Bob Browning's blog

David Pogue is writing a book.  Well actually he is not writing the book as such, he is compiling it from twitter posts.  It actually sounds quite feasible. 

Post a tweet and if included you get a copy of the book. 

http://davidpogue.com/bio_photos/twitter.html

Pay Per Tweet was an April Fool joke only a year ago.  Now it is a business.  Isn’t the Internet wunnerful.

With a blindingly simple idea Magpie are doing something with twitter, that twitter are not – making money.

Sign up with them, and they insert an ad in your twitter stream – say 1 in 10.  You choose the frequency and get paid something. They are a bit vague about how much.

Kier Thomas took a good shot at Firefox in his blog last month.  I agree with him.  Firefox has turned into bloatware and Google Chrome has taken over as the browser I reach for if I want results fast.

The main problem I have with chrome is that the view-source actually reloads the page.  This may be fine, but sometimes you want to see the real source code not the code you get when you do a reload (which might be different). 

Other than that it is lightning fast and clutter-free.

From my latest newsletter.

I have commented before about the impact of netbooks, these small cheap laptops that you can buy in Robert Dyas for £167.  This type of device is new and the technology  is changing fast.  It is worth keeping an eye on it.

They are about the size of a Filofax and generally come with a 7-10 inch screen that gives about 800×480 resolution plus a proper keyboard – albeit small.  They have an Intel Atom chip, a low power processor aimed at small computers and PDAs.  They often come with flash memory (the kind you find in a camera) rather than a hard disk.    They run Windows XP or Unix (Linux inevitably) but not Vista. The also come with built-in wi-fi.  Expect mobile internet connectivity to be built in when more upmarket devices become available.

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Nothing.  And I can prove it.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion about the main technical errors that print designers make when designing for the web.  These are all real and I have seen them repeatedly.

1. Font too small.  Sorry guys; at 75dpi these tiny letters are indecipherable.
2. Lack of colour contrast.   Light gray type on a slightly lighter grey background may look cool on your Mac, but on a clapped-out PC it is unreadable.
3. Forgetting that we need real content.  Design bearing in mind the real content.  A sample layout that look great with ‘welcome John Smith’ on it may break completely when we have to welcome William Fortescue Smithe Junior
4. Assuming everyone has a giant screen like them.  Don’t run anything essential (like the main menu) down the right hand side of the page.  A punter with a 800px wide netbook will not see it.  Menus to the left and top please.  Yes I know that every site is like that and it is boring.  Get over it.
5. Assuming we all have Mac fonts.  We don’t.  learn to love Arial.