Click above for Large Image (900 x 600 px)

“Ook ook ack! Eeeeeek! OOOK!” [Trans: "My God, it's full of apps... " ]

I usually don’t repeat subjects, and I JUST reviewed the iPad2. But sometimes a marketing campaign can trod over the same raw nerve so many times before one has to spout off on it.

I don’t want to get off on a rant here but…

Apple’s overuse of the word “magical” when promoting the iPad just gets under my skin. Actually it annoys the poop out of me. Probably because it’s patently horseshit. It’s a piece of TECHNOLOGY, people, not the gorram Philosopher’s stone. We’re not a bunch of knuckle dragging homo habilis hominids howling and flinging rocks, sticks and poop at the frakkin’ monolith. Sometimes I wonder what Apple’s marketing people think of their audience. I do realize what they’re getting at, the idea of an information appliance so immediate and intuitive to use, that the actual interface disappears and you become immersed in just using the thing.

Yes, iPads are damn clever little machines. Actually, they’re right proper little slabs of electric crack, they’re so fun. Despite the absence of Flash, (and in all fairness, Flash ain’t working too well on competing Android tablets yet) I am still quite impressed with Apple’s technical (and marketing) achievement with the device. It is the user interface advances of iOS that does it, and beats down the scrambling competition. You just pick the thing up, you get it, and it just bloody works. Which if you’ve ever had to deal with computers for any length of time, Mac or PC, that feat alone is almost Nobel prize worthy. And seriously folks, this comparatively ancient Power Mac G5, with Gigabytes of RAM, an LCD display, Intuos tablet, internal RAID and Terabyte external drive is pretty frakkin’ Star Trek tech compared to the 48K Atari 800 I first mucked about with in the 80s…

And Yes, it’s been rightly proclaimed that Apple did not make iPads for Power users, guys like me, tho’ I still like the things. Nor did they build them for Tech Geeks, who heap piles of abuse on Apple for all the geeky thinks that the iPad is not, and trumpet the raw specs and “open” platform of the Android powered Competition. Geeky types actually seem to prefer their technology to be complex and challenging and glory in getting in there and tinkering and customizing their tech to their liking. But the general consensus out there is that the three significant players, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Motorola Xoom, and the still-in-the-pipe RIM Playbook, all have their issues. The majority of the rest are still so much vaporware or decidedly crappy knock offs..

But for the most part, everyday folk, and a surprising number of professional people (outside the computer tech fields), couldn’t care less about the deep specs or getting under the hood to tinker with the OS, or manually install pirate apps (or Pr0n). Like owning a fast Italian sports car, unless you’re, as the Top Gear lot might say, a “complete motorhead”, you don’t want to spend all day “mucking about under the bonnet.” You just want to get in and DRIVE. Drive FAST. And I might add, without the motor dropping out or needing to re-build the gearbox every random 2 to 200 miles.

My son quite rightfully points out that most people haven’t the faintest idea how a semiconducting transistor works. A lot of folks don’t even know what they are, nor need to. True enough. I’m something of a technologist, as necessary being a design professional in this digital age, and my knowledge of the physics and details semiconductor technology is sketchy. But I DO have an appropriate general knowledge of how my computer works, and I am well aware that’s it’s a piece of technology. I might not be able to build one from scratch, but I probably could assemble one. I certainly maintain the one I am writing this rant on.

The iPad is a piece of technology, advanced, arguably cutting edge, but still technology. All due respect to Arthur C Clarke’s famous axiom, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” it’s not a magical black box. We’ve been out of the trees and caves for a while now, and can even use fire and tools. I’ll thank the people at Apple to consider that we’re grown-up’s and live in a technological society and stop insulting my intelligence. No one should expect to open up an iPad and find leprechauns and unicorns drawing on the back of the screen with rainbow crayons.

That’s just my opinion, and frak ‘em if they think I’m wrong.

OK, got that out of my system. I expect to have more constructive things to say next time. B4nz41.

Oh. Apologies to Stanley Kubrik and Apple, but hey…

Apple iPad2 - in Black and White. Thinner. Lighter. Faster. FaceTime. Smart Covers. 10 Hour Battery. Original Image: Apple

Been A little while, I’ve been working, and that’s a good thing if you’re a self-employed designer. I also broke my ankle back in August while camping, so been recovering. So blogging a slightly lower priority lately, but here I am again.

I had occasion to be out and about and took the opportunity to visit my local Apple store and take a look at the just released iPad2 for my local Apple User Group. Just like it’s predecessor, it’s a very appealing little slab of electric crack. It’s also a more appealing experience than the original iPad. Apparently, a lot of people think so too, since Apple seems to have sold close to a million of the things in the first weekend of availability, selling out at most locations.

When Apple released the original iPad, they were diving out into uncharted territory. As of last year, no one had gotten a tablet computer out there that captured the public imagination till they completely redesigned the interface. Their success with the iPhone, turning the smartphone market in it’s side, suggested they were on to something. But it wasn’t till the first year of iPad, that the realized that they had something quite amazing on their hands. People are doing things with the iPad that Apple never expected.

View Apple’s iPad: Year One Video

Let’s get to some specific impressions.

