28 septiembre 2010 – Gabriel Catalano®

Infographic of the Day: Even Poor Countries Can Excel in Education

Sitting comfortable in our first-world lives, it’s easy to assume that we’ve got the best of everything. And it’s easy to assume that problems of infant mortality, hunger and education are simply a matter of having a roaring GDP. But that’s not true at all, as these remarkable interactive graphs show.

Produced by The Guardian and the Gates Foundation, the charts are draw from the Millennium Development Report Card. Basically, it shows how well countries are performing on key development metrics, relative to their GDP.

The size of the outer ring shows performance on a Millennium Development Goal, such as primary-school enrollment. The inner ring shows GDP per capita. Thus, if both are high (as they are in the U.S., for example), you get two rings, brown and blue, without much space between. But if a country is overperforming — getting kids in school despite a relatively modest GDP — you get a big space between the two. For example, look at Trinidad & Tobago (often cited as a model of good governance in the Caribbean) or Guyana:

http://www.fastcodesign.com

Produced by The Guardian and the Gates Foundation, the charts are draw from the Millennium Development Report Card. Basically, it shows how well countries are performing on key development metrics, relative to their GDP.

Continuar leyendo «Infographic of the Day: Even Poor Countries Can Excel in Education»

Fashion Websites: Trends, Showcase, Interviews

Fashion is a cultural phenomenon. It’s so often transient, but at the same time one of the most polished mirrors of our time. Unlike other art forms and creative media, fashion is a mode of self-expression for all players involved: the designer makes clothes to express their personality, and the consumer wears them for the same purpose. Fashion also accommodates a number of other creative professions, such as photography, make-up and hair-dressing and Web design.

In this post, we’ll look at websites from the fashion industry. We spoke with two developers whose websites differed in style and implementation to find out the considerations involved in designing a website for a fashion brand. Further below, you’ll find a collection of smart websites done by clothing designers, photographers, make-up artists and other players.

With its look at trends and features in this niche, this post may come in handy for those of you working on a related project or who are simply curious to know how Web design is approached in this industry. Although we won’t discuss the clothing itself, fashionistas may find some use in it, too.

By Julia May | http://www.smashingmagazine.com

In this post, we’ll look at websites from the fashion industry. We spoke with two developers whose websites differed in style and implementation to find out the considerations involved in designing a website for a fashion brand. Further below, you’ll find a collection of smart websites done by clothing designers, photographers, make-up artists and other players.

Some Trends On Modern Fashion Websites

Looking through the websites discussed in this post, we caught a few commonalities.

Full-Screen Photography

Photography is a powerful tool and is integral to fashion websites. Grasping how photography can impress the viewer and set the mood, many fashion brands use big high-quality pictures to dominate their websites.

Mexx
Like many other fashion websites, Mexx relies heavily on Flash and full-screen images. The design has no special features or gimmick; its uniqueness is in the content itself.

Story-Telling

The fashion industry works hard to create mental associations and set expectations on the part of its audience. The market is saturated, and companies look for new ways to grab the attention of customers. One way a brand does this is by going beyond merely presenting its clothes and instead bringing its merchandise together into a storyline and associating its product line with a certain lifestyle.

Louis Vitton Journeys
Louis Vuitton Journeys is a unique Web campaign sponsored by the famous fashion brand. It features exclusive stories about influential modern personalities. The latest journey, Encounter With Greatness, features quite a smashing get-together of three football legends: Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane. Unique content and interactivity through Facebook integration make the website an exciting destination.

Continuar leyendo «Fashion Websites: Trends, Showcase, Interviews»

Creating a User Interface That Speaks Your Users’ Language

In this article, we’ll talk about the challenges of writing concise and familiar copy for web application user interfaces. We’ll illustrate, with a real case example, how tools like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk can help designers find a common language with their users.

Words Matter

A good user interface needs concise instructions. When we label interface elements or write instructions for a given task, we aim for clarity and succinctness.

