Weekly round up
Posted 27 October 09 in Thoughts
As ever, I enjoyed the insight onto his working method that Andy Clarke demonstrated with his talk about a new project and how he’s doing it . It’s the simple and pragmatic hands-on post that I really appreciate. He explains how to go about using advanced styles in a way that encourages one to go off and try them out. For me, the thing that is making me slightly tardy in beginning the process at work is the palaver of supporting Internet Explorer (ain’t it always the way).
Mark made his extensive notes from the FOWA in London available, and I thought they were very good. He seemed enthused and bored in equal measure, but he’s already got work on some of the things in there. You can read them in full. From the same conference I watched the video of Gary Vaynechuk, who made an impassioned plea for people running sites to really, actually care about the people visiting the site. He was a very robust and entertaining speaker delivering some unvarnished truths.
Glow is the BBC’s Javascript Library which seems like it will be the next Javascript library to amaze and baffle me. I was looking at this one since we have started to play with it, and thought I should have at least a little knowledge of it.
I learnt a nice little photoshop selection trick using ‘color range’ from this tutorial
Whilst looking at a collection of free fonts I showed some restraint in not getting anymore; it would just add to my already ridiculous and ongoing indecision about managing my fonts. I want a nice short font list , but seem unable to bring myself to get rid of any.
Finished a really great book this week. The Language of things by Deyan Sudjic
A fascinating book. The author whilst obviously deeply thoughtful and educated about the cultural significance of the objects that surround us he wears his knowledge lightly and makes it very easy to follow.
Joe Clark wrote a great review, which is what made me pick it up. I agree with his assertion that it’s full of great points that then get pushed out of one’s head to make way for the next one. Really enjoyed the chapter on Fashion, which educated me about what a huge and voracious industry the fashion business is, and how it consumes so many other cultural activities. The chapter on Luxury was equally thought provoking.