Evolution: A Weblog by Third North Creative

Here at Third North the line between web designer and web programmer continues to blur. As a company we have made the leap from PHP to Ruby on Rails, much to the delight of Mike… and while he transitions between programming languages with relative ease and grace, I usually end up stumbling around for a bit (as most creatives do when they venture into the world of logic).

Kevin Clark, author of the weblog Gluttonous, has posted a fantastic introductory guide to Rails aptly titled Rails for Designers, which I have referenced back to a handful of times while getting my feet wet in the new language. The post summarizes the key concepts of RoR for designers including: MVC, URLs, and the basics of RHTML. All of which are essential to successfully designing and working with a Rails application.

Until recently I assumed that Windows users were doomed to seeing nothing but ugly pixilated fonts on their favorite websites. However, since Windows XP was released in 2001, the ClearType feature has been included in the operating system to smooth screen fonts. The problem is that ClearType is set to off by default, and many people don’t even realize the feature exists. ClearType will be included and enabled by default in the forthcoming IE7 for XP, but to take advantage of the great feature on your current XP machine just follow the steps below and start enjoying your favorite sites in all their anti-aliased glory.

To use ClearType for screen fonts:

1. Open Display in Control Panel.
2. On the Appearance tab, click Effects.
3. In the Effects dialog box, select the Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts check box.
4. Click ClearType in the list.
5. Click Ok and Apply.

Blattner Brunner of Pittsburgh has created a fantastic series of powerfully simple Lego ads. The ads effectively capture the essence of what makes the classic toy so amazing. Imagination. I am convinced that the hours and hours my brother and I spent creating our own Lego masterpieces has directly effected the way that I design and envision creative solutions today.

UPDATE: Photography Credit: CWENAR Photography