Be Aware 8
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Eight is definitely not enough …
Donovan Beery: Web Tips
Redirecting Pages
Sometimes you want a short URL to send people, need to create a promotional URL for tracking, or just want to move some files and don’t want the links to those pages to come up as the dreaded ‘page not found’ warning. As sometimes there isn’t a programmer available to write the code for you, or one to make the changes on the server itself, here is some code I’ve found very easy to use. All of these do the same thing, which is sending the viewer from the page the code is in, to a different page.
On a server with ColdFusion support, simply create a blank page with nothing but the following code below the <BODY> tag (file must have a .cfm extension):
If any programmers out there have better options for server languages not listed, please chime in.
Drew Davies: Seen and Noted in the Design World
The World’s Most Awesome Millennium Logo
For those young designers out there still pursuing the height of perfection when it comes to logos capturing that “Turn of the [21st] Century” feel, it’s time to hang up your mouses. I have found the very logo we’ve all been chasing. This logo caught my eye the very first second I saw it, and I’ve been unable to shake it since. Who’d have thought that anyone would ever actually be daring enough to include the three most trite, overused visual elements of the last 10 years of logo design — the ubiquitous globe, the “digital” pixels, and yes, the Millennium Swoosh — into the same logo? I found this beauty on a large sign just off West Bay Road north of Georgetown in Grand Cayman. (That’s right, no US designer would have the cojones to try such a daring gambit.)
What’s it for you ask? Well, the company name won’t shed any light on the matter: Precision Industries, Ltd. Turns out the organization behind this logo is not global, nor digital, nor “Millenniumy”. They’re a local roofing company. Genius or insanity? I’ll let you make your own decision on that one. All I know is that my search is finally over.
Travis Gray: TypeWatch
Adrian Hanft: Alternative Photography
I thought I would share part of an email I received this week. Arul tells me that “There’s an ancient ruined city in South India called Hampi, the remains of the capital of a vast empire. Among the ruins is a magnificent rock cut temple. Within the temple’s many rooms, all carved entirely out of stone, there is one room which is in complete darkness, except for a tiny hole in one wall that looks out on the courtyard. As you would imagine, the result is a camera obscura, which the architect of the temple apparently included just for the wonder of it all. A pinhole camera, made out of stone! The camera projects an image of the main temple tower, which stands across the courtyard form it. The really interesting thing is the date when the temple was built - around 1450 AD! Maybe around the same time that da Vinci was writing about the concept”. Thanks, Arul for sharing that with our group.
David Kadavy: Design and Technology
Throw away your Flash books, because AJAX is poised to become the vehicle of choice for internet applications. Ever since gaining attention as the mechanism that makes the amazing Google maps possible, the buzz around AJAX has been enormous. AJAX primarily uses XMLHttpRequest and Javascript to create interfaces that have the standardization / accessibility / search engine friendliness / semantic organization that makes HTML appealing along with the ability to update information on a page without a refresh that makes many people prefer Flash for internet applications. Here are some examples of AJAX at work.
Tom Nemitz: Awesomely Bad Website
You know what, folks? I’m gonna let you pick your favorite part to enjoy here. Mine is the ginormous menu that takes three scrolls to completely see. But maybe yours is the welcome sounds that change each time you visit (“Hello. Hola. And Bonjour”; “Are you ready to rock”). Or maybe its the several java applets that don’t seem to load. Or maybe its the ten thousand graphical links/phrases/animated GIFs at the bottom. So much good stuff, how can one pick one’s favorite? Actually, I see they won the “EarthLink Monthly Homepage Contest Beginner Runner-Up” award, so perhaps I shouldn’t…ah, of course I should! As should you. Enjoy. You bet.
Comments (15)
Donovan Beery said:
Drew, please tell me that Precision Industries, Ltd. uses either Mrs. Eaves or Copperplate for their typeface, and I will consider my search to be over as well.
Posted on November 1, 2005
Ken said:
omg. and a roofing company even?!
Posted on November 1, 2005
Drew Davies said:
Rest assured that the people responsible for the Precision Industries identity may not actually know of the existence of Copperplate, Mrs Eaves, or even Comic Sans. So they set “Precision” in horizontally stretched Helvetica Bold, and “Industries Ltd.” underneath in Times New Roman. Bold. For emphasis.
