Matt Details

Dreamhost vs Mediatemple

2006-05-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

Aww, poor Adam Howell. The guy didn't even see it coming, a smash in the face by Dreamhost. This situation just completely tops off my reasons for not using dreamhost. I might have been ignorant to the general hosting scene back when I tried them last year, but after experimenting with different hosts (http://www.hostrocket.com - very reliable, inexpensive host) and now http://www.mediatemple.net its quite evident that I made the right choice to start with. My friend and business partner, Jeff Martin had other ideas, and reasonings with why our company should be hosted with dreamhost. Hes been using it for the past 9-10 months or so, and he claims hes never had any problems and was able to have full control over everything. I think it was just his lack of motivation to give (mt) a try. Sure Dreamhost has all these "amazing" deals, but this just goes to show why. All I have to say is Dreamhost is a piece of shit, and by messing up on probably one of the largest traffic sites dreamhost probably has, was a very very very bad move, so very bad. Adam Howell just exposed dreamhosts mess up to hundred thousand plus viewers. Woo, thats a huge loss in potential revenue. I wonder what they'll do? Something "amazing" maybe? If they were "smart" they would do just that. Let's watch a see.

Simple vs Complicated vs Gut vs Smart

2006-04-17T23:05:00.000-05:00

Ah, the last few months have been a roller coaster of a ride to say the very least. So many different projects and new clients coming and going. The pressure is on, and I'm feeling it. The problem remains that money is the root of all evil. One would expect to have little to no money for anything other than bare minimal expenses, but you also have to keep in mind that your gut knows well. Right now I live an incredibly simple life in wisconsin. Theres really nothing complicated about it. Less population, less money to eat, drive, live. I have no children and I'm not married. My gut instincts were now or never to start my business, so I did. Now my gut is saying: "Move to IL!". Ah but then my simple life becomes alot more complicated. Why you ask? Well merely because the cost of living is higher, the population (of Chicago) is a lot higher, and there seems to be more laws in IL than in WI. Ah choices choices. I don't particularly considering moving to IL a dumb choice though. I mean if you consider the industry that I'm in, the demand, and the supply; it all really makes sense. More people = more demand = more $$ = more supply. Well that's an interesting equation. More people will demand more services, products, etc. Which in turn requires more small businesses to fill those needs and demands, which in turn gives me more opportunities to make more money, that I can use on hiring more people and expanding (or just living decently for that matter). It seems to make sense to me anyway. The part that is scary is moving 400 miles away from everything I know. Not so much everything I love though; I think Wisconsin is a bit boring. At anyrate, I think moving to IL will be something I do sooner or later, its just a matter of time and luck.

Blizzard of March '06

2006-03-13T18:54:00.000-06:00

Wow. My exact words when I woke up this morning. Though I seen it coming, it was still surprising to see all of the snow that had fallen in such a short period of time. I took a couple shots outside while I shoveled out the steps and part of the drive way. Hopefully it all melts soon!

Gmail: The sexiest email app alive

2006-03-11T01:00:00.000-06:00

Gmail is by far the sexiest email application alive today. If you want to try gmail out, send me an email and I will invite you! matt [at] designbyinc [dot] com

Eventful Day

2006-03-10T17:27:00.000-06:00

I'm officially a full-time designer working on my own company: DesignBy LLC After today, I'm no longer a victim of the 9-5, and will be focusing more of my time on what I love; Designing websites and improving the web as we know it. One of the ways I'll be doing this is by joining the CSSReboot community and redesigning this blog - Matt Details.com - into an exciting new theme (Hint: Bears, Chocolate, and Snacks). Yes, its an odd sounding theme, but believe me I'll pull it off. 51 days until the reboot, I've got plenty of time. Especially considering I designed and developed DesignBy INC in a day and tweaked it over several weeks. Since then DesignBy has been featured on such sites as CSS Mania, CSS Remix, Thomas Marban and Cwder.com. It's pretty exciting to know somebody at least appreciates or respects the work you put into a design. At anyrate, keep an eye out for some huge changes coming along in the next couple of months. Maybe even some sneak peaks, and some how-to's.

