Lift blog : design

Introduction: Using Movabletype as a CMS

We are big fans of Movabletype. We don't just use it for blogs though, we also use it as a CMS. In fact this site is built using Movabletype.

Over the next few weeks we are going to be publishing a series of posts about how to go about using movabletype as a CMS.

full posts vs list of links

Back in February I posted a short thought about what is a short post anyway?

I have been thinking a lot recently about the Lift blog, posts on it, what we should and should not be doing etc. Increasingly the blog has been made up of links to sites we like or have found that we think are of interest.

This was one of the criteria when we decided to have a blog -- we could post links that we thought were of interest to us, and possibly (as a consequence) of interest to others.

But this was to be alongside 'real' posts -- writings/thoughts/points for discussions. Which have not happened for a while, due in no small part to pressures of work. Being so busy means it is easier to post links as an interim and so we go full circle...

So is the blog not a blog but a links page with the wrong title? Maybe. does it still have value for us and anyone that stumbles upon it? Yes. Why? Because even though the posts may not (at the moment) be continuous text, they are still representative of us and our thoughts.

skeuomorphs

Matt Patterson has posted a really interesting article on his website entitled Web design tools are skeuomorphs of print design tools, and this is a bad thing. All I need now is a bit of time to take it in and maybe write a little response...

Horrible...

I have just seen one of the worst houses ever on Grand Designs just now! Clients trying to be architects. An architect who obviously did not care. Disaster. Though the roof was interesting.

ATypI conference in Prague has started

Visit the ATypI website to read live news from the conference. We are really gutted we cannot be there this year as the line-up looks amazing.

Yahoo move from tables to CSS

whitespace posts that Yahoo are moving from their original table-based layout to a CSS one.

David Sless and consumer medicine

Louise Ferguson has a post about David Sless and his work on consumer medicine information. We have spoken with David a few times about this project and the information design aspects are very interesting.

some links...

I have not posted to the Lift blog for a while, as I have been distracted by work and del.icio.us! So to make up for it, here are a few random links:

• New website from GAWDS
• Just installed refer from textism and loving it!
• NetNewsWire 2.0 beta
• Watch these people as they have a piece of amazing software on the way!

An example of how not to design a UI

Possibly one of the worst examples of a UI I have seen in a while!

interconnected changes its approach

Still trying to make my mind up about the latest revision to interconnected. I like the design, but I do miss the posts on the original.