Not being a programmer myself I just started concepting around how I wanted it to work and function, and eventually came up with an initial idea. It ended up taking inspiration from both Frog and Wordpress. I showed it to a few programmer buddies, but when we considered the whole gambit of competing CMS’s, we decided there wasn’t a market, nor a need for another one.

The idea has sat dormant for awhile now, and as I was digging around cleaning up my web server tonight I ran into it again and thought I’d share it with the world.

I gave it an initial name, Flext. You can check out some screens from the beginnings of Flext CMS if you want.

Here’s the rundown of what some of the terminology means, I’ll admit that some of it got a little confusing:

Pages: Groupings of content in a hierarchical order.
Components: A way to define what kinds/types of content the CMS should ask for. Including what it should be called, how it should be entered, and how it should be formatted.
Filters: A way to look through multiple pages and pull certain types of content into a separate page.
Blocks: Groupings of content separated from the normal hierarchy of pages.
Code: Or “Code Blocks” would be PHP code that could be added anywhere in the layout.
Templates: CSS and XHTML layouts that define how pages will look to the viewers of the website.
Regions: Areas that are defined within templates to store blocks or page content.
Modules: Additional bits of programming that can add specific functionality to the CMS.

Feel free to diss it, ask any questions, steal the idea, whatever. Its now open sourced. =)

It was starkly saddening to see how quickly the main character went from a young boy, vibrant and excited, to a young man, in love with his wife, to a lonely old stodgy man.

I don’t think I appreciate the time I have with my wife the way that I should. I can’t believe its already been three years, I already wonder if I have really made the most of our time together? Why am I always waiting for the sun to shine, or when we have more money, or the “perfect moment”?

I’m thankful that God uses moments like these, stories like these, to capture our attention and remind us that He is Good, that he has blessed us exceedingly, and that we have a finite amount of time on this earth.

Lord, thank you for this reminder. Would you help me to live a life that reflects yours to the people around me, help me to appreciate my wife for the beautiful woman that she is.

To kick things off I posted the SAP E-Learning Elevator, which was an interactive demo to give people an overview of what SAP does. I also posted the Audio-Technica packaging project that has been a long time in coming, but might be out on store shelves soon? Finally, I posted the Heroic Productions website, which was for an audio and lighting production company here in Minneapolis.

I’d love to know what you guys think, leave me a comment and let me know!

The tricky thing is, each one is totally different, and each of them have different strengths and weaknesses. Its hard to tell if one is going to work well for a website or not until you’ve really spent a decent amount of time learning about it.

Awhile ago I decided it would be a great idea to create a website for designers like myself who want to learn about these CMS’s themselves. I also wanted to make this into a website that could display advertising and potentially create a bit of income for myself, since it is such a niche market.

What was born out of this idea was the aptly named CMS Design Resource. After about a year of building this site on and off, I am finally launching it to the public. It’s not the first in its market, but I think it is unique in the market the way it sorts the systems, and allows users to leave reviews about them.

Check it out, and let me know if you have any feedback about the site.

Truthfully, I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do with it, but I guess every once in awhile I’ll pop on and post some profound 140 character message. You’d better friend me quick if you don’t want to miss out on any of that profundity. In addition, I’ll get my Lifestream to update with it as well.

In other news, I’ve got two new web sites launching soon. Stay tuned.

I notice it especially when I’m traveling. When I’m away from home I wish I could just rest at home and enjoy some down-time. Then, when I finally get home, I get bored quickly and wish I was out doing something fun. How ridiculous is that? Shouldn’t I just be able to enjoy the situation I’m in and not always wish it were something else?

Yes… I should.

I was thinking about what Paul says in Philippians 4:12, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”

Then I read Proverbs 19:23 the other day: ” The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.”

Finally, 1 Timothy 6:6 says “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

And I’m only quoting a few verses… Obviously, the Bible has a lot to say about being content. Oftentimes it relates to money and posessions, but I think the issue goes much deeper. We feel like we deserve more, like there’s always something better out there that we deserve. Why is that?

Truthfully, I don’t know how to solve this dilemma of the human condition, and I’m trying to learn from the verses above how to experience “godliness with contentment.” But its not always easy.

This weekend, I noticed a discontented attitude settling in, which was rediculous because I was up at a cabin with my family and friends enjoying the beautiful outdoors! So I worked hard to ask God to help me be content, and enjoy the situation that I was in, right there, right then. And you know what? He answered my prayer. It was an amazing weekend. Thanks Lord.

I’m pretty happy with how the design turned out. It’s clean and simple, with a lot of white space. The design has some nice dimension, where the photo feels like its coming off of the page. I like how the menu is a bit unique from other drop down menu’s, and it makes use of some cool transparency.

It was hard to nail down exactly what type of photography should be used, I was really trying to steer them away from the typical “business people shaking hands in a conference room” sort of imagery, as is common on a lot of consulting websites.

They told me that they wanted to be perceived as experts at what they did while working in partnership with the companies that hire them. At some point along the way I stumbled on the analogy of fighter pilots, or Blue Angel type of guys. They’re experts, and they have to coordinate everything they do as partners.

Overall, it was a fun project to work on and I’m proud to add it to my portfolio. Let me know what you think about it. Like it, love it, hate it?

In his article he interviewed several key designers who have played big roles in redesigning church websites. He asks some great questions and their responses are insightful

It’s a lengthy article, but worth the read if this sort of thing interests you. Generally, what do you think, where is the line between a good professional website for a church and something that is too glitzy and glamorous?

I noticed something this weekend as I was playing a Scrabble-type game with my family. As I tried to form my individual letters into words I would try to come up with long words at the beginning of the game. (You know, like “antidisestablishmentarianism”, just kidding) but I found that I sat there trying to think of long, complex words to no avail. When I would finally give up on that and focus on getting 3-4 letter words that I could put together quickly, I had much more success getting rid of my letters. My Scrabble board would spiral in complexity and often I could form shorter words into longer ones.

I think this is a good example of things I’ve found to be true about coming up with good ideas:

Just get started. I find that I rarely think of anything decent when I wait until I have a “good idea”. Instead, just get started, brainstorm everything: Even the silly, impossible, already-been-done ideas. Put time into your decision process, but don’t wait for the “perfect idea” to get started creating.

Ideas start as simple, and become complex. I am never able to come up with good complex ideas right off the bat. No one sat down and thought “I’m going to design a car, here’s how the carburetor is going to work…” Start with a simple idea and complex systems will evolve from it. Don’t jump to the specifics quite so soon.

Just some thoughts for you today the next time you have to brainstorm some new idea. I’m sure I’m not the first to come up with these things, but I decided to just post instead of overthinking. (That was the point, wasn’t it?)