Everything and Nothing, by Heather Mitchell
I’ve never met Heather Mitchell, although we have quite a few friends, acquaintances and colleagues in common. I have, though, been aware of her more than 40 years, through her acting work in theatre, film and television. She’s always seemed to me to stand out, a luminous and beautiful presence in a truly impressive body …Chicken and Vegetable Curry
Ingredients 500gm chicken (breast or boneless/skinless thighs), chopped 2 tbsp olive oil juice of 1/2 a lemon 3 curry leaves salt pepper 1 cup pumpkin, chopped 1 cup carrots, chopped 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped 2 tbps curry paste 1 tbsp soy sauce 400ml coconut milk 1 cup green beans, chopped to 3cm …Greek Lamb Wraps
Ingredients 1tsp dried oregano 1tsp dried thyme 1tsp dried marjoram 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp olive oil 500gm lamb strips half a small red onion, chopped 4 truss tomatoes, chopped half a Lebanese cucumber, peeled and chopped 30gm feta, crumbled 50gm spinach, chopped 4 Lebanese bread wraps Method 1. …Roast Chicken, Potatoes au Gratin and Warm Vegetable Salad
A classic dinner fit for a cold Sunday night. Roast Chicken Ingredients 1 1.5kg chicken 1 lemon, halved 4 sprigs fresh rosemary 3 cloves garlic, peeled 3 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp paprika 1 tsp dried rosemary 1 tsp dried thyme Salt Pepper Method 1. Preheat oven to 200C. 2. Rinse chicken, inside and out, …Roast Chicken, Potatoes au Gratin and Warm Vegetable Salad Read More »
Prawn and Tuna Salad
Ingredients 12 raw prawns, shelled 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 100gn tinned tuna, drained 100gm gem or cos lettuce 1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar 2 tbsp olive oil 2 truss tomatoes, quartered 6 green beans, chopped into 3cm lengths 1 egg 3 green shallots, thinly sliced on the diagonal dill lemon thyme salt pepper Method …Creamy Pesto Chicken, Gnocchi and Vegetables
Ingredients 400g fresh potato gnocchi 20gm butter 4 tbsp olive oil 500g chicken tenderloins 3 green shallots, thinly sliced on the diagonal 300ml thickened cream 200gm cauliflower florets 200gm broccoli florets 100gm basil pesto 1 tbsp toasted pine nuts, to serve 5gm basil leaves Method 1. In a large frying pan, heat the butter and …Prawn and Asparagus Risotto
Ingredients 1 litre fish, vegetable or chicken stock 70ml olive oil 3 dozen shelled raw prawns 3 asparagus spears, thinly sliced small onion, finely chopped 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 300gm arborio rice 1 cup white wine 50gm butter handful of parsley, chopped 2 tbsp lemon juice half a cup good quality pecorino or similar, …Chorizo, Beans and Potato Stew
Ingredients 250 chorizo, sliced thickly olive oil 1 medium red onion, chopped 2 medium potatoes, parboiled, cut to eighths 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped tsp hot chilli flakes tsp ground paprika tsp ground cumin handful of green beans, chopped to 3cm lengths 1/4 medium red capsicum, roughly chopped 1/4 medium yellow capsicum, roughly chopped 2 …Limberlost, by Robbie Arnott
I haven’t read Robbie Arnott’s previous two books, Flames and The Rain Heron, magical fables that have won multiple awards. This novel, Limberlost, is very grounded and realist but no less magical for that. Ned is a teenager living in a northern Tasmanian orchard during World War II. His older brothers are away at war …Tetris
If you’re looking for something a bit different to watch, I can recommend Tetris, a 1 hr 57 min movie streaming on Apple TV. The main character is Henk Rogers, who in the 80s recognised the potential of the video game Tetris and set about trying to get a piece of the rights to distribute …The Knowledge and How to Get it: Part Two
This blog post is Part Two of an edited transcription of the presentation “The Knowledge and How to Get it”, delivered by Hans Hillen (in person) and Ricky Onsman (via video) on 15 March at CSUN 2023. Wait – let me read Part One first. The Knowledge Life Cycle In Part One, we talked about …The Knowledge and How to Get it: Part One
This blog post is Part One of an edited transcription of the presentation “The Knowledge and How to Get it”, delivered by Hans Hillen (in person) and Ricky Onsman (via video) on 15 March at CSUN 2023. We’re going to share some of our experiences with setting up the TPGi Knowledge Center, and provide some …Scout
I miss my dog. Two days ago, Monday 3 April 2023, we took our border collie Scout to the vet. She was unable to put any weight on her left hind leg and couldn’t walk or even stand. I feared the worst, and that’s what transpired. After scans and x-rays, the vet’s assessment was that …On the Passing of Judy Heumann
It is with great sadness and deepest respect that we at TPGi offer our condolences to the family of Judith (Judy) Heumann, often referred to as “the mother of the disability rights movement”, who died on the 4th of March, 2023. Judy was a trailblazer all her life through the simple device of refusing to …All Of Us
Following another review in The Saturday Paper, I looked up online a play that is part of the UK’s National Theatre At Home subscription streaming service. The play I was interested in is All Of Us, which tells the story of Jess, a woman who is a therapist, has a doctorate in psychology and has …Copenhagen Cowboy
It’s not very often that a newspaper review inspires me to watch a particular film or TV series, but I have to admit if it wasn’t for Peter Marlborough’s article in The Saturday Paper, I probably wouldn’t have watched Copenhagen Cowboy. I’m really glad I did because it’s an extraordinary piece of work, a TV …American Gangster
I was flicking around the streaming services last night and came across a movie called American Gangster. Released in 2007, it stars Denzel Washington as a 1970s drug boss and Russell Crowe as the cop who nails him. That sounded interesting enough. I started watching and found it engaging enough to stay up much too …What I'm Watching
Gee, there’s some great things to watch on telly at the moment. Here’s four that I’ve found irresistible. Mr Inbetween (Foxtel, Binge): Australian drama about a hitman. Scott Ryan wrote and produced this and plays the lead character of Ray Shoesmith, an army veteran who starts the series as a bouncer at a nightclub with …Gnocchi, Chicken & Spinach Bake
Serves 4 Ingredients 500 gm gnocchi 500 gm chicken breast, chopped into chunks salt & pepper 80 gm butter 2 tblspn olive oil 2 medium shallots, sliced 4 cloves garlic, chopped 1-2 tspn fresh thyme 1-2 tspn fresh oregano 3 tblspn plain flour 350 ml chicken stock 120 ml light cream 150 gm fresh baby …Major Labels, by Kelefa Sanneh
It’s not often I give up on a book, but Major Labels has defeated me. The subtitle “A history of popular music in seven genres – Rock R&B Country Punk Hip-Hop Dance Pop” should give you a clear idea of what the book is about. The author covered rock and roll, hip-hop, and pop music …The Quiz Masters, by Brydon Coverdale
I don’t know about you but I grew up with quiz shows. I came to them after the heyday of radio but I’m old enough to have followed the first Australian TV shows. I can remember seeing Barry Jones make Bob Dyer roll his eyes on BP Pick A Box as he questioned yet another …Bulldozed, by Niki Savva
I very much looked forward to reading this over Christmas, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Perhaps I should start by saying I wasn’t aware this is the third book in a trilogy about the Liberal National Government of Australia from 2013-2022 (although probably not planned as a trilogy). The Road …Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy
This is the companion novel to The Passenger. Where the earlier (by a matter of months) book was the story of Bobby Western: salvage diver, former race car driver, son of an atomic bomb scientist and person of interest to government agents – Stella Maris comprises 170 pages of dialogue between Bobby’s sister Alicia and …Fried Rice De Luxe
This has become a favourite for me. It’s basically a Spanish fried rice but the chipotle seasoning gives it a Mexican tang, while the addition of the other seasonings and the egg remind me of Indonesian nasi goreng, and the mixture of protein ingredients is like your favourite House Special Chow Mein. For me, it’s …WCAG 3.0: are we there yet?
