Thord Daniel Hedengren

Freelance Friday: My Writing Week 47

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:00:55 +0000

I’ve been busy this week. Real busy. Too bad most of it will be published on dead trees in Sweden. You’ll have to settle with this week’s posts online.

Interview with Adii of WooThemes Fame
An interview with Adii, on the Blog Herald
Six Apart Gives Journalists TypePad Pro Accounts for Free
A feature news story, on the Blog Herald
Blogging and that Anonymous Thing
Editorial on anonymity in blogging, on the Blog Herald
Getting Ready for WordPress 2.7: Really Simple Category Styling
A tutorial on new post styling functionality, on Devlounge
5 Ways To Break Your Design Habits - Just for Fun
My weekly post on Spyre Mag

I hope you like the new theme. It’s not done yet, I’m afraid. Some tweaks to be made, features to be rolled out, and the occasional bug to squash. That’ll have to wait though, since I’m away on conferences and meetings this weekend.

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How Much is Your Twitter Profile Worth?

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:00:40 +0000

Hmpf. If someone paid me $382, I sure wouldn’t sell my Twitter account. Check your own at TweetValue, made by a countryman of mine.

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Gmail Gets Themes, Somewhat Crazy Too

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:27:06 +0000

Google has added themes to Gmail, which means that you now can get the clean webmail interface to look cluttered and full of crap. I’m pretty sure the novelty will wear off, but personally I’m switching between the desk theme and the terminal one, out of spite I guess. With my clutter thinking I’m pretty sure I’ll be using one of the more sane one soon enough.

Biggest disappointment was the minimalist theme. It’s just grey and boring, not at all clean and stylish the way it should be.

Haven’t got the themes functionality yet? I’ve got some pictures!

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Upgrade in Process, Please Stay Tuned

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:16:32 +0000

I’ve just rolled out the TDHish theme here on tdhedengren.com as well (it’s on tdh.se already). There is some tweaking to be done, so please bear with me while stuff looks like crap. Thanks. And yes, it runs on the Notes Blog Core theme.

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Freelance Friday: My Writing Week 46

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:04:05 +0000

I’ve spent most of this week doing a larger freelance gig for a newspaper, so there’s been time for little else. This gig was in Swedish, and aimed at the Swedish market, so you won’t be seeing anything of it, but at least I’ll get a slightly larger paycheck this month. You’ll have to settle with that!

Blog Networks Roundtable: What Does the Network Heads Say?
First ever roundtable with Jeremy Wright, Collis Ta’eed, and Mike Rundle, on the Blog Herald
Facebook Reaps Mobile Success, Will Blogs Come Next?
Feature news story on Facebook’s mobile success, on the Blog Herald
Interview: Darren Rowse on TwiTip
Interviewing Darren Rowse, on the Blog Herald
Technorati Top 100 Blogs are Dial-Up Unfriendly
A feature story on front page load times, on the Blog Herald
Widgets: What’s Good, Dubious, and Plain Bad
My thoughts and advice on widgets, on Spyre Mag

I sincerely hope that the next time I post something here on tdhedengren.com, it will be an announcement of the new design. And after that, you can expect to read my thoughts on this lovely Kiki James journal.

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Questions to Ask a Web Designer: My Answers

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:20:31 +0000

David Yeiser has got a post up called Questions to Ask a Web Designer over at Design Intellection and since I’m not doing anything constructive at the moment, other than enjoying a bourbon and listening to music, I figured I’d answer them. Just for fun.

1. What is your typical process when designing a site from start to finish?

Talk to the client, do sketches, talk some more to the client, revise the sketches, do a first mockup and show the client, repeat until mockup is OK, then get started on coding. Oh, and when showing the actual thing up and running, I try not to get too frustrated when the client wants to change things that got approved in the first mockup… Fix stuff, deliver.

2. What’s your favorite part in the process?

The one with the money?

