Stuff I think about rather than things I’ve made.
Recently, I tweeted this: At this point, “forgot password” might as well be the actual login button. — Jordyn Bonds (@skybondsor) February 25, 2013 It prompted a discussion with my super-colleague, Mark, about why no one has implemented that as … Continue reading
I’ve been freelancing for about two and a half years now. Here’s what I’ve learned so far about staying productive: Make yourself accountable to someone else. Schedule regular check-ins with the people you are doing work for since you’re unlikely … Continue reading
I dare you to find out how many clicks it takes to get to the current first-class letter and postcard rates on the USPS website. Take your time. I’ll wait. Unbelievable isn’t it? I stopped counting at five. I really … Continue reading
Once again, I return to the spectre of the public restroom. Who on Earth designs these sinks? The water spout is so short I have to smash my hands against the basin just to get them wet. It’s enough that … Continue reading
I found a really great visualization of the state-by-state election results, linking blue and red hue to the percentage of people in the state voting Democratic or Republican (respectively). If you followed the link, you can see what a moving … Continue reading
I think we can all agree that it is in the public interest to promote behaviors which do the most to prevent the spread of germs. So why do I so frequently find myself being forced — by design! — … Continue reading
One thing that really bugs me about the text messaging interface on my HTC Thunderbolt is that once I’m viewing a conversation, there is no way for me to navigate to the previous or next conversation. I have to go … Continue reading
In the research I did for my recent post on CSS preprocessors, I came upon a comment that went something like this: Not using LESS/SASS is like refusing to use a Javascript library. All CSS preprocessors do is handle the … Continue reading
CSS preprocessors (Sass, Less, et al) have come up repeatedly in the last few weeks. I have some existing views on the topic that seem to take a lot of preprocessor advocates by surprise. One even suggested I write a … Continue reading
Credit unions are rad. They are not-for-profit organizations. Their members (i.e. YOU) are their customers, not shareholders, so they are always looking for ways to make you more money and to keep your business. Here’s a Lifehacker article that goes … Continue reading
At long last, I am very excited to announce the launch of the Sun Boxes Mobile App in both the iOS (iTunes) store and the Android store! You may recall from an earlier post that I built the … Continue reading
A recent pleasure-reading jaunt through the Internet impressed me in its fluidity, so I want to document it here as a great example of user narrative. It started when I opened the “Opinion Today” newsletter I receive daily from the … Continue reading
My pal Mark and I launched Some Demands on October 15, 2011, 28 days after the first gathering in Zucotti Park (and three days after having the idea for the site!). While public support of #occupy was rising, so were criticisms that … Continue reading
Hearing about these two current events in the same news broadcasts this week has given me a bit of cultural whiplash. I own and use a few Apple products, most of which I need in order to do my job. … Continue reading
We get these Bed Bath & Beyond coupons in the mail roughly once a week. Perhaps you’ve seen them? Anyway, I’ve never once used one, mostly because I don’t even know where one is around here. So a few weeks … Continue reading
Today, I came across the idea (probably via stackoverflow) of technical debt. To quote Martin Fowler: You have a piece of functionality that you need to add to your system. You see two ways to do it, one is quick … Continue reading
The subtitle of this post could be “how to get people to read your statement of philosophy” or “how to introduce yourself to a new user”. Frequently, clients want to include a page on their website that both welcomes the … Continue reading
The field of “user experience” is in a phase right now where everybody seems to acknowledge that it’s important, but no one wants to actually invest the time and money to make users the centerpiece of their web strategy. Even … Continue reading
jennamarino So tired of the “designers need to code” talk. We heard you.. and you … and you. Got it. Is there anyone still arguing the fact? skybondsor @jennamarino I don’t think it’s nearly this cut & dried. I’m sure you … Continue reading
While listening to NPR’s Morning Edition this morning, my husband (hereafter referred to as “JT”) and I heard a piece about same-sex marriage legistlation in NY state. NPR played a clip from a speech Republican Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward gave in 2007: … Continue reading
This project is near and dear to my heart. Sun Boxes is something I want as many people as possible to experience and it’s really satisfying to get to be part of making that happen. The most exciting part of … Continue reading
My adolescence is punctuated by important mixtapes. One in particular overshadows all the rest, having defined the scope of my music taste for the better part of a decade. It is the mighty “Keg O’ Tunes”. I have no idea … Continue reading
Ever month or two, I revisit the state of @font-face on the web to make sure I don’t need to update or overhaul last summer’s screed about web fonts. Believe me, I am anxiously awaiting the day when everything I … Continue reading
23 Feb 2011 Update: Reports from users, as well as my own research, suggest that Facebook has restructured how “test account” works and the solution I found last fall no longer works. I have a support email out to them, … Continue reading
It is a testament to many things that I didn’t find this problem sooner, but apparently it is more difficult to arrive at an effective cross-browser font stack than I previously thought. I have the good fortune to be working … Continue reading
A friend of mine recently sent me this article in defense of using inline hacks instead of conditional statements for IE-specific styles. I disagree with a lot of things in that article (see user Alex’s comments for a good summary … Continue reading
The graphical conceit of tabs is a prevalent one on the web, and that fact is not without justification. Hyperlinks are like little doors suggesting treasure troves behind, tabs marked “top secret” in an FBI agent’s filofax. One can find unordered … Continue reading
