Website Update - Added Flash Elements

I've added some "flash" to my homepage. The flash elements that were added are the photostack, the mailbox, and the daily calendar.

The photostack animation is pretty cool, and I thought it would be a great utility for showecasing my portfolio on the homepage. When you click on the top image, it will "fly out" and reshuffle to the bottom of the stack. The flash file (.swf) is supported by an XML and ActionScript file. Thus, the stack of photos can be easily edited, updated, added to, deleted, manipulated, bossed around, put into arm-bar submission holds... oops, I got a little carried away there! One more thing, when using the photostack flash animation I opted not to embed my background image into the SWF file. Instead, I applied a background image to the parent element of the "SWF object," and I did this using CSS. The reason I chose not to embed the background image into the SWF file is because it is faster to update the background image using some CSS, rather than having to open the original FLV file (that the SWF file was published from) and updating the background and re-publishing.

The mailbox animation is also awesome. When you hover over the mailbox, the mailbox opens up and mail pops-out. The animation also acts like a button, which can be setup in the supported ActionScript file. I setup my "flash mailbox button" to act as a link, which sends the user to my contact page.

The Daily Calendar is somewhat unique. Although it is a flash file (SWF), it does not have any animation whatsoever. What you see is what you get. Nothing to click on, and no user interaction. However, the cool thing about this SWF file is that it updates and will display the current date. As they say on that infomercial, "Just set it, and forget it!"

I hope everyone likes my new additions to the homepage. Feel free to comment. Thanks!

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Website Update - Blog

Today, I did a little research and found out how to re-style the "Blog" section of my website. When you register with Blogger, you have the ability to choose a default template for your blog. Some of the default templates look really nice, but none of them matched the style of my website. After researching a little bit, I found out that the styles (CSS) are embedded on the page itself, and you can also make changes to them! I knew this was great, because I could make the template for the blog look exactly like my website... and that's exactly what I did.

Now, when you are visiting my website and you go to my blog page, it looks exactly like the other pages do... very nice! =)

Of course, to pull this off you must know your CSS fairly well. If your advanced at CSS, you can customize the look of your blog into anything you wish.

Yes Man

I went and saw Yes Man... it was super-funny. As for those who haven't seen the movie, I'd definitely say "Yes, Yes, Yes!" to go and see it! ;)

As for work, I thought it would be slow during the holiday season, but I've super busy lately. I'm currently working on a website for Oksana Grishuk. She's the only female athlete to win the Olympic Gold medal back to back in Ice-Dancing (in 94 and 98). You can check out what I've done so far at oksana2.clicktech.net

Other than that, I'll be working on my website a little bit this weekend. I'll keep you posted on changes that are made.

Chad's Blog

This is my first blog! Woohooo! Oh yeah baby!

The subject of my blog will generally be about design, but I may throw in an occasional movie review or something like that.

In addition, I'll blog about particular projects I'm working on, updates to my website, tips for designers, and my overall experience as a designer.

Please feel free to comment on my blog postings. Thanks!