Kismet Arts Tangent

Today, I finished updating my graphic design portfolio. I wanted to feature new pieces. I acknowledge that my past defines me, but I also want to show growth and maturation. In this iteration, I’ve simplified the navigation. An experiment: Just a home button with the wordmark part of my logo on it. I’m only showing 12 pieces, ranging from web design to hand-drawn greeting cards. I wanted to show my versatility, and creativity. (The 10 Most Overused Buzzwords on LinkedIn (Infographic) | Entrepreneur.com)

I also simplified the footer. I moved the email address so it would show up on mobile. The thing about the footer in mobile is that it is the same height (and fixed) thus cutting off the social icons (which are kind of useless right now anyways with all the apps going around, the link would open in safari and ask you to login etc. way too complicated.) Changed the social icons from black to a periwinkle. My eyes kept staring at them.

User Testing

I tested the portfolio site with one person and told him that he was my employer.

So, I made the link a simple CSS button. (CSS Button Generator – Imageless CSS Buttons Simplified.) This is the first time I am linking to code I’ve worked on. This iteration of the portfolio website has four pieces that link to HTML websites.

Timemachine.php

I’m really proud of my projects because I learned from them. I like seeing them in little capsules and it’s nice to refer back to. So, I modified timemachine.php (the portal to index1) a little. I added a hidden link at the bottom of the landing page for easy yet not obvious access.

Hover over it for a trip to my earlier years of learning graphic design, etc. (Still learning, so you know.) The old website has been kind of beat up because it’s still connected to the updated CSS, but I don’t mind. I think there’s something funny about watching it fall apart as I move on to different conventions.

I would like to play with hidden links more. It’s interesting to have a secret door into a part of the website that I would like people to see, but only if you’re curious enough.

Katarina Countiss. << The Latest and Greatest Portfolio (so far)

(Earlier Post Relating to This Project)

I had a phone interview where I had to point the interviewer away from my portfolio site to my blog for “recent work.” So, I realized it was time for an update.

I am not finishing the site today, but what to do in case someone wants to look at it? My solution, timemachine.php. If anyone clicks any of these images on my home page, it goes to a new page. I’ve kept all the files in the same place in the folder for the site, but made one change where the index is now index1.php and I’ve added a page named timemachine inspired by this cool site: Internet Archive: Wayback Machine. I like the idea of being able to see who I was as a designer, just graduated, trying to lure employers with “student work.” And to be fair, I have a lot of student work, but I’m preparing to show some other pieces that make me feel like I’ve grown since then.

Kat-Branding. Check it.

(Earlier Post Relating to This Project)

Today, I felt a need for an in-browser clipboard, so I went to find some code. This is after a week of success with using the To Do List I made last week. I’m the kind of person that is always in Tabbed Browsing mode. So, I’d like to make some tools for that kind of user. This Simple Clipboard and the Simple To-Do List are both killed when refreshed (all the text input goes away), so to use these tools, remember, they are as fragile as an etch-a-sketch. It makes it simpler, I think. It also makes the user more cautious with that mouse when hovering over a close button on a broswer window.

Today’s lesson, text field is not really a field, but more of a line, or an urban alleyway converted into a small pop-up park. Textarea, however, is a field (in the way I think of fields). I also learned about the difference between HTML 4.01 and 5. HTML5 has added several new attributes. Check them out at HTML textarea tag.

I found my code here (Forms : Text Field – HTML Tutorial.) and and some variation of last year’s Amazium. At w3schools.com, they have a easy to use in-browser testing area: Tryit Editor v1.8.

Sometimes, your greatest tools aren’t all that complicated.
Clipboard.

I’m working from home today and I wanted to have a simple to do list for display on my second monitor (I don’t have a great space for notebooks on my desk right now and I left my Personal Kanban board at work.) I googled “to do list website” and found apps, not a simple editable to do list for desktop in browser, so I whipped one up. Code from HTML Forms and Input and some variation of last year’s Amazium.

Sometimes, your greatest tools aren’t all that complicated.
To Do List.

Update 2-17-14: I’m really enjoying the to do list. I had one instance where I had a internet cut-out and lost my to do list. Most of the items checked off, so it didn’t feel like a big deal, but I wanted to screen save it. So if there was a screensave option that was quick, I’d love to save these lists as record of things I’ve done. Simple. Must be simple. I’d like to avoid a login situation. If there was a way it would immediately save as picture to desktop…