At work, I often have to deal with hidden files - or dot-files - in the OS X Finder. I usually have a TextMate project for every client website where I can open all files from the convenient project drawer but often I just have to quickly edit a line in a .htaccess or .htpasswd file and don’t feel like opening the whole TextMate project. On the other hand, I dont’t always want to see all hidden files in all folders. My home folder is littered with .ssh, .gpg, .DS_Store, .localized, .bashrc, .Trash etc. files which I don’t need to see most of the time.

Since it’s apparently impossible to modify the Finder so that it only shows hidden files in certain directories or it only shows hidden files matching certain criteria, I looked for another solution. Using defaults write in the Terminal, you can change the Finders settings and persuade it to display the hidden files on the filesystem, but I can also just use ls -al or mate ~/Projects/myproject/.htaccess to fire up TextMate directly with the .htaccess file opened, when I’m in the Terminal.

What I was looking for was a simple button in the Finder’s menu bar, that allowed me to toggle between hiding and showing those files. What I came up with is a small application that does just that. It doesn’t ask you whether you really want to toggle showing the hidden files, it doesn’t give you any options, you just click the button and can see all of your hidden files. And when you don’t need to see them anymore, they’re gone - at another click of the button. Convenient, isn’t it?

Here is how you use it:

1. Download FinderToggleHiddenFiles.dmg and mount it
2. Copy the ‘Toggle Hidden Files’ application to your Applications folder
3. Go to your Applications folder and find the ‘Toggle Hidden Files’ application
4. Drag the ‘Toggle Hidden Files’ application to the free space on your Finder’s menu bar

Note: When dragging, hold it for a while until you see the green + icon next to your cursor.

This works on Tiger (10.4) and Leopard (10.5) on both PPC and Intel.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, dot-files, finder, hidden, leopard, os x, toggle

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For a project I’m currently working on, I needed to pick a good font. Now the target audience of this project is very different from the audience of the projects I was involved with so far: It’s going to a be a website for children.

Children are just in the process of learning to read and how written words relate to sounds and spoken words. The efforts of young readers need to be supported by making sure the texts are not only easy to understand but also are set in inviting, easy-to-read typefaces.

Ilene Strizver’s article on Typography for Children on fonts.com helped me a great deal in picking the right font. And in case you’re interested, I went with Gill Sans Schoolbook (the Open Type version is called Gill Sans Infant).

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: children, fonts, gill sans, opentype, projects, typography

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I just stumbled across a really innovative design idea for wine labels via Noisy Decent Graphics.

If you’re at a friends place for dinner and you have a really, really nice bottle of wine, how often do you remember its name when you’re shopping for wine again? Most of us have better things to remember, anyway. Or maybe you’re a bit tipsy and won’t even remember whether it was a bottle of red or a bottle of white. Anyway, this is one of the ideas that makes you smack your head and ask yourself why you didn’t think of this

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: design, labels, packaging, products, wine

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Finally, an answer to that almost biblical question.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: browsers, design, websites

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Alberto Seveso is a freelance graphics designer living in Rome. I knew his old site but somehow forgot about it. Today I stumbled across his new portfolio via agenturblog. Alberto has a few phantastic works on his page, almost all of them surreal photomontages.

In his shop you can buy great prints or even just the digital version as a PDF, where you have to organize the printing yourself. A neat idea.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: albertoseveso, design, photography, photomontage

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Since the last rebranding of Adobe’s design suite has been nine months ago (remember the Periodic Table o’ Elements?), apparently it’s time for another new logo, this time for the Photoshop “family” of applications.

Opinions? Well, apparenty it represents a P. At least according to John Nack, who also has more details on the whole rebranding thing. It’s a speech bubble. Yes, another one. Welcome to the bandwagon! And it’s in 3D with glossy finish, practically screaming “photoshop filters!”. Where’s the lens flare?

