It’s nice to see someone take an influence and do something with it. Sure, there are some structural similarities that hint toward Golden Mean, but I’m pleased and flattered to find a design which goes out of its way to establish its own identity through completely modified graphics, colors, and type treatments. I’ve seen enough copies of design work to know that Parker actually took the time to deconstruct a CSS file, learn how it was put together and what it was doing, and rebuild a style sheet from scratch for a modified design. I could pass on the idea of lichen as a representation of beauty. But hey, “eye of the beholder” and all that. Well done.

Other entries for SitePoint’s CSS Design Contest are listed here. (grazie a mezzoblue)

Dan Cederholm starts a brilliantly simple concept of quiz questions to spark discussion and debate on semantics. He calls the first one a “doozy”. But with different questions and code snippets, one can imagine the issues might become complicated very quickly. continued

No, I’m not moving to New York. Not anytime soon. Though I have considered such a move, and may likely end up there at some point in the future. However…

Jeffrey Zeldman and I quietly start a small rumor that Happy Cog Studios and Stopdesign may begin collaborating immediately on a new project. We hear talks have been going on between involved parties for months. Additional details of the rumor will remain under lock and key for now. But you’re smart. Put the two of us together. You can probably imagine what the project might involve.

Update: To clear up some confusion and speculation, this does not imply a visual redesign is in the works.

Jason Kottke wrote a post tonight about the general confusion surrounding web standards, semantically rich markup, and the relationship between the two.

Jason makes some valid points in his post. In particular, I agree that the idea of “standards-compliance” often borders on religious zealotry. Sought for no other reason than to attain a simple badge which supposedly “validates” the effort taken to get there. It’s as if some designers/developers strive to follow all the rules just to see those magic words when they get to the pearly gates: “Well done thou good and faithful coder. This page is valid ____!” continued

In promising news for web design and development, Macromedia’s Dreamweaver MX 2004 claims it will possess much more powerful CSS support, as well as significant improvements which will help its users create accessible content. A page from Dreamweaver’s tour presents an overview of its CSS-related features. Susan Morrow, a senior director for Macromedia, is quoted with this statement in an article at MacCentral:

“It’s time for CSS to become the broad standard it should be, […] However, to date, it’s been difficult to implement.”

continued

Sometimes, I go through phases where I just want to design. I don’t want to write about it, don’t want to talk about it, and don’t want to explain what I’ve done. I want to think conceptually, or arrange type on a page, or compose layouts, or organize information, or explore color palettes, all without getting distracted by attempts to put thoughts behind actions into written words. It’s a selfish period where I want to stay comfortable focusing on my known strengths. continued

Seven years ago, yesterday, I packed up everything I owned, left many friends behind in San Diego, and moved to San Francisco, (where I knew absolutely no one) to start my job at HotWired on August 12, 1996. The Creative Director hired me as a junior designer, since I knew very little about design for the Web, despite the fact that I had more print design experience than almost every other designer there at the time. continued

No doubt, if anyone is paying attention, they may have noticed a few subtle changes to the structure of this site’s home page. Particularly in the extra column usually rendered on the right side of the page. Some may have even noticed a tiny little change in the main navigation that would be easy to overlook. These changes represent a gateway to the additions to Stopdesign which I’ve slowly been adding behind the scenes. continued

The gap between PDAs and laptop computers continues to diminish. I just noted Sony’s upcoming release of the UX50 CLIÉ handheld. With built-in wireless 802.11b, Bluetooth, a low-end digital camera, MP3 player, video recording, and a larger “keyboard” than the typical thumbpads of today’s PDAs and smart phones, devices like this take a another step closer to their larger notebook cousins. continued