All posts by Robin

I'm a woman in my early thirties living in North Carolina, USA, and I have a lot of varied interests; I love creative writing, music composition, web design, surfing the Internet, thinking out loud, and gaming. And yes, my glasses are crooked. :)
Wednesday in the Word

God is Omniscient, and Yet Close By

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godisomniscient
Jeremiah 23:23-24
“Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD, “And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.”

In this part of Jeremiah, God is expressing his disgust for false prophets, who think that they can spread false testimony about what “God” is saying. God reminds the false prophets–and everyone else–that He is both close by and omniscient. He is right beside the people who need Him, at the same moment that He is watchful over all Creation. No one can hide from God or do anything that God does not know of. The false prophets believe they’re getting away with putting fake divine prophecy about, but God’s rhetorical questions in this verse say differently.

To the casual reader, this can sound scary, as if God is a “Big Brother” figure who just looks over our shoulders all the time. But this is actually a comforting verse–God knows all and watches over all, even when we think He has forgotten us, even when we think that He does not care what happens to us. He witnesses all the evil that goes on in our world and moves to right it according to His timetable (not necessarily ours), and yet He is right beside us when we need Him, too.

Tuesday on the Soapbox

Leveling Up in Life

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levelingupinlife
These days, experience-based games like World of Warcraft are very popular. Players of these games generally play through many quests, defeating enemies, dedicating many hours to “leveling up” their character, getting ever closer to the top level, where they no longer have to gain experience, and they are fully powered-up and epic in battle.

Does this sound familiar to people in the modern workforce? To me, it reminds me a lot of the “rat race”–the constant striving for promotions, raises, better hours, more vacation time, more leadership, etc. People play games like WoW to escape work, or so I thought, but instead they seem to be duplicating the same conditions in play as in work.

Life Today = Meeting Goals Rather Than Having Experiences

We generally live our lives, these days, like it’s a goal-oriented game rather than an experience. Stopping and smelling the roses went out of our heads a long time ago, replaced by a drive to get “the most” and “the best”, all in “the fastest” time. Students who take AP classes to get college credits while still in high school are hailed as “go-getters;” collegiates who manage to get through a four-year degree in three years or less by taking classes during the summers (and even winters) are praised for their “academic drive.” And people in the modern workforce who advance rapidly through their chosen field or company are looked on with favor.

This drive even extends down to our children, sad as that sounds. No longer can kids just go outside and play at random games; now, they’ve got to be learning all the time with “educational” games. They’ve practically got to know how to read and write before they hit kindergarten, otherwise they’ll be considered “behind.” (Not knocking educational games, but surely there’s time enough for them to just be children, too?)

This Used to Be My Life, Too

I lived like this, trying to “level up in life,” for a long time. I was one of the “bright” kids in my school, a girl who was going to get out there and be somebody before she was 30. I picked up on things very quickly, was fast, accurate and (usually) neat in my preparations; I got good grades and participated in all sorts of activities, and so I got honors and won awards. I took that same drive into college, obtaining my BA in English with Magna Cum Laude and a slew of other academic honors. I even advanced into my ill-fated teaching career with that same attitude, pushing to get my Masters in Middle-Grades Education in 2 years so I could go out into the world and make money doing what I supposedly loved.

But where did all that drive and ambition get me? I ended up crash-landing back at home, recovering from severe depression and suicidal feelings. All that pushing and stressing and struggling, and it had gotten me no honors this time, no rewards. I couldn’t teach anymore; I just simply wasn’t made for the job, even though I had worked so very hard to achieve it. So I began to question this “most/best/fastest” way of life. What had all my striving been for, in the end? What had I been doing with my life all those years I was working to become something? There are quite literally years of my life I barely remember except for vague memories of working my butt off writing papers or completing tests, all to get “somewhere better”–a better college, a better job, etc. I thought I was doing it right, living a correct life.

