Our Geek Life

The Day that Twitter Died

Posted by shegeek at August 11th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

What do geeks do when their Twitterverse implodes?

 

It’s no longer breaking news that there was a series of DDOS attacks on the internet last week.  I didn’t notice it so much on Facebook because (1) I’m not on there as much and (2) Facebook often seems slow and bloated to me.  But my beloved Twitter? Oh yes, I knew it was dead.

So what did I do?  Like any good geek I panicked, I cried, I moaned, I wailed.  I paced the floor aimlessly, babbling to myself about the end of the world as we know it, the TRUE Twit-pocalypse was upon us, dontchaknow…  (Do I need to insert sarcasm tags to avoid the sarchasm I think may ensue from those unfamiliar with my wit?)

At any rate, at one point I sang to myself, “The day that Twitter…died.”  <insert eyebrow raise and pondering face>

I make up a lot of song parodies, but rarely write them down (bad geek).  This time I did.  Many thanks to @MadBrad, @lwcavallucci and @Daily_Pinch for encouraging me to publish this.  Brad – I know you said to YouTube this, but I am video challenged.  There is always another parody in my back pocket, so maybe the next time.

So with many apologies to Don McLean, below is the work product of my Twitterless time:

The Day that Twitter Died

 

A long, long time ago…
I can still remember
How that tweeting used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those tweeple dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while.

But August made me cry a river
With every Tweet I tried to deliver.
Bad news from the TweetDeck;
I couldn’t type one more peck.

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about the twidowed site,
But something touched me deep inside
The day that Twitter died.

So bye-bye, Twittter access denied.
No more TweetChat no more TwitPics
The Twitterverse has now died
Them good ol geeks were mourning the API
Singin this’ll be the day that I die.
This’ll be the day that I die. (more…)

Categories: Twitter
Tags: Creativity, Geek Humor, OMG, Twitter, Viral, WTF

Form and Function: Creativity and Usability Unite

Posted by shegeek at April 8th, 2009 | No Comments »

What is the foot without the little toe?

Or the head without a heart?

 
Could you walk without your little toes?  Can you imagine thoughts without emotions?  That’s exactly what you experience when you visit websites created without design and usability as complementary components – emotionless thoughts, thoughtless emotions, footless toes and toeless feet!   

In “Form or Function: When Creativity and Usability Collide“, I discussed the often oppositionary principles of creativity and usability.  This is a subject near and dear to my heart because nothing irks me more than beautiful design that is not functional and functional design that is flat out ugly.  While it can be challenging to blend form and function, it is not only possible, it is necessary.

Did you hear what that crazy guy Sullivan said?

 
In 1896, architect Louis Henri Sullivan said, “Form ever follows function.”  Unfortunately, the simple elegance and beauty of this statement is lost and bastardized into meanings that Sullivan never intended.  Regardless of what you may have heard or been taught, this chunky little nugget of wisdom was never uttered to imply that function was more important than form.   It is also important to acknowledge that contrary to pop-culture “wisdom”, dying for one’s art is highly overrated, particularly when the art becomes the means to the end. 

Sullivan’s statement started the debate about form and function.  However, Frank Lloyd Wright made it perfectly clear by stating, “Form and function are one.” 

All ego aside, the naked truth is simply this:  Form and function are inseparably intertwinable. Good sites render an understanding of this ideal.  Great sites exemplify it.
(more…)

Categories: Design & Development
Tags: Creativity, Design & Development, Usability

Logos? Anyone can design logos!

Posted by shegeek at March 20th, 2009 | No Comments »

Have you ever had someone you know – or maybe wish you weren’t related to – say, “It’s not like putting up a web page is difficult.  ANYONE can do it these days.”  *roll eyes   If you are in a line of work that requires any creativity whatsoever most folks seem to have no idea how much actually goes into your work product.  As a result, you have likely heard something along those lines once if not far too many times.

No matter how many times I have heard that type of comment, it STILL makes me cringe and want to pummel something (or someone).  In the end, I console myself with the likelihood that the attempt to create their own website will be a giant FAIL!

In the category of “FAIL” and “My job is harder than you know” as well as “I hope we don’t end up on your site”, comes YourLogoMakesMeBarf courtesy of a tweet from @creattica earlier today.  YLMMB is a humorous look at what happens when the untrained and unskilled attempt something that requires just a wee bit more skill and talent than most folks have.

The Ten Commandments of Barfy Logos made me cry from laughing – the perfect combination of DOH! and sarcasm and OMG WTH were they thinking.

So grab your barf bag before you head on over to YLMMB and never ever forget Commandment #9:  Thou shalt not take thy ’swoosh’ in vein.

Categories: Creativity
Tags: Creativity, Design, FAIL, Logos