Tutorials Entries ~
Indiana Jones and the Message on the Bottle
I will readily admit that I am a total nerd. I was totally psyched about the new Indiana Jones movie that came out a few weeks ago. I went out and bought the first three and watched them in like two days. Watched all the extra stuff on the DVD’s. I can’t even tell you how many childhood memories those movies brought back. It was great!
But when I finally went to see the new one, I found…
Vimeo’s Code Art
I’ve been looking for a higher quality alternative to YouTube, and have really been digging Vimeo. So while I was there, I did like any other self respecting web designer/developer would and had a look at the source code.
It was there that I found this:
Now that is some pretty sweet ASCII-style logo action!
I was impressed with their service already, but this is a stylish touch that goes above and beyond the call of radness. Hi-fives…
A Non-Profit’s Guide to Websites
Non-profit organizations have a special place in our hearts here at FortySeven Media. We love it when people decide to change their world for the better, and do our best to help them however we can. Several months ago we completed the Knoxville Leadership Foundation's new website. Shortly there after Dan Myers, the Director of Communications and Operations at KLF, asked us to be part of a seminar for non-profit organizations to better equip them to use their websites. The following is a condensed version of that session. We had a grand time chatting…
Awesome Hand Carved Logo
Ever wanted your logo hand carved from a massive piece of wood by natives of Papua New Guinea? Ok, so maybe it wasn’t the first thing on your list, but dang it’s cool. My wife’s sister and her husband are missionaries in New Guinea and are back in the states to make the rounds to all their supporters and show them what they’ve been up to. Too many “and’s” in that last sentence? Probably. Regardless, we just got this in yesterday and had to share.…
The Depths of Our Typography Nerdliness
The following is a true story.
I had picked up Thrice’s new album and we had been listening to it yesterday while we were working. It is one of those albums that you immediately know is good, but need need a few more listens to really grasp its depth. So when I left a little early to move a piano, Jon decided that he would borrow it and return it today, which is totally fine by me. But what really struck me was the note he left. Well, not really the note…
Companies That Just Don’t Get It
Recently I had an encounter with a company that had a website, but didn’t understand the web. I promised them in an oh so nice email that I would write a blog post on the whole thing, so enjoy 
.
So my wife has a site that talks about the benefits of cloth diapers over disposable. She became a member of the Real Diaper Association (no I’m not going to dignify them with a link) who provides…
The Rather Difficult Font Game
If any of you good people out there don’t read the insightful Daring Fireball, you might have missed The Rather Difficult Font Game, which is aptly named. I normally consider my type-fu to be excellent, but I too was humbled. 33 out of 34 for this type ninja.
What are you waiting for? Test your might!
(Note: It’s a bit slow during daytime in the…
The Very Secret Order of Creatives Understanding
I don’t know when The Committee For Establishing Rules sat down to dictate that businesses must be staunchly boring and devoid of personality, but I’m glad to see that Veer missed the memo on that one. They are one of a few a larger companies we do business with that have managed to keep their charm. More than that, they know how to have fun.
So, what has sparked this fountain of appreciation? An e-mail. An e-mail…
Top 10 Tips for Creating Kick Awesome Websites
Thought we’d share just a few tips we’ve come across as we design each day. Seth Godin says lists are cool so I’m going to try one.
1. Think like a website. Try to keep in mind the limitations and strengths of the web when designing. For example, look for backgrounds that can repeat easily, or avoid designs that have a lot of overlapping transparency (at least until IE6 isn’t on so many computers).
2. Web typography. Your web typography will set your design apart from other studios. Study optimum line…
Do Not Ask For Pallets
There is a company very close to my house. I drive by it on an almost daily basis. I don’t know the name of this company. I don’t know what they do. All that I know is that they do not want me to ask for pallets.
As you can see in the picture above, this sign (and the two or three more just like it) are posted on the chain link fence surrounding their property. It’s the only signage you can see from the road…
Universal IE Hack And Other Hot Tips!
Fadtastic.net has put out their “HOT TIPS for Your Website in 2008.” Remember the date here friends. 
Anyhow, check out the Universal IE Hack, it’s the CSS I wish I could put into every site we code. Just kidding; we love you IE6. Except we’d rather gouge our eyes out with a spoon than “fix” another site for you ever again
Via Fadtastic.net
And happy April Fool’s Day, hopefully you didn’t fall for any of the…
Smashing Magazine Loves Us!
