not learnt that yet?) I also forget that if I need to concentrate on something that having Spongebob on in the background, half the neighbours kids screaming in the garden or a tired, beautiful and slightly spoilt two year old anywhere near me is simply not going to work. In a years time when my coding is better than it is now and I don't have to keep refering to my text books every two minutes I'll be able to manage more distractions than I can now. I'm currently the equivilent of a learner driver. I can drive, but I can't go faster than 25 mph and I struggle with three point turns and hill starts. I need more practice which I can't get with my entourage, so next years summer plan is to firstly reduce the sheer volume of things I aim to do over the summer. In March it seemed perfectly reasonable that I'd be able to -
- Look after my family,
- Do an internship,
- Decorate my bathroom,
- Write 3 websites,
- Makeover my garden,
- Finish my tax return,
- Practice my dressmaking skills
- Declutter my office.
I'm entirely confident that I have the mental capacity to get my degree, the potential for disaster lies in the logistics and planning elements and unfortunately I have a tendancy to go one of two ways. I'm either an OCD style obsessive or I'm a complete tool. OCD mode involves colour co-ordinated folders, clip boards, wall planners and all manner of nerdiness. Tool mode involves doing none of the above and wishing I had. OCD mode gets things done and allows me to indulge my fetish for buying new stationery. Tool mode has no upside. It's just me acting like a tool and in most cases heading towards epic failure. My natural state is one of disorganisation and mayhem, which is generally cancelled out by my ability to fly by the seat of my pants and scrape by at the last minute. I'm probably at my most productive when I'm running out of time and about to get myself into a big pile of brown stuff, but it's no fun. I also set myself very high standards so although the report / essay / tax return / dressmaking assignment is generally OK, I know full well that it could have, and in fact would have been so much better if I'd spent more time on it and not driven myself to the edge of a breakdown in the process.
I'm not sure if my inner obsessive is age related or whether I just got sick and tired of my own stupidity, the problem is that unfortunately I've been acting like a tool for a lot longer than I've been organised so I have to work really hard at it. The problem with being a full time student is that it doesn't feel full time. I've worked full time since I was 16 and frankly the 12 hours a week contact time, doesn't feel like I'm working full time so I imagine that I have a lot of time and should therefore be able to get loads of things done. I'm mentally discounting travel time, trips to the library, online research and all the other activities I do, simply because they don't take place at a specific time and / or in a university building. I used to work regular 16 and 18 hour days 5 days a week and then go home and get my laptop out to do work emails. No wonder I'm expecting to be bored silly with all my free time. The problem with my free time is that it creates a vacuum that is automatically filled. If I utilise the obsessive half of my nature and plan how long these extra activities are likely to take I'd realise that I don't actually have that much full time and the free time I do have, isn't enough to fit in even half of the things I want to get done. This academic year, my goals are to avoid the self induced panic attacks of trying to do too many different things and to embrace my inner obsessive. Granted she doesn't seem to be much fun, sitting around with her diary allocating every hour of her time, but on balance she's a lot more fun that the Lucozade fuelled, sleep deprived, slightly psychotic maniac she replaces.
Sunday, 28 August 2011
The Fascination With Facebook
Since I've already done a post about Twitter, it seemed only right that I spout my opinions about Facebook so here goes.
I joined Facebook a few years ago and within 24 hours I'd been poked by two people, been invited to join the mafia and had a sheep thrown at me. Huh? At the time I was juggling a family with ridiculously long work hours, so I dumped it. I simply didn't have the time or the patience to figure it out. Which is exactly what I did with Twitter and am currently doing with LinkedIn. Essentially I like to do stuff I'm good at. If I don't get the hang of something straight away, unless I definitely need whatever it is, I'm liable to just abandon it. I generally return at a later date, but if it's new and unneccessary then it'd better make sense.
