Wow, 3 out of 5 (at least)
Permalink | February 19, 2008 by John in SSDD
How to tell if someone is going to rip you off:
- The person will almost always gladly pay the first bill, or your deposit amount.
- The swindler almost always talks a lot. They will drop names to sound like they’re respected in the community.
- Often will have very ambitious business goals along with high confidence.
- Don’t assume your friend will pay you back.
- If someone is planning to rip you off, they’ll ask very few questions about your pricing.
I’ll let you guess which one is #1 for me, but I’m not bitter. Now I just have to talk to my accountant to see if this is something I can write off last year’s taxes.
Self Indulgence: 2007
Permalink | January 7, 2008 by John in 2002 TBA, California 2007, IPod, Motorcycle, Of a Personal Nature, SSDD
Seems like every web designer/developer whose blog I read daily is doing a wrap up of the past year. I don’t usually in indulge in such blowhardiness, but what the hell. I feel no need to organize or categorize these, so in no particular order…
(Updated 01/07/2008)
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Sneak Peek …Updated Again
Permalink | November 9, 2007 by John in JB.com, SSDD, Web Design
I’ve had a new design in mind for this site for some time now. Since I’ve got nothing going on with SSDD Web Design right now, I think it’s time to remodel JohnBedard.com. Below is my design mockup from Photoshop. I’m not 100% on the colors and some of the graphic elements, but the layout is a lock, including the staggered, overlapping columns. I also may not put the “Pieces of Flair” in that middle column. I have something else in mind for that space but that will have to remain a surprise. The flair will probably go in the right column just below the search box or the external links. And since I have a license for Monoslideshow, I think that’s what I’ll use for that image space in the header section. It’s the same slideshow I used on the HKM site (they bought their own license, freeing up the one I bought for development). I’ll be building this as a WordPress theme from scratch. The next step is a static HTML prototype which I’ll then carve up into the theme files and add the PHP code for WordPress.
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SSDD Update
Permalink | November 6, 2007 by John in SSDD, Web Design
I’ve been farting around with SSDD Web Design again, mostly because I have no projects going on right now. Rather than have the blog as the homepage, I moved it over and created a static homepage. WordPress made this very easy. Since version 2.1 it allows you to specify a static Page as the homepage, making the blog a secondary page. This is one of the ways WordPress is moving closer to a more general content management system, not just a blogging application.
The hardest part (and by hard I mean super easy) was to toss in a snippet of PHP code to suppress the page title on the homepage. I didn’t want it to say “Home” in large letters like the About, Portfolio and Contact pages. Then I created two new graphics for the HOME button in the navigation bar and cloned the styles for it from the other buttons. Simple. As far as the homepage itself, I moved the “elevator pitch” over from the top of the blog sidebar, and added the four boxes describing the SSDD acronym. I know that SSDD was planned as a double-entendre of sorts from the very beginning, but I wanted the “legitimate” explanation featured more prominently because it is a real thing. And I don’t want the homepage to be a splash page; that’s soooo 20th century.
Future Career Planning Update, Part II (or, “Long Live SSDD”)
Permalink | October 30, 2007 by John in Career, Of a Personal Nature, SSDD, Web Design
(Update and disclaimer: I’ve spoken to my boss about this situation, so it’s not a secret. I wouldn’t have posted anything about it if it was a secret.)
Now that I’ve calmed down from my previous diatribe on the topic, and I’ve read all the Nerds On Site documentation and contracts, I’m 90% sure I’m not going to do it. They exercise a lot more (read: nigh-total) control over how the so-called independent contractors operate. And you’re screwed if you leave them. You might be able to take some of your customers with you (or not, but I didn’t see any specific non-compete language), but you lose all the benefits of building their brand up in your community. You even lose the cell number you use while conducting business under their banner. In part they justify this by paying for part of your cell service. (more…)