For a couple of hours in the morning the server my site is hosted on was down. My host notified me by e-mail and I received notices from three monitoring services around the world. No worries.
I've worked on a new snowflake set but haven't released it yet. It's a little different from the ones I already offer. But I'm not too happy with it, so it needs to be re-worked. Look for it next month.
I don't know about you, but I'm already looking forward to spring. lol
Gloomy winter weather just isn't for me.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Friday, November 18, 2005
Short Downtime
On Thursday the 17th, there was a short downtime of less than one hour. I know that my web host was doing maintenance on a server -- not the one my site is on -- but they may have been testing all servers. Not a big deal.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
7000th Visitor!
In just over a month I've recorded my 7000th visitor to the site from 6500 last month.
He or she actually stopped by on the 11th, Veterans Day here in the U.S., in the afternoon. They did not stay long or else they had some software blocking Sitemeter's cookie from tracking their activity. They did view at least one page, the top edge backgrounds.
Like many of my visitors, this person uses a PC with Windows, XP in this case, and surfs with Internet Explorer 6.0 on this occasion.
That's all the details I'm giving out. Thank you, whoever you are, for visiting.
He or she actually stopped by on the 11th, Veterans Day here in the U.S., in the afternoon. They did not stay long or else they had some software blocking Sitemeter's cookie from tracking their activity. They did view at least one page, the top edge backgrounds.
Like many of my visitors, this person uses a PC with Windows, XP in this case, and surfs with Internet Explorer 6.0 on this occasion.
That's all the details I'm giving out. Thank you, whoever you are, for visiting.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Passwords Required Now
In recent months I've noticed evidence of some of my pages and graphics being loaded from the hard drives of people's computers. While I don't mind people copying the pages of the backgrounds and sets to duplicate the layouts, you really need to remove my stuff such as my Sitemeter coding. I don't know what else you're copying, so I can only assume you're direct-linking to my graphics as well.
For that reason, I've enabled password-protected directories for both the backgrounds and sets. You will now have to enter the username and password I've provided in order to view those pages and graphics.
This is a problem almost all of the graphics designers I know on the 'Net have encountered. It is very discouraging to provide graphics for free and to have people steal bandwidth by hotlinking to them. Many of us do not use free web hosting providers. Even if we did, bandwidth is severely limited and we get into trouble by them shutting down our sites temporarily, even permanently, if we exceed the bandwidth provided to us. If you use free hosts, you know what the situation is like. It isn't that different with paid shared hosting either.
In addition to password-protecting directories, I am blocking IP addresses of visitors suspected of hotlinking. Unfortunately, that means that anyone else using that shared IP address, if it is shared, will also be blocked from my site.
These actions are necessary to protect my interests as outlined in my Terms of Use, section 7. If you have any questions or comments regarding any of the above, please go to my Contact page and fill out the e-mailer form. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
For that reason, I've enabled password-protected directories for both the backgrounds and sets. You will now have to enter the username and password I've provided in order to view those pages and graphics.
This is a problem almost all of the graphics designers I know on the 'Net have encountered. It is very discouraging to provide graphics for free and to have people steal bandwidth by hotlinking to them. Many of us do not use free web hosting providers. Even if we did, bandwidth is severely limited and we get into trouble by them shutting down our sites temporarily, even permanently, if we exceed the bandwidth provided to us. If you use free hosts, you know what the situation is like. It isn't that different with paid shared hosting either.
In addition to password-protecting directories, I am blocking IP addresses of visitors suspected of hotlinking. Unfortunately, that means that anyone else using that shared IP address, if it is shared, will also be blocked from my site.
These actions are necessary to protect my interests as outlined in my Terms of Use, section 7. If you have any questions or comments regarding any of the above, please go to my Contact page and fill out the e-mailer form. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
Monday, October 24, 2005
New Side Border Background
Made more jack o' lantern backgrounds for you, this time with side border graphics.
Hope you enjoy these, ghouls and gals. :-)
Link to side border backgrounds page.
