Shadow Based Image Effect Date: November 9th, 2008

Frames and Peels in Photoshop from Navdeep on Vimeo.

a simple shadow based image effect using photoshop.
with this tutorial you will need the Warp tool that is offered in Adobe Phootoshop. I got this video from the Deziner Folio site

First Wordpress Theme Date: November 8th, 2008

A new wordpress theme will be coming soon for you blog fans out there.

Features of this theme will be. In the sidebar there will be a place where you can insert your advertisement at 125 pixels by 125 pixels, i have put the tag cloud about half way down the sidebar, there will be the normal archives and blogroll area within most sidebars, i am currently working on trying to widgetize it so other widgets can be added to your liking. The posting area self adjust its self per post, the limit is 10 posts then it goes to the next 10 the navigation for your posts will be found at the bottom of the post. Searchbar is easy to find, this is a simple design with the single.php and the archive.php provided also i am currently working on the comments page so do stay tuned, it should be a good start for my first theme. The site will be compressed with winzip and be free to download so stay posted.

Oh No, Tables Are Back Date: November 6th, 2008

Why is it that Microsoft has to go along and change everything, we were getting use to using divs and creating stylesheets to display them divs the way we would like it to appear, now i was reading or maybe investigating an article that was on the Digital Web Magazine site called “everything you know about CSS is wrong” you maybe saying, aint tables wrong for design well, i could honestly say it has been a long time since i have used tables, i think i cannot even remeber how to use them, i have mainly stuck with divs and the ul and the li tags, well this article has shown that these tables are being shown via the

display: table;
and the
display: table-cell;

within the stylesheet, so why all the fuss, well as stated in this article, the table element in HTML is used to describe what data is so you should only use it if you are marking up something like a table of financial information. But on the other hand the table value of the display property is simply an indi­cation of how something should look in the browser so i guess there is some good and some bad within using the table element for this type of purpose, for me personally i will not be changing my ways any time soon, i may try it a few times to see how my type of web design would handle it. But like they say “stick to what you know best”.

Blog Update Date: November 2nd, 2008

If you have read the introduction and seen around this blog you will notice that there are a few things wrong with it, I am currently working on them problems, this is a new theme for this site and being an impatient person I wanted to upload it quickly. I am looking for freelance and contract work at the moment, if you wish to contact me you can do so by ringing 0405615089, ask for Dain, I offer free quotes and depending on the work I could give you a quote over the phone.

LinkedIn releases there Opensocial Applications Date: November 1st, 2008

LinkedIn has decided to step into the world of applications for there website. They are starting off with 9 applications associated with Google, Huddle, TripIt, Amazon, SlideShare, SixApart and Box.net. The apps range from a group working area to a recommendation widget from Amazon. The applications are free to use and can be useful, linkedIn also provides an area for developers who would like to buil and application, the only problem is that there are some specifics that LinkedIn provide to have an application on there site, do read the requirements.

3,000,000 Against The New Facebook Date: October 18th, 2008

Wow, the new facebook design has created such a fuss among many facebook users, around 3 million to be exact, who would think that the new design would be such a problem, yes i believe that some of the features are a problem. I find that when using Firefox sometimes i get the application and who’s online disappear as the rest of the content is loading but beside that everything is straight forward. The article i read in the Daily Telegraph which i was reading shows there is a lot of people that do like Facebook and are very passionate about the social networking site, we will see if three million or more people can change facebooks creator in re-thinking a new approach to the design. My thoughts on the facebook design is simply that i like it, its built for usability standards, you can share what you want people to see and the applications created also help to communicate links and feeds much easier, but the one thing i thought was the best idea was the quickness of loading the webpages, before it took a long time to download a friends profile page and then you would have to scroll to the bottom to see the comments and other interesting stuff.

I am a regular facebook user, i have twitter feeds, flickr images, linkedin and elance inserted into my profile i find with the new design, promoting oneself is a little bit easier and the application tab you can choose how many tabs you wish you would like on your profile, so i guess over time maybe facebook users will grow acustomed to the new design and learn to get along with it and not be against it. Feel free to leave your views on this matter, be interesting to see what other people think.

Why You Have Been Redirected Date: September 20th, 2008

As you may had noticed, you have been re-directed to the blog and not the actual website i had up before. I am currently working through a few things at the moment, trying to improve my search engine rankings and keywords also working on putting a blog and portfolio together. These later days i have been going through improving on my web graphic work as it is not the greatest, i find i am doing more coding than anything and not working with graphics, kinda good in one area and not the other and with Christmas coming up i am sure there will be a few last minute jobs that companies or individuals would like done on there websites, so best to get ahead start on things.

