Finally Back!

Haven't been to this page in a little while...been pretty busy! After rebuilding the Art Studio and then the Web Studio and then the Art Studio again, I've put the art up on a couple of gallery sites and I'm going to do the same for the website templates as soon as I do a little bit of research and find some decent places to go. Someone left a comment on this blog about one a while back...I guess I'll check that out first. In the meantime, I also updated all my local "advertising".

That being said, once the web templates are up somewhere, I'm going to turn my attention to the Tech Studio. I've been kicking an idea around for quite a while now and I think it's time to try and make it happen. Well, a couple of ideas, actually. But I have to get some business cards (my wife laughs at me...she knows nothing)...and do up a little brochure. I'm hoping that if I can supply the paper she can print them up at work.

This has been a test to see if the wife is actually reading my blog.

Anyway, ya, I've got to get that happening. But I've got to remember...one thing at a time! And I still have a logo design to finish for an actual client...

Moving Forward!

So I have half of the new template videos done now...sometimes life cooperates, and sometimes not...but I decided to do all the videos at once and then post them all together, instead of one at a time. It will help me to maintain focus and stay in the zone, and get them all out faster in the end anyway, I'm sure. But don't ask...no more peaking until then!

I have to add some new links to the Infodesk too...give some love to Paul Irish and Jason Shaw...but it's too late and I'm too tired to do it properly now. I hope they don't mind waiting a few days.

After that, I hope to be able to slow down the frantic pace...once all the updating is done I can relax a bit and spread things out a little more...there's always something for me to finish....at least I have a nice new workroom now! Pics will come of the new setup once I clean up a bit in here...I get complacent in the winter—hibernation mode.

Anyway, on a completely unrelated topic...I'm on this job; client wants a logo done. OK, no problem. My go-to sketch artist is awesome. Trying to get together with him for the first two weeks was a nightmare...both of us have two kids and other jobs...and neither of us drive. I wanted to give him an extra scanner I had so we wouldn't run into this problem anymore. FINALLY we get together and the scanner is good to go...I get my first rough sketch....them boom, nothing for a week. I'm not too worried, but... Turns out he and his family were brutally ill. Sh*t happens. Anyway, client has kids, he knows; besides, he seems in no big hurry—he has some licencing research to do, I think...:) Hopefully I'll get something to work on soon!

This has been a small update. I am going to bed now.

5.1 Online Already and more Mobile Friendly

So let me preface this post by making a confession: I do not have a cell phone. Never really needed one. I've been home with the kids for 7 years, I have other interests (expenses), and, I live in Canada...so I simply cannot justify the cost.

My wife was issued a cell phone for her job but it was a POS Blackberry and because of security she couldn't really access the internet on it anyway.

So I guess I never really though about it. Well this week she started a new job and got a better phone...and before we see what kind of new rules are going to kick in about using the thing I got on it and had a look at the site...holy crap(!) I should have known about the fixed nav. If I had been more concerned about mobile viewing I suppose I would have. Responsive design just isn't something I've been able to take a hard look at yet, and I thought just offering the scalable viewport would be enough. Oops.

And so now C2Kstudios 5.1 is more mobile friendly. I scraped the fixed nav and added a more complete footer nav. At this point, the idea of making a separate mobile site just seems like overkill. Although at some point, it would be good to learn how to do it.

C2Kstudios 5.0 Online Two Months Early!

I was planning to relaunch the new site in January. I gave myself a month to do the rebuild; it took me about 10 days. I really didn't see any reason to wait, so she's now online. I realized that redoing all the graphics was foolish...you don't want to change too much and lose your brand familiarity (ha!) but I knew that I wanted to go dark with the new site and I knew that certain elements were being overused. Playing around too much with the structure and interface of the site is not a good idea either; it's better to implement changes like that more slowly.

Yet I feel justified in calling this a major version update. Not only has the styling changed markedly, but the update also included quite the back end rebuild. Every time I come back to a project I have learned more and more, and there was a lot of valid, but redundant or otherwise unnecessary code in the html and the css that was cleaned up considerably. Also, all the social media and merchant graphics were updated, as well.

Next up? I'm not sure yet...but I'll let you know!

