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Win a free copy of ColdFusion 8 Standard

December 12, 2007 10:45 PM

You might imagine, being on the ColdFusion team keeps me pretty busy and quite often on the road. One thing I'd like but never have the time to do would be to customize my blog to be more personalized. My offer to you.. to anyone who's interested, mock up a new face for my blog and submit a URL to the mock-up in the comments field of this blog entry. Once picked, the winner would write the code, sumbit it to me, and recieves a copy of CF8 Standard.

Any takers? :)

**This is not an Adobe sponsored contest but rather a personally sponsored one - out of my own pocket.

Comments | Add Comment
dave's Gravatar
I'm in:)

you got any requirements or color preferences?
Posted By dave | 12/12/07 11:41 PM
Chris Dawes's Gravatar
sure... specs?
Posted By Chris Dawes | 12/13/07 12:32 AM
paul mignard's Gravatar
Hi Kristen - I'm so in...although I'm trying to decide whether to be presumptuous and just design something or be practical and wait for requirements...:(
Posted By paul mignard | 12/13/07 12:47 AM
Charlie's Gravatar
D'oh, I'm a programmer and not a designer, sorry but so I'll never win a copy of CF 8.

Because 99% of CF-Developers are programmers and not designers, I can do what most of the programmers are doing, also like one of our best men ( Ray Camden ) does:
I'll give you now some URLs for free blog designs:
http://www.styleshout.com/
http://www.freecsstemplates.org/
http://www.bartelme.at/
http://www.ilemoned.com/archives/wptheme-dark
http://templates.arcsin.se/
http://opensourcetemplates.org/
http://www.free-css-templates.com/

If you're taking one of the free templates then you're on the same way like cf-programmers are, or is there anyone out there who is a cf-professional and has designed his blog on his own?

Maybe I have now also the change to win the copy? ;-)
Posted By Charlie | 12/13/07 3:05 AM
dave's Gravatar
maybe she would like something "unique" and that 50,000 other people don't have ;)
Posted By dave | 12/13/07 3:13 AM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
Hey all.. thanks for the interest. I was purposely vague since I wanted to leave room for creative license. Could be an update to the existing layout / colors etc or something totally different. The only requirement that I can think of (as I am bleary eyed after a long day at the Adobe sales and marketing conference in San Jose) is that it has to run on CF - Ray's blog app is great. Thanks Ray! I'm looking for the UI to be something I can call my own.
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 12/13/07 5:33 AM
Tjarko's Gravatar
Count me in!! I will post a URL in the next coming days :-)
Posted By Tjarko | 12/13/07 10:25 AM
Andy Matthews's Gravatar
@Charlie...

Me: http://www.andyandjaime.com/

Custom design from start to finish. I started "life" as a designer, then migrated to ColdFusion programming about 6 years ago.
Posted By Andy Matthews | 12/13/07 12:04 PM
Adrock's Gravatar
Lol. Free copies of CF8? Sounds like someone is petitioning for a CFEmmy.

Best new blog of 2008 may be in the bag. ;-)

http://cfsilence.com/blog/client/index.cfm/2007/12...
Posted By Adrock | 12/13/07 4:38 PM
Robb's Gravatar
I'm in but when is the cutoff time and do you have any specs.

Robb
Posted By Robb | 12/14/07 2:57 PM
paul mignard's Gravatar
Hi Kristen,

So I guess I'm the first - please feel free to be honest if you don't like the design or like it but want to make some tweaks. I do have a fair amount of cf experience so if you like it I could have it to you in about a week...here goes!

http://www.paulmignard.com/wp-content/uploads/2007...

