New Business Cards
Posted in General on March 3rd, 2010
I thought it was about time that I got some new business cards printed, especially with the Student Radio Association Conference (#sracon) at the end of the month. After looking at countless “showcases” I’ve ended up with an incredibly simple, yet bold double sided design as you can see below.
All I need to do now is find a good quality printer and get them ordered. Will post an update when I receive them.
Tags: business cards, sracon
New Radio Sonar Site
Posted in Radio Sonar, Web Development on February 26th, 2010
Hey all, here’s another update as promised! Work is coming along nicely on the new Radio Sonar website. The main reason for the new site was to make a superior CMS than the one they originally had in place when I took over as Head Of Web. The structure was a mess, a number of key features / functions weren’t working and there was a list developing of new features that needed to be added.
Since then, I have started from the ground up developing a complete new back-end with a multi-level permissions system where different levels of user have access to different functions – and a site administrator can also grant extra permissions to selected users. There is also a new scheduling system with the output in a timetable format rather than a basic list as the majority of other student radio stations tend to do. I’m also working on adding blogs for the management team so they can keep members updated on what’s happening at the station. The gallery system is getting an overhaul too as the current one has a number of problems with uploading, and there’s no ability to comment on photos.
I am developing the new system myself from the ground up using PHP, MySQL, JavaScript (including jQuery), XHTML and CSS. When the site is up to the level of functionality that there current site is, I’ll “launch” the new version – then start working on new and exciting features including:
- A blogging system for shows
- Audio previews for upcoming shows
- An auto-updating playlist system
- An improved music section for adding band interviews and album / gig reviews
- Show and manager of the day feature
- A live on site player rather than just a link to the audio stream
- Possibly a chat feature making communication to the studio even easier
- Plus loads more!
Here are a few screenshots from the development of the site so far. The final layout and colours (especially the schedule!) still need to be tweaked slightly.
The view schedule page in the admin centre. Similar to the current layout – but totally re-written. Different hours are diaplyed depnding on the start / finish times of shows that week. Shows can be repeated and can have individual entries.
The page management section in the admin centre. Lot’s of options to tweak here including access restrictions, main & sub navigation menus, content, titles, page layout etc.
The admin dashboard where all admin tasks can be launched. My first attempt at a dashboard style admin area rather than a proper navigation based system. Only tasks the user has permission to access will be displayed here.
A preview of a simple text page on the website. Pages can have either one or two columns (two column displayed above). As part of the music section, the gig reviews will have their own dedicated system in the future.
That’s all you get to see for now! I’m hoping it will be ready to launch in around 2 weeks or so if things continue to go well. Check back soon for more updates on this project amongst other things!
Tags: jQuery, MySQL, PHP, Radio Sonar, Web Design, Web Development
A rather delayed update
Posted in Placement Year, Radio Sonar, Uni, Web Development on February 18th, 2010
Sorry for the lack of posting lately – things have been rather hectic!
I still have far too much uni work to be doing – especially now deadlines slowly but surely creeping closer and closer. The sooner this year is finished the better really! Everything seems to be on track for my work placement still which is good news – can’t wait to start it! It’s going to be a good chance to learn new things and nice change of scene for a while which is never a bad thing!
As I was told would happen – I do seem to be spending far too much time in the Radio Sonar studios lately. I’m completely redeveloping their website from the ground up as the coding and file structure was a mess, a new user permissions system is needed, there were so many loose ends and broken functions all over. The layout / design is going to be fairly similar – just a few minor changes here and there. Keep your eyes peeled for a preview soon!
That’s all for now, will post again soon (well I’ll try to anyway)
Tags: Uni, Web Design, Web Development
Radio Sonar – Head Of Web
Posted in Placement Year, Radio Sonar, Uni, Web Development on January 29th, 2010
It’s been a while since my last post but I’ve been swamped under with uni work and web work, in fact, I still am but thought it was time for an update!
Just got soem good news today – I’m now the head of web for the student radio station at uni – www.radiosonar.co.uk. I’ll be in charge of, well, all things web at the radio station. Should be a good experience!
My kiting project is still going strong – now one my uni assignments is out the way I can dedicate some more time to it and get thing moving a bit quicker! It’s a big project with a large PHP / MySQL backend to power it. More news and a sneaky preview coming soon.
Also taken on another client today as well which is great news – lot’s more work to add to my portfolio.
