Zach Townsend
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Everything posted by Zach Townsend
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I've investigated this and it seems like it animates a the data URI for each frame. Does anyone have experience using this technique? Do data URIs render very quickly? I understand that they do not cache, so is it possible to preload them? Any thoughts would be appreciated! Cheers, Zach
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Hello everyone, An interesting feature has been brought to my attention recently http://www.stylepit.com/lookbook/ Does anyone know how they animated the video? Looking at the html, it seems to be some sort of jpeg image replacement - but how did they accomplish this? I've also seen this technique used on google doodles in the past, and I would love to know how its done. I've used image swaps before using javascript by dynamically changing the image name every few milliseconds (src="/frames/frame-1", src="/frames/frame-2" etc). However, this method is dubious as it has to load the images continously and can cause gaps in the frames and so on. If anyone has any insight into this I would be very interested! Cheers, Zach
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Hello all, Facebook has changed the way the sharer.php process works, and it's broken all the features on the website I work on. It now goes through the URL referenced in the share link and draws text from the page to build the title, description and image for the share post. On the particular site I work on, this text is not relevant and I would like to control the title, description and images myself. I understand I can get around this by using <meta name="description" content="blah blah blah" /> or something like that in the head tag. However, at my work I only have access to the content areas of the site and currently can't go near the <head> tag, without injecting something into it using javascript. Does anyone have any ideas or solutions for this problem? I've requested that we have some editable meta tags, but I'm not sure what the department involved will say. Looking forward to hearing your ideas. Thanks, Zach
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Also, thinking about you, you could fairly easily recreate the "similar images" feature in with pure HTML/Javascript, but it would be quite manual. If you are not planning on having too many images it could be very managable, using classes or data attributes to group images.
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Hello Marko, What features do you want to add precisely? Do you want it to work exactly the same as Google images, or do you want to add different features into the drop down box? Google probably uses some sort of advanced server-side script to generate the similar images features and things like that. If you are looking for simpler features, you will probably need to treat them more or less independently from the drop down functionality. Are you familiar with javascript/jQuery? Cheers, Zach
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Thanks for the reply Jack, That's more or less what I've done, it works as long as the user's connection is good. The problem is each video involves someone throwing something from one slide to another, if that makes sense. This means the videos have to be running well to get the best effect, so I was hoping to cache it to guarantee this. It has a nice fallback though so hopefully it won't be a big issue.
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Hi everyone, I'm building a video feature which is a slider that has a video autoplaying on each slide. There are about 7 slides so I'm concerned it may not work very efficiently when the user first loads the page. Does anyone know of any way of caching the videos before allowing the user to start scrolling through the feature? I've thought of perhaps playing each video at an increased rate before hiding a pre-loader, but I'm worried this might freeze up the users computer. Anyone have any other solutions? Cheers, Zach
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You might want to try something like this: function movebox(speed) { setInterval(function(){ var el = document.getElementById("box"), left = el.offsetLeft, moveBy = 1; el.style.left = left + moveBy + "px"; }, speed); if (left > 399) { clearTimeout(timer); } } ...then call the function as you need it. Haven't checked to see if this works....
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Hello everyone, I have a slideshow containing several HTML5 videos which play automatically on load. It works perfectly in Firefox, but in other browsers I am getting what seems like an error with the motion prediction which lasts for about a second before fixing itself. You've probably seen the error before, where the first frame 'blends' with subesquent frames, which usually happens when the image changes suddenly. It's described by wikipedia as: Hopefully that makes sense, it's quite difficult to describe without making a video of it. The error also happens when I play it in quicktime. Has anyone else encountered this problem and know how to prevent it? Cheers, Zach
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Hi all, Like many of you, I enjoy designing and building websites and am keen to constantly develop and practice my skills. To do this, I usually build sites for friends, undertake design contests, or get jobs from freelancing websites. However, this can sometimes be frustrating, and it would be nice to be able to practice my skills purely for the fun of doing it. I have been looking online for some sample web design briefs from which to build a site from, but there are not many out there to choose from. So, I've had the idea of a website for practicing our trade. Here's the concept: A depository of realistic design/development briefs You will be able to download realistic project briefs to work on, probably organised into Easy, Intermediate or Advanced. These can be posted by users. Peer assessment of solutions The users will be able to post their solutions for critical assessment by other users of the website. I'm thinking some sort of voting system could be utilised here. Collaborative work opportunities There will be opportunites for collaborative work. For example, a designer might create the designs in a psd, and another user who might be a developer can code this into a functional website. The project briefs should reflect clearly the distinction between the two tasks. I hope that the concept is clear to everyone. I think it would be great practice for beginners and professionals alike. It could also help with building a portfolio for people just starting out. So my question to the community is: Would you be interested in something like this? I'd love to hear of any ideas you might want to chuck into the mixer. Thanks, Zach
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Hmm... interesting point. I've really struggled with the colours - I've been trying to use the ones on the logo and it's been very difficult for me to find something that works. I'll try experimenting with the colours a bit.
