Your website and the modules gave me a Happy New Year

Hi @Marten
Between the years I stumbled upon your website and was really (actually rather REALLY) impressed. Today I bought both the Duck Soup and Quantum Edge bundles, as well as some of your stacks. This stuff is gorgeous and will give me a happy new year from the beginning. So I wish you all the best for 2019 and hope your business will run well!
I found your freebie page today as well and those look great also. Unfortunately most of the links are down. Would be happy if you can take a look at that or send me the freebie links.
Please keep up the good work! - You have a real sense for design aspects that immediately caught me.
Regards Kai-Uwe

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Hi Kai-Uwe,

Thank you for your kind words, and I hope my modules bring you prosperity as well as happiness!

If you found my Freebies section (which is currently ‘offline’) then you’ll have also noticed that it looks like a building site — which it is — as I’m still working on bringing it into line with the main site’s new style.

I’m also using this ‘opportunity’ to bury the dead and deprecated stacks and thereby refine my list and, if things go according to plan, possibly even revitalise some of the more resourceful ones that are begging for a second chance.

As such, let me know which ones you’d like most and I’ll dropbox them for you.

Cheers,

Marten

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Hi Marten

I really enjoy your work! - …and I like your sense of subtle humor in the descriptions. I am not sure, if you realize how gifted you are. I saw a lot of themes and stacks and they all have in common to focus either on the web techniques instead of the design language, or the better ones reflect the more conservative mainstream web design trends to reach a broader market. Many of them look alike somehow. Don’t get me wrong, some of the technical stuff is brilliant and is urgently needed, like Foundation, Foundry, Big White Duck, Stacks4Stacks. And it has also some design gems, like Weavium’s stacks.

I would really hate to see your legacy work disappear. Please keep the stacks and the description pages. Maybe you can make a vintage bundle out of them, that you sell for a small price, like $20-30.

For my wish list: If possible, I would like to have all of the freebies before they are gone!

I already managed to download some, that have active links, like DottyThing, BannerThing, SelectThing, LinkEffectThing, TimelineThing, HoverThing, CornerLinkThing, HoverTextThing, AdThing, AlertThing, GiggidyThing, SideribbonThing, PlusThing, TitleThing and WindowThing. - DottyThing, LinkEffectThing, HoverThing, SideribbonThing and PlusThing are the one that impressed most out of these.

From the ones I am missing to download, PointlessThing, RainbowThing, LoadbarThing, BreadcrumbThing, TriangleThing, SwitchThing, BarberpoleThing, GlowThing, HalfcutThing, HotelModeThing, LetterboxThing, DropcapThing, Popthing, PolyCapThing, SlantThing , TwitterThing, FlipingThing, PointyThing, TileThing, GlassThing are inevitable. But, as some links were broken, I couldn’t look into all the descriptions though.

Honestly, I like to have them all, as I pointed out already and I would like to have the description pages live on your site for the future. I promise to buy the remaining 5 paid stacks to make-up some of your effort. That’s all I can do, as I will have bought all of your paid stuff then.

Regards Kai-Uwe

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Hi Kai-Uwe,

I would love to see what you design with the use of the stacks. I just used some of them myself but not a complete design (still I am happy to have found something which sticks out and the client loves it).

Happy waving!

Jan

Hi Kai-Uwe,

Although my modesty prevents me from acknowledging the magnitude of my genius, I agree that the lesser developers you mention (who don’t carry the same intellectual burden as myself) are core components of the mainstream market.

And strangely, I often envy their designs: their simplicity and clarity of purpose, the markets they serve and the brakes they employ crafting the smart, cost-efficient and marketable products that cater to so many RapidWeavers.

And just as often I wish my own brakes worked.

But it’s like every time I gain some creative momentum I’m suddenly in a runaway car barelling down a humpback hill in San Francisco stomping on a pedal that no longer works. Like I have to keep going until I run out of road, far from my original destination. Tumble from the wreck and find Dirty Harry standing over me saying, “Go ahead, punk, make my day!”

Of course there’s always a choice. I could kick my ego into the long grass, fix the brakes, limit my time and creativity, set realistic goals, get a brain transplant and aim at a wider audience. Forget about the thrill of the ride, the excitement of exploration and exhilaration of discovery. Ignore the story, the journey, the romance and adventure, and focus solely on the equations of profitability.

But ultimately, at the end of the day, fuck that. I am the journey. So I won’t be ditching my legacy anytime soon.

Thank you for telling me what I needed to hear.

Cheers,

Marten

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“The lesser developers”.
“Wishing my own brakes worked”.

Sitting in the car reading this my cappuccino is now seeping between my lap and my heels! I’ve missed that so much! Your wasted, Marten.

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@Marten more of this please 😅

Pointless Fact #1:

My most popular and most downloaded stack of all time is the totally pointless stack that does nothing but consume CPUs. It doesn’t even look good.

And no matter how many times I say 'don’t download it, it’s pointless’, people still download it. It’s just pointless.

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