It’s definitely sleeker and lighter. The reduced weight make holding the tablet one-handed more comfortable while I manipulated the interface with the other. And the removal of the side wall into the rounded back makes the interface surface seem less like an object and even more like a window into the interface. It also, with a new dual-core processor, feels faster and more responsive. I recall playing with the Google Maps application, the original iPad had problem with pulling down the map data while changing views, locations, zooming in and out and scrolling maps. The iPad2 performed  all of the above seamlessly. Videos in both the YouTube and in Mobile Safari played smoothly and cleanly. For those of you who want to know, the iPad2 comes with 512mb of RAM compared to the original’s 256mb.

“My friends, I’m telling you: just that much improvement in thinness, weight and speed transforms the experience. We’re not talking about a laptop or a TV, where you don’t notice its thickness while in use. This is a tablet. You are almost always holding it. Thin and light are unbelievably important for comfort and the overall delight. So are rounded edges, which the first iPad didn’t have.”
- David Pogue, NY Times Personal Tech.

Graphics Performance is greatly improved. I did tick at a game or two, and they run quite snappily. However a “special demo version” of Disney’s TRON Legacy game failed to load beyond the intro screens. Perhaps a glitch, bit still disappointing. On the other hand, Zen Sketch was a smooth delight to this amateur calligrapher.

I also looked at the new cameras, front and back, introduced with the iPad2. As many other reviews noted, they’re the same cameras that are on the iPod Touch, and not as good as the ones on the iPhone. What up? In fact, the rear cam produces quite decent 720p video, which looks better than the still taken with the same sensor. I will admit that mucking around in Photo Booth IS fun. When I dropped in to the photos application – I am resisting the urge to use the lingo “app” – the sample photo albums in the demo unit could not POSSIBLY have been made with the iPads cameras. And I think that is largely the point. The cameras are not intended as serious photography tools, and I think that most iPad owners will likely already have a mid-level to high-end Digital Camera, DSLR,  or an iPhone or smartphone with a quite good camera to provide a photo source to hook up to the Camera Connection Kit. The cams are there to provide casual snapshots, to give the iPad “eyes” for interactive apps, create decent video for the well received mobile version of iMovie, and to enable FaceTime video chat and calls. However, I think it’s likely that they’ll improve the cameras on the next version of the iPad.

As a web designer, I did notice that there were a lot of places where Flash Video didn’t work in Mobile Safari, but it was not too objectionable. The larger media sites were streaming some form of h.263/HTML5 video, but smaller sites often had holes. Including places in some of my sites, where clients insisted on Flash content. A couple of my sites degraded to the non-flash versions gracefully, others had holes. I know I’ll be hitting Google and the books to see about this. For the moment, it just means more work for the likes of me if my clients want rich online media, and want it to work on the rapidly growing Mobile Web. Most notable, just about EVERY inline audio solution generally available, whether it’s javascript, JQuery, or plain HTML & CSS3, uses a Flash player.

However, the amazing Apps ecosystem in iOS (40,000 plus for the iPad alone) sets the iPad and iPhone (over 300,000 apps ) apart from their Android counterparts, and makes the Flash Question a bit less of a shortcoming.

The Smart Cover is very spiffy, and very clever. “…an iPad 2 wearing a Smart Cover is considerably thinner than a naked original iPad.” - John Gruber, Daring Fireball. The covers clings to the iPad2 magnetically, and almost automatically, folds back to make either a typing stand or stand up the screen to view media. When closed, it sleeps the pad, and the iPad wakes instantly when peeled back. Until the third party case makers catch up, the Smart Cover is also largely the only game in town. The Apple Store had no other cases for the iPad2 in the shop. But I am sure there will be a flood of cases, and other accessories swiftly flooding the market before very long.

The iPad2 comes in the same wi-fi and 3G configurations and price points as the original, with the addition of white models. I prefer the black – the white seems to diminish the screen, while the black feels somehow… deeper. Just an impression. The original iPad is still available from Apple at mild discounts, in addition to refurbished models. After selling out, shipments have been easing back out to the Apple Stores and other outlets. But the shipping times for the online store have stretched to 4-5 weeks as of March 20. One other thought, due to the disaster in Japan, Apple may have some problems with availability of the more high tech parts of the iPad that are manufactured in Japan. But that will largely depend on how Apple has organized their supply chain.

Should you buy one? If you’ve been waiting for this version for your first pad, dive in. It’s a very worthy device. If you have an original iPad, the upgrade may be too incremental to drop $500 to $830 for, unless there is some specific feature you’re jonesing for, or shortcoming the upgrade address that’s making you insane. But I am with many reviewers out there that feel that a device of this caliber ought to be useful for more than a year. So next year’s iPad3 will likely offer a more impressive upgrade. Depends on your needs and gadget lust. However, if your in a household that’s fighting over the thing. It’s a nice excuse to get a new one, and pass your old model along and get the kids to leave you alone. My wife often gives me the sad eye whenever I take the Macbook Pro out on a client call or presentation.

Other tablets? If Flash is a deal-breaker for you, then there are a few other choices. The New York Times has a decent outline of the contenders you might actually be able to buy. The rest of the hundred or so announced at CES are still vaporware. The current leading contender, the Motorola Xoom, is on the expensive side. But the emerging competition should serve to keep Apple to continue to improve the iPad.

