Monthly Archives: December 2006
20 questions with Kim Cole
December 27th, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
- What’s your job title?
Quality Assurance Engineer - How long have you been with Extensis?
3 ½ years. - To how many Extensis products have you been a contributor?
Pretty much all of them at one point or another. - What is your favorite Extensis project?
Fusion, fonts are fun! - If you were a font, which font would you be?
Something quirky, lately I like Abbess. - What are your top five desert island CDs?
Hrm, can I take everything on my ipod? - When were you most happy?
When studying abroad – ok actually traveling around europe. - What is your greatest accomplishment?
Thus far I’d have to say that I mastered French – well at least I felt confident I could understand virtually 100% and be understood – and lived in another country. - What is your biggest regret?
To have regrets. - What is your biggest passion?
Carpe Diem. - What do you like to read?
Time/newsweek articles, tidbits related to france, travel, cooking, news – not all the time, and an occasion nonfiction or fiction book… - What is your most treasured possession?
My experiences. - What food can you not live without?
Local fruit! We have the absolute best berries here in the summer. - How are you a weekend warrior?
Oh, house projects galore. - Coffee or tea?
Tea, unless I’m in need of a perk, then coffee - Function or fashion?
Half and half – have to have a little of each. - Which website do you visit daily?
Google. - In another life you were…?
How about… a butterfly? - What’s your ultimate destination?
Cinque Terre, Italy - What do you want your dying words to be?
Ship it!
Font of the year – call for submissions
December 26th, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
It’s nearing the end of the year, and in addition to all of the prognostications and predictions of which celebrities will marry & or maim each other, yet it’s also a time for list making. Whether it be a New Year’s resolution list, a laundry list, or a grocery list, everyone seems to love lists.
Merriam-Webster has their yearly Word of the Year contest (truthiness won this year), so with your help, we would like to find out what is 2006′s Font of the Year. Will it be the ever popular Cooper Black? Will Trebuchet knock the walls out of Castle? Will the serif fonts belittle the sans serif fonts for lack of adornment? Only you can tell.
Help us determine which font will reign supreme until we crown a new Font of the Year in Dec 2007.
To help us determine which font will be crowned, please post a comment with your submission. Please submit only a single font. Yes, unlike with your children, we’re asking you to play favorites. We understand that you might have a very close relationship (some may say almost familial) with some of your fonts, but nonetheless, please only submit one.
Origami Holiday Card
December 23rd, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
For those of you who have procrastinated so long that there’s no possible way that your friendly neighborhood postman could ever humanly deliver all all of your holiday cards in time, why not send your greetings online? RG/A has created this absolutely fabulous online origami holiday card maker. Enter your own message to create a custom card for all of your friends and family.
Via How Magazine’s blog.
Mexican Blackletter
December 22nd, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
An interesting book that covers the usage of the Blackletter font in Mexican daily life was recently published by Mark Batty Publisher. The book, Mexican Blackletter, written by Cristina Paoli, covers how the font permeates society and is used in signage by everyone from shop keepers to physicians. The font is steeped in Mexican culture and tradition, and this book gives us great photos of common uses.
Via Mike Lenhart’s Graphic Design Forum blog.
Read an excerpt from the book over at Graphics.com.
20 questions with Elden Wood
December 22nd, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
- What’s your job title?
Engineering Lead – aka font janitor - How long have you been with Extensis?
Six years. - To how many Extensis products have you been a contributor?
Suitcase, Portfolio and a few plug-ins - What is your favorite Extensis project?
The next one! - If you were a font, which font would you be?
On the printed page… Adobe Garamond. - What are your top five desert island CDs?
I’d leave the CDs with the 8-tracks and just take my iPod. I’m happiest around the 80s. But in the playlist you’d find Sting, Boingo, The Fixx, Def Leppard, and Josh Groban. - When were you most happy?
Now - What is your greatest accomplishment?
I’m sure it’s still coming up but it’s likely to involve family and taking over the world. - What is your biggest regret?
Not taking the time to savor the present. - What is your biggest passion?
Thinking. Which usually involves science and math and sometimes manifests itself in code and virtual systems. - What do you like to read?
Most recent book was Freakonomics. Little of everything with concentrations of tech, science fiction and science. - What is your most treasured possession?
I don’t have one. There’s less stuff to lug around that way. - What food can you not live without?
Thai - How are you a weekend warrior?
After moving into my house I’ve painted every wall and some of the ceilings. - Coffee or tea?
Tea - Function or fashion?
Function - Which website do you visit daily?