In short: no. Overview On 7 December 2021, the W3C Accessible Guidelines Working Group published a Working Draft of the W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0. So, that’s it, right? Pack WCAG 2 off to the junkyard? The standard is dead, long live the standard? Well, no. A Working Draft is published to invite feedback and …Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here, by Heather Rose
Ever since I was very young, reading has been a way for me to explore the world. As a child in suburban Claremont, Tasmania, books took me to parts of the world it never occurred to me that I could, or would, ever visit. For the Term of His Natural Life was probably the first …A Word About Language
I’ve spent a good portion of this week writing about WCAG 3.0, the third version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. As the name states, WCAG is a set of guidelines – not rules – about how to implement digital accessibility: making websites, apps and other digital products accessible to people with disabilities. Nevertheless, it …24 November
24 November is always a sombre day for me, being the birthday of my mother, who died in August 1981 at 61 years old, when I was 20. Probably more than my own birthday or Christmas or New Year’s Day, it’s on this day I think about where my life has gone and is going, …A Pakistani House Husband, by David Vee Rodden
Well, this was different! Subtitled the beauty & the chaos, it’s an account of the time David Vee Rodden spent in Pakistan when his wife Drew “scored the job as Personal Secretary to the Ambassador of Belgium to Pakistan and Afghanistan” in 2003. This meant moving to Islamabad and becoming, for the first year at …Understanding Disability: Ableism
Ableism Explained A common definition of ableism is that it is discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities. That’s undoubtedly true, but ableism can also be described as discrimination in favor of non-disabled people. The distinction lies in how ableism — sometimes subtly, sometimes blatantly — puts forward the myth of the superiority of non-disabled …Time that is moved by little fidget wheels
I suspect this post will be of little interest to anyone, but I need to write it to clear my mind, at the very least. I’m back at work today after three weeks’ leave, the first break I’ve had since June 2021. I hadn’t realised it had been that long since I’d had any time …Waiting for Robert Capa, by Susana Fortes
I found this to be a bit of a mixed bag. I certainly couldn’t have picked a more different book to follow my recent reading. On the plus side, Waiting for Robert Capa is based on a set of real events that I found truly amazing. It had never occurred to me that the famous …The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy doesn’t have anything to prove. With 10 novels under his belt since 1965, one winning the Pulitzer Prize, another turned into a Best Picture Oscar winner, and a raft of other literary awards as well as enormous sales around the world, he already stands as one of America’s greatest living writers. Yet here …Treacle Walker, by Alan Garner
It’s so good to be back in the world of Alan Garner. It’s not like other worlds. Geographically, it’s in Cheshire, north west England, often around Alderley Edge, where Garner grew up: it’s English but it’s also Welsh and Scottish. Chronologically, it’s the aggregated history of ancient Celts, forgotten Druids, assimilated Romans, seafaring Irishmen, conquering …Lovers Dreamers Fighters, by Lo Carmen
You might know Lo Carmen as Loene Carmen, the name she used until 2012. If you’re like me, you’ll know her primarily as an actress. Plucked from Kings Cross pizza bar obscurity to star as Freya in The Year My Voice Broke (1987). Her astounding, compelling performance as Sallie-Anne Huckstepp in Blue Murder (1995). And …Shakespeare Unbound
It’s one thing to have a clever idea, such as telling the story of William Shakespeare’s life and work through the eyes and voice of one of his fellow actors, a colleague who outlived the Bard and was among those responsible for ensuring that his plays survived in written form. And it’s another thing to …French's
In early 2015, I joined a Facebook group called “I drank at the Sydney Trade Union Club” because, well, back in the 80s, I did. When other venues were mentioned in that group, I brought up French’s Tavern, which I frequented even more than the TUC. Liza, a former staff member at French’s suggested we …Corrimal Churches
St Columbkille’s Catholic Church Walking a Border Collie twice a day means we follow lots of interesting paths around where we live in Corrimal. Scout being 11 years old now, she likes to find new routes with excuses to stop and smell the roses, get a few pats from kids and growl at other …Public Art in Corrimal II
It turns out we have more public art in Corimal than I’d previously noted. This is a follow-up to a previous article.Single Page Applications
A Single Page Application (SPA) loads a website as a single web page. There is no page refresh, and content is added dynamically with the aid of JavaScript. This creates an online experience that is faster and more like a native app than a traditional multi-page website. In contexts such as the web interfaces of …My First Bolognese
Had my first go at a proper bolognese. Came out pretty well. Ingredients 125 ml olive oil 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 medium carrot, finely chopped 1 stalk celery, finely chopped 1 small brown onion, finely chopped pinch of chilli flakes 400 gm ground veal & pork salt & pepper 2 tbsp tomato paste …A Greek Theme
Tonight’s effort: souvlaki lamb, skordalia and a Greek salad. Retsina and ouzo not pictured. Was interesting to make. I really thought I’d done something wrong and then, after more mashing, it just transformed into this lovely, fluffy, dip-like mash. Ensure third party content is accessible
Website authors may sometimes publish content with accessibility issues that was supplied to them by a third party. Who should make it accessible?Skinful, by Robyn Flemming
One of the tricky things about real life tales of deep personal change is that they tend to be written after change has been achieved, and that can’t help but inform the story of the author’s life that led to the change. Robyn Flemming handles this better than just about anyone I can recall in …Ploughman's Lunch
Ploughman’s lunch today. Excellent pork pie. Steve Ripley: Hope the pork pie was good! As a Yorkshire man I grew up on them … had to be plenty of fat surrounding the meat too!🤣 Ricky Onsman: There was! Excellent pie. Ann Hinchliffe: Me too! (Accept the man bit) Ricky Onsman: I didn’t know that either …Harry Onsman
In the early hours of 20 February 2022, my brother Harry, born Harmen Jelle, passed away. It’s thought the effects of his cancer chemotherapy plus kidney failure left his immune system unable to fight off the effects of Covid, despite his being fully vaccinated. Harry’s partner Maree was with him in his last hours, and …Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite, My Story, by Roger Daltrey
