I often get asked where people should go to get a question answered about [anything]. Whether you’re looking for help, to network, or just to enjoy some common company with others online with similar interests, forums are a great place to head to.

You may be wondering, why the hell is Andy writing about forums? Well, I just read a great blog post by Jane Wells of Automattic (the company behind WordPress) titled In Praise of the Forums. In this article she explains why people often get upset when she sends them to WordPress’ support forums, but then goes into detail about why it is a great resource, and often times faster and more helpful than a private support system. I want to go a bit further and say that Forums can be looked at as one of most powerful ways to use the web.

I am definitely biased in the fact that I own and run a Camaro forum (and have run others in the past), so I wanted to get that out of the way first. However, I don’t think that there can be enough emphasis placed on how great of a tool online forums are. There are a few ways to look at what defines an online forum. From the stalwarts like vBulletin, phpBB, and other “bulletin board” software, to something more specific or custom, like Yahoo Answers. I like to think of Yahoo Answers as a forum in the general sense. You have a topic (question), and responses (answers). Other similar sites are found all over the web. Even more custom and niche sites like Forrst (a Designers & Developers community) could be looked at as a forum if you break down the 4 types of posts. Each type of post has a main topic, and then responses from other users.

When it comes down to it, I think most all of the social sites have roots in forum-esque ideas. I’ve heard many people in the past few years stating that the forum is a dead breed, and that everyone has moved onto social media. I agree that social media is great, and has done great things for the internet and people’s lives. What I don’t agree with is the thought that forums are dying. Sure, some forums die, just like some social networks do. I still don’t see a better architecture for getting crowdsourced answers and using the sum of everyones knowledge to help teach yourself something, solve a problem, or help others. So next time you have a question, or want to learn more about a specific topic, take a look at forums and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

For years now, I’ve tried to be “normal”, in the sense that I work a “nine to five” work schedule. When I first started freelancing more, I was looking for any advice I could get and everywhere you turn you read that you need to have a set schedule for work. I’ve found that in my case, this theory is bullshit. I’ve always enjoyed working at night. I always seem to focus more on the tasks at hand, I have no distractions, whether their in my own head or from the outside world, and I just feel like I’m more creative when working my weird hours.

So I’ve decided I’m not going to fight it anymore. Why I was so afraid to just work the hours I really want to work I may never know, other than to think I need to fit a mold.

There is not much I like better than to work creatively with my headphones on at 2:00 AM on a weekday.

As a freelance designer, often I get harassed by my friends that I should be really happy to be working for myself. They’re right, I should be happy about it and I am. However, I also have the stigma that almost all self-employed people are tagged with; working less and doing less. I don’t bother to correct them that I put tons of extra hours into my work because I know most of my friends are simply poking fun and usually not serious. I do work very often, and find personal time harder to come by which is a big issue. I really need to find more time for me. Along the same lines, I sit at the computer for 9 or more hours a day 5 or 6 days a week. It isn’t always fun, and it sure makes getting fat easy, which I’m good at.

Fat & Lazy

So, I’ve decided I’m tired of being overweight. My friend and client, Marc Halpern of Halpern Fitness and I have started a workout routine. Marc is a great Personal Trainer, and I’ve gone at this for a week now and already feel better about myself, and have more energy. I’ve always had Marc around, but never seriously got into a workout regiment made by him to cater directly to me. This morning I was thinking how very stupid I have been for waiting this long. I’ve tried many workouts, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt that any of my own workouts with equipment at a gym are nearly as beneficial as working directly with Marc. We’ve set up daily nutrition goals, as well as my goal of making it to 250lbs by March.

Excuses, everyone has them and they all…

One excuse I constantly used was that I was going to lose too much of my billable hours & productivity by worrying about exercising. To put it gently, I was stupidly wrong. I’m not losing any time. I think knowing I have to make room for exercise each day makes me more proficient with the rest of my scheduling. On top of this, I feel like I have more energy mentally to get through longer days and not get creatively burnt out. Maybe the release of aggression & pent-up energy just helps me focus the rest of the day. I’m no doctor, but I sure as hell feel better.

Absolutely love that ZooTool is now a Google Chrome App. I’ve always wanted to use ZooTool, but without owning a Mac I never had the chance. I’ve started using it to build moodboard-type pages for clients designs.

If you haven’t noticed yet we’re making some evolutionary changes to the site. We feel its getting just a bit dated and wanted to make sure its easy to use, fast, and represents everything we do as a Design Company. Hopefully we’ll be finished here soon, but if you notice anything a bit whacky that is likely why.

