thoughts on design, technology, productivity and wordpress
hello there. i'm an entrepreneur and a web designer. i started a company called idea anarchy. i heart anything and everything that is open source (especially wordpress). follow me on twitter if you want. i also do some freelance work. feel free to hire me.
I’m currently building an indie folk/bluegrass/country blog. The design is almost finished, but I have one last choice to make about the general appearance — the logo!
I need your help. I’m torn between styles. I like both, but have no obvious preference. Which logo style do you think is better? Style 1? Style 2? Let me know!
Note: The illustration at the top still has a watermark. I’m not trying to cheat iStockPhoto, I was just seeing if it worked in the design. It will be purchased as soon as the design is finalized.
Style 1
Style one is a script font, clean and legible. Crisp edges. Smooth and elegant.
You’ve probably heard by now that MySpace is slashing 30% of its workforce. Jason Nazar has written a post that’s getting some attention on Digg titled “How to Save MySpace.” In it he details seven different ways MySpace could potentially come out of their two year downfall. Here’s a quick rundown of his ideas.
1. Turn it into Yahoo 2.0
Jason says MySpace would be great as a next-generation portal. Portals worked a decade ago when content wasn’t as customizable as it is today, but I don’t see this as a way MySpace can turn it all around. With social networks, social media, RSS, and the infinite number of niche blogs and social networks (think Ning) out there, people have the ability to make their own portals everyday (and typically do). Social networks are already next-generation portals. If Jason is suggesting that MySpace become more like a tradition portal, that’s really a step backwards. I’ve not seen actual data on it, but the people I know who use portal sites like Yahoo to any significant capacity are 40+ years old. That’s not the demographic to be pulling for if you’re setting yourself up to be a “next generation” anything.
2. A Micropayment Ecosystem for Digital Goods This is a genius idea except for two things. First, as Jason noted, MySpace had the opportunity to really compete with iTunes using MySpace Music, but totally mucked it up. Second, Facebook is already doing it. Recent articles and an interview with Mark Zuckerberg have revealed Facebook’s intentions expand from being merely a social network to being a web platform. This includes a micropayment ecosystem for virtual goods available in Facebook’s many apps. It’s currently in the early stages of development.
3. Local News Online/Valuable User-Generated Content This is an intriguing idea. Use the massive MySpace community which has members in every part of the country and turn some of these members into Virtual Editors for reporting and/or aggregating the news in their area. The problem is this. MySpace’s primary demographic (18 – 34 year olds) and secondary demographic (12 – 17 year olds) don’t use MySpace to get local news and likely wouldn’t. Jason also suggests using high-quality user-generated content to fuel traffic to the site in a way similar to eHow and About.com. The problem with this, in my opinion, is that sites like eHow and About aren’t destination sites. There are some people who go to them specifically for content and many, many more who end up there as the result of a Google search. It may work, but is that what MySpace really wants?
4. Court Star Power Jason provides some gems in this category, like using “Followers” in lieu of “Friends”. Of course, having some celebrities who are actually proud to use MySpace would help them, but MySpace would have to be worth using before that would happen. Paying the celebrity would be out of the question, too. Inauthenticity would hurt the network that much more.
5. Turn MySpace into a Job Board The idea is that since MySpace’s members are typically lower income than Facebook’s members, there are lots of people who would be willing to find work through MySpace. This is true and a solid idea. It would be nice to see it implemented, especially if they implement it in an innovative way, but at the same time I seriously doubt this could “fix” MySpace.
6. New Product Releases Every Month/Rockstar Product Evangelist This is a suggestion that pretty much any technology/software company could use, but it’s easier said than done. This is tantamount to turning MySpace into an Apple or Google or Linux, a company that can get massive fanboys to follow their every move. Even if they could, using Tom in any capacity (especially as a product evangelist) is stupid. Hasn’t he lost all credibility now, what with not really being the founder and lying about his age? (Props to his hacking past though!)
