iOS keyboard has room for improvement

The more I write on my iPad, the more I appreciate the device for this type of creation. It's portable, easily accessible, and I'm less prone to distraction. And with writing applications making great use of iCloud and Dropbox, my data is always there and always in sync with my Macbook Pro. The negative with writing on the iPad is typing. It's a bit of a mixed bag experience — the iOS autocorrection is (at times) brilliant and I can fly along with confidence, knowing the OS is going to correct…

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Are frameworks the new cookie cutters?

Mark Dixon asks [http://www.markdixon.ca/design/blog/are-frameworks-the-new-cookie-cutters/] a great question — one I've been asking myself. I've used Dave Gamache's excellent Skeleton framework [http://www.getskeleton.com/] for my past few projects, and it has made the aspect of responsive design quite a bit easier. But I've also had to pare it down, stripping out all the bits I don't need. I've wondered about using something more lightweight, but the reality is, I'd be better off creating som…

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Curation & discovery

The past week saw another project that I find very intriguing. Linked to by half the western world, it's The Magazine [http://the-magazine.org] from Marco Arment. What's intriguing about it? It's another small, targeted publication. 2012 has seen many a publication like this and I love the trend. Even further, The Magazine is also a curated effort of sorts, with Marco doing the work of coordinating writers and ensuring the content fits the audience. I've spent a lot of thought on those two sub…

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Writers gonna write

The availability of new publishing platforms is good news. Truly. But a comment I made yesterday could be taken in a manner I did not intend. I said [https://twitter.com/chrisbowler/statuses/238023245775912960]: > Publishing platforms are fine, tools lacking friction even better, but the platform/tool does not make the writer. A few friends called out my thinking (always a good thing) and presented their beliefs that platforms can be enablers, giving people an ability they previously did not ha…

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webkit-tap-highlight-color

There are a lot of helpful CSS properties out there, available for use, that I am simply not aware of. I came across one recently while reading a post from Sacha Grief [http://sachagreif.com/useful-sass-mixins/] on my iPad. When I tapped on a link, there was a nice highlight colour applied. When designing a site, I know I've struggled at times to pick appropriate styles to indicate both a link, plus the state of the link when tapped. Enter -webkit-tap-highlight-color. I checked out Sacha's sit…

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The confusion of working with files in Mountain Lion

If there's one thing the last two versions of OS X, Lion and Mountain Lion, have shown us, it's that the iOS-ification of a desktop operating system comes with a few bumps along the road. Having worked on Mountain Lion for several weeks now, it's clear that working with files is an area of confusion. Something that Apple has largely removed from the mobile computing experience is still somewhat awkward in the desktop arena. I like Mountain Lion, I do. As I did Lion. Each had their issues at the…

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Is email broken?

Tobias van Schneider thinks so. He shared his thoughts on the subject [http://www.vanschneider.com/work/mail/], including his idea for fixing email. I've read his post several times, but, apart from appreciating the thought he's put into it, his solution is lacking. He's trying to solve the wrong problem. Email clients are not broken. True, there has been no real innovation around email clients since the inception of the platform. But that doesn't mean our current tools are not doing their job.…

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Offscreen Magazine

Having just finished the second edition of Offscreen [http://www.offscreenmag.com/], self-described as a "new, collectible print magazine about the human side of websites and apps", a couple of thoughts come to mind. First, this is a well executed publication. The quality of the paper and binding are excellent. As well, the photography is very well done and the amount of images makes flipping through the magazine as enjoyable as sitting down and reading through one of the interviews. Second, s…

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