Ok it’s day 5 since the redesign and I’m finally able to collect a short list of breaks, defects and necessary updates:
- The searchbar looks funny in Safari
- The sidebar needs reworking, those black link containers look boring when the link titles are too short
- Comment area needs a redesign, maybe a container for each comment
- I have reports that the comment count with huge numbers is a tad confusing
- AdLinks above the main menu is also confusing, gotta move them somewhere else
- The design is needing Christmas decorations
- Someone has requested the number of bats to be 42 – it’s not an error so keep trying!
That’s that for now. If I missed anything please let me know. I’m pretty swamped right now but I’ll see if i can pull off the fixes before the end of the week.
I like the beginning of a new month. Many good things happen, like money in the bank, less work to deal with and a chance to start over. It’s a good time to try something new, since it’s been a little over a year since I made any major updates around here. So I present you Emerge Beta – my secret project for the last six months (on and off), home designed and hand coded* in much toil surviving both depression and dementia. Ok enough crap. Here it is folks. I chose the name Emerge because this end of the year marks a giant leap in life for me. I’m quitting my job in three weeks and moving on to full blogging and webdesign starting January 2006. It’s time I emerge from my dark past and step into my new future.
The design is tested in Firefox, Safari and IE. It’s in beta because I’m not quite done yet. It’ll probably be in beta for good since I plan to keep working on it until it’s time for a new design. If you catch any bugs please drop me a note.
So, what do you guys think?
*XHTML+CSS based on Kubrick by Michael Heilemann – badly beaten and hacked
I’ve been working on the new design around the clock for the past two days. I gotta tell you it’s mad. No I’m not bragging about how kickass it looks. I’m talking about the bugs and script errors I’m encountering in order to make it work. I guess my coding skills are a bit rusty.
On the flip side, I’ve let life pass by unnoticed. I had a conflict with a good friend yesterday and it kinda got worse today. But I cared more about finishing the design so I’ll deal with that later. I also have zero preps for my Christmas travel plans. I’m such a dumbass sometimes.
dS is needing an upgrade too, and I gotta work on two other blogs before Christmas. My life is mad right now, the new design is mad, and the fucking weather outside is mad.
I’m having another spike this week. I’m not sure what’s causing it (my logs are hard to read) but this is my second spike ever since Repliee Q1. All that free traffic and I’m not earning one cent more from this blog. I think it’s due to my personality, the personality behind this blog. I don’t think any blog can be successful (in making money) if it’s ever too personal. Why do I worry about making money? Well, for starters I’m an adult and my energetic youth is expiring fast. I don’t have time anymore to fool around and report my silly doings to the world. I think it’s time for me to treat this place as a business just like my other blogs out there. Of course I want to have fun doing business, and I want to help a lot of people through this blog, which I’m not right now.
That’s why I’ve decided to switch boats valid immediately. A new design is underway and when it’s launched (hopefully before Christmas) I’ll quit talking about the girls I date, the coffee I stopped drinking, the sports car I don’t have, etc. Instead I’ll be blogging about design and the arts of my interest, like photography, industrial design, art of deception, etc. Yes I’m reverting jermexpress.com to its original content (the old days of the late 90s) – Photoshop tutorials, design tips, design reviews, and things of the sort. The old posts will be preserved until further notice. I will eventually sift them and move the more personal entries to a subdomain and keep them in a personal journal or something, but they’ll be around another while.
If you think this is a bad move, flame me in the comments. If you support me and want to send me a kudo, drop a comment as well. All thoughts will be appreciated as they will help me shape the new jermexpress.com.
Stay tuned.
Update (the morning after): If you think I’m turning this place into a cash-generator, I’m not. I simply want to start over and pick up where I left off in the late 90s, when this place was a resource to help people design their sites and create kickass graphics on the web. I’m going to treat this as a business not because I want to be rich (trust me I’ll never be rich from blogging) but because I want to share the arts of making cool websites with my readers. I don’t think telling the world about my life is going to change the world, but if I can help a person or two create their home in the internet jungle, I would complete my mission.
Woohoo I got my first EFT from Google today!! Google is just AWESOME!!
I feel a little bad though cuz I emailed AdSense support a few hours ago asking why my account has been showing “Payment in progress” for the last three days. The next hour the moolah is in my account. Shame on me!! 
Hi my name is JErm and this is my blog. I'm just a simple guy living a simple life on a simple island.
