May 17, 2004

Web design books I found useful

Most computer books are crap. I speak from the experience of reading many and having a part in writing a few. For some reason this is especially true with HTML books. (I know, grammar police, I know, there are no gradations of "true". Leave me alone.) It seems like the authors are faced with the decision of whether to write a how to or an encyclopedia and they either write an encyclopedia, which is useless if you don't know what you don't know, or they just give up and write a hybrid of the two that is impossible to navigate and largely inane. There are two glaring exceptions that I found immensely useful in the last redesign of this site, when I was doing all XHTML, without any content management software. (Wow, the stone age.) I highly recommend them...

Full entry: Web design books I found useful

December 20, 1990

Virtual Community

[originally appeared in edited form as a Tomorrow's Technology column in Computer Reseller News, 12/24/1990] Tools to create electronic community are held forward by some as the salvation of our fragmented society, but they may be a fundamental part of the problem instead. No one is denying that our society is in trouble. Community has broken down, and with it has gone neighborly feelings like trust and responsibility. Eligible voters gripe that the politicians are looking out for themselves rather than their constituents, then they stay home at election time and let them get reelected anyway. The fragmentation of society may be the inevitable result of our technological age, with its focuses on mass production, specialization and optimization. But some people, rather than thinking in terms of lessening these effects and returning to simpler ways, are looking to technology as...

Full entry: Virtual Community

November 05, 1990

Designing computers as if the planet really mattered

[originally appeared as a Tomorrow's Technology column in Computer Reseller News, 11/5/1990] For a product that comes largely out of progressive northern California, personal computers are — maybe not so surprisingly — an environmental nightmare. Those ex-'60s concerned citizens that went on to found Silicon Valley have packed PCs with elements that are ecologically destructive. But things are beginning to change. The design community is starting to tackle the problems of designing products for later recycling, and board and chip manufacturers are beginning to take environmental concerns seriously as well. The worst hidden environmental cost of computers is in the chip and board manufacturing processes. When boards are made, manufacturers use chlorofluorocarbon-based solvents to clean the boards. The chlorofluorocarbons attack the ozone layer when released into the atmosphere. The solvents also contain known toxins, such as trichloroethylene, which inevitably...

Full entry: Designing computers as if the planet really mattered

September 10, 1990

Voice technology

[originally appeared in edited form as a Tomorrow's Technology column in Computer Reseller News, 9/10/1990] Voice technology is like networks and UNIX; it has been an emerging technology fort least a decade now. A lot depends, though, on what people mean when they talk about computers and voice. Many think of the computer in "Star Trek", which carried on a conversation with anyone who walked up to it. Others think of an executive sitting at her desk, dictating a letter to a computer-secretary. Since neither the technology nor the computing power is here yet to make these visions reality, voice technology developers have concentrated on systems that learn a very limited list of words spoken by a specific person. In the past, these systems have been of arguable benefit, since typing the command was usually quicker and more accurate. A...

Full entry: Voice technology

August 13, 1990

The effects of VDT radiation

[originally appeared as a Tomorrow's Technology column in Computer Reseller News, 8/13/1990] The video display terminal radiation issue has rocketed to the top of consumer attention lately, but most users and dealers know little about the issue other than that VDT emissions are bad. But monitors emit several distinct types of radiation, and manufacturers may claim control of one type or one range within a type, while doing nothing in another. Radiation from monitors can be divided into four main categories: visible light, X-rays, electric (static electricity) and electromagnetic. Since the 1960s most displays have shielded virtually all X-rays. The modest hazards associated with static electricity have been understood for some time. These include skin and respiratory problems related to the attraction of large amounts of dust and the reduction of life-enhancing ionized air. While certainly important, these effects are...

Full entry: The effects of VDT radiation

September 12, 1989

The Macintosh Finder: Pure GUI

What you’ve heard is true: Macintosh’s Finder is indeed easy to use. But as Apple’s developers get more innovative, will Finder stay the same? [originally appeared in PC Magazine as a cover story, 9/12/89] (Obviously out of date, but interesting in several respects. First, it's worth remembering how far ahead of its time the Mac OS was. So many of the special abilities I discuss about the Mac are ubiquitous now. Second, to see with hindsight how the entire web is the fruition of the dream I described for the Mac's early hypertext product, HyperCard (which was the base of many early multimedia projects.) In 1989 I predicted it would lead to "thousands of worthwhile programs out in the ether, free for the taking—a digital community sharing programs that solve problems, entertain, and inform." (BTW, I'm not saying I made...

Full entry: The Macintosh Finder: Pure GUI