CollyLogic | Simon Collison's Illogical Waffle

@Media2009: The Process Toolbox

26th June 2009

Yesterday I was very fortunate to speak at @Media 2009 alongside Andy Clarke, Jon Hicks, Dan Rubin, Mark Boulton and Jason Santa Maria. Its been a fun but intense few days. Here’s a summary - a bit rushed as I’m somewhat knackered.

#783 | 26/06/09 | 14 comments | More >

ExpressionEngine & CodeIgniter Conference

9th June 2009

The Netherlands (Leiden specifically) will be like some sort of EE honeypot on 22nd and 23rd October 2009, for the inaugural ExpressionEngine & CodeIgniter Conference (EECI2009). Here’s a bit more detail…

#782 | 09/06/09 | 8 comments | More >

Future Of Web Design Tour

8th June 2009

Its turning into a busy speaking year. As well as a few business and university talks, I recently presented as part of the Future Of Web Apps Tour, which went down a treat. I’ve got @Media coming up in a couple of weeks, and something special in October (more soon). Today, the first Future Of Web Design Tour was announced, and I’ll be presenting and workshopping alongside such fine speakers at Paul Annett and Brendan Dawes. Here’s a bit more detail about the FOWD stuff…

#781 | 08/06/09 | 5 comments | More >

Our blogging laboratory

17th May 2009

A week or so back, shortly after bringing Erskine Socials into the world, we quietly (finally) launched our shared blog, named Erskine Labs. As I explain in the introductory post…

Labs will become a sandbox in which to build castles out of our ideas. It is a brain for our thoughts; a smorgasbord for our cheesy tips; a party for our tricks, and a landscape for our ramblings.

Right. I’ll bring my self down a peg or two and state simply that its a shared multi-author blog that’ll discuss pretty much whatever we want. You’ll already find posts from myself, Campbell, Phil and Greg, with others to follow from Glen and Jamie soon. Think tutorials, tips, ideas, sketches, illustrations, downloads - and some very thoughtful industry commentary.

A particular highlight so far is from Simon Campbell. In his first post We all have the same problem, Simon declares a call to arms for those involved in building websites for clients, with thought for the classic obstacles such as budget and interpretation of spec. I think it is a must-read for anyone building for clients, but then I am very biased.

Labs will hopefully blossom into more than just a simple blog, but a simple blog suits us fine for now. We pledge to keep you entertained, and hope you’ll consider us worthy of a place in your RSS reader. I’m anticipating more not-to-be-missed wholesome goodness coming very soon.

#780 | 17/05/09 | More >

Dad’s tree

17th May 2009

On an eerily foggy day in May, we laid my Dad to rest at the head of the Hope Valley. Just myself, my Mam, and a lone crow that arrived at the beginning, stayed throughout, then left as we did.

From the passage I wrote for the scattering…

Dad, you end up with ownership of this valley where you enjoyed so much of your life. You are here for all time, and you look out across these hills forever.

#779 | 17/05/09 | More >

Four days in remote Wasdale

17th May 2009

I’m reaching the end of a wonderful week off, which included a five-hour drive to remote Wasdale in the Lake District, two full days of trekking and scrambling, and a return journey of over eight-hours through three national parks. And all of that under sun-kissed skies. Plus, my highest-ever tweet!

As previously blogged, I have thrown myself right back into epic wilderness walks, scaling summits (in February, I twittered that I should climb 25 summits in 2009), and generally losing myself in the mountains. Its the tonic my weary soul needs. I’m back sellotaping together old maps, re-reading Wainwright and stocking up on new camping and trekking kit.

Twittering from England’s highest mountain

This trip included a long, hot clamber up to England’s highest mountain, the epic if rather rock-strewn Scafell Pike, with stunning views across the Lakes, Scotland, the whole Isle Of Man, and even Snowdon and Northern Ireland (just).

In a valley devoid of mobile coverage, it was a delight to power up the iPhone on the summit and find coverage, which resulted in a summit tweet or two, and me TwitPic-ing myself and the views and engaging in plenty of @replies from over 3,200 feet. I know I’m a sorry geek, but this was quite a thrill - sharing images and receiving congratulations/abuse via Twitter whilst on the summit. More real-time Twitter sharing pleasure.

