While I was working in the industry many customers asked, “Is X a good brand”. Most people don’t realize that the average $500 mountain bike is made in one of three factories. Giant, in Taiwan, is the largest manufacturer of bikes in the world, and make many of the bicycles you find under other companies names. Remember that these are bicycle shop bicycles, not department store bikes! With that in mind consider that only a few really exotic bikes (expensive), hand built steel, and custom frames being made in Europe and the United States, everything else is made in China (low end) and Taiwan (everything else).
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According to John W. Dozier, Jr., the “Super Lawyer”, viewing his site’s HTML source, as in, “right-click – view page source” is illegal. They are trying to claim that viewing their page source is a copyright violation. Additionally they have an End User License Agreement, EULA prohibiting this behavior, as well as forbidding links to their site.

Now the interesting thing is that the code for the home page, as an example, is really poorly built. They still use tables for layout, and the JavaScript is embedded in the header. Worse still they are an internet law firm.

There are a few things that strike me as ludicrous from a developer’s standpoint. Continue Reading »

Finally an excuse to rant about an environmental issue. Blog Action Day has asked that bloggers around the world call attention to the global issue that affects everyone, the environment. Here’s the details:

Publish a post on their blog which relates to an issue of their own choice pertaining to the environment.

For example: A blog about money might write about how to save around the home by using environmentally friendly ideas. Similarly a blog about politics might examine what weight environmental policy holds in the political arena.

So here’s my take on what designers everywhere can do to help. Continue Reading »

I am constantly surprised by the attire that I see fellow motorcyclists riding around in. Early on I had a very strong opinion that more protection is better than less. As a longtime bicyclist I was well aware of the results of laying down a bicycle on the road, and these crashes didn’t even involve cars, 350lbs motorcycles, or speeds over 50 MPH. Let me illustrate why I think protection for motorcyclists is highly underrated.
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I’ve add an RSS feed link in my main navigation, and tweaked my Google Analytics a bit.

One of the most valuable aspects of a classroom environment, or working as a team, is the peer review and critique process. When each designer uses their personal experience to interpret the subject they bring a potentially unique view or technique to resolve the design problem. Each designer bring solutions that the other designers may not have considered. As a team reviewing these unique solutions each designer can draw on the experience and take away a much broader perspective on design. Continue Reading »