STUUP // the ramblings of a Stafford web geek

A lick of paint

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:50:30 GMT

2008 has brought with it a renewed vigour for the direction The Multipack is heading, with this in mind and being a community of web developers and designers in Birmingham the natural way of getting the ball rolling was to create a new design for our website and logo.

Holding the paint brush was Paul Lloyd who created the mock-ups for the website and logo—which I’m particularly pleased with. Trevor Morris has done a brilliant job of implementing the design into html adding in Microformats and parsing all popular external feeds where possible.

We also have a new forum that Ross Riley has configured and there are a few others working behind the curtains making sure everything stays spick and span.

There will be no excuses for people not knowing where and when things are taking place either, as we now meet up every second Saturday of each month at the Old Joint Stock with the premise of moving out further afield within the West Midlands a couple of times throughout the year.

So whether you’re an existing member or not, register on the forum and get the details for the next meet from Upcoming and I’ll see you there!

Keep watching for some interesting forthcoming events…

The Web Design Survey

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:10:20 GMT

The results from The Web Design Survey 2007 have been translated and it makes for some very interesting reading.

Here are some things that have surprised me.

Age: I always thought it was a young mans game. Young man being male/female 18-25 years old. Looks like there is a few years left in this old dog.
Gender: Maybe this is based on me being in the West Midlands, UK but 1 in 5 of my peers isn’t female.
Geographic region: There was 20% answered from the EU (except the UK) and 11.2% from the UK. There seemed to be a high percentage of people who answered from the UK compared to the EU, maybe this was a language issue.
Type of organisation: I was surprised to see about a quarter of people are either self-employed or freelance, that seems quite high for any industry
Years at current job: Looks like people move around often, I’m in the 3.6%

8 Random Things

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:22:22 GMT

I’ve been tagged more than once so I think I should bore you with my eight random things, but before I do here are the rules:

The Rules

You have to post these rules before giving your facts.
Players state eight random facts/habits about themselves.
At the end of the blog post, you tag eight people and list their names. (Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.)
People who are tagged need to write about their eight things on their own blog and also post these rules.

With that over and done with, here goes…

When I was 8 I left my SuperTed teddy at The Natural History Museum and cried all the way home when my friends Dad said we couldn’t go back to get him, I think I left him with the Neanderthals. I’m not sure I’ve ever totally got over this.
I have a trophy for coming first in a BMX race as a member of Wordsley BMX Club, however there was only me racing in my class.
I hate spammers and think I should build a web app so people can muddy their data/contact form with incorrect contact details.
I have scored a goal from the half-way line while playing for my school against Wolverhampton Grammar School, something even Pelé didn’t manage I might add, though the level of opposition may have been a factor.
I have no patience for DIY especially flat pack furniture, it has got so bad that the family go out when I have something to build and don’t come back till it’s done, go figure.
My Granddad designed the wheels/tyres for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
I passed my BTEC National in Art and Design at Matthew Boulton College with a Distinction and was named student of the year by the companies sponsoring the course – however I spent most of the time in the pub playing pool – for this I feel quite guilty, but not too much.
My first exposure to the Internet was through CompuServe around 1991 surprisingly I actually liked it.
I can’t count and don’t like rules.

I told you I would bore you!

Right who to tag, hmm

If I could give you one word of advice…

Tue, 15 May 2007 09:44:21 GMT

If I could give you one word of advice, it would be to never go with esure insurance, from my experience customer service is shocking.

Update: I recently cancelled my policy with them and I’ve now received a letter off them to arrange payment of the balance, however this outstanding balance is because they had credited me this amount in the first place! Calm down, dear my arse!

Justice!

Tue, 01 May 2007 22:33:10 GMT

The English team that doesn’t play football how it is supposed to be played may not win that much this season, they are certainly out of the Champions League. What a final it would be if Man Utd could do the business tomorrow.

Oh José you weren’t the best team, what’s with the sour grapes?

Any recommendations?

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 15:19:05 GMT

I’m after a 1TB external disc, I’ve looked at the Western Digital one and it looks the ticket, I just wondered whether anyone has any personal recommendations I could take a look at before I jump in and buy something.

Code Monkey

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:04:56 GMT

Sit back, listen and enjoy.

Vote for something important!

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:13:45 GMT

There has been lots of talk recently about the rip-off prices for football tickets in this country, the Football Supporter’s Federation are currently campaigning to reduce these cost, their principal aims are:

Universal away ticket price of no more than £15 for all Premier League (FAPL) games with £10 for concessions.
A three-season freeze of prices at 2006/7 season levels for both season tickets and individual match tickets for seasons 2007/8-2009/10 imposed by FAPL rule. Encouragement of clubs to cut ticket prices in cash terms over and above the freeze, particularly at the low end.
The facility fee received for all FAPL televised matches to be used to subsidise tickets prices for all attending those matches.

Their main objective is – …to ensure that football again becomes the “people’s game”. Prices across the board in this country are absurd.

Show your support by signing their supporters’ online petition today, and even if you don’t give two hoots about football, go sign it anyway, may help reduce the amount of money I’ll have to pay in the future.

They never cease to amuse

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 17:31:24 GMT

Overhearing my two sons at dinner yesterday the conversation went;

Youngest – When we bought our house how did they carry it, did they use a big lorry?

Eldest – No don’t be silly, this house was here when we moved in, we moved because our old house was messy.

Kids

Is it me?

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 20:01:20 GMT

Now this may be a little political for me but… what the hell is going on in my country?

There has been uproar this week over alleged racist remarks aimed at Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty. It is the staple diet of the tabloids and TV news reports currently; and the PM has discussed it in his Question Time.

If there has been any racist remarks than they need to be brought to book, but surely condemning democracy and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers should be the focus this week!