World of Christmas 2010

Christmas is sadly over for another year esecially for those who went back to work today and those returning back to work tomorrow the lucky ones returning only after the New Year. Christmas in our household has been a family affair with lots of fun and laughter and now, we all slowly and reluctantly return back to the normal daily routine.

Having had a few moments of peace over Christmas I have managed to continue the work on the new Semiomantics Evo 2 World of Christmas that I had started before Xmas; have now made some changes and incorporated this years Christmas photos. Christmas is a such a wonderfully colourful time of year, all the gold and silver, reds, greens, oranges, browns; all the warming autumn colours to make you feel warm and snug inside while outside we see the icy cold colours of winter snow.

World of Christmas 2010 Evo 2

World of Christmas is dedicted to my grandson and his first Christmas memories; a little over awed by all the goings on but loving every minute of it. So many new things to explore….so many ways to get into  mischief!

Feel free to browse through the new World of Christmas and enjoy the images.

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Freezing Essex Weather

It’s absolutely freezing here! There was ice on the car and ice in the car this morning with the temperature guage registering -9°C ! Further up the road  on the marshes a temperature as low as -12°C. This freeze is causing chaos every where, especially on the roads. Flights too have been cancelled leaving many travellers stranded at airports.

Anti Freeze Remedy

The best remedy in these conditions is to stay at home in the warm find a good book, music or video and relax.  A book I can recommend is The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. This is the follow up to the thrilling Da Vinci Code. If you enjoyed reading that then you will enjoy this latest publication. The books themselves are not  the greatest literary works but  just fast moving, pure entertainment. Curl up infront of a warm fire, dive into the book and forget the cold outside. Enjoy!

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Christmas Theme for Semiomantics XO 2011

We are all in a very festive mood here at Ycademy despite the forecast of more wintry weather by the end of the week. With the forthcoming Christmas celebrations in mind we have been focusing on a Christmas theme for the new Semiomantics XO 2011.

Customised Semiomantics XO 2011

When working on a design there are a few factors we need to keep in mind. A website is a gateway to the public.

1. First and foremost it must communicate with the visitor – first impressions counts so we must create something that is visually attractive and stands out from the crowd.

2. Content is still king,  so the site must target the audience for the given product.

3. Performance – the Semiomantics XO performs well on search engines as we know from past experience and Semiomantics based sites reach high visibility and ranking turning visitors to customers.

Here is my first draft of a Christmas theme.

In this draft I have included Christmas music for a more Christmas feel, but time permitting I would like to include a xmas flash gallery as well. There are also still a few minor issues that I need to attend to.

Every design takes time to implement if you want something a little different from the norm, but I feel that the time spent is worth the effort. Whether you need a Christmas skin, or a Valentine site, photo gallery or any other these are all totally possible with this extremely versatile Semiomantics XO 2011 script.

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Essex Boy declared Winner

Congratulations to Matt Cardle declared winner of the X-Factor tv show this evening after a long fought battle over many weeks. What a performance! Well done Matt!

Its great to see an Essex boy hit the jackpot. Life will never be quite the same for Matt and his family.

Snow Chaos

 
After a snowfall overnight and temperatures of -4C here in Frinton on sea in Essex, the weather is creating chaos on the roads. We had already had some snowfalls previously but as temperatures rose a little throughout yesterday the snow had begun to melt especially on the roads and traffic was moving normally. With more snow and freezing temperatures overnight roads were more like skating rinks. Even at 7a.m. there were already casualties on the roads, cars overturned and many roads like the A133,A12 blocked for long periods by people braving the weather trying to get to work. No fun in the snow for these poor drivers. Further north conditions are even worse, with the country’s transport system nearly at  a standstill.

Fun in the Snow

Even at lunchtime as I write this post, temperatures are below zero. But not all is doom and gloom, snowfalls can be great fun too! As many schools and businesses are closed due to the icy conditions, both roads and pavements too treacherous to traverse, the stay at home kids and adults are making the most of it by having fun in the snow. More snow and a hard frost are forecast for tonight.

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Snow Chaos

 
After a snowfall overnight and temperatures of -4C here in Frinton on sea in Essex, the weather is creating chaos on the roads. We had already had some snowfalls previously but as temperatures rose a little throughout yesterday the snow had begun to melt especially on the roads and traffic was moving normally. With more snow and freezing temperatures overnight roads were more like skating rinks. Even at 7a.m. there were already casualties on the roads, cars overturned and many roads like the A133,A12 blocked for long periods by people braving the weather trying to get to work. No fun in the snow for these poor drivers. Further north conditions are even worse, with the country’s transport system nearly at  a standstill.

