Inspiration - On and Off the Net

The past week or so has not been an easy one but definitely one of learning and inspiration.

First, to follow up from my last blog on dealing with cross browser optimization issues, I kept digging on this one and decided to ask around as well. On a forum I sometimes frequent (www.htmlforums.com), someone stated they never use browser specific style sheets and sent me a solution for a question with a page I was working on using padding and em instead of pixels for size. It worked! So of course, I wanted to learn more.
So here it is, one article I found and felt was very good reading:









elastic layouts with ems



This weeks Inspirations:

I'm turning in to a little bit of a collector of "favorite designs" but it's such great resource to have.
Here are a few more I really loved, these were top of the list at

Smashing Magazine Showcase of 09 Festivals and Conferences












Bumbershoot 2009 - This one made me homesick, I remember going to this when I lived in Washington! I love the design; the fun font on the banner with the people in the background. There's a lot of information and the arrangement is nice here as well.














Bonnaroo - A little crazier but I love the colors and layout here as well. No doubt this is for a festival!



Along with the great sites,
a Great article for freelancers Also at Smash Magazine.


Off The Net -
I'm a big Project Runway fan and recently watched the documentary "Eleven Minutes" about Jay McCarroll, former winner of the show, trying to establish himself as a serious designer vs TV personality and his months long journey to creating his first clothing line and fashion show for Bryant Park at Fashion Week. Jay is brave and honest enough to show all sides of himself and his work including his occasional insecurities and self doubt, impatience and moments of just being completely stressed out and wanting to give up. This for me just makes him more of an inspiration, more real and I like and respect him even more. From finding funding, producing the garments, asking friends to work for free and then trying to sell his line to retailers after the show, "Eleven Minutes" really shows the good, bad and down and dirty of the business itself and the struggle to be successful.


I have always loved Jay's designs and was picking out pieces I wanted while watching his runway show; that little blue patterned top, the long sleeve mini dress, the great messenger bag. I was a fan of his on Project Runway and now really love Jay as well as his designs.

After watching and thinking about some of my own struggles, I was really preoccupied with why doing what you love has to be so difficult, painful, stressful, exhausting, etc. but you want to do nothing else.
It has to be because your whole heart is in this, what ever it is you love to do. And in my opinion, there's no way for anything artistic to not be taken personally. It's all from YOU, your blood, sweat and tears and it hurts when someone says they hate it or criticizes your work. As thick skinned as you need to be and eventually become, that is a challenge; remembering it's business even when it's your personal creative expression. I guess that's why I liked the documentary and keep collecting these great site designs. Inspiration can keep you going, give you that needed lift, fuel your spirit and make you feel better just knowing, beauty is everywhere and even though we all struggle - all things are possible.

Pinup of the week,
Smoke Screen, a 1958 Gil Elvgren beauty!

Cinderella and her magical CSS

After a very long evening of research, testing and working through one of my least favorite issues - cross browser optimization, I came upon an article that made my night a little brighter. I loved this quote, all my frustration had been summed up so beautifully:

"In an ideal world, you only need one set of CSS style sheets for your website, and those styles will work with every browser currently being used. This, as every webmaster soon finds out when he/she uses CSS, is a pipe dream. The modern browsers all have uneven levels of implementation of the CSS standards. As though this isn't bad enough, their implementations are often buggy - and they don't share the same bugs! And when you have solved that tricky bit, you find that your site has certain visitors (often your best customers) who, for various reasons, are using older browsers that have only rudimentary support for CSS. "

UGH!!!! I know this is old news and everyone feels the same but after a very, very late night of coding and testing and re-testing...I had to vent :)

The good news is, this article provided not only good information but also some much needed validation; I am on the right track after all I realized as I read through the article's suggestions - most of this I already do or had done. And after being kicked around a little trying to accommodate all the different versions Internet Explorer, I appreciated the hug!

So I did finish my changes and it wasn't all as painful as I'd feared it would be. At times I did feel a little like Cinderella, trying to please my mean, ugly step sisters IE 6 and 7 and then my horrible step mother IE 8 would come in and kick up dirt on my nice clean floor! Luckily, my fairly web mother waved her magic wand....ok, enough with that already. I just created and linked an additional external style sheet as well as editing the ones I already had as needed for my sweet, well mannered friends Firefox and Safari, with all the warm fuzzies each browser needed to be happy.

For any and all interested, here the link to the entire article http://www.thesitewizard.com/css/excludecss.shtml

Good information, great tips and tricks plus the validation that you are not alone in the struggle to make all browsers happy - worth reading in my opinion.

Summer's coming to an end so I thought a bikini girl might be a nice farewell and welcome to fall. This one's a 1961 Gil Elvgren pinup called "just for you"