The Power of Kindness – Review

By Kedron | Published: September 10, 2009

tpokI’ve picked up “The Power of Kindness – The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life” by, Piero Ferrucci once again. The Storyteller bought me this book a while ago because she knew how much I enjoyed “How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Although I thoroughly enjoyed that book, The Power of Kindness has pulled me back for a second read because it is so powerful!

If you’re apprehensive about reading something in the Buddhist way of thinking, then this book is the perfect book to dip your toe in the water. Mr. Ferrucci doesn’t dive into the afterlife or higher powers or anything of the sort. He simply walks you through 18 chapters of learning/living the aspects of kindness. It aught to be required reading for every man, woman and child.

If you only read one new book this year, I can’t recommend this one enough! Read. Enjoy.

My own world view would replace the word kindness with the word love – kindness has less contextual baggage to unpack, but the point is the same.

Posted in Random | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Photo hunt in corn country

By Kedron | Published: September 4, 2009
(In the middle of corn fields, Kurt (pictured) and I found a bridge that had been tagged - if you could call it that)

(In the middle of corn fields, Kurt (pictured) and I found a bridge that had been tagged - if you could call it that)

Kurt, Ken (my brothers – twins) and I went camping last weekend despite the cold wet weather. Ken and I went for a quick 5 mile jog and Kurt and I went on a quick scavenger hunt for something interesting to photograph. It was dreary, wet, cold, and otherwise boring scene – which was what made this hunt interesting.

As creatives we often get assignments that inspire about as much enthusiasm as that cold wet photo hunt. Yuck. As much as we like to tell ourselves that we’re only going to do the “fun” projects we inevitably have to do the boring ones as well.

When we’re faced with projects like that we can either piss and moan about it or we can look for something interesting to bring to the surface.

I think this is a mark of a seasoned creative. Pulling the interesting out of the mundane often takes hard work and special attention to subtleties.

I wont go on about how the creative industry is flooded with shallow, lazy, copycats – rather, leave you with this:

The next time you’re tasked with a boring gig – dig in and make it beautiful. Find it. It’s in there. It will make you a better creative. I promise.

Posted in Photography | Leave a comment

Twitter Your Flickr

By Kedron | Published: August 25, 2009

Short URLs come in handy when tweeting a link. Getting a short URL for a Flickr photo used to be a pain, but a while back they decided to make life a little easier for us Flickr/Twitter users.

Flickr has had the “Blog This” feature for quite some time. It’s a handy feature that allows you to post to your blog from a photo. They have taken that same thought and applied it to Twitter. All you need to do is connect your Flickr account to your Twitter account.

  1. Log into Flickr and head to your account page.
  2. Click the tab “Extending Flickr”
  3. Add or edit “Your blogs”
  4. Choose Twitter from the “Add a blog” helper
  5. Authenticate your Twitter account – head over to your Twitter settings on Twitter.com and make sure you approve Flickr in your “Connections” tab

You are all set to start tweeting your Flickr photos! To do this, just jump over to the photo you want to send out. Above the photo you’ll see all the things you can do with that particular photo.

flickrblogthis

Click on the “Blog This” button and choose your Twitter account. Flickr will then grab the short URL for you and put it in a Twitter post.

flickrtweetthis

Nice and easy!

Posted in Photography, Webmastering | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Auditory Web Reference

By Kedron | Published: July 17, 2009

catchthat

Most of the time your Web content is being referenced visually via an active link or something in print – but that’s not always the case. Sometimes we need to communicate a piece of content through spoken word. This transition is considerably harder to make for most users, unless they are in front of the computer when they hear the information you’re trying to direct them to – even then it’s not nearly as foolproof as something they can read or click.

I became acutely aware of how awkward this transition can be several weeks ago when I heard a radio personality point the listeners to a piece of relevant content by saying over the airwaves: “Visit the site and search for xyz.” I instantly felt my anxiety level go up! It was content that was interested in finding, but the idea of being left to a site search left me feeling hopeless. Why would I trust your site search to give me relevant content? How do I know what to search for? Will the search results give me the most up to date article on the subject matter? The list goes on!