Changes at The Apple Store

Since I was in an Apple Store, I noticed a couple of things. The front counter is gone. And in most of the store you can purchase Apple gear right on the sales floor from an Apple Associate. IOS and mobile computing are absolutely the stars on Apple’s stage now. Over half the store was iOS devices, iPads, iPhones, iPod Touch. Then most of the rest was MacBooks. Other than Apple hardware, all the third party gear, peripherals,  books and software is now consigned to one section of shelving in the very back. On the other side of the quite busy Genius Bar, was another rear section with an elite selection of iPod, iPhone and iPad accessories.

There were a few iMacs along the side towards the back, and just ONE lonely Mac Pro, neglected in a corner, and it was an entry-level Xeon machine, not a more powerful Westmere Mac Pro. So it kind of shows where Apple’s attention is focused with the mall-walking audience. Note the qualifier. But if I want to look at pro gear, I’d have to haul downtown to TekServe. Just saying. But there are reasons that Pro users are feeling neglected by Apple.

But with the opening and growth of the online Mac App Store, on the same lines as the App Store, Apple is definitely leaning towards an all-digital software experience. And I do admit, that less and less of my software is coming shrink-wrapped in boxes. But for peripherals, printers, hard drives and other gear, especially pro gear, it’s still nice to be able actually look things over before slapping down the credit card. But we won’t be doing much of it at Apple stores, except for Apple kit.

Further Reading

iPad at Apple
iPad2 Features

Tablets, Compared. NY Times Interactive Feature

For a more geeky and in-depth review:
John Gruber on the iPad @ Daring Fireball

A more “regular-person” audience impression:
Appeal of iPad 2 Is a Matter of Emotions
David Pogue, NY Times Personal Tech

The current Mac Pro update disappoints actual pro users. Image: Apple Computer

Apple recently released, after over a year in waiting, an update to their Mac Pro line of tower configuration computers. They introduced the Westmere line of the Xeon workstation processors and now a version with 12 computing cores is available. But for many Apple watchers, the update was a bit of a disappointment.

For openers, while Apple has been determinedly cutting edge on their new flagship mobile products, iPhones, iPads… were notably conservative on this update. New tech such as USB 3, Firewire 1600, Litghtbridge, or even established desirable standards as eSATA were skipped. Few expected Blu-Ray support, since Steve doesn’t like Blu-Ray. The video cards options offered by Apple are decent, but somewhat mediocre by contemporary standards. But all in all, commentary in the tech blogs has negative commentary edging out positive reviews. The general consensus seemed “meh,” with a lot of dissatisfaction centering on performance versus price issues compared to alternatives on the Windows and Linux side.

The machines are pricey.

“The upgraded desktop is available in three standard options: a quad-core 2.8GHz Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processor with 3GB of RAM for $2,499; an 8-core machine with two 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors and 6GB of RAM for $3,499; or a 12-core system with two 2.66GHz 6-core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors and 6GB of RAM for $4,999.” – Apple Insider

The pricing here is without display, so add anywhere from $799 to $1800 for Apple display. The upcoming 27” LCD display will be priced at $900 and replace both the existing 24” and 30” displays and will be glossy-only.

Much of the following is taken from my  grumpy comment at Engadget. I’ve taken the liberty of cleaning up some of the unpolished language and clarifying some remarks in this version.

First off, the disclaimers, I am a Design Pro, not an IT person, gamer or semi-pro geek tinkerer. So most if this is OPINION, not hyper scrutinized lists of facts. Bear with it. I am also not going to dis down anybody’s personal choice of hardware or OS preferences. Or debate fanboyism at any level. It’s been done already. To death. Seriously.

That said, as a Graphic and Web Designer, I’ve been a Mac user for many years. I’ll say that in the day, the Mac OS offered clear advantages over window and all non-graphical OSs. And also in the day Apple hardware also offered some unique qualities unavailable in the WinTel world. But that day is PASSED. The only reason anyone should chose Mac hardware or the Mac OS is personal preference.

When Apple was releasing G4 and G5 Towers, they were cutting edge machines at the absolute top end, and provided performance that was just not available at the desktop level elsewhere. But that is clearly no longer the case. Now that Macs and PCs are essentially the same guts under the hood, there are far less differentiating qualities. For the Mac Pro, while they may be shiny, spiffy, and fairly stout machines, they are NOT the ultimate computing machines Apple would have us believe. There are comparable workstation class machines available from HP, Levono, Acer, and even *gasp* … Dell at better price points. Yes, I looked. The current lineup just manages essential parity with Windows workstation-class machines out there, and offers downright mediocre graphics cards, which have become much more important components in modern computing.

It’s been pointed out by my geekier colleagues that more powerful configurations can of course be assembled from off the shelf components for leaner budgets if that’s your thing. Some of us do like to tinker in the garage. Some of us just want to say, “give me the keys, I’d rather drive.” It should go without saying, your mileage may vary.

Are the Mac Pros overpriced for the tech level offered? I may be a bit of an Apple loyalist and I still have to say, OH HELL YES. I will offer that the overall reliability, build quality and case design is superior, even if the internal components are decent but fairly standard. And yes, while Apple has evolved the case internals to a very refined level, it’s still a seven year old overall case design. It could absolutely use a refresh.

