When I bought Transcending CSS I wondered what I would learn from the book, as there are a lot of others based on front end design and coding of valid XHTML/CSS based web code.

However, as the author Andy Clarke is a well renowned designer and speaker at various web conferences, he can give both newcomers and experienced designers/coders valuable information.

>> For making your life easier, making you think differently, and see everyday objects as being your design inpspiration on the web.

What I learnt from Andy’s chapters in ‘Transcending CSS’:

1. Design Scrapbook > using iPhoto to store scanned design ideas, paper sketches, and inspirational design styles, types and logos. For future reference and design inspiration.
Photo of iPhoto Scrapbook


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or “ethical ways of making your business or freelance life more eco-friendly” and save costs at the same time.

I thought I would compile a list, as the topic of ethical business has been in conversation recently with colleagues at the Brighton Farm and Vine Brighton.

I’m hoping my ideas will save you money, as well as making you become more aware of the resources you use, and the importance of our individual impact on our local and international ecosystems.

Here’s the list:

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Having to travel on trains quite regularly in the UK, I always have to learn about the forever changing rules regarding bikes on trains.

I picked up a leaflet from the train station which you can download here > http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/cyclists.htm

It lists the many different rail companies here in the UK, with their many different rules for traveling with bicycles.

By far the most important part of this post is the details of organisations promoting bicycles on trains:

• Bike2Work
• Sustrans
• The National Body for Cyclists - CTC
• A to B Magazine

These are mostly charities that receive government and private funding for their projects. You can get involved with the events they have thru the year.

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.. and useful web services in a web 2.0 environment

want some quick tips on how to increase your productivity? Want to save less time trying to find the information you ‘filed’ last week?

Some are free, some are a few pounds, all well worth checking out to see of they can help you, like they have with me.

They are all about sharing, storing and using information efficiently:

• basecamp - without a doubt, essential tool from 37signals- let your clients know at what stage you are with that all important project.. this is a lifesaver.. should of been using it earlier!
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The number of views on my flickr account reached 10,000 a few days ago. In less than 8 months.

The most popular images being Brighton scenes..

Here’s my most viewed image which is also my most commented image:

Photo Title: Brighton in Snow - from the ‘Brighton snow!’ photoset

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So the Times Online redesign went live last week.

It was an exciting project to work on, I was based in Canary Wharf working with 2 other developers, 4 Information Architects, 3 Designers, a Content Management team, and countless management types.

I was involved at a early stage in the project life cycle in August 2006. My role was to take the illustrator designs and code them into templates showing the individual modules for each element in the design. Of course, validating and browser testing went along side this. And each module was given a timescale score depending on its complexity.

I was with the team for a month during which time I completed the front end build for all the main sections of the site: news, sport, fashion, motoring.. The job became quicker once the initial elements were built as they could be reused in other sections of the sites pages.

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As you will see from my upcoming.org account, there’s a fine list of events this year I’m either attending or watching.

WebDD > Already attended. In my home town of Reading.

The Future of Web Apps

The second year for this event from Carson Summits. What looks like to be a fun filled business, news/media and technology 2 day conference. Some fantastic speakers, some of who I saw last year at @Media2006.

The Highland Fling

A first for the Scottish Web community - This inaugural Highland Fling conference will cover the topic of progressive enhancement. Two of Brighton’s own regular speakers, Jeremy Keith and Andy Budd address the the subjects of Ajax and CSS3 respectively.

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