50,000 watts of power … Got my radio on
Have magazines stopped being relevant? Over on Subtraction, Khoi Vinh seems to think so:
Aside from the work of adventurous art directors like Chris Dixon at New York, I find magazines really boring. To be sure, I’m a faithful reader of The New Yorker, but that’s the only rag whose arrival I anticipate with eagerness, and […]
Congrats to John Gruber for making it through five years of insightful and entertaining posts over on Daring Fireball. I think I found him on his second post, and have enjoyed it ever since.
Salute.
Creating a one-click sync between your microformat data and a visitor’s address book or calendar couldn’t be simpler with Django. In fact, the built-in generic views give you everything you need.
If you use Django, it seems inevitable that the database will quickly have a lot of data that just lends itself to microformats, particularly calendar […]
Been meaning to post this for awhile… The Velvet Underground meets Lawrence Welk.
Over on Boxes and Arrows there’s a brilliant piece translating The Elements of Style for designers. As a big fan of E.B. White and the work he did to improve writers everywhere (as well as Charlotte’s Web), this one is a must-read.
And for those who really think visually, The Illustrated Elements of Style.
The web development community in the Kansas City area, like Kansas City itself, tends to be a bit insular and scattered, at least in my experience. And quite frankly, many of the developers in this area are sadly lagging behind the times when it comes to building modern, standards-compliant, forward-thinking sites. Sure, there’s folks like […]
Over on Creating Passionate Users, Kathy Sierra is musing on the value of ideas and how they spread.
In particular, I like how she pointed out that ideas by themselves mean little. How they’re implemented means everything.
It’s not about our ideas, it’s about what the ideas can do for our users.
Ideas are a dime a […]
My article on “stupid users” seems to have stirred quite a bit of debate, with quite a few people seemingly convinced that the users are, in fact, stupid, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. That’s just not the case.
There’s quite a bit that can be done to help “stupid users.”
I’m […]
It’s true. Every day, in web departments and web design firms across America (and probably the world), a common and ugly refrain is repeated”
Our users are stupid.
They won’t get it.
Project managers and developers describe their own users as below average, behind the curve and not savvy.
It’s disgusting. No other mainstream industry would dream of […]
I just found out my birth tree is the Walnut Tree. I’ve never heard of this whole “Birth Tree” concept before, but it was interesting:
Walnut Tree, the Passion
Unrelenting, strange and full of contrasts, often egoistic, aggressive, noble, broad horizon, unexpected reactions, spontaneous, unlimited ambition, no flexibility, difficult and uncommon partner, not always liked but often […]
Too many people do what they’re told. Worse, too many people do what they’re told without ever asking why. They blindly follow, unquestioningly, whatever mandate they’re presented with.
Which is why we’re surrounded by bad ideas, poorly executed.
Derek Powazek suggest that designers should try asking “why” instead of just saying “no”. Designers, both in print and […]
On the web everything is marketing and marketing is everything and, yet marketing is nothing and nothing is marketing.
That’s the kind of paradox that could make a Zen master wobble, but not understanding the basic truth in the paradox is a surefire way to make sure your web marketing will fail (and probably your web […]
From Gaping Void:
I don’t think any comment is really necessary, but let me ask:
What kind of conversation are you having with your customers?
With a new wave of highly effective (and funny) commercials touting the Macintosh’s resistance to viruses, and a new wave of critics insisting Apple is ripe for the malware writer picking, where does the truth lie? Are Macs susceptible to viruses?
Yes. No. Possibly. Probably not.
It is possible for a Mac to catch a virus, […]
I’m launching the redesigned/realigned/whatever you want to call it/new look today in conjunction with CSS Reboot. Good luck following that link today – it seems to be getting pretty hammered.
Truthfully, the new look isn’t quite ready for prime time, and I know it. More tweaks and enhancements are coming. My excuse? I have a new […]
I’m sick of ribbons. Some cars I see may as well fly a rainbow flag, there’s so many ribbons on the back of them — Pink, yellow, blue, red, and on and on…
The “Support Our Troops” ribbons remain relatively benign, I suppose. Whatever feelings you may have toward the misguided machinations and mendacity that got […]
Back in 1994-95, when I first started working on the web and the web was young, web pages were generally designed around one simple and near-universal concept: providing information to as many people as possible in most efficient and effective way possible.
Much of that mindset comes from the academic, technical and military origins of the […]
If there’s one thing that drives me nuts, it’s management types making the same dumb mistakes over and over, never learning from their predecessors. Peter Anspach tackles the problem with flair in his 100-item checklist on How to be a Successful Evil Overlord.
If only corporate managers had such a clear view of their role […]
Is George Bush the worst president in U.S. history? Maybe.
A group of historians take a look at the long view and come up with quite a litany of reasons why Bush has failed as a president and as a conservative.
At one point I thought the defining phrase of the Bush presidency would be “intelligence […]
What do you do when you feel you’ve reached a plateau?
After a few years of learning and trying a ton of new things, there comes a day when you look around and there just don’t seem to be any nearby mountains to climb. So what then?
