WebAppers, a site I normally love to visit, recently offered a giveaway courtesy of yet another pathetic “cheap logo design” site, LogoBee. Potential winners need only comment to win. Not only were the examples of LogoBee’s work absolutely, horrifyingly mundane and pathetic (as expected), but 133 people (as of this writing) offered a comment on why they should avoid paying a decent designer an acceptable wage to obtain a truly inspiring and customized logo.
Potentially lame client communications
I saw this as the perfect opportunity to show off what 133 potentially lame clients might look like if they were gathered into one place.
Good grief, I really had hoped most people had moved past wanting cookie-cutter logos, but I guess not. I would sooner design a logo for someone I know for free than refer them to one of these lame sites.
After years of loving the speed of the Safari web browser but hating the lack of features, I was anxious to see what Apple had in store for us with Safari 5. Unfortunately, I’ve found the most annoying behavior still exists, and it keeps me from using Safari on a regular basis.
For many years I was a fan of Firefox – mostly due to extensions, which I used heavily. While Safari was faster, it just lacked too much for my day-to-day use. When Google released Chrome for the Mac, I switched almost immediately. The developer releases contained extension support long ago, and I was happy to take advantage of the new speed, along with most all the extensions I used.
When Apple recently released Safari 5 with extension support, I decided to give it another try. READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE.
One of the most exciting and difficult periods of the designer/client relationship is the very beginning. There can be quite a bit of anxiety at the start, because neither of you know what to expect.
The best bit of advice I can give you is to trust your gut, because where there is smoke, there is most often fire.
Jeremy Tuber sheds some light on what I mean with an excellent article detailing an experience he had with a new client. While his experience may be extreme (or not), it illustrates the idea that you have to read between the lines when meeting with a new client for the first time.
With the recent update to Opera 10.5 for Mac OS X, I decided it was time to take a look at all the major Web browsers for Mac OS X.
I’ve been using Google Chrome (developer builds, not the betas) for quite some time now, and made it my default browser within hours of installing it. Nevertheless, I’m going to remain unbiased in thoughts.
Below is my extremely thorough review and expert advice for which Web browser you should use in Mac OS X.
Chrome (most recent dev build or beta version)
Uber fast to launch. Smokin’ fast browsing speed. Compatibility is nearly perfect, but there are a few sites it doesn’t work with. Expansion via extensions is pretty good, and getting better every week. Frequent updates and improvements make it more fun to work with lately. The clean interface coupled with the speed make this my favorite, and you should use this as your main browser! Download:Release Version | Beta Version | Developer Build
Safari 4.0.5
Looks great. Quite speedy. Completely lacks any usefulness beyond just surfing pages randomly. With no expansion opportunity beyond a few really crappy plugins, it’s feature-starved. Make it your backup browser though. Download:Release Version
Firefox 3.63.
Looks clunky. Works clunky. Takes forever and 6 months to launch. It’s fast, but not as fast as Safari. The only real redeeming thing about it is the obnoxious amount of add-ons you can install to do virtually anything – which unfortunately makes it look and work even more clunky. Don’t bother with it unless you’re a geek and want all the extra add-ons. Download:Release Version | Beta Version
Opera 10.52
Interface lacks polish. Just configuring all the options and preferences can take weeks. Speed ain’t all that. Buggy. It basically sucks and you shouldn’t even bother trying it. Download:Shipping Version
The Rest of them
They all suck, don’t bother. Download: Really, don’t bother.
Posted On: 29 April 2010 | Category: Commentary, Mac
With the recent announcement of Creative Suite 5 by Adobe this past week, and the subsequent complaining that always seems to accompany such an announcement, I thought I would type-up a quick complaint letter that interested people can copy & paste into an email and send off to Adobe. Perhaps if those of you who aren’t happy with the direction Adobe is going in send this letter to them, they’ll completely toss 20+ years of successful software into the bin and start over from scratch!
Dear Adobe,
I’ve been a long-time user of Adobe products, and I feel like you’re not listening to all your users with this latest release of Creative Suite 5. I’ve outlined the reasons that I, your most valuable customer, will not be upgrading my single copy of Creative Suite Premium of CS1 I got off Limewire, because it runs just fine.
First of all, I think it’s pretty damn stupid of you to leave all us non-Intel Mac users out in the cold. I purchased a G4 about 10 years ago and don’t see any reason why I should upgrade my hardware just so I can run your new software. You clearly don’t care about your most important customer.
But that’s enough about hardware that you have no control of… let’s move on to your software. READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE.
You may recall I wrote about Alien Skin Software’s February charity promotion where they were to donate 10% of their profits to Haiti relief. I’m happy to announce that Alien Skin Software donated over $10,000, which includes sale proceeds and a donation made early in February. The donations went to funds specifically for Haiti through the American Red Cross and the Community Coalition for Haiti.
I already loved their software, but stepping up to the plate like this is just fantastic. Many thanks to Alien Skin; I wish more developers would give back to the community like this.
After years of loving the speed of the Safari web browser but hating the lack of features, I was anxious to see what Apple had in store for us with Safari 5. Unfortunately, I’ve found the most annoying behavior still exists, and it keeps me from using Safari on a regular basis.
One of the most exciting and difficult periods of the designer/client relationship is the very beginning. There can be quite a bit of anxiety at the start, because neither of you know what to expect.
With the recent update to Opera 10.5 for Mac OS X, I decided it was time to take a look at all the major Web browsers for Mac OS X.
With the recent announcement of Creative Suite 5 by Adobe this past week, and the subsequent complaining that always seems to accompany such an announcement, I thought I would type-up a quick complaint letter that interested people can copy & paste into an email and send off to Adobe. Perhaps if those of you who aren’t happy with the direction Adobe is going in send this letter to them, they’ll completely toss 20+ years of successful software into the bin and start over from scratch!
