Are you acrophobic?

If so, I recommend that you do not ride Project X Sky. In fact, I would even recommend that you don’t visit the hyperlink that I included above, for the concept of the thrill ride described, by itself, could cause you to have a severe anxiety attack.

Project X Sky is the Stratosphere’s, in Las Vegas, Nevada, new proposed thrill ride attraction. When you read the following description, keep in mind that the Stratosphere is a 900 foot tower (oi!):

“For an estimated $5 to $8 per ticket, intrepid riders will be strapped into a floorless, eight-person vehicle before they’re accelerated toward the tower’s edge at speeds approaching 30 miles per hour. Once they’ve passed over the side, safety systems will gradually slow the car before returning it to its original position.”

I am a huge fan of adrenaline-pumping thrill rides, including any roller coaster on the face of this earth, but Project X Sky will not be seeing my arse in its seats.

Apple Lets the Cat Out

Late Thursday night, Apple unintentionally leaked the specifications of the new Power Mac G5, on their own site! The specs were apparently shown in the form of a GIF image, which many people saved and posted to their own sites. Most of the GIFs have been taken down by Apple’s request, but according to MacMinute, these are the specs:

• 1.6GHz, 1.8GHz or Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 processors
• Up to 1GHz processor bus
• Up to 8GB of DDR SDRAM
• Fast Serial ATA hard drives
• AGP 8X Pro graphics options from NVIDIA or ATI
• Three PCI or PCI-X expansion slots
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• One FireWire 800, two FireWire 400 ports
• Bluetooth and AirPort Extreme ready
• Optical and analog audio in and out

Thirsty? Have a “Fresh-Mix”

If you live in a climate where the summer days are hot and sweaty, then you will appreciate Mu-Ying Lin’s fresh-mix virtual blender, where you can “create over 4 billion unique flavors of juice with nutritional information included.”

The extremely clever virtual flash blender will leave your mouth watering and wishing that it had a real one to drink. Begin by choosing ten fruits from a large variety, which are split into seven categories, including citrus, stonefruit, and tropical. Next, you’re given a small table that shows you what fruit you chose, how many of each, and the nutritional facts of your soon-to-be-blended juice.

Finish by watching your fruits blend together and then choosing a glass and some decorations to top it off. The coolest part is that the color of each blend actually matches the fruits you chose. Strawberries, grapes, and peaches? The mix will be red. Starfruit, pears, and bananas? Your mix will be a lighter, whitish color. You’ll also have the option of printing your final blended drink.

Sound tempting? Well, let me tell you, it is! And fun, too. Give it a shot!

The Longest Webpage on the Net

M.A.D.’s mile-long (kilometer-long) webpage, Madscroll 2003, is truly “not for the faint of heart,” as spoken by Dave Fletcher, a judge in HOW magazine‘s interactive digital design competition. The experimental site…I mean, page…houses all of the content, dating way back to the good old year of 1998.

The unspeakably long webpage won M.A.D. the “Outstanding” title in the self-promo websites category of HOW magazine’s competition. M.A.D. creative director Patricia McShane had this to say:

“We’re moving back toward traditional browser notions combined with architectural references. By placing all our content in one extremely long document, we’re building a new desktop experience that aims to evoke ‘content vertigo.’ It’s a simple linear structure, but it becomes kinetic when it’s scrolled — a bit like early hand-cranked cinescopes.”

There’s definitely no better way to describe the webpage than “content vertigo.” It’s absolutely dizzying!

A List Apart Gets Makeover

Jeffrey Zeldman subtly revealed the news in yesterday’s Daily Report:

“Many have asked when ALA will provide an RSS feed. It will do so as soon as we finish redesigning the site. The old design is tired and unattractive, and less usable than it ought to be, in part because the old architecture points to the wrong things and does not point to the right things. All of this will be fixed soon.”

I’d have to say that I agree with him. A List Apart‘s once state-of-the-art, handsome CSS layout and design no longer intrigues me. The top-notch content deserves better in this day and age. I hope that it’s a complete make over, and not just a few changes, because I’m quite excited to see what the designers will come up with next.

Speaking of A List Apart, give its new article, “Unlocking Hidden Navigation Access Keys,” a read. It’s an interesting and, perhaps, underused feature that I’m thinking of adding to the site. We’ll see.

Can you see it?

