Blog

Wednesday 25 April 2007

What's your favourite design / development program?

As I've never created a poll before I thought I'd try it out here. In response to a comment I received regarding my post 'Web design Good Practice - the basics' [09/02/07] that disagreed with me that Photoshop is probably the most used program for creating web layouts I thought I'd find out. Please feel free to complete this simple poll and add any comments if you want to expand on the subject.

0 comments:

Monday 23 April 2007

Nypo:creative site featured on Design Meltdown

Design meltdown logo
A big thanks to Patrick McNeil for including my site on Design Meltdown - it was a nice surprise. Nypo:creative has been added to the new 'Muted' colours section which features many toned down sites with splashes of more vibrant colours to add emphasis.

Patrick says

"...the goal of Design Melt Down has become to collect and categorize sites into classifications that you simply can't search for. In addition I aim to provide additional links and resources to follow through and implement the given subject. My hope is to inspire and challenge, both myself and my readers."

You can view the Nypo:creative entry here. It is 4th down on the left.

0 comments:

Friday 13 April 2007

Design links and RSS feeds [updated 13/04/07]

Just wanted to say thank you to the growing number of people who have been visiting my site and subscribing to my RSS feed. Fell free to forward any links onto anyone who may be interested in the stuff I'm writing about and also to make comments on any of the posts here - whether you agree or not.

"The Design links and RSS feeds" [posted 23 March 2007] has now been updated to include some sites I overlooked. There is also a bookmarks file for you to import straight into your bookmarks / favourites and an updated OPML RSS import file.

Enjoy - and add your site in the comments section if you feel it should be up there.

0 comments:

Wednesday 11 April 2007

Online Software

After reading an article this week I thought I'd write a post on Adobes plans for an online future. Following in the footsteps of Google - or realizing that Google may well take over the world if someone doesn't stop them - Adobe recently announced it is planning on making an online version of Photoshop. The plan is to create a hosted version of Photoshop that would be free to use. At first I couldn't imagine the stress I would cause with the memory intensive tasks I so regularly put Photoshop - and my machine - through working well online but the plan is to create a stripped down version.

With CS3 available now with it's fancy new features it will be interesting to see just what tools Adobe can offer for free online and how their products might stack up against Googles ventures into this area with Picasa. Bruce Chizen (Adobe CEO)recently stated:


"If we offered a host-based version of Photoshop that's Photoshop branded and potentially better than Google's Picasa, you'd probably go down the Photoshop route because of your belief in the brand and the quality associated with it"

While this may be true of designers and developers I think Joe public might be more familiar and at home with Google. However, Adobe have a great track record for creating quality products and, with Flex looking very interesting now, I don't doubt they'll create a great product that will have many of the existing photo-editing startups losing sleep.

A few existing services in this area:
Picasa, Pixenate, Fauxto, Preloadr

Adobe links and articles:
Adobe

PDF about Remix - Adobe's online video editing service

Anyone know any more info on this - or if there's any screenshots of what it might look like feel free to add some comments with links.

0 comments:

Monday 2 April 2007

Funny Letter showing the mindset of some customers

Came across this letter on Digg today. The author is unknown but there are some funny comments which, if you work in the world of the web, you'll probably be able to associate with:

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don’t have nearly enough insulation in them).

As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)

Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate, among other things, my 1952 Gibson refrigerator.

To insure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, make certain that you contact each of our children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year. Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any choices that you make.

Please don’t bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house: get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpet.

However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.

Also, do not worry at this time about acquiring the resources to build the house itself. Your first priority is to develop detailed plans and specifications. Once I approve these plans, however, I would expect the house to be under roof within 48 hours.

While you are designing this house specifically for me, keep in mind that sooner or later I will have to sell it to someone else. It therefore should have appeal to a wide variety of potential buyers. Please make sure before you finalize the plans that there is a consensus of the population in my area that they like the features this house has. I advise you to run up and look at my neighbor’s house he constructed last year. We like it a great deal. It has many features that we would also like in our new home, particularly the 75-foot swimming pool. With careful engineering, I believe that you can design this into our new house without impacting the final cost.

Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.

You must be thrilled to be working on as an interesting project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can’t happen very often. Contact me as soon as possible with your complete ideas and plans.

PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I’ve given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can’t handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.

PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case.

0 comments: