Once more with feeling

New Camille Howie site featured on absorb. Site by yours truly.

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:47:28 +1200

New Camille Howie site featured on absorb. Site by yours truly.

Buying new gear

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:44:39 +1200

I’ve been thinking on the topic of buying new computer gear recently. This is aimed mostly at freelance / business owner types who are generally in charge of purchasing their own stuff. So, without further ado:

Don’t skimp on quality stuff

This is what you’ll be using for the next few years - EVERY DAY. It is totally worth it to spend a little more for good quality. As they say, quality is remembered long after cost is forgotten.

Buy on the upward curve

Few things are more disappointing than your gear being out of date soon after you’ve bought it. Technology updates generally come in waves. I made this mistake at the beginning of the year, when I bought a new laptop right before the next model was released.

Plan ahead

Don’t wait until it’s critical. Plan ahead for your next update. Waiting till your current gear fails is a sure fire way to end up getting something you’re disappointed with. I made this mistake earlier in the year also, when I had no option but to buy immediately.

Think about what you’ll actually need

Think carefully about how you’ll use your gear. Do you only ever work at the office, or do you work from home also? Is having one single machine a better choice, or would two machines be better? Laptop, desktop or both? Getting this right the first time will save you $$.

Upgrade regularly

Replacing your gear more regularly also has the benefit of having a semi-recent machine on standby if your new stuff fails (assuming you keep the old one). A spare machine can be a life-saver if your primary one is the repair shop for a week.

If you’re a business owner, you can also write off tax and depreciation at fairly generous rates, making the final cost a lot less than it seems.

Chch Creative

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 13:36:03 +1300

Chch Creative:

The website already lists small companies and freelancers across a range of creative and production trades — web designers, graphic designers, photographers, a copywriter. They’re all open for business and, as the Christchurch economy recovers, they’ll be needed.

/via Hard News

The new Campaign Monitor office

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:38:47 +1200

The new Campaign Monitor office:

I have great admiration for the guys over at Campaign Monitor. Not only is their software truly great, but they apply the same high quality standard to everything they do. Check out this article on the design and construction of their new offices.

jQuery Mobile: Touch-Optimized Web Framework for Smartphones & Tablets

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:24:00 +1200

jQuery Mobile: Touch-Optimized Web Framework for Smartphones & Tablets:

The jQuery team have started work on:

A unified user interface system across all popular mobile device platforms, built on the rock-solid jQuery and jQuery UI foundation.

This looks really promising. If the current jQuery library is anything to go by, this will likely become an essential part of any mobile web development.

"So all those brilliant hover effects that were favorable for pointer-based devices, will be a hurdle..."

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:25:09 +1200

“So all those brilliant hover effects that were favorable for pointer-based devices, will be a hurdle in user experience on the iPad.”

- Inspired Mag has an interesting article on how the iPad is shaping the way we design and built websites.

A preview of MDrive Icon Set by Jairo Boudewyn (via Dribbble)

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 10:22:35 +1200

A preview of MDrive Icon Set by Jairo Boudewyn (via Dribbble)

Hacker Monthly Issue #1 has arrived.

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:04:36 +1200

Hacker Monthly Issue #1 has arrived.

HTML5 For Web Designers via Jason Santa Maria: Our first book...

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:53:36 +1200

HTML5 For Web Designers via Jason Santa Maria:

Our first book is HTML5 For Web Designers, by the indomitable Jeremy Keith. If you’re already getting your feet wet with HTML5, or just trying to figure out what the hell it’s all about, you’ll want this one.

I love bold use of orange combined with small elements of colour in this layout.

Huia Store (via Paul @ Auckland - West) My greatest surprise...

Thu, 27 May 2010 21:44:11 +1200

Huia Store (via Paul @ Auckland - West)

My greatest surprise when I visited the place was the imposing espresso machine: an Elektra Belle Epoque. Neil is operating it with great pride and competence. He comes from Michigan and has been living in Huia for about three years.

I have a fascination with coffee machines - and coffee in general for that matter. This is just SO COOL.

"One of the best things about growing up in New Zealand is that if you are prepared to work hard and..."

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:24:55 +1300

“One of the best things about growing up in New Zealand is that if you are prepared to work hard and have faith in yourself, truly anything is possible.”

- Peter Jackson on being made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

"Cut down on cruft, chrome, gold plating, menu diarrhea, and all the other things that make Adobe..."

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:29:23 +1300

“Cut down on cruft, chrome, gold plating, menu diarrhea, and all the other things that make Adobe apps feel like a carnival ride you’d NEVER put your kid on.”

- Merlin Mann talks about the demise of Abobe’s Creative Suite of software. Even with today’s seemingly unlimited hardware resources - there is no replacement for well designed and written software.

"Be passionate about what you do. If you’re not passionate about design, or development, do us all a..."

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:59:27 +1300

“Be passionate about what you do. If you’re not passionate about design, or development, do us all a favor and start doing something else. Passion can lead to greatness.”

- Noah Stokes writing about The State of the Web Design Profession. (via Matthew Buchanan via Darren Wood)