Some Fun Avatar Creation Sites

• http://www.befunky.com/create
  • A great site with Adobe Photoshop-like filter features to modify a photo you upload.
• http://www.faceyourmanga.com/welcome.htm
  • Create a manga looking character from scratch. Awesome animé looking characters!
• http://www.avatarizeyourself.com/
  • This is the Avatar the movie looking character generated from a photo you upload.
• http://www.buildyourwildself.com/
  • Create a crazy cartoon-looking combination of human and animal features. Sponsored by a zoo, you can imagine the possibilities!
• http://www.digimi.com
  • Create a 3D version of yourself from an uploaded picture. You can modify the facial features and expressions. Very cool!
• http://www.nobleavatar.com/
  • Create a version of yourself with more a stylized look in cartoon format.
• http://home.mywebface.com/
  • Upload a photo of yourself, converts you into a cartoon and then modify it with numerous features and special effects.
• http://simpsonizeme.com/
  • Turn yourself into a Simpson. This site is often offline due to heavy traffic.

What is the best way to organize computer files?

This question goes unanswered for most computer users I know.  It’s just something that isn’t addressed.  Every once and a while attempts will be made to move stuff around, but not a lot of thought, planning or structure is either put into the activity or remains after a short while.  Digital clutter can be just as annoying as actual personal clutter.  Not being able to find stuff on your computer is just as paralyzing and wasteful of your precious time.  So, how does one organize all the digital pieces?  Let’s look at a few good ideas from the play book of Getting Things Done by David Allen.

Deciding on topics

How many topics you will have depends on how much information do you have and what is the subject of that information. Just like in GTD each subject should have its own topic in MyInfo. As a general rule, if a topic has more than 100 documents, it is a good idea to split this topic. For example, if you are a hiking enthusiast and your Hiking topics gets more than 100 documents, you can split it into Hiking – Gear & Equipment and Hiking – Routes topics. MyInfo has no limit on how large a topic could be, however very large topics are hard to reorganize and it is not as easy to find the necessary information.

The easiest way to decide how many topics you need is to create them only when they are needed for a particular document. For example, if you encounter a document about traveling and have no topic dedicated on this subject, you create a new Travel topic and put the document there.

Moving information into topics

Your ultimate goal is to move all information scattered on your hard drive in your personal-reference information system. So be sure to check for:

• Documents, brochures, invoices, reports, white papers, software/hardware manuals, and all other files, which are not big enough to deserve their own folder on your hard-drive
• Old e-mail messages in your e-mail client, which hold some future value, but you do not need them currently
• Links in your favorites/bookmark system, which you have not used in a while, but may need in the future
• Instant Messenger (ICQ, AIM, MSN) history and chat logs, which contain some valuable information
• Any other information or small files, that you do use currently, but may do so in the future

- http://www.milenix.com/gtd.php

Mac, Linux and Windows Files

There is a post at ask.metafilter.com that really resonated with me. I use Mac, Linux and Windows, and need to jump from one system to the other.  This post gives some simple perspective:

I use the same structure (and partition, for that matter) for both Linux and Windows:

A partition only for my files. You can start with one directory if you don’t feel like going through the hassle of repartitioning.

One directory for personal, one for work, one for consulting, one for media. Also, one ‘incoming’ directory, where I download everything. If I run out of space, the incoming directory goes first. Anything that hasn’t been categorized is gone. One ‘keep’ directory for things I download that I might need again, and probably won’t be able to find.

Many, many directories under each. For instance: personal/financial/taxes/2004/2004_1040.pdf
media/pics/kids/2005/Nov2005/thanksgiving/

Under Windows, I set the data partition to be my ‘my documents’ directory, and set up all applications to load and save there. Under Linux, I just link a ‘data’ subdirectory under /home/me.

I think the key is to point every application you use to the same place, and never use the defaults. I also find it helpful to create directories for future use, even if they might be empty for some time. Then there is no excuse for being lazy and saving everything in the same place.

I’ve been using the same system for years, and it is very easy to upgrade, switch operating systems, restore from backup, etc.

