AntSaint

How Any Conversation with a Web Person Winds Up

Sigh, if only it wasn't so true...

Link: SoWhatDoYouDO.jpg (JPEG Image, 500x616 pixels).

For the record...

Designers and editors aren't email techs. Or computer techs. We... oh, never mind...

JPG, PNG or GIF: How to Choose an Image Format for Screenshots

Which image format is best for which use? It's not always easy to figure that out, but this handy guide can help you with that decision:

Link: JPG, PNG or GIF: How to Choose an Image Format for Screenshots.

You may use the good-old Print Screen key or any of the professional screen capture tools to grab your desktop but the basic requirement remains same - the output image should be sharp and that the file size be well within a reasonable limit. Now PNG, JPG and GIF are the three most popular image formats for sharing screen captures on the web

How to Build a 3-Column Layout in CSS

For all the things I did about CSS, I still scratch my head over why layout in CSS has always been so lacking. Building layouts is not easy, but this tutorial can help you struggle through the process:

Link: Walk through how to build a 3-column layout in CSS.

"A 3-column layout is one of the hardest layouts to build in CSS, but if you think about it methodically, you can create one - and in the process learn how CSS layouts work in general. This walkthrough will take you through building a layout that is about 900px wide, with three main columns, a header, and a footer"

What Do Macs Do Well?

I use both Mac and PC, though I will say that I will not ever buy a new PC again. From here on out, I will buy only Macs. I prefer them, and have found many usability features that I find smarter or simpler than PCs. To put it simply, I dig PCs, but I dig Macs far more. So does Juul Coolen, who does a great job explaining the 10 things Mac truly does better than PC, and why you just might want to take another look at a switch to Mac:

Link: Top 10 Usability Highs Of Mac OS | Events | Smashing Magazine.

"Although I’ve been a Windows power user for years, the transition to Mac couldn’t have been easier and more pleasant. I don’t want to turn this article into some endless rambling about how great Mac is, but as the user of both systems I can speak from my own experience quite objectively. Let’s take a look at some of the spots where Apple really has done it better in terms of user interface and usability."

From Clearwire to Comcast

When Jodie and I got our house in 2006, we decided to try out Clearwire wireless internet. The service was a bit of a newcomer to Eugene at the time, and we were interested in seeing how they compared to cable and DSL. Two years on, and we have now switched back to Comcast cable internet — and have been much happier.

At the time, we liked the idea of broadband Internet access that was also portable. In other words, we could take our Clearwire modem and use it anywhere in the country Clearwire had service. After our 2-year contract was up, however, we decided that Clearwire was insufficient for our needs:

• We never used the portability feature
• Surfing was slow
• Download speed was atrocious

To be fair, there was another tier of service above our that perhaps would have mitigated these problems. It was the same price, however, as Comcast's cable internet service.

So we switched. Now, podcasts download in a heartbeat. Surfing is lightning quick. And, above all, we can stream The Daily Show again, as god meant us to be able to do.

Clearwire was a good experiment, but we won't be switching back.

Web 2.0 Design Guide

Trying to design websites for Web 2.0 but having trouble figuring out some of the common elements? This Web 2.0 how-to design style guide will help.

Via Web 2.0 - bogus or not?.

Why Search Marketers Can Safely Ignore Cuil

The Search Engine Guide Blog has a great breakdown on why Why Search Marketers Can Safely Ignore Cuil.The new search engine launched earlier in the week, but it doesn't exactly see to be making waves. I agree with the first point here - when you have to explain how to pronounce (and spell) your name, this can be trouble...

"Let's start with the name. It's Cuil (pronounced "cool"). I have to tell you that anytime you start with a name that people have to explain how to pronounce, you're already in trouble. Look, search marketing depends on people being able to remember and spell your name. Any company that breaks that ruil is unlikely to be the search tuil that wins the Google duil"

Now, could we all be wrong? We could. Cuil could be huge. Maybe it's the right mix of David vs. Goliath, heavy-hitting search engine, and enough Web 2.0-ness to gain significant marketshare. But a "Google killer"? Nah. Anything billed as a "- killer" – "iPhone killer" and "iPod killer" are good example – generally indicates the product will lag and never truly catch on.

The Lifehacker Editors' Favorite Software and Hardware

Pondering software? Wondering what to try, or what the pros use? The editors at Lifehacker have put together lists of what they use:

Link: What We Use: The Lifehacker Editors' Favorite Software and Hardware.

We polled our own editors for the computer hardware and applications they swear by and we're breaking it down for you here. This post is categorized into the software each editor uses on a daily, the operating systems we live in, the hardware we rely on, the peripherals we utilize on a regular basis, and webapps we need

35 Source Code Editors

As a long-time fan of HomeSite (though on the Mac I currently dabble in Smultron), to me there's nothing better than source code-focused HTML and CSS editors. There's plenty more out there though, and the smashing folks at Smashing Magazine have put together a comprehensive list of some of the best:

Link: 35 Useful Source Code Editors Reviewed | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine.

"In the list below we present an overview of 35 established or rather unknown — but useful source code-editors; you’ll probably find “usual suspects” — your favourite editor or the editor you’ve once been working with. But you’ll also find some rather unknown alternatives which are definitely worth considering when choosing an optimal source code editor"

How to Build an Online Community

The folks at Flickr have a pretty sweet community going on, and the driving force behind it is a corporate ethos that knows to leave well enough alone. This hands-off approach is very interesting to me, in laying only the most basic ground rules and expectations, and letting everything else develop from there.

Link: A List Apart: Articles: Community: From Little Things, Big Things Grow.

People don’t like being told what to do. We like to explore, change things around, and make a place our own. Hefty design challenges await the makers of websites where people feel free to engage; both with the system itself and with each other. Embrace the idea that people will warp and stretch your site in ways you can’t predict—they’ll surprise you with their creativity and make something wonderful with what you provide.