I’m Jacob Thomas

Lifestreaming. Hmm I am seriously considering revamping my website into one. I usually got confined to my wordpress blog but now I sport myself in many of the social media. Aggregating my participation in all these spheres of online life to my website would be more appropriate.
Many netizens have raised the question, ‘Is it the next big thing?‘. Jeff Crofts‘ and Nathan Borrors‘ websites’ are very good examples. Lifestreaming has a more formal name, Social Media Aggregators.

The concept is not new and has been tested with some added features every passing day. Blogs surely were the pivotal point towards Web 2.0. Many aggregrators are been developed, some of them being Friendfeed, SocialThing, Tumblr and Profilactic. I have checked out a few and found it to be really interesting. I think, people simple love to share, boast and ‘blah blah’ a lot about their life. This simple fact is going to take forward the concept of lifestream probably with some new features. The old personal log with comments is restrictive and has found a whole new ramification. Much of these stream elements revolve around twitter, flickr, Del.icio.us and Last.fm.

Of course I like custom designs and code snippets. Jeremy Keith has given me a sound base to get one such application working in php. Yay! Now I can experiment a few and look forward to my next redesign.

Its been a long time since I have blogged. Infact, a very long one. I haven’t been a serious blogger. The only reason why I use one is to share with people something new, striking facts and my views and experiences about life. As expected, the philosophical posts get very low clicks. but the popular ones include design, code and maybe open accusations. So let me start off another season by the usual words.

I’m extremely sorry for inactiveness of this blog and will strive towards a better maintained personal log. Duh! I feel kinda weird after that line. Maybe this post will become the last one in the next 3-4 months. The suscribers to this blog must be of some really patient species branched from apes some 5-8 millions of years ago and from humans some one and a half years ago. You didn’t get it? My blog is nearing its second birthday. yay! hmm. What do I give my tolerant readers as a gift for bearing with me?  Maybe a free Wordpress theme. Maybe some screencast series. Blah! If you could have wasted precious mbs of bandwidth of stupid ‘geek’ pastimes like screencasts, then you surely would have seen a steamy youtube clip by then.(or maybe something that steams even more.)

So I will speak about about a few things I learned in the past few months while I was away from my blog. After Tejasvi, I found Vestec CMS didn’t have an edge in todays market if it were to based on just a bunch of functions and methods. MVC is the buzzword. So I may implement this either with a standard MVC platform like Cake PHP or Codeigniter or even try to model one myself. As for new changes, I added a new, improved interface to the admin section.

Moving away from code, I designed a few web interfaces for some companies and found out some bare truths. The most prominent among these is the fact that designs with more white in it are guaranteed to be a sell. According to my experience, a blue-white color scheme is the most liked scheme. A dark design is the riskiest thing you might want to do. Unless it is exceptional, clients are sure to have some second thoughts.

My N73 and its wide possibilities made me Google about S60 application development. After some persistent use of the ’submit’ button, I found out it that it needs some time and dedication. Maybe a bit extra than the usual. Some newer version of the platform is due to change the level of knowledge so it is better to go into mobile development until I get used to the terms and jargon of their codex.

Well then, I seem to be in pretty good form right now! Calculating this spirit, I think you guys can expect some more posts before the blog nerve gets blocked. Yes! Do expect some goodies from me soon.:-)

It was a venture I took part in. From late November to March, Tejasvi took every ounce of energy in me. Together with some of the most dedicated and talented organizers, during an ambient, colourful and exuberant evening at Tagore Theatre, I spend a moment or two, enjoying the much deserved success…especially when the electric performances of Stephen and Sayanora made the crowd dance like anything Yes! this is my latest tale. What I did for Tejasvi…

1) Website Design - Tejasvi’s official website needed to look serious enough so that we would get some participants. A new festival is seldom welcomed with less interest and vigour.

The entire website was crafted in PHP/MySql with each event details being loaded into the decent interface dynamically. It included some new features and algorithms, of which most were devised together with Asti. Unique ID system, Online participant tracking, suggestion portal, mailing lists and a custom inauguration module… Tejasvi ‘08 is the web project I enjoyed working on the most. It soon became the best reference of the festivals’ rules, regulations and prizes. Over a period of one month, it hit whopping track records in Google analytics.

This simply shows how influential a website can be on a festival’s success.

2) Flyers

Over 3000 flyers were printed at the efficacious St Joseph’s Press. Orangish, 2 fold papers spread across Trivandrum did make Tejasvi’s presence felt!

3) Poster and Brochure Box

One glossy poster based on multi laser light streaks proved to a sincere reverberation for the theme of the festival. ‘The radiant you’.

