On the whole, I’m really happy with my decision. There are some features that I sacrifice, such as processing power, and the lack of a disk drive, but I think that the netbook makes up for that in portability. However, this is one ‘sacrifice’ that I deal with on a daily basis, and that is screen size.

My netbook has a 10.1″ screen at a resolution of 1024 by 600…slightly smaller than a standard resolution. However, despite that fact, some websites aren’t displayed correctly.

While the problem with some websites are often minor, it is still a problem that needs addressing. Since I’ve invested in my Dell, I’ve found myself designing with smaller screen resolutions in mind.

Previously, as time goes on the trend has been for screen resolutions to increase in size. However, with the increased popularity of these smaller computers, maybe we as designer need to rethink our approach. I know that I really take advantage of my 19″ desktop monitor, and fail to recognize the fact that a majority of computer users have a smaller screen.

Now I like 960 designs as much as the next guy, but I think that designers really should be careful about the content we place on the edges of our sites.

Of the two of us, Tim is more of the WordPress savant than I am. While I understand the features, and I can muddle my way through designs, I cannot say that WordPress comes easily to me.

Because of this lack of aptitude, I find myself searching far and wide for different methods of Content Management. I spend time perusing Smashing (which, for the record, is published using WordPress) and making ambiguous Google searches looking for other options.

I’ve looking into Drupal, Light CMS, and Frog CMS. I’ve even had a terrible experience using Joomla in an internship back in May. They were (and are) all nice in their own respects, save Joomla, but they just weren’t what I’m looking for. I want something that is simple to use, all of the features that a user would need without all of the complexity of the typical CMS back-end.

Part of my search stems from a need to find a simple CMS for non-computer-savvy customers. I know that these business owners want to be able to update their site without having to learn all of the ins and outs of their Content Management System. Something that gives them the power to easily edit any content, without all of the “fluff”.

Then, a few days ago, I found my proverbial “Holy Grail” of Content Management. I stumbled across Cushy CMS by a chance Google search…so I decided to investigate further. I watched their video about “How to Edit a site using Cushy CMS (in less than 3 minutes)” and I was hooked. The dulcet tones of their Australian narrator complemented, and even accented, the simplicity of their demonstration.

Cushy, in a stroke of pure brilliance (on par with the first slicing of baked bread), created a system to allow a user to edit the content of a web page externally, and then use the ftp information for the server to update the page. Perfect! Like witnessing a true masterpiece, I sat back in my computer chair, reveling in it’s magnificence.

I exaggerate to prove a point, but I was really impressed. Cushy was created by Melbourne based company Stateless Systems which deserve a lot of credit for a very smart system. I highly encourage you to look into Cushy, and see if it is the right system for you.

Needless to say, I’m going to be using CushyCMS for many pages here to come. That is, when I’m not using WordPress.