The Day I was Back for Realz This Time
Added at 8:06pm and filed under Geek Speak, Offline, awesome, family, go me, health, travel, updates, wordpress
Why, hello you! No, this isn’t a mirage or a sick, sick joke – it really is me, updating and everything! Come on in! How have you been in the zillions of months since we last spoke?
There are loads of reasons I haven’t updated, but none are particularly satisfactory, unfortunately. I suppose the main reason is that I got sick of self-editing; too many real-life people have this URL, and whilst I’ve never been anyone but myself in the confines of this journal, it does make it a tad more difficult to slag someone off when you know they’re probably reading. I also got a bit bummed at the lack of comments, and I’d become aware that my entries weren’t particularly engaging – which potentially explained the former fact, of course. So I took some time off, worked on other stuff whilst, as always, balancing my clients, too. (Work has slowed right down in the last six months or so, but I still have just enough dripping in to keep me ticking up. Just). I also, finally, finished up SHH.com in July which was not only a fucking miracle, but also infinitely satisfying, too.
And then, a few months back, I got an idea for a new layout. It’s so hard to work on something for yourself when you have to design to order (I don’t think it’s just me – lots of other designers seem to say the same thing) so this nugget of an idea took me by surprise, quite honestly. So I mulled it over a bit and half-heartedly opened Photoshop and then, a few weeks later – voila! A brand new look. (Hit the link to reload the theme if you’re still seeing an existing layout, BTW).
So, I’m hoping that the new look inspires me. My last theme had been up for three years – THREE BLOODY YEARS – but, unfortunately for you lot, I really liked it (I still do, actually!), so I wasn’t ever particularly motivated to change it. But the code was aging and there was little scope to include new stuff like Twitter updates etc., so I went back to the drawing board. What you see now is the sum of several months worth of chopping and changing but I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out and am glad that I took my time with it, even if the WP loop utterly kicked my ass for a while there.
It’s not perfect; known issues include a weird footer FUBAR in Opera on OSX (bizarre – usually Opera renders EXACTLY the same as FireFox) and a bizarre header misalignment in IE6. I could get sanctimonious and say that it’s a deprecated browser that was crap to begin with, let alone now in 2009, and insist that people using IE6 should REALLY get with the times and update. But since 40ish% of you guys seems to still be using it, I did go through and hack as best I could to make it legible. So whilst it’s readable, it’s not ideal and I will go back to it with fresh eyes. (And no, I’m not too proud as to refuse help. If any of you wish to take a peek at my CSS and suggest where you think I’m going wrong, please do!). Update 30/11/09: BALLS. There’s a header error in IE7, too, according to my work PC (even though it’s okay on my PC laptop at home – must be due float class and the screen resolution?). Have obviously arsed up some coding somewhere. Anyone got any ideas?? I think I’ve fixed the error now(?). I only have access to IE6 and IE7, the latter of which is stuck at a shitty resolution so may still be telling me all in a-ok when it’s not, but I’ve gone back to the code and think I found and fixed the error. Please let me know if you’re on IE and still having problems!
Otherwise I’ve tested it on FireFox (PC and Mac), Safari (Mac) and IE7 (PC) and I think everything is okay besides a stray code sitting expectantly on my links page that I can’t remove as it has something to do with WP’s auto-listing of links. I don’t have access to IE8 or Chrome (which is still PC only – boo), so please do let me know if you’re having problems viewing on those platforms – just drop me a comment and I’ll try to fix the place up. :) In the meantime, please be patient if things go screwy but do let me know if you think you’ve stumbled across something I missed!
Site aside, I’m doing pretty good. We – and by that, I mean all three of us – have just come back from a long weekend in New York City, which was – as always – thoroughly awesome. I started my MSc last month and while I’m crapping myself and struggling to find the time to do all the reading, I am enjoying my first module. Work is . . . well, work is work, but let’s cover that in a passworded entry another time (there’ll be more passworded entries – I’ve decided it’s the only way I can still write here without stressing about who’s reading it). I’ve shifted almost 40lbs since this time last year, which I’ve managed to do whilst balancing my desire to be thinner at the same time as never fully restricting myself. I don’t go hungry and I’m doing my best to be a little more active and it all seems to be working right now. Keep your fingers crossed I can keep it up! Sam lost his first tooth, and then promptly lost another. He also went through a horrible spell of being picking on in school where I’d never felt as helpless as a mother as I did right then. I think it’s mostly settled now, but it was a shitty time and one I hope never to experience again. Kids are so fucking mean sometimes. But otherwise I still completely love being his Mum and spend all the time we’re apart wishing that we weren’t. Heh. He amazes me every day and I’m so, so proud of the little boy he’s become.
