• There is something sad, but ultimately satisfying about getting to grips with new software. I’ve been battling all week with with Joomla!, an online Content Management System, that has interesting ways of obfuscating the simplest of requirements, but I think I’m getting the hang of it and heck, it’s free, so who am I to grumble. The instructions are not that clear and you need to know quite a lot about databases and file structures to even start setting it up.

    Added to that I’ve bought a plugin to show videos – it’s wonderful, but the manual is not very helpful. Learning how another piece of software works is doubling the load but learning how the two interact id=s a bit of a headache!

    It’s a work in progress, but you are welcome to see what I’ve done so far at www.shoorayner.com/DrawingSchool. Click the menu item for animals and you will see some videos. The Puppy one is a full length drawing video the others are short clips for testing with. I can start filling up with videos now.

    I’m hoping that this will be viewable in schools. If yo can get it showing on your whiteboard, without the blockers stopping it, I’d love to know – otherwise ask you it department to clear it.

    Just the very start of what is going to be a pretty major project over the years, I think. I’m going to link it to my online shop, which I’m also working on at the moment, so you can buy the full HD video as a download if you want or buy a set on a pen drive.

    Watch this space – or rather, go and watch the videos!

  • Of course the secret is to back up your website before you do anything! The new Drawing School website I’m building was going swimmingly, until I received a security announcement to upgrade the software.

    I misunderstood the upgrade instructions and have blown everything. I tried a new installation with connections to the old database, but it didn’t like that at all. So, because I didn’t save my site before upgrading – which is the first thing anyone tells you to do – I am now tediously setting up the whole thing again from scratch.

    I’m trying to be positive. I’m telling myself that it’s a learning experience and that I’m getting to know the system software better than ever before! I will be a Joomla! yet.

  • The upgrade from the Adobe Web Premium suite from CS3 to CS5 is £750! I think adobe has just priced a whole swathe of their loyal followers out of the upgrade loop. There was nothing in CS4 that made me feel I needed to upgrade and there’s nothing in CS5.

    Bye, bye Adobe. I’ve been a very loyal customer for fifteen years or more. I can’t be the only one.