Always quirky, sometimes sweet speculative fiction

Tag: web design

Image Upheaval: The Finale

So after that last post I quickly learned that what was a lovely, pale blue background for my floating content pane on my netbook PC was lavender (whaaaaaat?) on my husband’s iPad, his desktop PC and both of our android phones. Aaaargh! It’s a hexadecimal colour system, why would it make different colours on different machines? *Insert rage here which left me dizzy for hours*

I had to assume that since most devices in our house read that colour as lavender so too would most devices around the world, so I needed to hunt down a colour that would look good on every device in my house even if it wasn’t the same (because that clearly wasn’t going to happen).I have ended up with what looks like a nice pale blue on the other devices, but looks more like turquiose on my netbook. Both blend in a satisfactory fashion with my beloved chiyogami goldfish background which i love too passionately to part with anytime soon. I swear, if I ever have money, I’m going to hire a web design monkey to do this for me. I probably should because the layout is clearly done by an amateur, but I don’t really mind, since it doesn’t look horrendous (or at least no one has sent me an email/comment/message saying so).

I also added some social media icons, yay! People are probably going to ask about the absence of some very popular buttons. I only have a Goodreads and a Pinterest account. I don’t have a Facebook author page yet, primarily because I lack the time to maintain an interesting one. I see no point in creating a page and not making it interesting. Also I feel a little weird making a page for myself when I have no product currently out. Maybe when I have something almost out I will set it up. Also I have no Twitter account. Yep, no Twitter account. Not personal, not professional, none. Why? For the same reason I don’t play World of Warcraft (and other MMORPGs): because I would never again afterward have an offline life.

I know my weaknesses. I have an addictive personality. You only need to peek into the guest bedroom/library in our house and behold the six floor-to-roof bookcases packed with manga, books and graphic novels (and add another bookcase for my figurines) to see that in action. Or look at our living room where our DVD/blu-ray collection spans five more bookcases. Ikea got rich off our family’s collection of bookcases (not that they weren’t already rich). I make careful efforts to avoid getting into things which will likewise eat my soul/wallet (please note, I mean both of these things, not my wallet is my soul).

To wrap up: still sick, have finally finished tinkering with my site’s appearance, am a terrifying obsessive compulsive collector and will not bore you all with talk about web design/code ect. for a long time (hopefully not ever).

Promise to post something interesting and cool about my writing or writing in general tomorrow. Hope you all have a happy chocolate bunny day!

Chiyogami

I originally planned to make my own design for my website but – as I mentioned in my earlier post busy few weeks – I was given no choice but to start my website a month earlier than planned or miss out on an opportunity to pay a lot less for my hosting, so I ended up choosing this cute theme for now.

To be honest I hadn’t even thought about what my design would look like, so when the site went up I was left clawing my brain for ideas. I remembered on a trip into the city with a good friend going to Eckersley’s art and craft store and seeing some lovely chiyogami (fancy origami paper which is usally silk screen painted featuring a repeated pattern, also known as yuzen for the dyeing style used) featuring goldfish. Being a japanophile I wanted to buy them at the time, but couldn’t justify buying the paper, no matter how beautiful the image without having an actual use. Now I have the perfect one!

I plan to use the goldfish pattern for my background and am thinking a maneki-neko in the header perhaps, but I’ll need to play around with it before I put anything up online.

In regards to the pattern I chose I always used to be obsessed with cherry blossoms, I still am, but my interests have broadened. While I was in Japan I saw a beautiful kimono with a goldfish pattern. For some foolish reason I didn’t buy it and I regret that decision rather frequently. Ever since then I’ve been a bit nutty about goldfish patterns. I’m even considering using the pattern on my business cards.

It’s interesting how a regret can create a passion like that… Do you have any similar stories? Oh and keep an eye out for my new design (but don’t hold your breath).

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