There are better ways of directing people to your content than sending them to your URL and telling them to search.

The 2 standards offer much more direction and give the user considerably more hope.

The oldest of the two methods are giving out your URL and suggesting the user search for a specific keyword. This eliminates most of the anxiety for the user when it comes to searching your site, for one reason: it’s assumed that you have done what it takes to make sure that the keyword is associated with the content and will return the content you’re verbally sending them to. If you haven’t done that, then you should assume your users are now frustrated.

The second, and what I recommend, is to give the url to your site followed by a slash then the keyword. eg. www.ailema.com/localhost This method keeps the user in ONE process – typing in the location bar. Users don’t have to figure out where your search is, whether or not the results are going to be accurate, etc.

Yes, I know my preferred method requires some technical attention on the administrator side – but doesn’t all affective UI?

Posted in Webmastering | 1 Comment

Short URL Your Flickr for Twitter

By Kedron | Published: July 1, 2009

Wait! Looking to Twitter your Flickr? Click here!

flickr short url

Several weeks ago I noticed tweets with links that used the Flic.kr as the URL base. My first thought was that there was a Flickr service at Flic.kr that would shorten my Flickr url or better yet, allow me to post a photo to both Twitter and Flickr at the same time. That’s not what you find at Flic.kr but a few short weeks later 1 the problem has been solved.

The Twitter to Flickr thing has been worked out. Great. But what about a short URL from a Flickr photo to Twitter? That’s where flic.kr comes in. Not quite seamless, but accessible enough for those willing to invest in the integrity of the internet (more on that in a minute).

Want a short URL for your Flickr photo without using a 3rd part service? Here is how!

Flickr publishes a short URL for every photo via the tag. View the source of the page you want to send people to and look for

<link rev="canonical" type="text/html" href="http://flic.kr/p/6uYrJN" >

Grab the value of the href and you’re good to go!

OK, I can hear the non-technical people hating on the idea of viewing the page source. Like I said, it isn’t seamless. This is where you can give Flickr a pat on the back for using the tag though. Go to: RevCanonical and paste in the URL of the photo you want a short url for and it will look up the link for you!

The whole process is still NOT seamless, but it’s only a matter of time before Flickr or a 3rd party makes it so. Until then, hardcore Flickr users can take advantage of these methods – while making the internet a safer place!

Further Reading and Resources

Footnotes


1 Flickr has done well to adapt to Twitter shaking things up. Twitpic may have the lead, but it lacks the depth and appeal that Flickr does long term – IMO.

ewy7g8c43i

Posted in Photography, Webmastering | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Is Your Web Provider a Used Car Salesman?

By Kedron | Published: June 18, 2009

car4sale

I’ve been on both the selling and buying end of Web services for over 10 years. Over that time I’ve drawn some conclusions about how people sell their services, and from my survey of the landscape, there are a LOT of “used car salesman” in the Web business.

I’m picking on the used car salesman not just because it immediately provokes high blood pressure and the taste of vomit in the back of your mouth, but also because there are several good parallels between their processes – plus – the car industry is a nice backdrop for talking about things that are broken and obnoxious.

People often shop for Web services the same way they shop for cars – they go to where the product is – in this case, the Internet. There is where you’ll find all sorts of pretty and shiny things to catch your eye. The show room sparkles and you’re greeted with a smile and firm handshake.

But wait! Not all showrooms are fronts for crummy Web jerks – just like not all showrooms at car dealerships are fronts for crummy car salesmen.

Side note – funny how you can’t always tell what kind of interaction you’re going to get by the showroom floor huh?

OK, so how do you avoid the used car salesman of the Web? I’m so glad you asked! Here are a few tell-tale-signs that will help you spot one coming.

Avoid those who farm out the labor

If you’re approached by a Web slinger who brags about how many sites he can turn around because he farms all the labor out to India, run like the wind! You’re dealing a used car salesman – who gets paid on volume. He doesn’t care much about your experience as a customer NOR the experience of your customers. He’s found cheep labor that can turn around comps and code on the other side of the globe while he is sleeping. There is a good chance he knows little about solid extensible, semantic, standards based design and very little about development best practices.

