“When I set out to design a website, I do it backwards. I start with the design of the smallest, deepest element: the story page or search results. Then I work backwards to design their containers: section pages, indexes. Then, lastly, I work on the home page. I do this because each container needs to adequately set expectations for what it contains.”

“This is a technique that you have probably seen before. A face, or picture, is made up of a huge body of text, but the text is different colors or shades to make it look like the picture? Yea, it’s a really cool technique, and now you can easily re-create it. This effect looks like it would take a lot of time and effort, but in all reality it is pretty easy (just took me forever to figure out :P) and simple to do.”

“Update: Google reactivated their help entry with a new text. ‘It is Google’s policy not to censor search results. However, in response to local laws, regulations, or policies, we may do so.’”

“Over 880 images scanned from old books, most with multiple high-resolution versions! They are all public domain (copyright-free, out of copyright) unless otherwise noted, and can be used as historical reference in teaching, royalty-free stock images, scrapbook clip art, or even on your own Web site…”

“What is almost endless lossless data compression? Implode (coding) a long code (input data) in a short key code (output data). Explode (decoding) the short key code back in the original long code. It’s not allowed that two different long codes generate the same short key code.”

“Use this utility to compress your CSS to increase loading speed and save on bandwidth as well. You can choose from three levels of compression, depending on how legible you want the compressed CSS to be versus degree of compression. The ‘Normal’ mode should work well in most cases, creating a good balance between the two.”

“Comic Sans was designed because when I was working at Microsoft I received a beta version of Microsoft Bob. It was a comic software package that had a dog called Rover at the beginning and he had a balloon with messages using Times New Roman.” (Thanks kottke.org!)

“Yojimbo makes keeping all the small (or even large) bits of information that pour in every day organized and accessible. It’s so simple, there is no learning curve. Yojimbo’s mechanism for collecting, storing and finding information is so natural and effortless, it will change your life–without changing the way you work.”

“Yes, Onion skinned. Animators use onion skinning to render what is impossible to see otherwise: a snapshot of motion across time. Now, web designers can use it to render another seeming impossibility: the truly extensible CSS-based drop shadow.”

“Get It Write offers services for people who realize that the written word makes a powerful and lasting impression.”

“There’s a scene early on in the movie Meet the Fockers where Ben Stiller and his bride-to-be fly off to see her parents. The establishing shot cleverly reminds us exactly which city they’re leaving.”

“Felice Varini paints (lines, concentric circles, triangles) on things (tunnels, castles, groovy interiors). A seemingly random smattering of elements that, viewed from a specific point in space, coalesce into a tangible planar element.” (More here)

“I am thrilled about my first photo licensing agreement! Showtime TV knocked on my door and asked if they could license 5 of my images they found on flickr. The images will be used for Sho Next Id’s. (SHO Next is part of the Showtime Unlimited package and is geared towards a younger audience.)”

“Louis Rosenfeld, one of the founding fathers of information architecture, has a new project up his sleeve. Growing restless after co-founding one of the most renowned information architecture firms of all time, co-authoring one of the best-known IA books, helping to start both the Information Architecture Institute and the User Experience Network, and running his own IA consulting practice, Lou is setting his sights on a new endeavor. He‚Äôs using his knowledge of user experience methods to launch a UX publishing house.”

“I got what I wanted for Christmas: The Complete New Yorker, which, as you probably know, is a digital archive of every issue of the weekly magazine since its first on February 21, 1925 on eight DVDs: every cover, every page, every story, every cartoon, every ad … And from a design point of view? Unbelievably boring. Or, I should say, unbelievably, wonderfully, perfectly, exquisitely boring. To a field that today seems to prize innovation above all else, The New Yorker makes a case for slow design: the patient, cautious, deliberate evolution of a nearly unchanging editoral format over decades. And the case they make is — let’s admit it — pretty hard to argue with.”