FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS :

1. Who are you and what do you do?
2. What is this site about?
3. How often do you update?
4. Why do some posts disappear?
5. How do you design a page?
6. What software and/or hardware do you use to create this site?
7. What software/hardware do you use to create this site?
8. Which resources do you recommend for learning HTML?
9. What camera do you use? How do you make your images?
10. Can you give me feedback, design tips or advice?
11. What web host do you use?
12. What’s the Mailing List?
13. Can I link to alexthegirl.com and will you link back?
14. What is are the fonts you use on your page?

1. Who are you and what do you do?

My bio page gives you all the dish you need though if you’d like to know more about my profession as a writer, projects and the story of how I left a successful corporate position to pursue writing, please visit my portfolio site, Girl at Play.

2. What is this site about?
GIRL is simply about making the ordinary, extraordinary. I’m not a fan of fairy dust, of living juicy or obtaining some idea of perfection; I adore reality and it’s simplicity and try to show the use in that.

This is also about story telling; taking moments from my every day life and sharing them with you. It is not, however, about sharing what I ate for breakfast, my private bits, rants or the blah blah blah of the everyday. Trust me, brushing my teeth is not interesting enough to note (unless I happen to be shaking my ass whilst doing it). I tend to feel removed from my posts because it really has less to do with me, personally, and more with just life in general. It’s not so much a personal blog as it is a splattering of bits from my point of view.

I began using computers in 1986, took a break for awhile during my travelling years and came back with a web site in 1995. I finally purchased a domain of my own, AlextheGirl.com in February 2003. And the rest, as they say, is history.

3. How often do you update?

This really depends on a lot of factors; how much work I have going on and if I feel I have something of benefit to say. I do not live on-line which is important to note. This means that personally a lot might happen but I chose not to share everything – this is only a web page and not a documentary.

So please be kind and don’t ask me when I will update or what’s going on if I’m silent for weeks.

4. Why do some posts disappear?

I tend to write late at night without editing or much effort; it’s 100% freeflow. Sometimes after a good night’s sleep or even a bit of thought, I change my mind about what I wrote and remove it for various reasons. It could be that I simply didn’t like what I had written, it wasn’t interesting to me or I didn’t convey what I wanted. I don’t remove anything because of what others think. If that were the case there’d be hardly anything here.

5. How do you design a page?

Very, very simply. You can see a small history of my previous personal sites and an even smaller history of some professional sites. The common denominator is simplicity; I like a page to load quickly and be pleasant to look at with a focus on content. I’m of the opinion if you have to gussy something up, there’s not much there so I stick to white backgrounds and black font so that when people print out the page, they can actually read the text.

I’ve won and been nominated for several design awards (including SXSW Web Awards in 2003 & 2006) and also had write ups done on why my design works. For more of my design, please visit my portfolio.

Where do I get inspiration? Everywhere possible. From magazines, to walking down the street to just sitting on the lawn. I like to walk the world wide eyed and pay attention. This helps me to stay creative.

6. What software/hardware do you use to create this site?

I use a macbook Pro and Apple Cinema23″ Flat Panel Display. I love them and would marry them would it be legally possible. Other hardware I use includes my Canon i9900 Printer, Canon LiDE 80 Scanner and a Wacom Intuos Tablet (all of which I highly recommend).

My software stash includes Adobe Creative Suite Premium (which has Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign & Acrobat) for graphics, Dreamweaver (although I mostly hand-code on TextEdit), and Transmit to FTP it to the web (I recommend Cute FTP for Windows).

The site has run on several web services since 1995 from self-coding to Blogger to MovableType. In August 2008, AlextheGirl.com was converted to Wordpress 2.6 and the following plugins are used:There are 18 plugins used: 11 active plugins and 7 inactive plugins.[active_pluginsused]

7. Which resources do you recommend for learning HTML?

I’m a self-taught html/design person and learned by just doing and not by books. If I can do it, anyone can. I’ve heard the following books are useful: HTML Goodies, Beyond HTML Goodies, Javascript Goodies and Website Design Goodies, Non-Designers Design Book. WebMonkey, NYPL Style Guide, WebReference, and Scripty Goddess are websites that are very useful.

8. Can you please look at my web site/blog and give me feedback, design tips or advice?

The simply truth is no, I can’t help you with your site. There are a lot of web resources and I’d suggest looking for them and also relying on your instincts – if you like it that’s all that matters.

9. What camera do you use? How do you make your images?

Prior to March 2004, all photographs were taken with the Nikon 950 – a good camera despite it being only 2mega pixels. After June 2002 all images are taken with a 6.3MP beauty of a camera called the Canon Digital Rebel. This is a beautiful camera that makes me feel all swank when I hear the little clickity-click noise it makes.

All photographs on the site are shot by me (unless noted) so please, do not steal them or I’ll whimper greatly.

For creating images on the site, I use a combination of things such as the digital camera, scanner, Wacom Tablet, Photoshop and Illustrator. I find that I need all these things to create various images. For illustrations nothing beats my tablet and Illustrator for example. Although I own Photoshop’s full version, their (cheaper) Elements version is good for most people’s basic needs.

10. Who hosts your web site?

I’ve been using Dreamhost for the past four years and they are web hosting rock stars. For $10/per month I have e-mail, autoresponders, mailing lists, form mails, lots of storage, web hosting and a good support network. I recommend them.

11. What’s the Mailing List?

If you want to be in the loop, you can sign up for my one way completely secret mailing list where I throw out updates and random bits of information that are sometimes not seen on the web page. This is not a daily mailing, sometimes I am silent for weeks. Please note, however, that all updates are sent in HTML.

To receive news via email, please enter your email address:

12. Can I link to alexthegirl.com and will you link back?

Link away baby! However, I only link back to sites I actually visit or people that I know, so please be kind and don’t ask. I also do not promote things or people that I don’t like or know so please do not offer to pay for placement on my site. Doesn’t work.