Tracey Thompson – Print | Branding | Design Research – San Francisco



Tracey Thompson – Print | Branding | Design Research – San Francisco

Learning to Surf


What do learning to surf and learning how to code php have in common?


Learning to Surf

I have always wanted to learn how to surf. I’ve watched surf films, I love being in the ocean, and having lived in California since 2002 I thought I might as well take a class. In April of 2008 I took a few lessons and have been surfing ever since.

I wanted to share my experiences out in the ocean with my friends and family. I also wanted a chance to learn how to code in php and practice my css skills. Creating a surfing site was the natural product.

Using the wordpress blog engine, I build a theme and began posting my photos and surf sessions. From there I began experimenting with rss feeds and embedded web applications to automatically aggregate content. Rss feed information includes updating surf reports for the spots I frequent most, updating twitter feeds to display on the go information about where I’m surfing and what the conditions are like, and updated weather reports. Using google’s embedded calendar, I can post information about when and where I will be surfing next.