Odds and Ends for 9-21
For this Wednesday I thought I would just post about a few things that are 'noteworthy' within the design realm. As well as just some other good links for tutorials.
Firefox has released its 1.0.7. It is a security and stability release. View Release Info
IE is looking to increase its security and compatability with its version 7 (in beta now). They say, "For this release, security is our number one priority and preserving compatibility is a close second priority." View IE7 Blog to read more
Design Studio Magazine releases a new PHP article on a brief history, current library and PHP5. Read full article
A List Apart's new issue contains a CSS focus on New Print styles. Read full article
Simple Bits releases its Chameleon Icons (very neat icons). See for yourself
I am quite sure I never posted about this (although there is a link to it in my blog roll), however this is one of two really good Tutorials Sites (photoshop). Good-Tutorials.com
Seeing as I posted one I should post another really good tutorial site (one that includes more than just Photoshop. Pixel 2 Life
The last thing I want to mention is I am really toying with the idea of making the articles posted on Design Studio Magazine available in audio format. More than likely I will be recording them myself, unless I turn to Talkr or something like it. If you have any other thoughts or suggestions on this idea I would love to hear them.
Till Then...
Design Studio Magazine moving right along
Here we are just over a week now with the magazine live and things are moving right along. I have been pleased with the response so far and have a good feeling things are going to continue to progress well. Site traffic is increasing nicely and as each article is released our site is being crawled more and more by the search engines. (if you know any places that should know about the site or where I can promote it let me know)
I am still looking for more advertisers as the magazine is advertiser supported. However I know this will come with time and traffic. All of the contributors are hard at work on their second article and from the topics that have been shared with me, there are going to be some wonderful articles coming up (remainder of this month and next month).
I have never really claimed to be a programmer (outside of HTML and XHTML) but that is about to change. I have embarked on a PHP learning process. I know some of the basics, but not enough to write code, only enough to decipher it. Learning more of the actual syntax, usability, and functionality will help me broaden my knowledgebase beyond a good grasp of design. Not to mention it will help with the production of DSMC - the name of the next generation backend (CMS) for Design Studio Magazine. I need to say a special thanks to TJ and Gabe for the willingness to help with the CMS. Making one from scratch seems like a lot of work (and it will be) but it will pay out in the long run, allowing the magazine to have total control over everything. Mambo has served and will continue to serve the site well until DSMC is ready to take over.
On a family note: both of my little girls are growing up so fast. Natalie just passed 20 months on Tuesday, while Jocelyn just passed 4 months on Sunday. Natalie is really starting to talk more and clearer, while Jocelyn is rolling over with ease both from belly and from back. I would be forgetting one of the best updates if I didn't say that this week officially marks Jocelyn's sleeping through the night (worthy of a nice little sticker in her 1st year calendar). What makes this so nice is that both the girls are in bed and down for the night somewhere between 7:00 and 8:00pm, which allows Jennifer and I time with each other (or by ourselves 
).