On Webhosting and Domain Names

Please be prepared for a ridiculous wall-of-text.

Over the last 8 hours or so I've muddled through setting up a completely free blog (perhaps a website later?).

Check it out over at [ http://mxdev.x10.mx ].

I even have a fresh .co.cc domain going up as soon as the nameserver changes propogate.

More on all of this after the break. Click the |Comments?| button to proceed.

Infographics: Radiation

Picture-heavy, so I'll include a pagebreak. Just click the [ COMMENTS? ] button, and you'll get to see the pretty pictures.

Contents: Information Is Beautiful & XKCD renders of radiation dosage and symptoms.

Pretty representations of not-so-pretty physics.

Techshare: Photoshop Brushes (making of)

I mentioned Stephanie Valentin a while ago- she has some free brushes available [ here ].

For creating depictions similar to her work, they probably work just fine.

I'm not actually sure where I'm taking the whole digital-tablet-art thing yet, but I figure that it'd be worth understanding how to create my own brushes for general use.

That being said, a quick google-search yielded the following:

[ http://www.bittbox.com/photoshop/how-to-make-a-photoshop-brush ]

I'll admit it's a mac-based tutorial, but the theory therein is sound.

Blogs I like: Visceral Nadir @ Blogger

I recently acquired a graphics tablet (a g-pen f509, to be specific) and have spent some time fooling around with it. The results are over at [ http://visceralnadir.blogspot.com/ ]. I plan on updating it with more than doodles once I acquire a camera, but for now it's mostly an artblog.

Let me know what you think (here or there).

Blogs I like: Matthew James Taylor @ matthewjamestaylor.com

[ http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog ]

Inside, you'll find a library of articles that cover things that range from search-engine-optimization to elegant design solutions.

Particularly of interest (for me, at least) is [ http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-stacked-columns.htm ], which I'm using for a bit of design work that I'm about to do.

I've been struggling with the finer points of HTML5 and CSS for a week or so, and discovered this resource while looking for others that performed this sort of task.

Speaking of HTML5, I'm wondering if it's at all backwards-compatible.

Something tells me that folks using some extraordinarily-outdated browser will end up having a terrible web experience if it isn't.

Ads are content.

[ http://weblog.muledesign.com/2010/05/ads_are_content.php ]

Ads that you place aside your content are also content- they affect the experience the audience has while viewing your site. This is important, because if your ads are overly intrusive or poorly designed, it can reflect negatively on your content.

Everything published should be elegant and beautifully done- unless it's specifically grungy or intentionally aiming to produce a certain reaction.

Unrelated, but still kinda cool:

[ http://www.dontclick.it/ ]

Techshare: Kuler / Adobe

Adobe's the company responsible for the ubiquitous Creative Suite software bundles- I've had the good fortune to work with the packages at school but don't have access to quite the funds required to purchase such things given the budget that I have the good fortune of wielding.

Fortunately for design-minded folks like myself that also enjoy free stuff, Adobe's given the gift of kuler to everyone. It's one giant crowd-sourced swatch-generator, and it gives rise to plenty of ideas for designing neat things.

I like the template I'm using here, but I'm considering designing my own when I upgrade.

I have to learn CSS and PHP and JavaScript sometime; why not now?

It's amazing what folks can do with five solid colors. (Search zen on the kuler, for instance...)

Any graphic design resources you'd like to share?