New Brews

New skins up in the sidebar...

[UPDATE: Check out Firecracker Weird!]

First is Firecracker. I started this one as a tribute/rip-off of Wizbang. I wanted to put the big firecracker explosion over on the right hand side at the top of the links. It looked pretty crappy so I used the image as a background for the date and sidetitle divs. Then I used a 1px outline to make it pop off the black background a little better. I re-worked my banner image to stretch all the way across the page up to 1290px wide. I aligned the image right top, no-repeat and it looks great. It would look better, I think, with a text banner instead of my banner images, but they still look ok for a skin.

Next is Purple Fog. I found this really cool image for trees and fog shot through a purple filter. It's a pretty large image so I aligned it right bottom and fixed. Then, I grabbed a color off the background, ran it through my disgronifier and got 10 shades to work with. I used a combination of the color scheme to make the date and sidetitle divs look like raised buttons. I used white backgrounds and opacity settings of .60 for the blogbody and side divs so you could see the page background image through the posts and links. The date and sidetitle divs I set as full opacity so it gives a better visual clue to the page divisions. The only thing about opacity settings I don't like, is that I haven't figured out how to make the embedded images 100%... yet.

I designed these skins for full screen viewing at 1280x1024. Both designs degrade gracefully down to 800x600. I haven't checked then in IE yet as IE sucks and is not CSS standards compliant. They both look great in Mozilla 1.6 though.

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» by Madfish Willie on May 25 :: Permalink :: Comments (0) :: HammerHead

Tech Support - Pullquotes

From Susie, from SilverBlue, from KiwiFruit, from Mandarin Design

Pullquotes...

I've seen several sites over the last few days using a neat little CSS formatting trick to display pullquotes like a magazine. Here is a screen cap of my at MadLab test site

pullquote.jpg

I set mine up in my stylesheet. See the extended entry for the code I used. I have included the code for a left float pullquote and a right float pullquote.

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» by Madfish Willie on May 15 :: Permalink :: Comments (0) :: HammerHead

Imperial Animatrix

The Imperial Animatrix has struck again!

Check out the cool new graphics she did for Madfish Willie's.

Hit the [F5] button or refresh your screen to cycle throught the new banner images she did for Madfish Willie's.

This on I'm going to use for my comments and trackbacks.

bigmw.jpg

She does awesome work, don't you think?

Below are a couple of images she is doing for our re-design of Kevin Aylward's Wizbang Tech site. Kevin won the bidding/donation for a site re-design during the recent bloggers Spirit of America fund raising drive.

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» by Madfish Willie on May 8 :: Permalink :: Comments (5) :: Deferred :: HammerHead

Bad Example

Well, just finished up the design for fellow MuNuvian Harvey's new blog over Bad Example.

We finally got him off the world's slowest loading blooger list. I used to pull his page up, go grab some coffee, make some breakfast, take a crap, read the paper and then finally his site would be up. And I have a broadband connection.

It's a complete design overhaul. He's got a nice 3 column design with all kinds of thingys & doodads to make the reader experience a little easier. For those visually or harware impaired, we set up a link to a 800x600 view for the main page. If you need to view 800x600 click the littel button and you'll go to a 2 column design with the same content and the two sidebars merges together.

Pam did all the banners (12 to be exact) and we have several of them in a rotating banner script. She really does a great job coming up with new and unique ideas for all the sites she works with.

He's even started to post so I need to give him his first official MuNu trackback.

Go over and tell him to Fuck Off... tell 'em Madfish sent you!

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» by Madfish Willie on May 7 :: Permalink :: Comments (4) :: HammerHead

Designing Ideas!


Color codes... what are they... where do I find them... how do I use them... what about fonts...

Thse are some questions we ask when starting on a design for our site. I have compiled some links to answer these questions and presented them by groups in the extended entry.

Design gurus will tell you that content is king and design presentation should not detract from the actual content of your post. I am not presenting this information to discuss the theories of content and presentation. I am presenting it as a set of tools for you to use and decide for yourself how you want to present your content to your corner of the the world.

I tend to favor a more bold approach to using color in my designs, whereas other designers prefer a more subtle approach. I've tried to give you enough information and reference sources so you would be able to make your own decisions and present your content how you want it to look for your readers. After all... it's your site... do what YOU want to do.

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» by Madfish Willie on April 13 :: Permalink :: Comments (0) :: HammerHead
» Ramblings of SilverBlue links with: Massive Link-Luv™

Madfish Willie's Cyber Saloon

Well, now I've went and done it....