The brochure box is the most innovative design productof Tejasvi. This is modelled on Japanese origami techniques with two 170 GSM papers used. The box when unwrapped would unveil the entire schedule and prize money of all the events. ‘Event cards’ depicting the event format and rules were the contents of the box.

4) Certificates

The most hurried part of the entire design process. Still it looked decent. (er..I think so.doesn’t it?)

5) Badges

6 types of square badges were printed. The Design, derived from the poster but based on different colours.

6) Registration Software

This PHP/MySql Web application was devised in such a way that all six computer systems got updated informations regarding festival schedule, timings, participant details, order of appearance and team codes. Dedication counters too worked effectively with systems though it cost us 100 m CAT-5 cables and two 8-port switches for the LAN at Tagore Theatre. The system’s highlight was a fully computerized registration procedure with the details being retrieved at the ‘Certificate processing’ team. Monetary particulars were also dealt through this efficient, transparent and dynamic arrangement.

If I were to market all these designs, I would have got more than 35K bucks. I thank everyone who helped me in this endeavor. I have worked with true interests and in a honest attire. This means that I would refuse myself to take part in next years’ festival. When i briefed my juniors, I said.

“Next year! We would have already made a platform for you to continue, To begin anew is a hard task. To emulate on a existing model, is much more easier”. To my friends, I say. “Don’t stop with what is already available. Do build on it! Make it taller, stronger and mightier”.

Oh come on! I am starting to sound like John F Kennedy in his famous presidential address. “Let the word go forth…’

Ok so it is really hot out here and I think I will write about something cool.err..wait! Why not I write about some hot stars or some cool gadgets? Recently, I attempted a paper on Discrete Structures. It gives me sick thoughts but the futile effort enlightned me of some new concepts.

From the timeless centuries, people always differentiated cold and hot stuff as the extremes. My mission is to prove both are empirically the same. So let me present my latest in “Verbal Order Theorems”

HC Equivalence

“For every exclamation related to an object’s visual aspect, the extremes namely ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ are equivalent.”

Exercise 1:

What’s cool, What’s hot in the given set of colors?
{ a) black, b) pink, c) blue, d) red }
Solution

Pink! is usually associated with girls and they have fought for it ! Pink as hot? A part from that cursed period in history when pink was associated with boys! Aaarg! naah..with an exception of a pink bikini, I don’t think! Man! Red’s always hot! The inheritance maybe from a hot red chilli or a red haired Julian Moore. Black..aaah! The ultimate definition of coooooool stuff! A black Aston Martin DB9, A black Lamborghini Reventon to a F22 Raptor. Black versions rule! Blue is cool. References maybe from a clear blue sky, bluish-white global warmed glaciers or eccentric underwater action stunts from “Into the Blue” or “Deep Blue Sea”.

Excercise 2:
Give the structural validity of the statement “I am a cool guy and many girls think i am a hot”
The predicate subject is ‘guy’ i.e, myself. Here the basic assumption is “I am visually appealing to myself as well as the girls.

Let ‘Y be the guy’
Y:Y E {Humans;Male}

C:Cool
H:Hot
i.e.; C=H’

To Prove: (Y->C)+(Y->H) is always a tautology.

|C|H|C+H|
|0|1 |    1  |
|1|0 |    1  |
Here I have limited my test set to 2 order relation since C=H’
Hence Proved!

Exercise 3:
What is cool and hot in Transformers: The movie?
Transformers had some of the coolest graphical treat ever. Now thats the cool element! What’s hot in the film? Megan Fox! That would be quick and spontaneous. You tend to associate the sensuous elements with ‘hot’. Sensuous here refers to the theorectical substitute of “cool”.

Exercise 4:
Dude, don’t tell me ‘Vertical Limit’ and ‘Volcano’ are empirically same. Ones’ dealing with cold avalanches..brr. and the other one has hot lava on the roads..
From the ‘Vertical Limit’ to the catostrophic ‘Volcano’, Hollywood has portrayed it to be something similar, Action!! But then it is cool action, cool graphics something associated with geek stuff!
Inferences: Everything around you is cool, You mind selects some as hot because of its inconsistence in singular allocation of concepts. Want that line in simpler words? Come on! Why should I? After all, I spend hours reading some stupid logic books. In most of them, they simple refuse to get to the point! Damn! I wonder whether that cost me my grades.

Conclusion:
I have included many ‘ad words’ into this blog post that was absolutely meaningless and absurd! The purpose of this post is to get more linkable words into my blog posts so that my advertisers are happy. But then theorem stays and is proved!

