As I mentioned in my last post, I have launched the InDesigning.net blog.

Now it has been running for a little while, and I actually think it is going alright - already done 2 screencasts! I still think my english sucks though, but check them out:

• 5 simple but useful tips
• Subheadings the right way

Be sure to give your comments, and if you know any InDesigners, please share the site. Thanks.

Thomas Silkjær, 28. March, 2009

Are you an InDesign user? I have launched a new InDesign blog: InDesigning.net.

The main target group is current InDesign users, who knows their way around the application - with guides, tips and tricks and screencasts to make you better, and thoughts and ideas on how I think Adobe could proceed with improving and adding new features.

I have never recorded a screencast before, and my english is rather rusty, so this should be exciting. But I am really excited about it! So I am currently in a process of writing down ideas on both blog posts and screencasts for the site.

Thomas Silkjær, 15. March, 2009

I have launched a little project site for my book project, check it out at http://theundersigned.net/book/.

Please, if you are interested in the book sign up with your e-mail on the page. The more interested people, the more I am motivated to write faster.

Current status is about 12.000 words and some illustration work done - still a far way to go.

Thomas Silkjær, 18. February, 2009

Some months ago I started juggling around with ideas about writing a book. I have been coding HTML/CSS for several years now, and I feel it has almost become native languages for me. Trying to learn from me to people who ask for help, I sometimes wonder if things I find obvious in fact can be a little hard to understand if you almost never use the languages.

I started planning, writing and designing a HTML and CSS introduction book - not with the real goal of ever accomplishing writing a full book, but mainly as an exercise to explain myself about the things I feel I know quite well. I wrote a lot but eventually stop, finding it a bit to big task.

A little week ago, I took up writing on it again, going through the plans on chapters etc., and this time I feel a bit more excited about it. I still don’t know if it will ever become a book, but if it is not, I might just publish some of it as articles here. I have asked some people to read my current process and have asked for their honest opinions - so if they like it and can see any potential in it, I think I will be more motivated and obviously continue writing.

I will post updates on the project here, of course.

Small changes to the site

I have added an extra section to the site, the microblog. The posted items here will not be published to the feed, since they are mainly published somewhere else. Currently it is aggregating my tweets and delicious bookmarks, and more will be added if I join more services like that.

Regarding tweets, I am active on my twitter alias “Silkjaer”, so if you ever want to get a hold of me, you can always find me there!

I have also made the sliders for the sections more visible by adding a background color to them. Some people had issues figuring out how to navigate, I hope this helps. If you still can’t figure out the navigation, please just think of the website as art or something … ;)

Thomas Silkjær, 4. February, 2009

I have been fooling around with even more JS lately, and I have created a CSS gallery website, webdesignbook.net.

I know there exists hundreds of these sites, but I just had to try to create one (again), giving users who is looking for new design inspiration, a new form of finding what they look for.

Downsizing

The more sites submitted to the gallery, the better. The first view on the website shows the newest sites submitted and you can go back and forth in time to see more websites - as usual websites.

But you can also hover a website and click “downsize” which will filter away some websites, websites that has the least in common with the site you chose to “downsize” from.

The technology

Downsizing is done by matching different criteria, since all submitted sites are tagged with common tag names, but the system also automatically grabs a screenshot of your website, and analyze the picture to see e.g. what colors are used - which also is used to help downsizing from your clicks.

The site is WordPress and MooTools powered, and all submitted sites are manually reviewed before published. The current design and feature set might change as time goes, but for now the site is functional and open for website submissions.

So if you have made a webdesign you would like to share, please head over to webdesignbook.net to submit it!

Thomas Silkjær, 29. January, 2009

Today we received the first thin print samples of the Design and production bible, and as I promised, here are some photos:

When I have more news about the book, I will be sure to post it here!

Thomas Silkjær, 28. January, 2009

We, at 2Krogh, are in the process of creating a huge book on Bible design and production. It’s a joint project with Jongbloed, and is a book describing and explaining every step in Bible production from design through typesetting, prepress, paper selection, printing and binding to logistics, distribution and warehousing.

The book will be 840 pages with chapters about the above steps, featuring great photos from all phases. The chapters will be divided by 8 example chapters that is showing 11 different Bible and hymn book designs by 2Krogh. The example chapters will feature different thin paper qualities and weights from Bolloré, and show the designs using different PMS colors and on different tinted paper.

It is a very exciting product, and I am sure that everybody with a little interest in typography and book design will think the same. Printing of the thin paper chapters have started, and as soon as possible I will upload some photos. Until then I can only show some small teasers from our files:

Thomas Silkjær, 24. January, 2009

I earlier today asked on twitter for opinions on two colour themes and I chose to go with the new (the old can still be seen on http://theundersigned.net/?style=old).

I have during the last days been a little annoyed about the darkness of the site, so chose to go with a fresher lighter colour theme. I hope you agree that it is better?

I don’t have any plans integrating a style switcher on the site, even though it could be fun to make a handful of different colour themes. What are your views on style switchers? Do you use such features on any sites?

As this site is my “online identity” and personal website, it is also my online playground - so don’t be chocked if the site changes a little in between your visits. Maybe it suddently also shows my tweets?

Thomas Silkjær, 23. January, 2009

Welcome to the new and updated theundersigned.net.

By releasing this new website I have made some choices. I haven’t been able to keep up blogging as I once did, so my old blog was very outdated, both content- and design wise. On the content side, I once wrote a lot of articles on WordPress, blogging etc., I find these outdated and they will no longer be available from this domain. I have kept a personal backup of all my previous posts, but they will not be republished.

This new website/blog is not purely based on blog posts, but just as much on photos, portfolio and videos, which I tend to update a lot more lately, than writing. I am not aggregating content from Flickr and Vimeo here, but handpicking the ones I find most worthy of sharing here - not entirely from a technical perspective, but also a personal. This is becoming less of a “business blog” and more of a “personal website”, inviting you to read and watch along as my life moves on, my daughter grows up etc.

Since this is the first time i really do heavy experimenting with JavaScript and mootools.net, I cannot guarantee that it looks and works as it should on all browsers, although I have been testing it on Firefox 3, Safari 3, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 6 - works best in FF and Safari of course. Please do share if you find any serious bugs!

Also I have chosen to switch back to WordPress from Habari - not that I didn’t enjoy Habari, it is smooooth, but more because I didn’t find that it completely fulfills my needs just yet. And I am more routined with WordPress.

But again, welcome to my new website, I hope you enjoy it.

Thomas Silkjær, 15. January, 2009