Archive: Miscellany

The art of Steadicam

Really gorgeous ten minute supercut of some of the best Steadicam shots over the past forty years. As expected, Scorcese and Kubrick films are well represented here.

Drink and revive: the rise of Barcade

Simon Parkin writing for Polygon:

After a noisy opening, the darkened bar lit by the cathode glow of its attendant squadron of machines, success was quick and consistent. “The popularity surprised me,” says [Barcade founder] Kermizian, “and [the fact] that it didn’t wear off, that it became a place where people came regularly. We were worried that this might be a lot of fun for people, but that they would only view it as a once-in-a-long-while thing. I was astounded at how many regulars we found right away, and how dedicated they became.”

Barcade was a great idea, and it’s awesome to see its popularity catch on, at least around here in New York.

Typeplate

I found the details here a bit overkill – something about the amount of mixins dependencies gives me some mild concern about code bloat. But once I started paging through the raw CSS logic there’s a lot of great ideas here, from a non uniform line height to not using pure black and a custom look for ampersands.

Bill Murray and Nicholas Cage placeholder images

The name says it all; I know what I’m going to be having fun with on my next web side project.

Don’t just choose a grid. Design it!

I really liked this short post by director/designer Nathan Ford on the advantages of custom cut web grid systems. Here’s the money quote:

Nathan Smith built 960.gs a few years back and it went a long way to popularize the application of grid-based layout on the web. This was a leap forward in bringing grid-based thinking to the web, but 12 columns at 960px wide has become so ubiquitous now that it limits our progress into more considered and complex grid design. 960.gs – and most frameworks – invert a key aspect of grid theory:
You should design a grid based on your content’s constraints, not design your content based on a grid’s constraints.

Reflections on Heisenberg – the uncertainty of Walter White

I’m aware we’re a good few months before the Breaking Bad craziness starts again for one last time, but this Youtube breakdown of Walter White’s mental state (or psychosis?) is awesome. Nice static graphics as well. Fair warning: major spoilers are contained for seasons one through four.

Responsive web design: the war has not yet been won

Designer Elliot Jay Stocks on responsive web design (RWD):

RWD is about making your site adaptable to any scenario, without worrying about specific devices and their proprietary dimensions.

RWD doesn’t need to take more time and therefore doesn’t need to cost your clients more money. At least not after you’ve rethought your approach to web design, anyway.

His argument isn’t perfect – I think Elliot underrates costs overall, but it’s still very strong.

Impact of responsive designs

The web is embracing the tenants of responsive web design rapidly, but what’s the real economic and analytical impact of all of this? Luke Wroblewski reveals some numbers from Time, O’Neill Clothing and more post their respective responsive designs. It’s still very early days, but it’s encouraging news.

CSSmatic

CSS3 is an essential tool of my web development workflow, but I often determine a lot of syntax specifics outside of my page in progress. Usually I jump to a hodgepodge of different sites where I adjust sliders and check things out visually, ending with a quick copy and paste job back into my development code.

The annoyance is that contextual back and forth. Why can’t I just rely on one tool, vs. multiple web sites to nail down my CSS3 data? That’s what makes CSSMatic so awesome. Just one source with basically all the CSS3 resources I’d ever need: gradients, border radius, noise and box shadow.

Instashare

Cloud based solutions like Dropbox take care of 90% of my cross file sharing between my Macs and my iOS devices. But sometimes I just want to send a quick audio file, video, or pdf to my iPhone. Or there’s a select photo I just took on my iPhone that I want to get to my Mac, and Apple’s iPhoto/Camera Roll workflow is just too slow or cumbersome.

That’s where the new Instashare app works really well. Dead simple UI on your Mac, iOS devices, and as long as the app is open on both sides and you’re on the same wifi (or Bluetooth), you’re good to go. Crazy fast transfer speeds too.

It’s a free download in the App Store, and only a buck to remove ads from the iOS version, a no brainer if you find it at all useful.