2007 was a very good year for me, if blogging is concerned. I had some great events which revolved around this blog. Last year i switched from wordpress.com to an independent blog at dynz.net. It was part of the ‘togetherness initiative‘ by the dynz. My co-workers blogs got attached to our company website and rest was the same.

Recognitions: 

In August, Smashing magazine selected my 404 page design for their ‘404 pages’ inspirational post.

That’s what does when you get listed in some popular blogging directories. Almost half of my traffic have come via Smashing magazine. Thats an incredible jump in Alexa rankings, link backs, back urls etc.

One Down!
In September, I celebrated my first year of blogging (a blog post..so much for the celebration.) . It listed down some of my prominent milestones in the last year.

Redesign: Only one redesign was applied to this blog, Sed.  As I said earlier its 404 page gained massive recognition. However i had released a lot of concept blog themes which ultimately had to be scrapped off!

Functions: As a medium to convey my ideas , my blog has helped me a lot. It made me reassert some facts in life. It made me think and review. Some of my common incertitudes were clarified with some excellent discussion.

Well, I wish 2008 would be even better.

I am assuming myself to be a client who is on the lookout for a good design for his blog. What do i look for in my designer?

Portfolio

Firstly, i go straight for the portfolio section in our designers’ website. It defines him in the realms of aesthetic designs, accessibility results and client lists. Portfolios should not be vague and misleading. If I have two websites with one displaying the screenshots of their work and one linking to the original websites, i would be definitely convinced by the latter. The reason simply means i get to experience what his designs would feel like.

Spiga.com.mx , thewebdesigner and WillBlackmore.co.uk are good examples of  portfolios. They give proper details of what they have done and links and screenshots wherever necessary.

Website Design

Though his portfolio gets me the maximum of his design capabilities, a good website with minimal project listings also gets my attention.

Services

Services that my designer provides is also a measure for selection. The reason is closely associated with ‘loyalty of the customer‘ and ‘future projects’. For example I get my blog done with a designer who is only offering xhtml/css design with no flash oriented websites in his services list. I find his work appealing but still I would still prefer a design studio with a wide range of services. In the future I probably will come back to the same firm for a different kind of service.

Client List

An impressive array of popular clients can be very effective. Tofslie is one such portfolio. It has a good client base ranging from popular sporting brands like Nike and Adidas to Winter X Games champion Shaun White’s official website. That is impressive! Almost all the doubts about quality, accessibility and all the other criterion for selecting a designer reduces dramatically as the result of my website will be surely a good one.

Popularity

Someone popular in the blogosphere with a large number of loyal readers will automatically qualify as a good designer. They wouldn’t have been popular if their designs were bad. Bryan Veloso’s (the message is distorted?) and Veerle’s  happen to be my favourite bloggers. And surely their portfolios show that they are talented designers’ too. Besides getting your website done by such popular blogger/designers is always good for me and my business.

 Rates

Last but not the least, the rates he charges. Obviously when ‘high-end clients’ are catered by the designer, the rates go high. If it is a blog or a simple website with minimal number of features i would select a smaller, less exuberant design house. Nowadays finding one such designer is not at all a problem.

So i ask, ‘What do you look for in a designer?”

2007 was a year of reassertion for me. The year gave me new perspectives, new dimensions of thought and identification of some unique skills. Now when i look back, like every human being, i feel an element of regret saddening my heart. “I could have done better”. Be it my decisions or be it my outlook towards life, every single line i spoke could have been rephrased to a much more sinless speech. I feel.

Below are some of my inferences about the events that happened to me this year.

Opdyne: My ‘zero rupee’ Opdyne showed little or less signs of competitiveness in the vast and talented web designer’s world. The positives i got were the improvement factor. We have come way better than the day when we dressed up as designers ourselves. We had problems working together in a group. We had problems related to communication during constructive phases of projects. It were all sorted out so that we could welcome the new year with renewed energy , a new belief and some surprise plans.

Sometimes its best if you take the lead of your group and preach new ideologies. Sometimes its best if you stay back and receive suggestions for improvement.

New initiatives are demanding. It can consume a lot of time, energy and precious social time.

New initiatives, new domains of involvement… a new stage of recognition. Still there is something lacking in my deeds. What is it? The very human side of me is refusing to allow the very perfect me. Ironically our mind wants to strive for the perfect 10/10 when in reality the end result halts before that mark.

“To err is to human, to forgive is divine”. I will use this as an excuse to relieve me of all punishments. Oh wait! Asti warned me to stop writing ’senseless crap’ but in another world this maybe great work. Someone please tell him! Promising you more sensible blog posts in 2008. Bye.

