Gerald R. Lucas » Design

A New Look

Gerald Lucas — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:25:52 +0000

I have been ill for the past week. It always seems to happen at the beginning of the semester. Invariably, I touch one of the stinky, virus-infested keyboards and forget to wash my hands. It’s just like a Windoze peecee to give me a real virus. Probably something karmic.

Being sick has allowed me to read and do a bit of web work — and not exercise. I’m reading Frank Herbert’s Dune, and I’ll be teaching it next Monday. I have not read the novel since Lynch’s film version came out in 1984. More about this later. Suffice it to say for now: I’m digging it.

My favorite web site for the past year has been LitMUSE. I think Woo’s Optimize theme is one of their best. Coupled with the fact that I have never been happy with the look of this site, I figured I’d just use what I like. So voilà, here it is. I still have some work to do — mostly with updating content — but I’m digging it.

I have to being working on the department’s web site in ernest. I’ve chosen Woo’s Crisp theme as a starting point. The idea is to make using it as easy as possible for the faculty, but also have a cool look for the department. I think this one will do nicely. I particularly like the look of the full-width pages.

So, I’m feeling better, but still not 100%. I’m currently waiting on my Garmin to charge, so I can try a short bike ride. I’m getting the rest of the slimy yellow stuff out of my lungs, and I’m hoping that class this evening won’t be too taxing.

Summer Updates

Gerald Lucas — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:03:41 +0000

Since it’s too hot to go outside for very long, what better place to be than behind the keyboard? OK, I can think of other places that I’d rather be, but my web sites have needed some updates for a while. I’ve made significant progress on just this site alone, but mostly I’ve just been updating the framework of each site, adding little tweaks here and there.

One of the coolest things I did, that most folks will never see or appreciate, is add iPhone icons to each site. I’ve done this before, but it was only after purchasing Reeder for the iPad that I knew I needed to do it again. Reeder is a slick RSS reader for the iOS, but unlike others I’ve used, it’s superior both in looks and functionality. It doesn’t have some features that I’d like — for example, the ability to tweet an entry or save it to Delicious — but Not only does it look great, but it has the ability to post to Delicious, Twitter, Instapaper, and other social networking sites; it’s a great app and one that I use everyday.

My favorite part of Reeder has to be the icon presentation. Each group of feeds looks like a stack of cards; each feed a single card, marked either with its favicon or its iPhone icon. Most web sites by now have the former, but fewer have the latter, though it’s a simple addition to the site as Dave Taylor explains on the last link. Not only does this add a cool icon to the home screen of your iOS device, but Reeder uses them in its feed display. Here are mine:

Pretty slick, no? I’d just like to add one thing to Dave Taylor’s otherwise good tutorial. I made my icons 150×150 pixels, rather than the 45×45 he suggests. Trust me, the larger sizes look much better on the iPhone 4′s retina display and the iPad’s bigger surface. Also, you need to add the code to the portion of your index file. If you don’t, the icon won’t work.

I’m still working on this web site, but I think it works much better as a portfolio — the way I always envisioned it. WordPress 3.0 with the help of WooThemes has made this very easy. I like it, though I don’t think I’ll ever be totally happy with the look of this site. A couple of things I’m likely going to change include the blog font; I hate sans serif fonts as entry text. This shouldn’t be too difficult with a bit of CSS kung fu; I might even try one of Google’s web fonts. Also, I need to find a way to use the media portion of the front page. Currently, it displays random entries under the “Photography” and “Video” categories. I think I’m going to use them to display the icons that I’m associating with their respective web sites. However, when a user clicks on one, I want it to be able to take them to the site. As I said: I’m still making some adjustments.

I’ve updated and upgraded the Norman Mailer Society web site. It’s now running WordPress 3.0 and uses the Canvas theme from WooThemes. I added the banner graphic after a bit of Photoshop play. Also, I opened a Twitter account for the society, something that I’ll probably find easier to update regularly. If you have Twitter, follow us and we’ll reciprocate. This year’s conference is in Sarasota, and I’ll be speaking on the iPad and the future of books. My tentative title is “Cutting Up Norman Mailer.” More on this soon.

So these are the most readily noticeable updates; all others involved theme and WordPress upgrades, keyword and meta description tweaks, and widget additions, subtractions, or movements. I still need to work on my Moodle install, not to mention the long-neglected Humanities web site (not that anyone cares).

Now I’m going to see if it’s cooled down outside.

New Look

Gerald Lucas — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:10:10 +0000

Today, WooThemes — one of the best theme designers for WordPress out there, IMHO — released Anti-Social, a new theme that they say creates “more of an aggregation space for personal users / bloggers to create an overview of their online activities.” If you know me then you know I’m never satisfied with one look or design for long. I was using their Fresh Folio theme for a while, and I really liked it. In some ways it would still be better for my purposes (like the portfolio part), but I needed a change. Anti-Social is pretty slick, even if it’s a bit too clean.

Since I’ve been using WooThemes for a few months, I was pretty familiar with their set up. It was, as predicted, a breeze. I had it working and pretty customized in under thirty minutes. I’m still tweaking, but I like the way it looks. Great job, guys. The social links, calendar, and tags make this one of the coolest and freshest themes I’ve ever seen.

Couple of things I’d like to see: more flexibility in the tags widget, for one. Currently, it allows you to select the number of tags to display, but it takes them from the top — not very useful. If I could choose to display 50 out of my hundreds and it took the 50 most used — that would be useful. I’d really like to se a Twitter widget that displays my last couple of tweets. This theme cries for this feature. Maybe this is something I could port over myself. Finally, since I’m a photographer, I’d like to see the entry use the image I upload in addition to the blog front page. It seems an easy and overlooked feature. My entries look a bit austere without the photo I added.

