Got to keep up with the web. Here is a collection of pages I've bookmarked.
Slick laptop designsSmashing Magazine has a great collection of prototype laptop designs. Nothing hugely ground breaking, but nice to see various ideas being knocked around
BBC news site gets a makeoverThe BBC new media team have been hard at work recently, and they have done an excellent job with the BBC news site. Same basic formatting as before, but now much more readable
Mozilla post Gecko 1.9So what will the Mozilla team be working on next? Mozilla 2.0 by the sounds of it. This is an interesting discussion for anyone who wants to see where the future of the Gecko engine lies
Usability and ageJakob posts research which correlates the ability to use a web-site with age. Interesting results, and demonstrates that we must known the target market segment for designing and developing a web-site
SMIL in WebkitAlthough SMIL was needed for Acid 3, the Webkit version, disappointingly, appears to be very bare bones (enough to pass and no more). Hopefully we will see some work on this in future
The race for Acid 3Opera and Webkit have been going at it hammer and nail this week (awesome stuff) and it looks like the Webkit team are edging it just now - just the subjective "speed" test to go - outstanding work guys
Fallible memoryOur memories are not perfect (useful for advertisers...) as proven by Hillary Clinton recently. This article has an interesting discussion on that
Comet roundupAjaxian summarises the work that has been going on to hammer http into something which will allow server push events
Freelance bidding sitesThis article reflects the views of almost every professional freelancer, writer or otherwise. Read and laugh and or cry...
Javascript inheritanceI am increasingly fond of the Javascript language, and John Resig has a look at inheritance in this article
Memory stimuli and designBy using cues based on stimuli that we encounter everyday, designers can both lead and entice those using the end product
Innovative web designThis truely is creative work from Modernista - and also slightly disconcerting the first time, as we are "trained" to expect the accepted web-site paradigm. Excellent
Background clipMore experimental and provisional CSS3 support from Webkit - this time using clipping paths - nice
Spatial diversity in imagesThere is quite a bit of research going into multi-point photography (Adobe etc) and this is a very promising and interesting topic
Styling text linksAndy Rutledge has an excellent article detailing the considerations that must be taken into account when dealing with the fundamental topic of styling HTML links
Opera Dragonfly whispersSo SxSW was not the place, but it certainly looks like the Opera developer tools. Looking forward to see it!
Token ideasYou might have seen this around various supermarkets. Nice idea to help your remember what wine you want to get next time
AVG animation fakedGiven that Opera is the only browser to do SVG animation at this time, this library looks like an outstanding tool for developers. Processor heavy though
CSS animationI have mentioned this topic before, but with Safari 3.1 out, it is worth bringing up again. Is CSS really the best place for animation to go (presentation v behaviour)? I would much rather we see working SVG animation
How the web really worksFun advert from Volkswagen which shows what web-designers and developers actually do all day long...
Webkit and the summer of codeDrool at what might make its way into Webkit soon. SVG animation please! Opera have done a cracking job with SVG - it would be excellent to see the others keep up
Acid3 arms raceWhile the Webkit team have been working on getting up to 93/100, Opera have been at it as well (77/100). Fantastic stuff
Skipping introsIt is amazing how many sites I still come across which have an "intro" or a "splash" page. It is neither welcoming nor useful
Bad bug adviceOkay it is old - but this is truly terrible. Suggesting that a bug work around is to have two HEAD sections in your html...
