Completely unrelated to XPLANE, information design, etc… I’m happy to see that the book I just finished is available for pre-order it on Amazon!

It’s a strange and entertaining collection of found grocery lists based on one of my web sites, Grocerylists.org. It’s called “Milk Eggs Vodka: Grocery Lists Lost & Found” and is being published by HOW Books, which is part of F+W Publications, publishers of the excellent Print and HOW design magazines.

Anyway, here are a bunch of other books that feature or mention XPLANE’s, founder Dave Gray’s or xBlog editor Bill Keaggy’s work or projects. Check ‘em out! -bk

Weblog books:
• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Ed
• The Weblog Handbook
• Who Let the Blogs Out?: A Hyperconnected Peek at the World of Weblogs
• No One Cares What You Had For Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog

Business and technology books:
• Selling To the VP of No
• Selling to the Old Brain
• The Networking Survival Guide
• Network Security Illustrated

Information and graphic design books:
• Magazine Design That Works
• Marketing Genius
• Marketing Playbook: The Manual for Growing Organizations
• Advertising and Promotion, 6th Ed
• Technical Communication, 6th Ed
• 39th Publication Design Annual

Web design books:
• What Is Web Design?
• Self-Promotion Online

Other books:
• Trash (part of the Alphabet City series by MIT Press)

“Unless you’re part of the clubby graphic-design fraternity, you may never have heard of Paula Scher, but it’s nearly impossible not to know her work. Every time you pass a Citibank ATM or hand over one of its credit cards with the iconic red-arched ‘Citi’ logo, you’re in her orbit.”

“Last week, Michael Calore, posted his take on Web 2.0 Winners and Losers and while I agreed with some of his picks, there were a lot that I didn’t thing belong. I also wanted to go a bit more indepth as to why these sites have made the list. With that in mind I have put together my list of 10 Web 2.0 losers and winners…”

A highly visual site listing interesting hotels around the world. Lots of different categories to look through and enjoy (although it might not be so enjoyable if you don’t have the $ to go to these locations).

Reminder: “We have an opening for a Senior Information Designer at XPLANE. If you’re qualified and interested I encourage you to apply. Here’s some more information on the opening: XPLANE is a global leader in visual communication and we are looking a Senior Information Designer to join our creative team. You will work with top managers from Fortune 500 companies around the world to creatively visualize complex processes and technologies. Qualified candidates will demonstrate skills in visual communication, process mapping, creative direction, people management and business technology. We will also be looking for strong organizational and interpersonal skills.” Click link for more info over at founder Dave Gray’s blog.

“This post addresses a topic that I have been thinking about for a while, and I have had the occasional discussion with other photographers about this. The main question might be posed as follows. When do similarities between photographs end, and when does plagiarism begin?”

“People who generate syndication feeds have a choice of feed formats. As of mid-2005, the two most likely candidates will be RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0. The purpose of this page is to summarize, as clearly and simply as possible, the differences between the RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 syndication languages.”

“Claire is not referring to my post but commenting on the BBH/Sony thing. I don’t really have any strong feeling on that, so we’ll skip neatly over it. Let’s have a look at some of the things Claire says in her article. ‘the management consultant is rapidly being replaced by the design consultant as the industry bete noire.’ I’m not 100% sure on this, but I do think design consultancies are gaining more respect and kudos. Especially the good ones. Obviously. In fact it’s probably because there are so many bad ones that the good ones are starting to rise up.”

A collection of animated GIFs that can be used on a web page to indicate an AJAX function is running in the background.

“Photofront aims to fill the gap between Flickr’s photo sharing and social networking with a more professional look and feel. Photofront offers the feel of a photography portfolio with the ease of your flickr account.”

“Using JavaScript for this is fine to me since the pullquotes serve mostly as scannability aids and design elements. The text exists in the markup, so users with JavaScript off aren’t missing out on any actual content. If JavaScript is on but CSS is off, the pullquotes are still created but without any other styling than the browser’s default blockquote styling.”

“It’s possible to determine your orientation using an analog watch (i.e., one with hands) in place of a compass. The direction will be accurate if the watch is set for true local time, without adjustments for daylight savings time. And the further you are from the equator, the more accurate this method will be.”

“Let’s face it: The jump from developing for 800×600 to 1024xn is inevitable; not only inevitable, but just around the corner, too. Many of you are considering the jump. Some of you have already leaped. I suspect that some time in 2007 most of us will knock out comps optimized for 1024px resolution rather than 800px if we’re not doing so already. But perhaps just as important as when it will happen is how: What’s the proper width for a layout optimized for 1024?”

“A stone slab bearing 3,000-year-old writing previously unknown to scholars has been found in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and archaeologists say it is an example of the oldest script ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere.”

“Exactly two years ago today, JPG Magazine began with a simple mission to honor the amazing work coming out of the online photographic community. Today, after six issues, on JPG’s 2nd birthday, JPG has been reborn.”