The galling point for us Design Pros, and I am talking about Publishing, Photography, Graphics and Web Design, is that Apple has tossed us to the curb YEARS ago to the tender mercies of Adobe. Go into an Apple store and good luck finding any serious pro gear, such as an tabloid size (11″ x 17″) printer or press quality scanner. Not for the likes of us. And we’ve been crying for a mid-range Mac for frakkin’ ages. The majority of us would probably be quite comfortable with the performance range of the 27″ i7 iMac in an expandable tower configuration. The price gap between the i7 iMac nicely appointed and the Base Mac Pro and Display is enough to buy a decent laptop and the Adobe CS5 upgrade. Which I might mention is a non-trivial sum. Adobe enjoys a near monopoly in the must-have graphics applications that design pros use such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash and Actobat, and charge us accordingly. The further fact that Apple has done away with all non-glossy screens except for the BTO MacBookPro, shows their disdain for Design pros over “oooohhh shiny,” which does look spiffier in the Apple Store lighting.

The present scene now is all about Apple’s current relentless pursuit of the “consuming” computer user… hence the iPods, iPhones, iPads and the like. I feel that Apple keeps the Mac Pro remains in the lineup merely to say that they have a high end machine for the very needful (climate modeling and 3D rendering anyone?) and quite affluent users. But the Mac Pro line is no longer the champion of the Apple universe, or does it seem to have much of Steve’s attention.

Since the current Adobe CS5 Applications requires an Intel multicore processor minimum, this will retire a LOT of still working G5 machines. As design has becomes a much more marginal profession in the current economy, I expect we’ll see a lot of “downgrade upgrades” to iMac, laptops and Windows machines as design pros look at their bottom lines and budgets.

I don’t think Steve will miss us much. We complain.

Links:
Mac Pro @ Apple
Engadget
Mac Rumors
Apple Insider
Adobe Creative Suite 5

Image size, Standard NTSC vs Broadcast 1080i High Definition Image source: RDP Video Productions

I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I’ve been busy. Being booked solid is a good thing for a freelancer. Being booked solid while having a number of real life issues… not as comfortable, but comes with the territory of home and family. Being booked solid and being paid somewhat indifferently. That is certainly… less good, but seems a function of the current uncertain economy. But that’s neither here nor there. I also promised a piece on data protection and backups and the like, but this is still fresh in the Studio. So hitting it while I can rant with good store of fierce.

A couple of months ago, one of my best and favorite clients approached me about a PowerPoint project that they were having some problems with. So I agreed to take a look at it. Some of the problems hinged on the destination of the presentation— a giant 40-inch plasma screen going into their freshly redesigned lobby. I did the specs on the actual LCD, and discovered that it’s native resolution was 1080i… yes, 1900 x 1080 pixels. Not huge by 300 dpi print standards. But HUMONGOUS at screen sizes. So I agreed to build the big graphics for the slides.

So far this is still straightforward. But was not destined to stay that way. The president of the company wanted some fairly upscale animation effects. And an animated title. So the project slipped into the Flash animation level. Recent versions of PowerPoint have the capability to display video on the slides, so I could export the Flash work to Quicktime or Flash Video files and embed them in the Flash Slides.

As things progressed. The client passed on another request. They want a scrolling type effect to run continuously at the bottom of the presentation, and have a picture-in-picture effect of CNN or something running in the bottom left corner of the screen.

This just became a Video Project.

Since it is going to an 1080i device, it has become a HIGH-DEFINITION Video Project.

To get this done, I have to get additional software. First off, the HD Version of iMovie. Then it was on to eBay to get a compatible–and discontinued (Power Mac G5) version of Final Cut Express that had the desired feature set. But that done I went back to work and built the project. A few rounds of drafts, corrections and tweaks I had a final version.

Whoops. No, I didn’t.

They were so happy with the overall look, they wanted not just their projects, but also their services and client testimonials, with differentiating graphics and more animation added.

Fine. Back to work and got the enhancements done. Of course this meant essentially a rewrite, rebuild and re-rendering of the video. The resulting product is not Pixar stuff by any means, but got the job done. Huzzah. The finished piece was just under 12 minutes long. Perfectly fine to keep a visitor in the lobby reasonably entertained and informed about my client’s company.

The Quicktime h.264 file was also nearly 8 GIGABYTES. Uh-Oh.

Logistics issues loom. The night before I was to leave for a family trip, (yes freelancers do try to get away once in a while) I attempted to upload the file to their servers. After a nearly five hour upload, the server hangs the connection at  87%. This is worse than just dropping. Most FTP server can resume a dropped or interrupted upload. But a hang is … “opps, I lost my mind there. So very sorry.”  You have to cancel or force quit the file transfer and START OVER. There were tears, but in my defense it WAS late at night and I was very tired.  In the end, I stuffed it onto a Dual layer DVD Disc and express mailed the file to the client from on the road. Families of freelancers are long suffering and tolerant. In other words, awesome.

But still no joy. For some reason,  support for Qucktime Hi-Def on Windows, is at best grudgingly enabled by Microsoft. Sometimes works. Sometimes… THIS time, doesn’t. Could not play the file. Some of you have no doubt seen Windows Media, and Flash Video. Neither is ready for HD prime time either.

They want a “regular” DVD.

Okay. So we’ll make a DVD. Supposed to be easy, right? “Burn your own DVD Video’s!” all the software and computer flacks scream in an orgy of self-congratulatory marketing. There is a very healthy market for software that enables users to create and produce and add soundtracks and otherwise slice, dice and cuisinart their home (and amateur work ) camcorder and DVR video. And another busy market to rip, archive, burn and spit out CDs and DVDs. But the marriage is not all THAT happy.  With so many variables in the process, there are plenty of places in the chain for things to go wrong.