Finally, even more good news – I’ve got a placement for next year confirmed at a web design company over in Poole so I’ll be moving home to Mudeford.
Anyways, that’s all I’ve got time for at the moment – will post back soon with more details!
Inspirational Workspaces
Posted in Web Development on January 19th, 2010
There’s nothing better than working in a nice, clean spaceful area. There are plenty of other blogs out there showing off some cool workspaces, so here are the top three that I’ve come across:
- Creative Workplaces
This collection from Smashing Magazine shows off some on the more unusual workspaces
- 50 Awesome And Creative Web Designer Workspace Setups
A collection of various home offices / studios from WebdesignDev
- The Workstations of Popular Websites
Another article from Smashing Magazine – the workstations behind some of the most popular websites
Post a comment below stating your favourite setup from the lists above, and most importantly, why!
Tags: Web Design, Web Development
Busy Busy Busy
Posted in General, Placement Year, Uni, Web Development, Work on January 16th, 2010
Finally home and settled after a hectic day at work – too much to do – not enough staff – then again isn’t that always the way? Also, where has common sense and the English language gone? A conversation I had earlier with a customer:
- Customer: “You alright mate, do you sell any adpaters init?”
- Me: “Yeah sure, what kind of adapter are you looking for?”
- Customer: “Dunno mate, I just need an adapter init.”
- Me: “Well we sell several hundred adapters, what do you need it for?”
- Customer: “Something for me computer mate.”
- Me: “Well, what are you trying to do?”
- Customer “Dunno, I just need an adapter for the computer”
- Me: “Well unless you know what your trying to adapt we can’t really help.”
- Customer “***ing hell I knew I shoulda just gone to PC World” *customer walks out*
How on earth did me expect to know what he wants when even he didn’t know what he wanted? And why can’t he speak English? The joys of working in a city centre electrical store I guess. Also, why do customers always insist they saw something on our website that we’ve never sold and never will and then complain when we tell them we don’t have it? Ahhh the joy of the retail – glad I’m only part time now.
Anyways enough ranting – got a busy week ahead. Full day of uni on Monday – which reminds me I have a tonne of work I really need to start / finish as deadlines are starting to creep closer and closer. I’ve just got no motivation when some of it has pretty much no relevance to my course, let alone my future career.
Anyways back on track, I’ve got a second interview / chat with a web design company over in Poole for a 12month work placement starting in the summer on Tuesday. I’m really looking forward to having a break from uni and getting to do some proper web work – fingers crossed it goes well – the guys seem nice and some of the work they’ve produced is awesome! Also quite looking forward to work looking over Poole harbour in the summer – might even get the chance to get back into kiting once again.
Wednesday is my 21st birthday – a sign that old age is coming. Got a few friends from here there and everywhere coming out for a meal at Rancho Steakhouse in Southampton – been there a few tmes before – the food is amazingly good but the service has never been great. Then heading back home to Mudeford for a few days on Thursday to see the family – got the weekend off work for a change – so will probably stay down there till Sunday. Hopefully it will give me a chance to catch up on some uni work.
Also got my latest web project to work on – and online booking and media selling site which I’m building up from scratch for a client. One of my biggest and exciting projects so far – can’t say who it’s for just yet – but it is kiting related. Keep checking back here on my blog for updates on this! Whilst I’m workign on this I’ve had to put my personal project on hold which you may or may not know about – FindAStudentRental.com. It’s beginning to look like I’ll never get round to finishing that which is a shame as I had high hopes for this. Ahh well maybe another time.
Anyway, thats’ enough waffle for tonight – gona get some more done on the project I mentioned above!
Tags: Rant, Uni, Web Design, Web Development, Work
New Blog Launch
Posted in General on January 15th, 2010
After several failed attempts before, I decided it was time to get a blog up and running on my site once again – I’ll try to keep it updated this time round! I’ve spent all day today customising this WordPress installation so it fits in nicely with rest of my existing site and also integrating it with social networking sites, mainly Twitter.
Expect to see posts about web design & development, music, university, kitesurfing & kite landboarding and whatever else I’m feel like sharing at the time. Also at the end of the week I’m going to try and include a round of the best web design / development articles I stumble upon throughout the week.
I welcome any comments you have about my work, site or blog posts, so don’t be shy to get in contact – either use the contact link at the top of the page or leave a comment below.
Tags: Blog, Web Design, Web Development