$7 Tools | 7 Dollar Tools

You may have noticed that this site looks a little ragged. Part of that is because I'm busy writing PHP code, part of that is because I suck at graphic design. Contrary to some people's belief, owning Adobe CS2 doesn't make you a genuis at design.

Because of those two reasons, I'm having not one, but two designs created for $7 Tools as part of Minisite Wars 2007, a competition to determine the best minisite designer on the planet. 31 sites will be fought over in 5 rounds, with a round 1 spot costing the site owner $97 and each successive round costing a bit more. Each site will have a design submitted by each of two designers; the designs will be judged and the winning designer will advance to the next round.

I've reserved a round 3 spot; I wanted a better quality designer for my site and—at $167—the round 3 price was only $20 more than round 2. Not all of the spots have been sold yet for rounds 1 and 2, so it will be a while before I get my two designs and a winner is declared. You'll know that $7 Tools was a winner when you see the new site makeover.

You'll certainly have noticed the new site design that came out as a result of Minisite Wars 2007. Two designers battled it out and this was the winning design, created by Tino Hartung of Tino-Designs.com.

I'm not sure what happened with this competition. As of this date, nearly a year after the start, the "war" isn't yet over -- there are still design spots open and there's no winner. I'm glad my skirmish was over before the troops deserted.