Geek & Mild by Sean Sperte

Hello. Welcome to the weblog of Sean Sperte. This is a collection of writings and links relevant to the topics of design and technology. Read more →

POWERED by FUSION

Link: IE 7 Massive Migration

The transition to IE7 might go quicker than we thought! (via Dave Shea)

§  July 27, 2006

Link: Top DS Games

Want to know what the top 5 DS games are? Here’s a few suggestions.

§  July 26, 2006

Link: NewsFire 1.4

The best RSS newsreader just got a little bit better.

§  July 26, 2006

Link: Apple and Nintendo Sittin’ in a Tree

Apple and Nintendo Sittin’ in a Tree.

§  July 23, 2006

On DS Lite Ownership

It’s been about 6 weeks since I ditched my PSP and got myself a real game-playing portable device: The Nintendo DS Lite. How has it held up to my expectations as an admitted non-gamer, gadget-saavy, tech-head? Unbelievably.

I can’t stop raving about this thing. From the form factor, to the fun and exciting gameplay, to the incredible ease-of-use, to the awesome feature set (with an almost over-the-counter feel), I’m quite convinced the DS Lite is a must-have for anyone. I’m talking to you. Yes, you. You’re anyone, right? Go now, do yourself a favor, and pick up a DS Lite.

Not convinced? Well my good friend Matt is. He was a hard-core PSP owner, with tons of games. Shortly after I picked up my DS Lite and showed it off a bit, he sold his PSP and games (plus a UMD movie), and hasn’t looked back. This is the guy who convinced me to get a PSP and was against me selling it when I did.

Not convinced? Well my grandma is. She picked up her DS Lite about three weeks ago (by my advice) and now has at least 4 games and some accessories. She just emailed me to ask when I’d be over to meet her new puppy – apparently she got Nintendogs.

Not convinced? Well my wife is. She actually hasn’t picked one up yet because we’re waiting for the pink version – but she asks to play mine all the time. She loves it.

Not convinced yet? Okay, lightning round:

So … convinced yet? Of course you are. You’re not even reading this, you’re on your way to Target or GameSpot to pick one up now, right?

See Play ya online. (Don’t forget to practice your snaking.)

§  July 21, 2006

Flattery

It seems The City Church isn’t the only design being ripped off lately. Khoi Vinh, a well-known designer, had his personal blog design copied emulated by an architectural institution. He wrote about it, admitting he was at a loss for course of action, and the comment thread that followed could literally be bound as a novel. Long story short: The designer responsible for the institution’s site apologized for misinterpreting Khoi’s copyright notice and removed the design, defaulting back to a previous one. It’s a happy ending, but the discussion is still going on Khoi’s site … do check it out. (And don’t skip the comments.)

So my thoughts immediately go to this Joomlart rip off of our (or Jesse’s) design, which is more than a little “inspired”. We’ve clearly placed a copyright notice (including the “all rights reserved” clause) on every single page of the site, but some still defend the template and its designers, stating that it’s not an exact copy, and that the source code is completely different (source).

Now, since The City Church site has received so much attention (did you see we won two CSS Mania awards?! Woohoo!), I anticipated having to deal with plagiarism, to some extent. In fact, I’ve even been asked if I’d email the PSD and source files to someone so they could copy the site for their own use – you know, since they were “located so far away”. Right. I’m not opposed to people taking the design and code for educational purposes, but straight-up copying is cheap and (in my personal opinion) unethical.

I know Jesse deals with this all the time, and I’ve read other designer’s blogs as they’ve engaged in the same sort of battles, with their own designs being stolen or repurposed. My position has always stayed the same: I’m with the designers.

See, there’s just two sides to this issue, and two kinds of people involved:

  1. The designers or design-saavy – those that understand design to be a commodity, something valued as much (or more) than physical objects that can be traded, bought and sold.
  2. The design-wannabes or genuinely ignorant – those that think design is liquid and free, something of lesser value than, say, source code. These people also attack designers personally, citing the designer’s inability to see the “big picture.”

Now, before I go further let me clarify and say that while it’s evident the Joomlart template has been built from the ground-up, and the designers (apparently a team?) that worked on it probably worked very hard, it still emulates elements of The City Church design too closely to be considered original.

Also, what makes this case unique is the fact that our design is being redistributed and sold. You must be a member of the Joomlart site in order to download the template, and a membership costs $40 per year. The fact that others can download, easily install and use this template/design in about 5 minutes makes this even more sticky. How could Joomlart cleanup should they somehow see the error of their ways? They’d have to contact each member and ask them to, out of the kindness of their heart, stop using the template.

Ugh. This is not flattery.

§  July 15, 2006

Link: Template Originality

Now there’s an original template! … Not.

§  July 13, 2006

Link: Training Wheels

“I think the reason you don’t see a lot of kids on unicycles is that they don’t come with training wheels.” - Seth Godin

§  July 6, 2006

Snaked

By way of a simple warning, let me just say that if you think you’re hot stuff on Mario Kart DS and find yourself wanting to try the online gameplay, don’t – at least not until you’ve mastered the art of “snaking”. I’ve just learned this the hard way.

Apparently a strategy of the elite MK’ers is to use a power-slide technique that gives a quick boost, and to do so over and over again on courses that allow (those that don’t have drop-offs or narrow curves). I know this technique, but haven’t quite mastered pulling it off the way these guys do.

There’s plenty of debate over this so-called “skill”, with arguments both for and against it. One thought is that since it’s part of the game, and not a glitch, learning it is part of advancing your skill, and what separates you from being a beginner. The other opinion is that it alienates newcomers and robs from the spirit of the game. I’ll go ahead and say that I subscribe to the latter argument – as I am completely frustrated with the technique being used against me during my first online race.

If I sound bitter it’s because I am. After all, I’m not half-bad! :)

I look at it this way: The game was designed to be used with certain “items” that, used in conjunction with dynamic driving, should make for a fun and somewhat fair competition. Using the snaking technique completely eliminates the need for items – as most snakers don’t even use their L button (the one used to deploy whatever item is in reserve). Really, watching the tutorial videos of snaking, and observing what I did just now in my online race, I cannot see how that could be fun after a week.

But it is just a game, after all, and while I’d love to continue ranting about it I’ve got some snaking practice to get in.

§  July 2, 2006