brainbuzz
The Fat Lady Sings
Check out this insightful analysis of Opera Unite by Chris Messina.
My take: Firstly, I think the concept behind it is a really neat idea. Democratizing the sharing of information on the web by giving everyone a web server embedded in their browser is inspirational, to say the least.
But when you look more closely, here is what Opera expects you to do:
- Adopt a new social networking platform (theirs).
- Oh, and it only runs in one browser (unless you want read-only).
- And that browser is one you've likely never heard of.
- And you need to convince all your friends & contacts to do the same.
- And instead of having one password, you (potentially) have a different password for each of your friends.
- And leave your computer and browser running and online all the time if you want your friends to be able to see your stuff.
- But it's all about freedom!
9 Great User Interface Design Books
I was recently asked for a list of good books about user interface design, and after spending some time putting it together, I thought I'd share it here:
User Interface Principles
About Face, 3rd ed. by Alan Cooper
Basic principles. User Interface 101.
Sketching User Interfaces by Bill Buxton
Focuses on ideation, discovery, and prototyping. How to work quickly and intelligently, using "just enough technology" to arrive at and demonstrate candidate solutions to design problems.
The Humane Interface by Jef Raskin
The first half is an excellent overview of cognitive-based UI principles, more scientifically oriented than About Face. The second half, which builds on the first, details an integrated approach to fixing practically all the usability problems with software today. After the second reading I "got it," and it blew my mind.
Web Design Patterns & Best Practices
The Design of Sites, 2nd ed. by Douglas K. Van Duyne, James A. Landay, and Jason I. Hong
Catalog of common design patterns. Don't reinvent the wheel if you don't need to.
Designing Web Interfaces by Bill Scott and Theresa Neil
Discusses more up-to-date (as of 2009) interaction patterns. Focuses on applying good practices to interactive, dynamic components such as ajax page updates, inlays, drag & drop, transitions, autocomplete.
Client-side Implementation for Web Interfaces
Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman
Good explanation of the proper way to mark up content and style it, in a scalable, readable, maintainable way.
CSS Mastery by Andy Budd
Though subtitled "Advanced Web Standards Solutions", I found it in part an excellent walkthrough of basic CSS principles that helped shore up some deficiencies in my understanding. Similar to Bulletproof Web Design below, but they complement each other well if CSS is a major part of your work.
Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cedarholm
How to build many common web site/web app components them with CSS in a way that works across all browsers.
Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, 3rd edition by Danny Goodman
Excellent (and heavy: 1300 pages!) reference work for HTML, CSS, DOM, Javascript. Exhaustive list of properties and methods per element/object. Includes browser compatibility information.
Sewing the Seethes
Good Omens
Current reading: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, a humorous tale of Armageddon. All the more enjoyable in these times of increased fundamentalist foolishness...
On the existence of a rare bible, the Buggre Alle This Bible, with three extra verses at the end of Genesis:
25. And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword that was given unto thee?
26. And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago. I must have put it down somewhere, forget my own head next.
27. And the Lord did not ask him again.
The Sound of Glass
Video of a performance featuring the Cristal Bachet, an instrument played by rubbing glass tubes attached to metal rods of various lengths. Somewhat similar in sound to the glass harmonica.
Daily Music from Ambienteer
Offsite: Lots of good tracks here, posted daily, more or less: Ambienteer. Made mostly with Reaktor and Ableton Live.
Update: replaced with new URL: ambienteer.com
Zen Bound
I used to play a lot of video games as a teenager. Then somehow after college I lost interest--my time was occupied with other creative pursuits, and besides, too many games were adopting the same handful of formulas and, well, I didn't abandon gaming--it abandoned me.
In the last few years, however, I've discovered an ineffable category of games that really appeals to me: games like Katamari Damacy, Electroplankton, and Orbient. What they have in common? Novel concepts, unique gameplay, attention to detail, and heavy reliance on sound and music.
The latest entry in this indescribable class of games is Zen Bound, a positively gorgeous game for the iPhone or iPod touch. Basically, you rotate wooden sculptures, wrapping rope around them, and thus painting them. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Take a peek at the demo video.
Lovely to look at and listen to, with a soundtrack by Ghost Monkey, it is worth checking out.
Scellotum.r
A percolating new soundbite by Tomorrow's Man: Scellotum.r
Podcasts can be annoying.
I hate it when I open a link to a neat-sounding article, only to find out that it's audio. Ugh. Transcript, please.Fomalhaut at Amie Street
Eye of the Whale from Tomorrow’s Man project Fomalhaut is now available through Amie Street.