So, while dabbling around I pulled a picture I took from last Winter… cleaned it, balanced the lighting, passed it through a black & white filter, and then gently applied an indigo gradient. The results were pleasing… so here it is for anyone to enjoy if they wish (1600×1200).

This is a snazzy dark grey theme with splashes of greenery (hence the name). The original template is an open-source design by Pat Heard from FullAhead.org.

I have included, as of Version 2.0, an Adobe Photoshop template file that allows the painless creation of custom theme “middle-space” images (hint: the “middle-space” is the large section between the main content and the sidebar that has lots of “greenery” in it).

I get lots of questions on this theme surrounding the menu tabs at the top. By default only a few choices are shown (homepage, about page, and the archives) because, quite frankly, there’s not a lot of real-estate up there to be showing a dozen page tabs – and there’s a secondary navigation in the sidebar that shows ALL pages. However, I have included all the PHP code you’d need (inside the header.php file) to allow your pages to be tabbed up top.

[DOWNLOAD] v2.2 – 17 JUL 08 – 732kB

[LIVE DEMO]

I used to use (until 17 minutes ago) 1&1 Internet Hosting for all my websites, including this blog. Now, I’ve had problems with them frequently, but the past 3 days have been beyond anything readily comparable. Over the weekend the server that “hosts” my web content was up… then down… then up… then down. Since yesterday morning it’s been down – 19 hours and counting.

You may ask, “If you’re site is still down how are you blogging right now?” Great question. You see… since my site has been down I’ve had plenty of time to:

1. Call GoDaddy.com and order REAL web hosting
2. Migrate all web content (that I backed up manually with Adobe DreamWeaver) to GoDaddy
3. Create new MySQL databases on GoDaddy’s servers and run SQL population scripts
4. Change the domain’s DNS listings from 1&1 to GoDaddy
5. Wait for the so-called internet to propagate my new DNS info
6. Blog about the colossal suckfest that is 1&1

And I’ve made plenty of calls to 1&1′s Technical “Support” during my run with them… not the fewest of which were the recent salvo of a half-dozen hopeless inquiries. But calling 1&1 Tech Support puts the cliché back in worthless.

I have to go to bed for now… but I will update this post soon.

Here’s an update after a few days of calming down.

My entire set of internet property has been fully migrated – files and databases – to GoDaddy. Everything went smooth and is now working fine (there’s always a few rough edges at first).

After over 48 hours since I formally filed a complaint (which can ONLY be done by actually sending an email to complaint@1and1.com) they finally got back to me.

Thank you for contacting us.

I apologize for the delay of response. I understand that you have experienced downtime with your website. This is something I can only apologize for. The reason for the downtime was due to the issue with the server your sites were on. Our administrators were aware of the issue and have since resolved this matter. As a gesture of goodwill, I have added a month of hosting to your account.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

They added a month of hosting? I lost more than that in advertising revenue! And I like the part about the administrators being “aware of the issue”… yeah, every time I called them I heard the EXACT SAME spiel – “Our server administrators are aware of the issue… they are currently resolving the issue so it won’t happen again”. Whatever… I guess won’t happen again doesn’t include two hours later.

By the way… if you need something a little more robust for your hosting you should check out Peer1 as a good option for managed and colocation hosting services.

Part of the irony comes from the right-leaning “red state” map of the by-county vote breakdown, and the left-leaning political alignment of the (RED) movement, (PRODUCT)RED, and the Global Fund.

Now that I think about it, I have posted about (PRODUCT)RED before:

So I walk into the Apple store. Now, I am admittedly a PC guy… partly because my brain and motor coordination can handle more than one mouse button. Actually, I even PREFER more than one mouse button and find myself using the so-called “mousewheel” very frequently. I’m walking into the Apple store to pickup a little hard case for my new fancy red 8GB iPod nano. It’s my first iPod and I’m diggin’ it. My choice of red was because I greatly preferred it over black (the other choice), and not because it’s part of the product red movement which is a somewhat leftist dick-dance of an effort to fight AIDS in Africa by donating $10 of your red iPod purchase in the name of Oprah and Bono. This inexplicably satiates the little activist hearts of the young Starbucks demographic and relieves them of the drudgery of actually doing something to help Africans.

This photo-concept is ©Copyright 2007 by myself. The (RED) logo and markings are trademarks of The Persuaders, LLC, and used here for parody/satire purposes.

Here are some pics (and you can view the full photoset here):

During the conference Adobe released new and highly anticipated versions of many of their software products, the most exciting for me being Flex Builder 3 Beta 2. They also demo’ed some prototype software they are working on for future release, such as an application called Thermo that allowed a developer to convert a designer’s comp into an actual front-end user interface with relative ease [here's a video clip].

Each night of the conference included “After-hours lounges” featuring 8-player LAN Halo 3 on Xbox 360′s, and 4-player LAN Quake 4 on high-powered PC’s. I sampled both with pleasure.