Multiple monitors and productivityA while ago I simply was not able to get anything done wihtout multiple monitors, but now I am doing the virtual desktop dance. Six desktops and no scrolling the mouse across the table
Safari 3.1Looks like Safari is out of beta (finally) for Windows, and this is a fairly nice and up-to-date version of Webkit. Good stuff
Talking to Sir TimThe BBC interviewed the creator of the web a little while a go, and have some musings on the interview on the editors blog. I particularly like "The web river then meanders through a green and fertile land, before flowing into the Sea of Interoperability"
Cairo 2D rendering engineAs Mozilla work towards version 1.6 of Cairo, Vladimir considers some of the advantages of using it as a rendering engine. Sound good to me
Offer something newYou have an idea or a product? Great - what does it add to your user experience. There is no point in just producing what is already available
Progressive CSSMixed feelings on this, it is a good idea and allows capable browsers to get the full range of CSS styles. But if you turn Javascript off, you get the low grade CSS immediately
What is my stuff?Great article which looks beyond the "folder" organisation paradigm to see how we can better organise digital data. I completely agree that search is not the answer
Installing IE8Looks like the whole IE8 team is blogging at the moment. This is a good one for those interested in test driving IE8 (watch out it will replace IE7, although you can restore later)
Being a better designerThere are many traps we creatives can fall into. This is an excellent article which will make you think a bit...
Speak your mindThis is fascinating technology which monitors your thought patterns and translates it into speech
Late adoptersFor those of use who always upgrade as soon as possible (mostly developers) it is often frustrating to have to curtail your use of "new technologies" to accommodate those who use out-of-date software/hardware
Browser memory useGreat to see the Firefox developers answering the biggest criticism of the browser - and they have answered it very well!
Saving timeDealing in the finer details is great and often adds to a project, but sometimes we can use basic tools to save ourselves time
Details on the ReadiusRollable eInk display? Yes please! The iRex blog has plenty of details about this fantastic device
Design for yourselfThis is a good on-going online debate. I also are with the 37 Signals people - figure out what you want (assuming this is appropriate for the project!) and drive the next generation of products with your ideas - tell people what they want!
Working freelanceThis is an excellent article about considering when to say no to work. If you are freelancing just now or thinking of going freelance - read it!
Design contests devalue designI agree they do - however, we have to ask ourselves about supply and demand. A large number of skilled people will reply, basically working for free, because there are simply so many web-designers and developers out there
A great peice for your portfolioI have heard this so many times, and I can get really angry about it (not with the client of course). So how do we fix it - add value to your services - step up and above the others in the market...
Visualising log filesglTail is an OpenGL "version" of tail, allowing you to watch log data from a server in real time - great fun and very interesting!
Raytracing in gamesRasterisation verus Raytracing is an old argument, each with its own benefits. This is an interesting view of things from David Kirk at Nvidia
Nokia researchNokia is a company with huge influence over how the mobile world will develop - this BBC article looks at what they have in the pipeline
Acid 3 and WebkitDave Hyatt has a post on the Webkit blog about Acid 3. But there is the big bit of news from the article: "We will be working on SVG animation in order to pass the last few SVG test" - OH YES!
Rock OperaThe Opera team are at it again, this time at SXSW. If you are at the conference, I am sure this will be a great event
IE8 default layout modeThe IE blod has been very busy today - but this one is up at the top of the hit list for me. The default rendering mode is confirmed to be IE8 standards
SVG on the iPhoneOpera watch considers how Apple might be betting on SVG. More work on SVG in WebKit can only be a good thing
Javascript in IE8John Resig takes a good look at how Javascript is shaping up in IE8. Looks good!
Acid 3 for browsers releasedGreat news for interoperability/standards testing with Acid 3 now out. And the Webkit team are steaming ahead with this one - r30790 passes 90/100 of the tests - awesome work guys!
IE8 featuresPlenty of IE8 news coming out today, and Microsoft has published features that we can expect. A "favorites bar" - how quaint. Ever since IE5 Mac I thought this was an invaluable browser feature
IE8 beta 1Outstanding news coming from the IE team - IE8 goes beta 1. Time to fire up the PC and check it out
The forces of mediocrityGround breaking ideas are always met with resistance - part of the hard work is driving your idea through the to finishing point. It can be worth it though
Web trends v3The iA team have polished off their work on their new web trends map
Sustainable designsExcellent article by Hugh Graham. Creating designs which will last a long time should be one of our primary goals
IE8 does the standards danceIs an amazing about turn, the IE team announce that the standards mode in IE8 will be opt-out! Nice one guys - good listening to what we the developers want
Creating an online portfolioIn keeping with the portfolio theme - this is an excellent article about the fundamentals of putting together your own online portfolio