Let’s see – what else? I’ve also picked up a writing gig at aeropause.com, a kick-ass site by gamers for gamers, and I’m loving every second of it. I went to the Eurogamer Expo in London last month and even though I went alone and was gawped at most of the time I was there (thirty-something blonde gals don’t really fix the gamer stereotype) I had a riot. Look out for Bayonetta and Heavy Rain – they rock.
So . . . yeah. I’m back. I’m sorry I disappeared. It wasn’t cool to up and leave like that, I know that I’ll regret this in years to come; my journal has always been about me and for me, and the moment I started worrying about other people was the moment I backed the hell off. I’ll now have five-month gap where I won’t know what happened, and all because I’m a prat. Pft.
Anyway, that’ll do for now. If you think I’ve missed something critical do feel free to drop me a question in the comments and I’ll bring you up to speed!
Comments: (15)
23 Jul 09
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The Day with the Third Post in a Row to Mention WordCampUK
Added at 2:00pm and filed under Geek Speak, wordpress
A few people have contacted me to know more about WordCamp UK, and specifically what lessons I took away with me when the event was over.
To be honest, it’s hard to exemplify. In some ways my enthusiasm doesn’t stem from a single presentation or individual, but more from the collective stream of consciousness that permeated around me the entire weekend. And since I know that that’s a fancy and – let’s face it – poncy way of admitting that I can’t pin it down to one thing, here are some other options you might like to peruse instead. Yes, I’m passing the buck. Bite me.
- #WordCampUK: first stop, check out the WordCamp UK Twitter hashtag. It’s chocful of helpful and insightful comments from the presenters and attendees alike, as well as – I think – give a flavour of what went on.
- Join the Mailing List: it goes from stone-cold nothingness to crazy hysteria within hours, but it’s where the ideas and suggestions around WCUK stem from. It’s also a great way to contribute informally to the shape and scope of the event.
- Check out who was there: no, not everyone who attended is listed here, but it should give you an idea of what to expect and who your fellow attendees may be. As I said in my round-up post there were times when I felt a little out of my depth, but hey, if you think you might too, then you can come sit by me and we can feel that way together … you can buy the first drink though …
- Check out the presentations: I know. How bummed are you now that you weren’t there?
What I did do, right there and then as it happens, sat in the conference room, was give a thought to how I used WordPress, along with why I used it. The latter seemed simple enough; I blog, therefore I WordPress – Code Is Poetry and all that. The former was potentially a little less tangible. Although I’m not a developer, and only a part-time designer, BY GOD DO I KNOW WORDPRESS. It powers almost every website I have, blog or not, and I know the Codex and template tags and the loop inside out. So whilst I might not be able to create or modify the gubbings of WP, I can make a WP site do pretty much whatever the hell I like. Take SHH.com for example; there’s a watermark plugin. And a Google News plugin. I have 53 different image galleries powered within the single NextGen Gallery interface. There’s plugins for translating, and formatting, styling and Tweeting. I have a plugin to manage my links, my contact form, the blog updates. All in all it runs with no less than 30 different plugins, all of ‘em activated, all of ‘em chosen to enhance a certain element, however big or small, of the site. Without these plugins -without WP itself – I couldn’t run SHH.com. I couldn’t run this place. I harbour no disillusion that I’m talented enough to write a CMS from scratch that could do all this and more.
Sat there, I knew that I had much to learn. I listened to the presenters, soaking it up, making copious notes, trying to absorb as much of my colleagues’ brilliance as I could. But you know what? There was also plenty of stuff I already knew. Plenty of stuff that I could teach others. And it got me thinking that all of us are at different points in our journeys as developers or programmers or designers or just happy-go-lucky WP users, and for that, all of us have something to contribute. So whilst I was hastily scribbling notes on SEO and sitemaps and hacks, there were pros who were sat there writing down the same thing. We all have something to learn – and we all have something to contribute. The key is to get together and ensure that we bloody well do it.