My New Life: All About Experiences

In the wake of my capsized teaching career, in which I had faced death at my own hands, “leveling up” in life didn’t seem as important anymore. I began to focus instead on rebuilding my charred inner world, trying to salvage what I could of my life and my interests. And, in fact, I rediscovered myself among the ashes, and began to write my novel as a way to pull myself forward. I began to live life as I had never experienced it before–weeks of just BEING rather than DOING, just writing rather than publishing, just playing the piano rather than performing, just being with friends rather than being constantly “busy.”

Some people might look down on me for this, maybe thinking I’ve become complacent, lazy, and unmotivated. Nobody’s said anything to that effect, of course, but since I spent such a large part of my life driving ahead at 80 mph, it feels very strange to be going suddenly 30. Or maybe I’m still a bit paranoid about what “other people” think of my life, worrying that people will think I’m not as smart as I once was, or that I just don’t care anymore.

But this new speed of life is far from “not caring.” Actually, in a way it feels like I’ve dropped an addiction: an addiction to perfection, to needing to be the absolute best, fastest, and most. Some days I’d like to care about that stuff again, because it felt somehow normal to be addicted to that lifestyle. But I know that if I start caring about it, it’ll be as virulent as any addiction, taking over my life again before I know it. I don’t have to chase after every success if the chase is going to dehumanize me and strip me of joy; I have to chase after the successes that are important to me. And right now, just living is enough of a success, considering I was contemplating suicide not too long ago.

Am I Enjoying This? YES!

Now that I’m not so worried about “leveling up” in life, I find myself able to enjoy my life. Sure, days aren’t as action-packed as they used to be; sure, I’m not doing a whole lot these days beyond writing, singing, blogging, designing, and gaming. But…I’m okay with it. I don’t have to get to the next level of my life soon–I think I’ll just roam around in this game and explore a bit, enjoy the level I’m on right now.

Monday in the HTMLab

Multiple Sidebars: Useful Design or Info Overload?

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multiplesidebars
One trend in web designs to have not just one vertical sidebar, but two–or even three or four if page space allows. This columnar design hearkens back to the days of “table” site designs, where all the pieces of the layout as well as the content were aligned in table cells rather than CSS-styled divided layers. (Even though tabular web design has been pooh-poohed since the advent of CSS-only designs, we as web designers apparently haven’t traveled too far from our roots, especially when you look at dedicated news pages full of content “above the fold.”)

Some Examples

Note: I’ve highlighted the left sidebar in red, the content block in yellow, and the right sidebar in blue in all these screenshots.


(click for larger image in new window) This example, from CNN.com, shows lots of content crammed into a small space, and yet it still manages to be readable because of a good bit of white space around each element, as well as clear labeling.


(click for larger image in new window) From Kiss 95.1‘s website, you can see lots of pictures and links on the sidebar, and the content space is almost the same size as the sidebars. But it still manages to keep it organized with white space and iconic navigation.

>
(click for larger image in new window) On Ordinary Miracles (a favorite blog of mine to visit), the designer has incorporated two sidebars, but they don’t feel terribly clogged with information. Again, white space is the key.

Trying My Hand at It

I created a very simple (color blocks and dummy text) multiple sidebar layout for my own knowledge–available for viewing here. In my design, the two sidebars are placed next to each other rather than each beside the content block, but you still achieve the look, seen below:

multisidebar_example
(click for larger image in new window) Using color-blocking to show where each column begins and ends, you can see how the layout is divided up into five sections, 3 of them occurring side-by-side.

Pros

Multiple sidebars can give maximum content display space. Very little space is wasted, with links and excerpts everywhere, an images and clickable video starters sprinkled between blocks of content. It’s all very efficient, and users don’t have to scroll too much to find what kind of content they are searching for.

Two or more sidebars can also make ads, blogrolls, and linkrolls more plausible for a site that already has an overcrowded single sidebar. With another sidebar, you can put important content back up toward the top of the page where users can see it.

