Connecting Dots — Simply Connecting the Dots

Skis set in stone

December 11th, 2007

Let me introduce the Zai Spada, a ski where the core is made of stone (gneiss to be precise). You may utter a WTF right about now…

Apparently stone has “impressive damping characteristics that are ideal for ski construction” and if you wrap it all in carbon fiber it will also withstand shear stress i.e. it won’t turn into an expensive rattle for your kid. Apparently you learn something new every day… And it was all made possible by the brains at Tehnocarbon.

I have to admit though that I’m more inclined to get a pair of Tschadilas (but then I take another look at DPS quiver and I’m back on track for Wailer 105s)

via: Baekdal

Bad Layout

December 09th, 2007

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The what and why of bad layout conventions on the web as viewed and commented by Andy Rutledge

When newspapers and other print publications took their products to the Web, they were armed with what they thought was relevant design expertise. But this theretofore expertise turned to hubris when they failed to accurately recognize the constraints of this new medium. Their design and layout experience caused them to hold precious their deep columnar silo approach to sectional information presentation….

…When news main page sections are laid out in vertical columns of varying heights placed side-by-side it requires that a reader practice one of 2 irritating methods of content consumption: 1) scroll downward to scan a columnâ€™s or sectionâ€™s content and then go back up to do the same with another column or section, or 2) scan horizontally across adjacent columns of differing contexts, then scroll down and repeat the process, etcâ€¦