When I dived back into iMovie HD, I discovered that there was NO HD Disc-Burning option, and iDVD did not support HD. The Disc created there was “kind of” Higher-definition standard Def., or about 720 Pixels tall. Looked like CRAP on the 40’ display. And they even looked crappy on our perfectly ordinary 24” television. Obviously NOT the answer.

In the process, burned a LOT of coasters. More on this later.

So it was back to the software store to get the most current update to Roxio’s Toast software package with an Blu-ray HD Option. [Roxio Toast 10 Pro]  Since a blu-ray BURNER would be an expensive upgrade to my gear, I was also attracted by the option to burn HD-DVDs. This was Blu-Ray formatted HD content that would fit on a standard size DVD-R, up to about 30 min. of content in the smaller data space. So far so good.

After a few more coasters, had a disc. Which refused to play on the client’s player. Different discs – tried both +R and -R discs, both unsuccessful. I got a hold of the Sharp Aquos tech specs and discovered that almost NO recordables were compatible with the player. And further research revealed that recordables have VERY poor playback success on Blu-Ray players. The format is just too intricate and finicky and the tech is just too new. I heard from a friend that when her brother purchased a wide screen at Best Buy, the sales person advised him AGAINST the Blu-ray player option, as they were getting lots of complaints about Blu-ray DVD not playing consistently. He said to wait a year or so till the standard settled down.

Steve Jobs in 2008 called the Blu-ray format a “Bag of Hurt” when questioned about Bru-ray support in Mac OS X. and on that year’s versions of Apple Laptops. Apple’s approach has been to embrace streaming video delivered via the internet, specifically content via iTunes and have de-emphasized HD video DVD playback and burn support on the Mac. But times, and consumer tastes will eventually prevail.

And according to the Wikipedia summary of the format, that is part of the problem:

“the idea of using inexpensive DVD media became popular among individual users. A lower-capacity version of this format that uses single-layer 4.5GB DVD discs has been unofficially called BD5. Both formats (BD9 and BD5) are being used by individual users for recording high definition content onto recordable DVD media.[112][113]

Despite that BD9 format has been adopted as part of the BD-ROM basic format, none of existing Blu-Ray player models supports it explicitly. As such, the discs recorded in BD9 and BD5 formats are not guaranteed to be played on standard Blu-Ray Disc players” — Wikipedia-Blu-Ray Disc

As it stands, typically NOT.

Furthermore, I’ve discovered that not all recordable media are created equal. A lot of users have had real problems with Memorex DVD Media. I have a stack of coasters to attest to that. The cost or brand of recordable media seem to have little to do with quality of the discs.

So at this point I am throwing up the hands, and like a professional that I am, sought the help of other pros. I started looking into Video Production Houses in my region to see about having my finished content authored into something playable on my client’s gear.

The trip was not over. One company’s web site looked promising, but after browsing I could find NO PHONE NUMBER, NO ADDRESS, NO E-MAIL ADDRESS or even a contact page. Well, what the FRAK is up with that? I was able to look them up with Google… but if they don’t want to be contacted. Fine with Me. And this could be a whole separate (less polite) rant.

Two other outfits that were quite sympathetic to my situation actually had to turn down my project. Blu-ray was too new, too finicky, and they just didn’t have the gear and the capability. One Helpful Local Outfit looked at my material was able to refer me to the Big Important Video Producer that could assist me.

Which was how I got an inkling of how difficult a format Blu-ray was. To create – encode and author a single disc would cost in the hundreds of dollars. Additional discs need to be individually encoded, over a hundred dollars EACH. Which may be one reason why the Studios chose Blu-Ray over HD-DVD – very difficult to duplicate.

After all this, the client and I agreed that the way to do it would be to connect a PC to the big lobby screen and run the Digital version of the video to the screen.

So while this digital drama plays out, and I wait to get paid, some observations. Amazing things have happened in the world of Digital Video, but we’re obviously not there yet. Eventually, the big tech players, The studios, gear manufacturers, computer makers and software developers will stop trying to STAB each other and get around the big table and decide what’s going to be what with Blu-ray. Equipment and software will become more capable and grow more affordable. Media compatibility hopefully will improve. As HD  content, and consumer acceptance, gains traction, the demand for the ability to create and deliver HD content on the Personal Computer will only grow. And the tech companies will surely respond. At the end of the day, they can usually be relied on to try and follow the money.

Sometimes that works out for both content creators and consumers.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Blu-Ray Disc Format
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/steve-jobs-calls-blu-ray-a-bag-of-hurt/
http://theappleblog.com/2009/08/04/will-apple-ever-support-blu-ray/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray
http://apcmag.com/analysis_no_bluray_on_macs_and_nobody_cares.htm

Video Production Houses
Ascent Media
RDP Video Producti0ons

Roxio Toast

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/default.html

Apple Video Applications
www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/
www.apple.com/ilife/idvd/
www.apple.com/finalcutexpress

Sharp AQUOS
www.sharpusa.com/ForHome/HomeEntertainment/LCDTVs.aspx
www.sharpusa.com/ForHome/HomeEntertainment/BluRayDisc.aspx

HTML code in Text Wrangler. Want a piece of this action?

Hello everyone who may or not be paying attention.

I know it’s been a while but I was a bit distracted by some very consuming system issues with my workstation. But that cautionary tale is a subject for another post. Seriously. Cautionary. Tale. But not now.

