Topic: Opinions/Reviews
Dear Scrabulous, I Like U, and I Like UI
Dear Scrabulous-
I’m a big Scrabble fan, and I know I’m way behind by just having hooked up with you this weekend. I also know there are people fighting over you (not such a bad problem to have) and I hope you hang around. I like your user interface mostly fine, but I’m wondering if you could tidy up a few small things.
Raleigh-Durham Adobe User Group (RDAUG) Meeting Recap
This month’s meeting was small (nine people) but friendly and featured two speakers. The first presenter, Eric Coker of PStrat, spoke about PHP services for Flex. Eric discussed BlazeDS, an open-source, fast, scalable, Java-based remoting and web-messaging technology that enables developers to easily connect to back-end distributed data and push data in real-time. He strongly emphasized the cheapness of an open-source technology. He also spoke about AMFPHP, PDO or PHP Data Objects and their roles, and light-weight messaging and remoting technologies.
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Yahoo Maps Creates Generous and Powerful API for AS3
Maps have come a long way on the web; having a powerful API will take them even further. Yahoo! introduced a very exciting API for AS3 in late February that proves to be the most powerful map API for Actionscript on the web right now.
With the map API you have a great map engine with the ability to create custom components, overlays and markers while taking advantage of different web services provided by Yahoo!.
Some of the goodies they have included in the release so far:
- Traffic
- Satellite
- Hybrid maps
- Custom Markers
- Geo Coding
- Geodesic Polylines (think of that map in Indiana Jones when he’s flying all over the globe)
- Local Search
- Weather Map
- Flickr Photos
The Flickr photos API is one of the fun new features. It takes the most popular key words based on photos taken and tagged within the cities and areas you are currently viewing on your Yahoo! map. The tags act as markers, so you click on a tag to reveal random photos and even videos taken by people who visited the area. It’s a great way to get an eclectic view of whatever area you’re interested in.
Getting started with the API really is very simple. All you have to do is download the swc and sign up for a free API key. Within about 10 minutes, I had the zoom component and the Map, Satellite and Hybrid views fully functioning.
This initial introduction is limited (for now) to Flex. However, a somewhat simple workaround has come from some talented developers for those of you who are very eager to take your maps into Flash right away.
There are some restrictions to usage. However, it’s fairly generous. The rate limits are based on the number of API calls made per IP address during a 24-hour window. You can think of the 24 hours as a day, but the clock does not reset itself at midnight, per se. Instead, the clock starts the first time you make the API call from the IP. Then, 24 hours later, Yahoo! resets the counters for your IP address.
I’m excited about seeing some great (usable) Flash maps on many more sites.
Thoughts on the ExpressionEngine 2.0 Sneak Peek
For me, one of the most anticipated panels this year as SXSWi was EllisLabs’ ExpressionEngine (EE) 2.0 preview. After having our team’s flight delayed due to weather, we finally managed to make the last of three panels where EllisLabs revealed what they have been working on so diligently for months now. In my opinion, they didn’t disappoint.
I’ve been an EE user for more than a year now and have quickly grown to love it. The flexibility it offers is far superior to most every other CMS (Content Management System) on the market. But as in every great product, it’s not without quirks. What is encouraging to me is that it seems EllisLabs has really made an attempt to tackle most of these issues head-on, having taken the user’s feedback into account for their next release.
Here’s a list of some notable things mentioned:
2.0 will now run off of CodeIgniter, their open source PHP framework
While I don’t fully comprehend the intricacies of this announcement, I can understand its benefits. CodeIgniter will now be an open-source project giving PHP gurus the chance to submit patches and make updates. This, much like most open sources projects, creates a more stable and community-driven/backed project. EllisLabs’ Derek Allard also mentioned features such as abstract querying, better session support, html, and form generation.
2.0 will now have jQuery built in. (my personal favorite, w00t!)
When this new feature was announced, I actually cheered. (I’m such a dork). I was encouraged because I’m a huge jQuery advocate, so the possibilities here are endless. Much like the way Rails seamlessly works with Prototype and Scriptaculous, we’ll now be able to create complex jQuery actions, both visual (DHTML effects) and functional (Ajax), with a few simple lines of code. jQuery will also be fully supported inside the control panel, enabling geeks like to me to customize their experiences by writing plugins. I also assume that they’ve cleaned up a lot of the extraneous JavaScript that currently clogs processor power, slowing your CP loading times. Once 2.0 is released, I’m certain it will only be a matter of time before we see some extremely innovative plugins and extensions leveraging the power of jQuery.
