As you may know, part of my job at Blue Flavor entails speaking at conferences, giving workshops, and so forth. This fall, I’ve got several events lined up, and ...
I’ll keep this one short. Michelle and I have left our digs in Seattle and are moving ourselves into an apartment in Kansas City, Missouri this afternoon. Meesh and ...
Webmaster Jam Session, one of the best web events I’ve ever been to when I spoke there in Dallas last year, is back this year and is moving to the ATL. Woo! Sorry, Big D., but Atlanta is sooo much more appealing! Anyway, I’ve again agreed to speak this year, and I can’t wait. Hope to see you all there! Visit site »
In the past couple weeks, I’ve received a few e-mails from folks wondering why my blog has been less active than in the past. The answer is pretty simple ...
For the past several weeks we’ve been working on a redesign of BlueFlavor.com — and now it’s live. Keith and Kevin and mostly responsible for the design. Nick and Tom did some IA work, Tom and Kevin did the front-end development, and I did the back-end development.
Of particular interest is the awesome posters we’ve commissioned as an interesting new way to showcase some of our work. The artists we’ve used so far have been freaking great, and we’re looking forward to doing more.
For the curious, BlueFlavor.com is now powered by the same Django-based CMS that powers jeffcroft.com. Visit site »
For reasons I can’t really explain, seeing the cruise ships go by my window gives me an inordinate amount of pleasure. I’ve missed them over the winter. They’re back on Pier 66, starting tomorrow. Visit site »
It’s no secret that I love to talk. If you don’t believe me, just ask my friends.
In particular, I like talking about the aspects of our industry ...
Last night, when I finished up the latest redesign of JeffCroft.com, I was tired of being on the computer and didn’t feel like writing much more than a ...
Yes, it’s a pretty drastic change for me. Yes, it only really works correcty in Safari (get over it). Yes, I did it pretty quickly. Yes, this redesign also ...
The past couple of years, I’ve posted a sort of year-in-review entry here at JeffCroft.com in late December or early January. I was getting set to do that ...
Today, as I was looking through the referrers for this site, I found a comment from my now-co-worker D. Keith Robinson, dated December 4th, 2003. A few excerpts from the ...
Gene at Unmatched Style recently interviewed me as part of a series of interview on that site. Check it out. Visit site »
If you read this blog regularly, you’ll remember that I had some thoughts on The New Layers of Web Development in a recent entry. Basically, I talked about how ...
Following Keith’s lead, I saw fit to drop a short post letting you all know about a handful of upcoming speaking engagements I’ll be participating in and events ...
Flavorite Tom Watson waxes nostalgic about the heyday of the personal website. I couldn’t agree more. Much of that nostalgia, along with a healthy enjoyment for so-called Web 2.0 apps of today (Flickr, etc.) is what inspired me to aggregate all my online data here at jeffcroft.com. He also mentions ChrisGlass.com, which is definitely amongst the best personal websites I’ve ever seen.
Personal websites are what got me excited about the Internet back in 1994. I hope the MySpaces, Facebooks, and Virbs of the world don’t supplant them. Visit site »
Barring any (more) unforeseen changes to our schedule, Michelle and I should be nearing Sioux Falls, SD this time tomorrow. We’re hoping in the car tomorrow evening and heading ...
Or, I’m moving to Seattle. Yes, it seems it’s once again time to press the double-arrow and skip ahead to a new chapter of my life and career ...
Nothing too special here and not a dramatic change, but I gave LOST-Theories.com a quick visual refresh tonight. Visit site »
The very talented Rob Goodlatte has recently started a series of short interviews of other designers on his blog, and was kind enough to have me participate. Click through to read my thoughts on programming vs. design, web standards education, and justifying design decisions. Visit site »
BBC2 did a video piece on the Phelps family of Topeka — the most hated family in America. I have a good deal of personal experience with the Phelps family. I lived in Topeka for almost 10 years, where one hardly goes a day without crossing paths with one of them or their protests.
For those who don’t know, the Phelps run a Baptist church near Topeka whose mission is to spread God’s message of hated towards not only homosexuals (or “fags,” and the Phelps would call them), but also anyone who tolerates the presence of homosexuality. They insist that God hates America, that America is doomed, and that pretty much everyone is a fag and everything is a “Fag whatever.”
Back in my early days with the Phelps, they spent most of their time picketing things that seemed directly tied to homosexuality. For example, they picketed the funeral of Kansas City composer Kevin Oldham (who was gay and died of AIDS) and that of Matthew Shepard, who famously died after an anti-gay hate crime against him. I remember them picketing nearly every musical performance I ever gave in Topeka, because inevitably someone that was performing was gay. Today, they don’t seem to make much association between homosexuality and what they protest. They protest everything. Lately, they’ve been making headlines picketing at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq.
Not all of my experiences with the Phelps family were bad. I actually become sort of friendly with Sarah Phelps in college — I believe she was one of Fred’s granddaughters, and when she wasn’t picketing and singing songs of hate on the street corners, she was actually quite nice. She was a vocal major at Washburn, and the two guys she spent most of her time with at school were — you guessed it — gay.
One of my proudest moments was when I nearly scared Fred Phelps out of his skin. I pulled up to a stop light on 17th and Gage in Topeka, a semi-busy intersection where his family (which is extremely large, by the way) used to (still does?) protest almost daily. As I waited for the light to turn green, “Gramps,” as he’s called, crossed at the crosswalk in front of my car. I couldn’t resist. I put my car in neutral and stepped on the gas as hard as I could. Phelps dropped his picket sign, jumped sky high, and almost fell over. Most of the cars around had their windows rolled down on the hot summer day, and my scare tactics elicited cheers and horn honking. It was great.
The thing that bothers me most about my experiences with the Phelps is how much I grew to tolerate them. Seeing them every day for nearly 10 years, I because desensitized to their hatred. Oh, I spent the first couple of years getting in arguments, flipping them off, and generally letting them know how much I disapproved. But after I while, I gave up. I find that sad, though. If there’s anyone in the world that deserves my hate with pure, unbridled passion, it’s these guys. And I just didn’t care. I drove by them daily, pretending like they weren’t there.
I should have ran that bastard over when I had the chance. Visit site »
Last night, while drinking margaritas at The Iron Cactus, a woman (who will remain unnamed) came up to me and blurted out, “I respect your work, but damn your panel ...
Supposedly there will be video added to this page later. BoomerGirl.com is really getting a lot of great press (MSNBC covered it previously). Kinda crazy to see your designs on TV. Visit site »
My design on national TV. One for the ego files (Quicktime video). :) Visit site »
Shortly after I first integrated my Flickr photos into jeffcroft.com (using Flickr’s awesome API), the photo sharing site added geocoding features, letting members tag photos with latitude and ...
What it is: 2006 is over. I’m not sure I’m happy about this. 2006 proved to be the single best year of my life (possibly excepting 1995, when ...
I’m heading off to Vegas early Tuesday morning for a vacation with the family (and girlfriend, as well). I know, it’s an odd place to spend Thanksgiving. But ...
All my life I’ve been told I should vote. I’ve been told it’s my duty and obligation to vote. I’ve been told to rock the vote ...
Andy think I’m the 25th best web designer in the world. I’m certain I don’t agree, but it’s nice of him to say, nonetheless. Thank you, Andy. Visit site »