A List Apart has kicked off the second annual Survey For People Who Make Websites. The call to action:
Calling all designers, developers, information architects, project managers, writers, editors, marketers, and everyone else who makes websites. It is time once again to pool our information so as to begin sketching a true picture of the way our profession is practiced worldwide.
If this applies to you, you know what to do.
Back in 1998, I started learning HTML one summer afternoon after visiting Dave's HTML Code Guide. It didn't take me long to exhaust that resource and I was ready for more. Webmonkey was my next stop in the wonderful world of web development and I learned the lion's share of my early HTML and JavaScript knowledge from their articles and tutorials. With that said, I'm happy to see the relaunch of Webmonkey by Wired.com. They've definitely stepped up their game and incorporated a wiki-styled approach to their tutorials. Anyone with a free Wired.com account can add or edit tutorials, but there are some editorial guidelines and the community is moderated by the Wired staff. Nevertheless, Webmonkey has reintroduced itself as a great resource for web developers. If you haven't checked it out yet, definitely bookmark it or grab a feed. You're bound to learn a thing or two.
In order to help my migration to Flash 9, I went ahead and read the ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook by Joey Lott, Darron Schall and Keith Peters.
Overall, I would say that it was helpful and recommend it, but even though my copy was a first edition, it did seem like the book contained way too may typos (both grammatical and in the ActionScript itself). Typos aside, the chapters on the Display List and XML were both extremely concise and informative. If you’re unfamiliar with either, I’d recommend giving them a look.
Like the other books in O’Reilly’s Cookbook series, the ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook works as a quick reference to commonly encountered problems. Focusing on the end results, their problem/solution approach to education works well when you’re already somewhat familiar with their subject.
Interactive Art Director
We are currently looking for a talented interactive art director with rock star design skills and proven experience designing both CSS and Flash based website layouts.
Junior Interactive Developer
We are also currently looking to hire a junior interactive developer with a far above average grasp of PHP, Flash, ActionScript (AS2/AS3), MySQL, JavaScript, AJAX, XML, HTML, XHTML and CSS and a solid understanding of standards and usability.
Google has announced improvements to their Flash indexing!
Unfortunately, Googlebots do not execute all JavaScript they encounter, so, if your SWFs are loaded via JavaScript, you may want to switch to SWFObject 2’s static method in order to ensure visibility.
For now, only static textual content is crawled but, as a Flash Developer, it's exciting to have Flash applications becoming more legit in the eyes of search engines. For a more detailed Q&A, head over to Flash Charlotte.
We talk to clients occasionally about pulling in content and data from various, popular services across the web (e.g., Flickr, YouTube, Twitter). Most of the time it stays in the conceptual realm and never makes it to the finished product. Perhaps it never makes the transition because we don't use real-world examples to illustrate our ideas.
Ser-vice is "a lifestyle brand focusing on clean aesthetics and modern lines." Their shirts and products sell directly to folks in the creative industry and to people who use the aforementioned services. Case in point, their home page pulls in photos through the Flickr API tagged with "serviceisgood." Not only does this involve their customers beyond the initial transaction, but it shows new visitors there are actual human beings buying their wares.
All said, this isn't anything that new and I'm sure we could scrounge up dozens of examples of this type. However, it's a great example, in my opinion. We should look to this as a reminder that we've barely tapped into the potential of all the free services available on the web.
A little warning for anyone out there running OS X Leopard 10.5.3 and using any of the Adobe CS products to edit files on a remote or network server: beware of file corruption.
Folks started picking up on this last month when the 10.5.3 update was released. According to AppleInsider:
When users attempt a save command, the file on the server becomes unusable, even when copied and opened locally. The issue occurs regardless of the format and doesn't appear to occur for locally saved files, which can still be uploaded to the server afterwards. The corrupted files appear to have a modified header that prevents them from being recognized properly.
We all work off of a file server in the office. Unfortunately, this bug reared its ugly head and rendered a few Photoshop documents useless. Luckily, we pulled files off our daily backup, so not all was lost. However, we're anxiously awaiting the fix from Apple included with OS X 10.5.4, which should be released in July prior to the iPhone 3G launch. Until then, to all those working with said configuration: copy your files locally before make any changes.
Update: Apple has released the OS X 10.5.4 update, which should resolve the issues described above. Upgrade your OS today.
Earlier this year, Pentagram redesigned the trade publication Dairy Today. While not the most interesting topic, Pentagram did an amazing job. Not only did they introduce a strong logotype, but the cover features a new dairy cow portrait each month. You really need to see it in person, but even on the web it's easy to see the cover's potential impact.
Every now and then I come across a designer who doesn't see what's so great about Pentagram. It's true that they get overhyped occasionally, but the Dairy Today cover shows their strength. They can tackle virtually any topic with ease. Nothing they do is overstated, but instead strives to set a new visual standard. In that way, the intention is to be timeless, which is lacking in most design today. Rebrand your company to the hot new trend and you'll be back to square one in two year's time.
Today, we are happy to launch the private beta of CityBlackBook.com - a city-based, best-of lifestyle guide. Our hope is that people will use it to find and share places they've discovered in their city. Unlike other editor’s choice guides, CityBlackBook is an easy-to-use city-based guide without the excess found elsewhere. We plan to empower our user base by letting them decide whether a business is or isn’t included on the guide. While the moderators will monitor and edit basic content (i.e., grammar, image quality, etc.), the crux of the content for the guide will be generated solely by users.
We are launching the site in Charlotte - our home city - with plans to expand to other cities. For now, we are inviting 50 Charlotte area users to take part in our private beta. If you are interested in helping beta test, request an invite at CityBlackBook.com.
Not long after I gave a lecture at our studio to the local Charlotte chapter of AIGA, I was asked by the chapter's president, Chris Bradle, to join the group's board of directors. AIGA is the oldest and largest membership association for professionals engaged in the discipline, practice, and culture of designing. Nationally, the AIGA represents 22,000 designers through 59 national affiliates and 240 student groups.
The role he had in mind for me was Communications Director. I would be responsible for keeping our membership and local media informed about the happenings of the chapter and work with the event coordinators to properly promote upcoming chapter events. I accepted the position late last year. The first thing I wanted to focus on was revamping the chapter's website. Luckily, the board's Internet Director, Taylor Nall, agreed it needed some attention.
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