A new Canvas
It’s been a while since I’ve stumbled into The Canvas, paid for a latte and a pastry or ordered a sandwich and salad from the counter, perused the art hanging around the side walls, and camped out at one… ~500 words
Another cafe gathering in SF
Our fourth informal get-together to discuss style, CSS, web standards, and other über geek topics will be this Thursday, May 22 at Atlas Cafe in the Mission. In addition to what Tantek mentions, I’ve been thinking about independent projects,… ~68 words
It don’t mean a thing…
If you know the six words which complete that phrase and come straight from The Duke himself, you already know what this entry is about. In addition to a passion for design and fine art, friends who know me well… ~600 words
Zen inspiration
Over at Mezzoblue, Dave Shea introduces a wonderful space in which we can explore and experience the intersection of beauty and innovation. His CSS Zen Garden offers examples of aesthetically-pleasing layouts constructed with clever techniques intended to showcase the power… ~200 words
Canned competition
Via tonight’s episode of Food Network’s Unwrapped, the Society of Design Administration (SDA) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) founded a creative and worthwhile design competition held in multiple U.S. cities each year called CANSTRUCTION®. [Caution:… ~200 words
On office space
No, haven’t yet seen the movie, but considering the constant prodding of friends to do so, I’m likely to see it some day. What I will note, however, is that having (and enjoying) office space in downtown San Francisco… ~800 words
Wireless AND tableless
Via a post on css-discuss from the lead designer, Cingular Wireless launches the next big commercial site to adopt XHTML for markup and a heavy reliance on CSS for layout and presentation. Apart from my natural interest level in this… ~500 words
Learning more CSS
Already know the basics of CSS? Want to learn more about the ins and outs? It’s not too late to join Westciv’s free self-paced online course, currently covering CSS Level 2. I’d recommend looking into it if you’ve… ~200 words
Yahoo!, rebuilt
Alright. It was low-hanging fruit. I couldn’t resist. I mentioned the launch of the New Yahoo! Search a couple days ago. After wading through their code for an hour or two last night, I almost gave up. But determination kicked… ~200 words
Do you still Yahoo!?
In the current Google Age, we tend to default our web searching to one tool which finds what we’re looking for every time. Many of us subconsciously believe Google is the answer to Bono’s soul-seeking lyrics from 1987. With… ~400 words
Fast Company picks up speed
In the continuing trend of large sites converting to web standards and CSS-based layouts, Fast Company finds the religion and adopts it as their own. FC relaunched their site today, giving up reliance on tables for layout. Instead, they turn… ~200 words
Treading water
Keeping up with client projects and balancing an increasing amount of social activity makes me feel sometimes like I’m barely staying afloat. So far, I’ve been able to maintain a moderate pace without pulling too many all-nighters to catch up… ~200 words
Stirring it up in SF
Sitting down where we please. Foaming at the mouth. Blood pumping through our veins. Well, ok. Probably not quite what you’ve been seeing happen in San Francisco over the last few days. More like a distraction to get our minds… ~200 words
Designing in public
Online content producers and software developers are learning new lessons about opening up their design process to public scrutiny. Good design firms involve and include their clients early and often in many of the design decisions. Both independent and commercial… ~600 words
Strike a pose
I’ve posted a set of pictures from South by Southwest last week in Austin. I was slightly disappointed I didn’t snap more pictures, despite the fact that I had a really small camera which went everywhere with me. I was… ~100 words
More on background-image, II
Thanks to David Havelin, who just wrote in to report back the results of pointing JAWS 4.5 to the background-image text-replacement examples (Ex.1, Ex. 1.2, Ex. 1.3). David writes: In all cases, when I asked… ~200 words
More on background-image, I
Jeffrey Zeldman writes up a very worthwhile read on the recent hot topic of CSS backgrounds. He appropriately attributes the original technique to Todd Fahrner, (from whom we’ve all drawn a lot of inspiration and practical problem-solving) and dubs… ~200 words
Flaw with using background-image to replace text
If anyone read the CSS tutorial I wrote last week involving use of the background-image property, they should be aware of an apparent critical flaw in the method as it’s currently described. It’s hard to tell whether the flaw is… ~600 words
When names become people
As SXSW Interactive wraps up today, I find myself feeling like a kid again. A kid at the amusement park who realizes there’s only an hour left until the place closes, the rides stop, and everyone goes home. It feels… ~200 words
Using background-image to replace text
Enhance the presentation of type on the Web via a simple CSS trick, while preserving accessibility for image-exclusive browsing and indexing applications. (Translated into: Russian) ~2,800 words
Web standards need not be ugly
Who said creating type with images was bad? I say, fooey! As I’ve been nursing a wicked sinus infection for the past week — often flat on my back in bed, trying to get healthy again for SXSW — I… ~300 words
Heading South (by Southwest)
In two days, I’ll be one of the many flocking to Austin for South by Southwest, in part, due to Tantek‘s generosity. No speaking engagements — I’ll just be waiting patiently in the audience for chances to heckle… ~100 words
To admire, study, and critique
Two noteworthy XHTML/CSS redesigns have recently launched: Macromedia – The good and bad wrapped into one. Good: Clean, airy, pleasing color combinations, fun imagery, classic Macromedia typography, aesthetic, and balance. Heavy use of Flash, but no excessive animation. Bad: The… ~200 words
SWF seeking VWM
Slim-Waisted Frameset seeking Valid Working Markup for harmonious live-in relationship. Introduce me to new style that everyone can love. Otherwise, you must be able to understand and accept the cosmetic tricks I use to hide my own stretch marks. Give… ~600 words
Frame frustration