First off, I have to say it was a genuine pleasure to pick up a hardback again, and this one is really well made: has excellent paper quality, well bound, nicely laid out, crisp print – none of this makes a book great but it definitely enhances the reading experience. The title, predictably, refers to …Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite, My Story, by Roger Daltrey Read More »
Book Report - January 2022
Blessed, by John Doyle Billed as “one year in the life of the boy who would become Rampaging Roy Slaven”, I expected something witty, sly and funny but I vastly underestimated John Doyle. For those unaware, Roy Slaven is a fictional Australian sports commentator, part of a long running duo with H.G. Nelson, who manage …Books 2021
Top Ten The Last of the Apple Blossom, Mary-Lou Stephens “The Last of the Apple Blossom is a wonderful book and, I think, an important one. It operates on several levels at once without ever losing its focus or any clarity.”Read my review of The Last of the Apple Blossom Blessed, John Doyle In the …Introduction to Cognitive Disability and Accessibility Testing
Making websites accessible to people with cognitive disabilities is as important as it is for any other type of disability, and there are techniques you can use to ensure your web content and functionality is accessible to people with cognitive impairments. For the purposes of assessing web accessibility, umbrella terms like “cognitive disability”, “cognitive impairments” …Introduction to Cognitive Disability and Accessibility Testing Read More »
Reading List Update: December 2021
Funny Stories, Prophets of the Absurd, by Hugh Wayland. Outstanding! Superbly put together, this account of Sydney’s Funny Stories performance troupe from the 80s is a brilliant read. For those of us who were there at the time, it brings it all back to life. For those who weren’t, it’s an insight into inner Sydney …Introduction to AI and Accessibility Testing
This was my first blog post for TPGi. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a term used to describe the principle that features of human intelligence can be simulated by machines to produce outcomes that resemble those of human insight. This is achieved by aggregating, analyzing and comparing massive amounts of data and then interpreting and applying …Public Art in Corrimal
Corrimal is quite a suburban kind of suburb. We have a Woolworth’s, a Coles and an Aldi but on the other hand we don’t have a stand alone greengrocer. There’s pretty much one or two of most shops you need (if you count hardware superstore Bunnings in the next suburb over), although there’s also 14 …Smash, Bread & Circus, 1984
I came across this clipping of a review from 1984, and it brought back a few memories. After stints with the (then) NSW Theatre of the Deaf in 1982 and the Marionette Theatre of Australia in 1983, I was Sydney-based and an experienced theatre-in-education performer when TIE was at its height as a crucible of …Funny Stories, by Hugh Wayland
Current reading is a birthday treat to myself: Funny Stories, Prophets of the Absurd by Hugh Wayland. It’s a memoir by one of the members of this highly influential Sydney comedy troupe of the 1980s. It is glorious. It’s self published by the author, you can find out how to get it from the Funny …The Bookmakers of Claremont High
I was listening to ABC radio this morning, where Simon Marnie was taking calls about people’s jobs when they were at school: newspaper deliveries, chemist’s assistant, golf caddie and butter stacker (!) among them. It reminded me of the side hustle – I can’t really call it a job – that I had during the …My Rock 'n' Roll Friend, by Tracey Thorn
I first heard the Go-Betweens when a live version of their stand alone single Hammer the Hammer was included on the first JJJ Live at the Wireless album in 1983, which still ranks among my favourites, with outstanding performances by Private Lives, Hoodoo Gurus, Do-Re-Mi, The Triffids and The Particles, among others. The Go-Betweens track …The Last of the Apple Blossom, by Mary-Lou Stephens
Reviewing creative works by friends can often be tricky. You don’t want to be overly gushing, even when the work is obviously great, because people will think you’re just being nice to a friend. And then it’s also easy to slip into being unreasonably critical, which may well endanger your friendship, especially if you make …The Last of the Apple Blossom, by Mary-Lou Stephens Read More »
Mary-Lou Stephens
Having recently finished reading The Last of the Apple Blossom, by Mary-Lou Stephens, I decided to write a review. This set me to thinking and writing about my friendship with Mary-Lou as a preamble to the review and, in my usual long winded way, things got a little out of hand. So as not to …Cheat's Paella for One
Ingredients 250 gm cooked brown rice 10 cooked cocktail prawns, tails removed 1 or 2 chicken tenderloins 4 slices chorizo, quartered 1 pork sausage, cooked and chopped 5 julienne slices red capsicum 5 julienne slices yellow capsicum 5 raw green beans, halved at angle slice Tbspn of frozen peas 2 slices white onion, roughly chopped …Last Chance Texaco, by Rickie Lee Jones
I really enjoyed reading Rickie Lee Jones‘ autobiography, Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of a Troubadour. It’s as idiosyncratic, off-centre, expressive and polished as her best musical work. It swings wildly in style from ancedotal – almost casual – reporting of some pretty terrible events for a young teenager to verbatim conversations at some of her …Lebanese Dinner
I made a Lebanese dinner for four. Clockwise from top left and inwards (click photo to enlarge): Shawarma Chicken: tenderloins marinated in yoghurt, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, cumin then baked at 200C for 10 min, turn, then at 180C for about 30 min. Shawarma lamb: strips marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, coriander, cumin, …Loud, by Tana Douglas
Time for another book report, this time on Loud, by Tana Douglas. Acknowledged as the world’s first female roadie, Douglas scored a chapter to herself in Stuart Coupe’s excellent 2018 book Roadies, which told just enough of her story to leave me and I’m sure a lot of others wanting to know more. And here …Behind Dark Eyes, by Jeff Apter
Finished Behind Dark Eyes by Jeff Apter last night – LATE last night coz I couldn’t stop reading. This is a cracking good read for a number of reasons. Jon English was a fascinating bloke. A Sydney westie who carved a career in rock & pop, theatre and TV out of a powerful voice and …Champagne, Corby and Kelly
I’m finding snippets of last week’s Daniel Champagne gig in Wollongong last week bubbling back up at me. Such an interesting musician, who’s crafted a fascinating relationship with his acoustic guitar. Not just using it as a percussive instrument (which he does brilliantly) but also as a stage prop, almost another character on stage with …Utopia Avenue, by David Mitchell
Current reading: Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. I have a digital copy but following a strong recommendation from Mary-Lou Stephens and a Christmas bookshop voucher from Andrys Onsman, I’ve lashed out on a physical copy. Yay, another 500+ pages opus to keep me quiet for a while.Books 2020