7. Hustle and Chutzpa This is the only one I can agree with completely. Again, probably easier said than done.
The Real Problem with MySpace
In my opinion, Jason’s seven remedies fail to address the real problems MySpace is facing. It won’t matter how much actual value MySpace can add with new features or products or platforms because MySpace’s perceived value has been wounded so badly. MySpace has been called a “has-been site for losers” and “the digital equivalent of a booty call.” And what’s worse, MySpace might actually deserve it. Here are the real ways to save MySpace.
1. No More Custom HTML/CSS This is the first and foremost reason not to use MySpace in the minds of people who will never use MySpace. Glitter backgrounds, autoplaying music boxes, Winnie the Pooh “Thanks 4 the Add” graphics. Nobody needs that. There’s nothing worse than going to a site that locks up your browser loading 50MB of animated background and a 400,000 pixel page height, 300,000 pixels of which contain content areas with such low opacity that they are unreadable. Just get rid of it. Please.
2. Fire Rupert Murdoch Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought MySpace in 2005. Since then it’s been pretty downhill. It might not hurt that News Corp. owns it, but I can’t imagine it helping that one of the titans of Old Media is using MySpace as his practice site for a foray into New Media. Besides, I’d rather have a young Mark Zuckerberg (who “gets” the internet) running things than a man who probably doesn’t even own a computer.
3. Better User Interface MySpace site structure and navigation are complicated as hell. Dumb it down and clean it up. People deal better with fewer choices.
4. Be More Innovative MySpace doesn’t exactly have a reputation for innovation. After all the site started out as a clone of Friendster. When it adds new features they are usually taken from other sites, like the Status (borrowed from Twitter) and the Apps (borrowed from Facebook). Do something that’s really freaking cool, something that no one else is doing. Be the first and be the best at it. Facebook kills MySpace in this arena.
5. Less Advertising This kind of goes along with having a better user interface. MySpace has too many in-your-face ads that hurt its usability. It’s fine to make money with advertising (even though there are much better ways), but if you are going to do it, don’t compromise the integrity and the design of your site to make a buck.
At the end of the day, MySpace will do whatever it wants. It has such a bad reputation with me (I quit it two years ago) that I’m not sure it deserves to go on.
I’m writing this post not from Mac OS X as usual, but from Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). I’m a huge open source nut and Linux is the holy grail of open source projects. As a web designer/developer and WordPress geek, I use Linux daily. I found it a little odd, however, that I don’t use any form of desktop Linux. There are a few reasons for this:
1. Linux Can’t Do Photoshop
This is only a half-truth. It can do Photoshop, just not in my case. I’m a Mac user so I have the Mac version of Photoshop which can’t be run in Linux. Even if I had the Windows version of Photoshop, there’s a good chance that I wouldn’t be able to use my version without some crashes/bugs. The last time I used Photoshop in Linux, the only supported version was Photoshop 7.0.
2. Mac Has Better Usability
Canonical has really brought Ubuntu (and Linux in general) a very long way in terms of usability. Projects like Compiz/Beryl/Compiz-Fusion and Avant Window Navigator have made using Linux a really slick and easy experience. Still, Linux is intended for use on a very broad range of hardware and it’s software is coded by an infinite number of programmers. This makes for design quirks throughout that make some things harder than they should be.
3. Package Management All software intended for use on Debian-derived Linux operating systems should come in a .deb file. Seriously. It’s not hard to make them. If people have to compile the apps they want to use, there’s no such thing as Desktop Linux. Also, Synaptic Package Manager could be the greatest thing to ever happen to desktop computing but for its terrible user interface. In my opinion it should be reorganized into more of an app store-esque catalog of software with user ratings and reviews, displaying the most popular software, highest rated, etc. The Add/Remove option on the Applications dropdown is pretty close, but only if you are intalling packages managed by Canonical.
But despite these problems, I still love Linux and still feel it necessary to have it around for some tinkering.
