03/2009 Article Archive

  • March 27, 2009 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (3/27/09 Edition)

    Everything seems to be settling back into a regular groove after a week at SXSWi. This week, I posted my second article analyzing SXSWi panels and my final article will appear next week. On another thread, I enjoyed Nettut's "10 rare HTML tags" article this week. I have to admit, there were several that I had no recollection of ever seeing. Here's this week's 5 for Friday.

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  • March 25, 2009 in Web Design Culture

    SWSWi 2009: Not the Same Old Story (Jason Santa Maria - Moderator)

    The SXSWi panel "Not the Same Old Story" was a look at how design is used to enhance story-telling and more specifically how web design is lacking in this area. With Jason Santa Maria (formerly of Happy Cog) as the moderator, I knew it would be a panel worth checking out. The other panelists included Ian Aldeman (New York Magazine), Daniel Burka (Digg), Nicholas Feltron (Feltron.com), and Liz Danzico: an all-star cast for sure. Also, speaking of all-stars, Jeffrey Zeldman was sitting in the front row just a few yards away from me.

  • March 20, 2009 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (3/20/09 Edition)

    SXSWi 2009 is over now. As always, the conference was inspiring and overwhelming. In comparing 2009 to previous years at SWSWi there has been a noticeable shift in the overall emphasis of the panels from practical web design topics to discussions centered around social interaction, internet culture, and philosophy. We may be entering the time when the web design industry really starts to define itself from foundational philosophical and worldview standpoint. I will be posting two more articles dissecting SXSWi panels over the next two week. Here's this week's 5 for Friday.

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  • March 18, 2009 in Web Design Culture

    SXSWi 2009: Tony Hsieh Opening Remarks

    Tony Hsieh, co-founder of Link Exchange and current CEO of Zappos.com, kicked off SXSWi with the opening remarks on Saturday March 14th. In fitting SXSW style and spirit he conveyed the story of his .com success which has touched two decades (a rare winning streak in internet entrepreneurship) and shows promising signs of continuing into a third. I say his presentation was in fitting SXSW spirit because of predictable worldview claims and a smattering of hip socio-techno phrases and themes. Unconventional hiring and firing methods, "company culture", "create fun and a little weirdness", and "the science of happiness" are just few in a long list. But I'm getting ahead of myself. There was much in Tony's presentation that the Christian worldview would find agreeable and may even fit more neatly than many of the methods of so-called "Christian businessmen". I'm going to discuss the shiny side of the coin first and then briefly explore the implications of the deeper philosophy being promoting by Tony and other "happiness experts".

  • March 13, 2009 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (3/13/09 Edition)

    It's a cold rainy registration day for SXSWi 2009 but I can already tell it's going to be bigger this year than it's ever been. I apologize to all you who were expecting 5 for Friday earlier. Austin traffic can really slow a schedule down. I'm sitting at the Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center typing this out and getting ready for another great conference for 2009. Here's this week's 5 for Friday.

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  • March 10, 2009 in Web Design Culture

    Ceremonial Habits: Looking for Liturgy in Design

    What is culture without ceremony? From the grotesque ritual child sacrifice of the ancient Carthaginians to the inauguration of a modern American president, a culture is defined by its liturgy. These liturgical ceremonies shine forth through time as a symbol of the essence of a people. Without ever peeking into the life of a particular individual within a culture, yet we can infer astonishingly accurate knowledge about his daily life simply by studying the liturgy of his people. In recent years liturgy has become one of the primary battlegrounds of theology and philosophy. As the tendrils of postmodernism slither quietly into the thoughts of western culture, a new question is being asked: liturgy or not?

  • March 6, 2009 in Friday Blog Clips

    5 for Friday | The Week's Best Blogs (3/6/09 Edition)

    As I mentioned earlier this week, I will be attending SXSWi next week. In keeping with tradition, I will be posting three reviews of panels I attend while I'm there. The articles will focus on the practical use of the panel as well as general cultural and worldview analysis from a Christian perspective. I'm looking forward to meeting some of you there and learning about this great vocation we've all taken up. Here's this week's 5 for Friday.

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  • March 4, 2009 in Design Tips & Tutorials

    Intro to Web Design (Part 4): Getting Acquainted with the Peripherals

    In the first three parts of this series, I explained the core concepts of web design. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the way you look at it), being a well rounded web designer requires more than just understanding the core concepts. There's server-side scripting, client-side scripting, animation, e-commerce, and a whole slew of additional technologies for the web designer to learn. In the title of this article I call these technologies peripherals, and I think that word is appropriate. They're not unlike the peripherals of a computer system: the printer, scanner, external hard drive, etc. Technically, you may be able to build a website without them, but you will be severely limited in the type of website you will be able to build. In this article, I will be giving a brief overview of each of the most important peripheral tools in the web designer's arsenal.

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  • March 2, 2009 in Mirificam Press News

    Meet Me at SXSW 2009

    Next week is the beginning of the 2009 SXSWi conference in Austin, TX. I would like to invite any Mirificam Press readers who are attending to meet up to discuss design, worldview, whatever. If you're interested, just use the form on the contact page to send me your information. I have attended SXSWi for the last four years and have always found it worth the trip. Not only have I learned an enormous amount from the speakers and panels but I've enjoyed the opportunity to confront design culture with a Christian worldview. I look forward to the same this year.