The movie “12 Monkeys”, directed by Terry Gilliam, is one of my favorite films of all time. I recently revisited another Gilliam film, “Brazil”, which has similar themes, and I was reminded of why I find “12 Monkeys” to be … Continue reading
I’ve been doing a lot more wireframing lately and it has me thinking about the usefulness of both the form and the term. What is a wireframe? To paraphrase Wikipedia, a wireframe is a basic visual guide used in interface design to … Continue reading
I’ve had a number of clients come to me recently claiming that — because of growing browser support for the CSS rule @font-face — the future is now and they should be able to have whatever fonts they want for body … Continue reading
My friend Nick recently pointed me in the direction of a beautiful work of information artistry: Subway Systems of the World, Presented on the Same Scale. It reminded me of that study of spiders on drugs and the various sorts … Continue reading
When I was a freshman in college, I was trying to major in creative writing. My professor in the “creative writing 2″ course was a woman whose name I have long since forgotten, but little snippets she’d read us out … Continue reading
The Beatles confess, “I’m happy just to dance with you.” And Animal Collective immediately reply, “I’m not.” What’s interesting about this, to me, is that the Beatles became less danceable over the course of their career, while Animal Collective have … Continue reading
The stretch of songs beginning with “How” are an aching, beautiful set, and has me wondering another very human question: Why is “How” so difficult sometimes? It can be even more difficult than “Why”. How (The Cranberries) How Can I … Continue reading
I’ve been listening to all of my songs in alphabetical order by title for a few weeks now (only while at work). Occasionally, a true bit of poetry emerges from what is ultimately a sort of shuffle, and while I … Continue reading
Several years ago, while at a party, a friend of mine remarked that musicians tend to fare better once they go solo after having been in a band. I think his statement was something like, “I should just go solo; … Continue reading
My friend Mike inspired me to do this. Here are some of my favorite records that came out in 2008, in alphabetical order: Agathe Max “This Silver String” Bohren & der Club of Gore “Dolores” The Breeders “Mountain Battles” Brightblack … Continue reading
Given our impending climatological doom, many scientists, bureaucrats, pundits, and my father have been suggesting a nuclear energy renaissance in the United States. There are three main reasons I believe this option should stay permanently off the table: It’s too … Continue reading
I have a fairly common last name. It’s not Smith or Jones or anything, but it’s been around the English-Speakers Surname Block a few times. And I have a very common first initial (i.e. not ‘Q’). Those two things — … Continue reading
For as long as I can remember, I have harbored this fantasy that when I die, there will be some benevolent being or beings who will answer all of my questions about the mysteries of life and the universe. I … Continue reading
As I’m sure those American readers out there are well aware, our federal government will be sending out rebate checks to most taxpayers this May in an effort to stimulate our faltering economy. Given the ballooning federal deficit and many … Continue reading
Anyone else think Republican candidate Mike Huckabee looks like a cross between Kevin Spacey and Richard Nixon?
I just read an article in the New Yorker about the role of charisma in making a good leader called The Choice: The Clinton-Obama battle reveals two very different ideas of the Presidency. The article contrasts Clinton as capable of … Continue reading
Here’s something I’ve been thinking about off and on since about 1999. It was at that time, when I was working at the Strand Bookstore, that I acquired a copy of Your Handwriting Can Change Your Life by Vimala Rodgers. … Continue reading
I was just walking home from work and saw that the little sandwich board sign the town puts up to alert people that an election looms had been covered with snow. I had dutifully walked out onto the median and … Continue reading
What a weird trend, right?
If only it had been Judith Butler, and not Mahapajapati Gotami, who had been seeking ordination as the first Buddhist nun! Maybe the Buddha could have peeled that onion early on. See also our good pal pratītyasamutpāda.
Recently I, together with my housemates and a bottle of Bushmills, revisited Dirty Dancing. We were all floored by this scene when Robbie — one of several rich, privileged villains Baby is caught between in the film — busts out … Continue reading
I hesitate to elaborate further, the statement itself being so complete, but it tickles the postmodernist in me endlessly that text is now officially a verb and that it can almost certainly stand for the transferral of cultural capital. Well, … Continue reading
In each stall of the women’s restroom at my workplace there is a little metal trashcan meant for menstruation-related refuse. 51% or more of you will be familiar with such things. What makes this particular incarnation of the beast interesting … Continue reading
I make art as … a complicator of social feeling. – Marion Coutts Why the idea of art as complicator had never occurred to me before is probably testament to my spotty formal education on the topic; but since reading … Continue reading
The chorus to the song “Trill” by Clipse goes thusly: “Bitch, I’m trill. Bitch, I’m so trill. Nigga, I’m trill. Nigga, I’m so trill.” According to the Urban Dictionary, “trill” is either true + real or some contraction of “truly … Continue reading
Finding out about minute cultural enclaves always makes me reflect on the vastness and complexity of humanity’s modern situation. It seems like things are trending ever more toward the multi and myriad — a la our friend entropy. For an … Continue reading
Clearly, given the resolutely slippery notion of consciousness combined with science’s resolutely reductionist view of human existence, the rational response is: My consciousness dies when I die. But I didn’t always believe that, and lately I’m coming to think I … Continue reading
I heard Jesu for the first time about two weeks ago, the self-titled record. I had no context for them at all; I didn’t know they were ex-Godflesh, had never heard Godflesh anyway — basically, I had no metal reference … Continue reading