August 2004 - Posts

• Deep Sea Fishing and Offshore Banking

  I’m off for a family vacation to Bermuda. OK, it’s not my first choice, but because of an interesting turn of events that includes offshore banking and my mother in law… Bermuda it is. Apparently the fishing is good and you gotta love a country that has, Read More... Posted Tuesday, August 17, 2004 4:11 PM by no1405 | 3 Comments

• ASP.NET Customer Feedback

  Dimitri Glazkov gave me some feedback on my post about pixel pushers . I’m happy to say his head did not burst into flames, nor did he experience any bleeding from the eyes. I asked him to elaborate on his comment: “If I look at ASP.NET today Read More... Posted Tuesday, August 10, 2004 10:38 AM by no1405 | 2 Comments

• I’m not just a data-binder!

  What I want in a next generation design/development platform. I’ll start with the most obvious - control of the “look and feel”. I think there is a common misconception as to why this is so important. It’s not about ego, it’s Read More... Posted Tuesday, August 10, 2004 10:35 AM by no1405 | 0 Comments

• SVG to XAML conversion tool

  In response to my last post (gradients are kicking my ass) DonXML has uploaded versions of his SharpVectors project that will run on the WinHec build. I’ve just started testing it and so far I’m getting mixed results. Some of the gradients Read More... Posted Monday, August 09, 2004 4:43 PM by no1405 | 1 Comments

• Printing to XAML with the Windows Client Print Driver – AKA gradients are kicking my ass

  I’ve done a lot of experimenting to generate XAML with my vector drawing tools, and Office apps. I learned if you copy vectors from Illustrator and paste them into PowerPoint, they are rasterized into a .png. If you copy and paste those vectors Read More... Posted Thursday, August 05, 2004 5:47 PM by no1405 | 3 Comments

• Swag saves lives

  One more off topic post then I promise to get back to business. I’ve designed a lot of swag in my career. By swag I mean conference crap… stuff, loot… not as dictionary.com defines it: Slang. Stolen property; loot. Australian. The pack Read More... Posted Wednesday, August 04, 2004 5:13 PM by no1405 | 6 Comments

• Bad, plastic, oak veneer

  I work in one of the older buildings on campus. Dark hallways, everything’s covered in a bad, plastic, oak veneer… it’s totally cheesy... it’s great. About a month ago they came through and replaced the name tags on our doors, Read More... Posted Tuesday, August 03, 2004 5:50 PM by no1405 | 8 Comments

• From pixel pusher to stakeholder

  I’m often asked how designers can gain credibility and influence on the product development cycle. To move from PhotoShop Jock, to someone who can influence the products your team builds, you’ll have to think like a business owner and apply Read More... Posted Monday, August 02, 2004 2:33 PM by no1405 | 8 Comments

• Voodoo over IP

  Consider this fair warning, I’m armed and dangerous . According to the instructions I don’t need a lock of hair, just an IP address. Read More... Posted Monday, August 02, 2004 1:50 PM by no1405 | 4 Comments

• Annoying Chris Sells

  When I originally designed my personal site I had an animated splash screen . Chris Sells was quick to point out it was annoying as hell, and it looked like an “under construction” sign. He’s right on both counts. I knew better, but Read More... Posted Monday, August 02, 2004 1:48 PM by no1405 | 3 Comments

• Microsoft.com circa 1994

  Check out my Microsoft.com home page archive . It dates back to 1994, when MSCOM ran on 4 servers. Today MSCOM runs on 80 servers and two data centers. For the record - I'm not responsible for most of these. I started in 1998, so I designed the last one Read More... Posted Monday, August 02, 2004 1:41 PM by no1405 | 2 Comments