‘HTML5 for Web Designers’ by Jeremy Keith : Another link I’ve posted before but worth relinking again, I finished reading Jeremy Keith’s micro-opus on HTML5 last night. It is difficult to imagine a more perfect introduction to HTML5, and it is just as difficult to imagine a more appropriate author for the subject. Well done, Jeremy. … Read the rest here
‘Designing Obama’ Digital Edition : Flip through the 388 pages of this digital edition and you’ll find plenty of design inspiration. Update: Not sure how I missed it (the link is right there in the header), but there’s an iPad app for the book , as well. $5 gets you 388 pages of inspiration at your fingertips. /via Kottke … Read the rest here
$0.99 Today Only: Mobile Web Design (2007) : Grab a PDF copy of my book, Mobile Web Design , for just $0.99. Offer expires at the end of today (Aug 30). View a preview on Lulu or on your iPad in the iBookstore (iBooks app), and read the reviews on Amazon . … Read the rest here
I’m about to head out on a little vacation, but I realized this Wednesday marks ten years of archives here at SimpleBits. Actually, there were a few other domains that came before simplebits.com (robotcom.com and cederholm.org). I’d actually been publishing short, frequent updates for a few years prior to 2000, either by updating a .html file by hand or using a hobbled together home-grown CMS built with PHP and Perl. Those old posts are long gone, but there’s about to be 10 years of archives still preserved here and that’s rather dumbfounding when I stop and think about it. It’s likely dumbfounding because the last 10 years also happen to have been the most eventful I’ve ever had. They’ve been both terrifying and wonderful; educational and exciting; important and enlightening. … Read the rest here
Why Free Plans Don’t Work : Guest author Ruben Gamez of Bidsketch : I’m not saying that it’s impossible to be successful if you launch with a free plan. Obviously free plans have worked well for companies like Wufoo, MailChimp, and FreshBooks, so we know they can work. But the problem is that we’re not them. We need to stop blindly copying them and start thinking about ways to bring in revenue. … Read the rest here
Subtlety, Deconstructed : The ever-sagacious Seth Godin: Subtle design and messaging challenge the user to make her own connections instead of spelling out every detail. Connections we make are more powerful than connections made for us. If Amazon and Zappos had been called ‘reallybigbookstore.com’ and ‘tonsofshoes.com’ it might have made some early investors happy, but they would have built little of value…. It’s tempting to turn the dial all the way to 11, the make everything just a bit louder. The opposite is precisely what you might need. … Read the rest here
Eight Principles of Information Architecture (PDF) : Not that Dan Brown , but this Dan Brown : Information architecture, a field in relative infancy and constantly rediscovering itself, does not yet have a well-established theory that drives the design of structures for websites. You can pick up two books on graphic design and see the same topics covered in each. Why is there no such agreement for books on information architecture? Indeed, information architecture has yet to normalize, and the constant new demands on our work make progress toward that goal challenging. While the industry has yet to settle on a standard theory, there are a handful of principles I keep coming back to – principles that guide my design decisions but don’t dictate a particular approach. … Read the rest here
Jason Grigsby: CSS Media Query for Mobile is Fool’s Gold : This is an interesting piece that debates the merits of using CSS media queries to build mobile-optimized experiences, tackling Ethan Marcotte’s influential article on adaptive design, “ Responsive Web Design ”. For the most part, I agree with Jason’s arguments about the context of mobile and hidden/unused files downloading in the background. These same two points are what led me to argue against handheld CSS in my book , and they remain valid in discussions about media queries, too. With the prevalence of wi-fi in daily life and the ever-increasing speeds of mobile networks, it would be easily to write off file size and download speed when creating mobile experiences. However, with such news as the elimination of unlimited data plans and this net neutrality thing , I think it’s safe to say network speed, latency, and cost will remain relevant to mobile discussions for the foreseeable future… Read the rest here
Penultimate : Giving this sketchbook app a spin on the iPad. Hoping it helps me use it more. I’m finding that having an iPhone and a Macbook Pro has me pretty well covered. Waiting for a breakthrough moment with the iPad that goes beyond having yet another device to check email, web, Twitter, etc. … Read the rest here
A wonderful book of music prints and posters by The Small Stakes (aka Jason Munn). … Read the rest here
When Apple’s Magic Trackpad was announced on Tuesday, I was quick to order one. With the suite of software I use — design, video, sound and so on — having a gestural device on my desktop to interact with that software was an easy sell. I didn’t necessarily see it as a replacement for my mouse prior to purchasing, and since its arrival yesterday, I still don’t see it as a replacement. More about that in a minute. Size-wise, it’s a little over 5” by 5” square (13 cm × 13 cm). Compared to the trackpad on a MacBook Pro , it’s nearly twice as tall and roughly 1” wider. … Read the rest here
TwelveSouth Compass Stand for iPad : So practical, so beautiful. Same price as BookArc ($40), but way more utility. … Read the rest here
HTML5 Live with John Allsopp : Just purchased my subscription. Though I’m familiar with a lot of this, I still have plenty to learn. I suspect it’ll be a good interactive complement to Jeremy Keith’s HTML5 for Web Designers . … Read the rest here
Last night I presented a 5 minute microslot on CSS Filters – excluding older versions of IE from seeing your CSS , and feeding extra styles to specific versions of IE and mobile browsers. The slides (with presenter notes) are now available to download from the new Speaking section. Comment on this … Read the rest here
I recently created a new Nina character for WooThemes, but this time, the post about the work is on the WooThemes Blog! Comment on this … Read the rest here
“I found myself resorting to the same button styles, shading techniques, etc… and having to force myself to go back and change things up. I figured that if these guys can spend a year making a single piano, I could probably spend an extra couple hours here and there on refining these details.” - Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain on his redesign of Steinway & Sons … Read the rest here
Steinway & Sons Redesign : Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain, describing (and showing) his approach to the redesign: One of my personal goals for this project was to get away from relying on the same techniques that I’ve become comfortable with over the years… and it was actually harder than I thought it would be. I found myself resorting to the same button styles, shading techniques, etc… and having to force myself to go back and change things up. I figured that if these guys can spend a year making a single piano, I could probably spend an extra couple hours here and there on refining these details. At his request, I had the fortunate pleasure of critiquing Jesse’s work along the way. Like “That’s horrific” and “You really need to consider another career”. Of course, I said that only because I couldn’t man up to confessing how beautiful his comps were… Read the rest here
Q & A with Jason Munn of the Small Stakes : Grain Edit interviews the prolific music poster designer. Have long been a fan, and now purchasing the book , which collects over 150 of Munn’s poster designs for various indie bands. … Read the rest here
Khoi Vinh Resigns as NYTimes.com Design Director : A good friend and long-time inspiration for me, Khoi is moving on: It wasn’t an easy decision. I’ve been at The New York Times for four and a half years now, four and a half years that will doubtless figure prominently in my life for years to come. There were some rough patches, as there are with any job, but on the whole it’s been the best job I’ve ever had…. In the short run, I’ll be doing lots of stuff on a smaller scale: personal projects that I’ve been tinkering with, a few public speaking appearances, a bit of writing (including finishing a book I started earlier this year), some short-term work for companies with whom I’m friendly, and more. … Read the rest here
Delicious packaging design for Gail’s Artisan Bakery. Comment on this … Read the rest here