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site design
The alexfiles has undergone a variety of transformations over the years. Right now look and feel are accomplished using CSS for page layout, CSS for the menu style and behavior, and includes for menu content. The CSS-driven dynamic menu is adapted from the ever-wonderful Stu Nicholl's CSS Playground, although I added the "you are here" highlight and made the fixed size adjustable.
I find CSS much easier for page layout, but within a given area I prefer tables for content layout. As with many "either-or" situations, the tables vs. CSS debate seems artificial to me. Both have a necessary, useful place in the design world.
Fonts note: while some argue that serif fonts are more easily read, this is primarily a print issue. Online testing has demonstrated that the primary need for online content is consistency; headers and special graphics may differ in font style, but content should be either all-serif or all-sans serif. Changing between fonts tires and potentially discourages the reader.
who I am
My name is Alex O'Neal, and I'm a nerd. A perennial student, I've studied psychology, biology, art, physics, and music. While putting myself through school I've worked a broad variety of jobs, including but not limited to journalist, photographer, web developer, network administrator, optician, database analyst, 911 calltaker, car sales (I'm very bad at that), secretary, graphic artist, library cataloger, and professional jewelry designer for a national line. Many of these overlapped when I worked multiple jobs.
Looking at that list, you may ask, Just how long has Alex been in school? Quite a while, mostly because my major changed as my quest to understand the world changed. Irritated at an early age by a willfully ignorant catechism teacher, I came to realize that in order to know what to do in the universe, I needed to understand how the universe worked. Right now, that means understanding the tool we use to experience it: the brain. I hold a summa cum laude B.S. in psychology, and have a year's worth of graduate psychology work under my belt. I plan to eventually complete a doctorate in neuroscience, but finances have forced me to set that aside temporarily.
Currently I work at Classmates Online as their User Experience manager. It's a lot of fun, as the company and the site are both undergoing significant changes, of which I get to be part. It's also the best environment I've ever had the pleasure of working in, although it's early days yet (I just started in April, 2008). I'm also pursuing professional fiction writing, and sold my first piece in 2006.
I share a home with my philosopher/writer husband (Bart Odom) and assorted non-human companions.
history
The alexfiles began in 1997 as a collection of self-developed fictional "conspiracy theories" residing in Area 51 on GeoCities, a free hosting service. A too-significant minority of my audience missed the humor, and I moved to Soho and starting blogging. In 1999 Yahoo took over GeoCities. Their draconian terms of service claimed ownership of all content, so I abandoned the hosting service, got my own domain, and transformed the alexfiles into a personal blog, art gallery, and resume site. Over the years the alexfiles has evolved into an eclectic collection of artwork, essays, reviews, photography, and more.
contact me
alex at alexfiles dot com
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