Super Ginormous

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  • I Wish I Had Written This

    No-Spec Logo

    Fabulous post over at NO!SPEC:

    To those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world

    Every day, there are more and more CL posts seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.

    But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.

    To those who are “seeking artists”, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?

    More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.

    And this is not really a surprise.

    Keep Reading…

  • Looking Back

    I first started using this site as a blog in 2001. It wasn’t anything special. I did everything by hand. There was no RSS feed. At one point I developed a ColdFusion-based application that let me post “news articles” to the site, but never really did anything with it.

    Before 2001, the site served as an online portfolio only. I used it to post previews of work I had done, and used it to land a couple of jobs. But cdharrison.com was not my first website. My first site was actually on Geocities. I stress “was” because the site was hacked after I ticked some people off in the chatrooms… but anyways… I don’t really need to go into all of that. (One of these days, I will get around to at least snapping some screenshots of some of the older designs…)
    (more…)

  • Registration

    I have had registration turned off for quite some time, partly because I had a spammer register as a Subscriber back when I first started using WordPress… After reconsidering it, I’ve decided to turn this feature back on. I know several folks like to comment here fairly often and here’s your chance to become a “Subscriber” on the site. If you’d like to become a subscriber, click here to register.

    I may open up the site to allow some guest writers if there’s an interest. I tend to write about a lot of different things… and I’d be interested in opening things up a bit to get some more variation here.

  • Ella

    Man, the WordPress developers have been busy little bees… I can’t wait to try the new version of WordPress (2.1) out. I’ve been tempted to try the Beta releases discussed on the developer’s list but hadn’t gotten around to installing it.

    Well, I guess I’ll be doing some backups in the morning… and then a quick install of the new version. I’ll report back on how it is!

  • The Truth Behind the Outlook 2007 Change and What You Can do to Change it.

    Outlook 2007 Screenshot

    Yes, Microsoft Outlook 2007 is going to use Word as it’s rendering engine… but hope is not completely lost. Microsoft is prepared to listen. This article is a follow-up to a post last week on this very topic…

    read more | digg story

    In response to the post on the CampaignMonitor Blog, I had this to say:

    I think this irritates me more, to be honest with you. The fact that Microsoft conciously made this decision to improve messages sent from one Outlook user to another Outlook user is a cop-out.

    Yes, I realize that a lot of businesses use Exchange Server, so this change will apply to them… but what about those of us that don’t use Exchange Server? What about those of us that email users on other platforms? What about those of us that don’t use POP accounts, and only strictly use webmail accounts?

    To me, this just escalated beyond just being a major concern for legitimate email marketers to a full-scale war on interoperability with other email clients/systems. By making this choice, Microsoft is making it very clear: use our product, or your email will be screwed up.

    It’s good they are willing to listen, but it’s like they completely ignored any of the feedback they received on Internet Explorer… My only hope at this point, is that 1) Microsoft adopts a “quirky” mode to allow for standards-based email; or 2) let users decide which rendering engine to use…

  • CSRA Electronics Recycling Day

    Thanks, Scott, for letting me know about this:

    Next Saturday is….CSRA ELECTRONICS RECYCLING DAY, Jan. 27 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Fort Discovery Bus Entrance. Bring computers, monitors, desktop CPUs, LCD-display laptops, notebook computers, CD, CD-RW, DVD hard, floppy and zip drives, scanners, printers, fax machines, adding machines, cell phones, corded phones, cordless phones, answering machines, pagers, pocket PCs, data cartridges, PC and digital cameras, servers, routers, hubs, remotes and PDAs. No televisions, electric or microwave ovens. Call 706-821-0224 for more info.

    Sounds like a great time to get rid of some of your old gadgets!

  • Fireworks CS3 to replace ImageReady!

    Fireworks CS3

    If AppleInsider.com’s report is correct, the forthcoming version of Fireworks will replace ImageReady in the upcoming Creative Suite 3 from Adobe.