2.0 will include a brand new control panel (CP) interface and layout
The majority of the preview time was dedicated to showing users around the new control panel. This included some very dramatic and much needed changes. It’s apparent in the redesign that EllisLabs is very concerned with streamlining some of its time consuming actions. This includes things like sorting, searching, and custom field creation. Actions that now use ajax, meaning no long page loads? Sweet!
My only criticism is about the design and layout of the control panel. (The official screen shots have generated some heated conversations). I think the design should be more neutral and utilitarian than its new playful self. I was a bit surprised that EllisLabs hadn’t given the CP redesign to Jesse of 31Three, who designed the current EE site. His talent in wireframing and architecting complex data is evident. I would think hiring him for this redesign would be a natural extension of the great work he has already done for EllisLabs.
With that said, Rick Ellis, the CEO, had a great response to some of the criticism the design has received. This is _just_ a preview after all and I’m sure we’ll see numerous custom themes before long. Maybe even one from Jesse?
All-in-all, I’m stoked for the 2.0 release. EllisLabs has addressed flaws in EE and is moving forward. I can’t wait to see what else they’ve got in the pipeline.
Avenir: Font of the Future
When I asked Doug, the Viget Designer behind the typography on the Inspire Blog ,why he used Avenir he replied “because it is the greatest font ever”. Doug is not the only one to have such an opinion of the geometric sans-serif typeface, in 2004 Avenir was named one of Typographica’s favorite fonts. When Andy Budd asked Cameron Moll what fonts would he choose if he could only have 6 his first reaction was “ Avenir, Avenir, Avenir. I’ve abused this typeface in both web and print work, and it’s held up to the abuse with flying colors.”.
In French “avenir” means “future”. This hidden definition makes it a perfect choice for the Viget Inspire Blog because web designers are innovators who are always looking to push the boundaries and limitations of their medium.
Adrien Frutiger designed Avenir in 1988 and is best known for his typefaces Univers and Frutiger. Frutiger explained his reasoning for designing the San-Serif in an interview with Linotype:
“Looking back on more than 40 years of concern with sans serif typefaces, I felt an obligation to design a linear style of sans serif, in the tradition of Erbar™, Futura®, and to a lesser extent Gill Sans®. These have purely constructed characters from which the element of a handwriting movement has been removed. Obviously this could not be an outstanding new creation, but I have tried to make use of the experience and stylistic developments of the 20th century in order to work out an independent alphabet meeting modern typographical needs.”
Avenir has become very popular in web, print, identity, and environmental graphic design. As part of their national identity the Netherlands uses Avenir on their site amsterdam.nl as well as in signage and brochures about their country. You can find Avenir playing a key part in the branding systems of the Reuters and Dulles Fort Worth Airport. On the web a customized version of the font is used in the logo for Shutterfly and the book and medium weights on purevolume.com.
Frutiger describes his typeface as “modern and at the same time humane” but I find Avenir to be an inspiration.
Refreshing a Delectible Brand: Bon Appétit has a New Logo
The editor of Bon Appétit magazine announced this week that the new issue of the magazine features a refresh of its logo, which has gone untouched for seventeen years. As a publication with a substantial history, not to mention a growing circulation of over 1.3 million and a successful website on Epicurious.com, this is a daring and frequently detrimental step for the brand. However, in this case, they’ve done a nice job at creating a sophisticated yet approachable image by combining a nicely-done custom type project with a well-executed style strategy.
They don’t let me write much about design around here, being a strategist and everything, but since I’m a fool for typography, Thanny was gracious enough to let me gush over one of the well-done rebrandings among the many, many, many, many missteps — be careful, that last one may haunt you for a while. I’ve also been paying attention to food and wine magazines lately, so this definitely caught my eye.
Before, then after:
Bon Appétit employed the well-known type designer Matthew Carter to design a custom typeface for the new logo, a smart choice for a brand currently sporting a logotype. Many custom typefaces for brands end up trying for distinction and uniqueness, with a spin to a certain character here or there. Carter, instead, appears to have made some well-reasoned modifications to a classic.
