Website Design by Teli

I decided to do a little web maintenance today and was greeted by a pleasant surprise. At first, I thought I’d fouled up something along the way, but quickly realized that phpMyAdmin had received a rather charming overhaul.

Having poked around a bit, I believe it will be a bit more user-friendly. Rather than bombard the user with a frightening number of options (any of which might mean the crashing and burning of her website), whenever possible, the user is now offered a slimmed-down version with an option to view the advanced options.

Even the search page is made more usable by offering clearer options.

It’s going to take some getting used-to, but I rather like this new design.

I’ve been sitting on this bit of news for a little while now, but my life has been a whirlwind for the past couple of months. (Plus, I’ve learned that I’m just bad about making these sorts of announcements.)

In any event, I’ve sold two more of my web properties: The OptiNiche and WordPress Diva websites and content. It was a smooth sale, but I won’t be disclosing the details since I haven’t yet discussed it with the new owners.

Since the OptiNiche website did have commercial content which wasn’t included in the sale, I archived it and will be providing access to the original OptiNiche customers. When things settle down for me in the next couple of weeks, I will send out an email with specific details.

And since the WordPress Diva property was sold without the themes, I’ll begin working on updating a few of my favorites and making them available for download from the Teli Design website.

To finish up, I’ll say that I’m happy with the new owners. I’ve checked out some of their other web properties and feel confident that they’ll take care of these websites.

Now I just have a few more web properties to sell and my web portfolio will be down to where I want it. :)

A few days ago I was inspired to finally redesign the Teli Design Studio website. This time around, I wanted simple and straightforward–focus on the services and the content.

After much doodling and some planning, I decided to keep the front page as simple as possible (a single sentence, actually), and then branch right.

There are only three links on the homepage (aside from the footer link) which lead to the ‘About’, ‘Blog’, and ‘Freebies’ pages. From each of those respective pages, a visitor will be able to access my portfolio, previous musings & articles, downloadable delights, and my contact form.

The color scheme is also as simple as the homepage: black, white, and blue-toned grays. In fact, it was built from the logo sketch. (And for the curious, the logo was done entirely in Painter 11.)

Granted, not everything is finish. In fact, I’m only about 45% finished with the site, but I decided to “make it live” and do a real-time redesign, sort of. I’ve already upgraded the site to the latest version of WordPress and moved some things around.

Now I need to…

• finish tweaking the theme, to include tightening up the overall layout
• rewrite some content and update pages
• retool the comments section on the individual posts
• create a proper 404 page for all those errors I’ve no doubt caused
• add some plugins and helpful features
• add a few more custom image elements (i.e. the search/comment forms & headings, etc.)
• and clean up the files/folders

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s the list for now, and over the next few weeks, I’ll mark off each of the items as they are completed. I may even write a few more design notes about the process.

Having a portable camcorder is a necessity in the video blogger’s toolbox. And since I’d been toying with the idea of video blogging, I asked for feedback on whether to get the Flip Mino or the RCA Small Wonder pocket camcorder.

Although I received a lot of good feedback about the Flip Mino, I opted for the Small Wonder because its feature set simply outweighed the Flip’s. Basically, I couldn’t justify spending $50 more for less features and better form factor. (I wanted to, but couldn’t.)

After playing around with the Small Wonder, this is my unbiased review for anyone else considering such a purchase. (more…)

Fan of video or not, that seems to be the direction the web is heading. More and more videos of products, people, or places seems to be popping up and I figure it’s about time I joined in. Now, here’s where I’m stumped: Which pocket camcorder should I be using?

My first choice was the Flip. Viewing the search results for "flip" on Amazon yielded one that seemed right up my alley: The sleek new Flip Mino. Boasting a smaller and lighter design than its predecessors with no loss in quality or features.

The one potential drawback is that it uses a built-in battery like the Apple i-products. Reading the reviews doesn’t give me much indication of just how long that battery life is short and long term (i.e. how long will the battery last while recording or resting and how long the battery will continue to hold a charge).

I’ve had my iPod for going on three years without a single problem with battery life, but then again, it’s usually being charged somehow whether in my clock radio, connected to a charger/player in my car, or connected to my computer. Plus, I also have the wall charger (which I’m assuming could be easily used with the Mino since it’s just a USB wall plug).

The other definite drawback is that it does not have a flip out screen. This would make recording yourself on the go a lot more difficult. Then again, I probably won’t be recording myself all that often considering that I’m camera shy.

The other choice is the RCA Small Wonder EZ210. In terms of features, this little camcorder blows the Flip out of the water completely. However, it is nowhere near as sleekly designed as the Flip and completely lacks its form factor weighing almost double the Mino.

The RCA accepts two AA batteries which are readily available almost anywhere rather than needing to find a wall outlet or a computer and waiting for a recharge. It also has a flip out display which makes self recording a much simpler task; this is helpful if you intend to do a number of instructional videos. It seems that the EZ205 is the one with the flip out screen, so scratch that. Finally, the RCA has 4 times the storage space, plus you can expand it using an SD memory card.

Going clearly with my geek instincts, I’d select the RCA in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I also like my gadgets to look nice. And therein lies my dilemma. My goal with a pocket camcorder is simply to have it handy in situations where I’d like to snap some quick video (i.e. out with friends, on the road driving, in dance class, or at the gym). It doesn’t need to be spectacular as these videos would most likely be shared on blogs and YouTube rather than distributed on DVDs.

So, my question to all of you is: Which one would you choose? And if you’ve had experience with either one of these camcorders, how was it for you. I’m particularly interested in video and audio quality for both. Anything else you’d like to add is also welcome.

(Yes folks, I am toying with the idea of video blogging. When I do decide, I’ll definitely write a follow up for anyone else who’s looking to get into video blogging.)