Webdesigninformer.com

Cameron Moll Go to the source

The malware attack(s) that my site suffered in recent weeks put into motion a series of changes which have been planned for some time now—some for a few months, some for a couple years. What follows is a detailed explanation of the changes. New Design Over Christmas Break in 2007, I started two redesigns: One for Authentic Jobs and another for this site. The premise for this realign encompassed a concept that wasn’t original, but one that I felt better suited my style of blogging. You see, I’ve always enjoyed posting links as much as I’ve enjoyed posting articles. … Read the rest here

Eric Meyer Go to the source

The winners of Microsoft’s MIX 10K Smart Coding Challenge (for which I was honored to serve as one of the judges ) have been announced, and the Grand Prize has been awarded to… Jimmy D ’s Frog Log . Which is an HTML5/CSS/JS entry. That doesn’t run in Internet Explorer. Yep. Frog Log was my top pick, and obviously did very well with the other judges too, for a good reason: it’s a fun game. It doesn’t play quite the same in Firefox previous to v3.5, as the drag-n-drop doesn’t work. … Read the rest here

Hicksdesign Go to the source

The last thing I needed was more choice in apps for keeping a ‘Design Scrapbook’, but that’s what’s happened with Zootool . At first glance, it looked like just another FFFF ound , Ember or Img Spark , but it turns out it’s much more than that. The developer, Bastian, told me to think of it as more of a visual Delicious. Once I got into that mindset it made more sense. Zootool ‘lassos’ not only images, but documents (like PDF s), videos, and pages (not complete pages yet) and stores them in your ‘zoo’… Read the rest here

Hicksdesign Go to the source

The last thing I needed was more choice in apps for keeping a ‘Design Scrapbook’, but that’s what’s happened with Zootool . At first glance, it looked like just another FFFF ound , Ember or Img Spark , but it turns out it’s much more than that. The developer, Bastian, told me to think of it as more of a visual Delicious. Once I got into that mindset it made more sense. Zootool ‘lassos’ not only images, but documents (like PDF s), videos, and pages (not complete pages yet) and stores them in your ‘zoo’. … Read the rest here

Hicksdesign Go to the source

“Someone asked me the other day what percentage of my day was spent doing what. Yesterday it was approximately one third general admin type stuff, one third client liaison type stuff and one third designing type stuff. If we ignore the fact that there isn’t really such a thing as a typical day – that is a pretty much a typical day.” Ben Terrett ( Interesting Mini CEO Half Thoughts ) When I started working freelance, I worked out my rates and estimated earnings based on a ‘typical’ eight hour day. What I didn’t really comprehend at the time was the fallacy of an eight hour day of solid work. … Read the rest here

Hicksdesign Go to the source

“Someone asked me the other day what percentage of my day was spent doing what. Yesterday it was approximately one third general admin type stuff, one third client liaison type stuff and one third designing type stuff. If we ignore the fact that there isn’t really such a thing as a typical day – that is a pretty much a typical day.” Ben Terrett ( Interesting Mini CEO Half Thoughts ) When I started working freelance, I worked out my rates and estimated earnings based on a ‘typical’ eight hour day. What I didn’t really comprehend at the time was the fallacy of an eight hour day of solid work. There are so many factors that eat into that supposed ‘billable time’. Admin … Read the rest here

Mezzoblue Go to the source

In the spirit of Dear Adobe , I submit the following two minute Photoshop gripe: As a sanity-check before posting I put this video out on Twitter, and received the following tidbits: The lack of ability to paste a hex value appears to be a Mac-only bug, in Windows it works. (Thanks @cloudislands , @friskdesign ) Within the Save for Web & Devices dialog, if you use the eyedropper tool on the left to select a colour within the canvas, and then hit the Matte colour dropdown menu arrows and select Eyedropper Color, that works. (Thanks @kyleridolfo , @Yardboy , @bradleysepos … Read the rest here

Mezzoblue Go to the source

In the spirit of Dear Adobe , I submit the following two minute Photoshop gripe: As a sanity-check before posting I put this video out on Twitter, and received the following tidbits: The lack of ability to paste a hex value appears to be a Mac-only bug, in Windows it works. (Thanks @cloudislands , @friskdesign ) Within the Save for Web & Devices dialog, if you use the eyedropper tool on the left to select a colour within the canvas, and then hit the Matte colour dropdown menu arrows and select Eyedropper Color, that works. (Thanks @kyleridolfo , @Yardboy , @bradleysepos … Read the rest here

