Farm to Table Thinks About Blogs

I’m in a meeting with Farm to Table about updating their website so that their network can learn about the incredible work they do in schools, in gov’t policy and in our lives.

THE big question — to blog or not to blog!

Galisteo Watershed Partnership Website

I’m meeting with Dana about the new website for the Galisteo Watershed Partnership. Lots of good ideas have been generated for the site. Last Friday, I had the priviledger of seeing the Partnership in action at its quarterly meeting. A powerful grouyp of people with the gumption to make a difference.

Using Calendars with Blogs

OK, from the experts in the forum it is made very clear that wp.com hosted blogs cannot have <iframe> or other dynamic calendars inserted.

However, wp.org blogs on other servers can.

Seems like Google Calendar could work well for a small org with not a lot of tech savvy.

Also seems to be a promising free app at calendars.net – I’ll go see what it can do…

A New Website for Timothee Marcel, Cellist

This morning I am meeting with Timothee Marcel about the design of his new website. Timothee is a professional cellist, and he’d like the site to promote his performance schedule, repertoire, as well as his new CD. There are so many solutions that I’m enjoying covering all the bases, so that he is represented on the web in a way that is easy for him to maintain, whereever he is on his busy touring schedule.

Web 2.0 Hype

Maybe I’ve been around this block before, but all the hype about Web 2.0 & social networking seems like the media needing a new thing. Like celebrity gossip, self-help books and pop stars, there is always somebody yelling ‘THE NEXT BIG THING!’

Too often, it’s just like the last thing.

1) Web 2.0 is really just an extension of what the web has been since the Well & usenet. Not new.

2) Sure it’s fun to wander through MySpace, Flikr, del.icio.us. New discoveries. Oddities. Maybe finding friends & connections. Fun to get a response to your brave stuff. And then you notice that you’re wandering for wandering’s sake. It’s about as interesting as channel surfing.

3) You’re a grown-up, and you’ve got deadlines, bills, a dog to walk & people that need you.

Social networking will continue to evolve & be fun & add new wrinkles to what humans do online & off. However, more and more commentators are seeing through the hype.

Social networking goes out with a whimper, Atlantic Monthly
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200704/social-networking

The Two Edged Sword of Web 2.0, Web Worker Daily
http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/03/29/the-two-edged-sword-of-web-20/

 

Wired.com Shapeshifts Again

Guess what: it’s readable! Yes, that is right. Check out the new homepage – www.wired.com. And you can bet that just like all of the layouts that have graced Wired’s web ventures through the years, this one will inspire designers and launch mucho webpages.

The new layout is much more than cool. It’s easy on the eyes. It is one more indication that old-school typography is the new thing online. Readability and legibility are the big new ideas. Simplicity with style.

I recommend clicking through the history of the site’s designs since 1994. http://blog.wired.com/wiredphotos60/

It’s like looking back at your high school yearbook – ‘Oh yeah, I remember that hairdo. What was I thinking?!?’ And of course, someday soon the great designs of 2007 will get the same response.

Eye-Catching Design Thru Eye-Tracking Research

Read Eye-tracking points the way from USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review.

Some people think that Jakob Nielsen is a crank, but the man has sound advice about making websites easy to use. He studies how real people use websites. He closely observes what people actually do, not what they say. He doesn’t care how the site looks. He studies behavior.

And while Neilsen focuses on websites, his research can be applied to lots of design. How do people ‘use’ an ad, brochure or portfolio? How can designers get their attention and get the message across?

So read the article. There are surprises! For one thing, eye-tracking shows that men stare at crotches of just about anything – women, men, animals, trucks, sandwiches, etc.

Keep It Simple

Smack! Sometimes life just hits you on the forehead. ‘Keep it simple.’

Giving a party? Keep it simple. Planning a brochure? Keep it simple. Building a website? Keep it simple.

Of course, life isn’t simple. It’s a swirling whirlygig of questions. That’s where design and communications comes in. Take all the chaos and give it focus. Guide attention where it needs to be. Help people understand what this is all about.

In other words–keep it simple.

Of course, simple doesn’t have to be simplistic. Or minimalist. Or spartan. Simplicity is clarity. Simplicity is the integration of purpose, beauty and function. Simplicity is consistency. It is re-purposing ideas, images and innovation across a spectrum of mediums. Open your arms and open your mind as wide as possible, take in all the complexity and whittle it down until it is ‘as simple as possible and no simpler.’