It was a good reading year for me (meaning I found time to read). Here’s the 36 books I did read (in the order I read them) and the reason I didn’t finish the 37th. Me: Elton John The Song Remains the Same: Andrew Ford & Anni Heino The Wichita Lineman: Dylan Jones The David …Tune In, by Mark Lewisohn
Current reading: Tune In by Mark Lewisohn, which is the first volume of his trilogy The Beatles: All These Years. Clocking in at a lazy 946 pages (to be fair, that includes 102 pages of notes, credits and index), this covers The Beatles from birth (actually quite a lot of family history) to December 1962. …All Our Shimmering Skies, by Trent Dalton
Hm. Unusual but perhaps not surprising. I’ve now had four goes at getting stuck into Trent Dalton’s latest book, All Our Shimmering Skies. I’ve been unable to continue each time. That’s not because of any literary failings – quite the opposite. Dalton writes gloriously, creating crystal clear portraits of the characters and their relationships with …Nick of Time, by Nick Hampton
From the birthday haul: Nick of Time is a memoir by Nick Hampton about his time at recording houses EMI and CBS, in Australia and overseas. I thought it might be a bit dry, but it really rocks along. Like Jeff Apter’s recent George Young bio Friday on My Mind and Stuart Coupe’s Paul Kelly …My Web Tech Library
From the time I started messing about on the web, books have formed a core part of my ongoing professional development in web technology. True, I am a book fanatic anyway (my total home library exceeds 4,000 physical volumes) but web design and development seemed particularly suited to propping open a book next to the …A Guide to Sighs
I’ve become aware that I am sighing a lot more than I used to. I’m not completely sure, because until now I’ve never really measured how much or how often I sigh. But I have the impression I’m sighing a lot and that can only be because I am, right? I mean, you’d only notice …Paul Kelly, by Stuart Coupe
Q: Is this worth buying? A: Yes! 100%. Worth every penny. I’m probably the ideal market for this book but that doesn’t mean I’m a pushover. On the contrary, because I am a Paul Kelly fan, because he is my contemporary, because I really liked Stuart Coupe‘s last book Roadies, because I’m an avid reader …Of a Boy, by Sonya Hartnett
I made a strategic reading mistake. Having finished the Led Zeppelin tome and followed it up with Stewart Copeland’s memoir – and thus feeling at least temporarily bloated with rock’n’roll excess – I thought a nice quiet piece of Australian fiction might be refreshing. I chose Of a Boy, by Sonya Hartnett. Mistake. Thankfully, it’s …The Animals in That Country, by Laura Jean McKay
Just finished The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay. Another utterly extraordinary book (and many thanks to Ian Pidd for the recommendation). I still have a lot to think about. Apart from the current pandemic echoes, I found the family/not-family ties deeply affecting. And told, or revealed, in such a strong first person …The Animals in That Country, by Laura Jean McKay Read More »
Augie's cake for Hazel's birthday
Another view. Augie is an awesome cakerer.Who I Am, by Pete Townshend
Reading update. The Eric Clapton book was great reading but honestly what a self-obsessed git! I could put up with the “and then I had to catch a plane to meet the fabulous yacht that would take us around the Greek islands” stuff but when you crash your Ferrari into a delivery van and you …The Jeff St John Story, by Jeffrey St John
For long weekend reading, I’m tackling the memoirs of Australian rock icon, Jeff St John. His wheelchair wheelies on GTK while belting out serious rock are among my most formative musical moments. I need a long weekend for The Jeff St John Story, because it’s not the kind of book you slip in your bag …Under a Mackerel Sky, by Rick Stein
Next on the reading list is Rick Stein’s memoir Under a Mackerel Sky. This was actually part of my 60th birthday treat back in October. We stayed for a few days in Mollymook (about 150km further down the south coast of NSW) where the English author and TV cook has a restaurant called Bannisters. The …The David Foster Wallace Reader
I seem to be tearing through my holiday reading pile at the moment, so for my next effort I’ll tackle The David Foster Wallace Reader – 957 hardback pages of it. I know what I’m getting into – Infinite Jest is one of my all-time favourite books. Well, that was quite a trip! And shut …One Small Step for WordPress, One Giant Leap for Accessibility
Today, I had reason to insert an image into a post on a WordPress site I manage. The last time I did that, the panel of options to insert the image looked like this: This image actually displays an excerpt from the example given in the WordPress codex for inserting an image into a page …One Small Step for WordPress, One Giant Leap for Accessibility Read More »
My Life in Football - Life Member
Recently, I came across a video on YouTube I’d forgotten about. It’s an entry in the 2008 Tropfest short film competition called Enzo. It was directed by Sam Worthington (yes, star of Avatar, etc) and it featured Dorian Nkono as the title character, a football obsessive who has dreams of a pro and international representative …Up From Down Under, by Jeff Apter
Appropriately enough, I finished this book, subtitled How Australian Music Changed the World, on Australia Day. That’s appropriate on two fronts. First, the focus of Up from Down Under is the success of Australian bands in the US and other overseas markets, specifically Peter Allen, Helen Reddy, Olivia Newton John, the Little River Band, the …Up From Down Under, by Jeff Apter
Immediate next on my reading list is Up From Down Under, from 2013, by Jeff Apter – recommended to me by the author himself. Took me a while to track down a copy but a mint condition copy arrived this morning. Looking forward to it. The Book of Daniel, by Jeff Apter
In The Book of Daniel, Jeff Apter has aggregated a lot of information about Daniel Johns, the prodigiously talented former lead singer of Silverchair and current eclectic and eccentric musical auteur (my description). Some of that information came from Apter’s own previous book on Silverchair and its revised and updated edition, some came from Apter’s …A Slice of Rock 'n' Roll Life
Review: Roadies, by Stuart Coupe Compelling account of the road crews that make live music possible, with a particular focus on capturing the roadie’s life in Australia in the 70s-80s, a time that has since evolved into something else. Each chapter reveals another character – and they’re great characters – building a multi-layered, cross-referencing tableau …The Rise and Rise of Web Accessibility and Inclusive Digital Design
Falling as it does in the last month of the year, today’s 26th International Day of Persons with Disabilities* is a good time to reflect on progress toward achieving Intopia’s aim of ‘creating an inclusive digital world’. It also comes after a spate of major web tech conferences in Australia during the second half of the year, which …The Rise and Rise of Web Accessibility and Inclusive Digital Design Read More »
What Newsletters Should Designers and Developers Be Subscribing To?
