I am looking forward to get new software in 2010. A quick top 5 of these software solutions is:

1. Firefox 3.6

It’s been in beta state way too long and it’s time to have it live.

2. WordPress 2.9.1 (maybe 2.9.2)

With a lot of bug fixes from a minor release, 2.9.1 should be ready by January 2010.

3. Server2Go 1.8.0

Again, a long time since a release, Server2Go should upgrade PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, and provide speed optimizations.

4. Open Realty 2.6.0 (maybe 3.0)

A lot of bugs in the current releases, but Open Realty is the number one script for Realtors. I use it for 2 clients, and write 3 more from scratch based on Open Realty features.

5. jQuery 1.3.3 (maybe 1.4.0)

I don’t really hope for a 1.4.0 leap, but the current version needs more optimizations and simplification.

To be fair with myself, I’ll release in January fresh versions of Whiskey Air WordPress theme with 2.9 optimizations, Portable phpMyAdmin, Butterfly Query Admin, Butterfly Organizer and (em)phasis.

I also have several other undisclosed projects to be released sometimes in 2010.

While actively developing Firefox 3, and beta updates are knocking on our doors, the Mozilla team released some alpha UI concepts.

As noted on the 3.0 Windows Default Theme Issues Wikipage, Firefox feels dated and behind on Windows. Especially Vista and Windows 7. These issues include absence of Glass, anemic purple toolbar color on Vista, tall and bulky UI footprint, element overload, inconsistent toolbar icon usage/style, lack of a tactile look & feel and perhaps too great of a divergence between the look on XP and Vista/7.

[...]

Starting with Vista, and continuing with Windows 7, the menubar has been systematically removed from Windows applications built by Microsoft and other vendors. It has been replaced with alternatives like the Windows Explorer contextual strip or the Ribbon found in Office 2007. The Ribbon UI is now also used in Paint and Wordpad for Windows 7. Many apps still retain the menubar as an option to be pinned or to be shown briefly by holding the Alt key.

Firefox isn’t the type of application that necessarily has contextual actions in the same way Windows Explorer does. So how to handle the functionality of the menubar if it is hidden? Chrome and Safari (and to a lesser extent IE7 & have solved this by sorting, trimming and collecting the menubar functionality into two separate buttons. One of these buttons has items that apply to the webpage and another to the application itself. Now they don’t always agree on which item should go in which menu, but the general principal is sound. This is a good solution.

The menubar as a UI is pretty good at one thing: hiding complexity. The general purpose of the menubar is to contain all of the things that you want your program to do but you can’t(or shouldn’t) cram into the main UI. So the menubar generally ends up with a lot of stuff that isn’t used very often, if at all, and yet is reproduced on every window and takes up a significant amount of real estate. It also has the tendency to become a dumping ground for new or hardly used features. This experience can be made worse with sub-menus, or even sub-sub-menus, which are hard to find and hard to target.

A progress bar can make waiting seem slightly less painful and let you know if something might be hung-up or not. It won’t actually make things faster, but it might make them feel faster.

Instead of the indeterminate progress indicator in use now, we would like add a progress “line” under the location bar on the active tab and at the top of each background tab. This will let people know about how much longer their background tabs have until they load and it also looks cool.

Several variations of the App Button have been explored. Various factors of consideration include what color to make it, whether or not to have an icon, just an icon, icon and text, part of the tab bar, a separate button or attached to the top of the window.

Presently it is orange and attached to the top of the menu simply labeled “Firefox”. The color plays off of the Firefox icon and is noticeable. The placement attaches the button to the top of the window and suggests that its items apply to the whole menu. It also corresponds to the area of the window where someone would look for the menu bar. Using text only is reminiscent of a menu item.

Want some Linux flavour?

Go here. Or here.

Sources:

• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/3.7_and_4.0_Theme_and_UI_Revamp/Direction_and_Feedback
• http://blog.stephenhorlander.com/2009/11/20/sketch-day/
• http://blog.stephenhorlander.com/2009/12/21/windows-themeui-update/

A few interesting videos I’ve found these days. They are pretty impressive. Don’t forget to check out more articles from Motionworks.

The Mill breaks down the visual effects behind “Apples” for City Harvest Food Rescue Organization.

Simplicity by KORB.lt.

More by KORB here

A short film for NZ Book Council, produced by Colenso BBDO and animated by Andersen M Studio.

Partial source: Motionworks

I’ve just seen Avatar movie, and the next day I started searching making-of movies on the Internet. It’s still early, but I found some screens. It was an awesome movie, and the cinema experience contributed a lot to it.

In 2000, Sony agrees to help Cameron build his “holy grail” camera system. Over the next few years, he develops a lightweight, dual-lens, hi-def digital camera capable of shooting precisely calibrated 3-D images that won’t give viewers a headache. The new equipment is used to film Avatar’s live-action sequences.

To create a precise template for the CG sequences, actors first perform scenes in a barren warehouse. Cameron views the action through a virtual camera — an LCD that shows the actors as 10-foot-tall aliens inhabiting Pandora’s lush environment. This system allows Cameron to position performers and direct action while seeing a real-time simulation of the finished product.

The actors wear bodysuits dotted with small reflectors. LEDs shoot near-infrared light into the room while up to 140 digital cameras track the reflections. The data is fed into a system that correlates the reflections with the actors’ movements. As the actors move around the sound stage, the system creates a 3-D record of the entire scene. Later, it’s mapped onto the digital rendering, making the CG sequences appear realistic.

Each actor wears a head rig that holds a tiny HD video cam a few inches away from their face. The camera’s wide-angle lens records every subtle facial twitch, blink, and lip curl. The data is then mapped onto the CG face.

After the performances are captured, Cameron returns to the warehouse, now empty of actors. Techs cue up the performances one by one as Cameron uses his virtual camera to choreograph the camera moves — tracking shots, dolly shots, crane shots, pans. The movements are tracked by the same system that records the actors. Cameron’s work is then incorporated into the rendering system so his every directing decision is reflected in the finished product.

Source: Wired Magazine

At first it seems a complicated and tedious task to accomplish. After a bit of thinking it’s simply common sense. Just like SEO.

In a world of spam sites, MFA and aggregation, a direct, clean and rich marketing campaign has more than 60% chances of success. Why? Because publishers are aware of quality products and services and know one when they see it. While they, themselves, dwell in mediocrity and anonimity.

I’m not going to enter any details regarding a multi-tiered marketing campaign, although, I’m attracted to the idea of an article series concerning this subject.

So, talking about web marketing, it all comes down to quality, usability, validation and standards. There’s no point in inventing or reinventing strategies. Just improve or simplify what works best. And you should try what worked best for you in a previous campaign. Improve in small steps, ask opinions and do a lot of research.

Long-term vs short-term

While short-term campaigns burn out pretty soon after the deadline, without link support from big players, long-term marketing campaigns tend to live on their own and deliver goal after goal a long time after the deadline. It’s because they had teaser campaigns, previews, testimonials, low-level links from forums and blogs, and support from an established homesite.

I guess I’m the only who understands what I’m writing here, so I’ll have to make my point in writing. Keep close and you’ll see what I mean.

EDIT: A few words I’ve missed in this article are target, niche, survey, poll and market analysis.