Succinctness is a fairly simple standard to follow. The shorter the better. Short, familiar labels and instructions are more readable. Long copy can convey more information and may explain things more completely, but designers find long blocks of web copy unwieldy, and for users, mentally taxing (i.e. because people don’t read). The result is that longer copy generally makes for more confusing interfaces.

But a short label must also be clear; and it’s tricky to write copy that’s brief but thorough at the same time. And then what the definition of «clear» is, in the context of your UI, is another (tougher) problem altogether.

We don’t write for ourselves, but for the users, and web users defy categorization and stereotypes. Some are technically savvy, some are less so. Some use their own lingo and some don’t even speak our language.

by Cedric Savarese | Become a Facebook Fan of Six Revisions.

Words Matter

A good user interface needs concise instructions. When we label interface elements or write instructions for a given task, we aim for clarity and succinctness.

But a short label must also be clear; and it’s tricky to write copy that’s brief but thorough at the same time. And then what the definition of «clear» is, in the context of your UI, is another (tougher) problem altogether.

Continuar leyendo «Creating a User Interface That Speaks Your Users’ Language»

M.A.P.S.: The Four Pillars of Creative Job Fulfillment

Tell me if you can relate to the following: You’ve been working for the last few years with your head down, putting one foot in front of the other, just following the path under your feet. But you feel that the career path you’re on might not be the right one – that, somehow, you’ve drifted off course. You know it’s time to take action, but you’re not sure how.The first step is to shift your perspective: To understand that a career is something that you create, rather than a pre-existing role that you step into. It takes considerable energy to plan your own future, but if you don’t figure out what you want to become, someone else will define it for you. Hunter S. Thompson said it best: “A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.” Don’t be that man!

If you don’t figure out what you want to become, someone else will define it for you.

In my own career as a Creative Director and public speaker, I have met many talented and extraordinary people. I have always been in awe of the passionate ones, who use their skills with confidence, who surround themselves with an atmosphere of inspiration, and who find true meaning in what they do.

These qualities – the ones that make for a fulfilling career – can be distilled down into 4 main categories, or “pillars,” as I like to call them. They are: Meaning, Atmosphere, Passion, and Skills – aka M.A.P.S., a career compass to help point you in the right direction.

Here’s how the process works…:

by Jason Theodor | http://the99percent.com

Tell me if you can relate to the following: You’ve been working for the last few years with your head down, putting one foot in front of the other, just following the path under your feet. But you feel that the career path you’re on might not be the right one – that, somehow, you’ve drifted off course. You know it’s time to take action, but you’re not sure how.The first step is to shift your perspective: To understand that a career is something that you create, rather than a pre-existing role that you step into. It takes considerable energy to plan your own future, but if you don’t figure out what you want to become, someone else will define it for you. Hunter S. Thompson said it best: “A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.” Don’t be that man!

If you don’t figure out what you want to become, someone else will define it for you.

Here’s how the process works…: Continuar leyendo «M.A.P.S.: The Four Pillars of Creative Job Fulfillment»

10 Places to Buy Professionally Designed WordPress Themes

In the past few years, the popularity of WordPress has skyrocketed, which has led to a growing demand for themes. With this growing demand, we’ve seen new premium or commercial WordPress theme shops popping up everywhere.

Some may say that the premium WordPress space is getting a bit saturated, and they’re probably right. However, more premium theme providers does mean a wider selection for those seeking more than what a free theme can offer.

The only problem is being able to find quality and professionalism in the vast sea of premium themes. It seems that the majority of premium theme designs out there are lacking, and appear a bit amateurish.

So for this post, we’re showcasing 10 great places where you can purchase professionally designed WordPress themes.

All of these shops are run by either designers or people that understand design – and as you can see, it shows in the quality of each theme.

//www.webdesignerdepot.com

So for this post, we’re showcasing 10 great places where you can purchase professionally designed WordPress themes.

All of these shops are run by either designers or people that understand design – and as you can see, it shows in the quality of each theme.

