Friday, May 30, 2003
Course materials...
If anyone is interested in seeing some of the presentation files from the AIR-U courses, the latest PowerPoint files are on the Knowbility website. You may also be able to find code samples and other files in the parent directory.
We used a few examples from my website that I will also list: rollover examples and dynamic cascading menus. Note that the menus are a work in progress and I will be adding more functionality to them (navigation via the arrow keys) in the future. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.
One person asked about the Mozilla add-ons I was using during the demo. Some of them are on this list of Mozilla add-ons, but the main ones I was using were:
Sunday, May 25, 2003
Make your website accessible...
This week I'll be teaching two courses as part of the Knowbility AIR University. The Thursday morning schedule includes "Accessible Web Templates" and "JavaScript and Accessibility". The JavaScript course is full, but there is still room to sign up for Accessible Web Templates. See you there.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Slantilicious...
The lengths some people will go to achieve text-only graphics to overcome the limitation that most browsers that don't support SVG is amazing. Previously I had seen some slant experiments on Eric Meyer's CSS edge site, but didn't realize how robust they could be.
Today I saw some better documentation of border-slant experiments. Wow... Particularly impressive is the rotating star demo though be warned that it's beyond the limitations of Internet Explorer. Try Mozilla or Netscape 7+ for best results.
PS. The short explanation of this post is that three-colored triangle graphic (if you can see it) is done with CSS-only instead of an image. Note that it also scales with your font size. Sweet!
Monday, May 19, 2003
Keeping busy...
I haven't been posting as much lately because I've been working on a lot of things.
This past week, I took photos for a project called America 24/7. I can submit up to seven photos. Would you like to help me narrow down the finalists? (Note: These are raw. I still need to do some cropping and color adjustments.) I really liked the artichoke photo but it turned out too blurry. I would have taken a second photo but the grocery store manager asked me to leave. Hooligan photographer? Whatever. Which seven should I use?
Also, if things go well, I'll be joining the board for the Austin chapter of the AIGA and I've been asked to help judge this year's AIR-Austin competition. Wish me luck.
Friday, May 16, 2003
Extreme geek...
I read on a Macromedia weblog about an über-geek replacement for the tried and true Rock-Paper-Scissors game. Rock-Paper-Scissors-Spock-Lizard is too funny not to share. It's creator, Sam Kass, has some other funny theories, too.
The only problem: Can anyone figure out what the hand shape for the "lizard" is? It looks too similar to "paper" to me.
Seem strange to you?
One thing I've been wondering about lately: Why is the National Design Conference of the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA) going to be in Canada? Not that I have anything against Canada; in fact, I hear it's rather nice. I would just expect an American professional organization to have their conferences in... well... America.
Monday, May 12, 2003
Congratulations, Catherine.
Congratulations to my little sister. She graduated from Texas A&M University on Friday with two architecture degrees in Environmental Design and Construction.
Catherine is planning on coming to grad school at UT in Austin this fall. Apparently, only the women in our family get master's degrees. :D
Update: Apparently my communication skill was somewhat lacking on this post. I wanted to clarify it here because I'm never sure how permanent external comment content can be. A few people misunderstood this post (more than noted in the comments) and I wanted to clear something up. That last sentence should have been read "only the women in our family", not "only the women in our family".
I meant it as a good-natured joke that my mother and sister were smarter than my dad, brother, and me. My comment had nothing to do with the scholastic achievements or cognitive competence of my extended family. Of course, now my brother and dad will probably be offended that I said we weren't smart. Argh. I can't win. ;)
Get out now James! Ok, just back away slowly and throw lots of smileys :) so they know you're friendly.
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Lomography
A "Lomo" is a small Russian camera that somehow gained quite a large global following after the fall of the communism. The picture quality is nice, but I never really understood the huge cult following. Maybe it's better explained on the Lomographic Society International site.
Anyway, my friend Yi May was just informed that she has been given a featured photographer interview on the LSI web site and was kind enough to include this picture of me.
I'm not really sure why it looks like I'm sleeping. I don't recall being especially tired that day.
<fru-fru type="art discussion">
The primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) in almost even amounts bring emphasis to the center and focus to the subject's head. The dichotomy of the image is that the subject's head has two strikingly bold lines coming out from it to lead the viewers eye away from the head and back to the surrounding colors. Bravo old girl... Now where's my wine and cheese? Chop chop.
</fru-fru>
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
The Second Renaissance Part 2
The fourth installment of The Animatrix is available for download. Wow. The animation is even better than Ghost in the Shell or Macross Plus. Very impressive.
The storyline explains the how the machines took over and other details about how the Matrix came to be. A must see for any Matrix fan; especially before Reloaded comes out.
You know what bugs me? People who are unwilling to accept friendly advice.
Now don't misundertand me. People don't have to take advice. That's their decision and their prerogative. It's people that aren't even willing to listen to advice that I consider ignorant morons. I'm also not referring to ill-intentioned advice or advice that you've heard over and over. When someone takes the time to assess your situation and give you advice, you should give them the benefit of the doubt that they honestly think their advice can help you. Otherwise, why would they give it?
Think of it like you would think of advisors. Every leader surrounds themselves advisors for good reason. Ultimately, the decision is left to one person, but all the advice is heard and weighed before before an important descision is made. Who doesn't listen to advice? Ignorant morons. Thank God that most of our political leaders haven't been ignorant morons.
Even experts in their field can learn from fresh-thinking beginners. To dismiss advice before hearing it, even if it comes from someone with less knowledge in that area, is imbecilic.
I always liked advice. Especially with gravy.