A layout with more sidebars also makes use of more screen space. With more and more users viewing sites with widescreen monitors, that’s a LOT of web design real estate you can play with. A wider site can mean bigger pictures and font, more eye-catching content, and generally a better user experience.

Cons

Multiple sidebars can make pages look overcrowded with information. Sure, the only consequence for a user is to lose a few seconds clicking the Back button if he or she hits the wrong link, but what about the frustration index? The first rule of web design I learned is that when a page is too difficult to navigate, the user will leave and won’t come back. All this information clustered right near the top of the page might be easy to see, but it also runs the risk of being overwhelming and confusing.

Two or more sidebars can also be hard to code effectively. In my example, I had to use a containing divided layer, floated to the right, to hold the two sidebars, and floated them left and right inside it. I’m honestly not sure how browser-compatible that is, but aside from using the much-maligned table, that seemed to be the only way I could do it.

What I Typically Use

I find myself favoring one sidebar for most web designs, either for small blocks of content or for the site’s main navigation. Sometimes, if I need more space for more generic navigation (Home, Guestbook, or Updates, for instance), or for external links (such as social networking site links), I’ll create a small bar of text or icon links across the top of the page (usually under the header image and above the main content block and sidebar). I find that this maintains the necessary white space that a typical user’s eye needs for easy information processing (especially if you’re like me and tend to write a lot on a page!).

However, I could see the possibility for using a second sidebar on my page, especially if I put ads on my page. Affiliates and other link exchanges could also benefit from a second sidebar, should I ever choose to do so.

Summary

Multiple sidebar layouts are plausible and doable in modern webdesign, but that doesn’t mean they are suitable for every page. Think about what your site really needs before designing a multi-sidebar look–do you really need all that content space right near the top of the page, or could you get away with just one sidebar instead?

I hope this article has given you a bit to chew on concerning multiple sidebars as part of the user experience!

Saturday with the Spark

Little Doodles of Life

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littledoodles
I’ve never considered myself a visual artist, especially when it comes to drawing people. Most of my drawings of people in early school were of alien visitors, or at least that’s what they looked like. And yet, sometimes, I would do AMAZING drawings of a foot or a hand, for instance; then, I would try to recreate that amazing set of strokes, and fail miserably. The other foot or hand always looked like it was in the process of mutating. Sigh.


This sketch of myself ended up okay, except for the mutated rutabaga of my nose. Oh, and the anime-style eyes didn’t quite turn out like I envisioned, though they match up pretty close.

Generally, I’ve always tried to draw life exactly as I saw it, down to the smallest detail. Perhaps that’s where I fail as a visual artist–I’m too focused on making the shoelaces look right, and I barely spend any time on the face or the rest of the clothing, so to speak. (Either that or I’m too A.D.D./impatient, LOL) I always enjoyed crafting the little details and making them look cool and realistic. Unfortunately, those little details I worked so hard on usually faded into a big-picture backdrop of excrement on paper.

Doodles Can Be Art, Too!

Even though I had no confidence in my drawing ability, I started doodling randomly in late middle school, needing something creative to do with my hands while I listened to a lecture. (For some reason, not having anything to do with my hands while I listen drives me batty.) Little by little, delicate but simple flowers and vines spiraled down the red vertical lines of my notebook paper…and even little faces appeared at the top of the page and spoke volumes with just a pair of eyes, a pair of eyebrows, and a mouth. I found myself enjoying the fruits of my distracted labor, even as I jotted down notes from the class discussions and lecture.


I sketched the original, small drawing of this flower drawing on the back of my church bulletin one day. I re-sketched it later, expanding it to a larger size (with limited success), and scanned it in, rendering this picture.