Avoid those who talk non-stop about social networks and Web 2.0

If you’re working with a Web shop that constantly pushes you towards adopting the latest social networking fad – beware – you might be working with a used car salesman. There are a lot of Web monkeys out there that know how to talk the sex out of technology. They are up on all the latest trends and insist that those who are not early adopters will go the way of the dinosaurs. Do you really need inferred sensors and a heads up display to tell you there is a deer in the middle of the road? Maybe you don’t need the headache of managing 43 different social networks either? Those who insist you jump on whatever is next, probably isn’t paying attention to what you truly need to make your Web strategy successful.

Avoid those who up-sell up-sell up-sell

Quite often the one who is up-selling you all the time is the same guy who is preaching about the latest social networking trends, but this guy is more about the features and size than about the trends. This used car salesman wants you to buy the extended Hummer with the hot-tub in the back, sitting on 40″ doves. Did you show up at the showroom looking for something that will kill your budget and cost a fortune to maintain? This guy isn’t interested in giving you what you asked for, he is looking to get his cut out of the biggest pie he can sell you.

How do you know when you’ve found the right provider?

Step 1

Look for someone who is willing to get to know you and your business. Someone who takes the time to understand your goals. Someone who listens to your needs.

Step 2

Look for someone who is interested in understanding your customers. Someone who has done some homework in effort to understand your industry and what your clients expect from your industry.

Step 3

Look for someone who can bring experience and value to Step 1 and 2.

Used car salesmen have the reputation they have because they have earned it as a whole, and I think it might be wise to approach Web providers with the same caution we approach car salesmen. When we find an honest, good listening, experienced and knowledgeable salesman we become repeat customers and even tell our friends who they should trust to buy their next car from.

As a consumer and provider, I urge you to step back, know your goals and look for someone who is willing to partner with you in reaching them.

Posted in Design, Webmastering | Tagged | 3 Comments

dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip

By Kedron | Published: June 15, 2009

scroobius

The Twittersphere has declared Monday as “Music Monday” – which totally bucks the powers that be that have declared Tuesday as the official day to talk about what’s new in the music world – which, in my opinion, says less about the wisdom of the masses and more about our agonizing attraction towards abstract alliteration. I digress…

So for this Music Monday, I would like to introduce you to dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip. I stumbled onto this duo a while ago because this video made the rounds on a few sites I frequent.

Scroobius Pip isn’t mainstream rap or hip-hop – but he’s got more rhyming skills than most records you’ll find at FYE. Some might call him a beat poet. I call him a breath of fresh air on the hip-hop grind. If you’re interested in something fresh, insightful and dare I say – inspiring – pick up Angles – dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip.

Thou Shalt Always Kill

Posted in Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Roaming Grand Rapids

By Kedron | Published: June 9, 2009

My little brother (one of two that are both bigger than I) went on a short photo safari last night around Grand Rapids. We ducked in and out of buildings as the clouds let a few rain drops loose which only added to the excitement of the evening. We had a blast.

We both commented last night on how shooting with someone challenges one another and inspires the creative eye. I had forgotten what that felt like. As a creative, I tend to live in my own little world and its rare that inspiration comes from an actual human interaction – most of mine comes from the Web, environmental design, nature and architecture. I can see where I’ve been missing out – which will change.

Grand Rapids in focus

Posted in Photography | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Getting Worked Over

By Kedron | Published: June 1, 2009

workedover

Several weeks ago I was visiting with a friend to discuss some design revisions to her Web site. As with most projects, the design direction was pretty loose – not lacking in direction, just the concrete measurables.

As we talked about textures, colors and possibilities her husband poked his head around the corner and informed me that I was “getting worked over” – meaning “It appears you have very little control of the conversation”.

Those words have been tumbling around in my head for a few weeks now, and he’s right. Getting worked over is part of the design process – or so it would seem to those on the outside looking in.

Maybe a little clarification is needed.

