Dec 15 2008

Expression Engine first impressions

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

Whew! I handed over the new Expression Engine CMS to the client just now, and not a moment too soon – the family and I fly out tonight, so I’ll be leaving work in a few hours. I thought I’d better note my impressions of EE down before then. I’m happy to report that EE is every bit as good as most say, and as tough to pick up, with a few other slight drawbacks.

Read on…
No comments

Nov 18 2008

Selecon

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

Another new website went live today, this time for Selecon, an outstanding homegrown manufacturer that produces the best and most innovative theatre and display lighting in the world. With an extensive range of products and an online shop in certain regions, this has been one of the biggest projects I’ve worked on in a long time. I’m pleased with it, and the original content seems to be fitting better than expected too.

No comments

Nov 17 2008

Taking Expression Engine for a spin

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

We’re working on a big client’s website and after a series of (consequently?) overpriced quotes from local firms for the CMS, most bigger than the total budget, we decided today to licence Expression Engine from Ellis Labs and set up the CMS ourselves. We’ve never explored this option before, so I’m looking forward to finding out if Expression Engine is as powerful as everyone says and if so, extending our capabilities in this way. I’ll follow up with my findings in a subsequent post.

No comments

Nov 10 2008

UK-bound for Christmas

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

In the last few days we realised it’s now or much later before we get to visit my family in the UK again, so after a couple of days finding available seats we’re flying Air New Zealand to the UK on December 15th, returning on the January 7th. I’m no fanboy of Air NZ because the seats were so hard last time, but the air miles will come in handy for further jaunts to Oz or the South Island.

No comments

Nov 4 2008

Hudson Gavin Martin

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

My latest website design went live today, that of newly-formed Auckland intellectual property law firm Hudson Gavin Martin. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Alt Group received New Zealand’s the top graphic design award this year at the Best Awards for our work on the brand. Continuing the directness of the brand into something as complex as a website user interface was very challenging, but I am pleased with the results.

No comments

Oct 17 2008

Ryder

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

Updated Nadia’s Ryder Salon website today with a nice compact little Flash animation on the home page. The animation needed to reflect the style of their new appointment cards so I scripted the Flash to randomly generate similar layouts and to cycle through the existing colour schemes. As you may know, randomly generating visuals to be consistent with a brand is never as easy as it sounds, but we got there in the end.

No comments

Oct 11 2008

Best Awards ’08

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

Alt had a great night at the country’s biggest design awards yesterday, taking home (amongst other things) the supreme prize, the Stringer, for Graphic Design. This was for our identity work for law firm Hudson Gavin Martin. I’ve designed their website but it is still being built. I’m hopeful we might enter it next year.

No comments

Sep 23 2008

House painting update

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

After three months of rainy weekends, I got out there last weekend and picked off the first of the three bay window frames. I did the remaining two this weekend and now, with the exception of the steps and deck, the front of the house is almost done.

Read on…
3 comments

Sep 20 2008

Emily outside

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

It was a lovely sunny morning this morning so we took some photos of Emily out on the front lawn whilst I was supposed to be painting the house. She’s now just over eight months old.

No comments

Sep 5 2008

Escape from the World of Warcraft

Uncategorized - 1 year ago

These days I am no longer much of a gamer. The last time I played was GTA4 maybe six weeks ago, and I haven’t finished it yet. The last time I was seriously hooked on a game was Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, a game so addictive to some that it has been dubbed Warcrack. Today I logged into the admin site and I noticed with satisfaction that I had not played in over a year.

Read on…
No comments