The route back to Wasdale, known as the Corridor Route, was one of the most stunning treks I’ve ever taken, and it includes some classic scrambling, with a fine pub at the end.

The Hardknott in a Datsun

On the drive back, I also took my 32-year-old car over the notorious Hardknott Pass, the incredible winding, steep (its “1 in 3” in old money), dipping, frightening route between Eskdale and Langdale. Unless you’ve attempted this route in a 1977 Datsun, you can’t argue with me. People were actually cheering me on round the steep bends!

To get an idea, watch this 9 minute video of a bloke on a motorbike doing the Hardknott Pass. You’ll see the worst bit at around 3:50 and also 5:24 - except I was traveling in the other direction - up that!

An epic drive home

I drove for hours through some of my favourite English countryside, the full route being Lake District National Park (Wasdale, Eskdale, Hardknott and Wrynose passes, Ambleside, Bowness On Windermere), Kirkby Lonsdale, Yorkshire Dales National Park (Ingleton, Clapham, Settle), Gargrave, Skipton, the Pennines (Keighley, Haworth, Hebden Bridge, Huddersfield, Holmfirth, Peak District National Park (Longdendale, Glossop, Snake Pass, Bamford, Hathersage) and so on… all the way to Nottingham. Quite a journey!

If you’re interested, there’s a Lakes Flickr set with a host of other photos from the trip.

More summits to follow

I’m already scoping out numerous further walks and summits for the rest of the year, including a full Kinderscout plateau circuit, the Snowdon Horseshoe (via the frightening Crib Goch knife-edges), the Glyders, Cadair Idris, and the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge. In the mean time I’ll be trudging a few old and familiar Peak District summits such as Win Hill, Lose Hill as I try and get a fit enough to cope with all these tougher climbs.

I might invite others to join me on some of the routes, so drop a comment or email me if you might want to come along at some point. I’m also working on a special trekking-based case study for a forthcoming book’s second edition. More on that - and maybe a couple of other web-based crossovers as and when…

#778 | 17/05/09 | More >

Climb the mountains…

3rd May 2009

I recently realised that the main thing missing from my life over the “web years” has been my love and understanding of the mountains and national parks. With this in mind, I made a return trip up my beloved Kinderscout for the first time in years today, a sort of “training” trip prior to the bigger fells of the Lake District next week.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.

I read that quote writ large on a wall in Edale‘s new Moorland Centre after today’s walk. Written in 1901 by the Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and campaigner for the preservation of wilderness John Muir, it sums today up beautifully - and probably every walk I’ll ever do.

#777 | 03/05/09 | More >

Erskine Socials

2nd May 2009

Erskine Socials will be an umbrella for a variety of meet-ups; a series of occasional discussions, talks and events for web designers, developers and beer drinkers from Nottingham and beyond.

Our Jamie Pittock (fresh from dropping an EE knowledge-bomb on FOWD attendees in London) has concocted the plans, and our Phil Swan is responsible for the animated birdies. If you’re interested, head over to Erskine Socials and sign up for our forthcoming email updates. Who knows what you could get invited to?!

#776 | 02/05/09 | More >

In profile over at .net

2nd May 2009

Last month’s .net magazine (Practical Web Design outside the UK) featured a smashing two-page interview and profile of us fine folks at Erskine.

Now the issue is off the shelves, I guess it is OK to share the full scan. If you’ve too much time on your hands, you can read the full Profile on Flickr. The shirt I am wearing is sponsored by Daz Automatic.

#775 | 02/05/09 | More >

EE Shortener plugin: Your own short URLs

12th April 2009

I’m now providing my own short URLs for all posts on this here blog (you’ll see one just above the title), essentially divorcing myself from all those third-party link shortening services. This post briefly describes the problem, and provides an EE plugin to enable your own short links with ease.

#774 | 12/04/09 | More >

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Tourist Information

This is the personal home of Simon Collison; web designer/developer and author. Simon runs Erskine Design, a web agency based in Nottingham, UK. Read more...

Note: I've stripped down the site for a while whilst I rethink it. I'll give it a fresh lick of paint really soon.