Technology is something I love using but have no intuitive or much learned ability to understand. My computer is a combination of typewriter and toy to me, my Visor is a heavy address book, and my digital camera is just plain magic. So if anything goes wrong I'm inclined to putter about with it for a little while, then put the malfunctioning item away or stop using the part of it that's gone horribly awry. But sometimes I simply can't afford to do that.
Yesterday Photoshop started crashing again. It froze up completely every time I saved a file. I thought I would go mad with anger and frustration. I have an assignment due Wednesday and I couldn't get anywhere without rebooting every five minutes or less. I needed a fancy banner showing at least three filter effects, demonstrating an understanding of how type and function mesh, and a menu bar. The menu bar ought to have taken ten minutes max. The banner I expected to take longer, but not four hours.
The problem was compounded by the fact that I'd already worked on and rejected two earlier incarnations of this project over the course of a week. I knew I'd need my own graphics but I didn't have a concept for the site I was supposed to promote. I got pretty far doing an interior decorator site but discovered I didn't have any images to use, having failed to photograph the interior of my house or anyone else's (aside from when we first bought the place) and being unwilling to try to draw everything. In the end I went with a putative website for an antique garden nursery which I named Heritage Gardens. I have lots and lots of photos of plants, being a gardener.
John decided it must have been the MyVideo software that was the source of my anguish since everything was working fine until Trish reinstalled it last night. We took it off and voila, Photoshop has no more conflicts. I whipped through the project in about an hour, and I'm happy with the concept and the colors; I think this will be a fun site to set up. The banner and menu bar are done at last but not, alas, in time for me to watch the new Buffy. Don't spoil it for me, I will watch the tape tomorrow after I get home from class.
That is, if John shows me how to use the VCR.
The Index
Next Incarnation