I'm fairly good with IT. I get the hang of new software relatively easily but I have very limited patience for things that takes up my time without entertaining me. Annoying tasks such as setting up printers when you don't have the original disc, that sort of thing. It's not fun. It's not entertaining. Messing about online downloading drivers that never work first time gets in the way of my original task. It also makes me feel stupid because it shouldn't take that long. After the first quarter of an hour there is always swearing and usually threats to launch bits of hardware through windows, which is ridiculous and knowing that makes me even more angry. My SheHulk rages are of course completely wasted because printers don't generally respond to threats.
Unlike my need to print lecture notes and Paypal packing slips, Facebook isn't an essential in my life, so when I tried using it and didn't understand what was going on I just opted out. I later discovered that the trick is to treat Facebook like pick & mix and only bother with the bits you like. If you don't like sherbert saucers or playing Texas Holdem Poker then ignore them and pick the bits you do like.
Despite some academic studies (which I know I should bother referencing) suggesting that spending time online stops people being sociable in real life, I find that Facebook keeps me connected to people. There are people I regularly speak to on Facebook that I would have almost certainly lost contact with, such as old work colleagues, simply because I no longer physically see them on a regular basis. With former colleagues and an increasing number of relatives, Facebook is how I find out the major events in people's lives. Unfortunately I also find out their scores on Jewelled Blitz, Mafia Wars and how many bushels of imaginary tomatoes they need to harvest, but Facebook apps aside, it's a nice low key way to stay connected to my friends. I can send birthday greetings, congratulations, comisserations and of course join in an assortment of ongoing discussions. This week alone I've given my opinion on whether a friend should have her hair cut, welcomed my great nephew to the world, promoted a friends band and planned a trip to next years V Festival.
Whilst some of my Facebook friends only have occasional contact with me, there are other people in my life that I regularly speak to on the phone, text and see face to face, so with or without Mr Zuckerberg's creation we'd have stayed in touch - those people now talk to me on Facebook as well.
When I use Twitter I think what I'd like to say and share it knowing full well that it can and will be viewed by people I don't know. When I post things on Facebook I'm talking to a group of people I know in real life. Having a brain in my head, I'm well aware that what I say isn't private, but the context of my conversations is that of somebody speaking to people she knows. If I'm whiney, depressed, random or on my soapbox, I'm doing so in a virtual room full of people who know the real me. I know that the virtual room also has a few people in it that I don't know, such as people in the networks of my facebook friends, but since I don't do anything illegal or post scantily clad pictures I'm not too worried. What does worry me on the other hand is people who don't use their brains when they operate their Facebook accounts or rather people I know and care about, who don't use their brains when they operate their facebook accounts.
Auntie Claire's Facebook Tips
The Facebook pick and mix allows users to do different things, I primarily use it to talk to my friends and the thing I love about it the most is the fact that I can post something on my wall and my real life friends respond. I have a full blown 24 hour support network. My friends gave me helpful suggestions on how to get eye drops into a small child - without the use of a headlock. They've also been there for me on those days when I wondered what on earth I've done with my life reminding me of my good points and / or telling me to shut up moaning and get on with it. You can use Facebook to do a lot of things. You can sell things in it's market place, promote your business with a Facebook Page and show your support for any and every cause under the sun. You can use it productively or you can waste several hours a day on it but if you manage to find the usage that works for you (and ignore the online antics of some of your relatives) Facebook can be fascinating and an added bonus is Mr Zuckerberg lets you can type as many characters as you like.
I joined Facebook a few years ago and within 24 hours I'd been poked by two people, been invited to join the mafia and had a sheep thrown at me. Huh? At the time I was juggling a family with ridiculously long work hours, so I dumped it. I simply didn't have the time or the patience to figure it out. Which is exactly what I did with Twitter and am currently doing with LinkedIn. Essentially I like to do stuff I'm good at. If I don't get the hang of something straight away, unless I definitely need whatever it is, I'm liable to just abandon it. I generally return at a later date, but if it's new and unneccessary then it'd better make sense.
