Prior to seeing The Flop, you make judgements as to how strong your hand could be based on two cards dealt to you, face-down. You peek at the cards, calculate the odds, then call, raise, or fold, knowing the flop is coming. Remember, the flop can change everything in an instant. Just don't get too cocky, because a turn and a river are potentially just around the bend. continued »
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.
Last year’s thinking and this year’s festival was no exception. As the plans started to come together for this year’s event, it was obvious there were going to be lots of people converging in Austin from all over the globe. Friends from previous years returning again. And people I’ve gotten to know virtually over the past year whom I was looking forward to finally meeting in person.
This year’s audience saw a redux of our “HiFi Design with CSS” panel moderated by Christopher Schmitt. Despite the fact that we each prepared separately, the topics we each covered and the order in which we each presented (Molly, Dan, Dave, ending with me) appeared to be a highly-coordinated logical progression through the story of design and CSS. continued »
Joshua Heyer wrote me today with a question which I’ve never given much thought. Writing out my answer surprised me in how much I could articulate that which I do almost subconsciously. Joshua wrote: “I have a simple question for you. How do you stay organized? I’m struggling with keeping things on point and I’m wondering what you use. […] Any thoughts on how to improve my organization with software, practices, etc… are much appreciated.”
I’ve never answered this question, even to myself, so it’s a little tricky to think about it. I’ll do my best. It’s a pretty broad question that can get into all kinds of areas. I think I’ve been organized most of my life. My mother would probably back this up. I was always rearranging my bedroom, or tearing apart my closet growing up, reorganizing so everything made sense to me and looked the way I wanted it. To do that, I often pulled everything out, and only put back in the things I knew I wanted/needed to keep. Everything else either found a new home, or eventually got donated or tossed. I can see relationships in organization with both my physical and digital worlds. continued »
After two years of sharing space with good friends at Adaptive Path, Stopdesign finally moves into its own office. Over the past week, I’ve been painting, moving, and assembling, creating a clean, comfortable space that Stopdesign calls home. I now sit high above Market Street in a funky little office with lots of windows and incredible views over downtown San Francisco.
Stopdesign is actually back in the same building it used to share with Adaptive Path: The Hobart Building. A charming historic landmark, built in 1914, at the intersection of Market, Montgomery, Post, and Second Streets. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m told repeatedly the Hobart is in the opening scene of The Maltese Falcon. I’ve even seen doors in our building that still say Spade & Archer on the windows. I guess I know my next movie rental. continued »
After more than a year of implementing my own measures, I think it’s time to help raise awareness of email security. And in doing so, document the way I use SSH to secure email when I’m on a wireless network. If you’re concerned about strangers having open access to your usernames and passwords, and all the email you send and receive while connected to a public wireless network — whether you use a Mac or not — you’ll want to read this.
Know what happens to your usernames, passwords, and personal email messages when you use public wireless networks? Know that this data often travels freely through the air in clear text? And do you know how dead simple it is for anyone else on that same network to intercept your information and use it against you? On the flip side, did you know you can scramble this data to make it completely unintelligible, even if someone else does intercept it?
With SXSW Interactive and several other upcoming conferences looming on the horizon, I’m reminded once again that I’ve promised quite a few people that I’d write out my steps for securing email on the Mac as it passes from my computer over a wireless network.
There are many means to an end when it comes to security. No one solution is the best for everyone. I am, by no means, a security expert. I don’t claim to know all the answers, nor the best means of securing your data and communication. Some of the tips below are Mac-specific, and will only prevent other people on a wireless network from easily sniffing your information. Not all of them may be relevant to you. It shouldn’t take someone longer than 15-30 minutes to configure a Mac, once they understand what needs to be done. continued »
In conjunction with the launch of Microsoft’s new search effort, MSN gets a pretty significant makeover. Significant, not because of the new look, nor because of the multi-million-dollar ad campaign which will attempt to oust Google out of the #1 search spot. But because the underpinnings of the home page represent a considerable move toward web standards.
Now, bear in mind, (in my opinion) the new visual design of MSN is quite uninspired. It’s drab and boxy. (No offense to the designer, if there even was one.) Looks like it may have gone directly from a Product Manager’s sketch to the developer who coded it. The design certainly offers nothing new or innovative, and looks like it’s following Google and Yahoo, obviously trying to play catch-up. (Perhaps some would say the MSN design, particularly the very top portion of the page, is a little too inspired. Looking like a confused mix of Yahoo’s pointy tabs combined with a poor Google-simplicity imitation.) The search page’s simplicity is so simple, it looks unfinished. continued »
A byproduct of doing so much traveling lately is the overabundance of photos I’ve taken. I promised the many people I met from far and away that I’d make them available when I returned. Problem is, I’ve never been satisfied with the photo gallery services currently available, especially for mass quantities of photos. So I looked into alternatives. I’ve been using iPhoto to manage photos and galleries locally on my PowerBook, and I have lots of familiarity with Movable Type. All I needed was a bridge between the two.
Ever since I got back from Australia and New Zealand at the beginning of November, I’ve been swamped with work. Then come December, the typical holiday gatherings and events. On top of that, I was gone throughout much of December and early January, traveling like a mad man both here in the States, and abroad.
I’m glad to be home and mostly stationary for at least the next month. But I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time as I’ve hopped around various places over the past five months. continued »
More in the Log Archive →
A design consultancy based in San Francisco, California, Stopdesign specializes in a simple, beautiful aesthetic, balance of form and function, and highly flexible design.
Image Replacement. Again. Shea recaps the current state of image replacement. Again.
Mitch Hedberg Comedy Central’s summary of Mitch’s life and career, with links to video clips. One of the funniest comedians I’ve ever heard dies at 37.
You Are Here Cool video for Sam Bisbee by Tobias Perse that exposes the stop-motion animation process. There’s even a link on the page to the contact sheet of all the still photographs.
Photobloggies Links to some great photo sites.
The non-typographer’s guide to practical typeface selection Cameron expands on his brief type segment from SXSW. A good set of steps, and links to good resources, especially if you didn’t geek out in typography courses at school.
State-of-the-art interactivity? Veen smacks down the depressing trends he saw while judging a recent interaction design contest.
Interview with Cameron Moll Cameron provides insight on stealing, the purpose of a homepage, learning print design, and some predictions about the future.
50 people see… Automatic averages of 50 Flickr images which share the same tag. I think the most interesting is the four-pane view of winter, sprint, summer, autumn…
Styling a Calendar Veerle provides tips for styling calendars with CSS.
Style Master 4.0 released Looking for a powerful, easy-to-use CSS editor? Start here.
Blogger Redesign
Stopdesign collaborated with user experience consultancy Adaptive Path on a hugely successful redesign of Blogger. The redesign included an evolved identity… Read more »
Throwing Tables Out the Window
With the CSS waters thoroughly tested by many sites that have taken the plunge, it’s time for us to start cheering from the water below, coaxing and encouraging those who haven’t yet jumped in, to make that jump. There’s no longer any reason to use tables for layout, nor is there reason to maintain multiple versions of a site solely for different desktop browsers. Throw the tables out first. Trust us, they’re not needed anymore.