3rd week in bed with Coronavirus. Diagnosed last week. 3rd day in a row without fever. Knock wood. But still sick, still sleeping 18+ hours/day. Still same tickle in lungs. Getting better. But long way to go. Cats help.
Tap, tap. Is this thing on?
I’ve signed on as Creative Director of a Special Projects team at
@automattic
that helps showcase
@WordPress
at its best.
I’ll share first impressions soon. Currently I'm too busy learning.
Typing in front of any URL saves that content in the Wayback Machine forever. Nasty tweet? Type in front of the URL, and archive it forever. Hat tip:
@t
.
@Death_Bow
@lucykemnitzer
Your folks were unusual, then. Most of us moved out at 18 and made our way, struggling to pay rent, and taking pride in our cinder block shelving and found art.
“Web making has lately become something of a dick measuring competition.”
Our addiction to complicated toolchains and overbuilt frameworks is out of control. Read “The Cult of the Complex” by Jeffrey
@Zeldman
(that’s me!) in today’s
@alistapart
.
When you are kind, you can help some people and it is good. And also when you are kind, some people will take ruthless advantage of you. But I don’t know how to stop being kind. And I think, in spite of everything, it is the better choice.
@kumailn
Was just listening to you on Adventure Time. So great. Not to sidetrack your main point—I hate this shameless Fascist fuck. But did want to take a moment to thank you for bringing joy to my family.
The title of this
@jefftiedrich
piece does not prepare you for the gut punch it delivers. The tale of a 16yo Bronx boy who spent 3 years in Rikers after being accused of stealing a backpack says everything you need to know today.
Today we say goodbye to this great blue bird
This logo was designed in 2012 by a team of three.
@toddwaterbury
,
@angyche
and myself,
The logo was designed to be simple, balanced, and legible at very small sizes, almost like a lowercase "e", a 🧵
@joncoopertweets
I was in 3rd grade when JFK got shot. My classmates saw it as a day off school, but I was depressed and solemn. §. I was working a shit job at a phone company when my girlfriend called from NY to say word on the street was that John Lennon had been killed. That crushed me too.
Disabled people aren’t the edge case. Tech people are the edge case. We represent a small portion of the population and we’re in charge of designing and building. Too often we design for people exactly like us.
@feather
#a11y
#InclusiveDesign
#aeasea
Today my daughter’s 7th grade class was given the MLA style guide as a reference for how to cite works used in research. The example the MLA cited was an article from A List Apart.
#Wordpress
was the first standards-compliant CMS. I hand-coded my blog starting in 1995, and would still be doing it if Wordpress had not come along. Next year, after exhausting a half dozen other platforms,
@AListApart
will come home to Wordpress.
Let’s stop drawing a distinction between “designers” and “design thinkers.” Design thinkers *are* designers. Anyone who works to create or improve customer experience is a designer.
You’re welcome.
My writing is unimpaired but my speech has been subtly affected; I struggle for words, commit verbal grammatical errors, etc. The worst part is the hostile impatience of some people when I struggle—as if I’m stupid or not worth the bother.
Free, open-source INTER is a beautifully utilitarian type family crafted & designed for computer screens. Comes in 9 weights, each with italic counterparts—18 styles in all. Also offered as a free Variable Font with animation (!) and infinite variations.
“HTML is accessible by default. It’s our job not to screw it up.”
@MinaMarkham
on why she begins in markup, creating a page that will work for everyone (even folks whose device does not support CSS or JavaScript).
#a11y
#AEASF
Gmail rolls out a new design that’s both harder to use and uglier. Mystery navigation, invisible borders (the wrong lessons from iOS)—every visual change that slightly impedes usability is here. But, hey, cartoonishly rounded corners! (Welcome back, 2004.)
It's National Voter Registration Day!
Many states are tightening Voter ID laws, and if you or someone you know needs help getting the right legal identification to cast a ballot in your state,
@VoteRiders
can help you get it!
“He is tougher on the SEAL commander who was responsible for killing Osama bin Laden than on the Saudi despot who was responsible for killing Jamal Khashoggi.”
@MaxBoot
My dad is 91. This is his naval discharge card. He enlisted at 17 to fight Nazis. My gratitude to him and all veterans for their courage, service, and sacrifice.
@joncoopertweets
More recently, part of me died with Bowie and Prince, and I refused to believe that MF DOOM had passed. It’s a prank, an art statement, I told myself for days.
Over the decades I’ve used computers, my drawing skill has all but vanished—along with my ability to do calligraphy or even write legibly. Which is why I’ve started forcing myself to sketch again every day. Practice is the best form of hope.
Don’t tell anybody yet, but
@AListApart
has migrated to
@WordPress
. Tomorrow our producers begin playing with the “new” CMS. April 11 we relaunch. Shhh! Keep it under your <del>blue beanie</del> hat.
INTERVIEW TIP: If talking about your work makes you feel like you’re bragging, talk about your customer instead. What was their problem? How did your team solve it? Passion for the customer and appreciation of your team is not bragging! (But it is contagious.)
“We made our color lightness-to-darkness consistent across color hues, so that every color 0–50 is accessible (4.5:1) on black, and every color 60–100 is accessible (4.5:1) on white.”
Lyft Design: Re-approaching Color
#design
#a11y
℅
@melchoyce
You know what I love about
@Facebook
’s blind email notifications telling you there’s new content on Facebook but not showing you that content? Nothing. It’s a disgusting user-hostile anti-pattern that responsible content sites outgrew in the 2000s. Grow up, Zuck.
Modern Font Stacks!
The fastest fonts available. No downloading, no layout shifts, no flashes—just instant renders.
System font stack CSS organized by typeface classification for every modern OS. Copy and paste your worries away!
h/t
@itsdavemartin
The first level of design is to make sure you have the right semantic HTML (so your content works as audio, in Reader mode, in screen readers, highly constrained devices, search engines, and more).
@jensimmons
#AEACHI
@espiekermann
We all make mistakes. We can all be insensitive at times. Admitting a mistake shows humility. Doubling down is what Trump does. Be better.
“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure—which is Try to please everybody.” Herbert Bayard Swope
@lukew
#aeadenver
Canada unveils largest economic relief package since WW2
Intelligent and humane. Canada’s federal government will spend C$100bn ($77bn, £58bn) to kick-start the country's post-pandemic economy.
I came down with COVID-19 in late February, and though I've recovered, I still struggle with debilitating fatigue, headaches, and bouts of verbal mental fog. So do more than half of us survivors. Stay safe.