BrainFuel

Anyone have experience with WebGUI? It looks pretty popular. I remember hearing about it last year sometime and saw it again tonight. The demo is pretty neat, once you get in and figure out how to activate the Admin screens (it’s rather confusing at first).

One of the neatest photo blogs I have ever seen is one called Chicago Uncommon. This site indexes photos by neighborhoods, so if you’re looking for a photo taken in a specific location you’re guaranteed to find it. Brilliant idea.

Mambo Server CMS also looks like a great CMS to check out if you’re in to CMS.

Update: There is a great review of Mambo at ProjectCMS.

Textpattern looks like an interesting CMS, worth looking in to someday.

I really liked the simplicity and elegance of Way to Blue’s photoblog. It’s pretty much just a picture with some tiny text links. I’m thinking I’ll make mine somewhat similar to this.

Today for the first time I had a look at the new Fly Ted web site at flyted.com (naturally). Pretty nice. I have a bit of experience with airline web sites (Ben does, too) being that we assisted with sites for JetBlue Airways, National Airlines, and TWA at marchFIRST Phoenix back in the day. One thing I notice immediately is plenty of white space, good and simple layout, and no fluff. I think that’s the idea all of these smaller knockoff airlines have been trying to communicate. Hence the silly names.

Then there is Song Airways at flysong.com. Of course, I’m greeted in the traditional manner by a picture of a girl dressed like a fairy. Pretty funny. I like the fact that they’ve consolodated their offerings down to 3 primary navigation elements. That’s impressive.

ALA article by Sergio Villarreal details how to create drop shadows that expand to fit block-level elements. Haven’t tried it yet, but this looks like a valid trick for the CSS designer’s arsenal.

Next time I’m out away from the city lights I intend to take a few long exposure photos of the stars. I like the effect it gives to photos. I was researching long exposure techniques and found a great tutorial that explains different things you can do in different lighting situations to make your photos better. Highly recommended.

Update: Some more great star trails photos and additional tips for photographing. Also, he’s got some great moon shots which are simply amazing.