News : June 2000
A new issue of A List Apart is out... this week Bill Humphries talks about URLs and all the problems and solutions associated with them.
Special thanks goes out to the Astounding Websites crew (Jeffrey Zeldman, Glenn Davis, Rebecca Pranger and Brian Main) for getting the site up when I was in the middle of a harddrive crash. I should be fully back online by this weekend.
Astounding Websites launched tonight. It's a different sort of community aimed at...well you'll have to go see for yourself. A few kinks to work out yet, but then what website doesn't have kinks?
Kris of *Spark Online tells us that Webzine 2000 is almost here. This is an event I would really *love* to goto, it's all about Independent Web Publishers and Zines... but I have no way of getting there, much less back home. Anyone heading from Portland to SanFancisco on the 21st or the 22nd?
A nice feature on the Flash powerhouse, Kioken, can be found in Adobe's Web Gallery for your reading pleasure.
Spent most of last night developing this Friday's A List Apart article. It will be wrapped up tonight in hopes to dig into my personal SCSI hell... if all goes well, SCSI hell will become SCSI heaven with my new toy.
Speaking of Zeldman, I found this brilliant article by Leo Robert Klein from Zeldman's site. It's in regards to the carnage that was seen in the recent Slashdot interview.
Ahh ya, Noah Maas has done it again... version seven of his portfolio.. slick and sweet. Someone hire this guy!
More art than design: I stumbled across this beauty today... maybe it's just me but I have always liked the layout that comics have. The way the panels are placed on the page and how elements extend out side of a given panel. Maybe I should spend some time and borrow that copy of Understanding Comics from Mathew.
For people who struggle with cross-browser dHTML coding - it's not officially announced on the Netscape or Mozilla sites yet so just wanted to let you all know the good news. In the process of writing part 2 of the standards-compatible browser tutorial, I was able to get confirmation from Eric Krock, Technical Manager at Netscape, that Netscape 6 will support innerHTML! It's time to do the happy nerdy dance! Standards purists may be dismayed because innerHTML is not part of the W3C's standards specs but it's just so makes sense to include it. You can test it out by downloading the current Mozilla build.
XHTML, what is it and how does it effect me as a web designer or developer? Those questions and more answered in this week's A List Apart article, "Rated XHTML" by none other than Peter-Paul Koch (AKA PPK), one of the brilliant minds behind WDF.
The articles, tutorials and reviews are in and now it's time for edits. Lots of new and old faces contributing here. You will see part 2 of Preparing for standard-compliant browsers by Makiko Itoh, a new column by Daphne Blum, articles by Andrew Johnstone and Justin Fox as well as a Fireworks review by Jesse Nieminen.
Paraphrasing Zeldman, popularity does not insure quality.
Ok, I must be honest here... I was never really a big fan of this song, but this hit convergence right where it counts. Must see, you'll need Flash to view this baby.
The thread about Elitism in the Community continues. I think my post (at the end) pretty much speaks for itself. Special thanks to Daniel for bringing this thread to life.
Today, we call upon you to do something for us. Today is your last day. Hai Capito?
Immerse.org begins to realize that design is not about just being accepted by designing to please others. It's about designing with passion in what you believe in. Skizz.com shows us, in more ways than one, that having passion in your design and believing in yourself can be a truly powerful experience. What makes you a designer? What makes you a designer that stands out from the crowd? Are you designing for YOU?
To clique or not to clique, that is the question. Elitism in the web design community. Is it a good or bad thing... something DiK recently addressed. Dreamless.org allows you, personally, to express your concerns and opinions.
A new article is up on A List Apart for your reading pleasure. This week we cover DOM Design Tricks, part one of a series of tutorials/articles on the very powerful yet somewhat mysterious language of Document Object Model.
Andrew tells us that Macromedia redesigned their site. Not too bad at all.
Heather's FOJM hits 100 photos. You go gurl! For those who don't know, Heather has a very cool site where she collects photos taken through mirrors from friends all around the world. Yet another great original idea.
Hmmm... this site seems really familiar somehow... maybe it's just me... it reminds me of something I wrote about before.
If your up for summer in the city make it to Flash Forward 2000 in New York City. This event being held at the Hammerstein Ballroom July 24-26th will be the biggest gathering of web talent in history. Check it out Flash Forward 2000.
Last call for article submissions for the next issue of Digital Web Magazine. You have up until midnight tonight to get your drafts in.
Instead of complaining about people who are complaining about people who complained about other people, I offer this:
Stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution (i.e. the point of this site).
Let us be honest here, there is nothing stopping you from raising the bar for the quality of the content on this "What's New" page. Anyone can post here who has contributed to the magazine. Don't like what you see? Good, do something to change it.
Juxt Interactive just released a new entertainment prototype SHORN.com, entertainment for the ill-tempered. We tried to explore interactivity as an editorial voice check it out let us know if we were successful or utter failures. email Todd
Jason apologized today and so do I. I apologize to Jason for being a reactionary person... I probably should have tried to understand his point better before replying.
Jason is basically tired of seeing the same stuff on everyone's web log... and I agree.
He's tired of seeing everyone link into and talk about each others web logs... I am to.
I realize I do this here... a lot... but you have to understand, this site is not about this web log... this web log is simply here to give you some news to chew on before the next issue comes out.
As Zeldman says, you have to be able to get beyond the front page to understand the site (in his Slashdot interview), for us it's the fact that you have to get past the What's New page to understand the point of the site.
If you don't like the news I dish out or you are tired of seeing the same thing over and over again on this site, then by all means, go forth explore the web. There is more to the web than just this site... I am not twisting your arm to keep you from going out there and finding other cool sites. And if you do find some site like that, let me know... I like to explore too.
