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So I’ve just taken the last month to be on hiatus from my regular routine so I could help take care of the new boy. It was a lot of fun and now it’s time to get back to work.

Where have I been and what have I been doing, you ask? Well…

My wife just gave birth to my second kid on the first of October.

He’s a cool little mellow guy…

Tons of traffic come in to this site everyday through search engines. Lots of that traffic is coming to the right place and others are a long way off from where they should be. So here’s a list of some of the google search terms that I rank high for (top 10 in results). Some are funny, while others are kind of impressive…

A few weeks back, after finally being happy with how this site was coming together, I decided it was time to spread the word and get visitors coming in. It was time to start some shameless self promotion. I had a plan and learned a good bit…

Woopra, a new website analytics tool on the scene (just recently put into open beta), is bound to change the way you think about your website visitors. It brings a face to each of your visitors so you can know more about them and how they actually use your website. They’re not just a number but someone you can learn from…

I wrote a tutorial a little while back on writing a script that forces new windows on PDF and external links without the addition of anything extra into the xHTML. Turns out, to no surprise, that IE 6 does something strange with the image that indicates the new window. Here’s what it does and how I fixed my script…

Delicious sucks and you know it. Now Magnolia, they know what’s up when it comes to social bookmarking – they’ve built a feature rich application that just feels right. Compared to Delicious I wonder what the hell I was doing using them for so long. Hum. It’s time we all switched…

Continuing with my push to give away color swatches for your use – I’ve pulled together a handful more that I’ve put together since my last post on color. Enjoy, and let me know if you put them to good use…

I am a stickler for HTML/CSS validation when I build web pages – to the point that I’d be called militant in every respect. Why do some people choose to use invalid code while others painstakingly make sure each line of their code is well formed? He’s why people don’t and why they should…

Writing my new years resolutions kept me thinking this year. I’ve done the same for what I want to accomplish on this blog – to help me keep focused for what I want to share…

Institutional development of software can’t compare to the collaborative model of open source development. Companies hire a range of employees to contribute much of their time to the development of a product. Open source software allows a single individual the ability to contribute as little or as much as they would like/can offer for furthering the product…

Color and I have a bit of a love hate relationship. I tend to design somewhat ‘darkly’ yet I find really strong and strange colors to be incredibly powerful when used correctly. One of my favorite tools is Adobe’s Kuler – just wish I knew of an open source desktop equivalent. For you’re enjoyment, I’m giving away some recent palettes.

Being a web designer, most people assume that I have an arsenal of software in my toolkit that includes Adobe Photoshop, Illustratior and Dreamweaver and that I probably work on a Mac. We’ll, most people think I’m crazy and weird when I first tell them that I much prefer open source software and my real arsenal includes The GIMP, Inkscape and Eclipse/Aptana. Oh and I work in Linux. Here are some of my favorite tools and why I’m such and advocate of Open Source…

Even though I think WordPress is great, seeing how Textpattern worked so well out of the box and the ability it gave me to customize it so quickly and cut down on the time it takes me to write posts – I am officially becoming their new spokesperson…

I enjoy seeing how website designers and developers make their websites and I spend a lot of time looking at the code behind the site, more so than I read their articles (sometimes)…

I don’t like HP…

The definition of Brand is changing online. We are continuing to adopt technologies that strip company communications of their look and feel. Feeds are taking over browsing and email applications are blocking designs – stripping out what is to be considered the visual aspect of a brand, leaving only what we have to say in it’s place…

Ages ago I attempted to learn JavaScript to no avail. I never really found any great use for it – and what it was being used for was pretty trivial and lame. That was until I read Jeremy Keith’s book…

When Twitter first hit the scene a couple years back, I wasn’t really sold on it. I thought it was a little self-centered and other than the instant social text messaging, I didn’t really see any benefit to it. How was I going to get my friends to jump on it and start using it as a way to communicate? So why have I changed my mind on it, and why today am I advocating it’s use?…

I don’t usually go off topic, but I wanted to voice my opinion about the “individual right to bear arms” that is currently being debated in the Supreme Court this week…

It’s almost an oxymoron. Here are my two cents on the fact that IE has finally adopted web standards…

I’ve made many websites for myself and clients over the years, but today was the first time that I’ve ever implemented a content management system into a client site. How did I accomplish it? WordPress! Why?…

I was driving into work and heard a commercial for some sort of discount breakfast at a gas station and the last couple words were – prices and participation may vary not available with 64 ounce coffees…

My wife needs a computer – I thought I had found a few good ones to show her and then she threw me a curve ball… It had to be pink! What?…

I have a few drafts of some blogs to publish and a few great ideas ready to start working on…but I’ve been really busy doing freelance work for the last few weeks…

So I actually thought about what I want to do in two thousand and eight. Here are my EIGHT new years resolutions…

Here it is, it’s pretty much the holidays. People are off of work doing shopping and preparing for visits with they’re families…

I’ve been blogging on and off for the last few years, but about 8 months ago I gave up on it completely. After feeling a bit inspired, I’m back on the bandwagon. (or is it off the bandwagon?)…

I believe that the slow adoption of the technology comes only from the use of the acronym RSS in the first place and I honestly prefer a more semantic approach. Lets all please stop referring to XML/RSS/Atom feeds as they are and simply call them FEEDS…

I’ve been keeping myself too busy, here are some random things…

Yes again tomorrow is get naked day for the web design community and I’m participating…

I’m soon to be a proud father, September will bring a new little Cooper into this world…

OpenID is an interesting idea that has come about in recent years. Here’s a quick overview to what it currently does and how it could change the future of our virtual communities…

I’m sitting at a glass topped oak desk in a overly small bedroom on the second floor of the Algonquin Hotel on 44th in Manhattan. The lamp next to me flickers a bit, the heat finally came on a few minutes ago, and I can hear every word said in the hallways…

There are three MAJOR benefits that a company gains when bringing in full time designers, and has happened in my organization…

Well, even though I talk about how HTML should be chucked out the window, I really believe that it just needs a major overhaul…

Over the next couple years, we’ll continue to adopt standards online that will wipe HTML 4 and xHTML off the map. It will live on in XSL but will evolve drastically as more sites start to implement it…

Poetic Reflections on life.

I’m only happy with my work for short periods of time. When I first put something together, I’ll love it for a few days and then it’s old to me. I’m sure any artist, writer, designer or musician feels the same way, it’s our drive…

In the near future, our socialization through the web will move away from inside the browser, to being an extension of it, just as news has gone from inside of the browser to being pulled into aggregators…

After 10 years of living in city apartments and after 7 years of living in the city of Philadelphia, I have finally gathered my things, packed up boxes, and am moving back to suburbia. I was way overdue to get out of this place…

I was on a kick doing work and it just fell to the way side. It pisses me off…

I was invited to speak at Siggraph on behalf of the Art Institutes. I talked about my experiences entering into the design field and how I got to where I am today…