This last week has been awesome, I’ve been in a creative blur with new site ideas, new and unique design ideas, and I’ve been learning php at a pretty good rate.

For the longest time I was somewhat of a ruby zealot, but I finally came to my senses. Most clients are going to want something done with php, so I might as well learn it and put all my effort into that rather than ruby which very few people might want. Hell why not make all my hobby projects in php as well? So I’ve finally started actually learning php, with the help of a friend.

About a year ago I told myself that I was going to learn php, then I started to procrastinate it, as if I didn’t want to learn it. Eventually I just said screw it, then I went on to python, did the same thing, then I went on to ruby and actually learned a good bit, and just now am saying screw it. Php is just so widely accepted and it has a metric shit-ton of documentation that it’s just hard not to use. So with the motivation/nagging of that same friend mentioned above, I’ve started learning.

Coming with the switch to php are a few new changes with the way I was working, and where I was headed. First off, I’m going to recode DropBin (which was in ruby), as a php app. Along with the recoding/porting to php, there are going to be some new features like syntax highlighting, numbered lines, new view page, ability to create an account which will help users find all of their drops, and even a captcha for stopping spam. This last week Dean decided that he was going to make a nice little spam script for people to use. It had a random name, and submitted random characters and if there would’ve been enough people doing it at once the server would’ve crashed. Dean, you’re an asshole, nevertheless - it was funny. :D I’m also going to be making a few new apps. So hopefully my php ventures forward turn out as well as I’d like them to.

I’ve also been reading a lot about typography lately. It all started with the book Thinking With Type and then I started reading a bunch of blogs and looking into the history of type and it’s really been fun. Prior to the book I really had no idea that the topic had so much depth and meaning to design. From looking at all of these things I’ve been able to get a better understanding of the way type works in design and I’ve really been able to make some cool stuff. So if anyone has some good typography links/books let me know in the comments! I’ve become addicted to reading and learning about the topic.

Also pertaining to design, I think I’m going to release a new design sometime after I get out of school. I’m thinking sometime the third week of june? I’m anticipating this will be my best work, so stay tuned, just something to look forward to.