So many plans …

So little motivation. :thud:

I’ve been wanting to re-do this website and my professional/resume website for quite some time now. I keep coming up with ideas during the day when I’m at work, but when I get home … all motivation is gone. I don’t know if it’s because I’m working on other people’s websites all day long at work or if I’ve just become extremely lazy over the past couple years (I hope it’s the former).

I come home from work and the first thing that I do is sit down in front of the computer. And what is it that I do? I check my email, catch up on Twitter & Facebook, and all sorts of random shit. If I’m not sitting at my computer doing that, I’m on the couch staring mindlessly at the tv.  Yeah … that helps me get my websites redone.  :doh:

I’ve learned all sorts of things since I started my current job over 1 year and 9 months ago. I’ve learned new tricks and techniques for WordPress sites. I’ve been working with the CodeIgniter php framework and even built a custom CMS using it. I need to start using those things on my own websites to show off what I can do. And I’m not restricted with my own websites. I can trick ’em out as much as I want (and tell IE users to go take a hike :razz2: ).

So … what do I have in mind?

My Blog (this site)

I want to re-do this site from scratch, including posts. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna get rid of the posts that are already here. I want to put them in an “archive” category so they’re still around. I just want them out of the main flow of the website.

I’ve always written my own themes. I don’t like using themes that other people are using or using a “framework” (like Thematic). Those frameworks have more crap than I ever plan to use. Why have all of that if it’s never gonna be used? And besides … I’m a web developer. I should be showing off what I can do.

One thing that I want do is to start using post formats. I’d like to add some link and posts for sure. Maybe some video ones too.

Another plan for this place is to start using html5. I know that not all browsers understand it yet, but there are scripts out there to help those poor little browsers (like IE) out. I’m going to eventually need to learn html5 and css3 anyway. I might as well play around with it on my own websites so that I know what I’m doing when it comes time to use them at work.

I also want to try to create a responsive theme … meaning you can still read my babble on your smartphone or tablet. That’s the way of the world now, isn’t it? So many people have iPhones or Android phones or iPads or other tablets. We’ve been talking about this at work. I might as well muck around with it here so I know what I’m doing when I get paid to do it. 🙂

My Professional Website

This site started out as my online resume when I got laid off back in Oct. 2008. I wanted to get my resume online and show off some scripts that I had written and the websites that I had worked on. It hasn’t changed since I put it online. It’s all basically static files. The items in my portfolio are in a MySQL database. But there is no CMS for making updates. I want to change that.

I’ve wanted to create an admin system for it for quite some time. Since I’ve been doing it at work for so long now (and even wrote my own custom CMS), I want to put that into play here. I want to make it easier for me to update things so that I’ll actually add new info to it. I want this to be a “showoff” site for what I can do.

I did start the redesign process a while back. I started mocking up the admin system. But that’s as far as it got. I keep coming up with ideas during the work day. I need to keep that fire going when I get home so that I can get this done.

As with my blog, I want this site to use html5 and css3 and have a responsive design. I want people to look at it and say “wow! she really knows her shit.”.

While I have no intention to leave my job any time soon (and I hope they want to keep me around), I wouldn’t mind some freelance work. Extra money for my house fund is always appreciated. 😆 And maybe the additional skills I gain while setting up this site will get me a raise at work since I’d have those skills available to awesome-ize client websites. 😆