Bleek Blog

So after many late nights—and a few moments of hair pulling as I navigated Expression Engine’s learning curve—Obleek.net is live. Expression Engine (EE) is an incredibly powerful tool and I know that while designing this site I have only managed to skim the surface of its capabilities. I’m excited to learn even more about this amazing content management system as I take my blog and the rest of my website to new levels over the coming months. Of course, the launch of Obleek.net also commemorates the launch of Obleek Design Studio itself, as I am now freelancing full-time. It feels pretty amazing (okay, and a bit scary) to be able to say that.

I wouldn’t have been able to take this giant step forward without a few really important people, and I want to mention them here. My husband, Nathan, has been amazingly supportive and has helped me every step of the way, even when it involved standing back and watching me swear at my computer as I stubbornly insisted on figuring this out myself. My mom has (as always) been my number one cheerleader and constructive critic. My friend and colleague, Lea Alcantara, was (and is) a wonderful resource for me and answered all the questions I had about working for yourself (and self branding, and Expression Engine, and the list goes on) and it was really talking with her that made me finally embrace the big scary world of freelance. My friends, who put up with my constant chatter about the steps involved in starting one’s own business, and who are always there for me. And last but not least, I want to thank my amazing clients and a few of my former co-workers who believed in me and pushed for me to do this. You guys rock, and you know who you are.

In terms of Obleek.net’s design, a few design/coding credits are due as well, and I’ll start with siFR. siFR is meant to replace text such as titles and headings with text rendered in a typeface of your choosing, even if your users don’t have that font installed on their systems. How does it accomplish this? By using a brilliant combination of JavaScript, CSS, and Flash. This amazing little bit of code was developed by Mike Davidson and Mark Wubben, and I’ve already used it on my own site as well as couple of my clients’.

The other big credit goes to Jason Gaylor and his amazing PhotoShop brushes at Design Fruit. The pattern you see in the background of my header as well as in other elements throughout this site is all thanks to him.

Thanks for checking out Obleek, and I hope you stay tuned as I continue to add to the functionality and content of my website. If you like what you see, drop me a line!