Operation

There was an error in our email subscription module which resulted in sending out a lot of email notifications from creativebits to some members. I would like to ask for apologies and report that the problem has been fixed. You won't be getting any such emails unless you specifically subscribe to them.

You can check your settings by going to My account/ Subsciptions and Settings. Let me know if you need any help with anything and thank you for being a creativebits reader and member.

Google Wave seems to be a game changer in online collaboration. It's improving every day and several people started using it seriously for real work.

Following up on our tradition of giving away invites to beta services I would like to offer up my invites to creativebits members. The first 12 commenters will get the invites.

No need to give your email in the comment. I can get it from your account.

Hope you will enjoy it!

As you already noticed creativebits got a fresh new design.

The objectives were to bring the design closer to AotW and BotW, since they are all part of the same family of sites. I wanted to give more space in the sidebar for the latest critiques and forum topics. Also, I needed a rectangle adspace above the fold instead of the skyscrapers, which are hard to design good ads for.

I'm aware there are still issues with the theme here and there. It will be fine tuned in the next few weeks. Click around and let me know how you like it, also report any bugs you find.

Finally please update your profile image (avatar), because now it is shown larger than before and your old profile image may appear out of focus in this new layout. Thank you for your support!

Just a quick note that creativebits has been upgraded to Drupal 6 now, which at this point should not affect user experience in any way. If you do find any problems please let me know!

However, this upgrade opens up the possibility for future developments and a redesign. I'm thinking to update the layout with a new homepage that let's you see all new content at one glance.

If you have any suggestions for the redesign or features please let me know so I can build it into the plans. Thank you!

I've updated the user profiles, so they are now neatly organized into tabs and we have a couple of new fields, so please go to My account, then Edit and update the 4 tabs. Most importantly make sure you select your preference if you want to be contacted for freelance jobs and job offers.

Also, you will notice that there are points associated with your account. These points are activated retroactively for your activity on creativebits and they will be added to your account every time you create any piece of content. Here are the values given for different activities:

• Posting a blog entry: 10 (if you want permission to blog write me)
• Posting a forum topic: 5 points
• Posting work for critique: 5 points
• Posting a weblink: 3 points
• Posting a comment: 1 point

I have some ideas on how we could use this point system in the future, and I'm happy to receive any suggestions.

Finally I've updated the News section, so now it shows embedded images for topics, which makes this page much more useful. Let me know if you think I should add any important news source that is currently missing.

Do let me know what other things shall I work on, so I can add them to my to-do list.

If you're seeing this post you're seeing the site on the new server, an Intel Xeon E5335 2GHz 4-core CPU running on 64bit Linux with 4GB RAM and RAID disks. It's supposed to be really fast. The front page loads in an average of 212ms instead of 1700+ms on the old one running on Dreamhost.

We also upgraded the engine to Drupal 5.7, which forced us to completely rewrite the theme from xtemplate to phptemplate. That's why you were seeing some bugs in the last week. I apologize.

All these changes were possible thanks to JM and Khalid. These infrastructural improvements are paving the way to a new creativebits. If you have a suggestion or comment on what would you like to be changed or improved please chime in.

Dear creativebits readers, members and contributors. Thank you for all your help and encouragement you demonstrated towards each other in 2007. Hope you will have an amazing year both in your private life and in professional career in 2008.

This is a good time to do a review of your last year in terms of your career. Did you achieve what you set out to do? If not why? Can you you make new plans to tackle the same objectives next year?

It is a good time to formalize your goals for the next year. Be specific in both regarding the goal itself and time you want to achieve it by. For example, don't be generic and say, I want to learn more Photoshop, but be specific and say I want to master Smart Layers by March.

Set a definite plan to achieve your goals. Try to set out a goal that scares you. Something that shakes you out of your comfort zone. Try to be super optimistic. Don't worry, I guarantee you will find the tools to realize these goals along the way.

Feel free to write your achievements and desires down in the comments.

Wish you fantastic holidays!

I thought you may find interesting to see a statistic about the most read posts on creativebits. The first post on the list has been viewed more than half million times.

1. Creative business cards
2. OS X keyboard shortcuts
3. Copy your Mac OSX Tiger disc
4. Photoshop's first version
5. Play all region DVD's on your Mac
6. Photoshop magic hat light effect
7. Free up hard disk space on OS X
8. Arabic calligraphy inspiration
9. Mac Book Pro review
10. Google maps on your website

Sites I started, Creativebits.org and AdsoftheWorld.com have been acquired by Jupitermedia Corporation. The two sites have a combined traffic of more than 1 million unique visitors per month and now, they will become part of Jupitermedia's Graphics.com network. One of the many sites you're probably using daily that are part of Jupitermedia are the stock exchange sites: sxc.hu and stockxpert.com.

What does this mean for you? I will have more time to work on creativebits and Ads of the World, which should mean more and better content. It will also be able to develop the sites further to offer you more features.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for making this community a vibrant and active place that we all enjoy day in and day out to learn more about our beloved profession and to socialize with people who share our interest.

As most of creativebits' audience consists of designers and web developers I thought it would be a perfect fit to promote the new full time and freelance job site called Jobs and Gigs. You can check out the latest entries by visiting the jobs menupoint in the menubar right here on creativebits. Hope you will find your dream job or the next gig that will pay for your new MacBookPro soon.