Anyway, while the logo might not please everybody (judging from a lot of not so nice comments on John’s post), at least it seems Adobe has finally rediscovered Photoshop as a valuable brand.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adobe, brandname, cs3, design, logos, marketing, photoshop

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I just stumbled over this roundup of web2.0 logos all featuring a speech bubble. I didn’t realize it was that prevalent.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: design, logos, marketing, web2.0

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Joen of Noscope has just suggested, what I’ve been trying to tell people for nearly a year. With the advent of pages commonly referred to as “Web 2.0” sites, the styling of inline or AJAX links became an issue. Usually links have to be indicated to the user, since clicking them slowly loads a whole different page and the user is unable to interact with the current page. The common indicator we use for links is the hand cursor.

AJAX or JavaScript links, however, immediately change a part of the page you’re looking at, without reloading the whole page and without disturbing the user experience. The user can still interact with the page. For example on Pageflakes - the personalized start page I’m using - you can find both types of links: normal ones that take you to another page and AJAX links that allow you to edit settings or reload embedded RSS feeds. The cursor for both types of links is the same, a hand. For the Web-savvy, this might not pose much of a problem, we intuitively know most of the time what type of link we deal with but for other users, this can be increasingly difficult to discern.

The solution Joen proposes, and what I have previously used in these cases, is simply not changing the cursor at all. In reality, it’s not a link, it’s more of a pushbutton that looks different, so why not use the same cursor we use for buttons?

The implementation is rather easy as it only requires a simple cursor: default; rule. To allow for fallback (if the user has no JavaScript, the AJAX link becomes a normal link), I just embedd the stylesheet with JavaScript so I get a hand cursor for people without JavaScript, where the link actually reloads the page and a default cursor (pointer) for people where the link only affects the current page.

Adding a stylesheet via Javascript is rather easy too:

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--//--><![CDATA[//><!--
 	if( document.getElementById && document.createElementNS && document.getElementsByTagName ) {
		var javacss = document.createElementNS( "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml", "link" );
		if( javacss ) {
			javacss.setAttribute( "rel", "stylesheet" );
			javacss.setAttribute( "type", "text/css" );
			javacss.setAttribute( "href", "/_css/java.css" );
			javacss.setAttribute( "media", "all" );
			document.getElementsByTagName( "head" )[0].appendChild( javacss );
		}
	} else {	

		document.write( '<link rel="stylesheet" href="/_css/java.css" type="text/css" media="all" />' );
	}

//--><!]]>

</script>

So, what do you think?

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: accessibility, ajax, css, design, usability, userinterface, web2.0, webdesign

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The latest viral marketing campaign by Nokia is again beautifully done, consisting of a website complete with videos, victim reports and posters warning of jealous computers attacking their owners when they buy or use a Nokia N95. As a nice twist, users can upload their own videos, pictures or stories of attacks and receive a specially designed T-Shirt.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ads, advertising, design, marketing, nokia, viral, website

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Digitally manipulated images of people kissing themselves. “Sort of disturbingly erotic, in an erotically disturbing way.”, as Kottke said.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: design, kissing, photography, photoshop

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The Spanish advertising agency minnim made a great ad for 5 segons, a campaign of the Banc de Sang i Teixits, a Spanish public company that manages and administers the donation, transfusion and analysis of blood and blood plasma.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ads, advertising, design, flash, minnim

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Have a look at New York-based conceptual photographer Phillip Toledano’s portfolio for some really nice and inspirational photographic work. Some limited edition prints can be purchased online at Gild.

Mr. Toledano (by the way, I just love the entrance page) thinks, that every photograph should be like an unfinished sentence or part of a story and in pursuit of this, he has amassed a dazzling portfolio of original photography. The stories the photographs tell are so thought through and engrossing, it’s definitely worth a look.

Phillip Toledano, a lover of photography since he was eleven, was born in London and currently resides and works in New York.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: photography, website

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Three days ago, I posted about the imminent release of the Optimus Maximus Keyboard by the russian design studio Art. Lebedev. Now, the countdown on their website finally reached zero and we get to see the details of the 1500$ keyboard:

• Keyboard Dimensions: 53.7cm x 17.3cm x 3.8cm
• Key Dimensions: 2.02cm x 2.02cm
• Visible OLED area: 1.01cm
• Resolution of each key: 48px x 48px
• Frame Rate: min. 10 frames per second
• Color: 65536
• Viewing Angle: 160°
• Connection: USB2.0
• OS: Windows XP / Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or higher

To enhance the life of the OLED displays and the ribbon cables used to control them, Art Lebedev Studios decided to make every button a module consisting of a chip, the OLED display and a moving, transparent cap. Since only the plastic cap is moving, the displays have a much higher lifespan.