Thanks - what a fun way to get a hold of some cf goodness. :)
Posted By paul mignard | 12/15/07 2:39 AM
Tjarko's Gravatar
You can find the design at the location below. We made a design that still has the focus on the content but is a bit more "design" :-) Hope you like it.

http://mximize.com/schofield.jpg
Posted By Tjarko | 12/16/07 8:58 AM
paul mignard's Gravatar
wow Tjarko - that looks awesome!
Posted By paul mignard | 12/16/07 2:20 PM
dave's Gravatar
nice job guys!
i'll post mine up on monday
Posted By dave | 12/17/07 7:24 AM
Andy Matthews's Gravatar
It's difficult to even consider a design when you haven't provided any input FOR the design. No specis, no focus, no color set. Got anything?
Posted By Andy Matthews | 12/17/07 11:07 AM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
Nice job to those who've submitted a couple already. I was on the road last week and didn't have much time for blogging. Since you ask.. here's some info (not really a spec but ..)
- favorite colors are green, blue and neutrals w/ the occassional splash of something more dramatic like dark red. (I dont really like yellow - default blog color)
- I like a simple design w/ clean lines but clear division in its space to separate the eye
- I love pictures .. I can send some of my favs that I've taken - might be cool to incorporate - or just leave spae to incorporate.
- I love to ski, read, play tennis, learn, hike/backpack, travel, walk/run
- I want the existing blog to work w/ the new design
- I like a centered page - not right/left justified
- Submissions taken on a rolling basis but due no later than Jan 15th

What else would be helpfull?

- Kristen
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 12/17/07 1:06 PM
Tjarko's Gravatar
Hi Kristen, hahaha we can deliver the design in every color you want.. we took the yellow because we thought (how stupid of us) that that was your favorite colour because the blog was already in this color :-) It would be nice if you could send some images... just use the e-mail adres in this message.
Posted By Tjarko | 12/17/07 1:10 PM
paul mignard's Gravatar
Hmmm - I based mine off of the CF colors...if there are some pics out there I would totally incorporate them!
Posted By paul mignard | 12/17/07 1:13 PM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
@Tjarko - you mean you couldn't read my miind? ;) I know color is easy to change so I wasnt concerned with it.

@Paul - I listed my favorite colors but I like a lot of colors overall.. which is why I wasnt specific in my request so people didn't feel locked down.. I'm open. I'll try to post some pics this evening.
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 12/17/07 1:18 PM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
I'll likely post the pics I mentioned yesterday posted over the weekend.. between year end activities and finals (yes I'm a student too) I think this w/e is more likely. You guys are probably all getting ready for the holidays anyway. :)
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 12/19/07 2:28 AM
David McGuigan's Gravatar
K-Scho,
I'm in. Please don't give anyone my copy of 8 until you get my design. Should be sometime early next week.

Thanks!

P.S. I signed up for the 64-bit 8 testing on the first day but haven't heard anything back yet. Any idea on what kind of timeline we're looking at?
Posted By David McGuigan | 12/20/07 4:20 AM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
David - you should have recieved an invite by now. Let me know if you still have not. Having been K-Webb in a pst life, K-Scho is sounding more appealing than the full name Schofield. :)
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 12/20/07 12:22 PM
Tjarko's Gravatar
Because we have nothing better to do here, we made a small change to the layout and tadaaa version 2.0 of the same design is born. http://www.mximize.com/v2.jpg pretty colors everywhere, and a flickr integration for photos.

And if I could read your mind being on the other side of the planet I probably wouldn't do this job... ;-) Althought I sence a smile on your face reading this... but that could be just a glitch in the matrix.. not sure. Happy holidays!!
Posted By Tjarko | 12/21/07 8:11 AM
Lola LB's Gravatar
Guys (and gals), it's a design contest. She wants to take the best from you which may not necessarily be something she thought up herself (or else why would she have come up with this contest to begin with?). There are sites that have free, public domain photos - grab some of them and use in your design idea as an example.

I'm not entering the contest because I can't draw my way out of a paper bag.
Posted By Lola LB | 12/21/07 6:10 PM
paul mignard's Gravatar
Hi Kristen,

Just wanted to check back in and see if you were able to post any pictures yet? Hope you had a great holiday (and a pleasants finals experience) :)
Posted By paul mignard | 1/2/08 3:37 PM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
Hi Paul - I didn’t yet - finals were more challenging / time consuming than I anticipated. I will try tonight. It's tough b/c I have school at night and work during day. Which is why I was being vague on my specs. I have no time to even think about that. ;) Thanks for your interest in this! I appreciate it.

