by Ian | Sep 14, 2011 | Blog
WordPress is arguably my favorite CMS for websites and blogs. Sometimes some people don’t quite understand the idea of a theme and their website. If you ever find yourself needing to explain in the simplest terms what a theme is, use this graphic. Underneath it’s the same only now it’s a super hero. ...
by Ian | Aug 14, 2011 | Blog
Launchpad Launchpad seems like a good idea at first. It’s great on iOS devices. But that is because the user uses their finger. It takes next to no time to tap an icon or a folder and launch an App when you can touch it. But I’m not using a touchscreen iPhone or iPad. I’m using a computer. Let’s just walk through the flow of launching an App using Launchpad on Lion for a second and you’ll see where I’m coming from. Launch Launchpad – Whether you use a hot corner, click the App icon on the dashboard, or hit a function key, you’ve already wasted time getting to your app. Find your App and click it – No matter how you launched Launchpad, you have to move your mouse around and find your application. If your app is in an app folder, then you have to click twice to get to it. This doesn’t include if the app is located on a different page. I thought the whole reason for having shortcuts like these was to get stuff done So, in order to launch an app like Photoshop, I have to move my mouse around an incredible amount. I thought the whole reason for having shortcuts like these was to get stuff done and not scrape your wrist on the desk. So basically, after trying out Launchpad and wasting time, I’ve gone back to using Spotlight to get stuff done....
by Ian | Aug 13, 2011 | Why It's Important
Yesterday I received an email from Apple about some of the products that are available in the Mac App Store. Right away I noticed something that irritated me. The lead spotlight software was for the newest Apple OS, Lion (10.7). Now, it makes sense for Apple to be plugging their latest and “greatest” (I would disagree) addition to OSX. I have no problem with that. The irritating thing though is that I already have OSX 10.7 Lion. In the grand scheme of things this isn’t actually a huge deal, but it made me think about how important it is to segment emails based on a particular audience. In this instance, it doesn’t make much sense for me to be getting an email about purchasing Lion, because I already did. Surely Apple has the ability to see who has downloaded the OS and who hasn’t (all downloads are available only from the Mac App Store, where users must enter a valid apple ID email address…). Because I already have Lion, this email does not apply to me, and so I pay no further attention to it (aside from the writing of this article of course). It doesn’t make much sense for me to be getting an email about purchasing Lion because I already did. A better way to go in this case would be if I had received an email with some apps that would enhance my Lion experience. “Must have” apps to use with Lion would have been a welcome message to my inbox and would have shown more care and attention to detail when it comes to segmentation....
by Ian | Jul 6, 2011 | Phase Change
With the new release of WordPress 3.2, I learned (the hard way) about how important it is to always backup your current website version before updating. I was using the theme Arras, which I thought was a really nice theme that worked really close to what I wanted my website to look like. But I didn’t realize that it wasn’t compatible with the newest version of wordpress (V. 3.2). The thing about the new version of WordPress is that it is suppose to be lightweight, meaning faster database calls which results in faster website load times. However this also means that they’ve stripped a bunch of the base php code away that use to exist in previous versions (3.1.x and below). Unfortunately this means that any theme that relied on this code (specifically themes that are customizable within the admin panel) will break, thus crashing your website/blog. If this has happened to you, you might be thinking, “NO! No! nonononono! All my content, all the time and effort I put into my website for months/years is all gone! NOO!” To you I say, calm down for a second. Your website content is safe and sound, tucked away in the MySQL database. So for anyone who has had this issue and doesn’t know what to do, fear not, I’ve fixed my site twice since trying to update. Here are some basic instructions to fix the issue: If your webhost has automated wordpress install capabilities such as “SimpleScripts” Access the SimpleScripts section from the cPanel of your webhost. (I use Blue Host) Find your website in the “MyInstalls” section. Click Advanced...
by Ian | Jun 26, 2011 | Portfolio
Client: Envision Art Website: www.envisionart.org Services: Website design, website migration (to a WordPress platform), print collateral, strategic consulting Phase Change has partnered with Envision Art, a budding organization that teaches art to children and adults with special needs, to provide an online portal to showcase student work. Envision Art is run by Phase Change owner Ian Banks’ wife, Sabrina. She has a deep heart for children and adults with special needs. Envision Art seeks to empower children and adults with disabilities through art, providing a creative opportunities which many students might not otherwise have experienced. Envision Art is a program that provides adaptive art programming for children and adults with special needs. It does not matter the level of ability, all people are capable of creativity. It is Envision Art’s mission to empower creativity in children and adults with special needs. Envision Art was created in 2010 by Artist Sabrina Banks. Sabrina began working with children with special needs in 2004 as a teenager volunteering on a special needs soccer team in La Mirada, California. Through relationships with the soccer players and their parents Sabrina began to provide respite care. Art was an interesting and fun activity that she used with those that she cared for. When it came time for Sabrina’s senior art show at Biola University, she decided to make a collaborative art show with a child that she had been working with. The process of creating the art, as well as the event of the art opening was something that Sabrina found enjoyable not only for her, but also for the child and his parents....
