I’ve finally (albeit weeks later than intended) created a primer on linear gradients with CSS. It’s a shallow dip into the deep pool of CSS gradients, but it’ll help get you started on taking advantage of gradients with Webkit, Firefox and even Internet Explorer! (Yes, really.)
It’s posted over here at Mindfly Web Design Studio. If you’re curious about gradients but scared of the syntax, check it out.
Usually when I mention Mark Pilgrim, it is with a dismayed tone that is meant to paint him as a dastardly villain who is elbow-deep in foul rituals meant to permanently stain the reputation of the HTML5 effort; an implication is made that he is resurrecting some great beast that will swallow the earth whole and enslave our souls.
What I’m saying is that, on average, I’m not a fan of his work.
However, his recent blog post “Tinkerer’s Sunset” clearly states the case of why the direction the iPad is moving the market is a sad affair. A man who learned his craft on an Apple IIe, he’s dismayed at the thought of the next generation of tinkerers, who will have to pay a fee or commit crimes in order to look under the hood of their own computers.
Many claim the iPad represents what the future of computing will look like: tailored, “safe” devices with little room for modification or customization (unless you plan on spending some time in court). Maybe that’s how it’ll be, and there’s little to be said or done. But Mark helps illustrate why that future will be a sad one. Go read his post.
Today Mindfly Web Design Studio (workplace of yours truly) launched Boogaloo, an open source .NET customizable site creation framework and CMS built with the web designer in mind. It’s been in the works in one form or another for over three years, and if I dare say so it’s a pretty dang convenient for that whole “making websites” thing.
As we’re celebrating the launch right this moment, I’m going to set down the keyboard and pick up a celebratory beverage. But if you’d like, go check Boogaloo out. Feel free to tell me what you think.
[Edit: Contest extended to 8pm Sunday (PST) and can include anyone (AEA attendees or not). Get a drawing!]
Howdy boys and girls,
If you’re going to AEA: Chicago this upcoming week anyone, and you want to appear in this Monday’s CSSquirrel comic, then all you need to do is the following:
1. Draw a picture of the Squirrel in hi-jinks with an AEA: Chicago presenter.
2. Post the picture on the web-o-tron and tweet a link to it with the hashtag #aeasquirrel
3. Do this by Sunday 10 am 8pm (PST). I will pic the coolest picture, resulting in the artist appearing alongside the squirrel in hi-jinks on Monday’s strip.
4. In order to be drawn, you’ll need a good picture or two of you online somewhere. I prefer Flickr myself, but whatever it is, make sure I can find a link to it from your Twitter feed if you win so I can actually draw you.
What are you waiting for? Less than 23 hours left! Go draw now!
Disclaimer: AEA has nothing to do with this. I won’t even be there, as I’ll be working away at Mindfly. But that doesn’t mean the Squirrel won’t be there in spirit.
I like blogging. I do. However, I have a problem. I’ve got a Twitter account. There’s something about the 140-character limit micro-blog tool that makes it incredibly difficult to hold onto a concept long enough to form it into a five-paragraph essay, let alone a multi-page diatribe about how browser X’s implementation of CSS property Y is wrong.
It’s been an observed impact of the Internet that people generally are much more impatient when it comes to searching for data. If you can’t Google it or Wikipedia it in under five minutes, then the information doesn’t exist or isn’t worth knowing.
It seems to me at the very least that Twitter is doing the exact same thing to my ability to write at length about any topic. I could devise a narrative about my recent exploration of the topic of RDFa and talk at length of my conclusions regarding its impact on future web development… or I could come up with 140 characters or less to the effect of “RDFa is sort of like XFN. But not. At what point is extra semantic markup too much bloat?”
The trick is staving off the need for instant gratification in exchange for the fulfillment I get from a more carefully considered writing that covers the topic in more depth. I think that sums up Internet use in general these days.
Alright, fess up. How do you fight your Twitter addictions?