Reality check needed
I had a strange dream yesterday night. I always dream a lot, and I can often remember many parts of the dreams when I wake up. I usually dream about adventures, where I am always going somewhere together with a number of other people. In most dreams the general mood is very happy, and I usually meet a number of old friends on the way. The transportation part (which can be by bus, train, airplane or even flying by myself) is always there. But the dream yesterday night felt very different, and the parts I can remember was not like anything I have experienced before.
First of all, I was completely alone. And I was locked into a small room with a number of undefined objects placed on the floor. I was not going anywhere, and there was nothing happening around me. It was a calm, peaceful and lonely place, and the only company I had were the undefined objects. When I picked up one of the objects, it instantly split itself into several pieces, and those pieces quickly grew into the same size as the original object before they fell back on the floor. When I picked up one of the new objects, the same thing happened again. So I stopped looking and just left the objects alone, realizing that I would soon have filled the room with objects if I kept picking them up. I sat down on the floor for a while, then closed my eyes and… Woke up!
I probably spent ten minutes thinking about the dream, repeating it to myself, before I got up of the bed. I have the feeling that my brain was trying to tell me something through that dream, something more beside the classic symbolism. While I wouldn't let a dream make decisions for me, it made me thinking about a number of things and it gave me the inspiration to start re-organizing a number of things that need to be sorted out. My workflow is one of those things, and this website is another…
I'm planning a major site update soon, and I will probably change the direction a bit to make it fit better into my life. Everything needs a reality check every now and then, so I'll say the now-classic words again: If the site would look strange any day soon, don't worry. I'm probably just trying out some new things…
To make my work a bit easier, I need your help. What would you, as a visitor of this site, want to change? What do you consider important? What is less important? What makes you visit this site? Would you want me to write a real, personal blog? Should I add tutorials and more own webdesign articles? Or should I skip the blog completely and just make more templates? Would you like daily updates? Let me know what you like and dislike with this site either by e-mail or by comments to this post. All feedback is welcome, and I will do my best to make the site better based on what you users think. I have a lot of statistics, but real opinions say so much more than numbers…
Comments
Comment from Neil
Time: September 27, 2006, 2:35 am
Get with the program, Andreas. XHTML and CSS is so 2005. A website isn't complete without large, bandwidth-intensive Flash animations.
Comment from Andreas
Time: September 27, 2006, 2:47 am
DJ: Thanks! TSEC will be added, definitely. I'll keep your suggestions in mind!
Neil: Yes, I could put the Flash inside my multitable-based layout, and use transparent .gif images to position it among all FONT tags!
No, don't worry, I will not use Flash unless it actually adds some useful feature on the page. I have considered an MP3-player, but that is just an idea so far.
Comment from Brent
Time: September 27, 2006, 3:19 am
I like the site as it is, although the new template additions are a bit….. sporadic, shall we say? ;-)
It's just a guess, but I would venture that many who visit this site are looking for templates and for your insights as they pertain to building sites in general. I wonder if you notice traffic dropping somewhat as you post less and less in this area.
It's your site, and so you must do as you see fit, but if I had your talents, I would be adding a few more templates from time to time and looking for ways to further monetize this site.
Best Wishes,
Brent
Comment from Shawn Ann
Time: September 27, 2006, 3:40 am
First I'd like to say that I love your work.
I like that it's more personal and NOT flashy. I'd say keep the site the way it has been. Making it more flashy will drive people away due to taking longer to load, etc, but that's just my opinion.
I'd love to see more templates, maybe some that are more female/family, I'm not saying all flowers and pink, just more female/family.
Comment from Jock
Time: September 27, 2006, 4:15 am
Hi andreas,
I'm a complete novice at web design. I came across your site whilst looking for ideas for starting a redesign of my own site. After reading your post about your dream, it immediately made me think about your web design too. the repetition in your dream may symbolise the importance of trying something new(as the previous comment suggested).
I really like your site designs. simple and very effective! Of all the designs that have really took to me, yours are most appealing! So many thanks for letting me play around with your templates.
However, back to your post from your own website. I think a more personal touch to your site would be a great finishing touch. My advice would be to add a bit of diversity to your normal train of thought and see where it takes you. This may be the reasoning behind your dream! I'm a Scottish bagpipe music composer and often follow this approach, and it normally leads to quite good results. (not always though- hehe)Relate that to your web design and hopefully you can find some satisfaction too.
Well, that's enough of my late night snippets. I wish you the best of luck friend.
Cheers,
Jock.
Comment from James
Time: September 27, 2006, 6:15 am
What first brought me to your site was your templates. What has kept me coming back to your site has been your Blog posts. Quite honestly, your Blog posts are the only part of your site that I visit now.
