I'm back

    Gilly

    I had an account here a few years ago and left in frustration. It seemed that all those I met were either scammers or into kink that I wasn't into. I am simply a retired English teacher with two grown daughters. I'm a late transitioner, and I jokingly say that I got into this just in time to be everyone's aunt from Waukegan. I share the frustration that cisgender women my age feel when all you want is someone to go to movies with, cuddle, cook for, and be quiet with. 

    *sigh*

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      • Gilly
        Comment by owner

        I'll run that by my webmistress. Thanks!

        • Rachel Ann
          Took a look at your website. That's pretty nice, especially if you created all the graphics yourself, which I suspect you did. Nice job!! I'm impressed!!
           

          I do have a suggestion, though. In today's world, responsive web design (RWD) is virtually mandatory. RWD meaning, the site has to look good and be easily readable no matter the device. So RWD means everything on the site has to readjust and reformat based on the resolution/viewport of the device. As the screen resolution/viewport of the device gets smaller, the images loaded need to be smaller and more compact to enable faster loading times, but the text needs to get bigger. Otherwise the site will be sluggish and unreadable on smaller devices like smartphones. That is especially important with graphic-intensive websites like yours.

          The only reason I say that is because most people today use their phones to access the Web. And I noticed your Web person is loading huge resolution images and then downsizing them for smaller device resolutions/viewports, and she is not increasing the size of the text, either. As it sits right now, the text is unreadable on a phone unless the visitor stretches/expands the screen and then uses their finger to move the screen back and forth, left and right, in order to read the content. Visitors won't go through all that to read anything longer than a very short paragraph, and you have a lot of text on your site. And once you lose a visitor, for the most part, they will never come back.
           

          All that formatting/reformatting can be done in the CSS file using media queries. The different image sizes/resolutions and optimizations can be created in Photoshop. And loading the appropriate image size/resolution for a specific device resolution/viewport can be done in the HTML.
           

          Sorry, I know it's none of my business, but I wasn't sure you were aware of all that.

           

          • Gilly
            Comment by owner

            By the way, this is my baby:
            http://www.calogrenant.com

            • Gilly
              Comment by owner

              I've generally learned new programs as I've needed them. I'm slowly making a shift from FCP to Premiere, and I've diddled with AE as needed. Illustrator works well for me when doing line drawings, since I have an essential tremor which makes pen-and-ink work by hand problematic. I pretty much live on Photoshop, though. The web is still a mystery to me for a number of reasons. Luckily, I have a dear friend who writes HTML and acts as my webmistress gratis.

               

              • Rachel Ann

                That's interesting. I signed up for Adobe's CC last April and started learning Premier Pro, After Effects, and the rest, as I have time. Playing around with Illustrator now. Pretty serious learning curve with all Adobe software, though, but I'm not trying to go Hollywood. I just want to be able to produce, shoot, and cut video, and create web/print graphics at a level a few notches higher than amateur. Plus, I do a little dotNET programming, as well, and I'm in the process of moving from MS Web Forms using VB over to MS MVC using C#. No wonder my brain hurts so much! :)

                • Gilly
                  Comment by owner

                  Not as much as I'd like too. I'm usually drawing my weekly comic or some other thing. I've got friends that I hang with sometimes, but nobody particularly special. I'm on a bit of an excursion now. I'm house-sitting for a friend who's off getting oriented with some new software for his company. I'm 2 hours down the coast from LA. Not much time to have fun, though. I've brought the computer with me to do graphics and cut video.

                  I must say that I've gotten out more since I retired in June, but money's tight on the pension.

                  I will be going to a TDOR ceremony in West Hollywood on Sunday. But that's hardly fun.

                   

                  • Rachel Ann

                    I'm at 5k feet here in ABQ and the Sandia Mountains are only 20 minutes away. Fortunately, we made it through the fire season without anything devastating.

                    It's taken awhile to cool down though, but a front is coming through tomorrow and our first freeze is supposed to be tomorrow night. Have a movie date that night, too, so hope the winds don't get too bad! Happened to catch the last day of the Macy's sale last weekend and found a nice, classy, wool trench coat on sale so had to get it. At least now I won't freeze to death when I go out this winter! Last winter, all I had was a sweater. :(

                    Do you get out much, Gilly?

                     

                    • Gilly
                      Comment by owner

                      There are some very nice areas, though it's pretty built up in others. When the air is clear, the mountains are gorgeous, and it's not that long a trek to get into the forest. Much of it was burned in a fire a few years ago, but it's coming back.

                      • Rachel Ann

                        Thank you. I see you are in, or near, the foothills of the Angeles National Forest. Must be beautiful there. I love the mountains.

                        • Gilly
                          Comment by owner

                          I just looked at your profile, Rachel. You are lovely. Thank you for the encouragement!

                          • Rachel Ann

                            "...everyone's aunt from Waukegan"

                            That was funny. Hang in there. With your profile and location, someone's bound to come along who appreciates you.

                            I know. I know. We're fighting a common, mortal enemy -- a bio-clock that refuses to stop ticking! ;)