We put out the call on Twitter and Facebook: “What email newsletters are you following these days?” The task of compiling your (many, many) responses has fallen to me. I should disclose that I have a vested interest in that I currently edit a bi-weekly email newsletter for a conference organizer, UX Australia. In fact, over the years, …What Newsletters Should Designers and Developers Be Subscribing To? Read More »
What's New in WCAG 2.1?
WCAG 2.1 was published in its final form in June 2018. WCAG 2.1 is an extension to WCAG 2.0 that provides guidance to better address some of the needs of people with disabilities accessing content on mobile devices, people with low vision, and people with cognitive or learning disabilities. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an initiative of the World Wide …Which Podcasts Should Web Designers and Developers Be Listening To?
We asked the Smashing community what podcasts they listened to, aiming to compile a shortlist of current podcasts for web designers and developers. We had what can only be called a very strong response — both in number and in passion. First, we winnowed out the podcasts that were on a broader theme (e.g. creativity, …Which Podcasts Should Web Designers and Developers Be Listening To? Read More »
CSUN 2018 - The Aftermath
The CSUN Assistive Technology Conference is over for another year, and speakers, participants and attendees have scattered back to their various parts of the world. With an event like this, it’s always good to take a moment to reflect on what took place, how it went down and what people had to say about it. …A Summer of Rock Books
Well, here it is the third day of March, which means summer in Australia is technically over. As I sit here in 30 degree heat looking at a cloudless, sparkling blue sky with just a mild, cooling breeze – that’s hard to credit. Nevertheless, it’s as good a time as any to summarise my summer …What Is The Best Advice You Have Ever Received? Our Community Speaks.
Ricky Onsman, Smashing Magazine, 5 February 2018 The beginning of a new year seems like a perfect time to think about what we web professionals do, why we do it, how we could do it better and even how we could have more fun doing it. Like everyone, we learn lessons as we make our …What Is The Best Advice You Have Ever Received? Our Community Speaks. Read More »
Work-Life Balance: Tips From The Community
Ricky Onsman, Smashing Magazine, 23 January 2008 In order to encourage web professionals to consider some of the key points of their working lives in this still nascent industry, we asked folks on Twitter and Facebook to share their best work-life balance tips that worked really well for them. We received lots of responses: most very sensible, many very insightful, …Eat at Sandy's
I enjoyed building this site for a local restaurant (Woonona, what was Bon Aroma) that is quite remarkable (IMO). Fantastic food, really amazing dishes in a very family-friendly setting that encourages shared meals. Our last meal for four including two teenagers was about a hundred bucks. And lovely people – they run SandyGoodWich cafe in …Don Walker
When I started this binge of Oz Rock books, I was fully expecting that some individuals would recur from book to book, being significant figures in our music industry – people like Ted Albert, George Young, Philip Mortlock, Michael Gudinski and Molly Meldrum. And, indeed they all do pop up variously in The Angels by …Is Accessibility Changing?
Despite the evolution of a prodigiously detailed listing of possible web access needs and how they can be met – aka the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines – web professionals across all disciplines have continued to regard accessibility as being about edge cases, the addressing of which is hard to justify in terms of effort, cost or even good PR.
But could this be changing?
Code 17 in 100 Tweets
This was an experiment in describing an entire two day conference through the device of exactly 100 selected tweets.
Code Leaders, Melbourne, 2 August 2017
That was quite a day!
I reckon very few of the 140 or so of us at this first Code Leaders conference in Melbourne had a clear idea of how the day would pan out.
It’s probably fair to say that no-one except John Allsopp, the event’s creator and the heart and soul of Web Directions, had a complete vision of how it would all work.
And even John would concede that he was uncertain how successful this approach would be.
Well, it was. And how.
Vagabond Freak, by Toby Zoates
Vagabond Freak is a fascinating piece of work. A broad description could be “A young homosexual man’s travels and travails from his 1950s childhood in conservative suburban Australia to life on the Hippie Trail in India in the early 1970s”. And that would be true, but it would not at all convey the visceral nature …Will WCAG 2.1 Make A11y More Accessible?
On the last day of February this year, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released a First Public Working Draft of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Reaction from accessibility advocates was immediate and clear. “WCAG 2.1 — It’s here! After much deliberation and fine-tuning, the highly-anticipated first draft of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 …A Word About Workshops
I am genuinely – perhaps unreasonably – excited that I will be attending Vitaly Friedman’s Masterclass workshop at the Respond conference next month. In the last 20 years, I have attended a lot of workshops. Many of those focused on web technologies and skills and they’ve included sessions led by people like Vitaly (in 2015), Andrew …TuneUp Utilities - A New Year's Tale
The beginning of a new year is probably a good time to reflect on an experience that demanded I leave the past behind and take advantage of new developments. When I started working freelance in web design, development and content from a home office back in 2001, I quickly realised I would have to build …My Family's Keeper, by Brad Haddin
Hazel has yet another book coming out next week – her fourth this year. My Family’s Keeper is Australian cricketer Brad Haddin’s memoir of how his family dealt with his baby daughter’s cancer diagnosis. It’s not so much a cricket book as a human drama in which the narrator is a cricketer. I’m reading it now …Scroll: Respond
In 1999, the Australian rock band You Am I, a trio since their inception 10 years earlier, decided to hire a second guitarist. They could have had their pick of any number of white hot players who could learn their repertoire. Instead, they chose an 18-year-old fan who had come to their attention by accurately …W3C Working Groups & the Future Web
The invitation came to me by email from Web Directions. “Do you know where CSS and SVG come from, and how they end up as they are? A bunch of folks from all over the world participate in W3C working groups, to help move these (and many other Web) technologies forward. And it so happens …Speaker Training Workshop
Why Speaker Training? Web Directions is known for being committed to helping web professionals acquire and hone skills, ideas and attitudes that can help them in their working lives. This is most obvious in the major events we organise: conferences and workshops in Australia that bring acknowledged experts from around the world here to share …Australian Web Industry Association
2015 has been quite a year for the Australian Web Industry Association (AWIA), one in which the success of events like the Australian Web Awards has been tempered by the relative disappointment of a highly adventurous Edge of the Web national conference. With a strong and impassioned leadership, some revolutionary changes are afoot in AWIA …Merrigong Season 2016
I used to think Merrigong Theatre Co was forced to be what it is – an entrepreneurial regional theatre company that brings in touring shows and allocates some space for a local show – by circumstance alone, but I reckon now Simon Hinton is a bit of a genius in how he puts programs together. …Optical Illusions
Just went to have my eyes tested, with interesting results (skip this if you have no interest in this topic). I’ve worn contact lenses for over 30 years to correct my poor distance vision – currently daily disposables. They have always been at 3.0 correction, but apparently my eyes have improved! I now need only …Web Directions 2015
There are few professional decisions I’ve made in the last 12 years that have had as profound an effect on my career as hooking up with Web Directions. For the late arrivals, Web Directions is a conference based in Sydney, with a focus on standards-based web design and development, a commitment to fostering ideas-driven progress …French’s: A Facebook Love Story
Ah, Facebook. Love it or hate it, you’ve got to love it, haven’t you? Yes, I know that doesn’t make sense. Which is why it sums up how I feel about Facebook. The trouble is there’s just so much to love and hate about the pervasive, addictive, simple, complicated, easy-to-use, frustrating-as-hell social media giant. I …Dungeons & Dragons
Last year’s Dungeons & Dragons birthday party for Cormac went so well, he and his mates wanted to do it again. Can’t just repeat the exercise, so this year will be a Zombie Apocalypse, where the boys play themselves with D&D style skills and weapons trying to stop zombie attacks in modern day, real time …Global Accessibility Awareness Day
The Siege and Troy
Make Web Designers Think!