As long as I’ve been designing, one of the biggest gripes Web Designers have (other than Internet Explorer) is the limited stack of web-safe fonts. What we mean by web-safe fonts are fonts that are installed on a very high percentage of visitors Operating System. Web-safe fonts (Georgia, Arial, Verdana) work well, and are nice to show to the guests visiting a site designed by you.
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If you’re like me and one of the select few web designers and/or developers who doesn’t carry around an iPhone all day long I’d first off like to welcome you to our exclusive club. Secondly I’d like to point you to the Motorola Droid or other Android Phones (preferably the 2.0 android phones coming out soon). Its rare that a Web Designer isn’t an iPhone owner, but I have my reasonings, one large one is the network carrying the iPhone and its horrible service around Buffalo.

Anyways, No worries, because I’m in love with my Motorola Droid anyways. I’ve owned both, and personally recommend the Droid over the iPhone. One place where it does need some work is to get some more Web Design & Development Apps in the Marketplace. This is what I’ve found to be useful to me as a designer, I’ll keep this updated as new apps come out for the android platform.

• Google Voice

  (free)
  If you’re a designer and don’t have Google Voice, this one might not help you too much, but I love this application. This is one of the “iDon’t” apps that the iPhone can’t use because of Apple’s App Store Restrictions. Anyways, It’ll let you sync your Google Voice account to your phone and even allow you to choose to make calls from your Google Voice Number all the time, internationally, or let you choose before each call. I find this great as my Business Phone Number is a Google Voice Number and being able to use my physical phone to call from that number is a great feature and one of the big selling points of this phone to me. If you don’t yet have a Google Voice account, let me know and If I’ve got any invites I’ll send one your way.

• CSS Cheat Sheet

  (free)
  This is a simple, yet handy cheat sheet that has CSS Elements that are in a dropdown category system for quick and easy navigation and searching.

• Remember The Milk

  (free – requires RTM Pro Account)
  Remember The Milk is one of the fastest and easiest to use task lists on mobile devices. The Pro Account for Remember the Milk is only $25.00 and if it saves you even a few hours in time you’d otherwise not have organized it has already done its job.

• Google Analytics for Android

  (free or paid)
  There are literally a ton of Google Analytics Apps in the Marketplace for you to choose from, but I do suggest grabbing one that you enjoy. I’ve yet to test them all, so if you’ve got suggestions as to what GA apps are the best don’t hesitate to let everyone know in the comments.

• wpToGo

  (free)
  This is another App that is for a specific piece of software, but this is one of the most popular CMS/Blogging Platforms in the world. wpToGo is a fast and easy way to connect to your WordPress Blog via mobile and add posts. There are some features I’d like to see added in either a paid version, or updated free version but this is still a very good app so far.

• Mind Map Memo

  (free)
  Mind Map Memo is a free app that lets you easily create mind maps while on your android device. It works quite well with my Droid and makes what would seem to be a tedious process on a mobile device quite simple and powerful. I love to use mind-mapping software to organize my thoughts and ideas so this is a must have for me.

One thing that I do really enjoy is the Google Calendar that comes installed on the Motorola Droid. I won’t list that since its a common thing for most Android phones.

I’ll be updating this as more apps become available or I discover some that I have yet to run across. If you’ve got any apps that help you out with your design or management add a comment and I’ll check them out and possibly add them to the list.

I’ve got some exciting news; I’ll be attending my first ever Wordcamp on November 14th and 15th in NYC. Very excited to go to one and have been trying to get to one for a couple years now. As most of our clients know we almost always suggest wordpress as a CMS or blog for our sites because it is so flexible, powerful and open source. If you’re going and would like to meet just let me know as I’m looking to network with as many people as I can during the event.

More information on Wordcamp NYC

I’m happy to announce that I will begin designing for IPB 3.0+ and vBulletin 4.0+. vBulletin 4.0 is planned to release sometime in August, and IPB has just been released. If you’re looking for a custom IPB or vB skin don’t hesitate to contact me and I can help you out. 15% discount to the first 5 clients on the new forum designs!

I’m also thinking about releasing some downloadable themes (haven’t decided for sure, or whether they’ll be paid or free), but I will keep everyone updated of releases of themes if and when I do.

Since starting as a Freelance Designer over 3 years ago I’ve matured quite a bit in my designs, and how I manage to create the designs. From thoughts in my head to html/css code displayed in a browser as a finished product, each step along the way is crucial to a good design, and one of the areas that I often undervalued when designing before was wire framing phase.

Wire frames are gaining popularity very fast with designers and after trying it out, theres no question why. Wire frames help to organize all the information and sections of a site that you’re working on. (more…)