Neil Merton

Happy Birthday To Me

Yip, today I celebrate another year on planet earth, and to quote a Violent Femmes song:

Special, special, what do you get?
Another year older
And deeper in debt!

Here’s to me (and my dad - who also celebrates his birthday today) *cheers* !

Orange Fishbowl Advert Tune

Not so long ago there was an advert running on UK television that featured a fish trapped in a fishbowl while in the ocean. This was for some or other Orange service. The song used on the ad really grabbed me and I was immediately on the internet searching for who did the song.

The search produced a website called Commercial Breaks & Beats and their forum had the answer.

The band is called Oceansize and the track is called ‘Music For A Nurse’.

If you like your music full of power and emotion then I can highly recommend both albums by these guys. I simply can’t get enough of them. They remind me a little of Longview - only a little more varied.

WP: To-do List

I thought I’d write a to-do list for myself while I’m creating my custom WP theme (yip, I’m finally making the time to create my own theme). I’ll add to this as and when I find items to incorporate. Hopefully this list will inspire others to make their Wordpress site more effective!

1. Create a Custom Database Error Page.
2. Implement Ajax Commenting.

If you know of any Wordpress enhancements that are essential please leave me a comment.

Sytner Group Website Refresh

Thursday (13 July 2006) saw a refresh of the Sytner Group’s website. I spent alot of time ensuring that the overall look and feel was clean and pleasing to the eye. This is phase one of many to come.

Phase one includes a total redesign of the car locator - this now incorporates the ability to search both new and used cars along with searching by colour. Another feature is the car comparison - up to 10 cars can be compared side-by-side.

The website also sees my first attempt at using AJAX. If you click on ‘Browse by region’ underneath the list of dealerships on the left you will be presented with a map of the UK divided up into regions. Click on a region and AJAX will load the dealerships for that region. I’m pleased with the outcome.

The final big improvement is the dealership details page; this now uses Google Maps to display the location of each dealership. This ensures that the site retains a uniform look.

Let me know what you think to the website.

Depeche Mode Violated

I stumbled across the Depeche Mode Violated website tonight whilst searching for some mashed-up songs. It’s basically a project containing a mixture of covers, mashups and remixes for your listening and possibly dancing pleasure. Definately worth the download.

If you’re interested in other mixed albums then you should also investigate Primal Scream Screamixadelica and Prodigy Always Outsiders Never Outdone.

Flock Theme For Firefox

Just found this great theme for Mozilla Firefox - it’s a port of the Flock Browser for use with Firefox.

Very easy on the eyes.