an update of the XKCD classic http://imgs.xkcd.com/store/imgs/online_communities_300.png

This is quite old, but one of my favorite infographics of all time from Wired Magazine tracing the technology lineage of the Star Wars films and the impact of Industrial Light and Magic’s breakthroughs on multimedia, film and interactive technology.

…a surprising list eh? More over at Mashable.
(http://mashable.com/2010/05/18/social-media-company-employees/)

..simple logos, inspired by type. lesson, inspiration from simplicity. see more at: http://holykaw.alltop.com/awesome-examples-of-typography-inspired-logos

..it appears I’m not the only one who’s a little pissed off at zuckerburg. It seems the geeko-sphere thinks Facebook has overplayed it’s hand. In fact many of social tech leaders are basically saying “I’m out.. and you’re Zucked.” Check out more from @jasoncalacanis.. here: http://bit.ly/btNXzg

Let’s see how quickly the “Zuckerpunched” meme spreads ;)

[via @neilperkin and @swissmiss]

Is “like” all it’s cracked up to be?

The Ultimate Guide To Wordpress Hacks And Customizations

By Mark Thompson on April 20, 2010

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If you are looking to add new design features and functionality to your Wordpress blog, odds are there is probably someone who has already done it and shared the code on how to do it. There are a number of great resources you can use to find outstanding hacks, customizations, and tips to make your Wordpress blog more unique, user-friendly, and engaging.

Over the years I have collected a number of great resources across the web that I thought would be a great idea to organize and share. I would encourage everyone to leave their favorite Wordpress Hack in the comments below.

Displaying Author & Bio Information

• How To Display Author Photo and Bio in Wordpress
• Optimise Your WordPress Themes With Better Author Pages
• WordPress hack: Automatically insert author bio on each post
• How to Add an Author Info Box in WordPress Posts
• How To Add Gravatars For The Post Author in WordPress
• How To Add Bio Info To Your WordPress Blog Posts

Adding Social Media Aspects

• Display The Total Number Of Registered Users
• WordPress hack: Show your top contributors without a plugin
• WordPress tip: Create a Tweetmeme “Retweeet” Shortcode
• Add Google Buzz Button To Wordpress Blog
• Nice And Simple Toolbar For Your Website With CSS3 And jQuery
• Show Your Latest Tweet In 5 Lines of Code
• Show Latest Twitter Tweets On Wordpress
• How to show your latest tweets on your WordPress site without a plugin
• Display your tweets without a plugin
• Most Wanted Twitter Hacks and Plugins for WordPress
• How To Display Your Latest Twitter Entries on WordPress
• How To Display Twitter counter in Text
• Social Bookmarking Link Codes for 33 of the Biggest

Displaying Archive Posts

• Creating Helpful and Effective Wordpress Archives
• “How to list ALL posts on a page?”
• Create a Simple Site Map of All of Your Pages
• WordPress Archive that *works*: StepxStep Guide and Plugins
• Code: Display Categories and Archives in WordPress
• Drop(down) the Monthly Archives

Comment Features

• 10 Handy WordPress Comments Hacks
• Advanced Wordpress Comment Styles and Tricks
• How To: Separate WordPress Comments and Trackbacks
• How To: AJAXify WordPress Comment Posting
• How to add an Option to Hybrid News Options Page
• Separating Trackbacks from Comments

Custom Post/Categories Features

• Custom CSS Per Post
• Custom Fields Hacks For WordPress
• List Posts by Category In Navigation
• Sort Posts With The Help Of Custom Fields
• Category Hacks for WordPress Theme Designers
• List Categories Next to Their Description

Adding RSS Features

• WordPress tip : Fetch and display RSS feeds
• Adding a CSS StyleSheet to your RSS Feed
• 10 Useful RSS-Tricks and Hacks For WordPress
• WordPress hack: Display Posts Only to RSS Subscribers
• 9 Extremely Useful RSS Tricks and Snippets for WordPress

Adding Community Features

• Build an Awesome Community News Feature for Your Wordpress Blog
• How to Allow Users to Submit News / Posts to Your WordPress Site
• 9 WordPress Hacks to Encourage User Interactivity
• Display Your Tags in a Dropdown Menu
• Display the Total Number of Users of Your WordPress Blog
• The Right Way To Build WordPress As A Community News
• How To Set Up a Sideblog
• Create Your Own Popular Posts Page

Wordpress Hacks Roundups

• 63 Essential Wordpress Hacks, Tutorials, Help Files and Cheats
• 55+ Most Wanted WordPress Tips, Tricks, and Hacks
• 40+ Most Wanted Wordpress Tricks And Hacks
• 15 Killer Hacks for WordPress that Are Extremely Useful
• 9 WordPress Hacks to Encourage User Interactivity
• 10 Exceptional WordPress Hacks
• 10 WordPress Hacks to Make your Life Easy
• 30 Most Wanted WordPress Comments Page Hacks
• 20+ WordPress Recipes (Codes)
• 22 Mixed Quality Wordpress Hacks
• 15 Killing Wordpress Tricks and Hacks
• Mastering Your WordPress Theme Hacks and Techniques
• Huge List of Wordpress Codes / Hacks, Tricks
• 10 Useful RSS-Tricks and Hacks For WordPress
• 10 Twitter Hacks For Your Wordpress Blog
• 10 NEW WordPress Wanted Hacks and Powerful Techniques
• Wordpress hacks you can actually use
• Very Useful 65 Wordpress Hacks
• 10 Must Have Hacks For WordPress Development
• 37 Cool Wordpress Hacks And Tutorials You Should Try
• 135+ Ultimate Round-Up of Wordpress Tutorials
• Very Useful 65 Wordpress Hacks
• 35+ Most Essential Wordpress Tricks and Hacks

Wordpress Hacks Resources

• Wordpress Hacks
• WP Recipes
• PV.M Garage
• WP Beginner
• WP Engineer
• WebDesignerWall
• WP Constructs

Posted in Wordpress | Tagged guide, hacks, plugins, Resources, tools, Tutorials, Wordpress

Website design, however precise and optimized when handled by experts, doesn’t always have to be hard. With today’s social media tools and easy interfaces like Wordpress, getting a quality website up and running quickly is easier than ever. Not EASY, mind you but not catered only to the code jockeys and illustrator set.

We think it best to set up a base station quickly, get in the game and continually tweak, upgrade and optimize. Go ahead, give it a try yourself. Get a host service, autoinstall wordpress and try these great tips from 1stwebdesigner.com.

http://bit.ly/d0qhDP

Continuing my latest dive into design fiction, check out this collaboration between Penguin Book and Six To Start an experiential design firm in London. Perhaps a bit ahead of it’s time (launched in 2008) these stories used Google maps and other immersive online media, rolling out over the course of six weeks. Very cool concept for marketers and advertisers to think about as a case study when creating experiential narratives.

See more via the AIGA blog: We Design Stories: The Digital Fiction of Six to Start by Holly Willis.