Andy Clarke‘s latest editorial touches on the idea of regionally distinctive design. In a nutshell, design trends have always been tied to a particular country (over time becoming part of the national identity), but this doesn’t seem to be happening yet on the web. Can a medium without borders give rise to nation-specific visual identities?… Continue reading Designer Nation
Author: Craig
Creative Is Not a Noun
That’s right, the word “creative” is not a noun. It is not a person, nor a place, nor a thing. You cannot touch “creative.” You cannot visit “creative.” You cannot sit on “creative” or put “creative” in your pocket or ask “creative” to wear that dress you like, you know, the green one. “Creative” is… Continue reading Creative Is Not a Noun
Meme: The Musical Baton
All day I was watching this meme spread — I first saw it on Clagnut, thence to Hicksdesign and from there, well, pretty much everyone in my blogroll. I waited, hoping for a baton of my own. I languished in obscurity and unpopularity, mentally composing my lists and checking feeds obsessively. Then lo, patience paid… Continue reading Meme: The Musical Baton
New Breed of Referrer Spam
There’s a new spambot which seems to be targeting WordPress blogs. It passes along a forged referrer which appears to come from a legitimate source, invariably another WordPress blog, and always from a permalink to an older post on said blog (rather than just the main site URL). How I’ve dealt with referrer spam in… Continue reading New Breed of Referrer Spam
Fun With Server Logs
In addition to being a vital part of management and maintenance of a website, examining server activity logs provides me with oodles of geeky entertainment. It appeals to the inner statistician I try so hard to suppress. I like finding clues and tracking someone’s path through the site, and sometimes trying to sort out who… Continue reading Fun With Server Logs
Browser Elitism Relapse
I suppose I should have expected to get roasted on that last post. It’s what I get for dipping my inexpert toes into a hotly-debated pool. So I’ll clarify my position thusly: Yes, presentation should be separated from behavior. Yes, a form field achieves a state of focus through an event. Yes, events should ideally… Continue reading Browser Elitism Relapse
I’m a Recovering Browser Elitist
There’s been some recent discussion about the separation of style and behavior, ever since Derek Featherstone found the head of the nail and Jeremy Keith dropped the hammer. While I’m all in favor of keeping the presentation layer segregated from the behavior layer (and both kept apart from the structure/content layer), there seem to be… Continue reading I’m a Recovering Browser Elitist
In-Flight Logo Quiz
Winging my way to SXSW, I was thumbing through the March issue of American Way, the American Airlines in-flight magazine. Amidst the numerous ads for Argentinian barbecue restaurants (what’s up with that anyway?) I came across this splash graphic introducing an article on how corporate sponsorships are ruining professional sports… or something like that. I… Continue reading In-Flight Logo Quiz
Nightmare on Memory Lane
Today, in an admirably bold move, Jon Hicks ripped the dust covers off his skeletons and revealed his sordid past. I commend Jon’s bravery, his honesty, his willingness to subject himself to the ridicule of the standardistas. I mean, seriously Jon, Tripod!? Tsk tsk. Everybody knows real designers use GeoCities. But, not wishing to leave… Continue reading Nightmare on Memory Lane
More on Hiding Skip Links
After the recent and now-infamous WordPress hidden articles debacle, the notion of using negative positioning to hide content from visual browsers has gained a new complication to consider. Google (and other search engines, I presume) have explicit rules forbidding this kind of content “cloaking,” but as yet they obviously don’t have an automated means of… Continue reading More on Hiding Skip Links