Daily Links – 29th Jan 2009

Busy week both for me and the tech world. iPad introduced, multiple companies trying to block competitors from importing goods into the US and of course the most important, miralize v10 was introduced!

Here’s what I’ve been reading recently

• The iPad Dilemma
  January 28, 2010
• 20 Easy-to-Learn jQuery Animation Tutorials
  January 26, 2010
• 20 Color Combination Tools for Designers
  January 23, 2010
• The Best Icon Sets for Minimal Style Web Design
  January 21, 2010
• Kids Spend Every Waking Minute in Front of a Screen [STUDY]
  January 20, 2010
• In Depth: 7 technologies to thank the 1970s for
  January 8, 2010
• At the top of the tallest building in the world
  January 7, 2010
• Cleaning Up Your Mac for the New Year
  January 7, 2010
• 11 Most Popular Blog Design Styles (With Examples)
  January 4, 2010
• Decade in Web Design
  January 4, 2010
• Nirvana + Lady GaGa = Epic Mashup [VIDEO]
  January 4, 2010
• 40+ Stunning and Inspiring Website and Blog Footers
  January 3, 2010
• The World Doesn’t Need Someone Telling Us What We Don’t Need In Tech
  January 3, 2010
• Adding Depth with Pixel Perfect Line Work
  December 30, 2009
• Great Examples Of Coming Soon Pages And How To Create Yours
  December 29, 2009
• Impossibly simple image randomizer with jQuery
  December 28, 2009
• The 50 Best Photoshop Tutorials of 2009
  December 26, 2009
• Muse - MK Ultra (Live From Turin) 2009
  December 24, 2009

Redesigning is a drug and I’m an Addict.

I just cannot seem to keep a version of my site online longer than a few months at most. This one, Miralize Design v10, came from me absolutely hating the last design, which only lasted a month (a record I think). Its also the fastest from conception and design to final release, a mere 14 hours of work. I’m actually quite happy with it, as I now have the portfolio launched too.

The blog template now looks more like a blog, rather than a gimmicky excuse for one. One of the most important things about any website is the fact that “Content is key”, and I think I forgot that last time. I have what I need on the side of every post, and nothing more. I always say I’m going to post weekly, but now that it looks pretty, I think I can manage at least one post a week.

Still no HTML5, still set in my ways of XHTML Transitional. Lots of CSS3 though, and @font-face is being used extensively. The theme for this theme is “BIG!”. Big heading text on the homepage, big footer and the font is easily readable. There is no more useless jQuery that slows down the site, and while IE6 isn’t fully supported yet, I’m here all week.

I think this is a very much needed update to the site. If I’m going to attract clients, I might as well showcase the best I’ve made in a while. But of course, no design is perfect, so if anyone has any changes/features they’d like to see here, please leave a comment!

Oh and by the way, if you have a design blog/site and you want to have a link in the sidebar, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

The iPad Dilemma

As I start writing this, its 3am and in the 9 hours since Apple introduced the iPad, and I’ve been trying to figure out why I feel let down. Everything about the event was perfect. Steve Jobs, as usual, put on an excellent show. He could sell you a used mattress and you’d be leaving happy. The device however was an utter disappointment, and the reason Apple gave for selling it is even worse.

They say they are trying to bridge the gap between the smartphone and the portable computer, that it has to excel in key things like: Browsing, Email, Movies, Music,  eBooks. But Apple has forgotten that they have already made products that to these things, and they do them well.

La Cuveé

La Cuvee is a Bistro & Winery in Dublin. My duties were to create a web portal, which included an online menu, social networking integration and to develop a site which is easy to maintain by the clients.

iPhone 4 Necessities

As I crawl through hundreds of unread feed items each day, a certain Apple handheld device is sure to be mentioned a few dozen times. As it stands, the iPhone is the most popular phone probably ever, and since 2007 has been revolutionizing the mobile industry. It has forced competitors to innovate, yet as of yet no other device has been able to stand up to the might of the iPhone.

Apple are in a great position right now. Sales have never been higher, even more incredible is the fact that this is during economic turmoil. The iPhone native App store now has over 100,000 applications, compared to a measly 1,000 apps the Palm App store has only just reached.

The device itself is simple enough to use, yet powerful enough to create amazing software (as long as it doesn’t interfere with the device’s core functionality), elegant and possibly gives the best user experience from any device I’ve ever used. Having said that there are always problems with any device, and the Jesus Phone isnt any different.

So as a new year begins and the flurry of blog posts about the all-but-confirmed next iteration of the iPhone are published, I just want to outline a few things I think are essential for the iPhone to get that bit closer to perfection.