IMHO, I think you should keep churning out templates and music as I believe they are major traffic generators, but for those of us who visit to actually "hear" what you have to say, I would suggest continuing to post in your Blog as much as you can. What I'm most interested in is insite into your inspiration for your designs. For instance…
* What is your brainstorming process?
* How do you decide colors?
* What cool XHTML/CSS tricks are you tinkering with and why?
* What cool tool has piqued your interest and why?
* What is your view on XYZ technology?
* etc, etc, etc…
You have a rare talent of being extremely gifted in many areas. For those of us who can appreciate that talent, it is nice to gain insite into the thought processes behind your talent.
Also, no offense, but I've never been fond of the current theme. You can do so much better. Don't be afraid to go all out and show your skills on this site. Make it a showcase of your talent.
Just my 2 cents.
Thank you for all your contributions to the webmaster community!
Best Regards,
James
Comment from Carl Galloway
Time: September 27, 2006, 6:42 am
I mostly agree with James, I first came to your site because of your templates but now I think of you as a friend, even if we do live on the other side of the world from each other, and I want to know more about how you design, your thoughts on the latest Internet technologies, tips and tricks to make sites standards compliant, more about Northern Sweden etc.
Keep up the good work,
Carl
Comment from Ron
Time: September 27, 2006, 8:15 am
I visit this site every day to see if you have porn.
Well, that and new templates.
Comment from David
Time: September 27, 2006, 12:40 pm
Honestly, as wrote James, your blog posts are also the only part of your site that I visit now. And yes it would be interesting if you can continue to post here with more articles concerning the web design, how you design, xhtml/css tricks and more… And it would be great also to see more templates ;)
Thank you, Andreas, for all your good work!
Regards,
David
Comment from The way
Time: September 27, 2006, 12:53 pm
How about changing your whole life…
Comment from Peter Mount
Time: September 27, 2006, 2:00 pm
I was just going through your commercial templates and I found I had to keep clicking sequentially to get to specific pages. Also, I couldn't readily see how to filter for categories. So I think some thought towards usability for people looking through your pages of commercial templates.
I'm in the process of getting clients for my web development business so I'm initially coming to your site for the templates. The blog looks interesting and well laid out
Have fun
Peter
Comment from Lionne
Time: September 27, 2006, 3:39 pm
Well, I came to your site because of your music. I'm less interessed in templates, although I've downloaded some. So there are 2 reasons I'm still here: your blog and your music. I'm really looking forward to the day you will add the TSEC music.
I don't think you have to change something, I like it like it is. All I suggest is do what you want. If you want to realize your ideas, do it. Dont do anything because of others.
But actually I comment here because of your dream. I thought a little about. Is it possible you sometimes feel like things are outgrowing? For me thats the most logical interpretation of your objects falling into more. Sounds like you want to solve one of your problems just to see it causes more without solving any.
Comment from Nataraja
Time: September 27, 2006, 3:47 pm
Just happened to stumble on to your site somehow, thought that dream was very interesting though. Keep puzzling it and the pieces will probably come out clear enough in time.
Keep Dreaming!
93 93/93
Comment from Aaron
Time: September 27, 2006, 5:26 pm
I would say: more templates. Really, that's why I come here is to see the new templates and WP themes and whatnot (articles on web-design, etc. fall into that category too). It seems like a lot of projects you have get lost by the wayside (modular CSS, anyone? That Anvish WP theme).
And I'd say more music, but I know you've gone beyond that for a while :(
Comment from LobsterMan
Time: September 27, 2006, 6:59 pm
I like your site the way it is, maybe a bit more in the music section.
Comment from NickyD
Time: September 27, 2006, 7:15 pm
I like this site as it is. I honestly come here looking for new templates as well, which has not happened as frequently anymore. I would love to see some more of your talented work here for download.
Comment from Steve Brown
Time: September 27, 2006, 10:00 pm
I would agree with many earlier posts - I found this site from the templates, but stayed on it because of the blog posts. If these were more frequent that would be better, and perhaps a couple of more templates would be nice, but thats not what keeps me here
S
Comment from Peter Mount
Time: September 28, 2006, 7:59 am
Just from reading about your dream I'm tempted to think that your work is taking over from your social life. Of course I wouldn't know if that's true or not. I would have thought that your work is important to you and I wouldn't dare to tell you to stop doing it.
It would hurt to look at where you need some balance in your life. Having said that reorganising your web site could be a "fun" thing for you to keep your focus on.
Peter Mount
Comment from Clazirus
Time: September 28, 2006, 3:52 pm
I personally think, it is better to keep it this way. Blog some about personal life, a little bit of web design issues, a little bit of music (probably you could suggest about a few mp3's worth to check it out, maybe like Lagoona or other artists in….trance, electronica…etc). And hey, the templates..(keep it coming more and more…. we like it…), or you could create a few tutorials how to create a simple css site..and etc.
mm, having the mp3 player at this site would be great.. ;)
Comment from Andreas
Time: September 28, 2006, 7:01 pm
Thanks everyone for your comments and e-mails! I won't reply to them all here, but trust me when I say that I have read them a number of times and changed my plans a bit. And I will check the result against the comments before the final release as well.