Step 1: Download VirtualBox
If you use an Intel Mac you’re probably familiar with Parallels and VMware Fusion. These are virtual machines that allow you to run a separate operating system (most of the time Windows) on your Mac at the same time as OS X. This keeps you from having to install the second operating system alongside the first. If you aren’t totally sure of what you’re doing you could accidentally overwrite the original operating system. Virtualization is a lot safer as the new operating system will be installed inside of your main operating system.
VirtualBox does pretty much the same things that Parallels and VMware Fusion do except for one major difference — it’s free! Visit the VirtualBox Downloads page and click on the VirtualBox 2.4.2 for OS X hosts. This will download a dmg installer for VirtualBox. Just install it the same way you install any other OS X app.
Step 2: Download Ubuntu
If you aren’t familiar with it, Linux comes in a variety of different distributions. Ubuntu is arguably the most popular (or at least most mainstream) distribution of Linux. It’s gained this status for a few reasons, the most prominent of which are the ease with which even the least experienced user can install it and also the measures taken to improve usability and flow from application to application.
Ubuntu can be download 100% free of charge. We’ll be using the latest version – Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). Go to the Ubuntu download page by clicking here. Ubuntu 9.04 should already be selected. From the dropdown menu choose a location that is closest to you. Once you’re ready click Begin Download.
Ubuntu is pretty big. Probably 700MB. Using my connection this download usually takes 30 minutes to an hour. Once it’s finished you won’t need to burn a CD or anything. Just make sure you remember where it was downloaded to (likely the Downloads folder).
Step 3: Creating the Virtual Machine/Installing Ubuntu
This might seem like two steps at first, but they are so closely related that they are actually one. You can create the Virtual Machine without installing Ubuntu but it wouldn’t do anything.
So, first, fire up VirtualBox by double clicking it’s icon in your Applications folder (or by typing Vir- into Quicksilver if you’re badass like I am.) You’ll see a blue icon in the top left corner called ‘New’. Click it. This will bring up a new window. Go ahead and click next on the first screen. The second screen will ask for the name of your new virtual machine, the type of operating system it is and the version of that operating system. For name, you can use anything you want, but calling it ‘Ubuntu’ is the common sense choice. In the operating system dropdown, choose ‘Linux’ and for version choose ‘Ubuntu’. Click the Next button.
On the next screen you’ll want to choose how much memory will be allocated to Ubuntu. If this number is too low you’ll have a miserable experience and probably hate Linux for quite a while. My MacBook has 2GB of RAM, so I gave Ubuntu half of that (1024MB).
The next screen will ask you to create a hard disk. Select “Create a new hard disk” and it will open another window. You can just go through and use the default settings on this. You might want to change the size of the hard disk to something higher than 8GB, but 8GB works.
After that click next and that’s it. You’re pretty much finished. The next button will turn into a “Finish” button. When you click it you’ll be taken back to the main VirtualBox window. You’ll now see an Ubuntu -> Powered Off in the sidebar. Click to highlight it, then click Start in the top toolbar. The first time you start your virtual machine, a window will popup. Click Next on the first screen. The second screen will be asking for installation media. This is where the Ubuntu disk image you downloaded earlier comes in. Leave CD/DVD-ROM device selected for the top. On the bottom, choose Image File then browse for the Ubuntu iso file you downloaded.
And that’s it! The virtual machine will boot from the Ubuntu iso. Just follow the directions on screen. All of the defaults work. Don’t freak out if it says “Overwrite Entire Partition” or something like that. It really just means it will write over the space you allocated for its hard disk (8GB usually). None of your Mac’s files will be deleted.
Have any questions or comments? Let me know below, I’d be glad to help.
I’m a designer primarily. I do some PHP and some Javascript, but nothing substantial as far as creating something functional from scratch goes. I want to learn a “do-something” programming language. I’m curious as to which web app framework is better for designers. Have personal experience? Comment and let me know what you think!
You’ve probably heard by now that 
