My new blog is taking most of my blogging energy

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Matt

I’ve started blogging for (InterVarsity) work-related content at blog.mattstauffer.org, so much of my blogging energy is going into that. I’ll still blog purely personal content here, but as you can see, that hasn’t been a lot recently.

Posted in Yours Truly | Leave a comment

Photoshop Ettiquette

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Matt

Several people have asked me over the past few days how they should prepare a Photoshop file for giving to another designer or a developer. Jesse Lash pointed me to Photoshop Ettiquette, which is a great site but a little overwhelming with 40 elements. Here I selected those which I would want every designer to know (view the site for more details on each):

  • External File Organization
    • Keep your design to a minimal number of PSDs
    • Name files appropriately
  • Internal File Organization
    • Name layers, and name them appropriately
    • Use folders
    • Delete unnecessary layers
    • Globalize common elements
    • Use smart objects
  • Working with Images
    • Keep your shapes vector if at all possible
    • Globalize masks
    • Keep logos as vector smart objects
    • Snap (to grid, pixel, etc.)
    • Use blending modes with care (hard to extract to web from blended graphics)
  • Working with Filters
    • Consider extensibility (people will view the site on monitors larger than yours.)
  • Design Practices
    • Use a grid (960 is a great start)
    • Use drop shadows gracefully
    • Use licensed icons/photos (“Google Images is *NOT* a resource for stock photography)
    • Use web fonts
  • Before exporting
    • Be familiar with browser compatibility
  • Exporting
    • If you have to export the graphics (which I’d rather do, unless you’re a pro):
      • Save for web & devices instead of save as jpeg
      • Choose progressive JPGs
      • Be meticulous and conserve file size
      • Name files for function
OK, in hindsight that’s a lot. I tried to link each to its description on the site, but unfortunately they didn’t build their code such that I could link to it. Check the whole thing out, but just know some of them are more than a developer like me would require.
Posted in Music, Poetry, and Design | Leave a comment

“By God’s Will” (from John Stott)

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Matt

Usually I just quote John Stott in little Tumblr quotes, but this is long and needs highlighting. It’s a fabulous little piece about prayer and God’s Will.

Paul’s reference to the will of God, in relation to prayer (Rom. 15:32) is very significant.  He has prayed earlier that ‘now at last by God’s will the way may be opened’ for him to come to Rome (1:10).  Here he again prays that *by God’s will* he may come to them.  His use of this qualifying clause throws light on both the purpose and the character of prayer, on why and how Christians should pray. The purpose of prayer is emphatically not to bend God’s will to ours, but rather to align our will to his.  The promise that our prayers will be answered is conditional on our asking ‘according to his will’ (1 Jn. 5:14). Consequently every prayer we pray should be a variation on the theme, ‘Your will be done’ (Mt. 6:10).

What about the character of prayer?  Some people tell us, in spite of Paul’s earlier statement that ‘we do not know what we ought to pray for’ (Rom. 8:26), that we should always be precise, specific and confident in what we pray for, and that to add ‘if it be your will’ is a cop-out and incompatible with faith.  In response, we need to distinguish between the general and the particular will of God.  Since God has revealed his general will for all his people in Scripture (e.g. that we should control ourselves and become like Christ), we should indeed pray with definiteness and assurance about these things.  But God’s particular will for each of us (e.g. regarding a life work and a life partner) has not been revealed in Scripture, so that, in praying for guidance, it is right to add ‘by God’s will’.  If Jesus himself did this in the garden of Gethsemane (‘Not my will, but yours be done’; Lk. 22:42), and if Paul did it twice in his letter to the Romans, we should do it too.  It is not unbelief, but a proper humility.

–From “The Message of Romans” (The Bible Speaks Today series: Leicester: IVP, 1994), p. 389. (emphasis mine)

Posted in Christ | Leave a comment

A little bit of Chicago

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Matt

Drew asked me to write a little about my transition to Chicago, since neither of us have had enough time to catch up recently. I have to start work in a few minutes, so I can only get out a few details. We’re going bullet-point form today.

  • (Almost) every day I bike 4 miles to and from my office, which is a coworking space called the Ravenswood Coworking Group.
    • I love working from a coworking space and networking with other freelancers and contractors.
    • I love biking to work. However, this morning the seat of my bike slipped and I suddenly looked like I was riding a low rider. Also, it started raining. Today was not my best day for biking.
    • The office is a shared space for all of my work. I work 30ish hours with Flaxen Design, 12ish hours with InterVarsity (I’m currently in transition between two jobs with InterVarsity, so it’s sort of an awkward spot), and then as many hours as I can fit doing freelance web design work with mattstaufferdesign. Oh, and I usually write two articles for Staffhacker every week.
  • We live in Rogers Park, the most diverse neighborhood in Chicago and one of the most diverse in the country (as of the 2000 census.) We love Rogers Park. We also live 3 blocks from the beach. We love the beach.
  • Tereva’s working for an after-school program in Rogers Park and applying to Loyola’s school of Social Work.
  • I’m working kind of nutso hours to try to get us ready for the financial roller-coaster that will be school and school loans and less hours for Tereva and all of that. Most days are bike, work, bike, dinner, TV or book or conversation or a walk with Tereva, pass out, do it all over again. I don’t mind.
  • We’re still church-hunting. We’re trying to give every church we visit at least two visits, so it’s moving very slowly. We’ve met some really great people, but haven’t quite found where we really want to settle. One of our biggest priorities is feeling like the church is calling people into mission instead of either merely talking about how if you do this and that God will bless you or be happy with you, or being so scared of offending people that you don’t follow Jesus on mission.
  • I discovered an incredible barber shop called the Belmont Barbershop. I like the place so much that I want to go back and it’s not even time for a haircut yet.
  • We’re still finding our “places”–grocery store, favorite restaurant, barber, hair supply store, doctor, dentist, eye doctor, etc.–slowly and surely.
  • In a city this big, Yelp and smart phones are infinitely more helpful.
  • CTA (public transportation) is glorious. 90% of the time we get in the car, it’s because we’re moving it for the street cleaning days. We almost never use it.
  • The weather here is beautiful. I know we’re going to freeze in the winter, but right now it’s autumn, my favorite season and one I haven’t seen in about 9 years. Wind, cool days, occasional clouds, sunny but not so hot it fries your face off… these things I have missed.
That’s it for now. More soon. Hopefully.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Yours Truly | Tagged | 2 Comments