10 Mar 2010
I think it’s time for web technologies to march into another territory: word processing. Yes, you can export web pages from most packages, but I’m talking about using HTML, CSS, SVG, etc. together as the native file format (optionally packaged in a Zip container I suppose).
As Mark Pilgrim says, HTML is the format of our age
, it’s looking likely to dominate electronic books, and more and more content is authored primarily for the web. We could ditch unsuitable tools (I’m looking at you, Word), improve future-proofing, and completely sidestep the ongoing wrangling between complex formats such as Office Open XML and OpenDocument.
Is there a package already out there that focuses on dealing with clean, valid HTML and styling applied via CSS? There are somewhat limited web-based editors, and WYSIWYG web dev packages, but I haven’t yet spotted a lightweight, easy-to-use word processor based fully around web technologies.
03 Mar 2010
Once upon a time, way back in the ’90s, there was a government cost reduction initiative with a budget in the millions.
The organisation managing it hired a large IT company to handle the web site (the key part of the initiative) for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The large IT company hired a medium-sized web development firm to create and host the site for tens of thousands of pounds.
The medium-sized web development firm hired a fresh-faced young(ish) web developer to produce the design, HTML templates, and some of the pages for a few hundred pounds.
01 Mar 2010
Judging from reactions to a certain imminent Apple product, I got the impression some people have a strange or incomplete understanding of their product line-up and target markets. The most useful and interesting way to break down their range isn’t into mobile/non-mobile devices or pro/consumer, but hubs and satellites. Apple themselves do this, judging from their online store (the iPad’s going to need space on that top row):
Creative hubs are intended to be a user’s main machine(s), allowing you to create documents/images/videos/code/games/whatever using whatever software suits you. They’re fully-equipped with ports, storage, memory and drivers.
Consumer satellites are simplified devices focussed on consuming media and communicating. Both hardware and software are stripped down to the minimum requirements for a good user experience, and users have less freedom to tinker (whether you like that or not, it's been the norm for games consoles, DVD players, etc.). Devices are generally intended to be sync’d with a hub for adding content and ensuring there’s always a recent back-up.
When the product range is viewed this way, it clarifies (and, in some cases, justifies) Apple’s design choices and restrictions. It also poses an intriguing question: is there a viable middle-ground niche that would disrupt this clear categorisation? Could Apple sell an ‘iPad Pro’ with extra features (e.g. USB port, SD card slot, camera, multi-user support, cloud backups, drivers for printers and file systems etc.), creating something that can be a user’s main machine but still has the simplicity and limitations of a consumer device?
22 Feb 2010
What kind of mischievous fiend creates a large door, plastered with “AUTOMATIC DOOR” in big letters, that only opens if you notice and press a small button located to one side?
See also:
Brizzly for iPhone
A Muppet Wicker Man