In case you've missed it, adobe.com has an interview with David Carson. Nothing new here, but still with a once-over.
In other news . . . after three years, six months, and a gajillion days, my Web site has finally launched. Surf over to it sometime and let me know what you think.
Thank you, Lance, for reminding us that what we do is an artform within itself.
I think this pretty much speaks for itself. Like I mentioned before, I believe it's 90% of our economy. Dot-com's are killed and born or reborn every day... everyone wants their idea to be next "big idea."
On a site note, Mr. Kottke seems to have a personal vendetta to take care of. Perhaps it was my harsh slam on the Webbies, perhaps it was that he doesn't like my views on Dreamless or something. I feel he has not participated in the process enough to criticize it. You need to be an experienced with the subject before you can be a critic. Granted he is experienced with weblogs, and he is a good designer (from the work I have seen), but I don't think he's really gone beyond the "What's New" page to really understand this site. People who criticize others yet do not contribute anything or try to change the way things are bug me. what are you going to do about it?
I have been spending most of the weekend updating my portfolio. There are still several other things to update but never enough time. The time I do spend on it seems to be just enough to keep up with all the new projects that I am currently working on or have recently finished.
A fresh new issue of Shift is now online for your viewing pleasure. Issue 43 features an interview with Future Farmers, a review of the Onedotzero festival, a review of Project40, a new cover and much more. Check it out, these guys rock.
Within an hour it will be Friday here on the Pacific Coast, and with every Friday comes a fresh new issue of A List Apart. This Friday is no ordinary Friday article, however. Peter Balogh challenges the theory that Flash is "the cancer of the Web."
Zeldman mentioned his thoughts on web awards earlier today. Oddly enough, I just found out that I am "Blog of the Week" on Blogger.com... now that may not mean much to you unless you are a Blogger, but to me it means a whole lot coming from a great group of people. Pyra doesn't just make software, they connect communities.
Gabe tells us that there are six healthy new pieces for the June and July update of Born Magazine plus one new addition to "The Birthing Room" online for your viewing and reading pleasure. For those of you not familiar with Born Magazine, Born is an online venue for design and literature collaboration. Born contains probably the best collaborative work on the web and is well recognized in the web design community.
More links from the K10k guys: Basile Gallery, Viaduct, Boss Design. All good design for furniture, but still no sign of the chair I am looking for.. I have stumbled across it before, somewhere.
Thanks to Robert Lewis for pointing out Room and Board which has a more traditional approach. I love the sectionals they have there. He also points out this site (Netscape users beware, this site crashed my browser).
The guys at K10k have declared today to be Furniture Day. This couldn't have come at a better time. I have been looking for some new stools and couches to replace my old ones (note to self: never buy a white couches or chairs). I have a lot to select from: Todd Hase, Zóe, Bright, Bugan, Blank and Cables, R.O.O.M. Boffi and Voss. I managed to narrow the stools I want down to two specific models from Pure Design... the 9840 and 9841 models seem to be more my style. Still need to pick a couch and loveseat.
Lance makes me question just what is in my own referer log, tonight we shall post the results here.
The latest buzz-word to add to your vocabulary is "Baby Bills." Surprise, you have twins! Microsoft is still crying out that it will appeal until they are blue in the face, but I don't think that even appeals can stop justice now.
Two percent? Just a lousy two percent??! I would have assumed at least 80%... I can't even get on the bus or have dinner without being within earshot of a dot-com conversation.
Daniel Vena has started a brilliant thread on Dreamless.org called "Duchamp and Dada as it relates to the web." And people keep saying, "I don't get what the big deal about Dreamless.org is all about..." It's about doing something we were never able to do before; communicate directly with eachother and learn from eachother. Thank you again Joshua.
I have no idea what 90% of this Hungarian design mag says, but I think it says something without the need for words: killer design.
Adobe seems to be on a roll lately, they recently announced the availability of their Scalable Vector Graphics viewer. This is, in my opinion, the next logical step.
I don't know about you, but does this press release's wording disturb you? It's Microsoft promoting the next generation of the Internet as if it was a Microsoft product. That's just wrong. I mean, hear they are are on the brink of a breakup and they are still trying to assimilate everything and everyone in their path.
Niko Stumpo is at it again, this time he is featured in Adobe's Web Center... maybe some day he will do a cover for us? (hint, hint)
Since Andrew is probably passed out on some couch right now from pure exhaustion, I am going to let you know that Design is Kinky has a new funky fresh redesign up for your viewing pleasure. Run, don't walk... this is a must see.
Adobe has now released Illustrator 9. The new version includes features such as the ability to output Flash and SVG. Unfortunately it also includes features such as the ability to create drop shadows and glows.
It's Friday and that means another new issue of A List Apart is out. This week Robert Miller talks about 'Bridging the Gap' between front-end and back-end web or as I like to call it, form and fuction.
With Zeldman.com turning 5 years old and 0sil8.com turning 4 years old... I got to thinking, how old is digital-web.com? ...as best I can tell it is 6 years old as of March 2000. Unlike everyone else, I don't remember the exact day... maybe we should just say it's tomorrow and have a party? First beer is on me.
Thanks to Rony Tako for the linkage... if you haven't already, check out Infinite Race, an exhibition of images and words... very cool.
This really urks me!
More reviews of Photoshop 6 and ImageReady 3.
Kris tells us that a new issue of Spark-Online just went live. There is a lot of good reading here... I especially liked "Deconstructing Melville" by Kevin Giovanetto as well as several others.