Now, many years after middle school, I am a well-practiced doodler. Any scrap of paper that’s lying around close to a pencil or pen is fair game when I’m bored or having to be still and listen–the backs of church bulletins, for instance, end up being doodle pads as well as note space. (Yes, I admit it, I’m an adult and I STILL doodle during church sometimes…) Through this and other absent-minded doodling sessions, I’ve slowly started expressing myself through the art of the tiny drawing–the itty-bitty scene or teeny little face that speaks more than a huge picture of mine ever could. Since I’m good at the tiny details, why not capitalize on that, right? (Also, tiny pictures don’t take forever, LOL)


This itty-bitty tree was part of a design I did for my dad’s Father’s Day card this year…turned out pretty well!

These doodles have lately gotten some positive feedback–people comment on my little drawings, saying “Oh wow! That tree is just perfect!” or “Ha ha, that stick figure guy looks funny!” I never realized how artistic doodling could be–not when I’m just puttering about with a pencil and drawing stuff that makes me giggle. It is a great way to relieve stress, comment about what’s going on, or just make myself or others laugh, and I don’t have to be exactly perfect (which is good for my blood pressure :P). But that, in itself, makes it art; it communicates with others about the world I see.

Do You Doodle?

Have you ever tried your hand at doodling as an art form? Tell me in the comments!

Friday around the Web

World Wonders, Knoword, Funny Daily Life Cycle, and Their Circular Life

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worldwonders
All World Wonders
All the world’s wonders–there’s not just 7!

Knoword
You are given the definition of a word, and you’re supposed to come up with the word it’s describing. Harder than it seems at first, but very well designed!

Daily Life (pic)
Funny “day in the life” cycle of a normal person, by Connor of DrawingBoardComic.

Their Circular Life
See six different locations at all times of day (becoming an observer!).

Thursday in the Zone

Competitive or Casual?

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competitiveorcasual
This is one of the most salient questions in all kinds of gaming, not just the nerdy kind with dice, but even video games and sports: do you play competitively or casually?

The question may seem to be a no-brainer for some people–of course you play competitively. What other reason would there be to play, except to win and learn how to win more? Once you remove the competition aspect from a game, a lot of the fun of it leaches out, and it becomes a mere distraction instead of something you can rationalize spending time on.

But, for others, the competitive angle actually eats away at the heart of what made the game popular in the first place: it’s fun. You know, fun? What we used to have playing this game before it became a nail-biting, tooth-grinding, money-gobbling event? For that matter, when a game is not played casually anymore, is it even a game anymore?

Where I’m Coming From

I’m mainly coming from a background of collectible card gaming and miniatures gaming with this article, but you can see elements of these same two schools of thought clashing in the worlds of sports, races, card games like poker, etc. In any type of game, it seems, you are always going to have the people who absolutely have to be the best at every game they play, and the people who play it to have fun with friends and socialize rather than win.

But sadly, the competitive type tends to quash out the casual type when they are brought together, like hunters shooting bald eagles–the casual players are already endangered due to everything in life having to be a competition in this day and age. Once the competitive players start sucking the life and fun out of a game by making it all serious, the casual players eventually stop trying to play. It’s no fun sitting across the table or standing across the court or field from someone who acts like every missed roll or every missed play is a nail in their coffin.

Yes, You Can Be TOO Competitive

I personally am competitive in my heart, but I hate the way that competitiveness transforms me when I play a game. Suddenly, I have to win, I have to be the best, because I’m such a perfectionist I can’t stand to lose. It really drains the fun out of the game for me, and it’s not fun for my opponent to watch me disintegrate into wordless anger every time the dice don’t roll my way. Thus, I’ve largely gone toward casual gaming, to take some of the intense pressure off and to try to train myself to have fun again.

One thing I’ve noticed, however, in my odyssey away from competitive gaming, is how much competitive gamers look down on casual gamers. To them, we are an inferior breed, weaker players, not really even worth “real” players’ time, because we don’t take the game as seriously. Having been very competitive before, I understand why they get like this–sometimes, it feels like the whole world is staked on your next card, your next shot at the basket. But when a game becomes that important to you, hasn’t it become less of a hobby and more of an addiction?