Amazing Juggling Finale

2006-03-09T00:28:00.000-06:00

Wow...is all I can say about this. Low-Res version

CSS Mania & Thomas Marban

2006-03-08T15:54:00.000-06:00

DesignBy Inc was just recently added to two css showcases: CSS Mania CSS Showcase & Thomas Marban's Screenblog. Pretty exciting to see some people enjoying our new design over there. We put many weeks into that design and development, and we still arent even close to being done! Heres to doing some good for the web!

popurls.com

2006-03-07T14:27:00.000-06:00

popurls.com goes live! More on my reactions coming soon!

Bloglines: RSS on the road.

2006-03-07T14:24:00.000-06:00

Bloglines is my RSS reader of choice. I'm not sure if its just because I'm not willing to try any other service, or if its just the interface. But Bloglines is so easy to use, and fast. There's just no doubt about it.

Getting Real: After-thoughts

2006-03-07T14:18:00.000-06:00

I started reading the first couple chapters of Getting Real. Legally I can't resight any of it, but if I could, you would notice that the "voice" isn't like any other book. I'm not sure how to explain it but, at some points it got really annoying having 6-7 words per sentence. Not to mention alot of the advice and/or information in this book so far seems so far off the normal business model these days. But I guess thats not necessarily a bad thing. Change and improvement always leads to success. I have this piece of paper I ripped out of somewhere. I'm not sure where I got it, I think it was back in the college days. But it reads: Ten Secrets to Success:

Think Success.
Write Goals & Dreams.
Act - Get started now.
Learn, Learn, Learn.
Work Hard.
Analyze Details.
Focus.
Innovate.
Communicate.
Take Responsibility.

This piece of paper sits by my monitor and I read it every day. Just to remind me of the steps I need to take to accomplish what I want to accomplish in life. Go read Getting Real today!

78th Annual Academy Awards

2006-03-05T23:34:00.000-06:00

Tonight the 78th Annual Academy Awards My Opinion: I thought the overall hosting of Jon Stewart was way too casual for such a tie-wearing event. Some of his jokes could have been very controversal and rude. The overall look of the stage on the other hand was amazing. Lighting, statues, lighting, and more lighting. Just a great looking stage. Reese Witherspoon definitely wins my vote for best dressed!

Have a Mint: It is tastey, delightful, and fun

2006-03-05T23:17:00.000-06:00

I've been using Shaun Inman's Mint web application for a while now. Long enough to fall head over heels for this beautiful piece of the world wide web. I love it so much, that some could even consider it an addiction. It's always opened, always being refreshed and always being watched. The great part about Mint is the way it breaks down your website stats. Here's a demo of Mint running client-mode on Designologue's installation. Go buy Mint now!

Getting Real: A 37Signals Book

2006-03-03T21:25:00.000-06:00

I've just purchased my own copy of the Getting Real: The Smarter, faster, easier way to build your own web application. Even though I'm not a developer of web applications, I've seen my fair share of pretty good ones. It would be interesting what the process was like going into one of these successful web apps was like. Though targeted at web apps, it could be easily applied to general web developement, and business modeling as well. I would highly suggest picking up a copy!

CSS Reboot: Spring 2006

2006-03-03T14:14:00.000-06:00

I've entered mattdetails.com into the CSS Reboot for Spring 2006. I'm excited as this is my first reboot, even though I've been watching the reboot for a little over 2 years. Start back with the May1stReboot which is mostly compiled of Flash oriented designs. Considering im an long-time advocate of CSS and Standards, It would only make sense that I enter into this community project. Keep an eye on the reboot and my projects. More coming soon.

Newsvine Launches

2006-03-02T09:59:00.000-06:00

The long awaited news media site has finally launched to the public. So far what do I think of the public launch? Well not awhole lot considering that since I've tried to get on it, I've yet to get anywhere on it. It's still, as I write this, loading so that I can read the Newsvine Blog. This doesnt show very well for the public launch of what used to be such a robust website. Go check it out.

Popcorn Seasoning

2006-03-01T21:24:00.000-06:00

I know I've seen a couple other blogger's post about this, but I just have to put my 2 cents in for this great tasting seasoning for popcorn. Seriously, anyone looking to spice or flavor up your popcorn, http://www.popcornseasoning.com/ is worth a shot. You can pick it up at just about any retail store (Including wal-mart, which is where I got mine) and its pretty inexpensive. I happen to get the White Cheddar one to start with, and I love it. Popcorn has never been the same. You can use popcorn seasoning for either air-popped or microwavable popcorn. They have instructions for both! Pick some up today, its great!