OK I’m now converting the generators over to the new code base! It’s taking effort, but it’s also going faster than I thought. Mostly it’s intense moments of thought combined with sheer “does that work . . . yeah” drudgery. It’ll get easier the more I do, but the drudgery party isn’t going to change.
So here’s a view of an active generator – my only question is the twitter bug – I probably ought to add a few more social media tools in there. Any thoughts?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Here’s a look at the latest site design for the generator page. A friend gave some brutally honest feedback on how the overuse of the brass bars was, well EYE WATERING and had some contrast issues. Fortunately it was Bootstrap to the rescue, and I managed to tweak the look in a way that works and seems to be multi-device friendly.
So thoughts?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
OK I think I figured out a better look for the library pages – but they’re still kind of . . . dull.
I also am wondering if the links work or not. Maybe it’s time to ditch them or have alternate pages?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
So I’m now on to the link pages – and I’m going to need some feedback.
So let’s get to the entries . . . (more…)
Since I finalized the design, I’ve now started moving it into code. Here’s a demo of the front page.
You’ll notice that I chose the 3rd logo because that one was overwhelmingly popular – and I have to say I dig it’s mixture of complexity, simplicity, and class. Thanks for the feedback. The first logo is also going to appear in a modified form for other things, perhaps buttons or something.
I have to alter the ad space (and color) and I’m having a devil of a time getting the blogfeed to format properly. On the other hand the new components are really smooth to redesign in Bootstrap, and very easy to alter.
I removed the social media buttons as extraneous for now but I might put them back. If there’s any suggestions on how to make it easier to sync up with the Sanctum, fee free to share.
Of course the real test is plugging in live generator code because, well, that’s the critical part of the site. The big issue is getting the nicely formatted forms to work and then getting the output properly and prettily formatted – which sounds easy, but there’s some variable data and presentation in here that may be a pain. I could jam it in unformatted, but it’d be pretty boring and not have the greatest layout.
I’m trying a very non-standard linkroll/siteroll/blogroll – smaller chicklets showing associated sites. I think it actually works.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
OK gang – MuseHackers, Seventh Sanctum, regular readers, here’s two books you want.
First, my friend Serdar has gotten his novel Flight of the Vajra out. I’ve known him for years and watched him evolve this novel, and I was an editor – and I can say that very quickly the editing stopped being a job and started being a pleasure because finally I was having the kind of fun in SF I haven’t had in ages. This is the kind of Space Opera I’ve missed for a decade, and it’s well worth your time to get it and read it because it’s both far-flung high-tech space adventure, and a character-driven story with a memorable cast.
What’s it about? It’s the story of Henré Sim, a talented engineer who lost his family and best friend in a horrible accident aboard a starship of his own design. With a destroyed career, a large legal settlement, a cache of legally questionable technology, and a vague hope of finding out what happened, he ends up traveling around the galaxy in a personal investigation that soon turns to wandering and drinking. However, when a few events thrust him back into the spotlight, he quickly ends up entangled in the agendas of multiple people and organizations, and soon finds that the event that ruined his life may now lead to far larger problems. Henré’s got a lot more on his hands than he ever expected, and he’s got to count on his ever-growing and half-accidental crew to save the day; a circus acrobat, a religious leader, an experienced cop and his not-quite-human partner, a gender-shifting singer, and more. You’re going to keep guessing what’s up until the very end as Henré and company try to stay one step ahead of everyone else . . .
But there’s more than Space Opera. My friend Rob Barba’s Kickstarting his own project, Razorblade Angel. Rob’s ambition is to create an anime/mecha-themed military sci-fi adventure in a persistent universe he’s been evolving. Rob’s been in the military himself, so he’s bringing a realistic and human take to mecha and military adventure – but Rob’s also a fan of anime and mecha, so he’s combining that with a loving homage to “real robot” anime and stories. You can even read the first two chapters here.
I know these guys. They’re great. They’re talented. They deserve your support – and they’ll entertain the hell out of you.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
OK I’ve got work going on to develop a new logo for Seventh Sanctum – courtesy of the awesome Megami Studios who did the MuseHack logo. So which one do you like?
Click below to see full sized!
First Logo
Second Logo
Third Logo
What do you think?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Just a shout-out to the regular Seventh Sanctum users – got one of the old guard from years back who wants to revive the message boards. I’d like to see what people think.
Sure there’s a Facebook page, but it’d be good to have something completely “ours.”
So what do you guys think would help?
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
I don’t know if this is a joke or not. The fact that I do not KNOW if this is a joke or not says a lot about who I am, where I live, and what industry I work in.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
I’ve been redesigning Seventh Sanctum’s interface, looking for something more modern and more cross-device – and face it the look is a few years old. Fortunately friends have been quite helpful.
So here’s the latest design – and of course I need your feedback! The idea is to condense it and streamline it, use space better, and move the menus into responsive dropdowns. This keeps the space open for the results and lets me jack up the fonts – plus I can make it more cross-device.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
