(Obviously changing blog and yoursite to whatever you need.)

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^blog.yoursite.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.blog.yoursite.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yoursite.com/blog/$1 [R=301,L]

This will perform a 301 redirect on the subdomain and redirect it whatever directory on the main domain.

This tutorial covers how to create a custom wallpaper pattern and how to add it to a modified bedroom wall, which will act as the base layer for creating your visual scrapbook desktop wallpaper. I also added the links for the items I used to create my scrapbook wallpaper to get you started in the right direction.

The Environment

My personalised wallpaper was built with the idea of using it as a scrapbook for all my favourite moments, a shrine for all the stuff that makes me smile. There’s photos of me with my buddies, skateboards with my favourite characters on, a poster of a festival lineup i went to six years ago (I go every year, but that lineup was the best), a few icons of my favourite games, just a lot of awesome memorable moments. With that in mind, I chose an environment that allows for a lot of ‘visual storage’ i.e. a bedroom wall.

The base image for the bedroom wall is Dramatic Room by Stratification.

Import it into Photoshop and then go to the menu View > New Guide to bring up an options window. Enter the following:

You should get a lovely little blue line spanning the image just where the wallpaper meets the skirting board. This means that any selections we make above, or below, the line will snap to it making selecting only the wallpaper an easy task.

Create a new layer, and with that new layer selected, select everything above the guide line we just created with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M -> Drag select).

Fill the selected area (Alt + Backspace) with the colour of your choice. I chose a dark shade of blue; #1f1f45. Rename this layer to ‘Base Layer’.

Creating the pattern

With the base colour now coating the wall, it’s time to create a seamless pattern for the wallpaper.

Create a new document with a width of 156px and a height of 156px.

Create two new guides (View > New Guide), one vertical and one horizontal, both with a position of 50%.

These guides will help you position your logo or shape in the top left square and the bottom right square.

The next step requires you to fill the background layer with a dark* colour and create/obtain the logo or shape you want to use for your pattern and place it in the areas mentioned as seen below.

* Depending on what colour you chose for your base layer in the steps previous to creating the pattern; you’ll want light coloured shapes for a dark background and dark coloured shapes for a light coloured background.

I chose a dark blue for my base layer, so I’ll be using light coloured shapes and a dark background while working with the pattern document.

Once you have your shapes in position, as seen above, it’s time to differentiate them a little bit to give the pattern a less frequent appearance. I chose to outline one of the shapes and keep the other solid colour.

To do that, take the following steps.

Bare in mind, the following technique will only work with simple, solid shapes. Intricate, hollow shapes will disintegrate following this technique.

Select the layer of the shape you want to outline and make a layer selection (CTRL/CMD + Left Click the layer).

Next, with the shape selection still active, create a new solid colour fill layer and give it the same colour.

The shape will automatically be deselected once the new fill layer has been created. Reselect the shape by making another layer selection (CTRL/CMD + Left Click on the layer mask). You can also hide the old version of the shape, as you won’t need it anymore.

Making sure that the layer mask for the solid fill layer is selected, head up to the main menu and go Select > Modify > Contract. Enter 2px into the box and hit OK.

Your selection should look like the following:

Next hit CTRL/CMD + I to invert the layer mask based on the selection.

Now that the outline has been created, go to Image > Canvas Size and change the width and height to both 205 pixels, leave the Anchor centred and hit OK.

All that’s left now is to select the background layer, make it invisible and define the document as a new pattern. To do the latter, head up to the main menu again and go to Edit > Define Pattern. Enter a pattern name and hit OK.

Nice work! You just created a custom pattern!

Let’s return to the main document file now.

Apply the custom pattern

Select the ‘Base Layer’ and create a duplicate of this layer by dragging it over the ‘Create a new layer’ button at the bottom of the Layers panel. Rename this newly created layer to ‘Wallpaper Pattern’. With the Wallpaper Pattern layer selected, go down to the Layer ‘FX’ Button and add a Pattern Overlay to the layer.

From the pattern dropdown, select the Custom Wallpaper Pattern you just created.

(If you are having trouble finding the pattern in the dropdown, click the little arrow at the top of the thumbnail window and change the view from thumbnails only, to a small list.)

Once you have selected the pattern, change the opacity to 30% and ensure that the ‘Link with layer’ tick box is checked, then hit OK.

To add a bit of lighting to scene, hit D on the keyboard to reset the colour palette foreground/background to black/white, and then select the gradient tool (G).

From the gradient menu, accessed from the top left of the application, select the second gradient in the list – Foreground to Transparent. With that selected, create a new layer and drag it to the top of the pile. Hit F to go full screen and, starting just off the left of the image, click and drag a horizontal line across two thirds of the image and release.