The design process aught to be a partnership – not just a service. When I take my car to the shop I trust the mechanic to diagnose and provide solutions – without my input on what wrench or socket to use in the process. When someone approaches a designer, on the other hand, the process is much more collaborative. Designers are often, if not always, incorporating concepts, elements and ideas that they wouldn’t have naturally been drawn to. Why? Because we’re not creating for ourselves – we’re creating on behalf of someone else – in partnership with someone else.

Now don’t get me wrong – I don’t think designers aught to be doormats for bad ideas – I’m just saying it is a collaborative field of work – collaborative on a thought process level – more so than many others. As a designer, it’s my responsibility to bring my professional experience to the table and help guide the process in an insightful way – but how much of the design process is subjective and how much is it user experience best practice?

In my opinion, “getting worked over” – essentially meaning I’m not in complete control – is what separates a good creative professional from a creative showboat. A showboat has no regard for collaboration because they are only interested in promoting their own ideas and expressing their own interest. A professional on the other hand melts the clients ideas with their own experience and training into something full of integrity and beauty.

I would assume it’s because I’ve been a designer for all of my professional life, but I get incredibly annoyed with those who approach work and problem solving in anything less than a collaborative way. From what I can tell, the larger the company the less collaborative the culture (generalizing of course).

Much more could, and has been said about the subject. I would only add to the conversation that “getting worked over” can lead to some beautiful outcomes.

Posted in Design, Webmastering | Tagged | Leave a comment

1080 Around the Corner

By Kedron | Published: May 4, 2009

If you’ve missed Cameron Moll’s nice right up “Is it time to move beyond 960?” I would suggest starting there before reading further.

I’m not trying to make an argument for or against moving away from 960, I’m just offering a simple tool/visual for those weighing their options.

I’ve put together a Photoshop file that helps illustrate what you get with a 1080 canvas.

1080 Download PSD

I think the most notable consideration for moving towards a wider layout is the increasing use of media in our pages, and a wider format can go a long way to accommodate that trend. If you’re not designing with YouTube and the like in mind, you’re already behind the curve. Just sayin.

Another worthy note is that magazine layouts continue to gain momentum, and a bigger canvas goes a long ways in keeping some design integrity.

Another consideration is that with wider layouts we’re able to move horizontally a little easier. Most sites, due to the content and screen resolution, force the layout to move the user vertically – which isn’t natural for those of us that read from left to right. It’s unavoidable, but at the same time, any extra horizontal room we get, the more options we have to parallel many of our non-digital experiences. (I’m referring more specifically to having more room above the fold to move horizontally.)

At the end of the day, the content, audience, portability and scalability are all to be considered. When it comes to delivering a successful experience, size doesn’t matter as much as how well you use it. What?

Posted in Design, Webmastering | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

5 ways running makes me a better designer

By Kedron | Published: May 3, 2009

I’ve been a runner for 10 out of the 12 years I’ve been a designer. I started running while on staff at Cornerstone University. I would escape the pressure of work during lunch breaks and run 2 or 3 miles. At the time I ran purely for therapeutic reasons – I needed the release that being physical offers.

Over the years I’ve added several more reasons to run and keep running. I still run for the therapeutic reasons – the runner’s high is addicting, but now I run for a variety of health reasons, to stay fit, to stay disciplined, and to become a better designer.

I know, running to become a better designer sounds like a stretch at best, but here’s what I’ve been able to take away from running and apply to being a creative.

  1. The fresh air, heart rate thumping, and the body moving in unison creates an phycological environment to focus. The elevated levels of oxygen running threw my brain are just the boost I need to stay sharp.
  2. Being surrounded by out of the ordinary smells, textures, sounds and sights, I’m exposing myself to new input I can build on in other ways. If I block out the endless conversations running threw my mind I’m able to see a world of elements that grow me as a creative.
  3. Running offers a very physical and tangible situation to push through adversity. The practice of “pushing through” is a 99% mental game, and it has paid off countless times when faced with a creative dilemma. There is something to be said for building mental stamina, will and a determinedness to push through – despite the pain or frustration I’m facing.
  4. I often run with headphones on – sometimes it’s just a musical piece and sometimes it’s a favorite signer. I’m the type that would have music on 24/7 if my wife could sleep with a piano in the background. Running and listen to music is a unique experience though. It’s often the only time I’m able to fully engage in what I’m listening to, and listening and exposing yourself to great art can only make you a stronger creative.
  5. Lastly, the runner’s high is irreplaceable. After a good long run, I can’t even begin to tell you how much more clear my thought patterns are. I’m able to focus easier, solve problems quicker, and have a sharper mind overall. Irreplaceable.

