Camera Plus iPhone app
I recently succumbed to laziness/bandwagoning/marketshare and upgraded to an iPhone 4 from my 2 year old HTC Fuze. Goodbye keyboard :( Goodbye customization and free tethering even though I’m on the same carrier :( Goodbye nonexistent app development :)
Yes, one of the most compelling reasons to get an iPhone these days is for the numerous apps and games. (Yes, I hear Droid has a comparable marketplace but even now I am a slave to shiny, shiny products. If I didn’t still have 6 months on my AT&T contract Evo would’ve been a major contender.) So I’ve been hunting for good apps to fill my screens with. (Ugly icons are a major negative.) I hadn’t been planning on downloading any camera apps but Camera Plus came to my attention through the Blizzard photo club mailing list, and even though it costs $2 the idea of a lazy-man’s photoshop (and the pretty icon) compelled me to buy it.
Honestly, my ‘free only’ rule went out the door with Sally’s Spa and it’s been a slippery slope since.
Some experimenting with crappy photos:
The filters over night shots come out really grainy and the HDR effect has the tendency to generate excessive halos on most photos, but I admit that I like the over-exposed toy camera look and generic grunge effect. There’s also a ‘hipster’ filter which resembles the outcome of the Hipstamatic app, and a nice polaroid border in those moments when I’m yearning for trends of yore.
July 20th, 2010 · General, Photography · app, borders, camera plus, grunge, iphone, toy camera · 0
Blizzard Job Directory Redesign
My first heavy jQuery + Javascript project :) There are a couple quirks that I want to fix at some point…but hopefully nothing noticeable :X
The listings are all pulled directly from the job database into an object that the back end engineer created, and the dude next to me had to show me how to loop that from Freemarker into a JSON object so that I could dynamically display everything using Javascript. Never have I done so much string manipulation. It may look like a simple enough piece, but (1) it kind of isn’t (okay this is debatable), and (2) for someone whose most complicated script before joining the team was nothing (and on up to that point on the team a little clicky slider)…I swear to God.
I also thought I started out pretty well in terms of organizing my functions, but the script looks a bit nightmareish now, which is what I guess happens when you’re inexperienced (lack of foresight) and try to stuff more and more features in as the project continues.
So, some hindsight cringing, but I’m much, much more comfortable with Javascript using the jQuery framework after doing this ‘redesign.’
And portfolio design is growing legs!
June 22nd, 2010 · Share, Web · blizzard web team, jQuery · 0
Sketch to wake me up this morning.
Obviously got distracted before I finished, so now it will forever be incomplete.
May 23rd, 2010 · Art, Share · 1
I don’t want it, but I want it to want me.
I’ve been debating the value of keeping an updated portfolio somewhere. Deterring factors are (1) time + creative investment for creating a portfolio layout (this one is too dark and blue and personal to be likable as a portfolio. And I want to make a site with a footer because they look neat), and (2) appearing as though I’m looking for work when I’m not.
About a month before the end of my temporary assignment for web, I was approached with an offer for an associate web design position. All of the projects I’d been assigned up till then had had their challenges which consequently forced me to learn a lot quickly, and verily I appreciated that. I’d learned how to use their water cooler, half of their break room is a bar, and their logo is a sprite of Raynor punching Murky…so of course I accepted.
Aside: A page I coded (the awesome designer on the mobile app was responsible for photoshop magic) for the new WoW Auction House which was just launched tonight: World of Warcraft Remote Auction House marketing page! (It may or may not be going through maintenance right now…) While the majority of the page was cake to put together, my javascript was super green at that time so I was very pleased with the pithy little jQuery sliding gallery dongle at the bottom. Don’t laugh. I’ve since written much more complex things using the jQuery :(
Anyway, the question of whether or not to maintain a portfolio for personal projects and work I’ve done for public Blizzard sites… I’ve yet to meet someone in the department who does keep one, so I have to wonder if it’s taboo in web. The exercise of it seems like a good idea – a way to feel as though I’m keeping in touch with the web outside of web team. I may not be able to take on freelance work, but I still want people to look at me!
May 18th, 2010 · General, Web · 0
Things that make the day happier
1. Scents. Eu de Miel by L’Occtaine is my go-to scent for picking up the morning. It smells literally like honey water and just a whiff of it makes my day about 1.5x better. I mean, let’s be real, wtf kind of smell is going to make your day significantly better? I’d say 1.5 is pretty generous.
2. Happy music. I haven’t been tuning into my usual Youtube/Pandora/Grooveshark stations since starting on web because, much like writing, I can’t concentrate on scripting when listening to things with lyrics (and by god…there is a lot of scripting on this project). Lyrics just mess with my head. But, shit like Glee and Ella Fitzgerald and Doris Day and Final Fantasy orchestrated give me calm + (faux?) endorphins in chaos.
3. Clothes. Comfy clothes that DON’T make me feel like a complete scrub. My Nine West ‘Rocha’s in black are amazing. Classically styled pumps with a tiny platform that makes them super comfortable whilst still being 3+ inches tall. Gold. Ditto to my recently acquired sweater from JCrew that’s perfect for summer/beach wear.
4. Cute sites. I don’t mean cute sites, but sites that share cuteness. Like dailysquee.com. Powder puff is not amused.
5. That’s about it, really. No round number here. If these things are lacking a bad day is more or less doomed to shit.
April 10th, 2010 · General · 0