Chris Brandrick

Wordpress today announced that version 2.6 of the popular blogging platform is now available to download, for free of course. This version comes more than a month earlier than expected and is packed with a fair few new features, including a post word count, new media functions, and the ability to view your blog with a different theme before making it live. Check out the below video for the full details:

Pretty cool additions I’m sure you will agree, and I will be upgrading to the new version as soon as I get back from my holiday.  In other news the holiday is going well, and the weather is lovely, I will be sure to update my Flickr with a lot of pictures upon my return, but in the mean time here is a shot of me enjoying the sun:

That’s right folks, after what seems like a pretty busy year (so far), what with University, moving house and starting up Kufu (which is now online by the way), I am off on an all-inclusive holiday to Bodrum in Turkey for two weeks.

Flickr has a really nice selection of pictures from the area which are worth checking out, and I have to admit it has gotten me really excited about going, which thankfully is only in a few hours time. So with that, I am off, my flight is in less than 8 hours so I need to get some sleep, see you in two weeks!

Despite being offline for over a week now, I wanted to quickly touch upon the closure of j0n.org. j0n.org for those of you who don’t know was a blog (mainly video entries) run by Jon Wheatley about his various online ventures, be them web development, design or even software development.

I came across his blog thanks to Tyler Cruz, and since then I have even blogged about Jon’s projects due to me wanting to expose them for the good they are, for example the superb Mac application that is GrabUp (which if you don’t have, get!).

But now there is no more j0n.org and despite me being somewhat disappointed at the lack of updates from a personal inspiration for me, he is now blogging over at Indie Startups about “independent startups and entrepreneurs”. The new blog is great, and a superb way to find out about new unique independent sites, check it out.

Just a quick post for those of you who follow my picture taking over on Flickr. I recently went for a nice evening stroll with my ladyfriend and the good old DSLR and think I took some rather nice shots.

You can view the set here, or by visiting my usual flickr page. Feel free to leave a comment or two, be it here or directly on Flickr.

It seems in the past two months my blog hasn’t seen much love, but rest assured this isn’t down to me fleeing the online scene, in fact far from it. Since moving house back in April and finishing University for the year in early May (exams, fun!) I have been in the process of starting up a design company with three other good friends, all of which have a good background in design, coding and of course running a business.

The company is based in Lincoln, UK, and last week we finally moved into our office in the heart of the city center. I am currently in the process of designing the companies website and hopefully soon we should all be ready to go. Kufu is the companies name (or Kufu Design if you so wish), and we are on the look out for clients to get the ball rolling, so if you need a design making, a whole site coding or something more simple do not hesitate to get in touch and help us out as we start out. You can find us at Kufu.co.uk, which currently has just placeholder contact details up, but keep an eye on the site as it will be changing soon.

Let us know your thoughts!

Despite having a twitter account for quite some time now I realised I have never advertised this fact on where it may matter the most, here on my blog. компютриTwitter is superb for networking with those within the same field as yourself, so in my case having a simple way to keep up to date with a handful of web developers is very handy, a good way to stay on the ball.

So for those of you who read my blog, follow me on twitter and no doubt I will follow you back! If your using Twitter and are a Firefox user then be sure to make use of Twitterfox, a simple way to keep up to date on all the tweets!
(Apologies for the brief downtime also!)

Web guru and HCI expert Jacob Neilsen has yet again released his annual reporting detailing his findings on web use and accessibility. Yet despite Neilsen’s history of being a somewhat controversial figure in the web world, especially in regards to design (or lack of!), he does, as ever raise some interesting points.

The report touches upon how users are becoming more impatient and are no longer aimlessly browsing as much as in previous years, and most web users have an online task to complete, and no doubt will complete it through the use of search technologies.

Be sure to check the article out on the BBC News website.
And yes I am back online!

Finally! I have finally been given a date as to when my Broadband will be connected, and its just under 4 days away. My connection will go active on the 19th, which is pretty much a month since I moved, which is frankly ridiculous but hey it’s nice to finally know when things will all be connected!

Once the connection is active normal blogging will resume here at ChrisBrandrick.com along with new opportunities to get your site reviewed or advertised here, so keep a look out for that. In the mean time if your interested in advertising on my blog the 125×125 spot on the right sidebar is soon to be available at a cost of $17 USD’s a month, so if you want in or just want to ask any questions get the early bird email to me now at: chrisbrandrick@gmail.com. It will be nice to return back online to a few emails from my readers!

See you on Monday!

It seems like ages since I moved house, but ever since I moved I have been offline and having troubles getting all the communication services back up and running. It turns out the phone company (BT) had house number 52 as my new address, when infact it is 62. This error made the whole process of getting my phone line, and in turn my broadband recconnected all the more slower.

Thankfully my phone line has now been connected. So now I am just waiting on the broadband, and Sky informs me that for some reason it will take 10 to 15 days to connect my service…..why are things so slow, or am I just really impatient? Either way I should be back soon, with a view reviews and thoughts, and again hopefully a new design to follow.

 

Don’t worry readers I am still here! My phone line at the new house was meant to be connected yesterday, therefore allowing me to get the broadband set up but alas, nothing is ever as simple, so who knows when normal blogging will resume, hopefully soon! Looking over my post history for April sure is disappointing.

But anyway, just like last month, and late again, I will post this list every month as a big thank you for those Entrecard users dropping on my blog, so if you want to see yourself in this list and gain a linkback, be sure to drop your entrecard on my blog often. Monthly love for those dedicated droppers!

For those of you unfamiliar with entrecard be sure to read my post about it here. Anyway without further a due here is the list of those that dropped the most cards on my blog in April:

• Lee Doyle
• Yimto
• INconstantIN’s Blog
• Life In The Internet
• Sexy Ads Blog
• Sizzling Popcorn
• Freelance Sprout
• Amy Lilley Designs
• Journey Down The Tracks Of Life
• My Wife And Twins

Some new top droppers last month, so well done to you guys, and thanks for dropping by. Be on the look out for new posts soon, including a look around my new place.