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Warren Shea

Archive for the ‘Secret Project KB’ Category

Secret Project KB Updates

Tuesday, October 15th, 2013 at 12:47 am

Put in a bit of time updating my Secret Project KB site this weekend.

  • Added 9 statues to the navigation
  • Tightened up the design a bit
  • Some logic changes
  • Some showcase additions

I may work on it a bit more in the near future and bring it up to speed (it’s been outdated for months now).

This line of toys/statues – they aren’t going away. New ones are constantly released/announced. I thought it was about time for the line to die down but it’s still going strong – statues are released and fans are looking for information. And I should be providing it (but I’m not).

Here are my google anayltics for the site’s lifetime

227 visits for the month of August 2013
291 visits for the month of Sept 2013
199 visits for the month of Oct 1, 2013 – Oct 14, 2013

Do you see where this is going? I’m getting more and more traffic! I feel I should be working harder on this site…my fans deserve it! :)

Should I resurrect The Secret Project KB?

Sunday, September 1st, 2013 at 11:39 pm

When I left my Secret Project KB a few months ago, it wasn’t doing that well…some traffic, but overall nothing much.
I’ve started noticing more traffic to it lately….


(April 2012 to August 2013)

It’s not a huge spike but it’s pretty good overall.

One thing I did notice is that a few months ago, when googling “Kotobukiya Bishoujo”, my site wouldn’t come up for pages. Like, til page 3 or 5 or something I think.

Right now, that google phrase makes it come up #4. #4 !
It’s currently:
Kotobukiya USA
ebay.com
Facebook.com/kotobukiya
My site!
Amazon.com

…..my site is currently beating Amazon for this phrase!

I’m wondering, given that people are going to it more often, that maybe I should resurrect it.

I haven’t had much time for anything – my personal life has been kinda sh!tty lately (not cuz of problems, I mean cuz I don’t have time for anything lately) – but I’d like to go back and revisit my web projects.

Anyways, just some thoughts…. :)

Been heavily considering dropping my secret project KB

Sunday, April 28th, 2013 at 7:08 pm

Pros to doing it / keeping the project going

  • It will be nice to finally complete another project
  • I have an excuse to keep buying the statues lol – I have all the ones that have been released at the moment, I take quite a bit of pride in that (some of them where tough to get/expensive)

Cons to continuing

  • If I finished, despite being proud of my work, I can’t really show it off due to the nature of the content and humanity’s judgement – I don’t really want to associate my name to it which is why, even now, I refer to it as Secret Project KB. Yes, other people’s opinions of me mean that much
  • Only 1/2 done photography, and it takes so much time…I’ll be working on this project another 5 months before it’s “caught up” and I have to go from “development” to “maintenance”
  • Was hoping to get free statues eventually once the site was done but doubt I can gain the necessary social/reputable aspect to get them from the parent/manufacturing company
  • Already learned as much as I can for the project development wise
  • Not happy with all the photography, want to go back and correct some rotators – but that will take more time
  • Already learned as much as I can for the project photography wise – and also, I’m sure once I learn more about photography, I won’t like the photos I’ve done
  • I want to move on to another project, one I can put on my resume or do/learn something new. Would also like to work with someone on a project, or get some money from a project.
  • Time consuming to maintain the site and social aspect of the site by myself – most sites like this have teams
  • The site is supposed to be a person’s “ONLY RESOURCE NEEDED FOR SAID TOPIC” but I can’t go to any of the cons (conventions) where they release the information first hand. I only get my information from other sources making the whole idea fundamentally flawed
  • Not happy with the design I came up with. Frustrated with it, just want to throw it away and start something anew

That said, I think a couple pros can be derived from my cons if I kept going:

  • Work with the design until I get it right. Rather than give up, keep working on it until I’m happy and it’s good. That will provide the most satisfaction.
  • Would still be proud of myself for completing the task. I’ve said this before about me:
    “I’ve left a wake of unfinished projects throughout my life.”
    and I’d like it if this weren’t one of them – but I only like the project as much as I can benefit from it and this one is slowly losing its appeal

I’ve been flip-flopping with the idea of quitting. One day, I quit. The next, I decide not to. Can’t seem to make up my conflicting mind. Must be the gemini in me.

Looking for input. Please give me your thoughts!

Secret Project KB updates II

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013 at 10:02 pm

Updated my secret project KB site a bit more.

I’ve been reading The Smashing Book which I got a few years ago. Unfortunately, as with all web publications, namely that of one published in 2008, the content is somewhat outdated – and yet still somewhat relevant. It’s funny, they talk about things like IE6 and jQuery (as relatively new)…but they also talk about relevant things: optimization, brand, usability, brand, type, color theory. I realize I’m pretty bad at all aspects design; especially color theory and type. I’m going to try to improve those aspects. I realize now that I’m too narrow-visioned with development. I need to become an expert, I need to be more aware of the field as whole. Design and usability specifically. Honestly speaking, I would rate my design as a 2, my usability skill is a 3, and my development as a 6.5. While improving my development, I need to bring my other scores up.

Anyways, that is all.

Secret Project KB updates

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013 at 10:24 am

Updated my secret project KB site a bit. Updates include:

  • Redesign of site
  • Clearfix CSS addition
  • Responsive Layout for multiple mobile browsers excluding iphone >_< my site won't seem to properly fit on it... :/ (ruh roh)

What do you think?

In the meantime, I’ve been working on my photography a bit. 19/43 done.

Watched a couple movies. Going to try to start studying stuff. Check out my achievements section for an up-to-date list of what I’m working on.