1. Theme Trust

Theme Trust creates beautiful WordPress themes that are dead simple to use. It’s a fairly new theme shop, but a high level of quality and attention to detail is evident in their themes.

2. Theme Shift

ThemeShift prides itself on creating “Professional” WordPress themes, and they do a great job at delivering on that promise. Their themes are all well designed and show a great attention to detail.

3. Themify.me

Themify.me is one of the latest to enter the premium WordPress theme business, but all of their themes look simply amazing.

Continuar leyendo «10 Places to Buy Professionally Designed WordPress Themes»

WordPress.com and Windows Live partnering together and providing an upgrade for 30 million Windows Live Spaces customers

Over the last few weeks, we’ve spent a good bit of time talking about our approach to partnering with the web, and as part of that, how we’re deeply integrating with the leading consumer services that you find most valuable. Earlier today, I had the opportunity to get on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, and with Toni Schneider, CEO of Automattic (the parent company of WordPress.com), announce an exciting partnership between our companies.
Providing a great blogging experience

As we looked at customers’ blogging needs and what different companies were providing, we were particularly interested in what WordPress.com is doing. They have a host of impressive capabilities – from a scalable platform and leading spam protection, to great personalization and customization. WordPress powers over 8.5% of the web, is used on over 26 million sites, and WordPress.com is seen by over 250 million people every month. Not only that, Automattic is a company filled with great people focused on improving blogging experiences. So rather than having Windows Live invest in a competing blogging service, we decided the best thing we could do for our customers was to give them a great blogging solution through WordPress.com.

Providing a great blogging experience

As we looked at how we brought Windows Live and WordPress.com together, there were three big things we wanted to deliver:

Giving existing Windows Live Spaces customers an easy upgrade of their blogging experience to WordPress.com
Letting anyone connect their WordPress.com blog to Messenger so their Messenger friends are updated when they publish a new post on WordPress.com
Allowing Windows Live customers to easily create new blogs on WordPress.com Continuar leyendo «WordPress.com and Windows Live partnering together and providing an upgrade for 30 million Windows Live Spaces customers»

Microsoft shifts bloggers to WordPress

In another ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ move, Microsoft’s director of Windows Live product development Dharmesh Mehta says: «Rather than having Windows Live invest in a competing blogging service, we decided the best thing we could do for our customers was to give them a great blogging solution through WordPress.com.»

WordPress is claimed to power over 8.5 percent of the web, and is used on over 26 million sites and seen by over 250 million people every month. Live Spaces, by contrast, has around 30 million active users.

Microsoft‘s abandoning its Live Spaces blogging platform following a deal with WordPress that will see its 30 million users move to the Automattic platform.

In case you missed them, see which articles were most popular with our readers in the third quarter of this year.

1. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
Clouds, big data, and smart assets: Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch
Advancing technologies and their swift adoption are upending traditional business models. Senior executives need to think strategically about how to prepare their organizations for the challenging new environment. In a set of accompanying podcasts, leading experts offer their views on how these trends will evolve and change business models.

2. GOVERNANCE
Why good bosses tune in to their people
Know how to project power, counsels Stanford management professor Bob Sutton, since those you lead need to believe you have it for it to be effective. And to lock in your team’s loyalty, boldly defend their backs.

3. STRATEGY
Global forces: An introduction
Five crucibles of change will restructure the world economy for the foreseeable future. Companies that understand them will stand the best chance of shaping it. In a related video commentary, McKinsey director Peter Bisson discusses the importance of spotting trends and building them into corporate strategy.

	1. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY Clouds, big data, and smart assets: Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch Advancing technologies and their swift adoption are upending traditional business models. Senior executives need to think strategically about how to prepare their organizations for the challenging new environment. In a set of accompanying podcasts, leading experts offer their views on how these trends will evolve and change business models.
	2. GOVERNANCE Why good bosses tune in to their people Know how to project power, counsels Stanford management professor Bob Sutton, since those you lead need to believe you have it for it to be effective. And to lock in your team’s loyalty, boldly defend their backs.
	3. STRATEGY Global forces: An introduction Five crucibles of change will restructure the world economy for the foreseeable future. Companies that understand them will stand the best chance of shaping it. In a related video commentary, McKinsey director Peter Bisson discusses the importance of spotting trends and building them into corporate strategy.