Seriously though, I like the sketching, sitting down with a blank sheet, mulling over the talk I’ve had with client, and then start drawing stuff. That’s when the optimism soars.

3. What’s the most important part in the process?

Communication. If I don’t get what you want and need, how can I make something that you like and benefit from?

4. From where do you draw inspiration?

That varies a lot. If I have to pick one, I’d say music. Getting into the right state of mind is important to me.

5. Do you read other designer’s blogs?

Yep. Always open to new ideas and ways to tackle things.

6. What’s the most important aspect of a website?

That would depend on the website, now wouldn’t it? But I’d say usability, otherwise it would pretty much suck…

7. How many total hours does it take you to create a full website (smaller site, CMS-based) going through the whole process with a client?

That’s both in my hands and the clients’, so I won’t make a general guess. It won’t matter anyway, so quit trying to make me say things that won’t be valid when a new client asks me to do a site fitting that description!

8. What’s your favorite thing about the web right now?

That everyone can publish anything. It’s also the thing I hate about the web…

Will you hire me now please? Daddy needs a new MacBook Pro…

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New stuff here

Freelance Friday: My Writing Week 45

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:00:42 +0000

I’ve had a good week, which is nice. On the freelancing front, I’ve got my first post up on Jon’s Spyre Mag. When it comes to design, as you know I’m running an addon theme for Notes Blog Core on tdh.se, which is working out nicely. Expect a public beta soonish.

Getting Ready for WordPress 2.7: Sticky Post Styling
Style your sticky posts in WordPress 2.7 like this, on Devlounge
WooThemes Releases Premium Theme for Free, Customers in the Middle Again
Feature news story on WooThemes theme release, on The Blog Herald
Will Twitter Suffer from Post-Election Hangover?
Editorial on Twitter post-election, on The Blog Herald
ReadWriteWeb Blog Network Disbands
A feature news story on RWW blog network disbanding, on The Blog Herald
Hack Your Brain for a Better Life, and More Productive Blogging
A post on the need to exercise to stay sharp, on The Blog Herald
Simple Ways To Save Time With A Default Code Library
A post on saving time, on Spyre Mag

For those of you who wondered, no, I don’t have an ETA on the third part in Stiel’s story. It might not get written this side of New Year’s even, as I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do.

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Performancing Releases My TDAge Theme

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:26:45 +0000

Performancing have launched my WordPress theme TDAge, originally used for tdh.se and the now defunct rethord.com. It is a free theme, so be sure to grab it. Speaking of themes, expect a version of my Notes Blog based addon theme TDHish to roll out here on tdhedengren.com shortly, along with more frequent updates. Yes, that means more blog posts. Stay tuned.

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Notes Blog Theme in Private Beta

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:57:47 +0000

The tdh.se At a glance box from the WordPress 2.7 Dashboard

My upcoming free WordPress theme, titled Notes Blog, is in private beta right now. That means that I’m running it, and that I’ve got a few friends running it locally and/or in public. In fact, I decided to roll it out on my Swedish blog, sporting a dedicated add-on theme thanks to the new template functionality in WordPress 2.7. You can see it in action, not finished by any means (localization isn’t done yet, among other things) over at tdh.se. Swedish readers might be interested in the launch post as well.

What you’re seeing on tdh.se is the TDHish add-on theme, which won’t be available for download in case you were wondering. It runs on Notes Blog Core, the them I’ll offer for free later this month, after WordPress 2.7 is officially out (check out the beta if you’re curious). That means that what you see on my Swedish blog right now, isn’t what you’ll get when you install Notes Blog Core.

That being said, I think it is cool that it finally is up and running in public. Stay tuned for more in these coming weeks.

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Freelance Friday: My Writing Week 44

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:10:29 +0000

I’ve been ill all week so not much has been published, I’m afraid. Still not entirely well, so it’ll be a quiet weekend for me. As always, news posts and such aren’t represented below.

Handling Headers: Where to Use h1 and h2
A piece on header hierarchy, on Devlounge