The Valley of Hidden Sorrows
I have this friend. A mountain of unexpected medical debt buried his family at the start of last year. At the same time, the closing of his business stuck him with six figures of personal debt....
View ArticleOur Lady of Perpetual Profit
Corporations that take investors make an impossible promise to increase profits forever. Accordingly, they hire MBAs whose role is to juggle numbers to create ongoing, short-term profit. This juggling...
View ArticleThe More Things Change… (or: What’s in a Job Title?)
I’m not a “[full-stack] developer,” regardless of what my last job title says. I’m not even a front-end developer, thanks to the JavaScript–industrial complex. I’m a front-of-the-front-end developer,...
View ArticleAkismet means never having to say you’re sorry
The wizards behind AI have been busy lately providing meaningful employment for digital nonpersons. One of the hottest jobs for non-humans is crafting and deploying website guestbook spam. This...
View ArticleFor love of pixels
Sure, watches that tell you when you’re walking unsteadily and pocket computer phones that show you the closest pizzeria are swell, but were you around for ResEdit? That humble yet supremely capable...
View ArticleBoth Sides, No
There’s no situation so awful our news media can’t make it worse. In a cowardly, doomed, and deeply misguided effort to appear “balanced” during an emergency that requires plain speaking, our news...
View ArticleDon’t bring venture capital to a knife fight
Contrary to what Imran, Ken, and I’m sure many others at Humane believe, the iPhone didn’t begin with their work in the 2000’s on Project Purple. It began in 1976 with the Apple computer, and the...
View ArticleThis Web of Ours, Revisited
ONE MONTH and 24 years ago, in “Where Have All the Designers Gone?” (my HTMHell design column for Adobe of March 20, 2000), I discussed the deepening rift between aesthetically focused web designers...
View ArticleSuckage begins here: why search engines now prioritize advertising over good UX
This kind of virtuous rising tide rent, which benefits everyone, doesn’t last. Once the growth of the new market slows, the now-powerful innovators can no longer rely on new user adoption and...
View ArticleIndigenous
The definition of “Zionist” that I’ve always used is a person who believes the Jews deserve a state where they can be safe. That is something I believe. I also believe the Palestinians deserve a state...
View ArticleAh yes, the famous “intern did it” syndrome
Soon after we launched A List Apart Magazine, we began to notice other websites reusing our content (including illustrations) without permission, and often without so much as a credit. As that...
View ArticleThe gift of a three-month sabbatical
It was late winter when my sabbatical began, and it’s late spring as it comes to an end. Next week I return to my post after three months’ paid leave, courtesy of Automattic’s sabbatical benefit....
View ArticleDesigner Jonathan Lee
Meet Jonathan Lee The post Designer Jonathan Lee appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.
View ArticleOne weird trick
They say you should manage down. You’re supposed to manage the people who work for you. For many people who become leads, it’s the toughest and least satisfying part of the job. This is especially...
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What happened to the Share button in Zoom?
Zoom has always included a clickable button/badge at the top left of its primary meeting interface window. Click the badge to copy the URL of that meeting. You can then, with just one more click in...
View ArticleStrange Beliefs of Childhood № 99
Between 6th and 7th grade, my friends turned against me. It was as if everyone else had turned cool and teenaged over the summer, while I remained a child. After years of close friendship and...
View ArticleBroken Blossoms
Children with abusive family members cannot protect themselves. It’s awful when the whole family witnesses their pain and humiliation, and worse when the abuse goes on in secret. During and after each...
View Article9/13/01
Reprinted from my original post of 9/13/01. You can still visit the original, if you wish, but the stylesheet disappeared during a server migration, so it’s plain text only. 11 September My part of...
View ArticleI stayed.
My insight into corporate legal disputes is as meaningful as my opinion on Quantum Mechanics. What I do know is that, when given the chance this week to leave my job with half a year’s salary paid in...
View ArticleI Remember, Part 1
Her voice, when she spoke to us from the doorway, was strange. I was in 3rd Grade. Our teacher went away for a few minutes, then came back, crying. She was a tough public school teacher of the old...
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