BrandonMoeller.com

So, while working on this whole wedding website thingy  - and avoiding doing what I should be doing - I have stumbled upon two new (to me) online tools that I am considering implementing.

FlockDraw

The first one is FlockDraw. And it’s beyond cool. Somehow, thanks to the amazing power of the Internets, it allows for collaborative drawing. Like, I could be drawing on it, and you could be drawing on it AT THE SAME TIME … and we can see each other do this … in real time.

It’s FLASH based, I believe and it’s really cool … when it works. I say this because I drew something at work, and then later today from home, I went to look at it and it was gone. I did post it to Facebook, and though no one commented, maybe someone erased it? Shrugs. See it here:

Of course, at this moment, it’s blank again. Sigh. Well, we’ll see … maybe it will right itself.

Just in case, I’ve embedded it here in this non-blog page: http://www.brandonandkimberly.com/flockdraw.html … It’s not working as of this writing. The “embed” code they give out is wonky, and it doesn’t even display on my Mac at work. Go figure.

In the meanwhile, the URL for the one I’ve been playing with is: http://flockdraw.com/cc0u4z

UPDATE: Oh wait, now I get it: “It’s important to note that these FlockDraw rooms are meant to be disposable — once the last person leaves the room, the image disappears.” from: ReadWriteWeb. But, still, I can’t seem to get the embedding to work. Sigh.

Squidoo

I’ve been looking for a guestbook for www.brandonandkimberly.com because someone has strongly advised me to, and one of the first things I found in a Google search was Squidoo.

Squidoo is a lot like GeoCities, in that it allows anybody to set up a free website. And, that it looks pretty crappy. I hate all the banner ads, as represented in this screenshot:

If you’re interested in seeing the Squidoo page I set up today but likely won’t continue messing with, see it here: http://www.squidoo.com/brandonandkim … Really, I just think I’m too old for that many ads. However, if anyone clicks on them, I might make money. Ka-ching … yeah, right.

TypeKit is here and as more browsers start to adopt the @font-face rule, I decided to take it for the old free trial spin for BrandonandKimberly.com.

It was easy. I went to their website, signed up, chose two fonts from the free trial selection and specified what domain I will be using them on. The free trial only allows for the use of two fonts on one domain. I then copied the two-line Java call and pasted it into the head of all the site’s pages, then configured the easy-to-use TypeKit editor to specify which font corresponded to which selector in my HTML/CSS of the site, and after a few minutes, I was done.

I chose FF Enzo Web by FontFont for my headlines.

I chose Scrivano by Outras Fontes for my regular body text. I know, I know – it’s a little wild. And kind of a little fancy pants, but it really highlights the fact that I’m using a unique font on my Web site and if you’re cool enough to have an updated browser, then you’re cool enough to see it and, perhaps, be inspired by it and the brilliant web developer behind the Web site. All that, and Kim let me, so there.

But it doesn’t work in all the browsers I use. Here’s the results of my survey:

Go

MAC
Firefox 3.5.5
Safari*

PC
Firefox 3.5.5
Internet Explorer 8

No Go

Mac
Camino
Google Chrome
Opera

PC
Chrome 3
Internet Explorer 6+7

* Though BrandonandKimberly.com keeps crashing Safari. Doh! Man, I hate that browser.

Also, I’m kind of disappointed in the way that various browsers display the fonts I chose.

Check out these screen shots. Discuss.

Firefox 3.5.5 (PC): This is how Typekit displays our wedding Web site on the browser of my choice.

Internet Explorer 8 (PC): It doesn't display as nicely, but, maybe that's just my opinion. Notice how the weights of the headlines between this one and FF are inconsistent.

Firefox 3.5.5 (Mac): It looks pretty good on Firefox for Mac.

Week 15 photos from around the yard are up.

They include shots of watermelons growing on the side of the house, that my daughter and I planted.

It starts with these purty flowers.

Then it grows into a tiny little watermelon.

Here's another little watermelon

I better start liking watermelons.

A few Sundays ago we went to my uncle’s house for a family birthday party. We celebrated a lot of birthdays.

Five. Could have been more if more people showed up. Those people will remain nameless, but they know who they are.

Two of the five people were Donna Novak and Melissa Jones. Donna is my cousin Steve’s wife. Melissa is her oldest daughter.

In February, Donna’s mother passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. I never got to know her very well, but I did know she was a great cook and a longtime busdriver for the Magnolia Independent School District.

A scholarship was created in her honor after her passing, and word is a Magnolia student’s college burden was gratefully lighter.

Anyway, so, for their birthday gift, Donna and Melissa received a 5×7 frame with a print of some photo art I worked up for them. From recent photos I had taken at Melissa’s November wedding.

Mike and Judy Chaney pose for a photo during Melissa's wedding. This was the photo I gave Donna. I took out the red eye, made the background grayscale and blurred it a bit to bring out the brightness of Judy's smile.

Mike and Judy Chaney join the newly weds Melissa and Tim Jones for a wedding portrait. This is the photo I gave Melissa for her birthday. I combined two photos in order to capture the whole arch, took out the red eye and gently blurred the background to emphasize the happiness in these couples.

I share these photos here not only to show off my skills in Photoshop, but also as a way to honor the Chaneys who mean so much to people who mean so much to me.