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Hi all, I think this is at least my third revamp of this site - it's an equestrian shop site for my aunt's shop. You can see the design at http://www.zachtownsend.co.uk/testpage.html. I look forward to any feedback and advice you give. Thanks, Zach
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Hi all, I am creating an e-commerce site which I hope to transfer into a WooCommerce theme. What do you think of the first prototype? I know the logo isn't transparent and there's no footer yet, but aside from that I'm eager to hear your feedback. The website is here: www.zachtownsend.co.uk/hoxtondesigns Thanks, Zach
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Hi all, Checkout the coded prototype here: www.zachtownsend.co.uk/soknotty. Let me know what you think and where I can go with it. I can't take credit for coding the image carousel, this was a plugin of someone elses work, styled to suit the page. I would like to get a nice shadow underneath it like the design but couldn't work out how to do that. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks
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Thanks for the feedback guys, Yes, the logo is a bit hard on the eyes - a difficult one because I'm pleased with the concept. I've tried it with just a plain white border instead of the purple, and it seems much more legible. I'm also changing the colour scheme (at the clients request) so I might be able to work it in better with the new colour scheme. I agree with your opinions about the buttons Jamesosix, they look a bit tagged on. A friend of mine suggested I go with the thread theme throughout the page, as in the logo, so I might do something like have the thread around the links or something.
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Hi all, I'm currently working on a new wordpress theme for my friends website. I would love to hear your advise and feedback if you have any. The image can be found here: http://www.zachtownsend.co.uk/soknotty/testpage.html THanks, I look forward to your thoughts. Zach
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Thanks for the tip guys, but they seem to be referring to an early version of the website. I completely agree with those points though, I was just using the stock images as place-holder to help with the layout of the page, hence the lazy magic-wanding.
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Thanks for your feedback guys, duely noted. I'll get to work on these points and post here again when ready. In the meantime, I welcome your critique. Zach
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Hi all, I've built the site now, let me know your thoughts on what worked and what I can improve. It can be found at http://www.zachtownsend.co.uk/jcg/index.html THanks, Zach
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Thanks peeps, I agree, I also prefer the colour scheme of the first one, but unfortunately the client wants them to match the style of his business card. Yes, I'll try that out. The business card was laid out in this way so thats why I did it like this, but the business card is not the boss of me! Agree 100%, I think the new scheme is too unfriendly. Hopefully the client will see this too... Okay, you might be right. My thinking was having contact details as clear as possible on the homepage, but thinking about it, the nature of the business this site represents means the users would seek out the contact page if interested. There is a "Send" button on the contact box, if that's what you mean? As for the message box,I thought the same thing too... is there a standard size people use for this? 500 characters a sensible amount? Unfortunately, the header font is set by the client (business card again). Again, I was pleased with my original choice, but I'm trying to be big about it and give the client what they want *sniff* Sorry, I should have put a disclaimer - the image is purely a placeholder, if you look he's got an invisible collar because I cut it out so hastily. I'm waiting for the client to provide me some photographs of himself. Thanks again for your great feedback guys and gals!
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Hi guys, Thanks for all your great advice. I'm looking back at that tab thing I made in the first draft... haha what was I thinking? Anyway, my client has made a dramatic change of mind regarding the colour scheme - he wants it to match his business cards. I don't think he fully appreciated how much work and love I'd put in the original design, but that's the nature of the business! What do you think of my revamped design? Any areas of improvement you would suggest? Thanks, Zach
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C'mon, you've got to back up these accusations with proof! If you did design them, then they are excellent and you are very talented. What do you use to design them?
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If a client wants a website quickly and does not have a high budget, I don't see any alternative than to at least suggest a template. I think any business should try to be as flexible as possible, and at the end of the day it's not up to us to decide what our customers want. We should of course give them the best advice we can, and they may even turn down the offer of the template, but the important thing is that we should offer something. However, going back to the OP's question, I can't understand how you can ask a forum of web designers to review a template they haven't even made! I don't think it's even unethical, its just pointless...
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Thanks for the replies guys. I guess I could test it by intentionally overflowing each bit and providing a work around to that? Is this common practise?
