One thing that struck me with this iPad feeding frenzy is that nobody seems to state the obvious. They all seem to be wondering what it is that makes this gadget special. In way it’s not supposed to be special, the iPad is just a computer.
One thing came to mind with the launch of the iPad. Design thinking as part of a business strategy isn’t going away. In fact companies like Alessi, Nintendo and Apple are demonstrating that it’s becoming more important. And it’s got lots of people worried. Apple’s most recent addition is once again showing us that design thinking can fix what technology driven innovation couldn’t.
Wireframes, also known as SSD’s, can be very useful for some projects. My experience is that for most projects they’re not very necessary.
Wireframes are not a strict deliverable type that can fit any design project. Each project is different, each client is different. One way I look at wireframes is that they’re just a part of a design and fit somewhere in between a thumbnail sketch and a full blown production mock-up. Sometimes you just go from drawing to CSS and JavaScript. Wireframes be damned.
I’m working on this website that will be displaying diagrams that should be rendered via vectors. The web to date has been all about working around the limitations of its visual capabilities. Using images and standard HTML would be doable but where’s the fun in that!?
That’s nice, it’s just a little painful to watch. Case in point, IE9 will most likely be released somewhere in 2011 with technologies that other browsers already had last year. We can assume that they’ve come up with some very useful tests as they did for IE8 covering a wide range of use cases. They’re not to bothered with the ACID3 test, which is also actually looking at edge cases not to mention non-existing cases. As a designer I don’t see the ACID3 test as being very useful for my work.
You would think JavaScript has come a long way since the 90’s. In terms of it’s acceptance and usage it has come along in leaps and bounds. In terms of speed JavaScript has always lagged behind available processing power. Only now do we see the scripting technology catching up. JavaScript is a run of mill scripting language. It’s basically still the same language it was back in the early naughties. Was it ahead of its time or just misunderstood?
It’s not easy to make sites compliant, especially large web sites. So why on earth would one consider making a site, let alone a web app, in HTML5?
One point of view is to only try your hand at HTML5 on personal sites and blogs. Not that these are less serious but easier to maintain, alter, mix and match. Some say that the requirements to get HTML5 fully cross-browser prohibit its use for web applications because it involves to much risk and is less stable. Well, I beg to differ.
I just can’t get over it. Just the other day I witnessed its first incarnation in its full horror. They’ve actually gone and done it. Ikea has started implementing Verdana. At the dawn of a new era in webfonts they’ve opted for an aged and flawed typeface. One of the more advanced brick & mortar presences online has stumbled on the eve of a more advanced typographical web. There’s only one word that captures this ignominious feet. Fail.
Let me first say that I haven’t done any mobile web stuff since the i-Mode. cHTML rocks! With the current developments I wonder if I need to keep my hand in because mobile is becoming the desktop.
Each spring I wonder about what the oncoming summer will be like. Is it going to be a good year or a bad one. For someone who suffers from Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder a fine summer can be a real pain. Some suffer due to an overexposure of light and others it’s simply the heat, which I can sympathise with. For me it’s sunlight and this year we’re having plenty of it. Damn. Bright light to me is like two men standing next to you shouting non-stop directly into your ears. Sensory overload can be rather debilitating.