chriscarlson.org

Sal Khan and the Khan Academy

ccarlson — Sun, 16 May 2010 22:56:29 +0000

Sal Kahn offers a simplified approach to online learning through the Kahn Academy. Kahn discussed his approach recently at a GEL Conference. The Kahn Academy’s short clips feature nothing more than a conversational voice and some drawings on a blackboard.

The Digital Book Potential

ccarlson — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:37:58 +0000

In Embracing the Digital Book, Craig Mod explores two sets of questions:

What’s wrong with our current e-readers and how do we rebuild them?
What meta-data do we create when engaging digital text, how can our e-readers embrace it and how does that change our relationship with books?

Couple of interesting passages. Craig describes his personal system for note taking in a physical book:

Pages with notes are dog eared on the lower-right corner. Upper-right corner is used for bookmarking (I have no qualms with folding pages!). Bottom-left for particularly great spreads.

Craig goes on to describe how social data surrounding books could affect a buyer’s purchase decision:

When I’m considering buying a book, show me how far the average reader gets. Do most readers get through the whole novel or give up halfway? How many notes do they take? How many passages do they highlight?

An Introduction to Web Design Patterns

ccarlson — Sat, 01 May 2010 23:21:15 +0000

In An Introduction to Using Patterns in Web Design, Ryan Singer discusses how to break our web design problems up into small independent chunks based on the real issues within our requirements.

Designing With Forces

ccarlson — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:02:03 +0000

In his talk Designing with Forces, Ryan from 37signals discusses how his company uses Christopher Alexandar’s Notes on the Synthesis of Form to design web applications.

The Definitive PHP Security Checklist

ccarlson — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:12:23 +0000

The Definitive PHP Security Checklist is a comprehensive list of items that PHP developers should use to ensure that their web applications are secure. The list is also available as a printable cheat sheet.

Access by Design

ccarlson — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:33:08 +0000

In Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, Sarah Horton offers guidelines for universal usability, along with examples and links to related articles and tutorials.

Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design

ccarlson — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:24:36 +0000

Shawn Henry’s Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design helps designers and developers create websites, software, hardware, and consumer products that are accessible to people with disabilities, provide a better user experience for all, and realize the additional benefits of accessibility.

The Web Style Guide

ccarlson — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:16:36 +0000

The Web Style Guide explains established design principles and covers all aspects of web design—from planning to production to maintenance.

The Philosophies of 37Signals

ccarlson — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:07:53 +0000

37Signals explains their business, design, programming, and marketing philosophies in their book Getting Real.

The InterACT Curriculum from WaSP

ccarlson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:35:41 +0000

The Web Standards Project (WaSP) has developed the InterACT Curriculum which will help students become web professionals by teaching them web standards and industry best practices. Topics range from design and professional practice to front-end development and server-side development.