Music: “Carry Me Home” by The Living End
It’s official: Rosebud is dead. For those who do not know who Rosebud is, that is the name I affectionately know my Apple PowerBook G4 as. Years of use and abuse have had their toll and she has bit the bullet so to speak. So many deaths related to my geek life lately... it is just a little depressing.
On a completely different subject, Happy Easter. I hope it has been a good one for you, whatever meaning the day holds for you.
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, June 01, 2007
Tactile Design
Soundtrack: “Cyclical Code” by Bexarametric
Touch screen technology has been around for quite some time now and it has had it’s ups and downs. Even these days touch screen monitors are finicky, fickle creatures. They have dubious sensitivity and they only offer single-point input, so the user ends up angrily poking the screen for fifteen minutes. Nice.
But Microsoft is developing a computer system that uses a new multi-point touch screen that is quite frankly amazing. This touch screen technology was first built by Jeff Han’s Perceptive Pixel in order to create advanced touch screen solutions for the government as well as private sector companies who could benefit by using multi-point touchscreen technologies. Interestingly enough, these types of interfaces have been around since the 1980s. However, they tend to take a lot of processing power, much more than what was available previously. With dual core and even quad core processors making it possible to do an insane amount of calculations per second, now is the perfect time to harness this technology and make it shine.
I have to admit my mouth is watering. As a graphic designer who specializes in print design, I can see many things that this technology can add to the industry. I would much rather work on a table-top surface instead of a computer screen and keyboard. Not only that, but tablet technology right now is still limited by still being a single-point input device. No stylus, no tablet functionality. But with this technology available, I can only imagine what is possible. Think of taking a stylus shaped like a calligraphy pen and creating digital art that was not previously possible. Or using your fingers to arrange the elements of a composition, or to paint. The possibilities are staggering!
Touch screen technology has been around for quite some time now and it has had it’s ups and downs. Even these days touch screen monitors are finicky, fickle creatures. They have dubious sensitivity and they only offer single-point input, so the user ends up angrily poking the screen for fifteen minutes. Nice.
But Microsoft is developing a computer system that uses a new multi-point touch screen that is quite frankly amazing. This touch screen technology was first built by Jeff Han’s Perceptive Pixel in order to create advanced touch screen solutions for the government as well as private sector companies who could benefit by using multi-point touchscreen technologies. Interestingly enough, these types of interfaces have been around since the 1980s. However, they tend to take a lot of processing power, much more than what was available previously. With dual core and even quad core processors making it possible to do an insane amount of calculations per second, now is the perfect time to harness this technology and make it shine.
I have to admit my mouth is watering. As a graphic designer who specializes in print design, I can see many things that this technology can add to the industry. I would much rather work on a table-top surface instead of a computer screen and keyboard. Not only that, but tablet technology right now is still limited by still being a single-point input device. No stylus, no tablet functionality. But with this technology available, I can only imagine what is possible. Think of taking a stylus shaped like a calligraphy pen and creating digital art that was not previously possible. Or using your fingers to arrange the elements of a composition, or to paint. The possibilities are staggering!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
A Microsoft Type Thing
Soundtrack: “Identity Theft” by Vaux
I know I complain about Microsoft a lot, but I don't want people to get the impression that I indiscriminately hate them. On the contrary, in fact. I do enjoy many of their products and innovations. OpenType has to be my favorite of these innovations, but as someone who deals with web design daily, ClearType is a close second.
To be honest I am surprised that Microsoft came up with it and not someone else. I don't know, maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but ClearType is a literally a new way of looking typography in the way that it allows digital type to be more readable on the screen. Microsoft in the past has done some things for web design that have been innovative as well as some things that have been annoying. Microsoft FrontPage is one of the annoying things they've come up with, but on the Typography front they have been somewhat helpful. Since Windows 95 was first released Microsoft has been releasing a steady stream of web and screen friendly typefaces like Georgia and Verdana. I am not a huge fan of Verdana's clunky stature, but Georgia is perfect as a screen font. In fact, as you read this blog you are enjoying Georgia’s pleasant proportions and large x-height.
This brings me back to ClearType. Microsoft’s screen fonts were a great step forward in pushing design for the computer screen forward. But Microsoft’s typography division was not satisfied. So for several years now they have been working on a new of way of rendering screen fonts called ClearType.