To my eye, the new typeface is based on/inspired by John Baskerville’s namesake type (which is in turn based on the work of John Caslon) and its very popular variation Mrs Eaves. These typefaces are known for their sophistication, while still being approachable and widely usable. Both of these reflect Bon Appétit, but it appears that Carter went for a slightly more youthful slant with the modification, with a heavy stroke and a significant reduction in the stroke’s modulation — that is, the variance between the thickest parts of the stroke and the thinnest. He also seems to have increased the x-height, which is essentially the “tall-ness” of lowercase letters compared with capital letters.
Both of these adjustments a call-out to the modern, geometric, modulation-less typefaces we see almost everywhere in pop culture. Helvetica, perhaps the most ubiquitous typeface on the planet, as a very consistent stroke width and a relatively tall x-height. Helvetica is considered a lot of things, but most would agree that it can be youthful and sporty.
This is all not to mention that the “o” and accent-aigu in the logotype will be changed with each issue, so color is a key component, but no specific color is a key component. It’s like a Hypercolor shirt except actually attractive.
In the end, many could have combined the properties of Baskerville and Helvetica and yielded an ugly Frankenfont, but Matthew Carter instead yielded a very nice logotype that is youthful and hip, while still having a classic sophistication. And Bon Appétit was smart enough to run with it.
Crazy Day Trip: To NYC and Back for FOWD ‘07
There’s a lot going on here at the four labs, and so the four of us attending Carsonified’s Future of Web Design conference this year had to make a long day trip up to New York. Fortunately, when it comes to Ryan Carson’s conferences, even the sub-par conferences are well worth every resultant hour of sleep deprivation.
I say sub-par mainly because this conference didn’t have the polish that we tend to take for granted when it comes to Carson conferences. The venue was large, echoey, and didn’t allow for much audience feedback—if a speaker told a decent joke, audience laughter was swallowed up by the space, and it sounded like awkward silence. The venue was also essentially a glass cube, and the sunlight coming through shone directly on the presentation screen, making speakers’ slides nearly impossible to see for much of the day. Ryan Carson did the right thing and is offering attendees video of the conference free of charge.
On the other hand, the content of the conference was definitely the high-quality fare you expect. It was action-packed, with no fewer than eighteen speaking spots in just over nine hours. While many of the speakers were familiar faces from the web design / web standards speaking circuit, there were a few who were new (to me, at least), and a couple who really stood out:
- Elliot Jay Stocks, Carsonified’s new Senior Designer, was given ten minutes to make his case for abandoning some of the trendy design motifs we’ve seen in the Web 2.0 space. He made the most of each of those minutes, and left the entire audience wishing he’d been given a full slot, with an engaging, witty, and eloquent monologue. I’m sure we’ll see more of him in the future.
- Jeffrey Kalmikoff, Chief Creative Officer at SkinnyCorp, did a really great job on his talk, answering questions submitted by users. It was a creative and engaging way for him to deliver a talk on community.
Of course, there were other speakers more familiar to us who made the conference worthwhile. Brian Fling delivered a reworked twist on his mobile talk that always gives a good primer on the basics of mobile development. Our friend Cindy Li gave a good (albeit brief) talk on how illustration can bring a two-way communication with your users to the web in a way few other media can. Jon Snook gave a good overview of some design considerations related to AJAX. And Matthew Patterson from Campaign Monitor talked about the challenges in HTML email, and why we should care—and we should care.
The highlight of my conference, as far as the presentations were concerned, was Keith Robinson and Ryan Sims presenting “Inside the Designers’ Studio: IMDb,” in which they reworked the popular movie site. The crux of the talk involved the process the two talented designers undertook in the redesign, and I always find it very interesting to see how people actually attack a project. Keith had some technical issues with the remote he was given to advance slides, but the presentation was solid and informative, and was a great anchor leg for the conference.
Afterward, Brian and I headed out to engage in the best part of any conference: socializing. We talked with a ton of people in the few hours before our 10pm train back to DC, including one of my long-lost friends from elementary school. These conversations are always great, but the MediaTemple closing party had other ideas for what to do at the end of the day: something involving deafeningly-loud music and crazy lights. I think the MT parties are best either quite late the night of a one-day conference or, better yet, on the last day as a larger conference.
We had a great time, met a lot of great folks, and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again at SXSW, if not before!
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