When Games Are No Longer Fun…Re-Examine Yourself

I don’t intend to solve this quandary in one blog post, but I did want to bring this to people’s attention. Whether you play games just to have fun or you play them to win, if you’re happy doing it, then you’re doing something right. The only time I worry is when it seems that games are no longer fun and they are instead things that you have to win at to be happy. Then, I believe, competition has crossed the line into obsession.

Wednesday in the Word

God’s Still Working With You!

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godsstillworking
Philippians 1:6
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul, in this verse, encourages the church of Philippi to continue using their worship and outreach to touch the lives of others in the community. We need that message, too, so we don’t lose faith in what God is doing in our lives and through our efforts. Sometimes we can feel as if we’re half-finished, or that what we’re doing isn’t worth much to other people–the world can make us feel pretty worthless and useless. But this verse serves to contradict that thinking. God’s not finished with any of us yet, and He’s always working in our lives and working in our hearts to shape us and help us become more than we ever dreamed we could be.

For instance, I see God personally working in my life to apply my writing skills to new, faith-based opportunities. Certainly, I’ve tried to shape my own career before, with disastrous results (like the teaching career that fell apart in my hands). But once I trusted God fully and let go of the career decision, I found opportunities starting to form, sometimes literally dropping in my lap. He began a “good work” in me by giving me the gift of communication with others, and now He’s helping me use that gift to its best potential, whether it’s through my novel, this blog, or my Sunday school lessons. And He is doing the same for you in your life, right now, with whatever gifts He gave you and whatever opportunities are coming.

Tuesday on the Soapbox

Virginity in the Modern World

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virginity
Being a virgin in an increasingly sexual world is kind of weird, to say the least. Most American women my age (late 20s) have already either married and had kids, or they’ve at least experienced sex even if they’re not married. Not to mention that Westernized media (TV, music, movies, Internet) tends to hyper-focus on anything sexual. Anything on TV or in the movies seems like it has to have some kind of sex scene or nudity, ostensibly in order to keep viewers’ attention; in music and online, the more sexual innuendo (or blatant references, more like), the more hits and downloads you get.

With all of this swirling about in our culture, sometimes it makes me wonder–does virginity really have a place anymore in society? Is it even something important anymore?

Going Off My Own Perspective and Experience (or Lack of It, in This Case)

The reason I wonder this is because virginity is still important to me. Now, I’m certainly no prude when it comes to sex–I know mentally how it all works, and I’m not without desire and attraction. Knowing that all this hyper-focus exists about a subject I don’t have any practical experience with does makes me feel a bit out of the loop, though. I’m not used to not knowing…but I’m personally okay with that right now, because it’s part of my personal beliefs to be a virgin until I’m married.

And yet, I consider myself a feminist, too, believing in equal treatment of the sexes; I do not consider my beliefs on virginity to be a contradiction of feminism, because I believe male virginity can be just as important for a man’s sense of self (more on that later). I am aware that the whole custom of the “virgin bride” arose out of a paternity concern on the part of the husband throughout history; the men wanted to be sure their heirs were truly theirs. But now that the era of hereditary dynasties and such has largely gone by, Western societies don’t socially fixate on a woman’s sexual status quite so much, and for the most part, we as women are more in control of if, when, with whom, and how often we have sex. (It’s not completely there yet, as Steve Harvey’s overtly sexist commentary on “women’s precious jewels” clearly depicts, but it’s progressing.)

Growing up in the American Southeast as I have, however, I have seen the morals of the “Bible belt” firmly in place throughout my childhood and early adulthood. It’s still generally understood around here that if you’re a “good girl,” you’ll remain a virgin until after you’re married–old traditions die hard, I suppose. There’s not nearly so much societal judgment that falls on a girl’s head for “disobeying” this social more as there used to be, but there can still be whispers and ugly rumors. This is likely one unconscious reason that I have chosen to keep the V-card (to use the modern parlance), though there are plenty of temptations out there for even the most stolid of women.

