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Cameron Moll Go to the source

A few months ago 37signals redesigned Basecamp ’s notification emails, and the result was a move from plain-text emails to HTML emails. For reference, these emails are sent when someone posts or replies to any of the content types in the system (messages, to-dos, etc). I’m generally opposed to receiving HTML emails if a plain-text alternate is available. I use email as a tool to send and receive communication, and too often some creators of HTML email offer visual noise more than anything else. Ironically, they fail to leverage one advantage HTML email has over plain-text email: visual hierarchy, or the ability to help the reader get the right message using color, proportion, and so forth. Visual hierarchy, the classification of elements according to importance and relationship to other elements, tends to be one of the most ignored and underutilized principles of design. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint : There are so many quotable lines in this New York Times story I could very well copy and paste the entire thing here. Instead, a few gems, beginning with this one: ‘PowerPoint makes us stupid,’ Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Forcing HTML5 ‘details’ Support Using jQuery : The details element, as explained by the W3C , is designed to be a “disclosure widget from which the user can obtain additional information or controls.” Think of the +/- control in Windows or the right/down arrows in Mac OS. (Check the demo page and you’ll see what I mean.) This script by Mathias Bynens allows you to use the element with jQuery forcing support for those browsers that don’t yet natively support details . According to Mathias, currently no browsers natively support the element. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

New HTML5 Form Field Type: range : Amidst all the HTML5 buzz over the past year, somehow I missed this: HTML5 offers a new input field type, type=”range” , which renders a UI slider for entering data anywhere between the min and max values you specify. This feature could become as useful as CSS multiple backgrounds, in that a) it’s long overdue and b) we’re already faking it all over the web. The HTML5 presentation from which this slide was taken, by the way, is wonderful. It’s an interactive teaching tool on the subject of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript APIs. Slide 41 is really wild—press 3, then arrow left or right. Update: I failed to mention these slides are best viewed with a browser that already supports these features, i.e… Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

The New CS5 Branding : Veerle Pieters, with input and samples from Shawn Cheris, lead designer for Adobe’s Desktop Brand team. /via Paul Mayne … Read the rest here

Mezzoblue Go to the source

Last week I put together an animated infographic that required some flexibility. Alpha transparency was essential, but the number of images I needed to pull it off meant that my typical way of creating PNGs wasn’t going to work. Let’s be honest; Photoshop is absolutely terrible at saving transparent PNGs for web use. Your choices are between an 8-bit with 1-bit transparency (better than a GIF in terms of file size, but no better in terms of transparency options) or a huge 32-bit PNG with alpha transparency. There’s no middle ground. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Library of Congress to House Your Tweets : Kent German, writing for CNET’s Crave Gadget Blog: The Library of Congress announced today —via Twitter, no less—that is acquiring the Twitter’s entire archive through donation…. Though the whole idea may sound bizarre, the Library already holds more than 167 terabytes of Web-based information, including legal blogs and Web sites for political candidates and current lawmakers. We all best write a little more carefully, I suppose. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

iPad for Filmmaking, Specifically Screenplays : Stu Maschwitz, filmmaker and “accidental technologist”: First and foremost, I hoped that I would enjoy reading screenplays on my iPad, and I am happy to report that I do, very much. I read a ton of screenplays, many in PDF format. I hate reading them on my computer screen, especially my laptop. Not because of the backlit screen, but because of the psychological association I have with my computers. They are devices for doing work. They are a constant and cacophonous source of distraction… Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

What the iPad is Missing: Good Typography : Stephen Coles, FontShop’s self-described “Glyph Pusher” (and boy does he know glyphs): Apple has made some puzzling decisions over the last few years that leave one wondering if they really care about typography as much as they did in the 1980s when the Mac launched the desktop publishing revolution. As recently as 2005, Steve Jobs made typography a central theme of his commencement address to Stanford grads, but his actions as the almighty head of Apple haven’t followed suit. Sadly, I have to agree with Stephen’s thoughts. The Winnie the Pooh book that comes with iBooks is a shining (i.e. dull) example of illegible type. … Read the rest here