- posted by bh at 7:46 PM on November 27, 2005

For further discussion, check out the How To Organize Computer Files discussion at DavidCo.com.  There are many perspectives to consider.  Remember there are many great ways to organize and as with any system, stay with it is key.  Develop your own and improve your organization.  Good Luck!

Wix.com for web hosting and site creation

Want to create a web site for free?  How about a very nice looking web site?  How about an easy to make and manage site?  If you answered Yes! Yes!! and Yes!!!  The check out wix.com.  It’s pretty amazing.

I watched Wade Davis’ Cultures on the Edge presentation yesterday and it has impacted me tremendously. I in one fell swoop have changed my view of story telling and it necessity in the world. Wade is a persuasive and polished presenter. His simple stand and deliver approach is understated and modest but the images and words blast right into your soul. His understanding of the cultures is inspiring and will leave a lasting impression on all who watch. A must see!

With stunning photos and stories, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the world’s cultures, and argues passionately for the preservation of the “ethnosphere.” (Recorded February 2003 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 22:44) – TED.com

Content

• Biography
  • Compose 1 paragraph
  • Detail your current media skills
• Goal
  • Write one sentence
  • Detail goal for life, school OR class
• Projects
  • Leave this box blank for now
• Blog
  • Compose at least 1 paragraph
  • Detail your work so far on this project
• Leadership
  • Write the words “coming soon!”
• Resume
  • Write “Available Upon Request”

Style

• Make color sense
• Format CSS appropriately
• Use at least one image
• Float center area
• Select color background for “body” HTML
• Make a link to the web site you are using for inspiration

Learn how HTML and CSS work together to create a well formatted valid web page.  The W3C created this tutorial to help beginning web designers better grasp the relationship between the tyoes of code.

TUTORIAL: CSS tutorial, starting with HTML + CSS

1. Navigate to the tutorial
2. Follow the directions
3. Help each other interpret the instructions
   
4. Save work to your server folder
5. Due in a couple days
6. Peruse http://99designs.com, take a look at contests being offered to good designers.  Maybe one day you can enter one of the contests?

Creating a web site is very exciting.  How do the pro’s do it?  They create a template or mock up of the site’s look and feel first.  They usually do this in a graphic program like Adobe Illustrator.  It is like a story board of your plan for the site.  Once completed, a designer shows this to the client for revision and / or approval.

Where to start:

1. Find a web site to copy, maybe from CSSZenGarden.com?
2. Create a folder titled, “portfolio”
3. Create a folder titled, “media”
4. Create an Illustrator document titled, “my portfolio.ai”
5. Save your “my portfolio.ai” document into the portfolio folder
6. Place the web address of the site you are copying or emulating, example: http://www.csszengarden.com
7. Place the images and text into your “my portfolio.ai” document

Creating a web page template can be easy with Adobe Illustrator. Watch the video to see some of the basic elements to get started. If you find yourself either under-inspired, looking for a new challenge or a bit overwhelmed by the program, try a tutorial at Good-Tutorials.com. They are small, fairly simple tutorials that help demonstrate the power of Ilustartor. Best of all, they are very visual!

Exploring color can be exciting. What do colors mean?  How do we interpret colors?

• Take this Color Theory Quiz
• Explore colors’ meaning at the Color in Motion Web Site
• Create color combination with the Color Scheme Generator 2

We are going to experience the project creation design cycle over the next couple weeks.

• Rough draft on paper
• Illustrator template
• HTML structure
• Design elements
• CSS design
• Publishing

Learning how to create a web page can be difficult.  All the HTML and CSS can be challenging.  W3school does a great job of making it easier to understand.

1. Navigate to www.w3schools.com
2. Take the HMTL tutorial.
3. Take the HTML quiz.
4. Post the results of the quiz to your blog.
5. Title the blog entry “W3Schools HTML Tutorial and Quiz Results”
6. Write at least three sentences highlighting what you learned.
7. Repeat steps 1 – 6 for the XHTML and CSS tutorials and quizzes and post the results to separate blog entries.

• You should have 3 Blog Entries when you are finished
  • “W3Schools HTML Tutorial and Quiz Results”
  • “W3Schools XHTML Tutorial and Quiz Results”
  • “W3Schools CSS Tutorial and Quiz Results”