February 2008 Archives
24 entries
Hex silliness
Andrew Huff realizes that l33tspeak could be applied to hex values and shares the results (via).
“While I was doing some research for one of my upcoming projects today, I found the very first Photoshop icon. It’s actually a tiny little photo shop!”
How to recreate Silverback’s Parallax
Paul Annett describes how to achieve that excellent faux 3D background sliding effect using layered alpha-transparent PNGs. Ignore most of the comments.
Markup & Style Society
Posted at 4:53 PM
Ethan and I are pleased to announce another meeting of The Markup & Style Society next month. It’s a semi-regular, casual meetup for New England area web geeks. This time, things are a little more interesting, and even more secretive. Here are the details:
We need to limit the number of guests due to space, and we’ll be keeping track of first 50 people who RSVP via Upcoming. Unfortunately only those folks will be able to attend, so mark your calendars early.
A fun and interesting evening is promised, with after-meetup drinks at a local pub to follow (that’s really the best part, isn’t it?). We’re also looking for a friendly sponsor to cover pizza during the event. Interested? Let us know and you’ll be forever remembered as “that awesome company that gave us pizza that one time at that thing a while back”.
Money Celebrities Pictures Gallery
The top 26 photos from a contest combining celebrities with the faces on money from around the world (via).
Archer
Everyone’s buzzing about Archer, the new colorful slab serif typeface from Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Liz Danzico made beautiful use of it in her presentation at Webstock last week, and I have to say after seeing it on a 10-foot screen — it’s a keeper. Love the “c”.
“Be polite. No, you’re no more cool than the other dork standing next to you. They may call it an ‘Interactive’ conference but really it’s a large gathering of computer nerds.”
CSS Type Set
Fancy interface for visually setting hypertext. Could be helpful for those first learning the CSS properties we have at our disposal.
Webstocked
Posted at 8:05 PM
I just returned from New Zealand, where I spoke at Webstock. I am tired. I had a tremendous time. I was amazed at the quality of the organization of the conference. I loved the branding that was found on everything from the t-shirt to the speakers’ dinner menus. I saw many old friends and met new ones. I think my talk went over pretty well. I missed out on a lot of the talks due to being obsessive about my slides. I found out I’m not the only one that does that.
I took a lot of pictures. I rented a car and drove up through the center of the North Island and back. I was scared to drive on the opposite side of the road. I loved the espresso in Wellington, in particular People’s Coffee which was free throughout the conference. I’d like to attend more conferences that dispense free, high-quality espresso. I wish I could’ve visited the South Island. I really should’ve enabled mobile roaming before I left the country. I think kiwis are extremely friendly people. I found out that the term kiwi comes from the bird and not the fruit.
I never had a February 11, 2008. I missed my family terribly. I’m calling New Zealand “earth concentrate”, where a two-hour drive can take you through 10 different landscapes. I saw a few movie stars at the hotel in Wellington. I left my iPhone USB cable at a motel near Lake Taupo. I paid $39NZ for a new iPhone USB cable. I am thankful and honored for having to the opportunity to travel so far to talk about web design. I’ll be forever grateful to the hard-working Webstock organizers, in particular Natasha Hall and Mike Brown.
I think I’ll post this, just as it is.
Silverback
Ingenious use of layered, alpha-transparent PNGs (resize your browser window). Not to mention a wonderful Jon Hicks illustrated gorilla as well. Who cares what the app does? I kid.
“I haven’t expressed sheer effusiveness about a logo on Brand New before, but I think this warrants it: I love it. I would even call it ‘brilliantly executed’ and stand behind it 100%.”
I don’t know if this is a Wellingtonian exclusive, or just that I hadn’t come across it before, but here’s something cool at the Museum Hotel in Wellington, New Zealand (where I’m staying right now for this week’s Webstock conference): To turn your room lights on, you dock the keychain in a little slot by the door. Inserting the card turns the main lights on. Removing the key card turns them all off. It’s a natural place to keep your key, while doubly reminding you (or forcing you) to turn the lights off when you leave. That’s good design.
Rainbow Dividers!
For future reference. Be sure to refresh a few times for maximum enjoyment, but please avoid visiting this link if you suffer from Photosensitive Epilepsy (via).
Instapaper
It’s like delicious, but simpler. Basically a quick way to save bookmarks for future reading. I’ve been using delicious to save things immediately, re-posting a select few here as QuickBits — but Instapaper might be an easier way to handle that.
“In 1976, after only working for two weeks at Apple, [original Apple logo designer, Ronald] Wayne relinquished his stock (10% of the company) for a one-time payment of $800 because he thought Apple was too risky.”
Use CSS3 to hide an image behind text
Erik Kastner whips up a neat little demo that hides an image behind text. The image is revealed by using the ::selection pseudo-element found in CSS3. You’ll need Firefox or Safari to see the magic.
Passage
A seemingly simple little 5-minute video game by Jason Rohrer. You have to play first, then read about it (via).
Made by Elephant
I’m digging Tim Van Damme’s design here. I also have a thing for simple animal-shaped identities. Nice work!
“In the beginning, there is the screenplay. The story, the IDEA. Your Photoshop canvas is blank but your mind is racing … You obsess over every pixel the way a good director would obsess over every frame.”
Lego Mario
I think it’s the flute soundtrack that makes this a winner (via).
Why I'm excited about the Google Social Graph API
Josh Porter has a nice summary of Google’s newly released Social Graph API, which allows developers to write software that understands who your friends are, using the power of XFN or FOAF markup. Another exciting example of microformats in action.
Barcode Yourself
Create a unique barcode by entering personal information about yourself.
A few issues of the latest .net magazine arrived in the mailbox earlier this week, and well golly gee, I’ve been named 2007’s Standards Champion for their annual awards. .net is a fantastic UK-based design and development magazine (printed on real paper). What an honor! A big thank you to the magazine and anyone else who was involved in the decision making.
Sub-Pixel Problems in CSS
John Resig investigates the different ways in which browsers round up or down a half pixel. Frustrating that browsers aren’t consistent with this — especially when sizing things in ems or percentages. (via)
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