One of the requests that I often get from clients is that they want to know how to do simple revisions and update their web site content for themselves. Of course they are concerned in this difficult economy about paying my fair, but non-trivial designer’s rate for what might be a trivial update or minor correction. I do have a minimum quarter hour charge. Which is seriously, just about how long it takes to read the email, take the call, jot a note or two, fire up Dreamweaver or a text editor, an FTP client, log into the hosting provider’s Control Panel, upload the fix, revision or update and then log it on the timesheet. So I do see their point. Or you might just want more control of your own content.

Let me diverge for a moment, and mention that there are do-it-yourself options out there if your needs and design requirements are relatively straightforward. Many of the Hosting providers out there have relatively simple, template based, drop-in-your-content web site plans, such as GoDaddy’s “Web Site Tonight” feature. There are also services like Microsoft’s FrontPage, Apple’s iWeb, and Yahoo’s Small Business Web Sites… etc. But these ARE template based sites and they can be perfectly adequate, but they’ll look like a LOT of other sites out there without a lot of distinction.

Another approach is to construct a web presence around a blog, either through your hosting provider and your own domain, or use one of the well rounded services such as WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, Live Journal and the like.

But if you’re working with someone like me, you’re probably wanting something more custom designed and distinctive in the first place; really marrying your branding and message to the site design. You might want to have more complex functionality or technology on your site. Perfectly fair, and how I make a respectable chunk of my livelihood. But you might not want to bug me about changing one paragraph in your Mission Statement, or correcting a misspelling in your bio. Or you’d like to toss up a news item, and I am off in a tent in the woods that week, or buried with other client’s projects at that moment. Hey, it could happen.

Anyway, there are three general approaches to getting into the guts of your site.

Learn Web Coding

The first is the cheapest, since it can be done with any text editor and an FTP client. That would be litreally learning enough HTML and web tech to actually edit the underlying code of your web pages and upload the changed pages back to the hosting server. As you can imagine, this does imply the heaviest learning curve. And of course, depending on just how intricate the site’s design is, getting into the designer’s code could be problematical. If you’re not careful and meticulous, its real easy to break stuff. And then you’ll be calling your Webmaster or Designer and tossing a bit more than a quarter hour for cleanups. Of course with more modern coding techniques, particularly CSS, and XML, sites can be much more modular and the site’s content and its design can be separated. This makes updates and revisions much less tedious.

Use Web Access Software

Another approach is to use an end-client piece of software that allows users to access the site from their own computers, and make their edits in a more understandable format. One example is Adobe Contribute. This application allows access to a web site, but also lets the Designer/Webmaster restrict access to parts of the site that ought to not be messed with. The application even allows users to generate new pages and links, upload images and documents, while maintaining the site design and structure. Different users can be assigned different roles and levels of access. The interface is similar to Microsoft Word, so it’s a familiar way to work and training is much simpler.

This approach is a bit more costly, as you have to buy specialty software, and it requires the Site Designer to set up the site for access. There is also some training time involved, but not as much as learning full blown web coding. A mid-line solution for moderately complex sites, and reasonably tech-comfortable users.

Use a Content Management System

For more sophisticated sites, or for dead simple access, or both, is the use of a Content Management System. Using a CMS, the end user typically has a web based interface to add or modify content on their site. The software keeps the design elements and the content separated, and the user content is stored in a database on the server. This is the most costly up-front approach, as the site has to be configured from the ground up to use the technology, and set-up is more involved than a basic HTML, XHTML and CSS, site.  All the back end software is stored on the hosting server, and all the user needs is a web browser and the access credentials. This can be a very attractive solution where there is a lot of time sensitive or dynamic content, and the site gets frequent updates.

More and more, business sites are using CMS technology and more hosting providers are offering open source Web Application Software to Web Developers and Webmasters as part of their hosting packages. It does take more than a bit of specialty skill to set up, but once in place, can be very effective and easy to maintain. The initial cost may be a bit more than a basic HTML or CSS based site, but maintenance and updates can be cheaper over time. If you have a shopping cart or an e-commerce site, this is a form of Content Management, with software running on the web server tracking buyers, products, transactions.

However, none of the above typically allow the end user to significantly revise or alter the site design or graphic style. That type of work would require the re-involvement of the Web Designer and Developers. Of course, if you had that skill set, you would BE the web Designer or Developer, and you would already know this.

Still the whole point of hiring graphic or technical professionals is to free up your time to focus on your own particular vocation or specialty, and let us do our thing for you.

Next time, losing the works.  I hope I don’t keep you waiting so long for that one, its frakkin’ crazed…

Stufz (Resources):

GoDaddy Web Site Tonight:
http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/website-builder.aspx

Microsoft FrontPage:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/frontpage/default.aspx

Apple iWeb: http://www.apple.com/ilife/iweb/

Yahoo Small Business Web Sites:
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting/

WordPress: http://wordpress.com/

Blogger/Blogspot : https://www.blogger.com/start

TypePad: http://www.typepad.com/

Live Journal: http://www.livejournal.com/

Adobe Contribute: http://www.adobe.com/products/contribute/

Wikipedia: Web Content Management System:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_content_management_system

Open Source Applications at Godaddy:

http://hostingconnection.godaddy.com/AllApplications.aspx

(Crikey! I’m not even sure what all this stuff does… )

Banging one out in InDesign. Yeah, I know what I'm doin'. Look! CMYK colors!

