if i only knew...

Slacking and usability

I really need to make that new, more photo-based template for my site, because this one is just not right for posting photos. I am totally in awe of the new photojunkie design, i love its look, how it emphasizes photography, but is still a hybrid blog. Definitely an inspiration.

This whole needing a new template made me think of really how the usability and design of a system or tool you're using determines how and how often we use it. Posting photos in the current movable type system is a pain, even though the upload feature and automatic thumbnail creation is a helpful gesture, but still, i need to click too many times and cut and paste too many times to post my photos the way i want them to be. So i start slacking and not posting as much as i would want to, because it's just too complicated.

My last ever exam (not counting the big final graduation thing next January) in this college is tomorrow, and then i am free to do whatever i want to, and this is what i will do.

Webbies

This year's Webby Awards nominees again provided much fun exploring sites i haven't seen before. A few examples:

Orisinal Games - wicked fun jumping around with teddy bears for no real reason, or keeping balloons floating with cheesy cheery-happy songs as background music. And, they have an even trippier game than Collapse... Bouns

Japanese Streets - crazy fashion from Japan, i would never dress like that but it's fun to see!

am i a good web designer?

Wow. There's a very cool site, where amateur web designers can post their URLs and have their site critiqued by the community. When i launched my business site about 2 years ago, i listed it to get some unbiased feedback on my design that i developed and coded all by myself. I got a couple of good critiques, and then forgot about the site.

A few weeks ago there was a new critique on the site, which made me go back and reexplore the community. Just for fun, i listed this blog as well and got very good critiques on it too. I am very proud! And most of them highlight the good usability of both sites, which is what i really care about most, design comes second.

And today i realized that my sites are listed in the top 10s of sitecritique.net: my other site is 5th in overall rankings, and 1st (!) in navigation and this blog is 3rd in load time.

PS / edited to add: I am not a pro web desinger and i'm not trying to pose as one. I just like designing sites for myself and learnt it all by myself. Although I did design and code a website for a company once for $$$. Just wanted to set thi straight after rereading the entry.

Hey Nostradamus

There's finally some info on what the new Coupland book, Hey Nostradamus will be like. (And a light redesign at coupland.com.) I must say i am a bit disappointed. In previous Coupland books i didn't enjoy the apocaliptyc, very dark scenes so much, as his more lighthearted situations like in Microserfs or even Life After God, which wasn't a happy novel, but at least godzillas didn't dominate it. For example, i put down Girlfriend in a coma when the world started to go down. It simply did not fascinate me, and i didn't enjoy the book any more. I never picked it up again to finish it.

On the other hand, Columbine, and the social implications and reasons of the tragedies like it interest me, and i can't wait to see what Coupland makes of it.

And.... i was looking forward to stopping by at a bookstore in Vancouver when i arrive in July, on the way home YVR, just to pick up a new copy, but looks like it won't happen, because the book is published in July in the US and only in September in Canada. :( So i will have to rely on amazon.com again i guess...

Latte art

One day, when i will finally open my coffee house, i will serve coffee like this: Latte Art

X-processed sky

I think i like x-processing (having a slide film developed as a negative). The only problem is that i got it done at the expensive lab, but wanted to make prints in the cheaper one, and the cheaper one couldn't do the print either, because the negative is different than ordinary ones. So x-processing is extra expensive, but it's worth it! I will post more of them later.

Doggie crossprocessed

I finally got my prints from my first crossprocessed roll, and about half of it turned out really great. Here's a batch of dog pics.

Note the ears and tail movement...

Playing with the light

And proof that dogs are faster than my shutter speed...

Magical spring sky

My window looks on the inner garden of our apartment building, and other such buildings. No Eiffel tower, no ocean, no Golden Gate Bridge in sight. But on some days, nature compensates with such views. Isn't it wonderful? As if someone had painted the sky with magical colours.