Posted on November 2, 2005
'::michael nielsen::' said:
i keep looking at it, looking for some justifiable answer to why this is a roofing companies logo…but no luck. It’s just hard to believe that someone at Precision picked this and said “yeah, thats us”. I wonder what the other concepts, if any, looked like? We can be sure that in them, there was italicized type set at 12pt with such infamous clip-art as the compass or slightly more relevent things like a sun (roofing = sun). But rising above them all, of course, was this masterpiece. Movie critics give it 5 thumbs way way up. GOOD FIND DREW!
Posted on November 2, 2005
'::michael nielsen::' said:
wow … that AJAX shopping cart demo is amazing. I’m loving how simple it is. Does anyone know of a site that is using it for their shopping cart yet? I’d really like to see it in action.
Posted on November 2, 2005
DC1974 said:
And don’t forget, they’ve also found a way to have this all circle around the blue square. It’s a marvel really. It’s the missing link in design by committee.
Posted on November 2, 2005
kadavy said:
Michael, I don’t know of any sites that use an AJAX shopping cart like that one, but the GAP site is an amazing example of AJAX at work. You would swear some elements were Flash, but the site is wonderfully accessible. The popular project-management tool, BaseCamp is my personal favorite use of AJAX, but TaDaLists are a more simple example of similar usage.
Posted on November 2, 2005
Jake said:
That logo has to be the funniest thing I have seen in a bit. What makes it even worse is the fact that those fonts were used. Not much creativity behind that one. Kind of makes me think it came from one of those “logo in a box” type softwares. Looks like many of the pieces you would find in those softwares. Geeze!!
Posted on November 6, 2005
jopoy said:
The logo for Precision Industries, Ltd. resembles more of an IT sector for Nike. No roofs here. Just my humble opinion though hehe =)
Posted on November 6, 2005
Joe Clark said:
The correct way to redirect a URL is with an HTTP 301 code. It is a very simple process to use BBEdit to edit the .htaccess file on an Apache server (which most sites use these days; there are equivalents on other platforms) to redirect SiteA.com/promotionalURL/ to something else. (You can also simply redirect SiteA.com to SiteB.com.)
I had to use the meta refresh method (which must have a value of 0 if you want to be in the same universe as passing the accessibility guidelines) for many years when I had no way to edit the .htaccess file. If you are big enough to be launching a promotional campaign with a custom URL, you are many times larger than the minimum size necessary to use the right redirect.
In short, I am telling readers to ignore this page’s advice, as it is incorrect.
Posted on November 9, 2005
Nate Voss said:
My rudimentary understanding of HTML and web programming may make me incorrect here, but I’d like to be the one to point out to Mr. Clark the line:
“As sometimes there isn’t a programmer … to make the changes on the server itself…”
So let’s hold off on telling people to ignore good advice, at least until we’ve all read the entire article.
Posted on November 9, 2005
kadavy said:
Joe is right, the 301 redirect is the proper way to redirect and have search engines follow. Here are some instructions on making 301 redirects in ColdFusion, PHP, ASP, ASP .NET, and .htaccess.
Posted on November 9, 2005
anon-anon it keeps on going said:
Drew, im totally feeling you on that logo design, hehe! i agree, certain standard elements when combined should never be used. Only design skill, experience and knowledge will make one aware of this.
case in point: my latest logos/logograms/typograms were recently brushed aside for this one arial font based erm, effort - http://www.telent.co.uk , and no it wasnt a designer who came up with the final design.
Posted on November 11, 2005
David Lange said:
anon-anon - link to your design. I’d like to see what you came up with.
Posted on November 11, 2005
Guido said:
Re: Tom Nemitz: Awesomely Bad Website
I just wanted to acknowledge your critque of our web site, http://www.Beercats.com
We appreciate your comments and just wanted to let you know that it takes alot of time and effort to make our web site look cheezy, which is exactly the effect we were going for!
How did you find out web site in the first place? Are we listed on some nerd’s list of favorite links site or something? Were you searching for blow up dolls? Maybe you were searching for your long lost love of your life…your cousin Ellie May ???
Anyway, I think that if you spend more time on our web site you will find many more hidden unconventional functions and gawdy content. As you can imagine, it’s a good thing that web site development is not our day job. After all we can make alot more money in a shorter amount of time in the family business. Of course, in our family business you may end up doing long stretches of time if someone flips and squeels on your..ha..ha..ha… Then again, those people often find themselves wearing concrete shoes and swimming with the fishes……….
Chiao, Guido “The Hammer” Kismiaski
Posted on January 15, 2006