    As part of its testing for Fireworks CS3, internally dubbed “Agni” after the Vedic god of fire, Adobe is putting to work some of the first fruits of its buyout of Macromedia in 2005. The visual editing firm has thoroughly revamped Fireworks to join its features closely with those of Photoshop CS3, people familiar with the project say, beginning with the addition of a simple tool for creating photo slideshows.

    Key to many of the other expected changes is the addition of hierarchical layer support, those same people say. Where the previous version of Fireworks assumed only basic layering and would destroy any hierarchy created in a Photoshop image, the new edition will add sub-layers for filters and other special effects that will follow their parent layer around as it moves.

    Read More…

    I can’t say I’ve messed with Fireworks much, but I’m glad to see ImageReady on its way out.

  • Font Management for Windows Made Easier

    Extensis Suitcase for WindowsA new version of Extensis Suitcase for Windows was just announced. It’ll work with Illustrator CS2, InDesign CS2, Quark 7, etc. This release of Suitcase for Windows adds a number of new font auto-activation plug-ins, a font vault, as well as compatibility with the next operating system, Microsoft Vista.It’s been quite some time since the software’s been updated… This news couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I was just complaining about the lack of updates this morning…read more | digg story

  • Success

    Microsoft Zune

    I’ve had a few people mention to me that they were considering a Zune. I won’t lie: I’m an Apple fanboy and I have never understood why someone would want one until today.

    The Zune is to the iPod as the Mac is to a PC. Make sense? I’ll try to explain…

    For years, Macs have played second fiddle to PC. Macs account for anywhere from 3-5% of the market (depending on who you talk to). They’re considered premium machines… and up until recently, they have been more expensive than PCs.

    The iPod has had success in dominating their market for five years now. Figures show the iPod having a 65-70% share of the MP3 player market… They’re hugely successful now, and everyone and their mother has one. That’s part of the problem. What has made the iPod successful – their desirability – will be what sustains a counter-market that won’t get one because “all the cool kids have one”.

    That’s where the Zune could succeed. I spoke with two non-technical people today and one owned a Zune and the other was seriously considering getting one. Why? “Because everyone has an iPod these days and I don’t want to be like other people.” When I heard that, it caught me a little off guard. I was thinking to myself, that the iPod has a great interface, works seamlessly with iTunes, etc… These people don’t know what they’re missing out on… But it’s not about any of that stuff. Sometimes people care about price. Sometimes people care about features, ease of use, etc. But sometimes, people just care that it’s different.

    Let’s face it, the iPod has become something the masses want…and lot’s of people own them. Heck, I used to own five up until last week.

    The desire to want something different is what drives the accessories market, I suppose, and that’s a fact we can’t lose sight of.

    iPod Killer it’s not. It’s not revolutionary enough to take the iPod’s place in the market, but if it could be positioned as the anti-Ipod, it might do alright. As for me? I’ll stick to my iPod video, until there’s a compelling enough reason for me to make the switch.

  • Font Management

    Usually you hear people complaining that certain applications are available only on the PC side, and Mac users get screwed. In this case, the opposite is true. I’ve been a long-time user of products from Extensis, and I’ve used them on both Windows and OS X.I’ve been using Extensis Suitcase 9.2.2 for Windows for well over a year now. Prior to that I used Adobe Type Manager (ATM) Deluxe. I opted to go with Extensis’ offering because ATM Deluxe was no longer being supported by Adobe.Here’s the problem, though… Extensis Suitcase for Windows has been stuck at version 9.2.2 for at least a year, if not longer. In that time, Extensis has released the new Suitcase Fusion for OS X, which is lightyears ahead of the PC version. Where’s the love, Extensis? Maybe font management isn’t high up there for a lot of designers on the PC side, but your solution could be a lot better!A follow-up to this post can be found here: Font Management for Windows Made Easier