My Beautiful New Monitor and Web Design

Samsung 940Be
I recently purchased a Samsung 940Be which is a 19-inch LCD monitor. Thanks to the falling prices of LCD monitors and Newegg’s low prices, I got a really good deal. I was originally going to wait until the holiday season, but some time in the last couple of months, there was significant price drop. As with all my electronics/computer purchases, I did a lot of research online comparing features and reading reviews. Man, I LOVE this thing. The viewable space is HUGE and it is so BRIGHT. So much more working space, it makes my web development work much easier too.

Web 2.0 Design
Speaking of web development, there’s been major movement online called Web 2.0. It’s kind of a vague term and chances are when you ask people in the loop about it they can’t even give you an exact definition. Web 2.0 basically describes a new movement towards web-based applications, a more open Internet, social networking, and other smaller trends like user generated content.

There’s also a distinct design style associated with Web 2.0. You’ll see a lot of pastel and soft colors being used, lots of gradients, and relatively simple website designs. It’s all about simplicity and sleek style. You’ll also see lots of rounded boxes. Before Web 2.0, I always used gradients because I lacked the design skills to create abstract and more advanced graphics. So if I didn’t know how to decorate a space, I’d just add a gradient. It’s funny how this is part of cutting edge Web 2.0 designs now.

Small Jobs
As for my web development and consulting venture I’ve been doing a couple of small jobs here and there. Mostly $50-$100 jobs that take 1-2 hours each. I’m generally charging a $50/hr rate. I’m trying to build up a small portfolio so I have something to show to prospectice clients. In web design, the portfolio is so important - many clients want to see proof of skill, proof of experience. I’m going to be developing 2-3 sites for my other ideas and add them to my portfolio. Right now I’m in the process of getting all the administrative/legal/accounting details worked out. I was ready to go in April but my decision to move out of Ithaca led me to hold off on it. I didn’t want the disruption of graduating/moving interrupting my initial marketing campaign.

Serial Entrepreneurship
I have a whole bunch of ideas and now I have all the time in the world to develop them. I recently got a small cash gift from one of the greatest people on the planet, my grandma in Taiwan. I’m using this money for business related uses. As for the other sites I’m developing, I’m building an Ecommerce site for dropshipping a product (I have yet to choose a product - currently looking at niche categories), a portal site for local Ithaca residents and businesses (a portal to rule all Ithaca portals), and another design/development front targeted specifically at blogs. I may also develop another hosting service targeted only at business email services. Mainly because I was able to get a steal on a domain related to email security and would like to develop a service for it. Either that or I’m going to let the domain sit for a bit and sell it. I bought it for just $30! I really think this was an extremely overlooked domain by the seller. I’m hoping to sell it in the low to mid $X,XXX range.