[   Layout Details   ]

Layout #1

September 2002 - November 17, 2002
This one was "recycled": I made it for the site when it was still hosted at Geocities. I modified an old black and white photo of myself using the Chalk and Charcoal option on Microsoft Photo Editor. The black font in the graphics is Papyrus - I can't remember the name of the font that says "Chez Anne."

Layout #2

November 17, 2002 - May 27, 2003
I visited art.com for inspiration for a new design and I typed in "black and white photographs." Examples of Kim's work appeared in the results, and I really liked them. (For some reason I find a lot of them particularly "eclectic.") I edited the picture using Paint Shop Pro, version 7. The fonts for the signs are Typecase - which is from a fonts CD - and New Courier.

Layout #3

May 27, 2003 - September 20, 2003
This design featured the painting Santorini by artist Marino Kounias. (See also.) It's from my "two-pixel line" phase, where I'm using a border, a picture, and blank space ... Giving credit where credit is due, I got the idea from one of Alison's designs. Her site offers free layouts for those of us that are, shall we say, "graphically challenged."

Layout #4

September 20, 2003 - August 4, 2006
This design features a screencap from the movie Amélie. I really like that picture because I can very much relate to longing for someone from afar. I know the background color is a bit bright . . . hopefully it's not too painful. *g* I edited the picture using Fireworks; the fonts for the graphics are Mistral and OCRA Extended.

In retrospect, this design *was* too bright. Apologies to visitors who endured it. I won't make that mistake again.

Layout #5

August 4, 2006 - present
This design is in a style that I either have added or plan to add to my other sites. I like this style because it requires fewer graphics than some I've done, plus it's expandable to fit the two common screen sizes - 800x600 and 1024x768. For visitors with even larger screen sizes, the text area widens, but the banner starts to repeat. (Hey, it's complicated enough to try to make a banner that looks decent in only two sizes!)

I had the idea for a "she's real" theme with that My So-Called Life quote months ago. I think of that quote as a celebration of imperfection, and, being an imperfect person, I can certainly appreciate that. Making the layout was fun because if something doesn't look quite right, it fits in with the "she's real" line of thinking. I created the banner using Paint Shop Pro; the fonts for the graphics are DomCasual (quote) and MisterEarl (eclectic). The pictures used in the banner are from here.

[   eclectic   ]

Note: No copyright infringement is intended. From what I understand, the works displayed here fall under the "fair use" clause, since I'm not using these images to promote my site (the point of the site is the information about me, not the way it looks) nor am I making a profit from this site, or any of my sites. The use of the works here has no adverse effect on their market: conversely, it would be more likely to enhance their market by gaining exposure for them. If you feel that the work here is inappropriately credited, please let me know.