Continuar leyendo

20 Excellent Coda Tips

I’ve been using Coda for a while now, and it’s become my web development application of choice. There are quite a few great web development applications out there (read “18 Wonderful IDEs for Windows, Mac, and Linux“) but if you’re a Mac user, Coda is easily one of the best.

Here are 20 excellent Coda tips to increase productivity that I’ve gathered during my use of Coda so far.
1. Set Your Preferences

There are a few things I had to change right away when I first started using Coda. These are all found in Coda’s preferences.

I never use a GUI CSS editor so I set Coda to always open CSS files with the text editor.

Jarel Remick | http://net.tutsplus.com

Here are 20 excellent Coda tips to increase productivity that I’ve gathered during my use of Coda so far.

1. Set Your Preferences

There are a few things I had to change right away when I first started using Coda. These are all found in Coda’s preferences.

I never use a GUI CSS editor so I set Coda to always open CSS files with the text editor.

Under the Editor tab I’ve check-marked “Show line numbers” and “Use tabs” for indenting. You can hide/show line numbers by pushing Command + Option + L as well.

Under the Colors tab I’ve check-marked “Highlight Current line” to make it easier to see where the cursor is when switching back and fourth between applications.

Under the files tab I set files to open when double clicked instead of a single click. You may also need to setup your external editors. Coda automatically used Photoshop for the image formats I use.

This is how Coda’s navigation bar at the top is by default. This is just a waste of space in my opinion although it is pretty.

I’ve changed mine to display only text titles and as small as possible. Since I don’t use the buttons I have that section minimized most of the time anyway. Instead I use the shortcut keys which I’ll cover next.

Aside from these changes, I’ve left everything else at the default settings. I’ve played around with the color schemes a little but I didn’t find anything I was really happy with so I’ve kept the default color scheme.

2. Switching Modes

If you aren’t using shortcut keys to change modes, now is a good time to learn. Pushing Command + 1-6 changes the mode you’re in. You can switch between your sites, editor, preview, etc. modes very quickly this way.

3. Navigating Open Documents

Pushing Command + Shift + Left or Right Bracket will navigate through your open documents.

4. Line Indenting

Coda automatically indents certain markup for you by default but you’ll still find yourself using the Tab button pretty frequently. Instead of jumping to the front of a line to indent it you can push Command + Left or Right Bracket to indent the line the cursor is currently in.

5. Clips and Text Inserts

Pushing Command + Control + C will open up Coda’s clips. Clips is a place to store snippets of code for quickly inserting into documents. You can save snippets for use in all documents or just site specific clips.

You can assign tags to quickly insert clips. For example, I’ve set “htmltemp” to insert an HTML 4.01 Template when I start a new document. I would type “htmltemp” into the blank document and push Tab to insert the clip. You can also insert a selection placeholder if the cursor needs to go somewhere specific in the clip after being inserted.

Continuar leyendo «20 Excellent Coda Tips»

Managing Your Client Schedule

Having lots of clients is the goal for any freelancer who’s serious about business. The money is always flowing, your clients are happy and you’re working hard to maintain your reputation. The problem though, is the fact you haven’t seen the outside of your office for weeks, you dream about the next email you’re going to send to your clients, and you’re constantly checking your phone for client replies when you’re supposed to be like, doing other things.

Being a busy freelancer is much better than being a bored freelancer, but like with everything, it comes with its own set of problems. How do you deal when you have several projects going on at one time, and several more potential projects in the works? Most importantly, how do you keep your sanity?

http://freelancefolder.com/managing-your-client-schedule/

Learning To Schedule

Learning to schedule both your daily, weekly and monthly time slots is probably one of the most important business tasks you’ll ever need to do. It’s yet another skill you have to learn as you go along in day-to-day business. Mishandling this can cause late projects, late payments, no personal life–and the worst of all–angry clients.

