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.

Original Article: Online Forums Not Quite Dead

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.

Original Article: Night Owl

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.

Original Article: Becoming A Leaner Me

Original Article: ZooTool as a Chrome App

Original Article: Pardon our Dust

Typekit has 4 different stages of membership, each with added benefits, different amounts of fonts included, and pageview limits. While it may be considered pricey to some, for a year it is cheaper than a video game, which when put into context of more typography control is easily worth the money to me.

The best part about Typekit and @font-face is that this works in IE6+, Firefox 3.5+, Safari 3.1+ and Chrome 4.0.294+. The only major browser that it doesn’t support is Opera, but heres another great thing; graceful degradation. Typekit will allow you to use their fonts right in your CSS’s font stacks, so if it is not enabled on the browser the guest is viewing the site on you can still have a web-safe font show up easily.

So here is what I think of it. Overall, a great service at a rate that is quite good when you consider some of the font foundries you’re getting to use, and the typekit servers speed from what I’ve been seeing. There are only a few negatives that I think are even worth writing about. First and foremost is the added load to the page. Fonts are linked via your browser, and depending on the font it can be from 10k-50k per font. This may seem like a lot, but thinking of it as images, that is 1-3 larger images on a page, not something I’d say is a deal-breaker. The other negative that I see is many fonts aren’t good for use at small sizes. This is to be expected, and typekit even has some suggestions for type used in paragraphs and lower sizes.

P.S. – If you’re on a supported browser, the font you’re reading is a typekit font (FF Tisa Web Pro). Headings are also a typekit font (Adelle)

Original Article: My Thoughts on Typekit

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.

Original Article: Android Applications for Web Designers

More information on Wordcamp NYC

Original Article: Meet Andy at Wordcamp NYC

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.

Original Article: IPB 3.0 and vBulletin 4.0 Theme Design

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. With sites becoming more complex and looking to be better organized wire frames are used to make sure that the layout of the site, and the communication between pages works well. Every person will have their own method to wireframing, however the concept is usually the same.

Personally, I have a Moleskin Notebook that I begin quick wireframes in to get my thoughts from my head to the paper. From there I use larger graph paper to make a larger and more detailed frame of the site. Its important not to get caught up in design elements, colors, images, backgrounds, etc… at the stage because that isn’t what we want to use our wireframe for. I like to think of the wireframe as a puzzle, and to find the easiest and most useful way to organize the sections on a page into their own locations on the paper. Like I’ve mentioned before, there are no real rules to wire framing, just do what works for you and try new ways to do it. It’s the only way to tell if it helps you and your creative process.

Great Wireframe Resource:
http://wireframes.tumblr.com/ – I found this via twitter a few weeks ago and its regularly updated with new wire frames. Its a great way to see how many different ways you can work on your wire frames.

Original Article: Using a Pen and Paper as a Web Designer