“We define Information architecture as a systematic, question-based process for creating communication products that improve users’ performance. A system is a set of interrelated parts that work together toward a defined goal. In building web sites, you can think of the system as a methodical, structured, means for helping people find and use information. The entire system is performance-based.”

“What makes for bad design is trying to solve problems in isolation, so that one particular force, like time or market or compatibility or usability, dominates.”

“Part of the design rationale is to develop a design process that is user-centered… A design rationale should be documented to be used as a tool for expressing the foundation for the hundreds of decisions and tradeoffs that need to be made for each design instance. A design rationale is a lot like the ‘vision’ for design. While it does not answer every question for every instance of a design decision, it keeps you focused on the objectives for the site and supports the design decisions and tradeoffs that are inevitable. The design rationale also acts as a reference for developers and agencies that will develop content for a site.”

“In 1966 the British artist Tom Phillips purchased an obscure Victorian novel called ‘A Human Document’ from a secondhand bookshop. He then proceeded to subject the book to ‘treatment,’ coloring in or blacking out passages in order to form striking designs and new narratives and images. The treated novel was first published as a book in 1983, but Phillips has continued to work on it, so that this third edition includes 100 new treatments.” — Reader’s Catalog. Buy it.

ASIS Summit 2000. The American Society for Information Science presents its spring conference: Defining Information Architecture. April 7-9, 2000, Hilton Hotel at Logan International Airport, Boston, MA. “While every information system has an architecture by default, planned information architectures are more effective at enabling users to find the information they need by supporting quality searching and browsing. Planned information architectures, when combined with supporting policies and procedures, also serve as structures that help organizations manage their content more effectively.”

“Instant English … is designed for students who may not know how to read or write in any language. Unlike other Language tutorials that assume the ability to read and write English and that use extensive eXPLANATiONs and translations, this program does not explain. It shows.”

“CODE RUSH, airing on PBS Thursday, March 30, 2000, 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings), takes a dramatic, inside look at living and working in Silicon Valley. The one-hour documentary follows bright and quirky Netscape Communications engineers as they pursue a revolutionary venture to save their company. Through the program’s verite style, viewers see human and technological dramas unfold in the collision between science, engineering, code and commerce. Capturing Netscape’s most anguished year, CODE RUSH reveals the intensity and volatility of life on technology’s edge. The program presents Netscape’s radical effort to rewrite the rules of software development by giving away the recipe for its browser in exchange for integrating improvements created by outside unpaid software developers.”

“TTR is a font site for everyone. There are downloads, links, interviews, profiles, reviews and more.”

“Instant English … is designed for students who may not know how to read or write in any language. Unlike other Language tutorials that assume the ability to read and write English and that use extensive eXPLANATiONs and translations, this program does not explain. It shows.”

“CODE RUSH, airing on PBS Thursday, March 30, 2000, 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings), takes a dramatic, inside look at living and working in Silicon Valley. The one-hour documentary follows bright and quirky Netscape Communications engineers as they pursue a revolutionary venture to save their company. Through the program’s verite style, viewers see human and technological dramas unfold in the collision between science, engineering, code and commerce. Capturing Netscape’s most anguished year, CODE RUSH reveals the intensity and volatility of life on technology’s edge. The program presents Netscape’s radical effort to rewrite the rules of software development by giving away the recipe for its browser in exchange for integrating improvements created by outside unpaid software developers.”

“Over fifty different visual artists, filmmakers, writers, and performers from around the world have contributed to half a decade of PaperVeins gallery exhibitions, online web projects, and performance showcases. Virgil Wong is the founding artist of the PaperVeins Museum of Art and the creator of the web site. He is best known for his award-winning net art about babies and biotechnology, including GenoChoice: Create Your Own Genetically Healthy Child Online! His most recent project, MalePregnancy.com (with Artist Lee Mingwei), received a 1999 INVISION New Media Silver Medal and has generated hate mail from such diverse groups as a Christian conservatives in Wyoming to female transvestites in Tokyo.”

“Words are the foundation of communication. Even on the increasingly visual Web, a developer’s words can entice, engage, and persuade his or her site audience. As we strive to make our sites look and act sophisticated and efficient, we often forget that what we say and how we say it is as necessary to the success of our projects as the quality of our HTML, graphics, and programming techniques. Designers must treat language as an integral part of a site’s design.”

“Haven’t you ever get bored browsing your font catalog? Are you searching for a printed font and you have 9000 TTFs on your CD? Font matcher helps you do that in a few minutes. Just get a bitmap of the letter, select your fonts directory and FontMatcher will compare each TTF with the given bitmap, giving you an exact percent of how much each font matches the given bitmap. Font Matcher is completely Freeware (I’ve spent my whole life cracking soft and stealing fonts, so I’m not gonna ask you to pay money for this) and is available for free downloading in any of the links below. It’s made under VB 6.0, so you’ll need the VB 6.0 runtimes in order to get it working (surely you already have them installed).” PC-only.:-(

But I had the xBlog name first! “This blog has been written in XML using an XSLT transformation. This blog is for learning purposes only. Not for public viewing.” You need IE5 to see it. Very cool.

“Not long ago I attended an informal gathering of web developers, writers, and software designers. The conversation was particularly good that evening, and we explored lots of space in the Web universe. Then one writer raised a question that brought the conversation to a halt. We had been talking about the momentum behind XML, and he said, ‘I challenge any of you to name a widespread use of XML.’ The ensuing grind of mental wheels was deafening.”