Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category

Why is the web great for everything except fonts?

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

What is with the half-broken, difficult, problematic, proprietary, buggy, near-unworkable, and otherwise unsatisfactory solutions we’re presented with for rendering fonts beyond the chosen few web-safe fonts? Seriously,  with all of the magical, amazing, and near-miraculous innovations that developers bring to the web in other quarters, why is it that basic specialized font rendering is somehow beyond everyone?

As a developer I want to be able to simply place copy in a <p> tag or <h2> or <li> or any other appropriate text markup and have it render in the font I prescribe. I don’t want it to render as an image and I don’t want to have to adjust and readjust my CSS to accommodate the buggy results. I don’t want to have to worry about line breaks or dimension or anything else that is non-contextual. I just want text to behave like text. Period.

As a consumer I want to see things the way the designer/developer intended me to see them …unless I want to override that default presentation according to my preference. And I don’t want your buggy, shoddy, broken font rendering solution to get in my way. Ever.

Here’s a challenge for developers: Create the tool or technology that allows for what I’m describing here. Do it right; no hackery and no buggy, whimsical results. Maybe even demand that people purchase your solution. You will have earned that reward. Do this very soon. Stop making everything else until this one job is accomplished, for this is too basic a problem to leave unattended.

Just get it frickin done. Is this really too much to ask?

UPDATE:
What he said: http://tinyurl.com/cyexkk

The Patent Process is Broken

Friday, January 30th, 2009

It was made clear to me yesterday that the process associated with securing a patent to an invention is no longer workable. Patents are still important, of course, but the process one must go through to secure a patent fails under the realities of the modern market and modern society. The patent process, it would seem, is an antique relic of a bygone era. It needs to be replaced by a modern process. But what process? How?

The typical patent process involves an initial submission and a ridiculously high cash payment, and then roughly a 2-year wait until the patent office gets around to reviewing your submission. Then up to a year’s wait for an initial finding or challenge to your claim. Negotiation then ensues, and resolution (of whatever form) might come within another year or two depending on how much negotiation is in order. We’re talking about a 3 to 5-year process.

If your invention is software or a unique interaction model, this timeline will in no way be useful or effective in providing a patent in a timely manner. Also, the associated costs are ridiculous for such an extended and obtuse process. Now some might note this fact and be moved to celebrate a victory. It is common in the designer/developer community to believe that all software should be public domain and free for anyone’s use—so that we can all freely build on each other’s work (and finally create a world without pain… Puke.). To these folks I say, fine, relinquish all claims to deriving any income from your work and let’s talk then.

Patents are as relevant now as ever, but there apparently exists no workable method to secure patents to inventions created for a world that moves at light speed. This harms all sorts of industries, but especially the software industry (and all the individuals and families supported by the software industry).

What can be done? What patent method could effectively serve our modern world? Anyone?

Strong Connections

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Settlement PerspectivesSome people just have a knack for effectively participating in the conversation that is the Web. John DeGroote is one of them. He’s just doing it right. John is a litigation attorney and dispute resolution specialist who is keen to share his perspectives on settlement negotiation with people online (hence the name of his blog).

Now, I’m not a settlement litigator and I’m not currently in need of negotiation advice, but I find his posts compelling and I think he’s got a great little newsletter …in an era when newsletters are made almost obsolete by blogs. In John’s case, however, his newsletter is effective in sparking my interest and engaging my curiosity (note: his is an email newsletter, but he’s posted this one online to give people a peek at what they’re missing if they don’t subscribe). John always writes with a voice that connects strongly and his newsletter expresses things that are relevant to his topical context and people’s curiosity about what’s coming next on his blog.

Having spent hours with John, I can attest to the fact that he is exactly who you “see” on his blog. He’s effective at delivering his genuine personality online. In short, they guy delivers: excellent content on a regular basis, written in a compelling and natural voice. He even dares to share what’s coming soon—whetting appetites. Folks wanting to learn how to effectively (and honestly) conduct an online conversation with people would do well to study Settlement Perspectives. This is how you do it, folks.

In Search of America’s Next Unitard

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

It may sound like the latest in reality television, but the reality is Unit is looking to hire a Web Designer/ Front-end Developer. If you live and breathe interactive design, obsess about communication, agonize over user experience, and think you can bring something special to Unit Interactive, go and see our job description and drop us a line.

Lost Labs

Friday, December 19th, 2008

You may have seen that Unit Interactive Labs (labs.unitinteractive.com) has disappeared. We apologize for this, but in the midst of moving to a new host for our sites that domain got corrupted. We’re working to get things back up and running and hope to see its reemergence soon.

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UPDATE: All fixed now. Whew!
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Thanks for your patience and Happy Holidays!
The Unitards

Expressive Error!

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Apparently, my email program was just as shocked as I was.

If the Shoe Fits…

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

SeaVees has announced an exclusive collaboration with Pantone, the world?renowned authority on color. With the creation of the 09/63, SeaVees celebrates the founding of Pantone, and the release of the first PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM in September 1963. For the first time in their 45 year history, Pantone has allowed an external design team into their hallowed archives. SeaVees has selected seven vintage colors from the original Pantone color guide. The series production has been restricted to 1,963 pairs and is not yet available to the general public.

Pantone Shoes

Microsoft Chooses Tricks over Treats

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

A new Microsoft development has occurred for me this week – I can no longer access my free Hotmail account through Entourage 2004. I realize this is not a new thing for most. According to an Entourage help site:

“If you have a free Hotmail account, Entourage may or may not work for you. People who have had free accounts for a long time were grandfathered access with Entourage. Newer subscribers do not have access with Entourage. A Hotmail Plus account would guarantee you access with Entourage 2004.”

I guess they decided to un-grandfather me in this week. I was hoping the free Hotmail access would continue to work as long as I didn’t upgrade to Entourage 2008, since I knew if I decide to spend the money to upgrade my software, I’d definitely not have access.

What really perturbs me about this event is that both Hotmail and Entourage are Microsoft products. So not only do I have to purchase their software, but if I want to use their email with this software, I have to pay for that, too. Yet, I can set up a Gmail or other Pop/IMAP accounts in Entourage just fine. Does that make any sense?

I realize I’m probably one of the last to experience this particular shortcoming from Microsoft, so its like they did me a favor, right?. Guess its time to switch to Gmail…

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