My Yahoo! - In another life you were…?
Sorry I don’t recall… - What’s your ultimate destination?
A happy family and good friends. - What do you want your dying words to be?
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Extending the abilities of Portfolio with Visual Basic & AppleScript
December 21st, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
If you’re a Portfolio user, you already know that there are many ways to manage your files directly with the Portfolio application. Even with the powerful functions that come built-in to Portfolio, there may be times where you might like to further extend the abilities of Portfolio, or automate a somewhat repetitive task.
To help you accomplish these tasks, we’ve made Portfolio script-able with Visual Basic on Windows and AppleScript on the Mac. For example, you could use this ability to add an automated email every time something is added to Portfolio, or you could create a utility that automatically creates a new gallery on a weekly basis of all new items.
To get started, you’ll need to already know how to script with Visual Basic or AppleScript. To learn more about the scripting languages, see the Microsoft and Apple sites. Once you’ve got that covered, download the Visual Basic Guide or the AppleScript Guide and get scripting!
Note: On Windows you will also need to install the Visual Basic Scripting Type Library before creating and running custom scripts.
Macworld Expo BUZZ Blog
December 20th, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
You want to go, we know it. And of course you want to stay abreast of the most important happenings, changes and improvements at the Expo. And who better to keep you informed than the Paul Kent, the VP in charge of the event. So why don’cha check out his Macworld Conference & Expo BUZZ blog. It’s chock full of bloggity goodness and helpful info.
Oh, and don’t forget, if you want to get a free pass to the Exhibit Hall, be sure to leave a comment on the previous post. We hope to see you there!
Macworld Expo – input and free passes to boot
December 19th, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
It might seem a bit early to most of you out there, but we’re already thinking about an important annual Mac event. An event so huge that it’s often referred to as the Mecca for Mac-heads, yes, it’s Macworld Expo.
Since its inception, we’ve had a booth at the Expo to tout our wares to the legions of fellow Mac-o-philes, and this year is no exception. In addition to letting you know what fine, fabulous products we have, this year we’ll be hosting a number of panel discussions and informational presentations.
Our two panel discussions will be staffed with industry experts, and will feature lively discussions about fonts – how they are created, as well as utilized in applications.
The first panel is called Working with Type in Design Applications. This panel will consist of our very own Extensis VP, Martin Stein as well as other industry experts. The focus of this panel will be about how these critical design applications interact with fonts.
So, here’s where your input comes in. To help use make the content of the panel the most helpful for you, and to guide our planning, we’d like to know what you want to ask our panelists.
For example:
- How does each respective design application choose and display font menu names?
- Do you have an application specific engine for rendering or managing fonts?
- Does your company have a philosophy for how to handle fonts in your applications?
We hope to generate a lively discussion, and your help is definitely appreciated.
And, to show you just how much we appreciate your help, we’re giving away free passes to the Macworld Expo Exhibit Hall to the first 50 people who post a relevant question in the comments of this post.
Be sure to enter your email address correctly, so that I can send you an email with instructions for redeeming your free pass.
Helvetica the movie
December 15th, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
If you haven’t heard about it yet, there’s a movie in the works about a celebrity. No, we’re not talking about the latest and greatest teen pop star caught out on the town without any nickers. The celebrity we’re talking about has a much more interesting and long career filled much more intrigue, ascenders and descenders. Yes, that celebrity is Helvetica, and it’s Helvetica the movie.
While I can’t give the documentary proper justice in this short post, recently, AIGA interviewed director Gary Hustwit about his labor of love. A recommended read.
And, while Gary admits that it’s difficult to get an good impression for the entire movie from clips, he has graciously put up a number of them for us to savor.
Adobe releases beta version of Photoshop CS3
December 15th, 2006 by Jim Kidwell
Adobe announced yesterday that they will be launching a beta version of the next generation of Photoshop today. The beta will be available for download from the Adobe Labs page. It’s imporant to note that you’ll need to have your serial number from a previous version of Photoshop or a serial number from a variety of other Adobe products.
Looks like this release includes an update to Adobe Bridge as well as a new feature called Adobe Device Central that can be used to develop content for mobile devices. It’s also the first version of Photoshop that will run natively on Intel-based Macs.
As of 9:00 PST, it doesn’t look like they’ve put it up on the site just yet. I’ll be hitting the refresh button all day…
UPDATE: Via MacRumors, here’s the download link.
UPDATE #2: If you’re having problems downloading the beta, the site just might not be ready yet. See John Nack’s blog post for details.
