The too fabulous for words Hilly brought up a point in a comment on one of my less than impressive posts (although pics of Depp and Bloom!) about the changing look of ‘Camel. And the comment has festered and I had a look. Yep, it’s changed 7 times in the last 2 months. There are reasons both deep and very very shallow.
Deep one first. When the rest of your life is turning into large amounts of pooch poo you turn to things you think you can fix. Last month it was me stressing about the Scout AGM Slideshows, this month it is Camel.. Yes, my dear blog. I am going to screw around with your look confusing all the passing readers until I am duly satisfied (insert evil laugh).
I thought I had it with this but the column sizes are all out of whack and the colours of the fonts (no matter how many times I change them) never seem to do the thing they are supposed to. I am almost hankering for the days when all you had to know was HTML. God, how I miss them days… Now I feel old.
I recently bought a new domain name, which was the name of my very first website, co-authored over much alcohol with a uni friend, sited on Geocities when you had cities and homesteads and felt like you belonged (Just so you know Out Of Our Tree was sited in Area51.. yes, we were that cool… honest). It was the first place the phrase Have You Seen My Camel? was used in a title-y way. We, being Writing/Drama students, had noooooo idea whatsoever about design and thought the blue writing on neon pink, and lime green writing on red looked really striking. And there were loads of rotating titles and logos all about. Everything that could, moved. I think there were even several marquee banner things. I think it was the booze…
When I think back on it though, it was a blog-ish. There were side projects like the quest to get a pool table from the local pub but basically it was just a place where we put the random thought that entered our heads through long nights avoiding the work thing.
There is nothing left of that first effort now except my memories and, of course the name. Now, a solo project it’s more Out Of My Tree… and I will have to do something with it. Y’know. as soon as I get this site right.
And the shallow reason. Sweatpantsmom pointed this blog, Phatterism, out, I saw and wanted to cry. It’s just too shiny. And the rest of you, I yell out, pointing my bottle of Tequila that I keep in a bag especially for these moments… You’re all just too good. Grumble, whinge. How do you do it?!
So, I’m sorry if the ever changing themes get on your nerves. It’ll settle as my real life stabilises. Anyway, that’s what RSS feeds were made for.
But this is my blog and I get to do shout outs to whoever I like (no matter how terrible they look).
Happy Birthday Anna-Marie, you rock.
[tags]old websites, Geocities, Phatterism, design, [/tags}
Camel looks SERIOUSLY out of whack on my work computer running IE6 (gag). Everything is HUGE, and I have to scroll WAY down to see the posts. Make sure you are using relative sizing, not absolutes (percentages, not points). Love the color combo, though!
But that Phatterism website? Infreakingcredible. Astoundingly brilliant design. I hope he’s won lots of awards!
That blog is annoying if only for the fact that it plays music. When surfing I have my own selection of music playing.
Off topic – If you didn’t watch game 4 last night not only did you miss a cracking hockey match, but also Alanis Morissette singing the national anthems. I think she did a good job of it too.
I looked at that phatterism blog and actually didn’t like it despite its clever-bits. Who wants to wait for something to load, and furthermore…I felt like I was being watched while I read a post, like he was just hiding behind it. Scary.
That blog is impressive, no doubt however it is just too much for an avid blog reader like me
. I like things simple when I read them and can’t hang with the music!
I did not point out your changing themes to be a crazy beyotch, btw! It fascinates me!
SJ – It looks fairly bad on Safari too… There may be a change tonight… If I can stop watching TV long enough!
Yorkdevil – nope, didn’t see the game… Alanis always does a good job! And you can switch the music off Phatterism but I like it – it adds a whimsical feel to it.
Jo – Post-it note over face makes everything right!
Hilly – It was good you pointing it out – it made me sit and *shock* use my brain! The more I think ahout it – it’s a great design for a blog you would visit occasionally – nope still like it… Camel would never get that complicated though…