Journal

Thursday 2 July , 2009

100 Bullets Wilt - The last in the seminal 100 Bullets graphic novel series is released next week. I started reading this comic from around issue number 5 back when I was in University in Nottingham. Nearly 10 years later it's finally complete and I'm going to have to reread ALL the previous volumes (which I actually have here in London). One of the best comic book series ever made. ✖

20 of the World's Most Beautiful Libraries - My favourite is Jay Walker's private library. ✖
Tuesday 30 June , 2009

@font-face: The Potential of Web Typography - Great showcase of what's to come by using the @font-face rule in CSS. Open this in Firefox 3.5 only. Tried a couple of times in Safari 4, only to have the browser crash on me twice in a row. (via Daring Fireball). ✖

OokahBlog - Pascale's blog, who's in my art class (which sadly ends tomorrow evening). So much work seems to go into any one post, but some how it's a pretty engaging scroll. In a day and age where I can't be bothered typing out more than a couple of lines, she's creating montages and cartoons for her posts. ✖

James Stokoe Won Ton Soup - The last time I was actually excited about a new comic book series from Oni was YEARS ago. Don't know how I missed this, but the title alone just sounds like great fun. ✖
Saturday 27 June , 2009

le cool magazine - Fantastic newsletter of all the great things going on in your city that you didn't know about. Well put together, brilliant stuff. ✖

Ekali Houses in Athens - And here I thought contemporary architecture in Athens was pure shit. This is a truly elegant statement. Interesting factoid is the fact that I went to school in Ekali, which was 40 minute drive every day from our house. ✖
Thursday 25 June , 2009

Michael Jackson died today - I've got little comment to give on this, past the fact that it's a bit of a shock and it still hasn't sunk in; ✖

Tweak Your Finder - Nice little collection of things to do to make the Finder better. I like the plugin for the quick look in folders. ✖

“Outside the Box” Navigation with jQuery - Although I absolutely LOVE how stacks looks on OS X, I can never get around to using it because I hate the dock at the bottom of my screen. However the implementation onto a website looks so appealing. ✖
Friday 19 June , 2009

F1 teams to launch breakaway series - Now this is kind of unexpected. Only because of some of the things that have been said and done in the past. ✖
Thursday 18 June , 2009

Node, the power outlet of tomorrow - Always on the lookout for new ways to provide power in my designs, this could be pretty cool, although (and this is where it gets technical), not sure how this would work in Europe without an earth... ✖
Monday 15 June , 2009

Blacksad Gallery - Without a doubt, one of my favourite series, and a huge inspiration for me in the art department. If there is one thing that 'Aitus Moralis' is trying to learn is just the general attention to detail that this series claims. The other is the mixture of inks and watercolours onto a page. Truly stunning work that deserves your attention. Book Three is coming out this November (not sure who is going to be publishing it in English though). Here is a review I wrote 2 years ago regarding the first book. ✖

Top Gear Series 13 Trailer - The boys are back. Good casting on the young top gear stars as well. ✖

Banksy vs The Bristol Museum - One word, awesome. ✖
Sunday 14 June , 2009

British International Comics Shows - Held in Birmingham on the 3rd and 4th of October. Definitely one for the diary. ✖
Saturday 13 June , 2009

Thru eyes frank olinsky - Small Q&A with graphic designer Frank Olinsky, the man responsible for the art direction for the golden era of the Smashing Pumpkins album designs. Yes, of course I have that box set. ✖
Friday 12 June , 2009

Assembled Odaiba Gundam - And I'm called a geek? Having said that I still think that's pretty cool. ✖
Wednesday 10 June , 2009

Joshua Middleton Website Revamped - Have always loved the man's minimalist style. If I had a comment, it would be that the blog was actually properly integrated into the site, rather than bringing it in via a frame (or whatever is being used). The gallery section is the place to head first to though, with the 'Sky Between Branches' section as the top area to look at (damn that's been in the making for close to a century). ✖
Tuesday 9 June , 2009

Safari 4

Safari 4 is now out of Beta. And you can definitely tell that they have been listened.

Tabs
First off the location of the tabs has changed. In the Beta, they were located at the top (like Chrome). It was an interesting experiment that doesn't fit within the Mac mold. The only way to make the tabs work, is for the top menu to completely disappear. Clearly this was too radical (or cannot be done?) that they've opted to put the tabs back to where they have always gone.

The work on the tabs doesn't stop there however. They've gone back to allowing you to select the whole tab rather than a corner to drag them across. That was a function that really pissed me off with the Beta.

Speed
It's definitely MUCH faster. Both at loading and at rendering pages. In fact I'll go so far as to say it's giving me the same speed surprise I had when I first ran and installed Google Chrome (read item 4). Clearly Apple aren't resting on their laurels. They've taken it back to Google who only recently released their Alpha version of Chrome for the Mac.

Buttons and Interface
In Safari 3 I often resorted to hacks to add some much need functionality, such as a bloody tab button. Yeah I know it's cmd+t but dammit I wanted a button for when I was feeling bloody lazy. Thankfully they've brought in a bunch of buttons that can sit in the menu now. Another favourite is removing/adding the bookmarks bar button.

Loading and Reloading
loading.png
The loading graphic has also changed now. I don't actually mind this at all. In fact I would go on to say that I actually like this, however I actually liked the previous integration of the blue bar across the entire address book a lot more.
Reloading a page is still in the address line; When this was first introduced I was not a fan, however this has grown on me.

Overall impressions is that this feels like the next logical step forward for Safari. The Beta actually for once showed that they are willing to go back on their original ideas and that they do actually listen to user's opinions, which is always nice.

by Khaled Abou Alfa

Links & Opinion

Collecting links from across the internet, adding commentary and lovingly delivering them to you

Also on Twitter
Made on a Macintosh
Bookshelf

Self indulgent consumerism.

Feed Your Imagination

Artists that deserve your attention.