Never forgot...

We should all be aware of the faux pas within web design, but for those it doesn't come too easily to, check out this site. Dubbed the worst site in the world, it certainly features prime examples of things not to do. The scrolling marquee just sets off the warning lights for a website soaked in styles of yesteryear.

A nausea invoking laugh in the least.



http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/

Copyright - the basics

Annnnnd, welcome back. A shock to the system but I have to start somewhere!

For our Client project, the Copyright Prevention Society seek an anti-filesharing campaign, which can be represented through a 5 page site with interactive content.

First stop has been researching and finding out about the subject area. This will likely help form the content of the site.

From here, I will next be looking at target audiences, and what schemes I could develop to suit their needs.

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the future isn't HD, it's 3D

A few months back we had the SPP2 forum thread discussing of all things, cinema and 3D films. Having not really seen 3D for a while, I couldn't agree or disagree too much. However, that's changed now.

Harry Potter at IMAX has the first 12 minutes in 3D. It was a revelation. Gone were the headaches and rubbish glasses of old, in came a real immersive atmosphere. They say that watching HD you feel like you are almost there, well with 3D it went the next step and you felt like you were there.

It wasn't all fancy effects - although these were good, apparating for example. I actually really appreciated the subtleness of simply standing in a room and feeling a sense of depth, again, just as if you were standing there on set. It made a huge difference.

BBC Click has done a whole feature on the future of 3D and notably I'm pleased to find that 3D films are making a comeback. However, there are downsides. First, when the 12 minutes of Harry Potter in 3D ended, 2D then felt bland and boring, so presumably, if you watch a feature film in 3D at the cinema, when you get it on DVD at home, the magic will be somewhat lost.

If you visit the BBC link you'll see that 3D TV is being devised, but I think that this should be the opportunity for cinema to find itself a niche. Theatre goers pay a lot more money for something that technically they could get on DVD at a reduced rate. But part of the enjoyment is actually going and seeing it professionally done, on a much larger stage than a TV screen. I think cinema too could make this their unique selling point - 3D at it's best: on a massive screen with superb surround sound.

Needless to say, I still think there's something to 3D web browsing. Youtube in 3D seems the first step in the right direction.

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Google maps meets SIMcity

http://gizmodo.com/5313575/honey-someone-shrunk-hong-kong

This over bearing resemblance to SIMcity graphics offers perhaps a taster of the area GoogleMaps could advance to.

Obviously street map offers the possibility for actual images of houses, buildings, roads etc, so perhaps the cartoony style sampled in the article could be swapped for realistic images but still, it adds another dimension to maps.

It actually makes me want to look at the city in detail, it brings life. This in the least would be great for tourism.

And on reading the new .net, it appears somebody has started doing close ups of cities: New York Aerial Virtual Tour and Syndey. Superb, hi def shots. It feels as if we're being spoilt after becoming used to the slightly weaker satellite images from Google maps.

It's like interactive Planet Earth.

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Image compression tool - smush.it

Although broadband speeds are increasing and the Government proposes 2MBPS for everyone, it doesn't do any harm to compact the files that you want people to see online.

A great tool available for image compression is smush.it. You install it, direct it to your site's images either by uploading or providing URLS and it outputs your smaller images in a zip telling you how much data has been saved.

In fact, a great article in .net issue 192 offers advice and incite into the whole topic of web compression and features smush.it.

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To the moon

We Choose the Moon seems to be an official launch site to celebrate 40 years ago since man landed on the moon.

What I like about the site is that it adds in modern technologies - you can add a widget in Facebook or your desktop which acts as a countdown for when the rocket will launch.

You then also have a twitter update indicating the status of the mission, i.e. what the astronauts are doing.

Lastly, it is all in real time, so you will be able to see how far away from the earth it is, at what speed it is flying, at a particular time. This takes away some of the simulation feeling that technology tends to over subscribe us with nowadays, where we now expect to fast forward and rewind at our discretion. Instead it is "real time" + 40 years, giving it a realistic feeling and providing more impact.

Again, this is an example of technology on the screen replicating real life stuff. It makes history alive and exciting... (for some).

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Students marketing HP

HP - invent from Tom and Matt on Vimeo.

I can't decide whether it's real printing in a stop motion kind of way or post production effects but still, it's got a catchy music track and appears eye catching with the motion of the lines/shapes and colours. And what's more, it came from students.

It kind of reminds me of the sauce advert which reuses bits of clip with a set sound to build an ensemble tune.

I think it's the rhythm of the sounds that draw us in as humans.

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