Category Archives: Design

Making Beautiful Lists

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This is a nice way to make beautiful lists. Take any old list of unordered elements, for instance:

  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Blistering barnacles
  • Gargoyles
  • Oranges
  • Pears
  • Sunfruit

Looks good? Sure. But sometimes, you want it horizontally. Let’s add the following style sheet to it.

    ul                     { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 0; }
    ul li                  { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 0; display: inline; }
    ul li:after            { content: '\B7'; padding: 0 0.2em 0 0.5em; }
    ul li:last-child:after { content: '' }

And what do we get? Something as beautiful as this:

  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Blistering barnacles
  • Gargoyles
  • Oranges
  • Pears
  • Sunfruit

A nice, horizontal list; and the best thing about it, is that there are no little dots in the HTML code, no handling for first or last elements (no ul class=”last”), nothing. Just pure css. And, of course, each element can be styled, you can make links, or any old thing. Seems to work fine in Firefox and Chrome; IE8 doesn’t seem to get the last “ul li:last-child:after” element, but all you get is a little dot after the last element. Worse things could happen.

I Wonder If I Actually Do Anything Useful?

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I’ve been thinking. That’s never a good sign. :)

I build a lot of software systems. If I’m not designing a web platform for support cases, I’m building systems for PowerPoint presentations, or custom PHP frameworks, or… well, you name it.

But wherever I look, I’m almost invariably being replaced. The things I implement are being gradually replaced with standardized systems – which, I admit, is not a bad way to go. There is substantial power in a well-established platform with support behind it.

And yet, I cannot keep from dreaming. I see things… better ways of doing things, better designs, better user interfaces. I see ways of improving things. It’s like there is resident within me a power to dream; a power that is relentless, that causes me to skip five steps ahead when others just see two. The question that burns within me is the constant “why not?” that forces me to challenge everything, including myself, and strive for an elegance in software design that I otherwise seem to see so little of. Not that I’m bragging, I just… dream.

But so little of what I do can be maintained. It’s like I’m destined to be an oddball that pioneers ahead, but is always replaced by a standard product after a few years. And it leads me to think.

Do I actually do anything useful? Does it matter what I do? So much of my heart and passion goes into things that no one will ever see. Am I, in fact, a roadblock to other people? Do I paint myself and other people into corners which they will then have to get out of?

Maybe I should stop and just use normal off-the-shelf tools. Use Drupal or WordPress instead of building my own system. And yet, it’s difficult to bring myself to do so because it’s so ugly and normal and conventional and limiting. It feels like I’m being relegated to writing instruction manuals for blenders, instead of some new novel I’m dreaming of…

Is there a place for dreamers in our society? Where do I really fit in?

Will anything I do ever last?

“I don’t really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void.” (You’ve Got Mail)

Passion

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My CEO recently described me as “something as unusual as a technician with a sense for design”.

It flattered me; because I’ve never seen myself as a technician. Although I am a software developer and build computer systems for a living, sort of, there’s a hidden quality that rests within me that perhaps is not immediately obvious to everyone:

Passion!

As calm as I am outside, inside I am a very passionate person. Sometimes I feel like my emotions are so intense, my whole nervous system so sensitive, that I can literally pick apart an orchestral work and step right into it, disassembling the sound as I listen to it and placing the woodwinds, brass and strings around me.

I guess that’s why I like music so much: The strings of my heart quiver when I hear music, like the strings of a violin guided by the touch of a skilled violinist. My soul can soar to unknown heights when it’s in sync with music that’s playing (which is a very good reason why I shouldn’t listen to opera at work, because I won’t get any work done) — and likewise, when trying to concentrate on work and someone else turns on the radio with some mindless beat music, I plunge to the very depths of despair.

Because I’m like that… Passionate.

It becomes a problem when I have to do administration at work. I should have sent out invoices this week; I remind myself every day to do it. (I’m going to do it tomorrow. Really. No, really!) And yet… it’s infinitely more fun to work on the new server; plunging into the depths of system configuration, reading books and FAQ’s, searching for clues and answers. Like a painter, with every stroke of the brush building towards the final picture, I add scripts, config files, download yum packages, step by step ever so carefully completing the server. It’s something I can pour all of my heart into, focusing all my energy upon it and storming this challenge with every intellectual capacity I have.

Yeah, the invoices. Right. Doing administration chores is … about as much fun as assembling parts at a factory. Like telling an artist who just created a beautiful painting, “okay, good, now make fifty of these and we should be about set”. And it’s not that I think less of that type of work (after all, it needs being done!) – it’s just that it’s not how I function.

So I have to motivate myself, find tricks to get things done, and focus, focus. Once I get into it, it usually works out okay, but I squirm and agonize over it for days. Because there’s no passion in it. And that’s why I sometimes pull off great and wonderful feats at work, and in between those moments my productivity can drop to … well, below everyone elses for sure. I usually manage to save the day by being kind of fast at doing things, once I get around to it, but…

I guess that’s why I write poetry about people I fall in love with – because I have to get those stormy feelings out somehow. I pity the woman that one day might fall in love with me… :)

So it’s back to work tomorrow – moving domains, sending out invoices, answering the phone and handling support calls. Chores, administration. Blech. But it needs being done.

But, my, that new server sure looks interesting…

Beautiful, Beautiful Fonts

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I’m starting to develop a love for fonts. What, you say? Yes, fonts. Typefaces. The art of typography is absolutely wonderful; it comes the elements of text, lettering, and words, into an art of design and readability.

I think one of the best things you can do if you’re serious about typography is to go out and buy the Adobe Type Basics package. It includes wonderful typefaces, including all-time classics like Garamond. And then, add on with as many as you like…

What really sets apart the professional fonts from many of the downloadable public fonts, is an immense clarity when you use them in text. The readability is enormous. And yet, when you pull them up in several times magnification, they are absolutely beautiful.

These are some of my absolute favorites:


This is Adobe Garamond. Originally designed by Claude Garamond and first gained popularity in the 1540′s, it is one of the most well-known typefaces. It is a wonderful serif font, with a sense of “old-school” writing and a fluidity that is amazing, especially in the italics.


Futura is an interesting sans-serif designed in 1927, building on the Bauhaus ideals and the Universal typeface. It was used heavily in the 50′s and 60′s, and its fans include both Stanley Kubrick and the Pittsburgh Steelers.


A new font, made in the early 90′s, it is much warmer and friendlier than Futura. I like it best in its heavy setting, giving an impressive weight and clarity to the text.