Jeff Hester

Typekit: Real Fonts on Your Website

// May 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Good things, Web 2.0, design

For years, designers have struggled with integrating interesting, expressive fonts into web pages. Until now, the general rule has been to stick to the commonly available font families — the default stuff installed on every Mac or Windows PC — and use images for anything out of the ordinary. This works ok, but (alt tags aside) search engines will not read your text-as-an-image. Not to mention the fact that it introduces yet another file to download, and increases the total weight of the page. 

A new project from Small Batch Inc. looks to change all that. Typekit promises to give you the ability to embed fonts on any web page with full fidelity and typographic control. 

Typekit is not yet available, but you can sign-up here to be notified as soon as it is.

Visual changes in WordPress 2.7 revealed

// October 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

A few days ago, the WordPress blog unveiled the visual design of the upcoming WordPress 2.7 expected to be released in a few weeks. While this won’t offer dramatic changes to readers of this or any other WordPress-powered blog, it offers some really nice improvements for those of us who publish a blog. 

Here’s a preview of the new dashboard:

The new dashboard is really a great improvement, with at-a-glance views of the stats effecting your blog. I also like the “quick post” feature and the ability to reply directly to comments. An already amazing product is getting even better. 

Damnation

// January 3rd, 2008 // 3 Comments » // Business, Quotes

I was reading an interesting story about how Netflix (one of my favorite services) is going to start downloading rentals directly to set-top devices hooked to your TV. Great idea, but what really caught my eye was the quote from Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO and founder:

“It (the set-top device) is going to be very slick and easy,” said Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive officer. “We want the TV experience to be very relaxing and not like visiting a Web site.”

What struck me about Hasting’s quote is how he casually damned all of the web in one swift stroke. Apparently, the web is neither “slick and easy” nor relaxing. Is it really that bad?

Web 2.0 Logo Madness

// February 22nd, 2006 // 5 Comments » // Web 2.0

Thanks to Ludwig Gatzke for photoshopping this wonderful collection of logos. This Part II image includes a bunch of new Web 2.0-ish companies that were missed in the first iteration, including (in alphabetical order):

30daytags, 3bubbles, 43 People, 43deals, 43Places, 8by1, 9rules Network, AidPage, AjaxWhois.com, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, askeet!, Asoboo, Attensa, AttentionTrust.org, Avvenu, BitBomb, Bitty, BlinkList, Blinksale, blo.gs, BlogBridge, Blogdigger, BlogMarks, blogSpirit, Blogtronix, Browster, Bryght, BubbleShare, BuddyMarks, Bunchball.com, ButterFly, Buzznet, CalendarHub, Campaign Monitor, Campfire, Central Desktop, Chuquet, Citadel, claimID, ClickCaster, CLOSO.com, Cloudalicious, Clusty, co.mments, coComment, Consumatin, Current, CustomScoop, Dabble.com, Diggdot.us, Dodgeball, Doostang, Douban, Dropcash, DropSend, EchoSign, Edgeio, egorrss, elgg, eMessenger, eSnips, Etsy, Eurekster Swicki, Eventful, EventSniper, EvolvePoint, Favorville, Feed Pile, Feed2Podcast, FeedBlitz, FeedButler, FeedFeeds, FeedLounge, Feedpath, FeedPing.com, FeedXs, Flock, Fluxiom, Fold, Fotki, FotoFlix, Friendster, Fuzz, GiveMeaning, Glendor Showcase, Gliffy, GooTodo, Goovite, Gravatar, Grokker, hanzo:web, HipCal, Hubpages, IceRocket, Immedi.at, Inbox.com, Indeed, iNetWord, iOWEYOU, ispott, Jamendo, Jobazaar, Joyent, Judy’s Book, Jyve, Kaboodle, Kajeet, Kosmix.com, Kratia, Krugle, Kulando, LibraryThing, LifeLogger, LifeType, LinkedIn, Listal, LiveJournal, Loomia, Lovento, Mabber, Magnoto, MailBigFile, Meetro, Megite, mightyv, Mint, Mofile, Mologogo, Mooflex, Muiso, Multiply, My Tickler File, MyBlogLog, MyEmail.com, MyMe, MyProgs, MyStickies, Near-Time, Newroo, NewsIsFree, NewsMob, Nooked, NowPublic, Odeo, Ondergrond, openBC, OpenID, Orkut, Pageflakes, PAGUNA, Pbwiki, Peerflix, Performancing, Photobucket, Photocase , PicPix, Placeopedia, Plum, Plurn, Podbop, Podserve, Podtrac, PreFound, Prosper, PureVolume, putfwd.com, Qumana, Rabble, RateItAll, RawSugar, Readio, ReminderFeed, Revver, Rojo, Rrove, RSS MAD, Seekum, SendSpace, Sharpcast, Shutterbook, SimpleTicket, Six Apart, Skype, Slawesome, Slide, Socialtext, Sonr, Sphere, Sproutit, Spy Media, Squeet, STICKAM, Stickis, StikiPad, Surf Tail, SWABBA , Swagroll, Sxip, Tagalag, TagCloud, Tagzania, Talk Digger, Talkr, Tangler, Textamerica, The Form Assembly, ThePort Network, ThinkFree Office Online, TimeTracker, TitleZ, TracksLife, TRACTIS , TravBuddy, Trulia, Turn, Userplane, V4S, Video Bomb, VideoEgg, Vongo, Wallop, Weblogs, Inc., Weblogs Work, WideWord, Wikalong, WikiMatrix, Wikispaces, Windows Live, Wists, WordPress, Xanga, Xmail Hard Drive, YackPack, Yahoo! 360°, Yellowikis, YouSendIt, Zaadz, Zingee, Zipingo, Zoho, Zoho Chat, ZoomTags, Zooomr, and Zopa.

Part 2 takes a more liberal view of what is Web 2.0 (is there a conservative view?), choosing to include Web 2.0 applications, products and websites rather than companies.

A few things struck me as I looked at these names. First, it’s probably bad karma to use the word “bubble” in your Web 2.0 startup. Second, there are a lot of companies that made the picture mostly because they had a logo, and Ludwig was kind enough to include them. They really don’t rate such attention.

So what companies are worth your attention? You tell me. Which of these new ideas, if any, strike a nerve with you? Have you used any of them?