Of books and conferences past: A maker looks back on things well-made but no longer with us.

The post Of Books and Conferences Past appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Saturday, 30 November 2024, marks the 17th annual Blue Beanie Day celebration. It’s hard to believe, but web standards fan Douglas Vos conceived of this holiday way back in ’07: The origin of the name of the holiday is the image of Jeffrey Zeldman on the cover of his book wearing a blue knit cap.[7][8][9] Over the […]

The post How to Join Blue Beanie Day: Wear and Share! appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

My daughter and I have three cats—all rescues: There’s Snow White, our 16-year-old queen and my daughter’s consigliere, who, despite requiring thrice-a-week medication injections to keep her kidneys functioning, rules this place absolutely. There’s subtle Mango, whose first year of life involved struggling to survive—and avoid human contact—in a weedy vacant lot adjoining the United Nations […]

The post Lessons from Cats: Jasper’s Clever Cleanup Routine appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

I’ve started a Bluesky list featuring some of the brilliant writers, designers, coders, editors, and others who’ve contributed to A List Apart “for people who make websites.”

The post A List Apart contributors list on Bluesky appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

At its core, MARTI is a bridge. It harmonizes with existing metadata standards like the Content Authenticity Initiative, Anthropic’s Responsible Scaling Policy, and the W3C’s PROV. It anticipates the needs of future standards, laws and practices, such as those proposed by the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), The EU Artificial Intelligence Act, and Making Data FAIR.—Carrie Bickner As I study Carrie […]

The post Understanding MARTI: A New Metadata Framework for AI appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

This Veteran’s Day, let’s honor all of the people who have served their country in times of need.

The post Veterans Day Remembrance appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

If you’re finding today a bit stressful for some reason, grab a respite by sinking into any of these web design inspiration websites.

The post Web Design Inspiration appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Her voice, when she spoke to us from the doorway, was strange. I was in 3rd Grade. Our teacher went away for a few minutes, then came back, crying. She was a tough public school teacher of the old school, the kind my father’s friends would have called “an old bat.” She was not like […]

The post I Rememeber, Part 1 appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

My insight into corporate legal disputes is as meaningful as my opinion on Quantum Mechanics. What I do know is that, when given the chance this week to leave my job with half a year’s salary paid in advance, I chose to stay at Automattic. Listen, I’m struggling with medical debts and financial obligations incurred […]

The post I stayed. appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

“I’m reassuring myself that New York City is still here.”

The post 9/13/01 appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

“Raising loved children is the only consistent and lasting healing some will know.”

The post Broken Blossoms appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

My Glamorous Life: late to the pubescence party.

The post Strange Beliefs of Childhood № 99 appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Zoom has always included a clickable button/badge at the top left of its primary meeting interface window. Click the badge to copy the URL of that meeting. You can then, with just one more click in any messaging system, send that URL to the other meeting participants. Fast. Simple. Drop-dead easy. Elegant. It comes in […]

The post What happened to the Share button in Zoom? appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Help to help, because we’re built to help.

The post One weird trick appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

The post Designer Jonathan Lee appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

It was late winter when my sabbatical began, and it’s late spring as it comes to an end. Next week I return to my post after three months’ paid leave, courtesy of Automattic’s sabbatical benefit. Three months. A season. With full pay, and zero work responsibilities. In a job full of rewards, this is perhaps the greatest […]

The post The gift of a three-month sabbatical appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Poachers, when caught stealing content from our website, always blamed the theft on an “intern” or “freelancer.” We always pretended to believe them.

The post Ah yes, the famous “intern did it” syndrome appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Palestinians and Israelis are two Indigenous peoples occupying the land that is being fought over.

The post Indigenous appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

In the dying stages of innovation, companies at the top of the heap use their market power to maintain their high profits.

The post Suckage begins here: why search engines now prioritize advertising over good UX appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Why did leading designers in 2000 look down their nose at the web? And are things any better today?

The post This Web of Ours, Revisited appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Why you can’t build another Apple with VC bucks.

The post Don’t bring venture capital to a knife fight appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Even when it’s ugly—especially when it’s ugly—journalists owe readers the truth.

The post Both Sides, No appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Stroll with us down memory lane as we celebrate the pearl anniversary of pixel art creation’s primary progenitor, and some of the many artists and design languages it inspired.

The post For love of pixels appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

The bots who shit in your sandbox are bigger, brassier, and better than ever!

The post Akismet means never having to say you’re sorry appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

I’m designing for the web. The infinitely flexible web.

The post The More Things Change… (or: What’s in a Job Title?) appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

A business world with deeply misguided priorities—exemplified by horror stories from the worlds of tech, gaming, and entertainment—accounts for much worker unhappiness and customer frustration.

The post Our Lady of Perpetual Profit appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

I have this friend. A mountain of unexpected medical debt buried his family at the start of last year. At the same time, the closing of his business stuck him with six figures of personal debt. Liquidating a retirement account and maxing out credit cards bought him short-term breathing room. Mostly, though, it added interest […]

The post The Valley of Hidden Sorrows appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Pieces of the web that make differing and complementary sense of the threat and promise of AI.

The post AI Roundup: The Bad, the Ugly, and the Pretty Cool appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

The W3C explains how CAPTCHA excludes disabled users, and suggests alternatives that may be kinder and more reliable.

The post CAPTCHA excludes disabled web users appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

Leadership, hindered by a lack of diversity, has steered away from a tool for public good and one that is instead subject to capitalist forces resulting in monopolisation. Governance, which should correct for this, has failed to do so.

The post Heal an ailing web appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.