Archive for October, 2004

Okay, does everyone know what a blog is and how RSS feeds work with blogs and other websites?

Well, if you’re reading this, you’ve found your way to my blog, or weblog. I figure that the term uses the metaphor of a ship’s log(book), which is a
daily journal of the ship’s journey. So, for me, a weblog is a web-based personal journal (daily or not).

It’s a great way to share information with you, to introduce you to websites I’ve come across in my web-travels and to interact electronically with
anyone who’s interested to stop by for a few moments.

Next comes RSS (really simple syndication). RSS is a technology that allows us to keep up with new articles published on websites and blogs. Sites/blogs
can create “RSS feeds” that list new articles. Those feeds are readable by you when you subscribe to your favorites, using an RSS reader.

RSS readers can be either free-standing or browser-based, open source or commercial. Here are a few links to help you begin your search for one that
meets your needs:

Mac: NetNewsWire NewsFire

PC: Aggreg8 FeedDemon

Cross-platform: FeedFire Amphetadesk href="http://radio.userland.com/">RadioUserland RocketInfo

Once you’ve installed or signed up for the reader of your choice, you will want to subscribe to feeds that interest you. The list of sites with RSS feeds
is growing exponentially, including my own blog, those of other bloggers, on up to the large news sites like CNN, Yahoo, BBC, NPR, etc.

I find I like subscribing to both sites that change by the minute, like the major news sites, and also those that only change once in a while, like those
of many bloggers. Some RSS readers have lists of popular sites to which you can easily subscribe. You can also look for symbols including XML, Atom, RSS. A few
readers even allow you to to syndicate sites that don’t have feeds.

I subscribe to RSS feeds from a variety of bloggers to learn about new sites, new articles, etc. quickly and efficiently. It’s a great way to feel like
you’re on top of the incredible flow of information on the web while being able to live a relatively normal life. Do you know what I mean? Let me know your
experience with blogs and RSS feeds and ask me for more information if you’re still confused.

Welcome to Langfeldesigns Talk. I’ll be commenting on a variety of topics, hopefully interesting to both designers and clients.

To kick off this blog, let’s look at how one project can be designed an infinite number of ways. The best example of this I’ve ever seen is a website called CSS Zen Garden.

The site has a slightly different purpose than mine in this post. It exists to excite designers about using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to separate design styles from content (in html). So, designers are invited to add their own CSS files (and images) to the base html text file.

It is amazing to see how many ways the content of the page can be styled. Of course, some of the designs are closer to the theme of the page than others.

That’s to be expected… unless the client gives (or develops with) the designer a written brief describing the intended audience(s), communnication objectives, strategies and tactics before beginning a new project. The brief gives the designer guidelines against which to test concepts and designs. It also helps the client to clarify the project aims. It may also bring up questions that
need to be answered before beginning the project.

So, the point I’d like to leave you with is this: work with your designer to define design objectives, or you may be surprised at the designs presented, since there is an infinite number of designs possible for any one project.