May 10, 2008 by pierre
I started using online applications like Gmail, Flickr and Bloglines when they were published in early 2004. Around that time I started to look into web programming and what could be done with CGI scripts or PHP & MYSQL, and it’s also when Ruby on Rails was first released. Today I’m living in google mail, reader and docs, watch closely the market of webapps, and develop some at work and in my leisure time. In the recent years I learned quite a lot about the techniques that these apps are built on, on the interface side: patterns for Javascript, the DOM and XML, as well as on the backend side: db models, caching etc…
Yet more and more I’m finding myself pushing for simple declarative text files and bare html solutions: I’m dreaming of static webpages or jpg directly displayed in the web browser window… I’m not saying that we should build webpages and stop building webapps, but I think webapps have been doing such an impression on me that I started seeing every sites projects as a a webapp. Like if suddenly ink on paper was printed books all around and no manuscripts anymore, no scribbled napkins notes, etc…
All this to say that these days I enjoy a lot re-discovering all that can be done just by pushing a few html element and some content in a plain text file.
Inspiring sites:
http://okmij.org/ftp/
http://www.ftarri.com/index.html
Examples of webpages we did with Jérôme recently:
http://electronest.com
http://textasplayground.net
Tags: design, html, presence, webapps, webpages, websites | Comments (0)
April 3, 2008 by pierre
Jérôme did a nice use of the pilcrow sign in the Disclosures programme, we were discussing this with him and Martine a few days ago before going to the opening of the exhibition.
Being an amateur unicode explorer I was familiar with the wikipedia entry on sir U+00B6. Recently Jonathan Hoefler wrote an article* that very nicely updated what I knew about it. One of the thing I did not know was that it came from a “c” and not a “p”, this prompted us to the word “caragraphs”, the new official terms in lingonest for those block of text that sometime cannot afford white lines to separate them.
* being a perverse automator, I particularly like Jonathan Hoefler “8 fundamental questions that inform the space of the pilcrow” and the corresponding 768 possible outcomes at the end of the entry.
Tags: design, disclosures, pilcrow, typography | Comments (0)
March 27, 2008 by jerome
This is a 365×270 cm wall inside the Gasworks gallery. It will signal I’ve got the books, you’ve got the brains… and the Disclosures series of events; it’s featuring the font LaPolice by François Rappo, edited by B&P Type Foundry.
Tags: design, disclosures, gasworks, typography, wall | Comments (0)
February 21, 2008 by jerome
via http://www.findability.org/archives/000195.php
Mental Models There is no single methodology for creating the perfect product—but you can increase your odds. One of the best ways is to understand users’ reasons for doing things. Mental Models gives you the tools to help you grasp, and design for, those reasons. Adaptive Path co- founder Indi Young has written a roll-up-your-sleeves book for designers, managers, and anyone else interested in making design strategic, and successful. http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/mental-models/
Building Findable Websites: Web Standards SEO and Beyond (Paperback) described by Peter Morvilleas an excellent, practical companion to Ambient Findability. http://www.amazon.com/Building-Findable-Websites-Standards-Beyond/dp/ 0321526287/
Tagging: People-powered Metadata for the Social Web (Voices That Matter) (Paperback) peter Morville: an absolute must-read for anyone who cares about information architecture, social software, or personal knowledge management. http://www.amazon.com/Tagging-People-powered-Metadata-Social-Voices/ dp/0321529170/
[book] [resource] [tags]book, resource[/tags] [project]research, investment[/project]
Tags: book, design, findability, methodology, process, resource, tagging, usability, user | Comments (0)
