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11.17.08 | # | Start the conversation
Shorts Archive
One website dares to ask the question…is graphic design art?
I don’t know about the whole field of graphics design. But I think of web design as closer to designing a car than to creating art. Websites are meant to be used, not just appreciated. Design isn’t art. Design is, well, design.
11.12.08 | # | 2 Comments
Why must great T-shirts be so expensive?
11.12.08 | # | Start the conversation
For the web nerds that read this, apparently google added the following to their robots.txt file on Halloween:
User-agent: zombies
Disallow: /brains
Via Matt Cutts.
11.12.08 | # | Start the conversation
I’m going to vote.
11.08.08 | # | 2 Comments
Wise words on creating a good iphone app. I think it applies well beyond it’s intended scope.
Figure out the absolute least you need to do to implement the idea, do just that, and then polish the hell out of the experience.
John Gruber’s one central, overriding guideline for iPhone UI design (via 37 Signals)
11.06.08 | # | Start the conversation
“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”
Albert Einstein
11.06.08 | # | Start the conversation
Just handed in my National Multiple Choice Exam. Psssst — the answer to question #1 is Obama
11.04.08 | # | Start the conversation
The BBC always has reports on interesting research. Todays reads says that tea is a healthier drink than water and web surfing is good for your brain.
In other news, Wide Open Spaces is even better with more cowbell.
11.01.08 | # | Start the conversation
My handwriting is a new level of illegible. 128-bit encryption has nothing on my chicken-scratch.
-Kelly Abbot (via LifeHacker)
10.26.08 | # | Start the conversation
David Sedaris, on undecided voters:
To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.
Via DF and The New Yorker.
10.22.08 | # | Start the conversation
There’s been a lot of problems with this site lately, all caused by the quality of my hosting service going down hill. These issues mostly show up as 404 errors (even when the page exists) and slow load times.
To combat this, I’ve purchased a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from Modwest to address the problem, but the move will take a couple weeks to finish. My apologies for the hiccups and downtime while I make this transition. Things should be much better after the move to the VPS.
I’ve already got two of my other domains on that server, and they are running as smooth as can be.
05.02.08 | # | Start the conversation
Spotted across the web:
- Atmostheory - Some cool creative posters using keyboard shortcuts.
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Draft - Looks like theW3C has published the Release Candidate for the WCAG 2.0.
- Quipsologies - An Interesting way to spend a lunch hour. Primarily for designers.
05.01.08 | # | Start the conversation
Perhaps the most artistic element of typography, the ampersand can add a touch of class to the visual form. Check out Adobe’s quick info on the evolving form of ampersands.
04.17.08 | # | Start the conversation
Cool Tide Commercial. Reminds me of the effect those flashing ads have on how I view a website. Thank God Firefox has it’s own version of the Tide Stick for websites.
Via Authentic Boredom.
02.04.08 | # | Start the conversation
It seems that this new year has already reached its quota of problems, with the false positive on antivirus software, and most recently my domain expiring without my knowledge (and bringing down this website and my email), things are finally all taken care of.
On the upside, I’ve found some good topics to make some useful posts on, so stay tuned for something actually worth reading.
Dan
01.07.08 | # | Start the conversation
Over the holiday McAfee and CA both issued new virus definitions that incorrectly identified common external JavaScript files as potentially dangerous virus carriers. Mint, my web stats program, was (incorrectly) flagged as well.
I apologize if this has caused any concern for my users.
Well, I finally got around to creating a decent front page design (the blog design is still old and outdated, but I’ll get to that in a second). And in the process I have constantly been thinking about how I really need to start over completely. Making tweaks regularly to the design has left it’s CSS in bad shape, filled with hacks and utterly reliant on a conditional comment for IE6. It should display nicely in mainstream browsers, but it just doesn’t feel up to snuff to me. I would never dream of sending code like this to a client, so why am I letting it slip on my own site? The answer is simple: time. My personal site does not get priority over anything, and a wholesale redesign takes a large chunk of my time.
Assuming that I wish to spend the time needed to improve the quality of my code, I am left with two choices: recode the current design from scratch or start the design from scratch. Both have some positives; the feedback on my current design has been mixed (mostly due to the disjunction of the name Northlander and the fruit scheme) and I did the concept for this design over 2 years ago, so it feels very old.
The blog design will probably get updated whenever I do one of the two options. So, should I keep this design, or develop from scratch?
04.22.07 | # | 2 Comments
The Washington Post did an astounding article about a world famous violinist playing in the New York Metro station. Not only is this notable for the sheer uniqueness of the stunt, but also for the eloquence of writing and quality of philosophical analysis. A must read.
Elsewhere at SXSW, a great presentation is available for download about web typography.
Kris Krug gives some tips on how to improve your photography. Nice video from Robert Scrobble.
04.09.07 | # | Start the conversation
On the suggestion of a comment, I have put in Spam Karma 2 to help with the nasty comment problems I have been having.
Let me know if there are any problems.
04.01.07 | # | Start the conversation