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The Day After WordCampUK
Added at 2:26pm and filed under wordpress
Why, hello! I know – fancy meeting me here. What are the chances? Bet you thought my arms had fallen off, or I’d forgotten how to type or, you know, died. I’m glad to report that no, my operation didn’t kill me – in fact, it went swimmingly and I was home that same night (albeit with a sore nose) and, for once, without any unforeseen problems. Apologies for not updating you on that sooner, though … it was kinda remiss of me. My bad.
I’ve dragged myself out of my self-imposed blog exile to jot down a few points about WordCampUK. Those of you who follow me on Twitter would’ve likely noticed a frenzied increase in activity over the last few days, but for those of you who still live under a rock and don’t Tweet (or worst still DON’T EVEN FOLLOW ME OMG), last weekend saw the second annual WordCamp UK. I sit here today wiser and more enthusiastic than ever about WordPress … which is quite a feat, considering the conference didn’t feature a single plastic guitar or naked doctor anywhere (although there were a staggering amount of highly-toxic mints).
I didn’t make it to Birmingham last year. Even though I’d been involved right off the cuff with the mailing list, the weekend clashed with prior plans, and I ended up having to miss it. Bizarrely, the same almost happened this weekend, too. In the end, thanks to an ill-timed visit to France, I did end up missing the first day – and, annoyingly, Matt Mullenweg’s Q&A – but because I’d missed everything on the Saturday, I was determined to make it to that evening’s social. We pulled into the driveway from the airport at 7pm, and by 8pm I was back out again, making my way down the Bay to meet up. And I won’t lie: I was cacking myself walking in. I’m not a player; I didn’t know anyone there actually or virtually, and having missed the chance to put names to faces throughout the day, I felt as misplaced as a fat girl in a celery shop on arrival. I’m frequently told that I don’t look like a gamer or someone who knows anything about computers and as much as that COMPLETELY PISSES ME OFF, I’ve never felt it more than I did that Saturday night. Talk about out of my depth. Talk about conspicuous.
Thankfully, people took pity right away and I was able to stay on for several hours and meet a load of really great, interesting people. Matt said he loved my jacket. I left happy.
Sunday was incredible. Again, I rolled up feeling kinda alone, but the informal, friendly format couldn’t help but relax me, and it was fantastic to share the room with so many truly exciting, innovative designers. I’m not going to bash on about the techie stuff here; one, I’m not a programmer, so I’d probably relay it wrongly anyway, and two … well, other people have done a better job than I ever could. So go read them and pretend that I told you the good stuff. It’s okay, I’ll wait ’til you get back.
I’ll admit that it was kind of daunting, though. There were pockets of the day where I felt lonely and severely out of my depth, and not everything discussed applied to me as a WP hobbyist. I’m not a developer, although I’m nifty enough to hack the living shit out of a plugin to do what I need, and I’m not really a pro designer, even though I run Geek Goddess. It’s hard to feel that you have much to contribute when you know you taught yourself XHTML because your pregnancy sucked ass and you were stuck at home. That said, WordCamp from the perspective of a WordPress user rather than developer? Christ, there’s a lot to learn – and I mean that as the biggest, most fantastical compliment ever. Over-my-head, hardcore codey stuff aside, I felt my IQ shoot up just sitting in that room. I came home with a lot of great ideas for my two main WP-driven sites – this place and SHH.com – and a renewed energy for everything about them. It’s hard to not sit there listening to WP developers and not be caught up in their passion and enthusiasm.
The downside? Where the fuck were the girls? I couldn’t BELIEVE it when I walked in, not least because I know they’re out there. Okay, so not every female designer or programmer I know is interested in WordPress, but seriously: out of 130-odd attendees, less than twenty were female. And whereas I kind of expect that when it comes to the video game crowd (if you remember, at EA’s San Francisco event I alone made up 50% of the females invited), I was really surprised at how few of us wore bras. And whilst I’m comfy enough in male company (heh), it kinda depressed me … are we still that badly under-represented when it comes to these kinds of things?
But I digress. In summary, I’ve never sat in a room with so many geeky t-shirts and laptops and iPhones in my life … and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. Thanks for a great event, guys – here’s to WordCampUK 2010!
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