Hope you enjoy these, ghouls and gals. :-)
Link to side border backgrounds page.
Another Sunday Downtime
Looks like very early Sunday morning PDT there was just over an hour of downtime, one hour and seven minutes to be exact.
C'est la vie.
C'est la vie.
Visitor Number 6,500
The 6500th visitor to Arride Graphics comes from the San Francisco Bay Area and was using Google to find myspace graphics. Didn't stay long, though. This visitor actually stopped by on October 4th, so I'm really late in reporting this.
Speaking of myspace graphics or "my space graphics," as most of you are using, it's nice that you're looking through search engines to find graphics for your site at myspace.com. But remember that A LOT of graphics are copyrighted and unless it specifically states that the graphics you see on a web page is up for grabs, such as on a free graphics site or even a member graphics site, do not take any to use on your webpage. If you do and are caught, you can lose your myspace account and worse. I'm very sure their terms of service (TOS) or terms of use (TOU) policy states that any graphics or photos you put on your page is guaranteed by you to be your property or that you are legally allowed, in writing, to use them. Otherwise, use your own photos or scan some drawings you've done and use them. Of course, that means that someone can come by and grab your stuff from your page. :- /
Speaking of myspace graphics or "my space graphics," as most of you are using, it's nice that you're looking through search engines to find graphics for your site at myspace.com. But remember that A LOT of graphics are copyrighted and unless it specifically states that the graphics you see on a web page is up for grabs, such as on a free graphics site or even a member graphics site, do not take any to use on your webpage. If you do and are caught, you can lose your myspace account and worse. I'm very sure their terms of service (TOS) or terms of use (TOU) policy states that any graphics or photos you put on your page is guaranteed by you to be your property or that you are legally allowed, in writing, to use them. Otherwise, use your own photos or scan some drawings you've done and use them. Of course, that means that someone can come by and grab your stuff from your page. :- /
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
New Side Border Background!
Boy, can I feel the crispness of fall right now. I've had to turn on the heater in the house today. Good-bye summer...
Hello autumn! I whipped up a background with autumn leaves gracing the left side border on a white background. All of the details are on the page.
Autumn Leaves side border background.
Side border backgrounds page
Top border backgrounds page
Hello autumn! I whipped up a background with autumn leaves gracing the left side border on a white background. All of the details are on the page.
Autumn Leaves side border background.
Side border backgrounds page
Top border backgrounds page
Monday, October 10, 2005
Downtime
There was less than one hour of downtime to Arride Graphics on Sunday beginning around 1:20 p.m. PDT. But this is the second time in a week.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Site Downtime
On Sunday, October 2nd, there was approximately one hour of downtime with the site around quarter after 7 in the evening PDT.
Friday, September 30, 2005
New Top Border Background for Halloween!
Hey! Just uploaded a new top border background graphic for you.
This time, instead of the smiling skeletons from last year, you can decorate your pages with this sinister, grinning jack o' lantern created with picture tubes from Jasc/ Corel. The graphic is 3000 pixels long, so you have plenty of room to put content. Ideally, though, don't put so much stuff on one page because it's tedious to scroll down really long pages.
Anyway, have fun with this!
Here's the link: http://www.arride.com/downloads/backgrounds/jol.html
Other top border backgrounds
This time, instead of the smiling skeletons from last year, you can decorate your pages with this sinister, grinning jack o' lantern created with picture tubes from Jasc/ Corel. The graphic is 3000 pixels long, so you have plenty of room to put content. Ideally, though, don't put so much stuff on one page because it's tedious to scroll down really long pages.
Anyway, have fun with this!
Here's the link: http://www.arride.com/downloads/backgrounds/jol.html
Other top border backgrounds
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Some Comments
1) I've had to block an IP address at the server level because I thought the person was hotlinking to some of my graphics. Now that I think about it, the person may have just been copying the sample page's HTML and didn't delete my counter/stat provider code on his or her page. That would explain why pages from their computer were setting off my counter and showing up on my logs.
Please, when you copy HTML from my sample pages, delete or replace everything that is my content including the SiteMeter JavaScript and any irrelevant META tag descriptions and keywords.
