With a few tweaks here and there of the basic style and layout I created for the Canucks, I give to you the all-new Brisbane Lions Firefox Personas for both Mac and PC for season 2010.

From what I can tell, there’s nothing else out there yet for those of you who want to sport the club’s colours and logo on your computer screens all season long, so feel free to dress ‘em up using the relevant links below.

Brisbane Lions Firefox Persona for MAC

Brisbane Lions Firefox Persona for PC

For those of you who have installed version 3.6 or above of Firefox, you have the Persona’s feature built right into your browser. No need for any additional plugins. Yay! All you need to do is click on either of the images above (depending on your operating system) to get all skinned up!

I’m really excited about this re-design as I firmly believe this is one that I’ll stick with for quite a long time going forward. There’s been a tonne of stuff added in on the back end to make things easier for me in terms of composing posts, and I’ve done my best to strip away a lot of the “bells and whistles” I used to employ on the front end, to make the viewing experience a lot clearer and more enjoyable for you!

The idea is to present you with a Blog that is easier to navigate and read (there’s now larger type for the oldies out there!) and that will enable a greater emphasis on imagery, in particular my photography. I’ve got some awesome plans for this year so there’s going to be plenty to see and read about.

Apologies if there’s any of your favourite posts or galleries that haven’t made the jump to the new design… yet. I’ve had to reformat every post in the archive one-by-one, so it’s going to take me a while to have them all back online. I’m working on it though!

So, if there’s anything you particularly like about the new design, or miss about the old one, please let me know in the comments section below. I welcome any feedback, no matter the nature of it.

Cheers and enjoy!

One of the great things about these modern browsers is their ability to deliver rich web applications to users featuring the latest usability features and good ol’ fashioned bells and whistles that make Internet usage practical, efficient and fun. There is, however, a lingering issue out there that is none-too-apparent to web developers like myself, which often prevents us from providing truly perfect web sites and applications for our users.

The IE6 Headache

You see, there’s this “ugly” browser out there called Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) that remains the chosen browser of many, especially in the corporate sphere. IE6, developed by Microsoft, was considered a cutting edge browser back in its day (which was way back in 2001 incidentally). These days, however, it’s pretty much the ONE browser that behaves differently to all other modern browsers and makes web development a complete pain in the ass for the coders that bring you your favourite websites.

Take this very Blog for example. Here’s what my site looks like for a Firefox 3.0 user as compared to what is dished up to an IE6 user:

As you can see, not ideal. I choose not to pander to IE6 users for my own personal work, but I can’t tell you how many hours I have wasted hacking and breaking perfect, standards compliant code in order for client’s sites to be viewed correctly, and not appear broken in IE6. It’s resulted in a high blood pressure for me, and hours of wasted budget dollars for my clients.

I could go on and on about this subject, but all you really need to know to be abreast of the subject is the following:

• Home users who use IE6 for nothing other than everyday web surfing have no excuse not to upgrade their browsers. That’s all that needs to be said on that matter.
• Corporate users who are tied to using archaic software applications tied to IE6, or who are forced to comply with browser usage guidelines usually enforced by lazy IT departments, don’t really have a choice…

…until today.

“Google Chrome Frame” Arrives

In a move that won’t be considered a solution to the aforementioned IE6 problem (but will certainly help the situation), those crafty geniuses over at Google today released a nifty Internet Explorer plugin called “Google Chrome Frame”. Based on the same framework used to power Google’s sleek and powerful browser “Google Chrome”, the new plugin basically empowers Internet Explorer to behave and display websites in the same way that Google Chrome (and therefore most other modern browsers) would.

The really cool thing about this new release from Google is that it’s dead simple to install. Developers need only add one simple line of code to their web pages that will be read and used by Internet Explorer, and ignored by all other browsers:

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1">

And the Internet Explorer users? Well they may still have a battle on their hands with IT departments, but all they need to do is download and install the Google Chrome Frame plugin here:

http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/

The “Google Wave” Motivation

So why would Google go to all this trouble? Well, in approximately 1 week’s time, Google are releasing to 100,000 pre-registered initial users (including me *fingers crossed*), their latest innovation called “Google Wave”. Touted as the “next generation” of web-based communication, Google Wave is a real-time, collaborative web-based service which is used to effectively merge e-mail, instant messaging, wiki, and social networking.

Only one problem. Google Wave won’t work on IE6 – therefore locking out all the corporate users Google are looking to target with this new collaborative application.

Their solution? Google Chrome Frame. Magic!

One would hope that this is just one more step towards the total eradication of IE6. Like I mentioned before, Google Chrome Frame isn’t the golden solution us developers are looking for, but there’s no doubt that it’s a big step in the right direction thanks to one of the Internet’s true heavy hitters.

Acting as Carmen’s trainer for the past month, Brian approached me to come up with a new logo and subsequent business card design to help him promote his highly regarded services over the coming year.

The idea behind the logo design was to stylistically simplify and modernise Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” which Brian had used as a symbol for his business in the past. Combining this new design with a warm and energetic colour palette, I came up with the designs you can view by clicking on the images above.

To find out more about BrianFit, visit his soon to be redesigned website at www.brianfit.ca.

My good mate Scott (congrats on the wedding mate – those pics are fantastic) sent me an email overnight that beautifully surmises what web designers are routinely subjected to by clients. Not my clients of course… no all my clients are a dream thankfully!

If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers!

Dear Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don’t have nearly enough insulation in them).

As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)

Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate, among other things, my 1952 Gibson refrigerator.

To insure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, make certain that you contact each of our children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year. Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any choices that you make.

Please don’t bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house: get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpet.

However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.

Also, do not worry at this time about acquiring the resources to build the house itself. Your first priority is to develop detailed plans and specifications. Once I approve these plans, however, I would expect the house to be under roof within 48 hours.

While you are designing this house specifically for me, keep in mind that sooner or later I will have to sell it to someone else. It therefore should have appeal to a wide variety of potential buyers. Please make sure before you finalize the plans that there is a consensus of the population in my area that they like the features this house has. I advise you to run up and look at my neighbor’s house he constructed last year. We like it a great deal. It has many features that we would also like in our new home, particularly the 75-foot swimming pool. With careful engineering, I believe that you can design this into our new house without impacting the final cost.

Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.

You must be thrilled to be working on as an interesting project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can’t happen very often. Contact me as soon as possible with your complete ideas and plans.

PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I’ve given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can’t handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.

PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case.

PPPS: And after the house is finished, I will fail to mow the grass, let the paint peel, leave a few rusted cars on the front lawn, and eventually wrap the entire house in scaffolding so I can cover it with commercial billboards… but don’t worry, I’ll still be sure to tell everybody you built it!

The site will act as a new online storefront for accomplished piano tutor “Barbara M. Siemens” who is releasing a 10-level set of guided study workbooks.

Jordan, via his company “TellTenFriends.com” company got me on board for Barbara’s project from logo design through to the design of the workbook covers and, of course, the website, so I will follow the success of the “PianoWorkbook.com” venture with interest.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, design efforts are going to be poured into the site that I am completing for a fishing lodge on Vancouver Island. I have a feeling that it’s going to have a very similar layout style to the UltimateSalesTips.com site as works so well.

Stay tuned I guess… I’m off home to go spend some quality time with Mel! I think we’re going to try and get out of the city and up into the mountains at some stage this weekend which will be awesome. It’s been raining cats and dogs for far too long around here now so I’ll be crossing anything that can be crossed that it lightens up at least over the weekend!