- Kristen
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 1/2/08 6:59 PM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
Me again.. picture posting is not going to happen this week for me. I would love it too but between work and school, I haven't had the time. I thought I would over break - but went skiing. :) Please don't wait for them. Sorry but this is why I am running the contest - I'm stretched. I really look forward to seeing more submissions. Back to work..
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 1/3/08 8:45 PM
paul mignard's Gravatar
Ha - that's cool, can't blame you for skiing when you get the chance :) I'll just create something with some stock photos I have - thanks!
Posted By paul mignard | 1/4/08 3:13 PM
Aaron Neff's Gravatar
Hi Kristen,

First, thank you for offering this contest.

I have extended BlogCFC to support themes.

Please visit http://kblog.itisdesign.com to view some ideas (there is a themes menu).

Thanks!,
-Aaron Neff
Posted By Aaron Neff | 1/16/08 1:53 AM
Aaron Neff's Gravatar
Ok, I posted that in the nick of time (Eastern Standard Time); though it shows as the 16th?

Here is a tip: If you want the menu column to be on the left, just add "&layoutid=4" to the URL string.

Thanks!,
-Aaron
Posted By Aaron Neff | 1/16/08 1:59 AM
dave's Gravatar
oh man i forgot about this, I will slap something together and have it up in an hour or so
Posted By dave | 1/16/08 2:01 AM
Aaron Neff's Gravatar
(Also, it supports sIFR - which allows such items as the entry headings to have a unique font.)
Posted By Aaron Neff | 1/16/08 2:07 AM
dave's Gravatar
man, I can't believe I lost track of the date!! ugggg

well it was last minute and done in about an hour, so... sorry about the sloppiness and it is a bit short but I am sure you get the picture of what it is. The photo could be loaded of course from db and all the code would be done tableless in xhtml 1.0 strict.

(personally, I think the cf box is kinda rad!)

Hope you like.. if not congrats to whomever wins :)

http://www.jamwerx.com/kristen.jpg
Posted By dave | 1/16/08 3:55 AM
David McGuigan's Gravatar
Dear Product Manager,
That was a real hassle. Our Internet went out for a good 6 hours. But it's back now. Hoorah.

Here's my final entry, you can now ignore the other stuff I've sent you:
http://www.fleet19.com/Clients/WebbSchofield.com/

I can't believe how long that took. Hopefully it shows.

Thanks!
David McGuigan
davidmcguigan@gmail.com
Posted By David McGuigan | 1/16/08 6:13 AM
Tjarko's Gravatar
David.. you are hands down the winner in my humble opinion... Looks amazing!!
Posted By Tjarko | 1/16/08 6:21 AM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
WOW! I am really impressed with the submissions.
Thanks so much for everyone's submissions! All that were submitted count towards the contest so no worries on the time stamps.
I am out in the San Francisco office this week - I love this office. I will announce the winner next week. Thanks again everyone. For those who entered but did not win the grand prize, I will get you something special. ;)
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 1/16/08 8:41 PM
David McGuigan's Gravatar
Thanks for your feedback Tjarko, I appreciate it.
Posted By David McGuigan | 1/17/08 3:28 AM
Sam Brown's Gravatar
I defiantly think David's design is the snazziest looking site I've seen in a while. Refreshingly unique.
Posted By Sam Brown | 1/22/08 5:45 PM
paul's Gravatar
Hi Kristen,

Have you picked a winner yet?
Posted By paul | 2/5/08 10:56 AM
Kristen Schofield's Gravatar
Hi Paul.. yes see http://www.webbschofield.com/index.cfm/2008/1/27/a...
Posted By Kristen Schofield | 2/5/08 11:49 AM
Thanks to Ray Camden for blogCFC and for setting me up.
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