Eric Meyer Go to the source

Here’s some fun. (For a sufficiently nerdy definition of “fun”.) Launch Safari 4 or Chrome 4. Drag Videotate to the bookmarks bar. Go opt into the YouTube HTML5 beta . Find your favorite YouTube video. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Screw the Web : Faruk Ateş, adding fuel to the web vs. app debate: So screw the Web, for it is too limiting for us creators—be we designer or developer or content writer or otherwise—to build things that inspire and instill a sense of wonder in its audience. We should be thrilled by the iPad (and the new breed of similar devices soon to follow), because it offers us a chance to break free from our DOM-driven chains and CSS hackery and actually use a platform that’s designed from the ground up to deliver amazing user experiences. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Today kicks off a series of contests that will be announced here throughout this week. Each day you’ll see a new contest, aimed at helping promote the Colosseo letterpress poster and, in return, providing you a chance to win one of a few prizes. Contest #1: Win an iPad 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G This first contest is pretty simple. To have a shot at winning an iPad 16GB with Wi-Fi + 3G (valued at $629 USD), do either of the following: If you’ve already purchased one of my Colosseo posters, you’re already entered to win. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Mobile Roadie Seeks Objective-C Enginner : Since we’re on the topic of Objective-C, you might be interested in this full-time position in Beverly Hills, California. Mobile Roadie , “an award winning platform that lets anyone create an iPhone or Android App in minutes and manage it via a CMS,” needs an Objective-C Engineer to help craft its iPhone and iPad apps. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Mobile Web or Objective-C? : Peter-Paul Koch, in response to my post yesterday: As readers of this blog know I’m firmly putting my weight on the interoperability side of things. Now you also know why: attention for superior UX needs to go down a tad. We have to reach an attention equilibrium between superior UX and superior reach before we can truly discuss the pros and cons of the two strategies. I think that the pull of Objective-C that Cameron is feeling right now will be a temporary phase… Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

The central theme of Mobile Web Design was carefully and thoughtfully built on the assumption that the browser will always provide the most consistent, reliable medium for users of web content, and the most open and sustainable platform for developers of the same—all thanks to HTML, CSS, and web standards. Additionally, I argued that “smart clients” (lightweight apps installed on a device whose content is primarily fed by and stored in the cloud) would and should remain secondary to providing the same experience in the browser, again for the reasons mentioned above. Since the release of iPhone and now with the release of iPad, I’ve gradually found myself questioning more and more the assumption I made. Apple has consistently proven that holistically controlling the entire user experience—inclusive of hardware to software and everything in between—has the potential to yield a more pleasant experience overall. Think of Mac OS + Mac, iPhone OS + iPhone, and now iPhone OS + iPad… Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Dribbble , masterfully crafted by Dan Cederholm and Rich Thornett , went live over the weekend. I don’t recall all the details, but probably sometime in 2008, Dan Cederholm and I had a conversation about an app he was considering building. Fundamentally, the idea was to build a community loosely based on the same concept as the “ Screen Grab Confab ” posts on my site. (Remember those?) The concept was simple, embracing the brevity and utility of Twitter and adding to it visuals: Share a snippet of what you’re currently designing, but only a snippet. Let others reply. Dan asked if I had any issues with the idea… Read the rest here

Hicksdesign Go to the source

As I’ve said before, the quality of the acting in new Doctor Who has often gone some way to disguise the lack of a decent story. In particular, David Tennant’s swansong “The End of Time” was a big confused mess of abandoned plots and ‘reset buttons’, but it shone whenever there was one to one dialogue. It wasn’t a satisfactory end to his reign by any means. It’s not as if Russell T Davies can’t write good Who stories – ‘Gridlock’ and ‘Midnight’ show us he jolly well can – he justs gets a bit overexcited when it’s finale time. It’s like a Royal Variety Performance, Who style… Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Relink: MEX Manifesto Predicts “Multi-Platform” Experiences : With the iPad arriving at many U.S. households tomorrow, it’s an appropriate time to revisit something I posted in November 2009: Each year, MEX, the Mobile User Experience conference, publishes a manifesto to frame the content and discussion for the year’s conference. Traditionally these manifestos have focused on mobile devices, operators/carriers, and the like. However, this year’s manifesto speaks repeatedly of “multi-platform” experiences. … Read the rest here

Snook Go to the source

I’ve commented on this before but I have a protocol that I usually use when emailing someone. I like to finish my emails in a way that acknowledges that you have reached the end of the message. My first email tends to be on the more formal side. [Cheers | Best regards | All the best | Best of luck to you], Jonathan Once the formality is out of the way, I keep it short. The verbosity is unnecessary since you should already know my name and the goodbye greeting sounds odd in the middle of an ongoing conversation. In which case, I like to use my initial prefaced by a hyphen. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

We’ve added a third job type to Authentic Jobs , specifically for contract positions. You can read more about the hows and whys over at the Authentic Jobs blog . I’m repeating the screencast video here merely to give me a chance to talk about the making of it. Surprisingly, this is only the second screencast I’ve done throughout 11 years of doing web stuff. I’ve still got plenty to learn… Read the rest here