But what about virginity is so important? Personally I feel that my virginity is a part of my identity, but not a permanent part; it is a marker of my commitment to my future. My boyfriend of several years views his own virginity similarly; we are all but married, and yet until we are actually married, we are both waiting. (I might be getting a tad impatient right now, LOL, but I’m abiding by his wishes and my own convictions.)

The Modern Meaning and Use of Virginity: More About Self, Less About Reputation

This use of virginity seems to be rather rare; virginity has long been seen as either a commodity (for women to give to men) or as a hindrance (for men). Furthermore, female virginity used to be (and in some places still is) a requirement for marriage, and the loss of it before marriage meant shame and even death. But I find that staying a virgin until marriage nowadays has three mostly-ignored benefits, for both genders:

  1. you largely escape the concerns of STDs
  2. you don’t have to worry about being a single parent of a child you weren’t ready for
  3. you get to experience sex first with the one you really love

With HIV and other STDs running rampant, this is a health concern as much as a cultural and spiritual concern; you can’t be too careful with your health! And certainly being responsible about bringing children into the world is just as important–waiting until you are (more) stable, capable, and ready for a family helps. But waiting so that you and your future husband or wife can learn about intimacy together seems like the most compelling of the three reasons, at least for me. I don’t know for a fact, not having experienced sex yet myself, but I view it as such a vulnerable act that I wouldn’t want to attempt it without knowing and trusting the man I’m with. And I don’t see this as a female-only mindset, as I mentioned before; male emotions and well-being are worth protecting and nurturing, too, despite the fact that male virginity is often discounted as part of being a “loser.”

Why do I place equal value on female and male virginity? Because relationships in general are acts of vulnerability and trust–you are sharing your emotional and mental self just as you share your physical self in sex. I am now as guarded about my emotions and well-being as I am about my physical body, having been hurt before, and I’d dare to say many people have experienced that same kind of heartache and broken trust. Sex, however, often aggravates underlying relationship problems rather than alleviating them, especially if given too casually. Couldn’t virginity for both parties (or at least abstinence from sex too soon in the relationship, if one or both people are not virgins) ensure that we build the strong emotional and mental connection first, so that physical intimacy later is just icing on that cake?

A Few Closing Thoughts

I certainly don’t have all the solutions to the emotional and social problems that have cropped up around sex in our society, but I do believe that for both genders, sex can be frightening if one or both of the people involved feel pushed or rushed. And our culture is really not doing a great job of depicting unhurried, true loving intimacy based on a solid relationship. I’m not saying that everybody’s got to wear a purity ring till you’re married, but staying a virgin could protect you from the emotional pitfalls of a relationship as well as the more obvious physical ones. It has certainly functioned that way for me thus far.

Monday in the HTMLab

JPG, GIF, or PNG: This Is The Question

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jpggifpng
Most beginning web designers have some difficulty with file formats, especially concerning images–I know I certainly did when I was starting out. There are three separate formats for images, and it’s hard to know which format is the best for saving image files that you’re going to display on your website, either as part of your layout or as part of your content. You don’t want the images to take two days to load, but you don’t want them to look like you used them for toilet paper, either. What is a web designer to do?

JPG: Best for Photographs, Not for Graphics

When I first started out, I read a few tutorials here and there about image saving, but I really took to the JPEG file format because it saved my images in such a small kilobyte size, which was and still is important to me. I was very impressed with how JPEG compression packed the image into such a small space that it transmitted well even over a dialup connection, so I began using .jpg format for all of my layout images, content, everything. It’s sort of the same principle as admiring someone who’s managed to pack a ton of stuff into their suitcase–you sit there wondering “How’d they do that?” Little did I know how much JPEG had left out of my images–like people leaving half their outfits at home to save space.