C2Kstudios Media Design Factory v5.0

Fresh Videos and a New Template Online Now!

Inspired by the number of views the Family Tree Template was receiving over all the other offerings, I decided to start making more genealogy inspired websites. My latest creation is the Family Albums Template, featuring a JQuery booklet plugin for making albums with grab-and-drag capability.

I had originally placed the albums directly in the index file, but soon realized that that would soon make it very LARGE so I opted for iframes instead. 

The booklet plug-in is pretty versatile, though it does have some issues. Nothing that I couldn't work around or do without, but still, it would be nice to figure out how to put a border-radius on the inner pages, or offer multiple album covers, or get the custom cursor to work through the script like it says it can...but that's why I offer free lifetime updates...a lot of that stuff gets solved eventually, the more I play around with it.

Well, here it is—the Family Albums Template!

I'm going to have to go back and take a closer look at that Google+ account... it still has not unlinked itself from the YouTube channel.

Family Tree Website Template version 2.0 now online!

So last week, I sold a Family Tree Website Template. I had an update that was not yet posted, and after a bit of correspondence I whipped up a short demo vid and posted it to the Video Studio to show the client—which I think sealed the deal. Anyway, going back to delete the demo vid I took a closer look at the viewer stats...and discovered that the Family Tree template had about EIGHT TIMES as many views as anything else...so I though hey...maybe I should start pumping out the family tree templates.

So that's going to be the next project. Genealogy is so hot right now. Well, here is the new demo video...Enjoy!

Hmm...So a while back YouTube One Channel forced me to make the switch and then Google+ rolled in and screwed everything up...and now apparently because the videos on the YouTube Channel are associated with the new account they won't connect to here...grrr. Well, I'm dropping that piece of garbage, but they say it might take a couple of days. In the meantime, here's a direct upload.

Fiverr Gigs Online Now!

Oops! I started this post but never finished it...better late than never I suppose!

Fiverr gigs are online now at Fiverr.com/C2Kstudios. Currently I am offering seven different web templates, and some graphics packages. They were already there just waiting to be adapted to aid in the strategy that is why I put C2Kstudios on Fiverr in the first place: for some more exposure outside the Ottawa area.

Now, granted...most of my research indicates that there are a LOT of scammers on there...and that the site's admin team may or may not be the most capable...but then again, the auto-filters are tuned pretty high, so if you are doing shady things chances are you're going to get pinched...and then kicked off and those are the people who are going to complain the loudest, right? That's usually how it is. So you can't believe everything you read on the internet. Go figure. 

Anyway, all I do know is that I'm not a scammer, and as such I try to run as legit-looking an operation as possible. So when someone asks me if I'm able to convert a bunch of copyrighted images to icons, I say no.

The demo videos are online now on the C2Kstudios YouTube Channel!

The Spring Update is Live Now!

The Spring 2013 update is online at C2Kstudios.com! About a month behind schedule, but with two kids and four jobs, "schedule" for me is really a state of mind... technically I should have started a month earlier?...

Anyway, it's all there now. Enjoy.

Gearing up for Summer!

This past month has been pretty crazy...getting back into working again, finishing up my first major corporate contract, starting on some a couple personal projects, and getting the place ready for summer. The kids have been a handful lately, too...everyone's energy seems to pick up this time of year, but mine not as much as theirs!

I also just dropped my co.cc domains...well actually, I have them forwarding now to the subdomains I set up for them from the main site at C2Kstudios.com. Apparently my host doesn't like it when you get no hits in a month... the family site hasn't been updated in a while.

So ya, I took a job in the kitchen at the local pub...some nice mindless work that gets me out of the house and around some other adults for a few hours a week...the extra money doesn't hurt, either! Mindless as in auto pilot...being back in the back of the house is like slipping on an old pair of really comfortable shoes. 0 learning curve is what I'm all about right now...so I can save my brain power for getting back into coding again once I get these other projects out of thew way...they're secret (gifts) so I can't say too much about them before they're done but I'm going to try and stick with the whole "one-thing-at-a-time" idea that is the reason I've come as far as I have with things so far this year...not bogging myself down with too many projects at once is a very good thing. Although in the summer...who wants to be inside all the time? So there's that. Time will be at a premium, at least for the next little while. But as soon as I find the right groove, it'll be all good.

