Category: Publishing

Automatic for the people.

  • Of Books and Conferences Past

    Of Books and Conferences Past

    Of books and conferences past: A maker looks back on things well-made but no longer with us.

  • Ah yes, the famous “intern did it” syndrome

    Ah yes, the famous “intern did it” syndrome

    Poachers, when caught stealing content from our website, always blamed the theft on an “intern” or “freelancer.” We always pretended to believe them.

  • Get it right.

    Get it right.

    “Led” is the past tense of “lead.” L.E.D. Not L.E.A.D. Example: “Fran, who leads the group, led the meeting.” When professional publications get the small stuff wrong, it makes us less trusting about the big…

  • In search of a digital town square

    In search of a digital town square

    Ever since an infantile fascist billionaire (hereafter, the IFB) decided to turn Twitter over to the racially hostile anti-science set, folks who previously used that network daily to discuss and amplify topics they cared about…

  • Algorithm & Blues

    Algorithm & Blues

    Examining last week’s Verge-vs-Sullivan “Google ruined the web” debate, author Elizabeth Tai writes: I don’t know any class of user more abused by SEO and Google search than the writer. Whether they’re working for their…

  • First, be kind.

    First, be kind.

    Your feedback has the power to encourage another person, or shut them down, possibly forever.

  • On Rejection

    On Rejection

    Recently I had the privilege of reading a book proposal which the author shared in hopes of being published. It was a beautifully written treatise, well structured, nicely paced, logically argued, and thoroughly researched. The…

  • Medium to pay writers; program similar to Readability

    Medium to pay writers; program similar to Readability

    INTERESTING. Medium will now pay writers. The revenue to pay writers will derive, not from advertising—Medium scorns it—but from member contributions. How Medium will pay writers Medium now publishes two kinds of content: public content,…

  • Authoritative, Readable, Branded: Report from Poynter Design Challenge, Part 2

    Authoritative, Readable, Branded: Report from Poynter Design Challenge, Part 2

    THIS year’s Poynter Digital Newspaper Design Challenge was an attempt by several designers and pundits, working and thinking in parallel, to save real news via design. In Part 1 of my report from Poynter, I discussed…

  • Digital newspaper design challenge: a report from Poynter, part 1

    Digital newspaper design challenge: a report from Poynter, part 1

    CAN design create a better user experience that engages readers and drives revenue? Can it fight fake news and help save real journalism at a time when news organizations large and small are underfinanced and…

  • Lara Hogan at Postlight

    Lara Hogan at Postlight

    LARA HOGAN kicked ass at the Lara Hogan Demystifies Public Speaking event sponsored by Postlight and A Book Apart, and held last night in Postlight’s big beautiful public space on Fifth Avenue, around the corner…

  • To Save Real News

    To Save Real News

    IN a world where newspapers are dying and half the public believes fake news, what online news experiences need is design that is branded, authoritative, and above all, readable: Branded, because we need to convert…

  • Big Web Show ? 150: Giant Paradigm Shifts and Other Delights With Brad Frost

    Big Web Show ? 150: Giant Paradigm Shifts and Other Delights With Brad Frost

    BOY, was this show overdue. For the first time ever on The Big Web Show, I chat with my friend, front-end developer extraordinaire Brad Frost, author of the spanking new book, Atomic Design. We have…

  • Ten Years Ago on the Web

    Ten Years Ago on the Web

    2006 DOESN’T seem forever ago until I remember that we were tracking IE7 bugs, worrying about the RSS feed validator, and viewing Drupal as an accessibility-and-web-standards-positive platform, at the time. Pundits were claiming bad design was good for the web…

  • Foreword to HTML5 for Web Designers, 2nd Edition

    Foreword to HTML5 for Web Designers, 2nd Edition

    Welcome to the second edition of HTML5 for Web Designers, the book that launched a thousand sites—or apps, if you prefer. It is also the book whose first edition launched our little craft publishing house.…