Beside that i have inserted a quote webpage which you can fill out so it will make things a little easier for you to communicate with me, i get all my emails through the Iphone so it should not be long for you to get a reply from me. I am available for any work, feel free to give me buzz i will not bite, some people say i am to friendly at times, well hope to hear from you, lets make the internet a better place to trade services.

Thoughts On The Iphone Date: September 6th, 2008

If you had kept an eye on my twits, you would had noticed that I had become one of the so many that got the Apple iphone, well I have had it for 3 weeks and I must say, there are a few things that does not impress me. I have noticed a few times as I am surfing along some sites, especially the ones that use the lightbox module, sometimes it does not work and I had a few sites where the lightbox does work but then there are times when it doesn’t work, there was one website (which will remain nameless) I had clicked on one of there portfolio thumbnails, the larger image showed up, which was fine but then when it came to close the image it would not close and I could not even zoom in to close it, usually with lightbox you can also click on the blacked out area to close it and go back to the website but that did not work either, so I gave up and closed Safari. Second problem with the iphone I do not find exciting is working the settings, unlike other phones you have built in features where you can change the ring tones or change SMS settings but I reckon I can get by without there, I guess as I still have a second mobile to use. Emails was another one I understand the Microsoft and Apple thing but it would be nice to have a feature for the hotmail service or Microsoft live email.

The things I do like about the iphone are the Gmail and Google features, I am a big fan of these features. The App store, big fan of the Wordpress app, very helpful when a Computer or Notebook is not available. Notes and the Calendar Apps are useful; my day would not be organized without these features, the Safari features like bookmarks are useful to a point. For some people Youtube would be useful but I have never been a big fan of using the video site and the other things I find useful is the Itunes and the Ipod features they become very useful for long trips, the WIFI feature is useful, becomes handy when I am at a Starbucks or Gloria Jeans store. The Maps feature I find helpful especially when I have to meet clients in a unfamiliar locations and the stocks I enjoy, I am a big fan of business and seeing how the big companies like blue chips and yahoo are going with there stocks, If a person asked me how I would rate the Iphone I would give them a rating of 80 percent, it needs a bit of work on the browser, would be nice if I could add firefox to it, this post is coming from a amateur at the moment as stated I have had the Iphone only for a couple of weeks, feel free to leave a comment on your thought on the Iphone.

Apple Iphone
Apple Iphone VS Nokia N95
Iphone 3g Vodafone

10 Useful Blogging Tools Date: August 30th, 2008

Weblogs can be a great way for one self to gain exposure on the net or to help promote and grow a business, If you have a search on the net for weblogs you will find many providing a service of some kind or wanting to provide a means of identity to a online comunity. I was recently reading a article from smashing magazine and not realizing but there are a few other blogging software out there i could be using beside wordpress. Since i first started doing blogs i only used wordpress, since it was easy to maintain and to use but now i am thinking of venturing out into other software mentioned in this article. Blogs are a great tool as they are search engine friendly and they help to get the right traffic coming towards your site, what better way to help increase business or gain a online presence.

Starting Of On Your Own Date: August 7th, 2008

Starting out on your own is a daunting and unpredictable thing to do, but with some guidance and perseverance this task can be a lot easier. When doing freelance work why not start of with something that you are strong at doing, take for instance when I started of doing websites I got involved with small businesses and people who required an identity or an online portfolio just to get me started. Once you get things up and going then you can make the transition into other things, they say that freelancing is not for everyone but I found with a little bit of focus and a goal freelancing can pay off in the long run.

When you do finally decide to start of on your own, there is the question of where you going to find work or clients to get you started. Let’s go back to the small business thing, if you are good at doing something in that area why not find maybe ten or twenty clients who can provide you with work and maybe go of that or if you are very persistent you could have more. Cold calling and meeting in person is another way to find clients it can pay off, this shows you are interested in them or there product, and they may setup a meeting or maybe a job, another useful thing when you do this is, have a business card handy so they do not forget who you are.

Money Wise

When you start of you will have to take a hard look at, how much will it take for you to get by and also to make a profit out of what you enjoy doing, when I first started I did not think of business cards, marketing research, advertising, bank loans, hosting plans among many others, these all cost money and it was not much I had of. For me I was like most people I kind of jumped into the deep end of things and clawed my way out. Also you will need to think of a backup plan and put money aside, just in case the work goes quiet and you have no work for that week or two.

When you figure out what it will take for you to get through that week or month then it will make things a little easier to determine your hourly rate and get you moving forward.

Stay posted on the second article of this post, it should be good. i will put the link here for you to find it. Feel free to share your experience or what you did when you started freelancing.

while you are here why not check out some other comments from other freelancers about what it is like in the freelancing world at - digital web magazine