Emmortel Goes Live
Gather round children while I explain why I’ve got an online presence at all.
Draw!
My first and biggest passion is drawing. That’s what I did for the better part of my adolescent life. I would spend hours upon hours sketching away, trying to perfect that one drawing. Summers on end where I would wake up and spend 10-15 hours over my desk sketching and painting and learning a new technique.
I haven’t done that in a very long time. Day in day out, Draw! Draw! Draw! I can attribute that to one and only reason, the web. I’ve already spoken about how I got into learning how to design, but why did I bother with the computer at all in the first place? The main and only reason at the time was I wanted to computer colour my work. It seemed like the right thing to do I guess.
Inbetween all of this the web however had a strange allure on me. ‘Let’s get a website, everyone seems to have one, why not me? You’ve got a reason to be online, it’ll be great.’
Part of me wants to go back to that poor bastard and tell him to stop these stupid ideas and get back down to the business of drawing, because I was soo naive at how hard it can actually be. Of course if I did that, well then life at work wouldn’t be quite as interesting, and I wouldn’t be able to do a great deal of things that I can to enhance my drawings, plus I wouldn’t have 3 different drawings styles that I do now. It all kind of works out in the end I guess, just takes that much longer with, story of my life actually. I always get there, it just takes me 3 times as long, and sometimes the train has passed.
Therefore that effort has not been lost, it’s hidden there, it’s just a matter of sitting down and getting drawing again. Emmortel provides me with the framework set up for quick and easy updates, I’m ready to tackle the first reason I decided to get online. The origins of Broken Kode can be mapped back to providing an easy way to update my portfolio site with news updates. It’s spiralled into oh so much more, and I didn’t expect that, but I’m really glad for it.
Is this the first time I’ve got a portfolio online? No hardly, but it is the first time where updating the site, won’t be an issue. It won’t be a chore, just a 3 minute job, with no coding involved at all. It’s a base for me to start.
Design.
In creating Emmortel I had to think about several things. The main issue was whether or not to go for Flash versus something HTML/CSS pure. I ended up with a hybrid as they both have their advantages and disadvantages. With Flash you’ve got control over images, functions, sound (coming soon I hope), movement, etc. It’s a great little tool, if used wisely. Strangely it’s the Flash part of the site that I’m least happy with, but I’m in no rush. I’ll be tweaking that file for sure, adding better interactivity and functionality. I just need to learn how.
In sorting out my Flash side of things, I ran into MANY problems. My knight in shining armour was Scotty, (his website can be found here: Gertdesign ). Scotty you sir ROCK!
I have optimised the images as much as they will go, and the css file runs at a whopping 3k which I’m pretty happy with, so hopefully it’s not an arduous task to load the site.
1024 versus 800
I’ve chosen my path on this particular war. This portfolio website is meant to be a showcase of art and design, it’s not meant to be seen at such as small screen, and honestly I’m not targeting people who are still with an 800 screen. The majority (and by majority I’m talking about 80%) will be able to view the website as it was intended to. I apologise to those still on 800 screens, but alas I believe it’s time to chuck out that dusty old monitor (do they still make 800×600s?)
So now when I get my business cards made, I’ll have:
Words | brokenkode.com Pictures | www.emmortel.com
Well, let me be first to say congratulations on the site. It certainly does look lovely. I’m jealous. You might not think much of your skills but I’m envious of the talent, design and, of course, illustrative.
I can’t wait for the full launch. I’ve been anticipating emmortel almost as much as I was anticipating Tiger. :)
1/5/2005
Chris you little fibber, ‘almost as much as I was anticipating Tiger’ now I know you’re lying :), and to think I thought you were a buddy :).
1/5/2005
Very stylish! And to think that it has a WordPress backend… Really cool.
I was hoping to see some of your drawings in the portfolio, but it seems to be all about illustrations for now? Or am I just not seeing the link to the drawings?
(As an aside, when I bought my first computer from a friend sometime in 2003, I didn’t have any money left for a monitor and had to use an old box from my Dad. Since it was sorta incompatible with the new hardware, it refused to work for anything above 640×480. You can’t imagine how happy I was to have 800×600 when my friend finally managed to fix it, although I had developed quite a bit of hate for many thoughtless web developers by then, present company excluded.
It’s not always a question of “chucking out” things when you only have a limited budget at your disposal, is the point I’m trying to get across here. Although nowadays you can probably get a monitor for a couple of bucks off ebay or something.)
1/5/2005
Khaled,
That is a great looking site. I like how you have used flash for the site presentation. It’s not overdone or overdone. You have a nice balance. I especially like being to almost choose my own header with your presentation. Nice job.
1/5/2005
Very, very nice! I think that every designer should aim to give their portfolio the presentation that it deserves.
Now go and give yourself a big pat on the back for a job well done!
1/5/2005
Ok, maybe not as much as Tiger but I really have been looking forward to this. :)
1/5/2005
Seriously though, back in the day (like 5 years ago or something) I think it would have been a bit premature to go for anything more than 800×600 as standard, however nowadays I think it’s ok, you’re not shooting yourself completely in the foot.
Also just noticed the voting system, damn there is some SERIOUS negativity in those votes, I mean the best on has a total of 3 positive votes overall. I think the CSSReboot system is slightly less harsh.
2/5/2005
It rocks, rocks, rocks! Magenta seems to be trendy in 2005…
Only those little page icons look a bit strange.
2/5/2005
Its OK.
2/5/2005
You need some flash font, don’t you? Or is all that “typography effect” part of the design?
3/5/2005
Part of the design :).
3/5/2005
Bravo re malaka!! It looks really cool plus the drawings are fucken great especially no. 4 i think it was…. ‘ trees of thought’… The guy in the picture looks so good looking, beautiful and power ful… who is this fine specimen of a man?
3/5/2005
Some hobo I took a picture of in Camden.
3/5/2005
Another fine design Khaled, congratulations!
3/5/2005
Really neat. It just shows what designers can do if they can just get the coders out of the way…………….
4/5/2005
Stathi has a point you know….that hobo is one sure bad ass looking dude….i’d do him:-)
4/5/2005
That’s really not saying much, because you’d do anything, the dog, the cat,…practicaly anything that moves.
4/5/2005
BUT I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU!!!!!
5/5/2005
Hey Khaled!!!!! Pou eisai re bro? Amfivalw an oloi oi upolipi edw mesa mporoun na katalavoun ti lew ara mporw na tous vrisw ligoulaki…..EISTE MALAKES OLOI EDW MESA REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ZHTW H ELLADARA MAS REEEEEEEEEEE XAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAXAX…….Kala eisai re man pws paei? Steile kana mail….KISSES!!!!
9/5/2005