What We Can Learn From Mess
Gary Wolf wrote a Wired cover story about craigslist called “Why Craigslist Is Such A Mess“. It’s a somewhat strange article because it is highly critical of craigslist’s design, management, and lack of innovation. But you cannot read that article and not come away impressed with Craig Newmark, Jim Buckmaster, and the ethos of craigslist.
Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, Revised Edition
In the last couple of weeks, a JPG has been making the internet rounds and, in the process, has gathered more than 6,500 Diggs (not that that is any measure of successful success, but still…) and has been mentioned in dozens of design and culture blogs, including many which I frequent and respect. The problem is that the JPG is wrong and disingenuous. It comparatively illustrates the evolution of the Pepsi and Coca-Cola logos from their beginnings in the late nineteenth century to their current state at the end of the 2000s. The comparison chart mocks the ever-changing personality of the Pepsi logo in contrast to Coca-Cola's stoic script logo, unaffected by the effects of time. The philosophical point it makes is indeed funny and, for the most part, accurate: Coca-Cola has long been the steady brand that triumphs over Pepsi as the latter attempts to gain ground with brand gimmicks and changes. And I will be the first to admit that the Coca-Cola logo and its consistency over the years is far more supreme than Pepsi, but every time I saw this JPG come up in more and more web sites and blogs I couldn't help but cringe at the inaccuracy and deception it engenders.
How Comet Brings Instant Messaging to meebo – O’Reilly News
interesting write up about the problems and solutions of building meebo, especially with respect to comet style architecture
The Definitive Guide to Using Negative Margins
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Since the recommendation of CSS2 back in 1998, the use of tables has slowly faded into the background and into the history books. Because of this, CSS layouts have since then been synonymous with coding elegance.
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5 Useful And Creative Ways To Use WordPress Widgets
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If you’ve been reading some of the previous WordPress-related articles here on Smashing Magazine, you’ll know that WordPress is much more than a blogging platform. It can be used as a CMS, too. And WordPress widgets are a powerful tool in your WordPress development arsenal.
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Jonathan Ive on The Key to Apple’s Success – BusinessWeek
So what does Ive look for when interviewing would-be Apple designers? Belief, passion and a commitment to strive for perfection. "When I'm interviewing people to join the team, the discussions go like this: 'this was my idea, this is how it turned out in manufacturing, and it's rubbish, isn't it? But it isn't my fault'," he recounted wryly, before becoming serious. "There's a list of excuses and reasons why it was somebody else's fault other than the designer's. Now I understand that, I've been there, I've been frustrated beyond words with other companies when I was working independently. But when you've gone through a whole portfolio like that, at some point you have to say: 'if you really do care about the quality of what ends up getting made, wouldn't you find an answer, some sort of alternative, and somehow figure out a way to take your idea and do something with it?'"
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CSS – String Truncation with Ellipsis
Today’s article is brought to us by guest writer, Justin Maxwell. Justin will explain the technique he fine tuned for Mint.com to ellipses text using just CSS. For more information about Justin see the end of this article.
Social Network Icon Pack
Introducing 80+ ridiculously rad social networking icons, made by deft-fingered Haitian refugees, not really… but really. I’ve developed over 80 refined, amazing social networking icons for the top networks around. They’re all the rage with you crazy newsk00l intarweb kids. Use them on your blogs. Put them on t-shirts, coffee mugs, your face-space or whatevs.
iPhone GUI PSD 3.0
Along with Apple’s official release of the new iPhone 3.0 software came a number of new graphic elements. We’ve been holding off updating the Photoshop file until we could properly implement the additions. We built it using vectors, so it’s all still fully editable. Apple’s SDK is amazing, but when we need to mock up something quickly for a pitch we turn to this.