Here are some random observations I made during the conference:

• More guys had pony-tails than girls did
• More female attendees were divorced than were married (I assumed – based on their age, lack of any “ring”, and propensity to prattle on about their kids)
• Many of the featured conference speakers sported the casual look (jeans and a button up shirt)
• There was constantly a source of food and drink from 8am until midnight each day

In the end I decided to wrap everything about me into one site. The design had to be bold and vivacious, yet clean and classy. Light on dark was a given. In the end, my nuclear engineering roots provided the inspiration for the design (hence the magenta trifoil and glowing green). I titled it, Nuclear Magic.

However, this new website not only serves as my personal site but was also a great proof-of-concept for using WordPress as a CMS. WordPress is widely regarded as the premiere blogging software… but its potential as a CMS is profound. So many web designers and developers already have WordPress blogs and are familiar with skinning and modding them… and the administrator interface is easy-to-use. Pound for pound you won’t get more bang for your buck when developing a dynamic website. WordPress works great, is free, and is easier to use for what it does than anything else I’ve ever even heard of.

Everything you see at SteveMooradian.com that is not part of the site’s physical design is dynamic. This is extremely significant. ALL images are called out in CSS or in MySQL… not the source files. All main textual content is stored in MySQL. On my Web Design, Programming, and Guitar & Music pages the lists of sites, projects, and bands (respectively) are all WordPress posts with categories matching the page title. The links at the bottom of every non-Home page are actual WordPress “Blogroll” links with categories matching the page title. Except for the Home and Gallery pages, each page is built from identical PHP code!

All my coding was done using Notepad++. All graphic work in the design was created by myself using Adobe’s Photoshop and Fireworks software. All markup is valid XHTML 1.0 and CSS3. All of the site conforms to 508 and WAI-A accessibility standards. All dynamic content is semantic. NO TABLES!

I designed the site using progressive enhancement so that I could be search-engine friendly and accessible while also providing a rich user experience to those with Flash and JavaScript-enabled browsers. Examples of progressive enhancement are as follows: I used sIFR to style my headings for users with Flash-enabled browsers. NO images were used for any headings on my site. I used swfIR to style most of my content images for users with Flash-enabled browsers. All drop-shadows and rounding on content images happen dynamically. I used GreyBox for all in-browser popups and image popup galleries for users with JavaScript-enabled browsers.

My new site has already been featured on many CSS and web design galleries… including a prestigious “Editor’s Pick” on the W3CSites.com gallery (which requires strict adherence to valid markup and web accessibility).

Ultimately I am going to add sounds and music (some of the things that make Flash sites stand out) and maybe even some video and such… we’ll see. But when you don’t hear from me just know that it’s because I’m totally geekin’ out.

Anyways, today’s Flash file is quite different from any other I’ve put up here. It is called Interactive Buddy and was created by someone from deviantArt by the name ShockValue. It’s not a game so much as just a little entertaining time killer. Try out different things and earn money to buy new things to try. At first I thought this was lame but soon I couldn’t stop playing.

This is called Cube, and it’s a neat little Flash game that brought me flashbacks (get it?) of the ole’ fighter combat strafing runs against the Death Stars (weren’t those the days?). Oh yeah, if you don’t see anything it’s because you don’t have the Flash Player loaded… which is easily remedied if you click here, although it also means that you have a horribly antiquated browser (shame).

Have fun! If I hear lots of hoorays I’ll be more inclined to put more Flash stuff up, as it’s a little heavier on my bandwidth. Oh, and if you enjoyed this Flash game you found here please visit the creator’s website and pay homage.

guitarsenal (gi-’tär-s&n-&l) n. – the selection of axes at one’s disposal when it comes time to throw down some sonic mayhem; typically does not possess a forseen upper limit in size.

While I’m on the topic (and since I just introduced everyone to a new word) I figured I might as well add some pictures of my personal weaponry to my gallery. They are also featured below for your clicking convenience.

This first one is my main axe right now… a Carvin DC400 with neck-through maple, mahogany sides, and a Wilkinson Tremolo. The fretboard is ebony with abalone inlays and stainless steel frets. It has an active/passive pickup system and the most gorgeous sunset burst finish on a quilted maple top that I have ever seen. The action is perfect… I’ve never played a better guitar (to include many an over-priced showroom model).

The next guitar has been a trusted friend for a long time. This is an Ibanez USA Custom RG-series model with rosewood fretboard, Floyd Rose bridge (with locking nut), and a beautifully deep red finish. The pickups are, from neck to bridge, Dimarzio PAF Pro, Joe Barden S Deluxe, and Dimarzio Tone Zone. For me, Dimarzio makes the best electric pickups… no question… and I just noticed that their entire website is done with Adobe Flash… how cool is that!

And finally, in the category of best performance without electricity, is my Taylor. Taylor guitars are just wonderful instruments with rich acoustic sound. My Taylor 410ce (circa 2002) is a wonderful sidekick that is just fun to pick up and strum. These are quality instruments and have a distinctive, gently aggressive sound.