Fun in the Snow

Even at lunchtime as I write this post, temperatures are below zero. But not all is doom and gloom, snowfalls can be great fun too! As many schools and businesses are closed due to the icy conditions, both roads and pavements too treacherous to traverse, the stay at home kids and adults are making the most of it by having fun in the snow. More snow and a hard frost are forecast for tonight.

This page is wiki editable click here to edit this page.

Snow Chaos

 
After a snowfall overnight and temperatures of -4C here in Frinton on sea in Essex, the weather is creating chaos on the roads. We had already had some snowfalls previously but as temperatures rose a little throughout yesterday the snow had begun to melt especially on the roads and traffic was moving normally. With more snow and freezing temperatures overnight roads were more like skating rinks. Even at 7a.m. there were already casualties on the roads, cars overturned and many roads like the A133,A12 blocked for long periods by people braving the weather trying to get to work. No fun in the snow for these poor drivers. Further north conditions are even worse, with the country’s transport system nearly at  a standstill.

Fun in the Snow

Even at lunchtime as I write this post, temperatures are below zero. But not all is doom and gloom, snowfalls can be great fun too! As many schools and businesses are closed due to the icy conditions, both roads and pavements too treacherous to traverse, the stay at home kids and adults are making the most of it by having fun in the snow. More snow and a hard frost are forecast for tonight.

This page is wiki editable click here to edit this page.

Snow Chaos

 
After a snowfall overnight and temperatures of -4C here in Frinton on sea in Essex, the weather is creating chaos on the roads. We had already had some snowfalls previously but as temperatures rose a little throughout yesterday the snow had begun to melt especially on the roads and traffic was moving normally. With more snow and freezing temperatures overnight roads were more like skating rinks. Even at 7a.m. there were already casualties on the roads, cars overturned and many roads like the A133,A12 blocked for long periods by people braving the weather trying to get to work. No fun in the snow for these poor drivers. Further north conditions are even worse, with the country’s transport system nearly at  a standstill.

Fun in the Snow

Even at lunchtime as I write this post, temperatures are below zero. But not all is doom and gloom, snowfalls can be great fun too! As many schools and businesses are closed due to the icy conditions, both roads and pavements too treacherous to traverse, the stay at home kids and adults are making the most of it by having fun in the snow. More snow and a hard frost are forecast for tonight.

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Semiomantics XO 2011

If you were one of the lucky ones who managed to buy a ticket and attend the Ycademy Seminar this month, you were certainly in for a special treat with not only a brand new Semiomantics XO2011 but also with all the bonuses that came with it. All participants are well and truly equipped for a very profitable year ahead.

WordPress Semiomantics XO2011 Seminar

Having been one of the lucky attendees I came away from the seminar with my head spinning with ideas, and now to put them down on paper and explore them.

The whole seminar was a hands on workshop, discovering the workings of the new Semiomantics XO 2011 and applying some hardcoding to achieve the required result.

Here is an examples of the flexibility of the theme achieved during the seminar, a beautiful Elegant Design together with a dynamic photo display. An eye catching result.

I have been totally amazed by the flexibility of the new XO, whether I  want just a plain blog, a newspaper looking theme or just a photo gallery, or anything else, all these are possible with this theme. Really amazing!

As a developer I have had the privilege to be able to access the scripts and software ahead of others, but  all this will be available shortly in the Semiomantics Store and in my Small Busines Store. To be continued…

If you wish to know more you can contact me here.

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Autumn Colours from Essex

Autumn is well and truly here in Essex. The days are short, with very little sunshine, lots of rain, fog or mists rolling in off the sea and low temperatures…..brrrrr!  Time to get the winters warmers out of the closet, but, when the sun does shine we get to see the glorious colours of autumn: all the different shades of red, orange, yellow, brown and green all go to create a symphony 0f colour on the tress, shrubs and the ground.

Just shot this picture before the mists rolled in and the sun was about to go down, but what really caught our attention was the heron. Did you spot the heron standing in the field?  Just about in the center of the picture. We’ve seen the herons fly over the field a few times but not seen them anywhere on the land. They have been known to go fishing in the neighbours ponds from time to time, much to their annoyance.

Heron – Ardea cinerea

The heron is a tall elegant bird, normally to be found near reservoirs, lakes, rivers and estuaries and even garden ponds looking for food. It is mainly a solitary bird that stalks its prey silently.

Hoping one day to get a better picture of this elusive bird.

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