2004-04-19
Layout Information
Layouts I Have Created For Others (I do NOT make templates by request for free except for close friends. I do sometimes make free templates, but only on my own whim. Those are available to the public, but as I have very few right now, I do not display them. You must email me for more information. Furthermore, if you'd like a custom template, you're going to have to be able to reimburse me and again, email me for further information.)
Mary's Blog V. Melancholy Days
best viewed at: 800x600 or higher in Mozilla/Firefox
This layout is for my friend Mary. I promised her a layout DECADES ago. And now, I finally finished it! She loves it, and I'm glad, cause so do I...I really tried to capture her character with it and I feel I did.
Layouts I Have Created For Myself
V. Winter is over, what should we do?
Best viewed: 800x600 or higher in Mozilla Firefox and IE. (And, hopefully, compliant with the macs)
Some are born great, but never to be acknowledged as such. This is an ode to those people. And an ode to winter time. A tiny scoff at spring. An ache. Or maybe a hope. For the future. For the next cycles of life... (Photograph is mine. All code is mine. Mine mine mine.)
V. Heart On Her Lips, Soul In Her Eyes
Best viewed: 1024x768 in Mozilla Firefox, but *should* be compatible in any resolution higher than 800x600, and in all browsers. Got to be compliant for the Mac users...
This is like my favoritest layout ever. I think I finally made something just how I wanted it. Based around a quotation from Lord Byron's Beppo (which I've never read). It features a photo I took of myself, with some slight photoshopping for the dramatic effect I wanted. The origami heart in my mouth is even my own creation.
This layout is about joy. And...I'm really not sure what else to say. Maybe I'll get back to it later...
V. There Is Wishful Thinking In Hell
Best Viewed: 800x600 (I hope) or higher in Mozilla Firefox/IE.
This template was inspired by a quotation from C.S. Lewis, that goes like this,
There is wishful thinking in hell, as well as on earthIt did include a second quote from I've forgotten where, which says
It is such a secret place, the land of tearsThis template is about secrets and wishes and where I keep them. Here, to a degree. A quiet corner. I originally made this layout for a private tabulas journal where the theme was more appropriate, but after disbanding it, I liked it so much that I had to bring it here.
Some code for this layout was taken from the templates here. No. I'm not stealing code. I'm acknowledging them. This is what one is supposed to do with those. It's base code. Fix it up. And that's what I did. I put a lot of work into resizing and rearranging things to make them look how I wanted them to. Probably butchered the code pretty bad but that's perfectly ok. NOTE: This template was again, dramatically short lived. I felt it was entirely inappropriate and was tired of seeing something which reminded me of old diaries.
V. Knee High
Best viewed: 1024x768 in Mozilla Firefox.
This template is based on the song Knee-High from Solex, or Elisabeth Esselink. I wanted to clash retro and classic to bring out a layout with a slick sophistication. I'm fairly happy with what I've created. This is probably also the most pointless and most fun layout I've ever created. No apparent Profound Meaning behind this one. I think there's something to the emphasis on Absolute though...hmmm...NOTE: This template was unfortunately not long lived. There were some MAJOR problems with the code. I had to trash it and replace it before I was ready because I couldn't fix it and the problems were just too unattractive.
V. Skin Me Alive The First: Century Child and Hidden Thoughts.
Best viewed: at 800x600 or higher in Mozilla/Firefox
Oh baby. Two layouts. It's skinned courtesy of a list apart alternate style sheet tutorial. Hidden Thoughts was first. It's based around a quote from Voltaire, "We use our words, to hide our thoughts" and features a line from the song I Drive A Lot by Starflyer 59. Line: "Talkin' just to waste my day." The point of this layout is to convey the futility and meaningless quality of written words in the employment of portraying emotions and complex concepts. A great theme and photo, but not very well executed.
Which brings us to the second layout, which I like better. This one is centered around a song from the absolutely fantastic band The Soundtrack of Our Lives. This song is one of my favorites. I used the lines, "we're not around to forget living in fields of regret" and "century child". The whole song goes like this:
We're not alone we're not in vain
We're not someone calling your name
We're not afraid we're not too late
We're not a spike in your vein
Dreams never cease to last, Century Child
Forget your past just for a while
We're not outside we're not in cold
We're not afraid to get old
We're not around to forget
Living in fields of regret
Cause dreams never cease to last, Century Child
Forget your past just for a while
We're not in love we're not in faith
We're not the ones who won't be saved
So when you ask how we must feel
Say we're the wounds of the unveiled
When dreams never cease to last, Century Child
Forget your past just for a while
I chose the lines I did, because I felt they well reflected the photo of the little girl I picked out. Or maybe I chose that photo because it reflected the lyrics well? Hmmm, in any case, I was listening to Century Child one too many times again and had the inspiration for this layout and decided to carry it out.
The colors DO match on these templates, and that's because the entry seperator, guestbook, contact pop up, and comments have to match too; so if I had two layouts with hugely different color schemes, those four extras could never match. I was a bit too lazy to be terribly creative with the color schemes anyway. So sucking the scheme out of one layout into another works for me.
