A sneak preview of the projects I’m currently working on.

If you thought I spent my time sleeping, solving life’s mysteries (Does God exist or not? Still no definitive answer.) or trying to finally break the Rubik Cube, or doing other things normal people do; you are sadly mistaken. When I’m not studying – which takes up at least half my time – I’m working on one of my upcoming projects. It’s beginning to show by lack of social life and sleep. But anyway, since you might be curious of what exactly I have been upto lately, I thought I’d give my visitors a sneak peek. Only for your entertainment ofcourse (and because I get to brag about the awesome stuff I am capable of ).

I<3Reading (Booklog)

Progress: 90%

The first project on my hands, is a booklog I am currently in the process of designing. Well, designing might be a bit of an understatement, since I’m hoping to be able to post my first book review there by this evening. Although by that time the website might not be 100% up yet (still have to put some pages up, have to see if certain things actually work, etc.) everything necessary for easy browsing, is already up and working. I got my inspiration for creating a booklog from On The Nightstand, a well-organised book review site with a gorgeous design. Since reading some of the reviews over there (Catherine, the owner, happens to like the same genres I like), I felt the urge to write book reviews myself (again). So I sat down behind Photoshop, designed a half-decent layout, went to the coding desk, and eventually threw some plugins in WordPress to make it do my every bidding. I’m very happy with the result.

The blog focuses mostly on reviews, although there will be some other categories too (Series in the Spotlight, On my Wishlist, Freaky Fridays, etc.) and I added three possible ways for visitors to browse the reviews: by genre, rating (ranging from 0 stars to 5 stars) and by book author. The last was the most complicated to add, as it involved a plugin and some tweaking. I still have to add a fourth way for browsing the reviews, namely by book title, but now I figured out how to do it, that should be easy enough. Apart from the basic book reviews, I’m also planning in entering some challenges, and maybe eventually host a challenge myself, although that is not something that will happen right away (a bit too busy now :p). I found it particularly difficult to find a fitting name for the booklog, since I wanted something that sounds fun and enjoyable, rather than dull and boring names like “The Librarian” or “The BookLog” or anything that’s been done a thousand times before. Also, I didn’t want to focus on any specific genre, since that would limit the expansion of the blog, which is something I definately don’t want. Eventually, I chose the title “I<3Reading", in one word, yes. Although the title might not be all that original, I do think it sounds fun, because of the <3 sign added inbetween. And fine, I admit, it was the best I could come up with. :)

For those who are interested, the booklog focuses mostly on adult fantasy novels, and vampire or paranormal fiction. Some young adult books may be featured occassionally, as I do enjoy reading them too. So if any of those genres interest you, feel free to check it out when I officially launch it.

Picturesque (Photoblog/Photography Portfolio)

Progress: 40%

I’ve wanted a place to showcase my photography for years, but I never really knew whether I wanted a photoblog, or a real photography portfolio. I still don’t know. Picturesque is my effort to be something inbetween, and to expand my WordPress knowledge immensely. Sure, I can code WordPress designs, I can widgetize themes and I can install plugins and sometimes tweak them to fit my needs. But creating a portfolio using WordPress? Adding fancy Javascript effects? That’s a whole new area of expertise I’m only now diving into, so the website is doomed to have some flaws and issues. Currently I have a layout up and running, and some pages are up, but I’m still working on the back-end coding, which is especially difficult in the gallery section of the website. So far, this is what the website looks like, but it’s doomed to still change a lot before it is officially launched./p>

A quick, not-complete rundown of what still has to be done:

• Pages: Contact, Domain (disclaimer, terms of use, or something like that), About
• Create a logo, and implement it in the design.
• Upload all my pictures to the gallery, in their respective categories.
• Style comments and comment form.
• Possibly recode parts of the gallery to show first image of the post, rather than featured images (so I don’t have to add the same picture twice).
• Users cannot only search by category, but also by tag (hopefully this would make browsing easier).

As you can see, I still have a lot of work there, so don’t expect this to be finished before the end of the month.

VCard

Progress: 90%

A couple of moths ago, VCards were becoming immensly popular, and I decided I wanted to add one to my work-in-progress portfolio, but I never really got to it until about a week ago. Once again, the grand opening of Photoshop happened, I doodled around, and the result was prettier than I thought possible (don’t you love it when you surprise yourself, in a good way?). I have to admit, coding the card was hell. It’s more difficult than it looks like, especially when it comes to cross-browser compatibility. But now the design looks well enough in all major browsers, it’s functional, and I think it even looks pretty: minimalist, but that’s the way I like my designs.

I still need to upload some more content, and write a decent about page, but that’s not that much work, considering the amount of work I have already done. I’m thinking about making this into some sort of HTML/CSS Template, for people that want their own vcard but are too lazy to design and code it themselves. If anyone is interested, of course (and if I’m not too lazy to actually do it). But if you’re interested, just let me know for motivation purposes.

CREAFolio (Webdesign Portfolio)

Progress: 60%

CREAFolio is based on WordPress, and since I already explained that I am just beginning to grasp the possibilities to turn WordPress into a portfolio of some sorts, with cool galleries with nifty javascript effects (lightbox, thickbox, so many choices!) I’m still in the first places of coding it. I know what I want with the portfolio and the way my works will be displayed, but I haven’t figured out how to make WordPress do it just yet, although I’m getting there. The design is up, although not entirely without flaws just yet, there are some errors in the coding and cross-browser compatibility still needs testing, but it’s there, as are most of the pages. All that actually still needs setting up is the portfolio itself.

When CREAfolio is done, I will link to my VCard from the homepage, since I’m sure some people prefer a small, simple card than a larger portfolio. I also still have to code a simple HTML design for my resumé (I want one without graphics, clean, easy to read, a bit like a .pdf documents of sort) and link to it. So much to do, so little time!