The Advent calendar was first introduced in the early 19th century as a physical way of counting down the days until Christmas. The word Advent itself is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “comingâ€, which refers to the birth of Jesus. Traditionally, this was a flat calendar for the month of December consisting to 2 pieces of card stock with 24 “doors†cut into the top layer. Each door was numbers from 1 to 24 and only one door could be opened each day. Inside each door was an image, poem or part of the Nativity story to celebrate the coming holiday. Kids aren’t easily excited by images, poems, or stories, so the advent calendars I remember…
Surreal So Far
I’m sure for some people, a trip to New York is just another business meeting. For me, my first time in the Big Apple has felt like a trip to another country. Everything is so much bigger, crazier and faster than anything I expected. At the same time though, I feel much safer here than I imagined I would.
I’m here to attend Carsonified’s Future of Web Design conference, which doesn’t kick off till 9am this morning. I’ve been in town though since around 11am yesterday. As short as that sounds, I’ve already had an amazing time. The taxi ride from LaGuardia to the hotel was simultaneously slow and frightening at the same time…
iPhone Juice
I don’t know about you, but when I’m traveling, I simply can’t keep my phone charged. During a normal work week, my iPhone’s battery will last a solid 3 or 4 days. When I’m stuck on a plane, getting directions and trying to catch up with friends all day though, I can easily burn through a full charge in 3 or 4 hours.
For my 5th trek to SXSW last March, I knew I couldn’t afford to sit next to an outlet waiting for my phone to charge before going to the next panel or party. The solution I settled for was the Energizer AP1500 “Energi To Go” battery case which I got from NewEgg for…
The Edge is a Fickle Hellcat
“New here, aintcha? Well, around here, we walk the edge! And the edge is a fickle hellcat — love her, but never trust her, for her heart is full of Lye!” That quote comes from one of my favorite panels of The Far Side. I couldn’t find an image of the comic, but in the scene, an old timer is speaking to a new factory worker as they both stand on the edge of a huge vat of Lye.
I’ve been designing and building websites for well over 10 years now, and while many aspects of our industry change daily, a lot things remain the same. One of those things is our fixation with the edge…
Second Edition
The first edition of The Principles of Beautiful Web Design hit the shelves in late February of 2007. Considering that I started writing the first chapter in May of 2006, much of the content is now over 4 years old. That’s a long time, and when we’re talking about web design, that’s a *really* long time. In fact, there’s not a single screenshot example in the book that hasn’t changed significantly since it was first published.
In defiance of its age though, the book has continued to be one of Sitepoint’s bestselling titles and sold over 10,000 copies during the second half of 2009 alone. How could a tech book, nearly 3 years past its prime continue to sell? Well, it’s not really a tech book…