Design Update

Posted in News & Updates.

Ok, as I may or may not have mentioned, the previous design which lasted about a week was only intended to last that long. It was bland, boring, and pretty colourless. So over the last few days I have been working on this, and I am proud to say that it has been released. And yes, it has more fancy features;

  • Firstly, the link when you click on the comment count from the front page of the website or a category page will not take you to the comments, as intended.
  • Beneath every post is a ‘More’ section with features for readers to share the posts, as well as stay up to date with them. Please, if you feel an article is worthy of being shared, do so. It can be immeasurably beneficial to the development of a new website such as this.
  • My comments are now blue, so it is easier to see my replies. This is a feature that was mainly put in for the sake of tutorials so that users can find my posts easier should they be looking for support with the tutorial that may already be covered in discussion.
Don’t be surprised if you see ongoing tweaks either. I don’t expect there should be many, but the sidebar and footer in particular I feel need a bit more work to come.
Anyway, tell me how you feel about the new design in comparison to the last? I personally think its kick ass compared to the last, but hey, its my work :P.

Discouraging world of a designer

Posted in Design.

If you’re anything like I am as a designer, its likely that you spend a lot of time browsing the internet and the various design communities that it caters to. These communities hold mass amounts of designers and its not unlikely, nor hard, to run into a designer who you feel is better then you. Due to this, designing can also be very disheartening at times because of the amazing amount of designers there are out there and the world, and the even more amazing amount of designers who are absolutely brilliant. It can really make the skill, which at heart you know is a strong one, seem insignificant and subpar. Read More…

Tutorial Management System Part 5: Finishing Up

Posted in PHP, Tutorials.

Welcome to the final part of this long tutorial. By now you should have your admin panel up, but not all working, that’s ok. Once we have finished this section it will all be running fine. Every page made in this section will be put into the root folder you were asked to choose in section 1. I will try to explain this section with a fair amount of detail so that everything you have made will start to make sense. I hope you have made records in the category and tutorials table otherwise this section will be a lot more confusing then needed.
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Tutorial Management System Part 4: Commenting

Posted in PHP, Tutorials.

Welcome to part 4 of this 5 part tutorial. This section will handle the comment system that allows users to port what they think about the tutorial you have posted. Unlike the last 2 sections of this tutorial, this one will not need an add page in the admin panel because all the comment adding will be done from the tutorial page. This section will be useless until you have completed part 5, so don’t worry if things aren’t working just yet. Every page we create in this section will go into the admin folder.
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Tutorial Management System Part 3: The Tutorials

Posted in PHP, Tutorials.

Welcome to Part 3 of this 5 part tutorial on making a complete Tutorial Management System. This is probably the most important section of the 5 because it is dealing with managing the tutorials themselves. Every page we create in this section will go into the admin folder.
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Tutorial Management System Part 2: Managing Categories

Posted in PHP, Tutorials.

Welcome to the second part of the 5 section tutorial on how to create a Tutorial Management system. This section we will be looking at managing the categories for your tutorials. We will be working only in the admin folder that we set up in Part 1, so there is no need to use any other folder. Every page we create in this section will go into the admin folder.
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Tutorial Management System Part 1: Getting Started

Posted in PHP, Tutorials.

Welcome to the 5 part, in depth tutorial on making a complete tutorial management system. This is the first of the five part tutorial. Please make sure you remember that none of the parts of this tutorial will work on their own, but together they will work like a charm.
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Again? Are you serious…

Welcome to v14 of Designkai.com!

To anyone who is a regular here, they will most likely be confused as v13 was only released a very short time ago and was only up for maybe… a fortnight or so. This was because the database was having apparently irreparable issues with content and comments so I decided I would take it down and re-content it from scratch. However, while it was down I began thinking (thats never a good thing). Anyone who has visited Designkai previous to this version will be aware that it also included a portfolio and blog for myself, and was essentially a website about myself and things I enjoyed talking about, which was more or less shit. In my mind, this was very unprofessional, so I decided to make a drastic change. For the first time, Designkai would no longer serve as a portfolio for me. Ever again. I decided I would split my portfolio into a separate website which is completely stand-alone as just a portfolio. This should be running soon.

However, during this drastic overhaul I figured it would be worthy to re-build the way Designkai handles and presents content. The new Designkai, as of now, will serve as more of a resource/article website for designers or people who like to read the ranting of a madman often bored. But don’t get my wrong, I don’t intend to keep it as just me writing, hint hint. So what will be the benefits of the new Designkai? Lets have a look shall we;

  • More interesting articles - they will now have a point, they will now make a point and they will now hopefully fill a small void of information as well as provide an informative and hopefully useful view on the world, although generally restricted to the world that is the internet.
  • More structure - yes, much more. The articles will be researched, thought out and drafted to hopefully avoid the general bullshit that previous versions of Designkai was oh-so-good at pumping out.
  • And finally, more useful - I can only hope. My aim is to provide you with the information you were looking for, and if you weren’t looking for anything, provide you with an interesting read.
Oh, and there is ad’s for the first time on Designkai. These things happen, running a website does indeed cost money and it would be nice to have some funding to help with that without causing an inconvenience to the users by requesting any form of payment from them.
So what should you expect overall from the new Designkai? Content worth reading. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Designkai will ever see an end to the verbal, highly metaphorical feces, because lets face it, it can be amusing, however there will be a lot less because Designkai.com is now catered for the the reader, rather then its admins.