2) A lot of my visitors are looking for "my space graphics" and I'm curious. I'm not sure if these visitors are newbies at web page building and using search engines, thus are using unclear search terms, or are looking for graphics for use at their myspace.com site. If the former, then using "web page graphics" or "web site graphics" is more closer to what they're looking for. If the latter, then those search terms make more sense, although using the terms I mentioned earlier would be better.
In any case, welcome to Arride Graphics! I hope you can find what you're looking for.
3) As for new things, I've been pretty busy this past summer with stuff outside of making graphics for you - going to ball games, buying a house with the hubby, my parents' birthdays, etc. So although I have a few sets started, I haven't finished a lot of them. They will be coming, since a lot of the activity is over with as of yesterday. October will begin anew.
But, no, my new site graphics is not one of those. I think I'll just go with the graphics I used previous to this one - recycle, you know. The graphics I was going to use will have to wait until next spring.
Can you believe three-fourths of the year is over, almost?
Please, when you copy HTML from my sample pages, delete or replace everything that is my content including the SiteMeter JavaScript and any irrelevant META tag descriptions and keywords.
2) A lot of my visitors are looking for "my space graphics" and I'm curious. I'm not sure if these visitors are newbies at web page building and using search engines, thus are using unclear search terms, or are looking for graphics for use at their myspace.com site. If the former, then using "web page graphics" or "web site graphics" is more closer to what they're looking for. If the latter, then those search terms make more sense, although using the terms I mentioned earlier would be better.
In any case, welcome to Arride Graphics! I hope you can find what you're looking for.
3) As for new things, I've been pretty busy this past summer with stuff outside of making graphics for you - going to ball games, buying a house with the hubby, my parents' birthdays, etc. So although I have a few sets started, I haven't finished a lot of them. They will be coming, since a lot of the activity is over with as of yesterday. October will begin anew.
But, no, my new site graphics is not one of those. I think I'll just go with the graphics I used previous to this one - recycle, you know. The graphics I was going to use will have to wait until next spring.
Can you believe three-fourths of the year is over, almost?
Thursday, September 15, 2005
New Background!
Just uploaded a new background!
It's a side border decorated with school lunch boxes, just like what we used to bring to school if Mom didn't use a brown paper bag or any paper bag (somehow I remember my mom using a grocery bag a few times -- kind of made lunch look huge!)
Anyway, school's started for almost all kids now, so here's a background to use on their (or your) personal web pages. Have fun with it!
Click this: http://www.arride.com/downloads/backgrounds/btslb.html
It's a side border decorated with school lunch boxes, just like what we used to bring to school if Mom didn't use a brown paper bag or any paper bag (somehow I remember my mom using a grocery bag a few times -- kind of made lunch look huge!)
Anyway, school's started for almost all kids now, so here's a background to use on their (or your) personal web pages. Have fun with it!
Click this: http://www.arride.com/downloads/backgrounds/btslb.html
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Disabled Comment Field
Ya know, it's always one bugger that causes difficulty for everyone else.
I got my first annoying spammer in the comments the other day. Since it was my first occurrence, I had to figure out how to delete the spam. That proved to be such a hassle because I had to deal with my browsers and firewalls in order to do that. So rather than go through the gyrations again, I disabled the comment field. Oh well. It always takes just one little bugger to spoil the whole crate.
I got my first annoying spammer in the comments the other day. Since it was my first occurrence, I had to figure out how to delete the spam. That proved to be such a hassle because I had to deal with my browsers and firewalls in order to do that. So rather than go through the gyrations again, I disabled the comment field. Oh well. It always takes just one little bugger to spoil the whole crate.
Outage
Phooey! Just over a month without an outage and here we go again. This time it lasted just over an hour around noon PDT. Overall, though, uptime is around 99-98%.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Mea Culpa!
