Category: Web Design


We’re taking our first real vacation since going to Mexico a few years ago , and I’m scrambling to get a load of project work done before we leave. I’ll be working this weekend and the first part of next week on the following tasks:

  • Building two custom image galleries for a Houston-area typographer. I’m creating a full XHTML/CSS/Javascript template set for my client to use as she builds out the rest of her new website;
  • Building a spam-resistant form and an uploader script for the same client;
  • Tweaking a page template to make it work in (ack) IE6;
  • Dropping in 24 pages of new content into a redesign project site, or as much of that as I can squeeze in;
  • Some minor maintenance on two client sites, just an hour or so of work;
  • Creating a final version of the .psd for my SEO friend’s new WordPress site (I’ll be creating the custom theme after my vacation);
  • Adding some video to a site redesign;
  • Coding a home page and subpage for a new client in Illinois who sells race car parts;
  • Starting on a custom cart for the same client;
  • Writing one or two quotes;
  • And finally, doing as much as I can on a huge (and late, but still chugging along) Joomla project. Whatever I can do on that one, I’ll fit in this week.

On top of all that, I need to do some work on my hosting site. I’ve got a redesign sketched out, and will get that into Photoshop when we return if I don’t get a chance to do that before we leave. It doesn’t look very likely at this point – there’s so much to do on the homefront too.

I haven’t done one in a few weeks, but this morning I’m working up a custom WordPress theme for my software developer client’s site, which will be launching on Monday. It’s a small site with a clean little design, so this should be easy and quick. I’m still using WP Framework because it definitely fits the needs of this site, but I’ll be looking around at some of the other frameworks for sites coming up in October that need more widget areas right off the bat.

Oh, I almost forgot – I’ll be following along using my own WP Framework tutorial to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

I’ve got a 112-row, 6-column spreadsheet that a client just sent me and I need to get the data into an HTML table. That’s a lot of copying and pasting so I went online to find a more efficient way – and found this awesome .csv converter site. This is just outstanding – now I just have to add my CSS styles.

That’s a lesson I hope I’ve learned now: I’m firing one today.

I had no idea how much stress a single difficult client could bring into my life – but now I know. I hung onto the project for dear life because I really loved it, even though the client was so hard to deal with in just about every way. But now I know I should have listened to the small group of designers who told me to fire her six weeks ago. <Bangs head against desk again.>

I’m usually very good at catching a weird vibe from a potential client, but not in this case. Not until many weeks into the project.

Even so, I should have fired her. There were many opportunities since mid-July, but no – I just gritted my teeth and hung in there. But it really wasn’t worth it – I’m not going to get much out of it financially, and I doubt the site will still look like my design when it finally launches. It was really beautiful and that’s what I feel worst about – that and all the extra time I sunk into the work without being compensated.

I feel stupid for some of the mistakes I made in allowing this client and project to get out of hand – but I’ve started working on an overhaul of my business practices that will help to curb that in the future. So that’s a good result that will hopefully make my studio a better business all around.

Tomorrow I hope to hand over the finished product and get my little final payment. Then this client will be out of my life and I can start devoting more time to the clients with whom I really enjoy working. In the meantime, I’ll try to remember how I feel right now the next time a client like this one appears and nip it in the bud before it gets so bad.

I just discovered I had a rather boring 404 page in my blog’s theme and changed it. Now at least it’s slightly amusing – but it still needs work.

I’ll do that when I have some free time…

Here’s a roundup of fun or otherwise interesting 404 error pages – much better than the defaults.

I have a large Joomla site rapidly approaching launch-readiness, and I have a lot to do on it this weekend – finalizing the CSS styles, checking through about 70 pages of content to make sure nothing stands out as being wonky, and creating a few forms.

Then I’ll need to do some styling of the SOBI2 component, which I’ve done before, and is thankfully quite easy.

And then, some final testing and tweaking of SOBI2 and making a list for my subs of little things I see along the way. We’re getting close.

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