I was just informed that Smashing Magazine is using the EdgePoint Church site as an example of great grid based design. Awesome! Kudos to EdgePoint for giving us the freedom to give a church such a kick awesome design. We’re honored that Smashing magazine would include us as one of only 3 case studies. Kind words, for sure: “The grid is escaped with the use of angles and placement of the illustrations and…
Mac OS X Leopard ExpressionEngine Folder Icon
Here’s a little goodie for you ExpressionEngine developers on Leopard. A pretty folder icon to put all your plugins, modules, extensions, etc… in.
Quick rundown for those who don’t know how to change folder icons:
1. Select the folder who’s icon you want to change.
2. Right Click and select “Get Info” or press “Command - I.”
3. Select the eeicon folder and do the same.…
A Few Thoughts on my AppleTV
So the other night the wife and I were at the Apple store looking for Time Capsules for 47m. Happened to see the new AppleTV setup while we were there, and the HD movies looked incredible. I mean, jaw droppingly good. Yeah, I know BlueRay is better, but seeing Transformers in “almost” HD compared to the standard def movies I was used to; I was hooked. No more trips to Blockbuster, I nudged the wife!
We went home sans AppleTV that…
FortySeven Media Selected as a Finalist at Unique CSS
I meant to post this earlier, but we were nominated for the month of March by Unique CSS. Basically, they pick only 8 of the best sites they find and let people vote for the winner each month. Now, I know we’re halfway through March, but there’s still time! We need your help to win this thing. Do I sound like a politician yet?
Seriously, though we’re honored to have been chosen for this month at Unique CSS. If it behooves you (yeah…
I Need to Write a New Blog Post
Hey everybody, sorry we’ve been kind of quiet around here lately! Since we launched the new site in January we’ve had a flood of job requests come in and thus our free time has diminished a bit.
In addition, Nate and I are both helping to start new churches. Nate is running sound over at Turkey Creek Church (no, we didn’t do the website...don’t know why) and I’m leading worship and handling web duties at EdgePoint Church.
Oh, and besides that I am completely remodeling my kitchen.…
Less Everything’s Open Source Social Networking Platform
Well, our boys over at Less Everything have done it again. They’ve just released an open source social networking program called Lovd By Less. Frankly, I’m not sure how they manage to write app so fast, let alone make them this good. They must be eating their Wheaties. If you’ve been looking to put together some kind of social networking site and want to save some time developing, you should definitely check it out. Keep in mind that this is built with…
Microsoft Changed It’s Mind on IE 8
Microsoft has listened to the web community and reversed its decision to make IE 8 behave like IE 7 unless specifically told to do so. As I’m sure most of you have heard, there was much debate over this, with some big names in the web community actually backing Microsoft on this one. It never made sense to me, so I’m glad to see common sense won out this time. I just want my time back from all the things I’ve had to “fix” to make display properly in IE 6. You listening, Redmond? Eh,…
Stock Photo Sites: Please Be Creative
So I got these in the mail the other day (see picture). They were both roughly the same size, had big weird pictures on the front and were supposed to be cool, I guess. I glanced at them and noticed they both had the exact same offer. 25% off! That’s kind of strange. Oh wait, apparently Getty Images and Punchstock are located in the same building! Same return address! What do you know? I think someone is trying to pull a…
BuzzWord: An Amazing Online Word Processor
We’ve all probably used Google Docs or Zoho Writer. The new crop of AJAX based online word processing applications surely have Microsoft scrambling over in Redmond. Not to say any of those options is bad; in fact most of them are quite nice. But I found something completely different. BuzzWord.
Interestingly enough, BuzzWord is built on the Adobe Flex framework (so you need Flash to use it). Now, a web designer like me who usually tells my clients…
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- Vimeo’s Code Art
- A Non-Profit’s Guide to Websites
- Awesome Hand Carved Logo
- The Depths of Our Typography Nerdliness
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Popular Articles
Hahahaha, Vista sucks.
This is some crazy cool church projector stuff.
For all of us who hate voicemail trees.
Don’t break the rules to get ahead. Work hard and it’ll pay off.
CSS Tricks has a nice, plain english version of major CSS bugs in IE 6.
Number six in my article on Top 10 Tips for Web Design was to make awesome icons. PSDTUTS has a great article on how to design them effectively.
At first I thought the CSS framework generator was great...just pop in your XHTML and you get a nicely defined CSS file to start with. But it seems to add a lot of bloat, which we try to keep down on right? Well, go check it out at least.
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