Whoops! I just found out that I made all the mini-tiles inaccessible to everyone due to some mouse disabling script I had on the page. I hadn't realized the error until I tried to right-click to save a tile and I couldn't. No one let me know....you can tell me about my mistakes without feeling bad or thinking you'd make me feel bad - I will, but that's okay. I'd rather fix my mistakes sooner rather than later. I found a slight design error last night on one of the side backgrounds that I really like and fixed it also.
If you have any questions, remarks, or anything else, please do not hesitate to write them down on the form on the Contact page.
As always, thank you for visiting Arride Graphics and thanks for reading this blog.
If you have any questions, remarks, or anything else, please do not hesitate to write them down on the form on the Contact page.
As always, thank you for visiting Arride Graphics and thanks for reading this blog.
6000th Visitor
On September 3rd Arride Graphics received its 6000th visitor! It was only June 19th that we saw visitor number 5000. We are gradually getting more and more visitors to the web site.
Factoids about visitor #6000:
Factoids about visitor #6000:
- Uses a computer with Win2K and IE 6
- Is on the west coast of the U.S.
- Used Yahoo's search directory
- Was looking for unique linkware and apparently found this wedding graphics set
- Has good taste :-)
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Just Checkin' In
I've been back from vacation awhile now and busy catching up to things. Fortunately, there wasn't any downtime during the past two weeks or so. That's good.
I'm working on new graphics for my web site, but I'm having a heck of a time coming up with something I really like. Seems I do a better job on making graphics for you and my other sites. Anyway, I've got an idea for a new background so I'll work on that instead. Look for it next month, which is coming pretty soon, eh?
I'm working on new graphics for my web site, but I'm having a heck of a time coming up with something I really like. Seems I do a better job on making graphics for you and my other sites. Anyway, I've got an idea for a new background so I'll work on that instead. Look for it next month, which is coming pretty soon, eh?
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Site Downtime
It's been awhile, but the site was down last night for about an hour. Only one of the services reported this outage.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
New Space-Themed Desktop Wallpapers!
Before I take off on vacation I wanted to finish and upload these two new desktop wallpapers for you. Both wallpapers feature the Earth, one is in natural color of two views of the planet and the other shows the entire planet at night with all the city lights aglow.
"The Blue Marble" shows our beautiful planet as maybe a visitor from afar or an astronaut would see it. Seeing our planet this way makes our lives seem so small in comparison. You can't see all the living things populating Earth. There are no apparent political boundaries. There are just the blues of the oceans and the seas, the browns and greens of the land, and the whites of the polar regions. How can you not love this planet and want to preserve it? That is the feeling that most astronauts and cosmonauts experience while "up there" in space looking back on Earth.
"Night Lights" shows by inference the inhabitants of this planet. All of the cities around the world that light up the night sky appear in this image. The lights are beacons to industrialized areas of this planet. What does it say about us?
Both new wallpapers in three sizes are on the third page. Click the link of the size you want and a new window opens. Depending on your connection speed and the wallpaper you select, please wait a minute or more for the image to load, then follow the instructions on the page.
Images are from visibleearth.nasa.gov and put together by me using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 and the fonts Nasalization by Ray Larabie and Trebuchet MS.
"The Blue Marble" shows our beautiful planet as maybe a visitor from afar or an astronaut would see it. Seeing our planet this way makes our lives seem so small in comparison. You can't see all the living things populating Earth. There are no apparent political boundaries. There are just the blues of the oceans and the seas, the browns and greens of the land, and the whites of the polar regions. How can you not love this planet and want to preserve it? That is the feeling that most astronauts and cosmonauts experience while "up there" in space looking back on Earth.
"Night Lights" shows by inference the inhabitants of this planet. All of the cities around the world that light up the night sky appear in this image. The lights are beacons to industrialized areas of this planet. What does it say about us?
Both new wallpapers in three sizes are on the third page. Click the link of the size you want and a new window opens. Depending on your connection speed and the wallpaper you select, please wait a minute or more for the image to load, then follow the instructions on the page.
Images are from visibleearth.nasa.gov and put together by me using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 and the fonts Nasalization by Ray Larabie and Trebuchet MS.
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