I spent the last days of 2018 listening to an amazing podcast: Stephen Fry’s Great Leap Years brilliantly tells the story of the evolution of information technology throughout human history – from Johannes Gutenberg inventing the printing press to Alexander Graham Bell and h...
We all know that we should backup our data regularly and ideally with some sort of backup strategy but let’s be honest: Many of us don’t. Over the years, I got a bit better, but after listening to one of the highly recommended episodes of the (mainly German) Working Draft po...
I have a confession to make. I’ve become utterly terrible at finishing books, especially non-fiction. I once even published a list of books I will definitely maybe read one day. The reasons why I don't finish them are manifold: For one, there is always some work to do that s...
I recently listened to an interesting episode of the podcast “The Design of Business | The Business of Design”, in which Jessica Helfand and Michael Bierut talked with Mariana Amatullo, who teaches strategic design and management at Parsons School of Design at The New School...
This morning, I read a tweet by Dave Rupert that made me smile:
Hey, Internet. My son loves drawing. This is great. My house is filled with 1000s of pieces of paper tho. This is not so great. Has anyone converted a ~...
Yesterday, I shared some advice by Seth Godin from an interview with Chase Jarvis. Today, I’ll do the same again, but not because I’m lazy (at least not this time) but because I think it’s a great follow up and just as actionable and useful advice.
It goes like this: Wheneve...
Last weekend, I listened to a highly interesting episode of the Chase Jarvis Live Show, a podcast featuring interviews with creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs. The episode’s guest was Seth Godin and as you might expect, he dropped a lot of knowledge and good advice. And...
I spent two weeks in August...
Recently, I read two posts within a few days that both resonated a lot with me. The topic of both pieces was the same: Writing. Or more specifically, writing on your own site. The first piece, “Just write.”, is by Sara Soueidan and if you haven’t read the article, I highly e...
Prototyping has been captivating me for quite some time now. Since 2012, I teach Interface Prototyping at the Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design in Kiel, Germany and especially over the last few years, I could watch prototyping slowly attracting more and more atten...
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The Illusion of Control
We have a problem. And ...
Edit on 09-04-2022: This article is quite old and I have since realized that the conclusion I draw in the article was wrong. The upsides of using EMs as the unit in your media queries, especially in terms of accessibility, far outweigh the one downside I described in the pos...
In all of the posts I published on my site so far, I’ve never shared a single line of code. But since this is going to change with the next article on pattern libraries, I spent a little time over the weekend implementing syntax highlighting for my posts. I settled on Lea Ve...
CSS Grid is here and I bet you also heard that it's a game changer that could once more completely change the way we approach web layout.
A New Kid on the Block
The new layout module is a great achievement for all people involved in the process and also the fast implementati...
Once more, net neutrality is under attack. This founding principle of the open web guarantees that all data packages are treated equally – regardless of content or the amount of money you pay your service provider. Net neutrality keeps the internet open and uncensored and by that fosters freedom of speech and an exchange of ideas.
Today, 12 July, is the internet-wide day of action to save net neutrality. And we all have a voice and a responsibility to stop this threat to the open web.
So join the protest by adding an alert to your site, change your avatar, spread the word on social media, or do what you do best to fight for net neutrality. To learn more, visit battleforthenet.com or read more about why the 12 July protest to protect net neutrality matters.
We need to stop this together. We are team internet.
–
Thanks to @webrocker for the reminder!
When we design and build things for the web, it’s tempting to fall into the trap of doing things the We-have-always-done-it-that-way™. And this doesn't necessarily have to be our fault alone. We are all part of project teams and work environments that shape our perception of...
Despite the proclaimed death of RSS I know a lot of people who still love to read their feeds on a daily basis. So feeds are definitely here to stay and providing your readers with different ways of consuming your content is also an important part of a website, especially if...
This is the second article of a two-part series on digital citizenship. Part one was all about online privacy and how to protect it, this second part focuses on how we can build and promote tools that enable an open, independent, and resilient web.
“I need your clothes, your...
This is the first article of a two-part series on digital citizenship. Part one is about online privacy and how to protect it, the second part focuses on how we can build and promote tools that enable an open, independent, and resilient web.
Invasion of the Data Snatchers
Gl...
As we are moving from pages to patterns when creating and documenting websites and other digital design systems, pattern libraries are becoming increasingly popular. Ethan Marcotte, who famously coined the term responsive web design, recently published a nice little piece ab...