Here are some tips that have helped me get a handle on scheduling: Continuar leyendo «Managing Your Client Schedule»

Empezó la temporada de pronósticos: cómo será la tecnología 2011

Arrancó la temporada de pronósticos. Deloitte se adelantó al difundir sus 10 predicciones y tendencias en el sector tecnológico para la temporada 2010/2011: así que vaya anotando, porque la lista es larga y compleja: entre otras cosas, la consultora pronostica un aluvión de Net Tablets (iPad y clones de casi todas las marcas); los procesadores serán más potentes pero también más caros; habrá más escritorios virtuales, tecnologías limpias y la digitalización de archivos; y la computación en la nube será un concepto menos vaporoso de lo que parece.

El contexto económico, para la consultora, es positivo pero la incertidumbre continúa. «La mayoría de las economías van a recuperarse», dice Deloitte, pero agrega: «En el momento de redactar este informe, los gobiernos eran optimistas; las empresas, más pesimistas, y los economistas no se ponían de acuerdo». El tema costos, para el mundo corporativo, será la estrategia predominante.

«Cada predicción ha sido elaborada para provocar o avivar un nuevo debate, no para cerrarlo», dijo Ernesto Sainz Nadales, de Deloitte, a modo de presentación del estudio.

Las tabletas digitales, la computación en las nubes, los escritorios virtuales y la ecología son los segmentos de mayor potencial.

PorDamián Kantor: dkantor@clarin.com

Además de Apple, son varias las marcas que lanzan al mercado tabletas digitales, entre ellas Samsung y Dell

Folio 100, la Tablet PC de Toshiba (2)

Folio 100, la Tablet PC de Toshiba (1)

GalaxyTab, la Tablet PC de Samsung (2)

GalaxyTab, la Tablet PC de Samsung (1)

«Cada predicción ha sido elaborada para provocar o avivar un nuevo debate, no para cerrarlo», dijo Ernesto Sainz Nadales, de Deloitte, a modo de presentación del estudio.

Continuar leyendo «Empezó la temporada de pronósticos: cómo será la tecnología 2011»

Meet the Idiots [WTF!!!]

Making Art With Your Spouse—and Living To Tell the Tale
By Joshua Wolf Shenk

Illustration of Robbi and Matthew. Click image to expand.The creative pairs series so far: «Two Is the Magic Number» critiqued the lone-genius theory and introduced a new science of creative collaboration. «Two of Us» told the drama, in three acts, of the epic and often misunderstood Lennon/McCartney creative duel. Today, we have part one of the adventures of Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr of «Idiots’Books,» who’ve offered themselves as human guinea pigs (or, shall we say, crash-test dummies?) to sample methods that might shed light on collaboration, relationships, and creativity.

To continue the conversation, please comment below, tweet #creativepairs, or join the Creative Pairs Facebook page.

Is grave conflict inevitable in creative pairs? Will the very flames that heat fiery exchanges always cause third-degree burns, too?

It sure is common. Gilbert and Sullivan came to loathe each other. Pete Townshend once smashed his guitar over Roger Daltrey’s head—and Daltrey hauled off and knocked Townshend unconscious. Even that rock ‘n’ roll tantrum (which makes John Lennon and Paul McCartney look like choirboys) falls far short of the violent extremes: After Oliver Cowdery, the Mormon Church’s «second elder,» challenged prophet Joseph Smith on points of doctrine, Smith’s spokesman gave a sermon declaring that dissidents like Cowdery «be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.»

http://www.slate.com/id/2267688/entry/0/

Making Art With Your Spouse—and Living To Tell the Tale

By Joshua Wolf Shenk

The creative pairs series so far: «Two Is the Magic Number» critiqued the lone-genius theory and introduced a new science of creative collaboration. «Two of Us» told the drama, in three acts, of the epic and often misunderstood Lennon/McCartney creative duel. Today, we have part one of the adventures of Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr of «Idiots’Books,» who’ve offered themselves as human guinea pigs (or, shall we say, crash-test dummies?) to sample methods that might shed light on collaboration, relationships, and creativity.