These are some of the benefits I’m able to take from running and apply to being a creative, and the beauty of these perks is that they apply to pretty much every profession under the sun.

If you’re not a runner I would suggest giving it a try. It wont come easy though, and it will take you several weeks before you experience the full benefits of the sport – I think you’ll find that it’s worth it though.

Posted in Design, Running | Tagged , | 1 Comment

To multi-site or not

By Kedron | Published: May 1, 2009

Strategy is king when you’re dealing with limited resources – extra true when you’re dealing with the Web.

I recently had a conversation with a friend who is constantly on the front-lines when dealing with limited resource while effectively executing her responsibilities on the Web. The conversation was one I’ve had countless of times with other Web professionals who, like most, are in the same boat. It centers around meeting a wide range of requirements, and filtering those into a strategy that works for everyone – and more specifically, throwing “sites” at the problem as opposed to strengthening the entire tool-set.

Most of the time when people propose a new site it’s because they don’t feel that the current resources are sufficient for what they “require” – which may be the case, but hardly reason to build something new.

When you build something new you:

  • Introduce one more technology to maintain – which has security implications, version control, man hours, etc.
  • Dilute you’re user experience (at best) – new navigation, new layout, new new new learning curve
  • Divert resource to something other than your core platform – you could build the “tools” being requested into an existing strategy – centralizing resources on a small team is a MUST – you can’t afford to lose ground when you have to fight for every cent you get
  • Administration becomes exponentially more complicated and time consuming – checks and balance nearly get lost when offshoots are birthed
  • Message gets less focused – with one voice for the Web site things can maintain an clear message from front to back, but with a multi-site strategy things get distorted quickly
  • Multi-site strategies often reflect poor planning from a corporate perspective – “needs” need to fall in line with a corporate web strategy, not emotional knee jerking – constituents feel and notice this sort of thing, even if they can’t articulate it
  • Data-sharing, and cross-site connectedness becomes increasingly complicated – authentication; need I say more?
  • Data management turns into data mismanagement – dated content gets updated on one site and not another, data often gets duplicated, data integrity pretty much takes a beating

Small teams need – must – focus their efforts when it comes to execution online. Every new “thingy” you introduce dilutes your resources either in development or maintenance. You can’t avoid that if you want to move forward, you just have to be very strategic in how you go about the advancement process (and sometimes it does require an offshoot site – but think long and hard before headed that rout).

From my experience, unfortunately, companies totally miss the boat on this one and pursue a new “widget” or site instead of looking out for the user, big picture, and ultimately – the bottom line.

Posted in Webmastering | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Horizontal Menu 101

By Kedron | Published: April 22, 2009

I know this is nothing new, but I was surprised the other day when a friend asked me if there was a jQuery plugin I used to create this effect.

Here is the idea: Turn this

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

<ul id="nav">
  <li id="nav_home"><a href="" title="Home">Home</a></li>
  <li id="nav_about"><a href="" title="About">About</a></li>
  <li id="nav_clients"><a href="" title="Clients">Clients</a></li>
  <li id="nav_portfolio"><a href="" title="Portfolio">Portfolio</a></li>
  <li id="nav_contact"><a href="" title="Contact">Contact</a></li>
</ul>

into this

complete

First of all, if you haven’t read “CSS Design: Taming Lists” then start there – and welcome to the internet, you must be new here?

The basic idea is to keep the HTML meaningful, clean, portable and flexible. We do this by not complicating the HTML with things that don’t make sense apart from the design.

To accomplish this, a little CSS will go a long way.

