Well On My Way

So as you might know I am a web designer. I am fairly new at this profession, but I love it none the less. I work day in and day out thinking of nothing but Photoshop layers, color schemes, font choices, and layer styles. But a new revelation to the world of web design, one that I was unsure how important it was when I started as a designer, is HTML (hypertext markup language) and CSS (cascading style sheets).

The first time I sat down to actually look at code and consider how it was created, developed, and made into a web page it was like looking at a foreign language. And that is exactly what it is two months in for me. But, I am learning. I am starting to figure out the little innuendos and the tricks, tips, hints, and everything that comes with it. I actually had a dream a few nights ago that dealt with CSS. Yeah, I am a geek if I ever saw one.

But I ran across a list of the top 23 ways you know you are a code junkie. Quite a few of them made me laugh and in only 2 months as a designer in a firm I have experienced most of these. Here are a few and the reason why they are so funny to me.

2. You know exactly what I’m referring to when I say “Make my logo bigger”. – This is only funny because of a recent client. (This is a time where I will save face by stating all names will be kept secret to protect the innocent.) This client had provided a few sample sites that they liked and the one they liked more than anything was basically a logo and some text above the fold. It was comical to us. SO the design goes through and the client comes backs and says, “Can you make the logo bigger?” This banter continued through 9 total redesigns of this one site making each one with the logo bigger and bigger. It actually got to the point it was so big we called the client to tell them the logo was not able to get any bigger. This is just ironic to me that I am not the only one that faces this issue.

3. Every now and then you go through a ‘herbal tea’ phase to try and reduce your dependence to coffee, but you always go back to the inky demon eventually. – This is funny only because just today Ryan and Fugit were discussing the coffee and tea rivalry. Ryan went to get some hot water from the coffee maker and came back in a fit of disgust. Long story short the coffee machine produced a sort of yellowish egg yolk substance that was filtered with coffee grounds. Ryan claims he will never use that pot again. And then Fugit is talking about how just today he will be moving back to coffee after one of these so called dry spells of caffeine.

9. You know several Photoshop shortcuts that require 4 fingers(Shift+Ctrl+Alt+K anyone?). – OK, again, just today we were discussing shortcut keys. The newest version of Photoshop, which is now CS4, changed the majority of their shortcuts. That shortcut used to be used to access the Slice tool (correct me if I am wrong.) However, now, I have no idea what the shortcut key currently does. Sure, there are ways to go back and change shortcut keys in the preferences, but well, we are lazy, and that is too much work.

11. You’re sitting in the movie theater watching the movie titles, shaking your head at how badly they’re kerned. – I am pretty sure that this was written today after I got off work. I was speaking to Ryan today about kerning. Oh, how I love kerning. (Now, without using Google, who can tell me what kerning means? Anyone?)

23. You actually understand this post and pass it on to your fellow geeks friends. – Not even kidding here, but as I was reading around number 19. I was sending this to Dan (lead designer at my firm), Patrick (owner of Flynn Media and a great friend of mine) and James (web designer at another house here in Indianapolis.) What a way to wrap that list up, huh?

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