With the market shifting as rapidly as it has been in the Electronic Age – this is a question that often pops up in my dealings with clients, my colleagues, and especially potential clients.

When is it time to hire a Designer?

There was a time, it seems long ago now, when everything printed, from annual reports and catalogs, to matchbook covers and little league flyers, required the hands of creative pros – designers, draftsmen, illustrators, layout artists, darkroom technicians, typesetters, color separators, film strippers, platemakers, printers and pressmen.  But that was circa 1980, B.C. – Before Computers. In the Mid 80’s the PostScript Programming language was being developed by John Warnock of Adobe, and Steve Jobs and was developing the Apple Macintosh computers. Eventually the combination of the Macintosh, the LaserWriter II and Aldus’s ground breaking page layout program, PageMaker, changed the publishing landscape forever.

“The DTP market exploded in 1985 with the introduction in January of the Apple LaserWriter printer, and later in July with the introduction of PageMaker software from Aldus which rapidly became the DTP industry standard software.” – Wikipedia
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_Publishing ]

By the 1990s, the Desktop Publishing revolution was sweeping aside traditional “drafting table” publishing. The New Tools rose up to replace T-squares, Technical pens, x-acto knifes, rubylith, designer’s markers and drafting instruments. Names like PageMaker, Quark Xpress, PhotoShop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Freehand became buzzwords of the profession and became the Designer’s professional tools. In the current era, Adobe’s InDesign has joined the group, becoming as prominent as Quark, perhaps more so among solo freelancers and small studios.

At the beginning of the DTP R/evolution, many publishers tried to cast aside Graphic Designers and Art Directors for High School Interns,  Sales Reps or Secretaries running Macintosh SE’s and PageMaker. The results were not pretty. The years of Very Ugly Junk Mail. After a period of… what I’ll charitably call “adjustment”, Publishers turned back to having the expertise of actual Designers at the workstations and things began to look up again.

What that largely meant is that not only have Design Professionals had to embrace the digital world, the ever increasing strength of our electronic tools has significantly tightened the number of people involved in publishing projects. Compared to the legion  of specialists mentioned above, it’s often condensed down, for better or worse, to just the Designer, the Print Vendor and the Client. The force multiplier of our software allows us to take on the tasks of the typesetter, the layout artist, the color separator, the pre-press technician.  I do very much miss proofreaders in these lean times. However, this also requires us to be much more familiar with the intricacies of  the various publishing disciplines, and a competent Designer in the Information Age is as much Art Director as craftsperson. And with the advent of the Web as a publishing platform, increasingly a technician and programmer.

But something interesting has happened going into the new century. As professional class software grew in power, features and sophistication, so has everyday “civilian” software.  Simple publishing applications began to appear, and contemporary Word Processors, notably Microsoft Word and Office, now have significant page layout capability. Combined with an almost endless availability of free or inexpensive templates, clip art and stock photos, the majority of simple publishing projects can be created by end users, and sent straight on to over-the-counter printers, even Office Depot, Staples and Kinkos. ( *cringe*) Online Print services also make a lot of “everyday” printing readily available to the do-it-yourself set. So the bottom of the market, simple to moderately complex business cards, basic letterheads and 3-panel brochures, little league fliers, the pizza place menu, is no longer territory for Design Professionals. For creative pros, the market for Print Designers and Publishing Art Directors has certainly contracted.  Forever.  I’ve been hearing the comment more and more, “why do I need you expensive, artsy prima-donnas when I can do this myself in Word?” Why indeed?

So just when, exactly, do you need us?

Quite simply, when you want to look better than that.

While it is true that there is a great deal of ordinary printing and publishing you can create in word processors and inexpensive consumer level applications, or through over the counter and online print vendors. There are times when you will want to go beyond that. For starters, what is your own time worth? I certainly don’t fancy myself a Lawyer or a Concert Pianist. The little league flyer is one thing. Your annual report, perhaps quite another. When you’ve spent two hours ftuzing about in a word processor on a business card, and still are struggling with how to get the 10-up Avery template to work. When you realize the the brilliant neon RGB green prints a color that can be charitably described as “swamp water”. When you decide that that piece of clip art looks an awful lot … like clip art. Or the stock photo isn’t quite right. Or that you can’t quite get that logo you had in mind to look quite right in Powerpoint or MS Paint.  In essence, when you want to “kick it up a notch,” to look more finished, more professional … and competitive.

That’s where people like me come in. And if we’re any good, we’re probably not cheap, but we’ll provide good value. If you hire some kid in high school or your brother in law just because they have a computer and Photoshop… well, you’ll likely get what you pay for. Believe it or not, a lot of us have training and degrees in this stuff, and have devoted a lot of time to learning our craft and how to get the most out of our professional tools. And the whole purpose of specialists is that we do have expertise in our fields, freeing you to do whatever it is you do best.

