Spotted this on a wall near rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter, Paris.

(via swissmiss)

Yep, good web typography is here

I've noticed recently that the web is getting more beautiful. Well, what I mean to say is that website designers are starting to pay attention to how the choice of font on their website influences the people who use it, when traditionally it was whatever default the Internet browser set for the web page.

It takes a lot to beat a well-typeset page. It seems that during the last couple of years the improvements in this area of web design has snowballed – admittedly a lot of that has to do with the increasing capability of web browsers. I hadn't really noticed how much it was affecting my attitude towards reading online until I came across an iLT (iLoveTypography) article, 15 Excellent Examples of Web Typography*. Since then, I've been more aware of how the choice of font, size, leading and the length of a typed line used on websites I visit. It has changed reading on the computer from being a bit of a chore to a much more enjoyable experience.

Here's an example of a site that is typographically easy-to-read (and with a relevant interview as well). There is a lot more consideration for choice of font, font size, column width and overall visual layout of the written word on-screen.

Meanwhile, I really must finish reading The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, the definitive guide for typophiles and anyone working with text-design.

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*John Boardley, the man behind iLoveTypography.com, is the best source out there for web typography. I was signed up to his newsletter but he posts so frequently that I couldn't keep up, so now I satisfy myself with occasional visits to his site. He recently wrote an article on the current status of fonts on the web (found here) which goes into the technical whys and wherefores for ways to make fonts accessible to websites. Worth a read if you're interested.

Awrighty...

After my last post, I realised that I hadn't even properly tried Twitter for myself! It really bugs me when other people criticise new things without checking them out first, so I feel a little shame-faced. So you'll notice I set up an account which is now feeding through to this page.

Verdict still to come, obviously, as I'll need to give it time.

@Twitter tw..people who tweet

I really don't get Twitter. It seems to me that it's for Americans and celebrities and not too many others. I've got a theory that it's caught on so quickly with Americans because they have missed out on the texting phenomenon - I think I read somewhere that some US networks charge for receiving texts as well as sending them, which would have held the wannabe serial SMS senders back from their full potential. Of course, I could have that wrong which would completely undermine my argument.

In conversations with friends we'll all been puzzled as to why sign up to a new service when Facebook offers exactly the same concept - and your friend lists are already in place. With Twitter I guess you've got more access to celebrity 'twits' (is that what a post is called? Or is it a 'tweet'?) and a far more amusing and accidently offensive way to describe 'status updating'. Teehee. I guess that as a highly focused application its development has been remarkably fast, which gives it one up on the social networking giant Facebook.

I noticed that LinkedIn has since jumped on the bandwagon and added tweet-like status updates. I've yet to see anyone use it actively but it's early days yet.

As for the celebrity side to Twitter, I read a post called 'Twitter, Tweeter, Twatter, Celebrity Fodder' from GlossLip that puts an amusing take on it. It's an obsession with instant ego-boosting and self-gratification, apparently. Read it here.

Mostly though, I spend enough time managing my emails and Facebook, reading blogs and updating my photos, that I'm quite happy to ignore twittering for a little while at least. It's hard enough keeping this blog active!

Pretty Sketchy

Great inspiration! I guess I'll dig out a sketchbook. I think it applies to my blog too - the writing doesn't have to be perfect, I just need to write.

Thanks to swissmiss for the discovery of this article.

Resolutions

Another year gone, and I managed to keep my 2008 New Year resolution: no chocolate bars. Not 'no chocolate' - a blanket ban like that would have been impossible to achieve for a chocoholic like me! So it was anything that comes in a bar-shaped form, and no cheating by melting it down. My range of choice was limited to Creme Eggs, Aero Bubbles, Freddos, Buttons and Maltesers.


There were exceptions – a day at Cadbury World, and a couple of pieces from a block of NZ Cadbury Dairy Milk. Otherwise I managed fine, and it's cured me of having too much chocolate, although it's still a favourite.

On to this year's resolution, which is slightly harder to measure: wear more colour. I recently rearranging my drawers and placed all my white and black tops in one drawer and all my coloured tops in the other. The black and white drawer was stuffed so full that the drawer nearly broke under the weight! I've kickstarted the year by wearing a hot pink top and I've painted my toenails hot blue and pink to celebrate. My aim is for a more cheerful, invigorating wardrobe. It's a very subjective resolution this time around so I guess I'll have to run through my photos throughout the year to see how I perform. Here's to a colourful 2009!