First we need to get this unordered list to display in a horizontal row. While we’re at it we’ll put some other parameters around the UL to help guide us along the way.

1
2

#nav{width:576px; height:40px; list-style-type:none;}
#nav li{display:inline;}

All we’ve done so far is tell the UL with the ID of nav to have a width, height and that there shouldn’t be any bullets on the list items. Then we told the li that belong to #nav to display inline – horizontal.

The next step is where the real work is. We’re going to tell the anchor tags to look and behave like graphical buttons – when in reality, they are still just some simple HTML and text.

We do this by making each of the anchor tags a block element. Once we do that, our new block elements are going to want to stack on top of eachother – so we float the left. We also know that each menu item shares a common height, so we declare it here to save ourselves the need to repeat the height for each anchor tag. Lastly, we need to send that text packing because we want to use a graphical representation for the text. To do that, indent the text way, way, way off the page.

1

#nav li a{display:block; float:left; height:40px; text-indent:-9999px;}

If you look at what your browser sees, you shouldn’t see anything. Don’t worry though, we’ll bring it all back quickly.

To get the graphical image in place of the text we’re going to make a little PNG sprite that contains 3 instances of what the button could be. This will make sense in a minute, but this is what we’re working with:

40px

The idea here is that we only display a portion of the image for each anchor. We already declared in our CSS that our anchor tags should be 40px tall, which means we’re only displaying 1/3 of the image at a time, and then manipulate the position of this image based on interaction.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

#nav li a:hover{background-position:center center;}
 
#nav_home a{width:112px; background:url(images/nav_home.png);}
.home #nav_home a{background-position:center bottom;}
 
#nav_about a{width:110px; background:url(images/nav_about.png);}
.about #nav_about a{background-position:center bottom;}
 
#nav_clients a{width:109px; background:url(images/nav_clients.png);}
.clients #nav_clients a{background-position:center bottom;}
 
#nav_portfolio a{width:126px; background:url(images/nav_portfolio.png);}
.portfolio #nav_portfolio a{background-position:center bottom;}
 
#nav_contact a{width:119px; background:url(images/nav_contact.png);}
.contact #nav_contact a{background-position:center bottom;}

I’ve split each menu item into a block of CSS for easy digesting, but they are basically all the same. We define a width, which is specific to the actual width of the image, and then we use CSS to bring that image in as a background. Once we’ve done that, we add a pseudo-class :hover to each anchor to adjust the position of the background. Simple huh?

Lastly, I added a little CSS hook to change the background position based on which section of the site the user is in. To make this work for you, all you need to do is address something that changes in your CSS based on section. A simple way to do this would be to add a class to the BODY tag that corresponds with the section name. In this case, I’ve added .home to the BODY tag while declaring that my #nav_about anchor should use the background property of center bottom.

Working Example

Reasons for implementing your visuals this way:

  1. Keeps your markup clean and portable
  2. Decreases load time for images – you’re only loading one
  3. No flickering when the image is being “replaced” – it’s already loaded
  4. Most importantly, you won’t look like a noob!

Other Resources

If you’ve found this helpful, pass it around. Comments are welcome!

Posted in Design | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Too much design

By Kedron | Published: April 21, 2009

From the looks of this site you probably wouldn’t assume that I’ve been the lead designer on projects ranging from presidential campaigns, government agencies, countless political figures and a handful of universities. It seems that most designers user their blog to showcase their design ability. I used to do the same several years ago when I first started blogging.

I’m not knocking that at all, but for me, I’m taking a different approach this time around. I’m experimenting.

I think most designers try and diversify the way the grow in their design ability. With this layout I’m trying to design around information, and more specifically, what the reader expects in regard to that information – less about what can be done with Photoshop, and more about what can be done with the information itself.

Part of my focus in the design process is to refrain from using images in the template, and just stick to html/css. I’m also trying to build the site on a solid grid (w.i.p.). Apart from that, I’m focusing on typography and content itself.

So far there isn’t much to look at – and maybe that’s the way it will stay. Like I said, it’s an experiment. More to come…

Posted in Design | Tagged , | Leave a comment