Snook Go to the source

It’s so easy to wallow in self-pity when things don’t go right. As much as 2009 sucked on all levels, it wasn’t all bad. As much as I want to sulk, the fact remains that I live a charmed life. Through some karmic luck of the draw, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. Personal Projects This past year was a year of simplication and basically had me letting go of all my personal projects—at least for the time being. I shut down SidebarAds, I never worked on Snitter, and I never finished Haylia, FontSmack or any number of other personal projects that I wanted to work on… Read the rest here

Snook Go to the source

It’s so easy to wallow in self-pity when things don’t go right. As much as 2009 sucked on all levels, it wasn’t all bad. As much as I want to sulk, the fact remains that I live a charmed life. Through some karmic luck of the draw, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. Personal Projects This past year was a year of simplication and basically had me letting go of all my personal projects—at least for the time being. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Ryan McGovern, DesignChat founder, and I will be chatting live tonight, December 10, at 7:30pm 8pm CST. You can join us at mashable.com/chat . Follow @designchat and watch a few previous chats on DesignChat’s Vimeo channel . … Read the rest here

Snook Go to the source

After having seen Matt Brett twitter about it, I knew I wanted one. The BookArc is a laptop stand, pure and simple. It fits the Mac aesthetic very nicely with its brushed aluminum look—the site says it’s made of "heavy gauge" steel. Suffice it to say, this product is solid. It has soft silicone feet and silicone inserts so as not to scratch your desk or you MacBook… Read the rest here

SimpleBits Go to the source

An educational, illustrated guide. ( via ) … Read the rest here

SimpleBits Go to the source

“[Jelte] Van Abbema created the font by stamping bacteria into paper, and then placing the paper in a jury-rigged incubator, which provided the right humdity and warmth for the organisms. As they multiplied and died, the resulting fonts changed color and shape.” ( via ) … Read the rest here

Snook Go to the source

A really quick screencast today. I twittered about how frustrating it was to have to take 5 clicks to subscribe to a feed into Google Reader within Firefox. I finally decided to take a few moments to fix the issue and get it down to one click (well, technically two, but who’s counting). Of course, this is by no means the only way to do it. Plenty of people on Twitter recommended plugins and bookmarks that could simplify the process. If you got ‘em, link ‘em up in the comments. … Read the rest here

Snook Go to the source

I’ve spent a couple days worth now trying to figure out the best and most complete approach to font embedding using @font-face . It really is a dark art that must be mastered. It is by no means a straightforward process. Font Formats Generally speaking, these days, a font on our system is going to be one of two formats: TrueType (with a .ttf file extension) or OpenType (with a .otf file extension). While it would be nice to be able to just throw a font like this on the web and link it up, we’re hit with two major limitations… Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

So, it’s been four days since rejoining the ranks of the self-employed . The transition from full-time employment to self-employment has been nearly seamless. This is probably because I’ve been through this all before, but also because the timing was right. I was ready to leap and therefore hit the ground running. I have no shortage of work right now. In fact, I’ve probably not been this busy for quite some time. … Read the rest here

Cameron Moll Go to the source

Yesterday at noon I turned in my employee badge, laptop, and other employer-owned property. Goodbyes and K.I.T.’s were exchanged. A Snickers was indulged, just because. And with that, I concluded a chapter from the last three years of my life. Today I begin full-time employment as founder, principal, whatever of Cameron Moll LLC. This is a decision that has been quietly (and carefully) considered since November 2008… Read the rest here

Hicksdesign Go to the source

I love Fireworks. It’s been my tool of choice for a rather long time. In the previous year of working for Opera, I’ve used it more than any other app. Whether I’ve been working on interactive wireframes, UI mockups, icons or final production artwork, Fireworks is the one that I go to. When people ask why I don’t use Illustrator or Photoshop I sometimes find it hard to articulate precisely why. … Read the rest here

Andy Budd Go to the source

After trying to convince us that we’re funding terrorism , equating us to petty thieves and calling us cheapskates , the UK film and TV industry have decided to take a more positive response . I’m surprised it’s taken them so long to realise people see the weakness in their arguments and that their actions may actually be having the reverse affect . While the UK film and TV industry tries to convince us that every download equates to a lost sale, simple logic shows this not to be the case. People who download music and movies still buy CDs, they still rent DVD s and they still go to the cinema. Sometimes even more so. Downloading is just another content channel and one that is used for sampling new artists or consuming media that we probably wouldn’t have paid for anyway… Read the rest here