Greg Storey with some good advice for SXSW-attenders:
Want to meet that OMG OMG OMG blog A-lister?! Fine, just go do it. Nobody, and I mean nobody in this industry is so huge that they can’t be bothered to say hello and shake your hand. And that’s it, done. Note: If more conversation takes place great, but don’t consider that an opportunity to give your life’s story—save that for church.
In the comments, Mike Davidson clarifies that he, in fact, is too huge to shake hands with. Good to know.~ ✓
John Gruber: A Mix of the Technical, the Artful, the Thoughtful, and the Absurd — Shawn Blanc interviews of the author of Daring Fireball. There are some excellent quotes, but here’s my favorite:
What graphic design is to a visual idea, writing is to a verbal idea. My goal is to craft my writing in such a way that makes it as easy and obvious as possible for the reader to “get� exactly what it is I’m hoping they get.
If you’re a reader of Daring Fireball, you should definitely read this interview. I learned a lot about John, his style, and the history of his blog. ✓
It was with disbelief and frustration that I read this statement in an article published on MacRumors ten days ago (emphasis mine):
While the new MacBook Pros will likely incorporate only modest updates (Penryn and Multi-Touch), with their imminent release, its hard to justify the purchase of the current 8 month old models.
I’d just hit “Submit” on an order for a MacBook Pro just 15 minutes earlier — after a furious internal debate over waiting or not. I knew revisions for the pro-line machines were coming, but with my current PowerBook G4 (early-2005) acting more like a boat anchor than a productivity tool, and with a demanding work schedule and task-list, I felt I couldn’t wait any longer.
That statement shook me, though. It’s hard to justify the purchase of the current 8 month old models. It echoed in my head and haunted me for the rest of the evening — until I decided it was true. It was hard to justify it. In fact, it was too hard, so I cancelled my order.
Now I’m waiting, credit card in hand, for … well, I don’t know. Based on the rumors, it sounds like the new MacBook Pros will have new, Penryn processors, feature the new multi-touch trackpad (as found on the MacBook Air), and possibly have a new enclosure and/or a black keyboard.
To me, none of those items are worth waiting for. Since I’m upgrading from a PPC G4, I’m apathetic to a processor update — I’d be happy with a 2GHz Core Duo right now. I couldn’t care less about the multi-touch trackpad. And a new enclosure is actually potentially bad for me, as I’ve happily touted a 15-inch, aluminum laptop around for years.
So, really, I guess I’m waiting for two reasons: (1) so I don’t buy a brand new laptop that is practically obsolete the day it’s delivered, and (2) in case Apple introduces a next-generation MacBook Pro instead of just a revision to the current one.
At least I don’t feel alone in my particular campaign. Hundreds (if not, thousands) of others are also waiting on the new MacBook Pros. Based on what I’ve read, these are serious buyers, not just fanboys who can’t wait to see what Apple has up their sleeve. With the MacBook Air missing a niche market of professional users, you can almost smell the money people are ready to throw at Apple for a new, full-featured laptop.
[Photo credit: Photoshop mockup by “bayol05” of MacRumors forums.]
Well, the new “streamlined” interface doesn’t start at install, that’s for sure. ✓
ScreenSteps saves time and effort in the process of writing technical documentation. It exports to PDF or HTML. ✓
I was looking for a Trajan alternative and came across this nice one called Equate. ✓
Devil’s Advocate — wherein John Gruber explores the Microsoft/Yahoo! thing even deeper, “all joking aside”.
In a broad sense, Yahoo reminds me a lot of Apple a decade ago. Good products, a large base of dedicated but restless users (many of them outright “fans”), and an employee base of talented engineers and product designers — but lousy, visionless, ineffective management. What Yahoo needs is a Steve Jobs — someone who will ruthlessly focus the company on products that are better, more popular, and more profitable.
Insanely great analogy. ✓
Last night I hit the “Launch” button on the [second revision] of this year’s Generation Church Conference mini-site. I really had fun with this one. The design is grid-based, the typeface is Helvetica (Extended), and the navigation is dynamic.
This project marks the first time I’ve publicly utilized the Blueprint CSS framework — which I’m absolutely loving. Not only did it save me time in development, but it also really helped me keep focus during the design stage. The default 24-column grid provided a construct from which I was able to be creative, but still controlled.
This is also the first time I’ve launched a website without first testing in Internet Explorer 6. It feels good. It feels real good.
Additionally, I used Coda-Slider.js for the (Panic-inspired) navigation, and ThickBox.js for the light-boxed bios.
Have a look. (Don’t miss my favorite part — the “Register” button.)