Jay Mathes

Author: jaymathes

  • Kickstarter Alternatives, Homecoming Dance Show

    Quick update to my recent posts about starting a Kickstarter campaign. I’m not doing it. But I will. Just not through Kickstarter. I’m currently looking for alternative ways to fund my next, big project. If you’re wondering why I’ve decided against Kickstarter, here’s a blurb from their site’s “new project” set-up page:

    If your project is successfully funded, Kickstarter will apply a 5% fee to the funds raised, and Amazon will apply credit card processing fees (between 3-5%). If funding isn’t successful, there are no fees.

    I promise I’ll blog about this later. In the meantime, stay tuned. I expect to have this all sorted out within the week.

    Last thing: I’m performing at this year’s Glenbard East Homecoming Dance! This year is special. Read why.

  • I’m Not a Web Designer

    I have a love-hate relationship with web design.

    I’m not a web designer. I can do professional work, and I can get hired to do web design, but I’m not *in it* every day, if you know what I mean. I’ve taught myself everything I know about it by reading books and scouring websites for critical “code”. (My brother frequently reminds me that HTML isn’t “code” in the developer’s sense. Or is it?)

    WARNING: This post is technical in nature and you might just be bored out of your mind to read on. For those of you not interested in computer graphics, image rendering, or web design, I’d kindly suggest that you stop reading here.

    So here’s the point of this post today (yes, this is a rant):

    iPhones and iPads and MBP’s have been out long enough now, but for some reason, NOBODY has written an article that simply explains how to implement “retina graphics” on a website. Seriously. All I want to do is “serve” three different image header files to users that match three, different device specs: user 1: iPhone/iPad, user 2: Retina MacBook, user 3: lo-fi computer screens. Why can’t this be easy? It beats me.

    Next problem: WordPress (and Blogger) both need to update their platforms to support this function *automatically*. Seriously, WordPress? You’re huge. You don’t even have a third-party plug-in that will do this well.

    Is it too much to ask that my website looks great on an iPad? I think not.

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