Call it synchronicity, if you like. I wrote a review of Steve Krug’s book Rocket Surgery Made Easy in 2010, after I bought it online. I stumbled across it again yesterday, when I logged in to Amazon to look at another book entirely (Make: JavaScript Robotics: Building NodeBots with Johnny-Five, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and BeagleBone, …Facebook International Lottery Scam
Full Stack Web Professional
Back in February 2011, I wrote a blog post called Freelancing and Loyalty, which tried to explain why I thought there was still room for jack-of-all-trades web freelancers. I’ve used that term consistently since. I’m still a freelancer, and I’m still a jack-of-all-trades. Now, however, Chris Messina has provided me with a much better phrase …Edge of the Web 2015
AWIA is the Australian Web Industry Association, the national peak body for our industry. One of the things AWIA does is hold an annual national conference, Edge of the Web. This year, EOTW is doing something a bit different: holding sessions in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and connecting them all with some clever tech. The …Read All (curated) About (filtered) It
Web Directions 2014: Day 2
Web Directions 2014: Day 1
Eleven years. John Allsopp tries to convince that this is the 10th anniversary of my favourite web conference, but there have already been ten (including Web Essentials 04 and 05), so this is the eleventh. In its second change of venue (originally UTS, then Darling Harbour), Web Directions has relocated to the Seymour Centre. A …corrimal surf life saving club
millers point community
ros bradley
julie mccrossin
ascienta
the 4x4 factory
change your school
kindred
ashton d29ceqtsb
teco
offscreen
my top tools for 2012
wall media
reading list
the cottage, merricks north
what's wrong with my designs?
miles burke
ron allum
thinksmart bewize
reading list
Time for an update to my Reading List. If you’re a web designer or developer and you’re up for some self-directed professional development reading, these titles could be useful to you, too. Title: PHP & MySQL: Novice to Ninja, 5th Edition Author: Kevin Yank Publisher: SitePoint Link: http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpmysql5/a world of prayer
what makes an article great?
downunder and fashionably flexible
vince jones
financial education professionals
reading list
elisabeth holdsworth
helen caldicott
freelancing and loyalty
just my type
iain mccalman
sitepoint
the satyr
shots
the giacomo variations
how to make gravy
summer reading
a-team presentations
skiclip
ruth park
wipa aria-html5 workshops
Bookings are now open for the ARIA and HTML 5 workshops in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. Perth bookings will be available in the near future. You can make bookings on the WIPA site. Seeing as it’s only $60 for WIPA and AWIA members ($90 non-members) for three and a half hours with Steve Faulkner …acsso
sci-tek systems
8 faces
wipa aria-html5 workshops
introducing html5
brilliant orange
ab communicates
html5 for web designers
Conroy's Internet Filter
This is really getting ridiculous, now. I assume you know that the Australian Government plans legislation that will require Australian ISPs to block web pages that contain material that has been “refused classification” under our existing censorship system. Senator Stephen Conroy seems convinced that this is something the Australian population wants, even though no-one has …fifa world cup 2010
the mcfarlane prize 2009
julie mccrossin
living is easy
russell vale scouts
a filter-tipped web?
thinksmart
bookends
financial education professionals
rocket surgery made easy
kate mcgarrigle
As I get older, it’s inevitable that I witness the passing of my personal heroes. Some have shocked me, some have perplexed me, all have saddened me. The death of Kate McGarrigle took me by surprise. She and her sister came to my attention in the early 1980s when I had moved from Hobart to …russell vale junior football club
brad serhan
balmain rovers
web directions south
surprise and anticipation
web directions south
ochre energy
Being a gun-for-hire is quite liberating in some ways, but I think I would tire of it quickly if I had to do it on anything other than an occasional basis. I’ve just finished putting together an HTML implementation of graphic designer’s website comp for a company called Ochre Energy. Ben Phillips of mello came …queens pinch
This site is technically not quite complete yet, but it has been live for a while now so it’s worth adding to the portfolio. Queens Pinch is the Andrew Buchanan family vineyard located in the renowned Mudgee wine district of New South Wales, Australia. Andrew is both an old friend and a long time client …anne summers
Anne Summers has been a client of ours for nearly six years. As befits someone who keeps her finger on the societal pulse, Anne has crafted and continues to hone a very particular presence on the web, one that reflects the different way people seek to engage with her. Discussion, interaction, input, sharing: what may …the wolf
We’ve completed another interesting book web project. This site is to promote a new book by Richard Guilliatt and Peter Hohnen called The Wolf. It’s an astonishing story, deserving of a wide audience. The gist is that during World War I, Germany commissioned a freighter tricked up with some heavy duty firepower to undertake what …advanced exhaust solutions
Another reason why it can be good to stay with clients over time is being given the opportunity to develop new websites as the company grows and expands its business. ACSSO is a prime example of this, having grown from a single website to a stable of ten with more on the way, but our …juniper films
JOne of the truly great aspects of working with clients over a number of years is being given the opportunity to redesign a site. That could be just applying a new skin, or completely restructuring a site from the ground up. In the case of Juniper Films, it was brought on by a desire to …juergen schmeja
Another site has emerged from its Flyman Partners cocoon. This one is for a photographer, Juergen Schmeja, who specialises in panoramic shots of the Australian landscape. Any web designer who has tackled a project like this will probably be grimacing in sympathy or possibly smirking in relief it’s not them. It is seriously hard to …denise giardina
Our first project as Flyman Partners has been to create a new website for Denise Giardina, an American writer promoting her new book Emily’s Ghost. Denise has made a career out of writing politically informed, socially conscious and theologically probing historical fiction, taking events and people from real life and constructing novels around them, from …flyman partners
Here and now begins a new era, that of Flyman Partners. Flyman Partners is a web consultancy that draws together my skills and experience as a web designer and developer and those of my partner: writer, editor and content manager Hazel Flynn. Between us we have a formidable track record in creating, managing and distributing …flyman partners
Here and now begins a new era, that of Flyman Partners. Flyman Partners is a web consultancy that draws together my skills and experience as a web designer and developer and those of my partner in life, love, parenting and now business: writer, editor and content manager extraordinaire Hazel Flynn. Between us we have a …filt clothing
This was fun. FILT Clothing is co-owned by one of the people who run my favourite coffee shop, Cafe Angeli. They’re next door to each other and when the opportunity came up to design “just a basic website” for FILT, I naturally suggested an arrangement that would limit the financial impact on both the clothing …russell vale soccer club
