You know the drill. You spend two weeks thinking about a particularly bold concept (challenging yourself to use colors that you practically hated your entire life), and then just when you’ve made Photoshop come up with something new (doncha just hate it when what you’ve imagined to be a great concept turns out ugly upon implementation?), you realize that the worst is yet to come: coding time.

I usually relish coding time over designing time. But not when you’re supposed to work with someone else’s template. I usually prefer coding from scratch. Thing is, with server-installed scripts, you usually have to work with at least three pre-made templates.

This time around, I didn’t have to conceptualize for two weeks. I was determined to re-use Coolay!’s version 8, which I designed in 2003. The challenge was this: convert all static HTML pages to dynamic PHP/MySQL without destroying my original concept. That includes the layout, the CSS and the Javascripts. I’ve had nasty experiences with my old Javascripts not working on newer browsers so I left that task for last. I only had Sunday to start and finish whatever I could.

Start Time: 7AM

Geh. After working on three different built-in templates and not finding anything that worked, I got stumped. Eating breakfast made my brain work again, so I was able to work with the last template.

End Time: 9PM
- CSS 95% done
- PHP 98% done
- Javascript 90% done

Whew. I’m itching to write my first review on the newly fired-up Coolay! website. I’ll just have to test-drive the Javascript in the school PC. While Macs are best for designing interfaces…they’re not exactly that supportive of back-end software. After tweaking what I need, I’m just going to do some minor revisions on the masthead. The look needs to be updated.

EDIT July 2:
Status from 2.30PM - 3.30PM
- CSS 100% done
- PHP 100% done
- Javascript 95% done

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 30th, 2007 at 10:50 pmand is filed under Coolay. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.