Archive
January 2009
28Jan
Over the past five years blogs have become a massive force on the web as even the non web savvy have been able to add content to the Internet. For those in the industry however blogs have been a way of promoting new ideas, technologies and as a form of self promotion. But has 2008 seen the start of the end for blogging as we know it?
Over the last year I’ve personally seen a decline in the amount of fresh content many experts in the industry have been posting to their blogs. Previously these would be the go to guys and gals to quench the thirst for new information, but recently these people have posted less frequently, written less, and posted more personal or off-topic information. Of course for many these are personal blogs and they do with them as they wish but in the industry as a whole this has limited the flow of information that many beginners may have depended upon.
Continue reading “Is the blog dead?”
25Jan
Every now and again you work on something that you feel truly proud of, that you feel showcases the best of your abilities. The new David Naylor website is one of those moments for me.
Back in December I took the decision to finally look into redesigning davidnaylor.co.uk. The previous design which I did only back in March 2008 appeared dated and when initially building the website certain decisions were taken that later created problems resulting in what felt like an incomplete, rushed and under developed website.
As most designers should attest to a client that knows too much about the web can be as difficult to design for as one who knows nothing, if not more difficult. When that client is your boss the process becomes even more complex. To remove the potential for issues I designed the new website at home. This allowed me to take my time with the design and concentrate on my own ideas, without outside interference. I prefer to work this way if possible and then amend or change a design upon gathering people’s opinions. Of course I would never recommend for a developer to work for free in their personal time, however in this case it was an enjoyable project and one I knew would benefit from being undertaken in my free time.
Continue reading “Portfolio Website: David Naylor”
18Jan
Last year I found that migrating a WordPress blog is a difficult task. In March I redesigned and rebuilt davidnaylor.co.uk with the intention to create a more business orientated website. The site was to become a fully functioning website with a blog attached rather than running everything through WordPress. Because of this the site was built from new on a development area, this was fine until it came time to move the WordPress database.
As the new site was more than just a WordPress theme the new site could not be simply integrated into the old website, the WordPress database would need to be moved. Simply importing the exported XML file from the old website was not possible due to the size of the file. The site had amassed 8MB of data while WordPress stated an upload limit of 2MB.
After failing in my attempt to do the same with the SQL export file, I was left with splitting the XML file into 2MB chunks. This is a long and boring process.
Now the problem has cropped up again, with an even larger XML file and I have tried once again to find a solution.
Continue reading “Importing Large WordPress Databases”
14Jan
The customer is always right, and when they’re paying for a service it’s their decision that is final. But at times a client can bypass all experienced views and proven testing to impart their own personal tastes on a project. This may be suitable for a personal website but not for a business site.
In most cases a clients modifications can be worked with to ensure the final website is still an example of good design. However there are cases when a clients wishes result in a website more at home in the 20th rather than 21st century. Luckily at this stage of development you can disassociate yourself from the project if you wish.
Continue reading “Help! A client ruined my work”