English

  • Responsive type: contrast (26 September 2012)

    We’ve all seen a lot of articles lately about responsive type, but one point is missing: contrast in type.

  • Writing in the digital age (27 February 2012)

    My comment on Deploy, an article by Mandy Brown: all of us, writers?

  • Firefox rapid-release scheme vs. enterprise processes (8 September 2011)

    I know it’s a cheesy title for a post, but I couldn’t find better. In this article I try to explain the possible outcome of the new rapid-release scheme regarding the integration of Firefox in bigger enterprises.

  • Jeffrey Zeldman Presents : 20 signs you don’t want that web design project (10 December 2008)

    Ha ha. Jeffrey Zeldman issues a list of 20 signs that should tell you you’ll regret having accepted a project. So true. So very true.

  • Warning sounded on web’s future (22 October 2008)

    "Has [the Web] been designed for the executive and the teenager in the modern city with a smart phone in their pocket? If you are in a rural community do you need a different kind of web with different kinds of facilities?"
    Sir Tim Berners-Lee asks very valuable questions, as always. I’ve just heard a Project Manager who mistook accessibility for the taking into account of narrowband, and wants a guesstimate as to when narrowband becomes negligible because he’s all for RIAs everywhere. (…)

  • Be Kind to the Color Blind (21 October 2008)

    Hi, my name is Chris Campbell and I have a color vision deficiency. Like roughly 7-10% of all males, my deuteranomaly makes it difficult to differentiate between some colors, like red and green. Color deficiency, or color blindness as it’s commonly referred to, doesn’t mean that I or people with similar conditions cannot see certain colors. They’re not invisible and I don’t see in black and white (a condition that is actually very, very rare). I can still use crayons effectively, find (…)

  • Are you an artist? (21 October 2008)

    "Are you an artist?" He looked at me, straight in the face.
    "No," I said. I was surprised at how fast that answer came out.
    But when I took the chalk in my hand and started drawing a vine, I realised with a mild surprise that my lines are confident, I have a notion of filling in space only as much as is necessary. I’m not an artist, but I have a close relationship with my pens and pencils.
    I’m only five years late in reading stuff chez Steph. Better late than never though. I thought (…)

  • Self loathing for Sumo (15 October 2008)

    I was contacted a while back by the people who make Sumo chairs asking if I wanted an Omni. All I had to do in return was blog about it.
    Jeremy Keith reports on the Sumo Omni. How come us French bloggers aren’t targeted by this kind of marketing arrangements?
    Hey Sumo people: my living room is large enough for me to try one and blog about it afterwards. Hint, hint.

  • This jetsetting life (9 October 2008)

    [S]ometimes I actually just sit at home and work, make bread, and cook while I wait for Eva to come home. Those are the good weeks.
    I can relate to what Chaals says about always travelling for work. Now that we’ve got two kids, my travelling schedule has eased up a lot, and I’m grateful to my boss for that. I’ve loved travelling a lot, but yeah, home is a very nice travel destination. My favourite.

  • Jeffrey Zeldman Presents : Running woman and madman (5 September 2008)

    Even businessmen who dress like they never so much as take a breath without running a spreadsheet first can’t help turning back to get a second look.
    This is a magnificent phrase in a very nicely written life excerpt by Jeffrey Zeldman.

  • Photographer quote (1 September 2008)

    If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument. -eve arnold
    And good pictures by Myla Kent, too.

  • The Framework Age (21 August 2008)

    These days we’re designing frameworks for user interaction rather than static artefacts.
    Clever observation.

  • Web applications: Why is there Air? (20 August 2008)

    Air, Flex and Silverlight are "back to the future" approaches for Rich Internet Applications that would have us believe that the future of the web lies in a proprietary animation engine (Flash) or an ancient and proprietary fat client architecture (Silverlight).
    I couldn’t agree more: these solutions are not the solution. We’ll see how it all turns out, but like Christopher Keene, my religion goes to Ajax and an evolution of HTML to accommodate applications needs while still retaining the (…)

  • Derek Powazek on Permanence and Scars of Choice (11 July 2008)

    We all have tattoos already, of course. They’re our stories, our mental scars. The things we carry around with us, just under the surface. Your first breakup is always there, just around the corner in every relationship that comes after. Tattoos like this may not be seen, but they’re just as permanent.
    True. Derek ponders about getting a tatoo. (then gets one)

  • On “antiquated” WCAG rules (10 July 2008)

    [O]ne more reason for being judicious in the use of JavaScript - I am predicting that within 3 years 35%+ of all "web" traffic here on campus will be consumed by mobile/hand-held devices, so I for one am watching this issue carefully.
    John Foliot wrote a very thorough email to the W3C-WAI-IG ML (Web Accessiblity Initiative Interest Group mailing list) a few months ago, and I should have pointed to it here much earlier. His point is that while from a desktop browser point of view the (…)

  • Why I Still Use Windows Despite the Peer Pressure (1 July 2008)

    I just read this “I still use Windows” statement.
    It hasn’t always been pretty (see: Windows ME), but through it all I’ve figured out every little trick there is to know about running Windows. I’m a monster on Windows.
    Many times in the last ten years I’ve been told to switch to either Mac or Linux, and look!, I’m still using Windows.
    One day I’ll do a list of my grudges, one of which is why on earth does Ubuntu run so nicely on my laptops from a live CD and fails miserably to do the (…)

  • Criminal (is when you stop caring) (26 June 2008)

    I bought a t-shirt from the Fray shop, a lifetime ago. My daughter deciphered it this morning.

  • BBC Rejects hCalendar Microformat Because Of Accessibility Concerns (25 June 2008)

    The BBC have announced that they’ll be removing hCalendar microformats from their online programme listings, because of the accessibility issues with the ABBR design pattern.
    Oh how I’ve longed for such news. I love the idea of microformats, although in the long run code is machine-made and machine-readable, so RDFa will be a hit later, I’m sure.
    But I love the idea that those of us who work on smaller projects can include a dose of semanticism into our HTML without all the fuss of (…)

  • Busted (8 May 2008)

    My contribution to Fray’s issue #1, Busted. Of course it was rejected, but I thought I might as well share it here.

  • Heading East: Lies I’ve told my 3 year old recently (11 April 2008)

    We’re all telling lies to our kids. Sometimes because we can’t tell the truth, sometimes for fun. I just stumbled upon Lies I’ve told my 3 year old recently.
    I had never thought “I’ll always be there for you” was one.
    I feel sad, all of a sudden, to be reminded of my own mortality and to think of those twinkling, amazingly wide blue eyes looking at me and asking “Dad, will you always be there? Will you always love me?”
    (Via swissmiss).