I don’t claim to know how JPEG compression works, but for the most part, it tends to leave a good bit of information out of your image, especially when you save it as a JPEG and choose “Low” or “Medium” quality. The blown-up versions of the two images at the first of this section show you what results from saving an image at “Low” or “Medium” JPG quality:


From left to right: Low: 2.70 KB; Medium: 3.74 KB

As I’ve heard it described, JPEG, especially low- or medium-quality JPG, is a “lossy” format–it’s like your image’s “suitcase” has a hole in the bottom. It sure is lighter when you get to your destination, but there’s a reason for that–the style of compression leaves out some of your image’s pixels to make the file smaller. The JPG file format doesn’t work very well for layout images and small icons because it tries to make up for all the pixels it left out, leaving your image rather pockmarked and subtly polka-dotted with oddly-colored pixels. Once you go up the quality scale, however, you get much better results, but you’re going to have to have a bigger file size, as shown below:


From left to right: High: 5.99 KB; Very High: 8.72 KB; Maximum: 13.7 KB

The blown-up versions below show how much better the image is constructed:


From left to right: High Quality, Very High Quality


Maximum Quality

But do not despair–JPG is absolutely wonderful for photographs, for some odd reason. I’ve taken to using JPG sparingly or not at all in my layout designs unless the layout features a full-color photograph or two, and if I have lots of pictures, I’ll use JPG to compress them without losing too much. (I find that JPG “Very High” quality blends the best of both worlds–smaller file size and good-looking product.)

GIF: Best For Icons and Little Graphics

I used to never touch GIF files except to make random little animations. I thought the file format was overly bloated–certainly its files were usually twice as big as JPG files of the same item. Little did I know, the format was actually going to prove quite useful to me! It may not be as good as JPG at compressing files, but it is great for making your layout tick.

As you can see below, there are four different sub-formats within the GIF format type. Again, I don’t claim to know how each of these works, but I have noticed that “Perceptual” and “Selective” generally turn out the best results; “Adaptive” and “Restrictive (Web)” make me die a little inside, as a web designer, because of the loss of colors. These formats generally correspond to how many colors make up the palette that the image is created from; “Restrictive (Web)” pulls from the smallest palette.


From left to right: Perceptual: 5.77 KB; Selective: 5.75 KB; Adaptive: 5.83 KB; Restrictive (Web): 2.49 KB

For certain, GIF files are terrible when it comes to full-color photographs. But they are wonderful for creating tiny layout graphics that would have otherwise been mistreated by the wrong end of a JPG format. I have used the GIF file format to make some of my first semi-transparent images, as well as the well-beloved transparent “spacer” image. Also, I still use GIF format here and there to make small but readable icons, as well as some of the infographics for my articles.

PNG: Best for Big and Detailed Graphics

Now we come to the file format that is my favorite for web designs as of late. It used to be that I couldn’t even open PNG files on my computer at all–it would load an error message if I went to a site that had PNG files as part of its content or layout. But that was in the dinosaur days of design, I suppose–nowadays, PNG is the great beautifier of the Internet, doing well at saving fully-colored graphics with an even smaller file size than GIF usually can.


PNG-8: 5.43 KB

This image is exactly the same as the GIF image, but PNG saved it with a few less bytes than even the smallest of the quality GIFs (excepting “Restrictive”, which is tiny file size at the cost of a good-looking image). Again, not sure why there is this difference, but I like it–anywhere I can save on file size without losing quality is great for creating a fast-loading and good-looking website.

It also seems to me that PNG does a better job of maintaining the colors I use in my designs. Sometimes, when I save a layout’s pieces in JPG or GIF (and especially GIF for some reason), the colors in the image change, just slightly, just enough to throw off my CSS color codes and make me have to go back and resample the image for my colors. Now, with PNG, I find myself more able to go straight from Photoshop to Notepad to code, and not ever have to refer back to my image for colors, because they’re right on target!

