Dispatches From The Internets

While working on a new site for a client, I stumbled upon an application of the Leahy/Langridge method of image replacement… to images. As far as I know, it had not been attempted before and, frankly, I was a little amazed it worked.

The technique, which I am calling iIR for “img Image Replacement” (a bit of a mouthful, I know), helps you keep you code leaner and meaner without sacrificing stylability or accessibility. You can read the article on the Easy Designs and feel free to drop your comments below. Maybe you can think of a better name for it too.

The fine folks over at Odeo are looking for an “AJAX Engineer” to round out their web dev team. If you live & breathe JavaScript, CSS, XHTML and live in or around San Francisco, drop them a line (jobs [at] odeo [dot] com). Everyone I know that works there seems to love it, making me wish I lived a little closer to SF.

This has been one crazy Fall work-wise, so I apologize for the scarcity of posts, but I do have a few holiday treats for you.

That beautiful bastion of standards-based e-commerce, Karova, has gotten a face lift. Mr. Malarkey deserves many kudos for yet another rich, engaging and playful design. And if you think the sales materials look good, you should see the store management dashboard. I was offered a sneak peek and couldn’t help but fawn over its sophisticated simplicity. It’s not only usable, but it makes managing a web shop (dare I say it) kinda fun. For a little background on the redesign, read Andy’s writeup.

Now if only we could find a suitable partner to bring their product to the US (hint, hint).

My friends at Gartner are hiring a new member for their web team. If you are within commuting distance of Stamford, CT (about 45 minutes outside of NYC by train), I highly recommend considering this job as I know first-hand how awesome this team is to work with.

I just saw a copy of the latest issue of DMNews and Dave’s hard work garnered the Wadsworth Atheneum a feature story and Cronin and Company some major kudos. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

An online campaign initiated by the 161-year-old museum and developed by Glastonbury, CT, ad agency Cronin and Company Inc. doubled visits to the site at www.wadsworthatheneum.org. Components included a SurrealPainter Web tool, banner ads and the seeding of blogs.

One of the web’s preeminent marketing websites, MarketingSherpa, has just published an article which may start a web standards stampede. The focus is Firefox, but the underlying message is standards, standards and more standards:

Your more savvy Web designers are likely all agog over Firefox, because its support of Web Standards makes it easier to design and maintain effective Web pages. …

In the interest of observing politics and activism online, I have signed up to receive numerous newsletters and “action alerts” from groups ranging from MoveOn and the ACLU to the GOP. Politics aside, one thing I find very striking is how much freedom is given to an individual to add a personal message or rewrite a letter in support of or against a particular issue by the “left.” The “right,” however, does not seem to have any interest in their activists’ opinions.

All this week, the Secretary of State’s office is offering demonstrations of and soliciting public comment on the three finalists for Connecticut’s electronic voting machines. The line was long at Monday’s demonstration at Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester (easily an hour wait), but well worth it to see what we’re in for when we return to the polls next year.

Here in Connecticut, the Secretary of State is getting ready to purchase new computerized voting machines and is doing an exhibition of the different options throughout the state’s five Congressional Districts. As computerized voting is such a hot topic right now, I highly recommend anyone and everyone who lives in my state go to one of the exhibitions and offer some sort of public comment. We need to ensure we get safe voting machines that actually record what we intend them to.

Here are the dates:

• District One: Manchester
  11/14/05, 10am - 9pm
  Buckland Hills Mall, 194 Buckland Hills Dr., Manchester
• District Two: North Windham
  11/15/05, 10am - 8pm
  Eastern Connecticut State University, 83 N. Windham Rd, North Windham
• District Three: Woodbridge
  11/16/05, 9am - 8pm
  Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven, 360 Amity Rd, Woodbridge
• District Four: Bridgeport
  11/17/05, 9am - 8pm
  Bridgeport City Hall, 45 Lyon Terrace, Bridgeport
• District Five: Southbury
  11/18/05, 9am - 8pm
  Southbury Town Hall, 501 Main Street, Southbury