The dashboard layout has completely changed - see the screenshot to the right or hit the link for more info - and while I miss the blue and orange of 2.5, the new style is more honed and refined. You can configure the Dashboard to show only what you want to show (something I’ve been wanting since WP 2.3) and you can move each of the boxes around to completely customize what is on the Dashboard as well as where it lives.

The navigation has been moved from the top to the sidebar on the right and they’ve added some really nice icons to the mix. You also have the option of collapsing the navigation to just use the icons which is a great addition, but I think I’ll have to leave mine open until I associate the icons with each function.

There are also a ton of new functionality like scheduled publishing, the option to make a post ’sticky’ on the homepage and tons of other options and more I’m sure to discover as I continue to play with it.

If you plan on trying out the beta you should know that the new design…

“is almost completely implemented, but there are still a few areas that aren’t quite finished in Beta 1.  There are also several glitches in certain browsers.  Beta 1 provides the best experience in Firefox and Safari. Don’t worry, we are working on IE and Opera and will have those looking good in time for the final release.”

If you’re not so keen on trying out beta code, the first release candidate will be available on November 10th, so you can try it out then!

• Client
  Childrens Defense Fund
• Responsibilities
  Design Concept, Template Production (XHTML, CSS, Flash, JS)
• Agency
  OmniStudio
• Project Details
  A design concept and initial template build for the non-profit organization that has been fighting for 35 years to ensure a level playing field for all children
• View the Project
  View the concepts

• Client
  The New Media Foundation
• Responsibilities
  Design Concept
• Project Details
  A design concept for the public benefit non-profit corporation established to research, develop and produce positive, entertaining and educational media
• View the Project
  View the concept

• Client
  Altarum Institute
• Responsibilities
  Design Concept
• Agency
  OmniStudio
• Project Details
  A design concept for the nonprofit research institute who is working to become the nation’s preeminent provider of objective health systems research and solutions
• View the Project
  View the concept

So I took several of the more graphically interesting images listed there, edited them slightly, sometimes to remove the brand name and clean the up and created iPhone wallpapers from them. I thought I’d share them in case any of you also like old advertisements. You can download them individually below (and to the right) or you can grab them all.

The voice system works like this. Holding the right trigger will activate it and then you simply say a command, like “Unit 2 secure Bravo” or “Unit 6 attack enemy unit 3″ so that instead of moving to the unit, clicking on and then giving it a command you can give orders to any unit from anywhere on the battlefield. You can keep tabs on your units from the taskbar at the bottom of the HUD and when they’re done with their orders they’ll report in and you can issue a new command. Being able to interact with a game like this is something that few games do and while there are definitely more ways to create interaction I really hope that voice is used more in the future.

After my initial impression of the game, the demo has completely changed my mind. I am impressed with the demo in almost all respects. The one area I wish could be better is with the camera.The game doesn’t have the typical top-down aspect all RTS players have gotten used to, the camera tends to hover just above the units and while you can move it around the units you can’t move it vertically - which would be a nice addition. But check out the free demo if you can, it’s deiniftely worth playing.

Have you played the demo? What do you think about the game?

• Client
  National Solid Waste Management Association
• Responsibilities
  Design Concept
• Agency
  OmniStudio
• Project Details
  A design concept for NSWMA’s new environmentalist campaign
• View the Project
  View the concepts

Yes, men can get breast cancer! According to the American Cancer Society, roughly 1,720 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. While this number pales in comparison to the number of female cases, it proves a point. Breast cancer affects everyone. October marks Breast Cancer Awareness month, a time when everyone can come together and do their part to raise awareness and funds.

You can learn more about male breast cancer at the following sites

• Men Against Breast Cancer
• American Cancer Society: What is Breast Cancer in Men?
• AskMen: Male Breast Cancer
• National Cancer Institute: Male Breast Cancer Treatment
• Mayo Clinic: Male Breast Cancer
• Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Association: Male Breast Cancer

You can also donate to help fight breast cancer at many of the links above, or directly to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

In June 37Signals posted Why We Skip Photoshop and that, along with being very controversial, was where I first read about prototyping. I brought it up with my bosses and co-workers and was met with anticipated skepticism as it would be quite a shift in how things are done at Omni, so I kept it in the back of my mind but let the issue die. In the past two days, two blogs have brought up the topic and again and thus renewed my interest. Andy Clarke posted his process in Time to stop showing clients static design visuals and while he still creates static designs in a graphics program they will develop the site, or at least several pages, before showing the client.

“While I still use Fireworks to create my look-and-feel designs and layouts, now more often than not these static designs stay inside the studio and the first thing that my clients see is a web page in their browser. This has had several advantages.

As I work almost as fast in markup and CSS as I do in Fireworks, I find that the overall time that I take designing and implementing that design is dramatically reduced as I am not duplicating work. It leaves me free to spend more time on fine tuning a design and I’m sure that my designs are all the better for that. I spend less time explaining to my clients how a page or an interface will work as they can readily interact with a page in their browser, now matter how old or capable that might be.”

To me, this seems like it would involve a lot of extra time if you have contracted to show more than one design and if the client demands a lot of revisions then you’ve potentially wasted a lot of time - and for a studio that bills hourly can be troublesome. Jonathan over at Monday by Noon posted What Works Best for Design Presentation?, and in it reveals his company’s process, which takes Andy’s process but one step back in that they create static designs and then right before showing them to the client creates a very rough, static html document that the client can interact with as she would her finished website.

“Using this method, we’ve got a design for presentation that will be properly viewed in a browser. It’s much more effective to present this way not only because the client is in a proper mindset, but the design resides in surroundings which affects perception. Browser chrome can indeed have slight influence on a design when compared to a flat file viewed in another application.

There are also times where it’s applicable to include a bit of pseudo JavaScript interactivity at this stage. Sometimes for us it’s very difficult to explain in words the interaction that will be made available. Most of the time clients are hearing about Ajax for the first time and it’s quite difficult to thoroughly understand what’s going to happen.”

He also explains that their method avoids some of the issues that can crop up when showing clients static design concepts as they’re ‘using’ the site in their browser, in their OS and on their uncolor-calibrated monitor - which is how they will view the final product - not on my 24″ flat screen that gets color calibrated once a month or whenever I feel like it.

I think Jonathan’s company’s approach combines the best of the ’static concept world’ and the ‘protyping world’ by minimizing the amount of wasted development time but showing the client how the design will work on their computer as well letting them interact with the design as she would her finished website - something that just isn’t possible with static concepts.

I’ve now adopted this method in my freelance work and will continue to try to get Omni to make the jump. What is your processa and if you’re using a method of prototyping how did you convince your studio to try it?

• Client
  KaBOOM, Playful City USA
• Responsibilities
  Design Concept, Flash Design, XHTML, CSS, WordPress Development
• Agency
  OmniStudio
• Project Details
  A series of e-cards for KaBOOM to highlight the announcement of the 67 cities that have been declared “Playful City USA”
• View the Project
  View the concepts | View the Project