I have never really seen the blog as something visitors would return to, only as a way of announcing new releases, presenting news and writing a few lines every now and then. Finding out that many visitors wants more of the blog was a surprise, but a very inspirational one.
And the work goes on. I'll post an update during the weekend!
Comment from Lourdes
Time: September 29, 2006, 12:32 am
Hmm…
I take it your life is pretty peaceful right now. Perhaps your dream is showing you the consequences of becoming involved in different projects or other things that will in turn lead to sub-projects and even more other things.
For example, your plan of re-organizing several things in your life leads to you having to update your website, which leads to you taking into consideration the suggestions made by others (new template additions, more music, blog entries on suggested topics) in addition to perhaps re-designing your site, which leads to you having to design/code more templates, creating/recording music, researching the topics, finding time to blog, take pictures, and so on and so forth.
Just a thought. :o)
Anyways, I occassionally visit your site for the sole purpose of reading your blogs. I enjoy reading them, and I especially liked the photos you posted several months ago. Keep up the great work! (^_^)
Comment from DJ_Xander
Time: September 29, 2006, 2:47 am
Lourdes is right, but… (sorry for talking for you A.V.)
there's a lot of work on this site and on the other projects of Andreas, I know. It is a great place and when he's asking us for enhancement ideas, the best that we can do is helping him… Some in this way, others in the other way. I know that I can't help him technically, but I can show him some of my visions and he's free to chose what he wants…
This is what I tought, open to all comments from anyone.
Comment from Ainslie
Time: September 30, 2006, 4:14 pm
I'm coming to this a bit late, sorry.
I enjoy reading you blog. Your writing and choice of subject matter is always interesting and it would be a shame if you stopped.
Of course new templates would be great as would more themes and more frequent updates but I understand that time is always precious.
Comment from Gnome
Time: September 30, 2006, 7:56 pm
Many of us are looking forward to seeing the TSEC music. You will have to be careful about the first month or so when you first put them up, bandwidth-wise, because many people will download ALL of them. A warmer, and perhaps less-mimimalistic design might be more appealing to most people, but it is your site. Do what feels right. (I think that is a slogan from advertising I read somewhere). I happen to like the current tempo for the blog, although other people read blogs every day. You may want to save some effort when making commercial templates for people, by asking them if you can release a public-domain version.
Comment from John Smith
Time: October 1, 2006, 1:35 am
I come for the templates. The blog and the links are a bonus, but I love your templates and have found no other source I like more.
Comment from Mag
Time: October 1, 2006, 11:19 am
Apparently there so many reasons that makes people visiting and keep visiting your website. However, I think it's time to take a vacation off all these stuff, analyze your dream, then your life.
Comment from Adrian King
Time: October 3, 2006, 11:03 am
Hi,
You site looks excellent, and from browsing, I havent been able to find a page that isnt either useful, inspiring or entertaining, so please please please do not change.
On another note, I am using your theme for a blog I have created in Wordpress. Can you point me in the direction of any help regarding customising the comments. I see on this blog that when you add a comment it is highlighted. I would love something similar for my school blog.
Also I need to change the required fields from
Name | E-mail | Website | Comment
TO
Name | School | Country | Comment
Thanks for your time, and Andreas - KEEP IT UP!
Comment from Phil
Time: October 3, 2006, 1:53 pm
Hi Andreas
I am quite new to xhtml & css and find the work you do very impressive. I agree with you that flash could distract from your cause. If you get chance have a look at http://www.2advanced.com, a great site but a little too much overkill for the everyday required website, but still very impressive. I do love your templates and hope you keep up the excellent work. I am pleased to say most web designers I come across know the name Andreas, if that not a great feat then nothing is. Keep having those dreams!! And look forward to your re-development
Phil
York ( Yorkshire ) UK
Comment from Phil
Time: October 5, 2006, 5:33 pm
Oops above link was wrong sorry!!
http://www.2advanced.com
Comment from DJ_Xander
Time: September 27, 2006, 1:08 am
Hey there,
Something to change? I thought about more human presence on this site. It's blue, ok, looks like my Indigo Blue Dream Project (in my head) inspired by mp3.com (RIP) in 2002, but it's a little bit too much cold. If you can make it more personnal, with some clear and pure colors (crystals), it will be wonderful especially with your talent…
Some other things could be nice here, like a picture gallery (midnight sun…) and the integration of TSEC Tracks, maybe a page about your own way of thinking, visions…
It is yours, take the ENTIRE control!
Thanks, still be there, silent sometimes…
James