Preorders can be placed now. The price is US$ 1564 or approximately € 1257.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: keyboard, maximus, optimus, patent, review, russia, usability

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I just noticed an interesting article on color blindness over at Pixelgraphix. Color Oracle helps webdesigners to view in real time, what a website would look like for people suffering from one of the various color blindnesses. The filter is applied to the whole screen so it’s completely independent from the browser and even works with images in Photoshop.

Color Oracle is free and available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: accessibility, color, colorblindness, colororacle, design, review, software, tools, usability, webdesign

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We often see massively hyped products which then fail to emerge as their release date is postponed time and time again. The correct term for these products is Vaporware.

The Optimus Maximus Keyboard of Art. Lebedev Studio could fit this description. First announced in 2005, the release was postponed twice. To be more cost-effective, the technical specification of the keyboard changed and after another postponed release were changed back to the original.

Especially at an estimated price tag of $1500 for a keyboard, noone would be interested in the product anymore. But the much-hyped and long-awaited Optimus Maximus keyboard is different. Behind each of its 113 keys, a small 48x48 pixel OLED display works its magic, allowing the user to change the picture on each key. Custom keyboard layouts or shortcuts can be switched easily on a per-application basis.

Today, Art. Lebedev Studio announced via a countdown on their website that they will apparently start taking pre-orders from computer owners with more money than sense in roughly 3 days. Only 800 keyboards will be shipped until end of January 2008, ensuring that the price is kept high.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: design, keyboard, maximus, optimus, russia

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About three years ago a new NYC subway map design by Eddie Jabbour, graphic designer for Kick Design, started to find its way to the internet. It had issues but it was much better than the current MTA design in that it tried to focus on stations instead of trains. People using the subway want to get from point A to point B in the shortest possible time so they look for stations close to those points, not for specific trains.

Encouraged by the positive feedback, Eddie contacted the MTA but was quickly put off:

… when he showed up at the agency’s Midtown offices with copies of his work, they were quick to find fault with it. According to Christopher Boylan, the transportation authority’s executive director of corporate and community affairs, who recalled the meeting, the main criticism was that Mr. Jabbour’s map, like Mr. Vignelli’s, was artistic but geographically inaccurate. “He’s a good designer and it’s an interesting map,” Mr. Boylan said. “The design is important, but the thing we’re concerned with is the best directional guidance. We design a map for use, not solely to look good, and we think it looks good.”

Original map on the left, the Kickmap on the right.

But Eddie Jabbour is not a man easily deterred. He works on his maps on weekends and nights with the feedback of his 17-year old daughter.

Criticism that Eddie’s map is geographically inaccurate is inappropriate as most people use road maps or street signs for that type of information. As previously mentioned, the usability should focus on the key features of subway lines - something the Kickmap gets right.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cities, design, eddiejabbour, kickmap, map, newyork, service, subway, usability

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What started as a side project for Dan Benjamin and Dan Cederholm on a Mac Mini in a collocation facility has grown to be one of the largest online communities for wine tasting. In about one year the site amassed about 20.000 users. A lovely design paired with a big community got the site quite far.

This week, the creators of Cork’d announced the sale of the site to Gary Vaynerchuk, the host of WLTV. A really nice outcome for everyone, especially since Gary seems to be a guy who understands the values of good design and a community. If you haven’t seen him before, watch this little summary - it’s worth it.

Congratulations to they guys from the iceberg!

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: corkd, danbenjamin, dancederholm, garyvaynerchuk, hivelogic, simplebits, tundro, webdesign, website, wine, wltv

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Rain Noe wrote an article on Apple’s new Touchscreen patent:

Touchscreens have one single but, as of yet, unadressed design flaw: your finger on the screen is obscuring the very elements you’re interacting with. This has several implications for the user interface, for example buttons need to be quite large so you can still see them.

