Devan Lewis

My Background

Since I have this blog up and running, I decided it might be a good idea to get my tweet on. This WordPress theme came with a plugin that updates my tweets on the side there and it wouldn’t look good if I didn’t tweet then, right? So I wanted to try and get a design up even though I’m an amateur at Photoshop.  I thought something different then the standard backgrounds you can choose from would be cool and unique.  I looked around on a few websites for some tips and here are a few I found useful.

1. Bigger is better. I created mine at 2400×888 because of the style I wanted to go with. Yours might have to be longer and not as wide. Just remember you can change the background color of your twitter page so don’t make the image larger then it needs to be.

2. Different Resolutions. Some people might have smaller screens then you or might like to cruise the web with a smaller browser window. I’m wondering if I screwed up this area because mine might get cut off with a smaller window, but it still looks alright. Try it out on your computer by playing with the size of your window and watch how your background adjusts.

3. Use Themeleon. This is a service that twitter suggests on the side of the design page of your profile. I had to use it because twitter wasn’t letting me upload my image. I found it had way more options then twitter gives you and it was really easy to use and you can even create a tiled background with their tools and images.

More Ideas

If you want some more in depth information, you should go to this post on smashingmagazine.com. They have some wicked examples that are way more impressive then what I have and also teach you about how the resolution effects your background. Go check them out.

A while ago i was reading Joystiq and a post came up that interested me so I book marked it and thought I’d share it on here.  ”Avatar Days” is a short video that examines players that play World of Warcraft and how they interact with their characters. I always wondered if who I am playing with acts like they do in real life because it’s so easy to be someone else on there. A few years ago when I was still playing WoW I would play as if I was in the game, like,  what would I do in that situation. It makes games fun when the person you play is just an extension of yourself. Check out the video below.

Years ago I used to stream music off the Internet while I was playing around on my computer. Pandora was my favorite by far because It seemed to find such good music I hadn’t heard before. But all my fun came to an end when Pandora pulled out of Canada. I think it was because our copyright laws changed here or Pandora just got in trouble and had to stop. You can still listen to it down in the states and even on your iPhone and whatnot. If you want to see what happens when your try to listen from Canada, click the link and see. You are just greeted with a letter from their CEO. You can bypass this with a proxy but that’s just a pain.

Lately thought I have gotten to know a site called Stereomood. It works a little differently then Pandora in that it has categories on the main page that stream different styles of music based on the mood your in. It works fairly well, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of good music on it. There is some here and there, but most of it’s kind of different. But I have found that if you search for a artist you like at the top of the main page, you get some awesome results. It mostly comes up with any music it has by that artist but I have found songs that I have never heard of before, and that is what these sites are for isn’t it? I mean, if I knew what I wanted to listen to wouldn’t I just go to my iTunes. Another good feature is if you have an account, you can save the songs you like and create custom play lists to listen to later. So once you have a good play list built up, just click play all and let it go.

Maybe one more that’s a little more mainstream but I haven’t used to much is last.fm. I think it works a lot like Pandora did, which would be awesome, except you have to subscribe after a little trial they give you. I’m really not looking to pay for a music station so I have stayed away ever since the free trial ran dry.

Just thought I’d write up a post letting you guys know what I have found out there. Let me know if you know of any other good sites that are similar.

Originally I had this domain as a location for my web design site but I decided to change things up a bit. I have launched a new site for my design business at enioa.com, go check it out, it has a cool pickle on it. Devanlewis.com will be converted in a blog I can post all kinds of interesting things. From what going on in my life to interesting things I read online. I’ll just let you guys know whats going on. Let me know what you think and subscribe below to get new updates.