The story goes like this: the main reason that Microsoft has been pushing forward in the area of digital typography is pretty simple. The majority of typefaces are designed for print. Helvetica and Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, Futura, Optima, even Lucida... they are all designed for print. That means they look great on paper. Books, flyers and posters, packaging, and everything else you can print. And many of them translate well to the screen at larger weights. But once you get below about 10 point, the elegant figures of a typeface like Garmond become hard to read because of resolution. See, print has a high resolution. Your average laser printer prints at 300 dpi, or dots per inch. Your average screen resolution is 96 ppi, or pixels per inch. This means that a laser printer has over three times the resolution of your computer monitor. No, junior, not even your “high resolution” LCD screen can compare. And so Microsoft has invented ClearType, which uses what is called sub-pixel rendering to make typefaces look good. Now spindly script typefaces won’t look like pure crap. Elegant faces like Garamond will show up halfway decent on screen. But Microsoft didn’t stop there. They didn't just want a new way of rendering type, they wanted to show it off.
What do people who care about typography do so that the default typeface looks good in both print and web? Commission a whole slew of new fonts that do just that. And that is what Microsoft has done. And they developed these new typefaces in conjunction with ClearType, so they are guaranteed to look good. I have to say, as a typography nut they look really good. I was impressed. No clunky Verdana. No old and tired Courier. Just six really solid typefaces. Wanna see them? Sure you do.
The crazy thing about this is that ClearType has been around as long as Windows XP has. A few years back Mister Usability himself, Jakob Neilsen wrote about how ClearType has the potential to save a company an average of $2000 dollars per employee per year. But you have to turn in on.
I know I complain about Microsoft a lot, but I don't want people to get the impression that I indiscriminately hate them. On the contrary, in fact. I do enjoy many of their products and innovations. OpenType has to be my favorite of these innovations, but as someone who deals with web design daily, ClearType is a close second.
To be honest I am surprised that Microsoft came up with it and not someone else. I don't know, maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but ClearType is a literally a new way of looking typography in the way that it allows digital type to be more readable on the screen. Microsoft in the past has done some things for web design that have been innovative as well as some things that have been annoying. Microsoft FrontPage is one of the annoying things they've come up with, but on the Typography front they have been somewhat helpful. Since Windows 95 was first released Microsoft has been releasing a steady stream of web and screen friendly typefaces like Georgia and Verdana. I am not a huge fan of Verdana's clunky stature, but Georgia is perfect as a screen font. In fact, as you read this blog you are enjoying Georgia’s pleasant proportions and large x-height.
This brings me back to ClearType. Microsoft’s screen fonts were a great step forward in pushing design for the computer screen forward. But Microsoft’s typography division was not satisfied. So for several years now they have been working on a new of way of rendering screen fonts called ClearType.
The story goes like this: the main reason that Microsoft has been pushing forward in the area of digital typography is pretty simple. The majority of typefaces are designed for print. Helvetica and Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, Futura, Optima, even Lucida... they are all designed for print. That means they look great on paper. Books, flyers and posters, packaging, and everything else you can print. And many of them translate well to the screen at larger weights. But once you get below about 10 point, the elegant figures of a typeface like Garmond become hard to read because of resolution. See, print has a high resolution. Your average laser printer prints at 300 dpi, or dots per inch. Your average screen resolution is 96 ppi, or pixels per inch. This means that a laser printer has over three times the resolution of your computer monitor. No, junior, not even your “high resolution” LCD screen can compare. And so Microsoft has invented ClearType, which uses what is called sub-pixel rendering to make typefaces look good. Now spindly script typefaces won’t look like pure crap. Elegant faces like Garamond will show up halfway decent on screen. But Microsoft didn’t stop there. They didn't just want a new way of rendering type, they wanted to show it off.
What do people who care about typography do so that the default typeface looks good in both print and web? Commission a whole slew of new fonts that do just that. And that is what Microsoft has done. And they developed these new typefaces in conjunction with ClearType, so they are guaranteed to look good. I have to say, as a typography nut they look really good. I was impressed. No clunky Verdana. No old and tired Courier. Just six really solid typefaces. Wanna see them? Sure you do.
The crazy thing about this is that ClearType has been around as long as Windows XP has. A few years back Mister Usability himself, Jakob Neilsen wrote about how ClearType has the potential to save a company an average of $2000 dollars per employee per year. But you have to turn in on.
Monday, February 26, 2007
So Beautiful...
Soundtrack: Aenima by Tool
So disturbing. Ah, Windows Vista... you seem like you are so far away, yet so close. Too bad I know all about your disgusting STDs, you sick and embarassing hooker.
No, I'm not biased. What makes you say that?
So disturbing. Ah, Windows Vista... you seem like you are so far away, yet so close. Too bad I know all about your disgusting STDs, you sick and embarassing hooker.
No, I'm not biased. What makes you say that?
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