As for using PNG-8 versus PNG-24, I find that PNG-8 does most of what I need it to do. However, if my image just HAS to be highest quality or has transparency in it, I choose PNG-24–it may add half again to the kilobyte size, but it produces the smoothest-looking image. Compare the two below:


From left to right: PNG-8: 5.43 KB; PNG-24: 11.7 KB

Lastly, PNG seems to be better than GIF at handling transparency and not having strange chippy pixels on the sides of the supposedly-“transparent” image or icon. See evidence of this goodness below:


From left to right: Perceptual GIF, Selective GIF, Adaptive GIF, Restrictive GIF


From left to right:  PNG-8, PNG-24

Summary:

If you’re not sure what kind of file format your images need to be in, remember that JPGs are best for photographs, GIFs are best for simple web graphics (icons and the like), and PNGs are best for detailed web graphics (big layout pieces). These simple tips will save you tons of time working on and saving your images!

Saturday with the Spark

Writing as a Pressure Valve

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pressurevalve
These days, I might be a blogger and novelist, but I’m also still using writing for another purpose, one which has literally saved my life several times. Instead of raging about my problems, I write about them.

How I Got Started Using Writing to Solve Anger and Sadness

I’ve always been a particularly sensitive and emotional person, and I was bullied quite a bit in school, yet I was not allowed to let out those feelings by openly crying at school, nor were my feelings understood by the staff, who believed that “kids will be kids” and I should learn to put up with the horrible treatment I endured. As you probably can guess, this became a HUGE problem over time, until I discovered that I liked to write creatively. Soon enough, I found that I could funnel what I was feeling into writing, using the activity as an emotional pressure valve.

What do I mean by that? I mean writing instead of punching, writing instead of screaming, writing instead of staying home from school just to be away from it all. I had come to love creative writing early on in my life, but beginning especially in middle school, writing became a lifeline. Whatever I felt, I wrote, in poetry that likely should never be seen by anyone else, but helped me cry out with silent paper and ink. There were times when I wrote about getting back at the people who treated me like I was sub-human (because I did get physical abuse at times from some of them), helping me to vent my frustration without hurting anyone. (Some people worried that I was going to act on what I had written, but for me, the act of writing about it was the release of it–once I had written about it, I was finished with it, and I didn’t have those feelings to that high degree anymore.)

This is how I survived school–writing (as well as music) gave me the outlets I needed. These days, I may not need as much of the “venting” space as I used to, but I know it’s still there, whenever I need it–just a few clicks away on my computer.

How You Can Start Using Your Writing as a Pressure Valve

  • If something’s really bothering you, words will often come of their own accord; get a paper and pen or open a text document and go to town. Don’t edit yourself, don’t think too hard, just write. If you begin to cry (or even just get a little teary) while writing, you’re doing it right–you’re beginning to expunge the emotional poison.
  • If you’re having trouble figuring out what to write about, try freewriting, either on paper or using an online freewriting exercise. Write about anything you want, just don’t stop writing. Start with a nonsense word that makes you laugh if you have to, or write about something you’re sensing in the environment around you, and then just keep going. You would be INCREDIBLY SURPRISED at what comes out of your head when you freewrite! (Another take on freewriting: The Thoughts Room)
  • One exercise that works even better than the old “write a letter and don’t send it” trick, especially if you like to write fiction: Write a story about a character who feels just like you do about another person, and then–when you’re ready–write another story from the other person’s perspective. Difficult but REALLY rewarding.
  • Lastly, if you’re just as stuck as ever, write one word to describe how you’re feeling. Just one word. Make up a word if you find you don’t know how to describe it any other way. How does your description make you feel? Write about those feelings. (Again, if it makes you a little teary, you’re doing it right!)

Summary

Writing can be wonderfully therapeutic, as I’ve certainly experienced over and over. How about you–do you like to use writing like this? Tell me in the comments!