This post is a bit on the philosophical edge of my unintelligent understanding. Still, What i am saying is absolutely true and is well supported by reason and personal experience.

Rule 1: You do not have to flatter your teammate’s work on the basis of any emotional, personal or intimate relationships. If you find any problem in the task done by the member of your team, do make the point clear with some suggestions.

Rule 2: Its “Give and Take!”. So when the advice from rule no 1 is FOR you, do listen with all your inbuilt qualities of patience and cool stretched to the maximum. Getting worried over the advices is a big mistake.

Rule 3: When you feel you have done your job, make sure you ask yourself “Is there any room for improvement?”.

Rule 4: Probably the most important rule of them all. Respect all your group members’ advices, suggestions and take all what you think is right. Your group is one which is defined by the similarity in ideas, mindset and skills. Your teammates won’t be asking for changes which make the entire work go look so bad.

Rule 5: A leader is an essential part of a group. He is the one who is supposedly managing every resources available to the group. But the selection of a team leader should be done with the qualities of selflessness and confidence fixed as essentials.

Rule 6: ‘Trust’.A personal bond between two persons can be termed as a ‘trusty’ relationship. The word has a whole new level of importance when it comes to a group. In a group of different people with different views of perspective, it natural to develop a tense, unproductive environment. So mutual trust in the work of other team members is a requisite.

Rule 7: When you are a member of a clan, making your own decision is invalid. Every decision is to made through a meeting with atleast a majority of the members present.

Rule 8: Be yourself. Imitations will be costly. One wrong step and the way your teammates think about you will change forever.

Rule 9: Never set yourself personal goals inside a circle of professionals. It can affect your contribution to the group and finally it results in your talents being speculated upon.

Rule 10: Work is not always interesting. But if you can discover how to work for fun with the purpose of learning it sure will be interesting.

It has been a long break away from my role as an apprentice in the large world of design freaks. Here i am waiting again to start my new stage in my designer career. ‘Writers’ block’…well I’m not sure what got me away from the PC and my cute lil’ blog for a month or so but i am pretty sure about the return. The recent distractions included participation in some exaggerated reality shows, unexampled college activities and some personal issues (which i don’t care even now).

Stage 1: Ignition

Sounds a bit lame! Still, the influences of Japanese anime titles like ‘Stratos 4′ and ‘Sky Girls’ have made this post look straight out of a PSLV User’s Manual. Stage 1 in the life of ‘the upward autodidact’ was all about ignition. The initial inspiration, the novice student entering into unfamiliar provinces of design…It was always a challenge. Time was very little. I had to grasp the most quickest of changes, imbibe from the most controversial of incidents and feel from the rest of the professional clan, the ethics of design and code. The autodidactic mission was begun with the sole purpose of learning the art of expressing one’s creativity in a splendid flavor.

Stage 2: Launch

Now its time for me to create a base to launch myself, project myself as a professional enterprise. Having acquired some tricks, tips and tutorials need not mean i am ready to take on the big stage by absolute confidence. For whatever i  do not have a  clue about, the autodidactic run continues. But for others, i plan to mix and blend the things i have learnt with some personal style and elegance.

Firstly, I have decided to get done with my award winning blog theme. It served me well and needs a good rest. Secondly, my new theme is due in one month time and is a glorious coalesce of Wordpress and Vestec.

The latter is quite unfamiliar to all of you as it is my first CMS venture. It includes a personal portfolio integrated right into the Opdyne’s site.

Adobe has bought Apollo some ‘new looks’ from the nearest ‘icon designer’. Whatever be the introductory text given in the release website, I find AIR with some terrible identity crisis…well atleast for the users.

Since most of you haven’t used Opdyne’s Liquid Fusion (LF), there is no point in explaining about what LF can do. AIR can be used for developing applications, alright! But when it comes to quick, usable and clean ones, it is not worth the boast.The first application i tested was Snitter, straight out of the snook cookbook. It is a ‘twitter‘ing device with decent features.I was impressed by the clean and usable interface but imagine all the code that went into making this application. Vysnu tests AIR with a so called ‘quick AIR application’, a simple calculator. Well have a look inside his blog post’s code section. One hour is not quick enough.

Incoming LF’s simplicity.

Asti, the developer, experiments with LF. The purpose of the following program is get the correct names for his music album folders using google search.

The total number of code lines according to asti ::”25 lines including 3 comments”

Thats quick. Unlike AIR, the interface is a browser with the application an html webpage. So creating the application interface is very quick and easy.

Well, I can’t say more.

The date is fast approaching!