When you hire creative pros, Graphic Designers, Illustrators, Art Directors, Web Designers and Developers, you are hiring people who have made good design their career and craft.  A proper designer is not a hobbyist. A creative pro brings an extra edge of professionalism and polish, and the effective impact of good design to your projects.  We also have expertise in process and production methods, so that what we send to printers comes out looking the way we planned. We understand that there is a difference between CMYK and RGB.  We might also know a thing or two about  tasteful use of typefaces beyond Times, Arial and Comic Sans. We do not fear white space.  We know a something about how ink hits paper. Can specify process and spot color and have that red look like something a fire engine would be proud to wear. We also understand and can explain to you why you cant take that postage stamp sized image off a web site and make it into a poster. And why it’s a really really really bad idea to grab a pic from someone else’s site, especially a competitor. And in the emerging age of Information, a good designer can help you navigate your documents into the digital age.  In a future post, I plan to go into the incredible explosion in electronic publishing that we call the Internet and the World Wide Web.  But that’s a whole  ‘nother topic, and worth it’s own article. Knowing our way around the print and publishing industries, and the digital word, despite our cost, hiring a pro can actually save you money by avoiding the common production errors of the novice. And your stuff will look better.

If a lot of the previous paragraph when over your head, you might just need one of us. But when you’re ready to take it to the next level, we’re here to help you and your company look your best in print or online. And a good Design Professional will be a creative partner, not a prima-donna, and will help you make your ideas shine. This final summary thought applies to not just Graphics and Design, but to any skilled profession.

Hire the Professional, we know what we’re doing.

Well, I went down into NYC for an Adobe Creative Suite 4 Launch Tour seminar last Friday. And got a reminder of why I took the bus when I had a NYC day job… it was 50 min inbound at 7:00-8:00 yesterday… but over TWO hours outbound at the height of the evening Rush Hour. Left the Javits Center at around 5:30… pulled into the driveway between 7:30 and 8:00.. OUCH. But the very evil part was walking the block or so from the parking lot to the Javits Center into the wind off the River… AIEEEEEEE!!!!! Oh my FACE! So you can see why I was less that excited about walking down from Port Authority in the Artctic Blast. Which put me rather out on hiking off to 8th or 9th avenue for lunch. So I ended up having very overpriced very blah and ordinary concession food at the center. FEH. On the other hand, I scored an $14 Early Bird rate at a lot LESS than a half mile from the Javits, so I think I’ll call it even and move on.

That said, Creative Suite 4 is pretty frakkin’ awesome, with lots of clever enhancements, with many peeves addressed and wish list items suggested by users added. This is of course a FAR superior approach than Microsoft, that just DOES STUFF to their apps, usually Office or Windows itself, and then shoves the “enhancements” down your throat. Often this breaks things that might have actually worked well in some of their products. So yes, I WANT IT. Very shiny. As Tim Taylor once said.. “More POWER! Utt! Utt! Utt!”

I did end up choosing the Web Design Track – Fireworks / Flash / Dreamweaver over the Print Design Track – Photoshop / Illustrator / InDesign – in the afternoon, since there is a bit more Web Design volume in the Studio these days than Print. I have a LOT less experience in the moving target that is the very technical side of web site production than I do in Print production and Prepress, where I am a frakkin’ NINJA. I’ve been designing for print since 1980.

But seriously, WTF people? There seems to be some impression that Web and Print Designers are these two separate and warring tribes. And seems like seminars ALWAYS have the Web and Print sessions on two tracks in direct conflict. But the reality of the current marketplace is that you HAVE to have Print AND Web skillz if you are going to survive as a solo freelancer or small studio. Or if you’re hired as some small company’s ENTIRE ART DEPARTMENT… where you are doing all of their print, managing the web site, making PowerPoint presentations, answering the phones and running the network server. So hell yes, I needed to attend both tracks. I use all SIX applications regularly. So why do hey ALWAYS do this crap???

But of course, this is the version of The Adobe products that will BREAK G4 macs and PCs under 2 GHz processors… And seriously, Adobe’s apps EAT RAM and Hard Drive space.
Go ahead, look it up: www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/design/systemreqs/

Does your system measure up?

So all things considered, I am planning on digging in my heels, and holding out till a client or vendor sends me an InDesign CS4 or .fla file that I can’t open … then cough up the $600 that costs Me from somewhere between $2500-$5000…*cringes*  Glad I am fairly booked.

The studio vs. household budget in these trying economic times will more likely dictate an iMac, but when the time comes will most likely go for the big 24″ screen version. Graphic Designers DO need some screen real estate! I’d DIE if I had to go back to a 17″ Display… I hadn’t been keeping up with the notebooks as I am more of a desktop person. But in doing the math it DID occur to me that I could get a 2.4 Ghz Macbook Pro AND a 24″ iMac for about the same cost of the mid-range 3 GHz Mac Pro with a  20 ” Display!  Course I COULD get a piece of crap, plastic case Dell or Acer, or E-Machines PC for $799 at Office Depot… but the service life of a PC is distressingly short, and I’d have probably gone through 3 of the damn things since 2001… Seriously, the IRS only allows 3 years depreciation for a PC, while you can take 5 years for a #&^%$ CHAIR. Plus the usual security issues beating off Viruses, Spams, Scams, Worms, Trojans, spyware, adware, phishing and random hackers … and the utterly screwed color calibration… yadda yadda… you’ve probably hear all the trash talk before.

I do like Apple and their machines a lot, they just WORK. They just DO what they’re asked for the most part.. and the OS (mostly) stays the frak out of my face, and sometimes even helps out. But I am a little narked off that they really don’t offer a good machine at the Mid-range level. Up your soft parts, Steve. But will holding off sticking a crowbar into the IRA till I absolutely HAVE to.

Your milege may, of course, vary.

Find out more at www.adobe.com/creativesuite