Lucas Chan :: Weblog

I had a fantastic time at Web Directions this year.

• Jeremy Keith’s presentations were top-notch and really entertaining; Hijax is cool, damnit.
• Derek Featherstone has given me a much different perspective on accessibility (both online and off).
• Andy Clarke’s talk on creating inspired design was spot on. Borrow (good) design ideas from everywhere. Does that man know how to dress or what?
• Mark Pesce’s You-biquity talk was totally not what I expected, but is one that I will remember for a really (really) long time. Keep your eye (ear) out for the podcast.
• And of course, I was very glad to be a part of Cameron Adams and Kevin Yank’s presentation. Payback really is as a bitch.

I always feel super inspired after attendng events like this. When you’re snowed under with work (and life) it’s really easy to lose that enthusiasm you once had. Just being surrounded by like-minded people that are passionate about what they do is always a really refreshing thing for me.

It seems like we’ve been talking about this for a long time, but now it’s finally here. Web Directions starts this week. I think there are still tickets available so hop to it! Cam and I will be playing records at the SitePoint party on the final night so pop on by for some beverages and fun times.

I used to love CitySearch, way back in the day. Their content was always good, accurate and up to date and everything was relatively easy to find. Such was their dedication to content they even listed drum ‘n’ bass and breakbeat events in their gig guide. I even remember using their Bay Area and NYC sites extensively to plan my trip overseas six years ago.

But it’s been all downhill since then. When they started using questionable advertising techniques I would only frequent their site for restaurant reviews and gallery info. Over the past year or so I’ve only visited a handful of times because their TV guide is still bookmarked in my browser. But now… I feel so strongly about this that I just have to blog about it: Their latest redesign is horrible.

The colour scheme is horrendous and the tabbed navigation is clumsy. The front page looks like it’s been given the old “make everything stand out” treatment. Where’s the search box? And I don’t mean the annoying Sensis one in the top right corner. I mean the one that used to return half-decent CitySearch results. You know, the results that people expect to find when they search the site.

CitySearch, it’s not me, it’s you. We can’t go on like this any more. I loved you once but we’ve grown apart and now it must end. Goodbye.

Don’t worry about the breakup-box, I won’t be coming back to collect it.

DefectiveByDesign.org announces Anti-DRM Day.

Fight for non-crippled audio and CDs without rootkits.