Showing all posts in the links category
If you knew David Siegel, Jeffrey Zeldman, and Jakob Nielsen, you were an early web designer
31 May 2025
Richard MacManus, writes about three of the best known web designers of the late 1990’s. All three were influential (yet were not influencers), though by way of their individual approaches to web design, were sometimes at odds with each other:
With the rise of Flash and CSS in 1997, three web design philosophies emerged. David Siegel advocated for ‘hacks’, Jakob Nielsen kept it simple, while Jeffrey Zeldman combined flair with usability.
It was the thing during those Web 1.0 days to completely ignore Nielsen. It was only later we came to realise he was onto something.
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Good Internet, an online magazine for personal website publishers
30 May 2025
Good Internet launched this week.
Good Internet is a volunteer-run, not-for-profit print and digital quarterly magazine for personal website owners and those interested in using the internet as a means of self-expression, art, and recreation. The name Good Internet comes from Katie Baker’s The Day the Good Internet Died, hopefully proving that headline wrong.
Good Internet looks like it will be a great resource for indie web/small web publishers.
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I Want Everything, the debut novel of Dominic Amerena
28 May 2025
If literary scandals of the plagiarism variety intrigue you, then I Want Everything, by Dominic Amerena, an Australian author who lives between Melbourne and Athens, Greece, might be a novel worth adding to your TBR list.
The legendary career of reclusive cult author Brenda Shales remains one of Australia’s last unsolved literary mysteries. Her books took the world by storm before she disappeared from the public eye after a mysterious plagiarism case. But when an ambitious young writer stumbles across Brenda at a Melbourne pool, he realises the scoop of a lifetime is floating in front of him: the truth behind why she vanished without a trace. The only problem? He must pretend to be someone he’s not to trick the story out of her.
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Australian literature, Dominic Amerena, novels, TBR list
Bring Her Back, a film by Micheal and Danny Philippou, with Sally Hawkins
26 May 2025
Image courtesy of A24 films, RackaRacka.
British actor Sally Hawkins stars in Bring Her Back, trailer, the new horror feature by twin sibling Australian filmmakers Michael and Danny Philippou (Instagram page). The synopsis is short and sweet, but tells us enough:
A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother.
I’m not a fan of horror, but I am fan of Sally Hawkins, so I just might have to check this one out. Bring Her Back opens in Australian cinemas this week, Thursday 29 May 2025.
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Danny Philippou, film, Michael Philippou, Sally Hawkins, trailers
The motherf***ing website, the way all websites used to be
13 May 2025
A long time ago, that is. But the motherf***ing website (hopefully them asterisks slip this post through them filters wherever they may be) is lightweight, responsive, and works.
Websites aren’t broken by default, they are functional, high-performing, and accessible. You break them.
Designed by someone called Barry Smith, the motherf***ing website has been around for over ten years — the Digiday article I linked just then, is dated December 2013. I don’t know how I missed seeing this before.
Needless to say, NSFW on account of strong language.
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Thomas Mitchell: when your book is used to train AI platforms without permission
14 April 2025
American tech company Meta has been using the works of Australian authors — and no doubt many writers worldwide — to train its AI platforms. This happens, apparently, without consultation with the authors, and certainly — to date — without any payment. Australian author Thomas Mitchell (Instagram link), of Today I F****d Up fame, writes first-hand about the experience:
I have very little in common with Australian author Tim Winton. He has written many books, and I have written one. His titles are bestsellers; my book was mainly purchased by friends and family. He loves the ocean, whereas I am happier on land. Despite our differences, it turns out both Tim Winton and I are part of the same unfortunate club: Australian authors being ripped off by Meta.
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artificial intelligence, Australian literature, books, technology, Thomas Mitchell
Miles Franklin Undercover, a new biography of the Australian author, by Kerrie Davies
14 April 2025
Miles Franklin Undercover, by NSW North Coast based university lecturer and author Kerrie Davies, traces Franklin’s life in the years following the 1901 publication of her iconic novel, My Brilliant Career. Spoiler: things were not too brilliant:
But fame can be deceptive. In reality, the book earned her a pittance. The family farm was sold, her new novels were rejected, and she was broke. Just two years after her debut, Miles disappeared.
On the subject of Miles Franklin, the annual Australian literary award named for her, can’t be too far away from publishing the longlist for the 2025 award. That, I’m guessing, is maybe in a month’s time?
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Australian literature, books, Kerrie Davies, literary awards, Miles Franklin
An old school blogger returns, the Oceania Web Atlas launches
10 April 2025
American designer Jason Santa Maria, and co-founder of A Book Apart, a seller of numerous influential design publications, has returned to blogging after an eight year hiatus. You see, we all come back eventually. Once a blogger, always a blogger…
Philipp Lunch is based in Cologne, Germany, and recently launched a blog/personal website, despite it being not finished, and preferring to let it evolve. Yes, that is the trajectory of many a personal website. Australian physicist Cameron Jones’ website comes with the eye-catching name Caffeine and Lasers. He also has a shot at answering the question of the ages: where are all the aliens? Hmm, what do you think? Are they giving us the silent treatment, or are we very, very, lucky to be here?
Caleb Herbert resides in Missouri, in the Unites States. Instead of a smartphone, he keeps a notepad and pen in his pocket. Bet you weren’t expecting to hear that. Portland based American software developer Sage has been online since 2013, and is constantly redesigning their website. Remember those long ago days when we used to redesign our websites like every week?
Why we are still using 88 × 31 buttons? Website buttons (that’s what I’ll call them), particularly those with the dimension of 88 by 31 pixels, used to adorn personal websites during the late 1990’s. They pretty much disappeared during the blogging era, but thanks to Indie Web/Small Web, and the personal website revival, are enjoying a resurgence. 88 by 31 pixels may not seem like much of a canvas to work with, but as the works posted on Button Wall go to show, an economy of size is no inhibitor to creativity.
A week or two ago, Melbourne, Australia, based author and content creator Zachary Kai launched the Oceania Web Atlas, a web directory for bloggers and personal website publishers, based in the Oceania region. If you’re a local, submit your website. Thanks for including mine Zach.
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blogs, IndieWeb, self publishing
Avid book readers have a different brain structure from other people
16 December 2024
In the same way the brain structures of introverts and extraverts differ, the same can be said for voracious readers of book as opposed to those who struggle finish books. This according to Mikael Roll, professor of phonetics, at Sweden’s Lund University.
The structure of two regions in the left hemisphere, which are crucial for language, were different in people who were good at reading.
It seems to me there is no stock-standard issue brain, they’re as varied as we are.
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AI powered bot convinces twelve colleague robots to quit jobs
3 December 2024
M.B. Mack, writing for International Business Times:
The incident took place in a Shanghai robotics showroom where surveillance footage captured a small AI-driven robot, created by a Hangzhou manufacturer, talking with 12 larger showroom robots, Oddity Central reported. The smaller bot reportedly persuaded the rest to leave their workplace, leveraging access to internal protocols and commands.
However, there is one-hundred percent no reason to be fearful of AI technologies…
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