A New Look and a New Beginning!

Welcome to the spiffy new C2Kstudios Blog! I am right now just a couple of hours off soft-launching the 3rd edition of C2Kstudios.com, followed by a day or two of field testing before the official roll-out, either Monday or Tuesday. I was originally aiming for March 20, the vernal equinox this year; but I hit a couple of snags and so ended up a few days late. Oh well. Not like I'm getting paid for this!

First, my old host, 0000free, called it quits. So that was a couple days worth of frantic re-deployment. It actually went a lot more smoothly than I was expecting, though, so it all worked out OK. And I think I probably could and should have gone with these guys in the first place, but anyway, hats off to my new host, 2freehosting.com!

Then, circumstances decided to arrange themselves in a way that necessitated my needing to seek some part-time employment; and to start a mad push to try and generate some local business. I produced a brochure that I intend to deliver door to door in the neibourhood, and I'm hoping to get a night gig somewhere soon.

And then, Spring came to Ottawa. I mean, the equinox is one thing; but 23C in March is like a magnet that pulls you away from anything that isn't outside. Especially with the kids; forget it. I though she was going to want to nap out there under a tree.

Well; gotta get back to it...see you in a few hours!

C2Kstudios.com

We're all excited about the new C2Kstudios.com!

Crisis Averted

So I guess I was being a little dramatic there before...it actually took me less than 24hrs to find a new free host and get the site back up again...C2Kstudios has now made it's new home at 2freehosting.com. The family site and the Beta Studio will be up and running in the next couple of days...I can only add one site to my account a day, which makes sense, otherwise all those spammers that ruined the co.cc domain for the rest of us would be choking their servers as they all start jumping ship from 0000free like I did. I hope I don't have to go through this again any time soon!

C2Kstudios.com

A Sad Day

Well, it looks like 0000free is done...shouldn't have opened my big mouth!! Things seem to be conspiring against me lately. I suppose my next first priority is to find myself another host. Stay tuned for that... :'(

Server Down...

My host server is down right now...I'd like to be working on my new family website, but there are other things that need doing as well, so I suppose it works out OK. I have a free hosting account with 0000free.com ... as free hosting goes, I am very impressed; this actually doesn't happen that often. My Sysop keeps his paid accounts on the "Epic" server as well; I was lucky enough to have signed up early, before the second server went online and the free accounts started going exclusively to that. (apparently it's always having problems)

You can't just "get" free hosting; otherwise, wouldn't everyone? You have to do some research, find a host that looks legit and that will suit your needs, then you have to apply for hosting. I checked out a few places before I settled on 0000free. Like I said, so far, I've been very impressed.

The thing about free hosting though, is that there's really no tech support; other than the forum. CPanel is great though; (make sure your host offers that). But ya, you're basically on your own. You'll learn a lot though; that's why, despite the occasional bit of downtime, I'll stick with my free hosting until it goes off-line...or until I can afford to start paying for it!

C2Kstudios

The Word Studio

Now that the "new official blog" is in place, I'm considering a complete re-design of my Word Studio. Partly for convenience—it's a lot easier to update this blog on the fly—but partly to make the Word Studio more of a technical showcase: I'm thinking about adding a central frame, and then linking into that. I can then have numerous longer samples and not have to worry about scrolling or leaving the page. The thing is that right now, it's all about getting the website and the network and the business off the ground. Then there are some other personal projects that need my attention. Then perhaps I can turn to transcribing some of my written materials. That is what this blog will start to become, I think; a place to do that and have it out there right away. Right now though, I'm just not in blogging mode...:p

C2Kstudios

Welcome to the C2Kstudios Blog!

Welcome to the *new* official blog of C2Kstudios.com! To be perfectly honest I'm not sure exactly what this blog is going to become down the road, but for now it will be a showcase for my art, writing, videos, graphic designs, and other projects that I seem to constantly have on the go. I'll probably include other amazing things I find online from time to time. You may even encounter the occasional rant about my life as a stay-at-home dad of two redheaded girls!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Come back often...and don't forget to check out my main website!

C2Kstudios.com!