To continue the conversation, please comment below, tweet #creativepairs, or join the Creative Pairs Facebook page.

Is grave conflict inevitable in creative pairs? Will the very flames that heat fiery exchanges always cause third-degree burns, too?

It sure is common. Gilbert and Sullivan came to loathe each other. Pete Townshend once smashed his guitar over Roger Daltrey‘s head—and Daltrey hauled off and knocked Townshend unconscious. Even that rock ‘n’ roll tantrum (which makes John Lennon and Paul McCartney look like choirboys) falls far short of the violent extremes: After Oliver Cowdery, the Mormon Church’s «second elder,» challenged prophet Joseph Smith on points of doctrine, Smith’s spokesman gave a sermon declaring that dissidents like Cowdery «be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.» Continuar leyendo «Meet the Idiots [WTF!!!]»

Mondeo returns to TV with ‘inner beauty’ ads

Ford, which spent £2.5m on advertising for the Mondeo in 2009, compared with about £11m for the Focus and £7m for the Fiesta, last rolled out a major campaign in support of the model in 2006.

The TV ad, entitled «Desire» depicted a London skyline full of balloons with cars attached. The ad aimed to suggest that the latest incarnation of the Mondeo would usher in a new era of automotive technology.

In the UK, Ford is running an ongoing ad push to emphasise the quality of its vehicles, using the concept of the «Ford Standard». The TV, outdoor, print and digital campaign highlights features that come as standard across all vehicles in the Ford range, such as alloy wheels, keyless technology and «quickclear» windscreens.

By Alex Brownsell, marketingmagazine.co.uk

Ford of Europe is to launch the first new above-the-line marketing activity for its Mondeo model for four years, focusing on the «unseen benefits» of the family car.

Ford Mondeo: readies TV campaign

The pan-European push uses X-ray imagery to show «under the skin» of a range of creatures, including a zebra and a stingray, before revealing the hidden technological strengths of the Mondeo, which is to be updated next year. The ads, which carry the tagline «True beauty comes from within», will break on Friday.

The campaign was created by Blue Hive, the WPP-owned agency formed in March from teams at Ogilvy, Wunderman and Mindshare specifically to handle the Ford of Europe advertising and media accounts. Continuar leyendo «Mondeo returns to TV with ‘inner beauty’ ads»

Smartphones to Overtake Feature Phones in U.S. by 2011

The iPhone, Blackberry, Droid and smartphones in general dominate the buzz in the mobile market, but only 21% of American wireless subscribers are using a smartphone as of the fourth quarter 2009 compared to 19% in Q3 2009 and 14% at the end of 2008. We are just at the beginning of a new wireless era where smartphones will become the standard device consumers will use to connect to friends, the internet and the world at large. The share of smartphones as a proportion of overall device sales has increased to 29% for phone purchasers in the last six months and 45% of respondents to a Nielsen survey indicated that their next device will be a smartphone. If we combine these intentional data points with falling prices and increasing capabilities of these devices along with a explosion of applications for devices, we are seeing the beginning of a groundswell. This increase will be so rapid, that by the end of 2011, Nielsen expects more smartphones in the U.S. market than feature phones.

http://blog.nielsen.com
Roger Entner, Senior Vice President, Research and Insights, Telecom Practice

The Smartphone User
Slightly more males than females are getting smartphones (53% versus 47%) which is what we would expect for technical early adopter products. In terms of demographics, Hispanic Americans and Asians are slightly more likely to have a smartphone than what their share of population would indicate, which is a trend we see in the adoption of other mobile data services. While smartphones started out in the business segment, two-third of today’s buyers of smartphones are personal users. Continuar leyendo «Smartphones to Overtake Feature Phones in U.S. by 2011»