Never fear though, the clever designers from Cupertino have come up with a solution for this particular dilemma. It’s still only a patent and I would be very surprised if this ever made it into a real product but it’s nevertheless a cool and unique idea.

Basically it’s an iPod or (i)Phone with a screen covering the whole front of the device. A transparent control layout on the screen allows interaction. The difference is, you’re not touching the screen, you touch the back, the opposite side of the controls. A cursor is shown to give you visual feedback on the position of your fingers and if you press harder, the device registers it as a click.

Since your fingers end up on the back of the iPod anyway, simply by virtue of holding the thing, it sounds like a pretty good idea. The whole thing, especially the cursor and “press harder to click” function might take a bit of getting used to but I’m sure Apple’s designers and engineers could come up with something.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: apple, design, feedback, patent, touchscreen, userinterface

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The stars finally seem to be in a good constellation for web designers this month. Adobe shipped Creative Suite 3, CSS Edit was upgraded to 2.5 and we are seeing the first Alphas of Firefox 3. Iwas even more excited, when Steven F. commented on Panic’s 10 Year Anniversary:

“It is by a more or less random coincidence that on the day after our company’s tenth birthday, we will be conducting by far our biggest, most ambitious new software launch of all time. I hope you’ll come by to check it out, especially if you make web sites.”

What Panic released a few days later reminded me once again why a Mac is the best platform for developing websites: Coda is just the application I’ve been waiting for all my life. I’m not merely enthused, I’m seriously stunned.

Coda is a single, tiny application which handles all your webdesign needs. Editing (X)HTML and CSS, previewing, FTP (of course), Terminal access and a great reference book, all in one. The Panic team introduces Coda with the words:

“So, we code web sites by hand. And one day, it hit us: our web workflow was wonky. We’d have our text editor open, with Transmit open to save files to the server. We’d be previewing in Safari, running queries in Terminal, using a CSS editor, and reading references on the web. ‘This could be easier,’ we realized. ‘And much cooler.’”

You can read more by Panic co-founders Steven Frank and Cabel Sasser. And John Gruber also has a nice review of Coda on his web site.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: allinone, coda, css, design, html, online, panic, review, software, webdesign, xhtml

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Web 2.0 in style? Now it’s Web 2.5 in style! Macrabbit has released version 2.5 of their great CSS editor. And best of all, it’s a free upgrade for owners of the previous version.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: css, cssedit, design, free, macrabbit, software, tools, update, web2.0, webdesign

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Miranda July has a new collection of short stories coming out in May, called No One Belongs Here More Than You. But not only July’s Book is a gem of unconventional storytelling: The book has a a stunning web site that is more creative than I’ve ever seen. The site has no navigation, except for forward / back buttons and consists of a series of images. No real text, just the images scaling to the size of your browser.

Of course, no serious webdesigner would ever consider making such a website for their client. The website is not accessible, doesn’t fall back if you can’t see images and is basically empty for search engines. It breaks every rule that contemporary web designers follow.

The intrguing thing is, it works. No, not just technically. The site works as a narrative that pulls the visitor along, a narrative that is also used in July’s book. I loved the website so much, I couldn’t stop clicking until I was through. And isn’t this the point of a website like this?

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: books, design, mirandajuly, noonebelongsheremorethanyou, review, webdesign, website

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“People who make websites have been at it for more than a dozen years, yet almost nothing is known, statistically, about our profession. Take the survey and change all that.”

Since Eric Meyer asked nicely, I just took the 2007 Web Design Survey. It only takes 10 minutes and you get a nice badge and can even win a ticket to An Event Apart, an iPod or other nice stuff.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: aneventapart, conference, design, events, statistics, survey, webdesign

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Eric Meyer is looking for IE? expression-savvy webdevelopers to find a solution for IE’s lack of support for the inherit property. Go help him out.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: sideblog

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If you use Google Reader to read your news feeds, you can spice it up now with Jon Hicks’ pretty theme.

Pity I use the excellent News Fire for my syndication needs, the new theme really makes me want to switch.

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: browser, css, design, feed, google, hicksdesign, jonhicks

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Watch it at Apple.com [via Kottke]

© Alexander Graf for aetherworld.org, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: sideblog

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