V. Youth And Beauty.
Best viewed: at 1024x768 or higher in Mozilla/Firefox
The image employed for this one really caught my eye. A very well photographed mannequin head. A gorgeous mannequin head at that with beautiful colors. The first time I saw it, I decided that I simply had to use it in a layout.
Although I did question how to employ it. What sort of a quote to use, because the image by itself, didn't say anything. It needed a quote to tie things together.
My mind was running on themes of beauty when I was composing the template, and the mannequin was beautiful, so my mind naturally flitted to find a beauty quote. I found this from Homer:
In youth and beauty, wisdom is but rareI think it's true. Beauty does not exude wisdom. Wisdom will produce beauty, but beauty is not often wise. And neither is youth. Some may find me beautiful, or at least my writing and I am definitely youth. Is there wisdom found in me? In my diary? Do I embody my template? Or am I stating an irony? That despite whether it's generally true, I am the exception (?). It's something I want my readers to ponder.
V. Letters To The World Or Seeketh Not
Best viewed: at 800x600 or higher in Mozilla/Firefox
Fourth self-designed template. Ow. Not too hot on this one, but I needed a change. I didn't like this one much. It had a really cool image I put together, but I just really didn't like it...It was love centric anyway. I can't stand love centric templates. They bother me. Featured an excerpt from a poem by William Blake:
Love seeketh not itself to please
Nor for itself hath any care
But for another gives its ease
And builds a heaven in hell's despair
Love seeketh only self to please
To bind another to its delight
Joy in another's loss of ease
And builds a hell in heaven's despite
V. Cecily's Diary
Best viewed: at 800x600 or higher in Mozilla/Firefox
My third self designed template. I wanted something with more space for links, and looked cleaner and neater than some previous templates. I alighted on a way cool css layout generator, which spit out a bit of base code, which I was able to overhaul quite a bit, and I came up with this. And I learned more about css. Rock!
This layout featured the following quote:
You see, it is simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions and consequently meant for publicationfrom Miss Cecily Cardew, Mr. John Worthing's charming young ward, from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. I love Oscar Wilde, and that quote is extremely appropriate for a diary. I had a layout once with this quote, but I didn't like it much. So now I've done it myself. And I think it fits quite well.
Altogether, I tried to go for that soft girly feel, that was still classic and minimalistic. Yay. I like what I came up with. A lot.
V. Maiden Queen
Best viewed: at 800x600 or higher in Mozilla/Firefox
My second self designed layout. I was getting fed up with trying to find layouts made by other people which fit my taste, my personality, my writing style, xhtml standards (I browse in Mozilla, so I need the layout to be compatible), had blockquote, dictionary definitions, and unordered lists, and had enough space for my infinitely long entries and my great collection of links and extras which could not be reduced down any further.
I have some html skills, so I decided it was time for me to whip something up for myself.
I tried to create something close to my writing style, something which would enhance and draw out my writing. The colors were inspired by one of my favorite outfits, with a few extra colors thrown in. I was extremely attached to the color scheme, and it might be one of my favorites. Normally, I really prefer layouts with intricate images, but my image editing and htmling skills weren't up to adding an image like I wanted to, so I tried to stick with a simple almost imageless look. Clean and slick and modern, with a classic touch.
As for the poem, I think it fit situations I was feeling to be in with certain people. On the whole it works, but the parts of it I thought fit best and most, I picked out and stuck in the layout. I am extremely loathe to admit too much more about the selection of this poem and those verses, its difficult for me to feel comfortable talking about it. Just keep in mind that I identify with it in a big, enigmatic way.
All graphics done by me, with brushes from vered, background pattern from squidfingers and featuring poetic inspiration from William Blake. Following is the poem in full,
I dreamt a dream! What can it mean?
And that I was a maiden Queen
Guarded by an Angel mild:
Witless woe was ne'er beguiled!
And I wept both night and day,
And he wiped my tears away;
And I wept both day and night,
And hid from him my heart's delight.
So he took his wings, and fled;
Then the morn blushed rosy red.
I dried my tears, and armed my fears
With ten thousand shields and spears.
Soon my Angel came again;
I was armed, he came in vain;
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.
V. Infant Homicides
Best viewed: at 800x600 or higher in Mozilla/Firefox
This was my first self-designed layout. All graphic work was done by me, and featured my poem entitled Infant Homicides and pictures of me�extremely photo shopped. At the beginning, I loved the layout, but it didn�t take long for me to get sick of it. It just didn�t fit my style of writing. But, for being my very first CSS xhtml layout, I did a good job, and was very proud of it.
Otherwise, I have nothing more to say. Please, if you have any comments on the current template, I'd like them. If you detect any problems, if this isn't working in a particular browser, if the text is hard to read, if links are hard to distinguish, and/or if you have constructive suggestions to better the site, please please PLEASE let me know, ok? Email me, drop me a note, or leave a comment. Please and thank you.