My particular plateau is one of professional development. I’ve […]
Whether you’re writing for a newspaper, a magazine, for the web, or pretty much anyplace else where you’re writing to an wide and varied audience, there’s a few things that always remain true:
Know what you’re trying to say.
Say it succinctly and clearly.
Don’t lie.
Above all else, make it relate to the audience
I have written professionally for […]
Inspired by Erin Banister, I pose the question:
If you were to recommend one book — just one — what would it be? Answer quick, don’t overanalyze, and put down the first one that comes to mind.
For me, the first thing that popped into my head was War With the Newts by Karel Capek. It’s […]
I got a little shout-out from Kathy Sierra over at Creating Passionate Users today. Woohoo! For those that don’t know CPU is one of the most interesting blogs out there. It deals with technology, marketing, the brain, and how we learn, or, as is too often the case, don’t learn.
So what did I do to […]
There’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything. Wait, scratch that… there’s a right way and a whole lot of wrong ways to do everything.
How to pour ketchup the right way. Chances are, the right way is not the way you think it is.
How many things do we all do the wrong […]
I feel like Navin Johnson getting his name in the phone book. Spammers have found my blog.
This is the kind of spontaneous publicity I need! … That really makes somebody! Things are going to start happening to me now.
I hate spammers. All the appeal of the potted meat from whence they derive their name, plus […]
I’m told I don’t update enough. My own mother berates me because I don’t blog more, or send digital pics, or whatever. The world is changing.
But as the world changes so quickly, and even Moms get their ticket on the cluetrain, my spotty blogging record lies out for all the world to see. The […]
I see where Martin has decided to throw away more than 100 years of greatness, diluting their proud name with a bunch of cheapy knockoffs.
Sad, really.
My beloved Gretsch, on the other hand, has never been stronger since Fender took over operations. Funny how having a few key players with a ticket on the […]
I don’t claim to know everything about business, or how to successfully lead a team. In fact, I can’t claim to know much at all. But I have witnessed the absolute wrong way to do things a few times, and can share my surefire methods of being a lousy manager. So, if you’re a manager, […]
A lot of folks have been asking where I’ve been, what I’ve been doing, and why updates have been so infrequent. By a lot of people, I mean one, besides my mom, but still, given the number of people who are actually interested in me or what I’m doing, that’s a pretty high percentage.
So, […]
And there shall be much rejoicing across the land: Microsoft is killing off FrontPage.
‘Bout time. This wretched piece of crap-ware is (arguably) the worst thing that ever happened to the web.
Thanks to FrontPage, a gazillion people decided somewhere along the way that they were web designers, despite an utter lack of talent or ability […]
There had to come a day when I disagreed with Seth Godin on something. Today’s the day.
Godin uses the immaculate and sparkling trucks all fire stations seem to have as an allegory for businesses making busy work for themselves while they wait for the next fire alarm. The polishing-the-brass-on-the-Titanic argument, if you will.
There’s a few […]
Wordpress 2.0 has been released. No, I haven’t upgraded yet, but you can bet I will.
I probably won’t bother seeing the movie, since it looks like one of those cheese-O special-effects-laden “events” the Networks air at sweeps time — or perhaps the Lord of the Rings’ dumbed-down little brother (prince of the rings?) — but I know I’m not the only one who thinks The Chronic-als of Narnia Rap is […]
Note to self: resolve to be less negative in the New Year. My top referrer search is “Christmas Music Sucks,” a term for which I seem to be very highly rated.
So, come 2006, I’ll work on making The Bitter Pill slightly less bitter, even though I suspect this resolution will last about as long as […]
Squidoo has gone to a public beta. I had the good fortune to beta test it, and I can say that I had my doubts early on, but that was then.
Seth, Heath et al have turned up the juice, and I think this thing is going to rock.
I still don’t know how to […]
My lovely sister recently listed her favorite Christmas songs, and being the caring big brother that I am, I figured I better set her straight. Now, my sister is quite the wondrous and wonderful young woman, but she simply doesn’t know some of the greats. And listing not one, but two Mariah Carey songs and […]
Hats off to Malarkey for saying what many of us have been thinking for quite some time:
People still delivering nested table layout, spacer gifs or ignoring accessibility can no longer call themselves web professionals.
The full interview is at Accessify.
If your mechanic said he had no interest in learning about fuel injection or electronic ignition, you […]
I’m sure anybody who even thinks they’re anybody on the web has already heard, but Mike Davidson (of sIFR fame) is prepping his latest venture, Newsvine.
With absolutely no first-hand experience (and therefore absolutely no good reason you should listen to me), I have to say this Newsvine thing is intriguing. It appears to be a […]
I don’t know if Ramit Sethi can really teach anyone to be rich or not, but he’s got some really interesting thoughts on when (if ever) the bottom line should be the first priority:
Here’s a pattern I see a lot:
1. Somebody launches something
2. He tries to make money
3. Then he tries to make it valuable […]
Obviously, the design of this thing isn’t nailed down, and I’m way too busy with other projects to even think about starting a blog. but I think I’m going to push through and do this thing.
Of course, no one is reading this, but hey, no matter how unlikely, someone may stumble across here and […]
The Bitter Pill is dead. Long live the Bitter Pill.