BNNNNBBNNBDDhzs=+<<(((((((~~~~-----------~<=hBBBNNBBNNNBBBN
NNNBNBNNBBDhzss=+<<(<(((~(~~~~-------'''-~(+zDBBBNNBNNNBNNN
NNNNNBNNBBDhzs==+<<<((((~~~~~~-----'''''--~(=DBBNBBBNNNNNBN
NNBNNNNNBDDhzs=+<<<((((~~~~~~------'''''''~(<zBNNBBBBNNNBNN
NNBNNNNNBDhzz==+<<<(((((~~~~--~---'''''''''~(+hNNBBNNNNNNNN
BNBNBNNNBDhzss+<<<(((((~~~~~-------''''''''-(+hBBBBBBNNNNNN
NNNNNBNNBDhss=+<<<(((~~~~~~~~-~-------'''-~<+=hBBBNNNNNNBNN
NNNNNNBNBhzss=+<<((((~~~~~~~~~~~------~(<+=sszDNBNNNBNNNNNN
NNNBNBBBBh=++++<<(((((~~~~~(~~~~~~~((+=szzzszzhBBNBNNNNNNNN
NBNNNNNBBhs=+++<<<((((((~(~((((((<+szhDDhs=++=zDBNNNNNNNNNN
BNNNNNNBBBDhzsss==+<(((((((((((<=zhhhhz=+((((<=hBNNNNNNNNNN
BNNBBNNNNBBBDDDhhhzs=+<<(<<<<(<=zzzzs=+(~~~~~<+hBNNNNNNNBNN
NNNNNNNBBDDDDDDDDDDhhs=+<<<((<<=sss==<((((((<+shBNNNNNNNNNN
BNNNBNNNDDhhzzzzzzzzzss++<<((<<+====++=szhhhhhhDBNNNNNNNBNN
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BNNNBNNNDhzss=+++++=ssss=+<(~~(<+===hBBBNBNBBBNNBNNNNNBNBNN
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BBBNBNNNBDz==+<(((~~~(<++(-'.....'----~--~~((<sBDBBNNNNNNNN
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This is real, highlightable text. Try it.

Do you see the image? If not, back away from your screen and squint your eyes. Compliments of ASCII-O-Matic at typogranism, which was mentioned by Zeldman. Make sure you check out the rest of their experiemnts with Flash – very cool!

QuarkXPress 6 Hits the Shelves

That’s right. QuarkXPress, Quark’s industry-leading software for design and layout, has reached version 6. It has a number of new features and enhancements, including layout spaces with synchronized text, full-resolution preview, and improved tools for web design. It is also specifically designed for Mac OS X v10.2, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. With upgrades starting at $199, it’s worth checking out!

Right and Wrong

A few months ago, when the grunge look was at a peak, I downloaded some grunge brushes for Photoshop and decided to experiment with the look. I am a fan of the dirty style, but it was never something that came naturally to me, so I decided that I would open up Photoshop and practice for a while, just to see what I came up with.

After some time, what you see above is what I had created. Not a terrible first try, but not the most original. I had basically just messed with the photo, stamped every grunge brush I had, and added some color. I was quite proud of what I had come up with, and liked the fact that it used bright colors, which gave it a touch of my own style. I saw the colors as a good contrast to the dirtiness of the photo, and, overall, they made it reflect my style and personality.

I was so excited that I had created a so-so grunge piece that I hopped right over to a certain graphics forum, which will remain unnamed, and posted the design in the gallery forum.

A few days later I checked back and, to my disappointment, the thread had not been filled will compliments or critiques, but with condescension and disgust: “What are you doing? Grunge designs should not use bright colors. You should have used dark, dirty colors;” “The bright colors do not match the grunge style. They ruin it;” and “You still need a lot more practice with the grunge look. You obviously do not understand what grunge means.”

To make things worse, these unconstructive criticisms were not being made by random users, but by the moderators of the forum. I made my rebuttals, but they were quickly dismissed with an elitist tone.

This brings me to my point. Who were they to say that there’s a right and wrong in design? Sure, there are design principles, but that’s not what I am talking about. I’m talking about flat out experimentation with style, texture, and color. Sure, if I had said, “This is supposed to look very grungy. What do you think about it,” I would have expected the comments that were given (of course, in a friendlier fashion.) But I did not ask that. I simply asked what they thought about “this piece I just came up with.”

Design is constantly evolving, and if we stick to the same rules and listen to the people that tell us what design should be, then we are denying ourselves the great feeling that accompanies experimentation and progress. The entire process of trial and error is how mankind discovers new things, and that includes new mixtures of styles to create new styles and new styles beyond those. To say that design, excluding principles, is wrong, is just wrong.