One of the most annoying aspects of doing xhtml and css development is having to juggle multiple files — structure must go to an html file, and style to a css file. We separate it, of course, because keeping style and content as far away from each other is the only way to keep site maintenance sane.
Author Archives: Matt
Café Presse
October 21, 2008 – 4:43 pm
While it’s a bit more of restaurant & bar than a cafe, Café Presse does also live up to it’s name. It offers a great, open atmosphere for remote working (a big, naturally lit space), great coffee (from Cafe Vita), and wonderful breakfast and lunch food of the French sort. The wait staff […]
Seattle Is My Office
October 21, 2008 – 12:32 pm
One of my biggest hurdles so far freelancing has been finding a work environment that’s inspiring. Aesthetically, I’m still not where I’d like to be with my home office — it’s dull, frequently messy, and cluttered with unused electronics to the point of looking a bit like a pawnshop. Still, no matter how cool I […]
Do Less
October 20, 2008 – 12:18 pm
If I’ve found any sort of overarching strategy to successful website design, it’s this — do less. Good design is much like good editing — you must strive for absolute economy, leaving no element without a function and purpose. But doing less goes far beyond design. You should strive to remove excess from your entire process, and […]
What I Use
October 12, 2008 – 10:06 am
It’s perhaps ironic to post about tools and tech that I use and recommend, immediately after decrying the trend in our industry to over-cheerlead any particular tech. So take all these recommendations with a grain of salt, and remember to use what you’re comfortable with and what solves your specific problems best. Still, […]
What Works For You Matters
October 9, 2008 – 3:45 pm
It’s been annoying me for years — the incessant, knee-jerk reaction in tech culture to dismiss any and all hardware, software, or technology that doesn’t contain every new feature and cater to every possible need. It’s a mentality where everything must be the one true thing™, or it’s useless.
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Out of Hiding
October 8, 2008 – 4:12 pm
September and October have been fabulously busy months for me, which can explain a bit of the radio silence on this blog. I just wrapped two large client projects — one a commercial real estate investment portfolio with great professional photography, and the other a really exciting microfinance project that’s due to launch by the end […]
Make Things Less Internet-y
September 10, 2008 – 10:53 am
After the first few months of freelancing, I’m starting to finally discover my design and business aesthetics — I want the web to be more like print. I want more constraints and far less technology. More than anything, I want to make things simple.
A great experiment for successful design is to pretend the Internet doesn’t exist — how […]
Please Yourself
August 22, 2008 – 11:00 am
If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and visit amodernpromise.com. It’s a shockingly simple site — just a video, an uber-basic music player, and some download and purchase links — and yet it feels very new. It’s novel not because of some crazy technology or design motif — rather, it’s fresh because it’s the work of […]
The First Four Months of Freelancing (Refresh Seattle)
August 21, 2008 – 11:48 am
I gave my first talk at the Blue Flavor sponsored Refresh Seattle, last night. It was a really great experience, all around — fun topic and a great crowd. It felt wonderful to present an honest, open review of what I’ve learned from my first few months of freelancing. Also great to hear all […]
