JohnnyBGamer

Web Design – Tiny Details Matter

I was at the gas station the other day and I noticed something peculiar about the base of the gas pump. Do you see it in the picture below?

The base of the pump is raised. I’m not sure what the significance of this is but I am sure that there is a reason for this elevated decision– sorry, couldn’t help it–. Details such as this, as I am learning with web design, are the small seemingly insignificant design decisions that make all the difference. Our eyes notice everything, even the smallest pixel that is out of place.

Web Design Project: MACBC

My adventure with self-hosted WordPress began when I bought a WordPress template off of ThemeForest. From there, I learned about how to create a separate WordPress installation specifically for the church on my server. After wading through that small technicality with my friend Scotto, I was finally ready to design a new web site for my church. Over the coming months, I would learn about:

Logos, transparency, and shadowing
Basic design layout choices (specifically learning about the template I had bought and how it varied from my WordPress blog)
Having photos taken of the church and editing them for maximum impact
How to configure sermon audio
And many other technical hurdles

I do want to note that the reason I chose to go with WordPress, for my church, was that I wanted a platform that anyone could use. I wanted to empower my church to be on the cutting edge and yet not be burdened by only having one person manage the web site. I am hoping that if and when they should decide to go with what I have created, that they find it easy to use and master.

Below is a snapshot of site as it stands today. I still need to meet with the church once again to discuss some technical issues associated with going the self-hosted route (email, etc.). But otherwise the site is ready to go.

Web Design: Part 2

Knowing that my newfound knowledge needed a testing bed, I bought a domain/server space and created PixelatedProgress.

At this point in time, I decided to start playing around with WordPress templates. The templates offered a prebuilt design chassis that was easy to manipulate. As one of my first projects, I took it upon myself to redo my church’s web site.

Step 1: Ask someone at the church if this was okay.

Step 2: Create a prototype to present to the church.

Read Web Design: Part 1

Web Design: Part 1

Back in mid-2011, I decided that I wanted to go into the field of web design. I was unsure exactly what this looked like but I knew that I wanted to move towards web design as a career. Forward motion equaled setting some goals. So I set up two lists: 1)filled with basics that I needed to know; 2)filled with advanced knowledge that would eventually be needed.

Basics:

XHTML
CSS
Photoshop (needed to brush up on my skills)

Advanced:

JavaScript
PHP
MYSQL Databases

A friend of mine, that does web design for a living, pointed me to W3Schools. I quickly found myself consuming their XHTML tutorials. This went on for awhile until I eventually ran out of steam. Turns out that while I was learning great stuff, I really didn’t have a good place to apply it. I needed to build an actual web site.

Living Life Grounded

If you wanna steal my show, I’ll sit back and watch you go

If you got somethin’ to say, go on and take it away

Need you to steal my show, can’t wait to watch you go

So take it away – Steal My Show, Toby Mac

I drove to Bible study alone last night. My wife needed rest and my son hasn’t been feeling the best. As the two of them set to recuperate for the evening, I headed out to church to lead the Bible study I teach every Wednesday night.

With Lecrae’s “Gravity” album thumping in the background, I prayed that my teaching the study wouldn’t be all about me. I started to think about personal branding. How we are all out to promote ourselves in some way. Just look at social media and the constant noise some of us project. All of our social noise an effort to be heard above the rest, to be known in some shallow way.

As much as I want to carve my own personal story into this world, I ultimately want my life to be grounded upon God first. I want to serve Him and further His kingdom, no matter what that looks like (so I say now). If that means that I am to be a garbage collector or a serve as President of the United States, I want to be able to do so for His glory, not mine. I want God to be in control. This is not me forfeiting my own personal will but instead me submitting to a Holy and living God who is sovereign.

The seemingly random experiences that make up my life have taught me that God only wants the best for me. In the darkest places of my life God has always called me out to something better. He has always shown me a clear path to walk upon, no matter how much my heart craved that which was murky and dark. God’s will, as much as we fight it, is perfect. I want to live in that will; I want to live in a way that is pleasing to God.