Archive for June 5th, 2008
With the World Wide Developers Conference only a few days away, the initial set up is beginning, and so of course the photos begin to appear online …
The first one shows the inside banners for the iPhone and OS X Leopard…
The next one is something I would love to be able to drive by on a daily basis … lucky San Franciscans…
So I got to thinking the other day .. I love blogging about the geekiness I find online, and after reviewing the traffic that I have gotten on the site over the last few months, it would seem that at least a few of you enjoy reading about the geekiness I find online.
Blog traffic is a very sought after commodity. It establishes credibility, let’s face it, no one at i09.com is really all that knowledgable about sciFi, and could they be anymore negative about everything they see? So why do we put faith in what they say??? becuase they get almost a million page views per month …
Same with any of the gawker media portals. Wired, Reuters and other sites have “genuine” journalists who make the real content that ends up disected onto other blogs, so they kind of come with their own credibilty.
This all got me thinking though … who has more credibilty then all of them … WE do…
That’s right, we have the real credibility, becuase we are the unknown masses who give these sites the traffic they need to gain thier credibility. We are the ones who have seen every Star Wars movie 400 times. We are the ones who can quote any episode of Star Trek. We are the ones who can tear down and rebuild a computer in less time then a Green Beret can field strip his m-16. We are the ones who make the geek news, so why shouldn’t we be the ones to report on it.
I want to form a coalition of Geeks. UNKNOWN geeks. Sorry Leo Laporte .. Sorry Tom Merritt .. Sorry Rafe Needleman… I respect you all, but your views are now tainted by the man. I want geeks who answer to no one, who will tell it like it is, and who want to be apart of what could become the largest online geek community with a voice..
If you’re a geek (computer, scifi, science, art, whatever … ) and you want to start contributing to a whole new type of online blog, let me know.
Individually we are nobody, but as a mob… we are force to be reckoned with …
AMD begins to push the Puma. PS3 finds a way to do in-game targeted advertising. The PS3 is also accused of chewing up too much electricity when not being used but still plugged in. Acer decides to go after the eeePC with its Aspire 1. New Adobe Acrobat overdoes it, they say. Social networkers don’t think telling all online is necessarily bad, but could be! Look for Apple to introduce the Mobile Me. Gak.
Click to listen:
If you’re like me, you don’t just blindly install updates on that tasty mac, that solves all the worlds problems.. or at least all of your problems. 
The last 10.5.3 release was big, and fixed lots of stuff, so it was worth the update, and pretty much vital to keeping your mac safe and sound, but less then a week after they set free the 10.5.3 update Apple is releasing 10.5.4 to fix problems that 10.5.3 caused.
Most predominate is the corruption of Adobe CS3 files. Adobe’s John Nack speaks in detail about that problem [ here ]. OS 10.5.4 will also add support for a revamped .Mac service, [ rumored ] to be called MobileMe.
The third possible reason is that that the update might support a new piece of Apple hardware. Updated MacBooks? The long-rumored/long-fantasized iTablet? No one is sure, but WWDC keynote is just four days away.
Good Web design, as subjective as it might be, is still just that, good. For this post, let’s forgo the intricate discussion about how Flash changed the world of web sites, or how Dreamweaver and GoLive made everyone with a pulse and a Mac an over-night web designer. Yeah, I said it, you know who you are. What does need to be addressed is what makes a web site not so much stand out from other sites, but what makes it stand out to you, the user.
Over the past 14 years as a designer I’ve joined (and survived) three start-ups, moved five times, and, hold on to your mouse, held over 35 different jobs. Most of those were in fact freelance or contract jobs. I spent the first six years of my career as a print designer, then in early 2000, I moved blissfully — spelunking’ly’ — into the world of web design. I can safely say that that seemingly eon ago metamorphosis changed my idea and opinion of what design was and can be.
Don’t worry my dear readers, this is not meant to be an online therapy session, far from it. I am not here to discuss what I ate for breakfast this morning, but more importantly, what font I used as a header this afternoon, or maybe what color I chose for a rollover at 2 AM.
Dive, but ask questions
Arguably, one of the most disruptive aspects of bad site design is clutter. This pertains to the not only the navigation, but also the body copy, header and any graphical elements on the page. First and foremost, the designer needs to firmly grasp the idea of hierarchy, then and only then will their site become whole, and with any luck, persuade Google to shine their heavenly beacon in your direction. Of course, most of us are bound to the real “end-user”, the client. The one who signs the checks, pays for rent, and allows us to purchase that shiny new 3G iPhone next week. If he or she wants blinking pink ants dancing around each of their navigation buttons, and wants to see every imaginable area of white space plastered with a Yahoo or Google ad, well sir, thy wish shall be done.
However, designers, don’t be fooled by your vast talents and knowledge of all things design. Never dismiss what should be your most loyal friend, the User Interface developer. The UI design for your site can make or break every aspect of your intensely toiled over design. You may have created the single most beautiful combination of color and font choice, but without a proper UI, you risk the user, with her credit card in hand, to dismiss your site, flicking her proverbial cyber-middle finger at you — closing your window.
To that end, those designers who think they can move the world without the most rudimentary knowledge of code and how it works — not to mention how it will impact your design — pack your up your laptops. Being a well-rounded designer does not consist solely of you mastering photo selection and grids, being able to discuss your design with a coder and how they both interact is paramount. Whether you are working with HTML, PHP, XML or a MySQL database, being able to talk intelligently with a front or back end developer about limitations and potential roadblocks, will not only save you time in the long run, but help you produce that much more robust and error free site. OK, no site is completely error free, but am man can dream.
The best sites, I humbly contest, are those that indeed, keep it simple. That idea was true in design school back in the early 90’s, and it still rings true today. From minimalistic sites like [ Craiglist ] and [ Apple ] to the robust [ CNN ] and [ Adobe ], they all have one thing in common: clean, simple, and best of all, legible content and a user-friendly layout. From soccer moms and CEO to teens and ex white house press secretaries, beyond all other needs and wants a site has to offer, they want to be able to find what they are looking for and get on with their double-clicking afternoons.
As reference, please visit: [ webdesignfromscratch ] It offers a wealth of knowledge about, albeit, mostly Web 2.0 remarks, it gives an informed direction of site design, both what can go right, and what can go very wrong.
Happy Spelunking!