I'm fairly good with IT. I get the hang of new software relatively easily but I have very limited patience for things that takes up my time without entertaining me. Annoying tasks such as setting up printers when you don't have the original disc, that sort of thing. It's not fun. It's not entertaining. Messing about online downloading drivers that never work first time gets in the way of my original task. It also makes me feel stupid because it shouldn't take that long. After the first quarter of an hour there is always swearing and usually threats to launch bits of hardware through windows, which is ridiculous and knowing that makes me even more angry. My SheHulk rages are of course completely wasted because printers don't generally respond to threats.
Unlike my need to print lecture notes and Paypal packing slips, Facebook isn't an essential in my life, so when I tried using it and didn't understand what was going on I just opted out. I later discovered that the trick is to treat Facebook like pick & mix and only bother with the bits you like. If you don't like sherbert saucers or playing Texas Holdem Poker then ignore them and pick the bits you do like.
Despite some academic studies (which I know I should bother referencing) suggesting that spending time online stops people being sociable in real life, I find that Facebook keeps me connected to people. There are people I regularly speak to on Facebook that I would have almost certainly lost contact with, such as old work colleagues, simply because I no longer physically see them on a regular basis. With former colleagues and an increasing number of relatives, Facebook is how I find out the major events in people's lives. Unfortunately I also find out their scores on Jewelled Blitz, Mafia Wars and how many bushels of imaginary tomatoes they need to harvest, but Facebook apps aside, it's a nice low key way to stay connected to my friends. I can send birthday greetings, congratulations, comisserations and of course join in an assortment of ongoing discussions. This week alone I've given my opinion on whether a friend should have her hair cut, welcomed my great nephew to the world, promoted a friends band and planned a trip to next years V Festival.
Whilst some of my Facebook friends only have occasional contact with me, there are other people in my life that I regularly speak to on the phone, text and see face to face, so with or without Mr Zuckerberg's creation we'd have stayed in touch - those people now talk to me on Facebook as well.
When I use Twitter I think what I'd like to say and share it knowing full well that it can and will be viewed by people I don't know. When I post things on Facebook I'm talking to a group of people I know in real life. Having a brain in my head, I'm well aware that what I say isn't private, but the context of my conversations is that of somebody speaking to people she knows. If I'm whiney, depressed, random or on my soapbox, I'm doing so in a virtual room full of people who know the real me. I know that the virtual room also has a few people in it that I don't know, such as people in the networks of my facebook friends, but since I don't do anything illegal or post scantily clad pictures I'm not too worried. What does worry me on the other hand is people who don't use their brains when they operate their Facebook accounts or rather people I know and care about, who don't use their brains when they operate their facebook accounts.
Auntie Claire's Facebook Tips
- Don't accept people as a friend if you don't have a clue who they are.
- Don't accept people as a friend if you know them and hate their guts.
- Don't use your Facebook wall to issue death threats.
- Don't share details of your sexual exploits on your facebook wall. (This is particularly important if you've decided to add your parents and grandparents as Facebook friends.)
The Facebook pick and mix allows users to do different things, I primarily use it to talk to my friends and the thing I love about it the most is the fact that I can post something on my wall and my real life friends respond. I have a full blown 24 hour support network. My friends gave me helpful suggestions on how to get eye drops into a small child - without the use of a headlock. They've also been there for me on those days when I wondered what on earth I've done with my life reminding me of my good points and / or telling me to shut up moaning and get on with it. You can use Facebook to do a lot of things. You can sell things in it's market place, promote your business with a Facebook Page and show your support for any and every cause under the sun. You can use it productively or you can waste several hours a day on it but if you manage to find the usage that works for you (and ignore the online antics of some of your relatives) Facebook can be fascinating and an added bonus is Mr Zuckerberg lets you can type as many characters as you like.
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