RE_INVIGORATE seems to be providing a very cool free service. I think I’ll sign up and check it out.

Tucked away in the footer are links which will change the look of the site—yes, a style switcher. A new link in the navbar called ‘switch’ will take you to the footer. I toyed with some different implementations, but logistically this seemed best for now. Now eat your cookie and shaddap. [ed.—I’m kinda partial to ‘lines’, but the default remains ‘grey’]

Universal Music unveils download plan

“This is a direct blow to the peer-to-peer services by providing consumers with a cheap and easy way to get a trusted file,” said P.J. McNealy, analyst with GartnerG2.

Just nod your head in agreement ’til they get a clue.

Actually I shouldn’t be so harsh. It’s a step in the right direction, but offering the downloads only in less widely accepted formats such as Liquid Audio and Microsoft Windows Media, makes it a half-assed gesture, and dooms it to failure, or at best, only moderate success.

It seems as though the industry isn’t even trying to understand their market, or the technology. And I would have thought they were through trying to dictate terms, from a position of ignorance, to a more knowledgeable and aware consumer market. A consumer market that has embraced mp3 and Ogg Vorbis.

Secret Santa is back, in its second year, with a fresh look.

Opera 7 for Windows Beta 1 released—like you care. They say it’s smaller and faster; I say good, ’cause it’s the only browser that gives my PC hiccups when it starts.

Update—Having taken the new Opera 7 beta out for a spin last night, I’m hesitant in heaping praise. While I believe I was fighting the interface more than anything else, there’s still some things that don’t work properly; but since this only a beta, let me say—yet. I took it to all the best DHTML stops; pixelflow, dhtmlcentral, stilleye, and youngpup, where I even managed to crash it. There were plenty of things that worked, and plenty that didn’t. The Flash Satay method worked, in case anyone’s interested. Hopefully all the bugs will be worked out by the time it gets released from beta.

The current design change is a test of the emergency CSS system. If this were an actual design change…well, it would have propagated all over the site. One line of HTML, and a half hour’s worth of changes to a CSS file and things look completely different. You gotta love that. I’m still trying to decide how much to alter the HTML, if at all, to maximize the flexibility. I may just push what I have as far as it will go. We’ll see.

Those of you with Mozilla and Netscape can access the alternate grey and blue versions if you like. You’ll notice graphics appear or disappear depending on which version you choose.

Anyway, this is just one possible design in a series which will be available in an upcoming style switcher. Yes, the grey one will be back shortly. [ed. note—it’s back!]

The demise of Donimo’s WebNouveau was a loss of a nice resource. Meryl has thoughtfully resurrected it, but I think a lot of people were/are unaware that, though WebNouveau went bye-bye, there was another place to turn — Bob Sawyer’s The Big CSS List.

In the first two days following my last post about Meet the Makers, my bandwidth usage has increased tenfold. The majority of it seems to be a hotlinked image or two in some well traveled spaces. I’m still undecided as to whether or not to plug the hole or let it be. At the moment, though the spike seems to have leveled off, I’ve decided to keep a daily eye on it.

I’ve also seen and received a number of nice comments regarding the photos and the photo section design in general — Thank you. The photo section is a PHP script I reworked with some coaching and direction from Cal, and my intention is to eventually make it freely available for public consumption. When I do, you’ll be the first to know.

My early morning commute was murder, but I made it to Meet the Makers on time, in fact, I was probably one of the first 10 people there, which included Eric Meyer. 7^th floor check-in, then nose my way around a bit, a quick cup of tea, and people really started to pile in. In walked Jeffrey Zeldman, Cameron Barret, Anil Dash, and surprise guests Carole Guevin, and Jean-François Simard. My first time meeting any of them, and they were all extremely open, friendly, and wide awake considering the hour.

MtM was running about 30 minutes behind, and by day’s end about 45 minutes behind. The day was punctuated by a series of interviews where Brian Alvey (our host) talked with Matt Unger, Joshua Davis, Eric Meyer & Jeffrey Zeldman, and Hillman Curtis; each followed by a short audience Q&A. Between Interviews we were ushered from room to room to see the latest in development products by the likes of Macromedia, Adobe, IBM, Netomat, Atomz, RedSheriff, Sanctum, and ESRI. It seems XML and CMSs are on everyone’s mind.

Lunch and conversation with Carole and Jean was a highlight of the day; and point of fact, any conversation with Carole is a highlight. She is extremely personable, direct and engaging.

Discussing the morning’s product seminars, one of them is going to be a real problem when a particular subset of the industry gets a hold of it. And when they do, God help our email.

The day ended with give-aways of books, iPods, and Praystations. Those of us still up for it headed across the street to Virgil’s for drinks and food. I got to catch up with a few people I’d met earlier in the day, such as Lydia Mann, and Ira Blanco, an old Sam Ash alumnist, who I hadn’t seen in probably 10 years. While there, I also met Tim, and Andrea self-described crazy girl, and table dancer, heh.

The last of us left Virgil’s roughly around 9pm or so; in plenty of time to catch our respective trains. All in all, MtM was an excellent event, and I’d like to see more from them.

Now, since no event really happens unless someone takes photos, here are some pictures from the event.

Sorry for the delay. There will be a momentary lapse of reason, while we restructure a few things. More as this story develops.

Also in the news, I will be at the Meet the Makers tomorrow, and will fill you in on the events when I return (w/pictures).