I’ve pulled on the boots again. Oh, I’m not stupid. I’m not playing All Age. I’ve moved on to the Over 35s, or as they call it here: “Masters”. Much more palatable, playing Masters than Over 35s. Especially when you’re nudging 50. Sadly, Corrimal apparently doesn’t have enough men who choose to display their mid-life …corrimal rangers
Just because I’m not coaching any teams at Corrimal Rangers Junior Soccer Club this year doesn’t mean I’ve completely abandoned them. The obvious way to continue to support the club was to build them a website. So I did, once again modifying an available WordPress theme.reading list
lipsynch
the combination
We’ve met some great people since moving to the Illawarra. Among the new friends we’ve made who live locally are Anousha Zarkesh and David Field. Anousha is a casting director while David is an actor I’ve admired for a long time – since I saw him working with Don Mamouney at Sidetrack Theatre in the …big monkey inc
I’ve been working with WordPress a fair bit lately, either inserting a WP blog component into an otherwise static site (such as the Colette Livermore and Anne Summers sites) or basing a whole site on a WP structure, whether the site has a blog component (such as the Corrimal Nippers website) or not (such as …edzer gerben onsman
misunderestimation
I try not to indulge in too much schadenfreude when I see a typographical error: bad karma, glass houses, all of that. But sometimes, it’s impossible not to either laugh out loud or groan in despair, or both. David Campbell MP, the NSW Minister for Transport and the Illawarra, also happens to be my local …hope endures
I launched a site today for a remarkable woman called Colette Livermore. Colette was 17 when she saw a video that inspired her to become a nun and join Mother Teresa’s order the Missionaries of Charity. She worked with some of the poorest people in the world – in India, the Phillipines and Papua New …w3c releases wcag 2.0
On 11 December W3C announced “a new standard that will help Web designers and developers create sites that better meet the needs of users with disabilities and older users. Drawing on extensive experience and community feedback, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 improve upon W3C’s groundbreaking initial standard for accessible Web content. This new …state of the web survey 2008
My web design conference organisers of choice, Web Directions, have launched their annual State of the Web survey of practicing web designers and developers, which aims to capture how people are developing for the web right now. Say Maxine Sherrin and John Allsopp: It would be great if you could take a few minutes to …web-blast 08 sydney
on luck
web directions
Phew! Another Web Directions conference over and once again my brain feels stuffed to the gills (Do brains have gills? They ought to). This year I’m going to try to separate some threads of discussion and points of interest by posting about them separately, but I want to also give a bit of an overview. …web directions
humane education in australia
Another project went live today, this one for Humane Education in Australia. The site has a very narrow focus: a symposium held in Brisbane in October 2007 that drew together the major players in animal rights to talk about how to embed humane education principles in the Australian education system. I actually built a site …chrome
lars rasmussen
lingo
Lingo is the new web presence I have designed for the Languages Action Alliance, a loose coalition of parents, academics, teachers and community members who want to see improvement in the way Australia provides languages education, especially for young children. It’s been an interesting project for several reasons. One of the main ones for me …bethany college hurstville
Gosh, it never rains but it pours. My fourth new site in a week (!) went live today. Honestly, folks, it’s not normally like this. It’s a redesign of an existing site for Bethany College Hurstville, a Catholic secondary girls school in Sydney’s southern suburbs. I like this kind of brief because it involves working …edge of the web
There’s another top notch web conference coming up in these parts. Edge of the Web will be held in Perth from 6-7 November, hosted by the relatively recently formed industry body the Australian Web Industry Association. Like Web Directions, Edge of the Web has a terrific speaker lineup with international guests Chris Messina (with whom …web directions
Not long now until it’s time for Web Directions South again. It’ll be great to catch up again with old friends and make some new ones, but it’s the content of the WD sessions that makes this event indispensable for me and, as usual, this year’s line-up looks great. As a solo freelancer working from …marilyn meier-kapavale
All my life, I’ve been into quizzes and puzzles of all sorts. I don’t know exactly where it came from, but I remember tackling crosswords from a very early age, and my favourite reading in my pre-teens was the dictionary. One of my favourite quotes ever is from Alex Trebek, the long time host of …teco
My stint developing the web presence of Advanced Manufacturing Australia (then called Tooling Australia) exposed me to a range of new potential clients. That has led to a few new commissions, including one that goes live today for Teco Pty Ltd. Teco is a Victorian company that imports top end precision cutting tools and related …family-school & community partnerships bureau
Time to launch a new site! This one is the newest addition to the ACSSO stable, this is a co-production with the Australian Parents Council. Between them representing the interests of the families of children in both public and private schools in Australia, these two organisations have been funded by the Australian Government to establish …murdoch books
Since I’ve struck out on my own as a freelancer, I’ve found that one of my basic assumptions has been revealed as false. I’d always thought that I’d be taking on a job, completing it and never seeing the client again. But I find that most of my clients prefer to build a long term …amy mowbray
One of the nice things about moving to a new area is building up a local clientele. I get quite a lot of anecdotal interest when the topic of what I do for a living comes up, and I’m frequently asked for my business card. Never think that a web designer doesn’t need a business …wipa usability and eyetracking seminar
Last year, I was elected to the Committee of Web Industry Professionals Association. WIPA is an organisation that brings Australian web professionals together to exchange ideas, participate in debate, advance education and promote ethical practice. One of WIPA’s activities is holding or assisting events like this one that will help achieve positive outcomes for the …facebook up to your responsibilities
There is definitely good reason to be careful when using Facebook – and it’s not limited to that social networking application by any means. Sharing information like your mother’s maiden name (commonly used by banks etc as extra security questions) with even your close friends online is asking for trouble. And Facebook does make it …thieves like us
I went to see an interesting piece of theatre last night, a new Australian work by Marcel Dorney. Thieves Like Us was originally commissioned by La Boite Theatre in Brisbane, which is where the playwright’s friendship with director Jamie Dawson grew. Brisbane is also the setting for the play, which naturally affords some comic moments. …international PEN poem relay
