Truth as I know it: this design would not be what it is — nor would I be the designer I am nor care as much about what I do — without the inspiration, critiques, guidance, mentorship, contributions, camaraderie, encouragement, and support of certain people with whom I have crossed paths in my lifetime. read more
When I finally met Hugh Forrest for the first time in Austin this past week, I told him I keep thinking each year that SXSW is the biggest it can possibly get. That there’s no way the following year can top the previous year in terms of the talent he pulls in for speakers, and the amount of interesting people attending who are so open and receptive to new ideas. Each time I’ve been wrong.
While I’ve been busy the past few weeks, so too, have some of the folks I got to meet in the fine, windy city of Wellington, New Zealand. Next week, Thursday 9 December, will be the first official meeting of the Web Standards Group in Wellington. It’s free, casual, and open to anyone who’s interested. read more
The last three days I spent in Wellington couldn’t have been better. The weather was ideal: clear skies with a few clouds, mild temps, and a low breeze blowing off the harbor — apparently kind of a rare environment for Wellington. The days were relaxed, nothing was planned, and I got to meet quite a few local webbers. read more
I’ll be joining up with Peter and Russ to fly into Melbourne this Tuesday afternoon (5th of October) for a spontaneously rescheduled Web Standards Group meeting that night. Dave Shea and his wife April are traveling to Melbourne, so they’ll also be there for the meeting. If you’re in the area, please come out and join us, whether you’re a member of WSG or not. Details on time and location will be posted to this page on the WSG’s site when they become available. read more
Interesting that the same topic I wrote about at the end of last year (Who/Where are the Women?) is resurfacing. Well, actually, it’s always a topic, but one that seems to be getting hot again read more
Picking up where we left off a couple weeks ago, I direct your attention to the header for the Examples section. (And no, you’re not just imagining a drastic shift if you looked at it soon after the redesign. I did change the background of the page from dark to light.) The original photo for this header image was taken during a recent trip down to San Diego, where good friends, Jason and Megan, took me to one of the best barbecue spots in the country… Phil’s BBQ:
This year is certainly my “coming out of the office” year in terms of public speaking. With three events down, and four more on the schedule so far, the year holds lots of opportunities to meet new people.
A big, huge thanks goes to the Sonoma County Web Developers SIG for hosting me on Tuesday night for a talk titled, Beautiful Interfaces with CSS. Except for getting out of the office late that afternoon, and getting stuck in over 2 hours of traffic on the drive up from San Francisco, it was really an enjoyable evening with a lively crowd. The smaller setting provided lots of opportunity for interaction and a good amount of questions mixed in throughout from the audience. read more
As we approach the 6-year anniversary of the original CSS2 Specification that reached W3C Recommendation status on 12 May 1998, and as the major undertaking of CSS 2.1 rapidly nears Proposed Recommendation status, John Allsopp writes a very appropriately-timed post. Message To The Messengers – Props to the old school reminds us of those to whom our gratitude belongs for their early work and evangelism of CSS. read more
Whew. The all-day and late-night, non-stop activity in Austin is enough to leave anyone exhausted once the event is over. (And to think some of the geeks are still there for the Music portion of the festival.) Yesterday morning, the hotel alarm clock had been set for 5:50am. The Veen brothers were coming to pick me up at the hotel at 6:20am for a way-too-early flight back to San Francisco. True to some law that states “an alarm clock will not go off when you need it most”, the alarm never sounded. Regardless, in some miraculous instance, I somehow bolted up in a panic at 6:18am. No idea what woke me up then, and why it couldn’t have occurred a few minutes earlier. read more
Any person, group, or business which creates or manufactures a product for mass consumption — or offers a wide-spread service (such as a utility company) — is potential target for public scrutiny and criticism. Any noticeable flaws quickly rise to the top, providing fuel for the most outspoken critics. The larger the distribution and dependence on the good or service, the larger the target, and louder the criticism. read more
Spawned by recent conversations with friends, I’ve been thinking about people who are known for designing and working with web standards. Specifically those who have a strong interest in CSS or are already using style sheets to compliment or construct beautiful design. In these conversations, we’ve noted that this space seems heavily dominated by men. This concerns me. read more
2002-2003 campaign: Eliminate stigma and discrimination.
(Post time modified to move this entry to the top.)
Luck and some last-minute arrangements have me on the opposite coast right now. I’m in New York, in the middle of a whirlwind trip which only removes me from San Francisco for a span of about 48 hours. You do the math. Figure about a five hour direct flight each way, and time to get in and out of each city via train, and it doesn’t amount to much time here.
Trips to New York are always like this for me. This is only the third time I’ve been here, but each time, my visit is extremely limited, no doubt confining my experience of the Big Apple to portions that I can see in such short time. read more
Frank Leahy is a friend and former-colleague from Wired. He was responsible for creating one of the primary Content Management Systems used at Lycos, and made significant contributions to the engineering effort when we redesigned Wired News last year. Frank left Wired a couple months ago, and he and his family of four recently picked up their lives and moved to England, settling temporarily in what looks like an amazing location: Cornwall. Understandably, Frank immediately has more time, and so much to write about that he’s started his own weblog, titled “A Year in Cornwall“. read more
Via Paul Boutin, an interesting read from Peter Maass over at Slate. “Salam Pax Is Real” tells an inside story of Driving Mr. Pax, discovering his musical and literary tastes, and taking advice on buying Persian rugs — all without ever realizing this hired interpreter was the Iraqi star of the Web and burdened by huge ISP costs:
He usually drifted off to one of the few Internet cafes in town. I assumed he was just writing e-mails to friends, though he often complained about the high cost of downloading and uploading. This struck me as odd, because sending and receiving e-mail shouldn’t require a lot of bandwidth–unless, of course, you are posting photos to your blog and receiving more e-mail than Bill Gates.
I’ve posted a set of pictures from South by Southwest last week in Austin. I was slightly disappointed I didn’t snap more pictures, despite the fact that I had a really small camera which went everywhere with me. I was more disappointed in the quality of photos from the Sony Cyber-shot U20. Particularly with color and an over-emphasized red-eye effect in low-light conditions. Thus, the reason for playing around with the color for each of the SxSW thumbnails.
Most everyone seems to agree, despite the economic downturn and possibly a smaller attendance at the Interactive portion of the conference, this year was definitely a fun one.
As SXSW Interactive wraps up today, I find myself feeling like a kid again. A kid at the amusement park who realizes there’s only an hour left until the place closes, the rides stop, and everyone goes home. It feels like depression. But I know it’s only because the high is coming to an end, and reality will soon slip back into place. read more
At the very last minute, I gave in to an urge to head down to tonight’s monthly BayCHI program. Ironically enough, I ended up driving down to Palo Alto with Peterme of Adaptive Path and Erika Hall from Mule Design. I had just spent some time visiting Mule’s site last night for the first time. Some of Erika’s simple, to-the-point writing helped spawn yesterday’s post about simplifying writing style. read more
access apple apps atmedia blog books brand browsers business calendar css design eats email entertainment events fun google html humor inspiration locations microsoft mobile movabletype palm people personal photos projects site software sxsw technology tips tools twitter type typography validation via:twitter web wifi wired wordpress
![[the red ribbon, an international symbol of AIDS awareness]](/img/archive/2003/12/ribbon.jpg)