In general, I’ve avoided the use of frames in the last few years, and I usually recommend others do the same if possible. In fact, I haven’t worked on a frame-based site since we stopped updating Cocktail many years ago.… ~300 words
In the year of our Lord
Based on recent experience with an indexing robot, I discovered a critical architecture flaw in the way I set up my calendar for viewing Log Entries by Day. Due to a bit of laziness, as well as intrigue of the… ~600 words
Blogger highs and woes
Thanks to the recent news and hype of Google’s Pyra acquisition, it seems Blogger has been quite bogged down recently. Lots of transfer errors. Connection problems. Most likely due to every Blogger user trying to post about the story.… ~500 words
Lingering evidence
It didn’t take long for the person (or group) behind the website I mentioned on Friday to pull down or move the site to another address. Perhaps they were too embarrassed, or never intended the site to be seen —… ~300 words
A new edge
Been wanting another shiny new example of tableless design that pushes CSS and web standards to their limits and doesn’t look back? Not just another personal site or weblog, but a good-size content site from a well-known company? We get… ~400 words
2-4-6-8
The second informal gathering in San Francisco, similar to the first one we pulled together last December, is happening this week. Rather than rephrase what he’s already written, I’ll just crib Tantek Çelik’s explanation and place it here: Douglas Bowman… ~100 words
Ghost on the subway
It’s a rare occurrence to see two human faces superimposed on top of each other in the real world, at least outside of Photoshopped manipulations and Conan O’Brien’s “If They Mated”. But just such a thing can happen… ~200 words
Opera 7 release
My hat’s off to the Opera team for pushing out what looks to be a fine browser in the final release of version 7. So far, only the Windows version of Opera 7 is available. As always, it’s lightweight,… ~100 words
Weblogs.com list
Dave Winer asks: A question for CSS design gurus. What’s the best you can do with a table that has three columns like the one on Weblogs.Com. Let’s see an example. I’d like the page to look good… ~1,100 words
Overused lists?
Ordered and unordered lists have been popping up more often within the blogosphere lately. Through the use of style sheets, we can now tame our lists, rendering them in ways that traverse well beyond the traditional bulleted form so… ~1,000 words
Pause, shuffle, new disc
How quickly an intended 2 or 3-day break from writing entries can turn into a 2-week hiatus. Viewing my entries by day displays a monthly calendar I implemented over the holidays. It sadly reveals a very sparse January so far.… ~300 words
Safari
At last, we may finally have a competitive browser market for the Mac. Apple enters the picture with Safari (v 1.0 Beta), self-dubbed the turbo browser for the Mac. As Jobs likes to do, Safari is compared side by… ~300 words
Catch Me credit
A little more on the flamboyant title sequence I mentioned over Christmas from the movie, Catch Me If You Can. The opening title sequence was assembled by Nexus Productions out of London, who in turn, contracted a well-known pair… ~300 words
Go Dutch
I’ve always loved the pure design and typography from the Netherlands. Filled with a balance of beautiful form and practical function, and wonderfully obvious information hierarchy, Dutch design always evokes an emotional reaction within me. Granted, my personality slants… ~300 words
Golden State quarter design
When the competition to design California’s version of a commemorative U.S. quarter was announced last fall, I debated whether to enter something. Any attempt to represent something meaningful in a space the size of a coin or a 32-by-32-pixel icon… ~300 words
Catchy type
I usually go back to Columbus, Ohio to see my mom and visit other family and friends a few times a year. Christmas is one of those times, this year being no exception. Every time I come home to visit,… ~300 words
Classy
Tantek continues his mnemonic and cliché-based 7 steps to proper web authoring with #5: A Touch of Class. In it, he weaves through the ups and downs of the HTML class attribute, and even dips down into CSS… ~44 words
Mixing it Up
You, a doorway to the W3C, and your valid, user-centered design full of intrigue, aesthetic appeal, and inspiration. All potentially part of wthremix: an independent contest challenging creative types to redesign the W3C’s recently revamped homepage. Think you… ~64 words
Upgrade messages
Via Clagnut a few days ago, Richard Rutter summarized some interesting observations and conclusions on the “Upgrade now!” message often seen in the unstyled version of CSS-based designs. Contrary to the current snafu with browser detection scripts over… ~600 words
HotBot redesign launched
Ah, I can finally talk about it. It’s so far off everyone’s radar that hardly anyone has noticed yet. Let’s change that. Another project I had a hand in design directing and pushing to XHTML/CSS (smack in the middle of… ~900 words
Representational language
I discovered an excellent resource over the weekend that I’ve been (and will be) digging through in my spare time. All of a sudden, I’m starting to understand the logic behind Braille by reading through the incredible information at Dotless … ~300 words
They say imitation…
is flattery. But I’m not sure what I think about this recently discovered copy. It’s obviously a work-in-progress. Remnants of my content still poke through in places. I don’t know how long it will stay up, but I’ve taken a… ~600 words
All about the brand
Leander continues the Wired News Mac loyalty series with two more articles pushed out today. Both deal with the power of brand. Apple: It’s All About the Brand makes the point that Apple is not necessarily selling product as much… ~100 words
Small talk in SF
Since MTM/SF in October, Tantek and I have been batting around the idea of holding an informal discussion about style, blogs, workarounds, etc. at a local cafe here in San Francisco. Preferably with free wifi. And space to flip our… ~200 words
Mac loyalists
Continuing on the theme of Mac loyalty, Leander begins a series for Wired News dissecting the reasons behind the passion and obsession for Apple’s machines. Mac Loyalists: Don’t Tread on Us examines the Mac cult and why it continued… ~100 words