READING 1

"My website is a shifting house next to a river of knowledge. What could yours be?" Link

The article asks "What happens to websites after death, anyway?" - what does happen to websites that are no longer visited?
What are the most common types of personal sites? Are they blogs, CVs, portfolios, or others types?

READING 2

What is code? By Paul Ford Link

"Websites Are The Art Of Our Times" Link

I find it interesting that the author describes websites as "social" entities, pointing out their interactive traits like the ability to evaluate, criticize and "link" to each other.
(For my own refernece) - telic means “something directed or tending towards a goal or purpose; purposeful”. For example “I am driving my car to Los Angeles” is a Telic statement. Telos, in Greek, means “the end” or “the purpose”. Do some websites lose their telic traits over time?

"Google Material Design" Link

Material Design is a system from Google that helps designers build their own visual systems for digital products.
I think it's interesting how at a time when flat graphics are in, Google's Material Design encourages the use of surface textures, depth, light and shadow to create a more realistic user experience for its designed interfaces.

"Scroll, Skim, Stare | The White Review" Link

"In defense of of the poor image"

Link

Low resolution images become abstract.
Typically high res. images are associated with higher quality, trust-worthy sites. Does a reputable site lose its perceived trustworthy reputation if it makes use of low quality images?
Poor images might arise because they are resurreected.
Poor images are they way they are because they are assigned little value - their status as illicit or degraded.

"Handmade Web" Link

Handmade web - web pages coded by hand rather than by software; are made and maintained by individuals rather than by businesses or corporations.
Similar to handmade print items e.eg. zines, pamphlets, artists books
It's interesting that in the early days of the web, people would build websites as their own online ideentity, rather than being depeendent on a few big sites (Facebook) to host their identity.
Hnadmaking a website is definitely intense manual labour and having attempted to code my own, very basic websites, I have a whole new appreciation for the developers that have to do it for a living.
Handmade websites as a form of resistance?

"Top 10 Web Design Styles of 1993"

Link

I find the point he makes about how most people who want to design websites, won't actually study interface design but will choose to study graphic design instead. I can relate to that.
Prof. Dr webpages have a very basic "unstyled (with CSS)" visual style. Quoting the article, "Prof. Dr. doesn't mean at all that the site was made in 1993 and last time updated in 1995. The opposite. They are usually updated with a list of courses for the current semester or contain links to contemporary services like Google Calendar, twitter or embed Google Maps."
It's interesting that back in the day, people had to set preferences like colours, fonts, links themselves. It allows for great flexibility, but it is also very tedious.

"Apple" Link

I like the point Apple makes about not letting branding hinder great app design i.e. content and function - "Resist the temptation to display your logo throughout your app. Avoid displaying a logo throughout your app unless it’s necessary for providing context. This is especially important in navigation bars, where a title is more helpful"
Apple recommends using only a single typeface if possible throughout an app design
Handmade websites as a form of resistance?

"Research and Destroy" Link

"Can jokes bring down the government?" Link

"Against software development" Link

The quote "Software grows until it exceeds our capacity to understand it" is interesting in the light of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The New York Times Magazine came out with an issue about the current state and future of the internet - lots of good reads.
Link