Anyway, welcome to my new look. And, thanks again, Woo!

Regional Imagery

Gerald Lucas — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:01:02 +0000

Well, we finally did it: Giles and I have officially launched Regional Imagery, LLC. We envision it as a stock photography venture that specializes in images of place. We think that publishers and corporations are often interested in iconic shots and/or detail shots of particular places for use on book covers, brochures, web sites, etc. So, we combine that purview with our interest in travel and photography, and voilà a side business.

We’ve started modestly by having a blog front-end to the site to which we intend to add images and narratives regularly. Behind-the-scenes, we’re using Photoshelter to house our archive and galleries. My opinion of Photoshelter is currently mixed (they are pricy), but as I use it, I like it more, particularly for the right management features that Zenfolio simply doesn’t have (yet!). More on this later.

So, check out Regional Imagery, LLC. Leave a comment. Watch us grow. And, if you are a photographer who might have some images to contribute (we share any money made), let us know. Oh, and follow us on Twitter.

MSC Humanities Upgraded

Gerald Lucas — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:34:21 +0000

Yes, it’s finally finished. The migration from Drupal to WordPress on the MSC Humanities site is complete. Yes, the Leopard Server upgrade gave me some issues, but I think the result is worth it. Let’s just hope the next system update from Apple doesn’t break anything. It shouldn’t.

I still have some work to do to this site, the HumX, and to Big Jelly, but I’m pretty pleased with my migrations. Drupal served me well for a long time, but WordPress seems to be much more advanced — at least for my purposes. Yes, WP has its quirks, but in the big picture, it is just a better platform. Besides, it seems to have many more professional designers working for it.

I’m Addicted

Gerald Lucas — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:03:57 +0000

I seem to be, anyway. When I found Elegant Themes, I had to change the look of my photography web site. And this site with the Quadro theme. (I’m resisting the urge to move install one of these themes on HumX. No, I won’t.) Yes, for $20 a year, you too can have some pretty nice themes for your WordPress site.

So, I spent all day uploading some of my 2008 photography. Check it out. And leave a comment, especially if you got your gravatar on.

I’m planning on upgrading our departmental Xserve tomorrow with Leopard Server. With that will be a new Humanities web site, run on WordPress and Elegant Themes’ Who’s Who theme. Drupal just seems sluggish compared to the WordPress, so there’s nothing like a vacation to move everything.

I just hope the addiction will continue.

Drupal to WordPress

Gerald Lucas — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:51:40 +0000

Why is this so difficult?

I’ve been looking for days, and I have yet to find a viable solution to move my Drupal site(s) to WordPress. Why? The links on WordPress’ web site are very old; Google search comes up with several promising hits, but nothing that pans out. They’re either old, or too complicated.

I’m moving to WordPress for ease and speed. I like Drupal quite a bit, but it is a real chore to update. Module porting to newer versions is slow with Drupal, or sometimes just doesn’t happen. Most Drupal themes are awful. WordPress just seems much more friendly for my needs. It’s fast and responsive. I plan to move LitMUSE and HumX to WordPress, too.

This Drupal issue aside, I had much luck porting all of my old Movable Type stuff to WordPress. It was almost too easy. It should be here soon, along with comments.

Now, I have to move those comments to Disqus. This will probably be pretty painless. However, I’m as optimistic about moving them from my Drupal install. We’ll see soon.

NMS: Keeping Me Busy

Gerald Lucas — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:34:38 +0000

After a year of using iWeb for the Norman Mailer Society’s web site, I finally wizened up and began using WordPress.

Now, I have nothing against iWeb for beginners. It’s much better than the Micro$oft equivalent (what isn’t?), but it has some major flaws. For one, it is a pain in the butt to do a simple update if you’re not using me.com. So when I was sent an update or an editing suggestion, sometimes I’d put it off for days since it was such a chore. Apple has a good product, but it’s really only usable with their online service.

So with WordPress, I’ve been updating the NMS site almost daily with Mailer news. I’m actually into it. We’ll see how long it lasts, but for now, go there, subscribe to the feed, and leave some comments. I’m beginning to think I’m the only one who uses the site.

Updates, Updates, Updates

Gerald Lucas — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:37:22 +0000

Well, I’m in the process of moving my blog (again!) from my Tumblr site to this one. I’m still gonna keep that site, but I’ll probably just use it for photoblogging. Maybe I should just ditch it, and use Flickr for that? Hm. Anywho, I hope this will be a final move for my blog. Since I use Drupal for my other sites, I thought I might as well use it for this one.

I found a theme I like, Refresco by Patrick Teglia, and tweaked it quite a bit. Drupal’s gotten a lot more sophisticated and elegant since I began using it a few years ago, so it should work well for my purposes here.

I’m in the middle of porting all of my old content to this site from several incarnations of this blog, so I might be a while in updating.

The New LitMUSE

Gerald Lucas — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:30:29 +0000

Well, I’ve been meaning to do it for a while, and there’s nothing like convalescing to give me some free time. I’ve finally updated the look of my courseware website LitMUSE. Actually, this theme is one I came up with several years ago, but I updated the CSS and made it into a template for Drupal.

I’m thinking about using a slightly modified version for my other sites — this one, grlucas.net, humx.org. When I say “slightly modified,” I mean changing the colors. This way, there will be some continuity in the different sites, but also some aesthetic differences.

If I can only find the time.