This is what the gradient will look like:

Repeat this last step from the right hand side with white set as the foreground to lighten up the right side of the room.

It will finally look like this:

That’s all there is to it! You now have an environment to place shelves, objects and desktop icons.

Future Articles

I’ll be writing more articles in the near future to cover more desktop customisation, such as GeekTool scripts. For the items I used in my wallpaper, have a look at the links below.

Resource Links:

Skateboard PSD File by nunosk8:
http://nunosk8.deviantart.com/art/NEW-skateboard-template-79021200

Cork-board PSD File by sedart:
http://sedart.deviantart.com/art/Cork-Board-80635778

Original Wallpaper by stratification:
http://stratification.deviantart.com/art/Dramatic-Room-No-Text-71289306

TV PSD File by neoaeduardors:
http://neoaeduardors.deviantart.com/art/LCD-UltraHD-350dpi-Screen-A-95811216

Shelves PSD File by deluxive:
http://deluxive.deviantart.com/art/Deluxive-Shelf-Pack-PSD-110782865

Alternate Shelves by qwertykkk:
http://qwertykkk.deviantart.com/art/Shelves-132226308

Poster PSD File by oakside24:
http://oakside24.deviantart.com/art/The-Poster-86858339

Guitar acoustic:
http://www.officialpsds.com/Guitar-PSD17237.html

Guitar electric Les Paul:
http://holyspacemonkey.deviantart.com/art/Les-Paul-Resource-14855118

In July 2002, Appled filed a patent for a “Breathing Status LED Indicator” (No. US 6,658,577 B2). They described it as a “blinking effect of the sleep-mode indicator in accordance with the present invention mimics the rhythm of breathing which is psychologically appealing.”

From Apple’s Attention to Detail

Here are a few reasons to consider Piwik over the behemoth that is, Google Analytics.

While some of these reasons may not affect individuals and smaller companies, larger firms take note; the following should definitely be taken into account when deciding upon a web analytics software package.

Reason 1

Piwik is a PHP MySQL software program that you download and install on your own webserver, which means it is capable of providing real time web analysis, unlike Google Analytics, which normally takes up to 24 hours to display the latest statistics.

Reason 2

Due to the fact Piwik is installed on your own webserver, you own your data. The data is stored in your own database and the statistics can be published using open APIs into all sorts of formats (XML, JSON, PHP, CSV).

Google Analytics stores your data on their servers, entitling them access to your data.

A clause from their Terms of Service:

“6. INFORMATION RIGHTS AND PUBLICITY . Google and its wholly owned subsidiaries may retain and use, subject to the terms of its Privacy Policy (located at http://www.google.com/privacy.html , or such other URL as Google may provide from time to time), information collected in Your use of the Service. Google will not share information associated with You or your Site with any third parties unless Google (i) has Your consent; (ii) concludes that it is required by law or has a good faith belief that access, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of Google, its users or the public; or (iii) provides such information in certain limited circumstances to third parties to carry out tasks on Google’s behalf (e.g., billing or data storage) with strict restrictions that prevent the data from being used or shared except as directed by Google . When this is done, it is subject to agreements that oblige those parties to process such information only on Google’s instructions and in compliance with this Agreement and appropriate confidentiality and security measures.”

Reason 3

Piwik is fully customisable. The software utilises a plugin system so developers can easily build their own web analytics plugins. This means the reports can be tailored for specific requirements. The other big developer friendly advantages they offer are:

• Open API
• Data abstraction layer
• Customisable dashboard

Reason 4

If your site has the potential of bringing in 5million+ pageviews per month per account, you could be in danger of incurring charges from using Google Analytics. This is especially true if you don’t have an active AdWords account that you regularly pay into.

Another clause from their Terms of Service:

“2. FEES AND SERVICES . Subject to Section 15 herein, the Service is provided without charge to You for up to 5 million pageviews per month per account, and if You have an active Adwords campaign in good standing, the Service is provided without charge to You without a pageview limitation.

Google may change its fees and payment policies for the Service from time to time including but not limited to the addition of costs for geographic data, the importing of cost data from search engines, or other fees charged to Google or its wholly-owned subsidiaries by 3rd party vendors for the inclusion of data in the Service reports.”

However, that isn’t the biggest worry, it’s the fact that Google may change its fees and payment policies from time to time.

Conclusion

So there you have it. If you’re looking to cut costs and retain your analytical data ownership, give Piwik a try over Google Analytics. There’s an online demo available here.