I've noticed my blog has been loading really slooooooow, here since lately. So after I finished Eric's new design today, I did some more housekeeping over here.

I determined several things were making my site load slow. Here's what I did:

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» by Madfish Willie on January 5 :: Permalink :: Comments (2) :: HammerHead

HammerHead Blog Design

HammerHead Blog Designs is proud to announce the birth of a new baby boy!

Eric, the Straight White Guy now has a brand new custom designed look! Go over and check it out and buy Eric a cigar... or a grilling Apron!

Pamibe over at Drowning at 2 Feet Sea Level did all the banners and graphics and buttons for the site [more than once, I might add]. I just can't describe how well she responds to what the site owner wants and comes out with something unique for each individual project. Just a marvelous talent as far as I'm concerned.

Madfish Willie had to pull out the big hammer and do some serious beating about Eric's head and shoulders for extended periods of time. Just kidding... actually it was probably the other way around, although we did run into some unique design challenges to make the site operational for his readers viewing exclusively with 800x600 resolution.

Eric decided it was time for a change and decided he wanted a three column design. So we did the three layout and put it up on his main site. Needless to say, there was much knashing of teeth and raising of hell! So, we decided to take the site down, put up his old site and direct everyone over the HammerHead design studio at MadLab. Eric did a post directing his readers to come by the site and leave comments on what they were seeing with what browser at what resolution. We left it up there for a couple of days and worked out each problem as it came up.

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» by Madfish Willie on January 4 :: Permalink :: Comments (2) :: HammerHead
» Just A Girl In The World links with: Today's Blurfing

HammerHead Blog Designs

HammerHead Blog Designs has just completed a new custom, 3-column, blog design for Linda at Civilization Calls. I did a complete custom job including the main page, comment listing template, comment preview template, trackback template, individual entry archives, category archives and monthly archives. I also added some scripts for better functionality. Go by and take a look when you have some time.

HammerHead Blog Designs also just did a little stylesheet tweak over at Susie's Practical Penumbra because we love her so much.

The next project is for Eric at Straight White Guy. It is in the HammerHead testing facility, better known as the MadLab! It's in the beta testing stage right now. Go over there and wonder through the site... it's not very long, only four or five test posts. Leave comments on what you find in the way of bugs and formatting errors. Don't forget to tell me what your browser is and what resolution your are viewing in.

After that project is complete, HammerHead Blog Designs will be working on putting skins on the site over at MuNuviana for our group blog. that should prove to be an interesting project, for me anyway.

When you have time, go check out the other designs HammerHead Blog Designs has completed. They are all listed and linked in the sidebar. Let me know what you find that needs corrected. Sometimes by the end of the project I get kind of weirded out and miss stuff that I should have caught. That's why I'm leaving Eric's site up at MadLab for a couple of days... to find the little stuff while I still have access to all the files.

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» by Madfish Willie on January 3 :: Permalink :: Comments (7) :: HammerHead

Friday Happy Hour

Moe's Toast...
"Here's to the model husband,
Usually somebody elses."

Bart's Call to Moe
[Bart]
Bea O'Problem! Bea O'Problem! Come on, guys, do I have a Bea O'Problem here?
Barney says "You sure do!"
Oh...it's you, isn't it?
Listen, you. When I get a hold of you, I'm going to use your head for a bucket and paint my house with your brains!
Bart laughs

Today's Drinking Story
Caller 6 - You're On The Air

Yogism: "We made too many wrong mistakes."

Things A Man Should Know: About Women:Love does not mean never having to say you're sorry. It means having to say you're sorry over and over again, in new and different ways, every day, every week, every month, even when you don't want to, every year, until God grants you his mercy and you finally, blissfully die.

ClueBat Insults: Thou craven, toad-spotted maggot-pie!

Movie Madness
Toad Turmoil

Dumb-Ass FarmYard Animal Jokes
What do you call a pig thief ?
What do you get if you cross pigs with a lot of grapes ?
What do you get if you cross a cow with a camel ?
What is the definition of a goose ?
What is the opposite of cock-a doodle-doo ?
What's the best way to keep milk from turning sour ?
Why was the lamb told off for being rude ?
What goes 'peck,bang,peck,bang,peck,bang' ?
What do you get if you cross a pile of mud with a pig ?
How do you take a pig to hospital ?

Today's Foreign Language Party Cookie is Tagalog / Phillipines (click thru for the really good stuff) Wala kang puwet: you are buttless
gago: stupid
tanga: dumbass
inutil: worthless moron
chupa: blowjob
Cheers!

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» by Madfish Willie on October 17 :: Permalink :: Comments (0) :: HammerHead