Category: Publishing

Automatic for the people.

  • Remembrance of Websites Past

    Remembrance of Websites Past

    2000 was the peak year for Adobe’s website. It was a content site filled with creative how-to articles, opinion pieces, and artist interviews where you could also, if you wished, buy or get info on…

  • For students who make websites

    For students who make websites

    Meet WordPress.com Education, a new, free product for teachers and students.

  • The Secret

    The Secret

    If I learned one thing in 25 years of running design and education companies, it’s that idealism isn’t a business strategy. If you wonder why my partners and I had to shut down organizations we…

  • 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…