Anne Summers has drawn my attention to: “a peaceful, and poetic, alternative to the protests that have accompanied the Olympic torch relay, which is today in Canberra. If you go to the website www.penpoemrelay.org you will see the PEN poem relay, a web-based campaign calling for Free Expression in China. A short poem, “June” by …hazel flynn
Hazel Flynn is my wife, and a wordsmith of the highest calibre. Having started out as a radio producer, Hazel has since written for just about every major newspaper and magazine in the country – either direct or through a content provider like HWW – including being on the team that started Who Weekly magazine, …mosaic
Rosalind Bradley is an Australian who has worked in PR and marketing for organisations including the Fred Hollows Foundation. Ros was in London at the time of the 2005 bombings, and what she saw inspired her to approach prominent Australians to share their selections of favourite prayers and reflections. The book Mosaic is the result. …international year of languages
Another ACSSO project has seen the light of day, this one focused on Australian information, resources and activities associated with the United Nations having declared 2008 the International Year of Languages. While there is, of course, an international site for the International Year, and the Australian Council of State School Organisations and its private school …values in education
If there’s anything better than having a long-term, informed and committed client who requires you to design, manage and improve a website, it’s having one who has a whole set of diverse, meaningful and purposeful websites. The Values in Education website is one face that the Australian Council of State School Organisations projects, originally focused …compassion in world farming australia
I’ve written previously about how doing pro bono work is great training for web designers. Your clients love you, you get to both practise and extend your skills and – if you’re like me – you get a warm feeling from helping those who could do with it. And, sometimes, you get more. Back in …web directions north 2008
Well. If I thought flying across the country for a two hour meeting was fun, how would flying across the Pacific for a two day conference compare? It was a hoot! Having hardly watched a movie in the past year or so, I took the opportunity on the flight over to catch up with some …web directions north 2008
See the button for Web Directions North? Under the search box on the right? The conference in Vancouver? Canada? I’m going to that. No, I didn’t get a ticket via their Affiliates program or anything, and yes, it’s a heckuva spend what with air fares and accommodation and all, but these particular conferences give great …neoneighbourhood
Hazel has finally made the big step away from her successful career as a book publisher and editor to take on the position of Editor-in-Chief at online startup NeoNeighbourhood. This in itself is an exciting development, not least because the kids and I will get to see much more of her. No more leaving the …no new iron cove bridge
I was dead impressed by fullcodepress.Back in August, fullcodepress involved a team of Australians and a team of New Zealanders competing to each build a full website in 24 hours under controlled conditions. A panel of judges assessed which one best met the contest criteria, and a couple of not-for-profit good causes had terrific websites …neoneighbourhood
Today was the soft launch date for NeoNeighbourhood.com. This is a project I’ve been working on for a few months now. In October 2006, I wrote about a book called Neo Power, an examination of consumer spending patterns that identified a different way of identifying and marketing to people with a high level of discretionary …web directions north 2008
I’m a big fan of Web Directions, the conference series that was born out of two Web Essentials conferences in ‘04 and ‘05 and grew up into a South version (in Sydney) and a North version (in Vancouver) that between them lay claim to be the most important gabfests to focus on standards-based web design. …in rainbows
Things I like about Radiohead’s In Rainbows: That it can be downloaded. I’m really not fussed that the file quality means I’m not getting the best possible sound. Between the quality of my ears and my equipment, I can’t tell the difference anyway. That it is jaw-droppingly good. The music envelopes and invades me. I …web directions south 2007
Another superb two day conference laid on by John and Maxine (representative of the many involved, of course) finished yesterday. The new venue at Darling Harbour was great and the program was, as always, remarkable. My highlights included: Andy Clarke – Think Like a Mountain: I grew up with pocket sized B&W WWII comics, The …all in a day's work
Yesterday was unusual.I was picked up by taxi from my Corrimal home at 6.30am for an hour-and-fifteen drive to Sydney Airport, where I boarded a four hour flight to Perth. I was picked up at Perth Airport and driven to a two hour meeting with Bam Creative about working together on a new web project. …ensemble: music education in australia
My stable of sites for the Australian Council of State School Organisations continues to grow. To complement the existing main ACSSO site, the Families Matter site, the Values in Education site and the Languages Education site, I’ve just completed Ensemble, focusing on Music Education in Australia. These sites come out of ACSSO’s approach to identifying …fullcodepress
Pens down! For the past 24 hours, I’ve been following the progress of FullCodePress, the local section of an international competition to build a website in a day under controlled conditions. Australian and New Zealand teams of designers, coders, programmers, content managers and usability professionals have been locked up since 9.30am yesterday until just a …people for a nuclear-free australia
People For a Nuclear-Free Australia is a pretty self-explanatory title. The site aims to pull together ground level support for thwarting Prime Minister John Howard’s plans for developing a nuclear power industry in Australia. If anyone needed further reason to vote the Howard Government out come election time later this year, his plans to mine …ying tong
I went to a performance of Ying Tong – A Walk with the Goons in Wollongong last night. It’s a terrific piece with a great cast, led by Geoff Kelso (an actor who has long specialised in playing “exceedingly silly”) as the late, lamented Spike Milligan, a true master of comedy. Spike is in an …the principles of beautiful web design
It shouldn’t surprise that a book about beautiful design is beautifully designed. Still, Jason Beaird and the Sitepoint editors do such a great job of applying The Principles of Beautiful Web Design to the book itself, it’s worth remarking on. Like the best web sites it describes, this book has rich content, is well-structured and …the money club
A new site went live today, for the forthcoming publication of The Money Club, an updated edition of a book first published in 2001 by my wife Hazel when she was at Random House Australia. Hazel is now Commissioning Editor at Murdoch Books (whose website is also my work) but the authors, who like many …mccarthy mentoring
There’s a lot to be said for keeping it simple. The latest website to emerge from the Onsmansion is for McCarthy Mentoring. Wendy McCarthy has been a client of mine for several years and we’ve taken her personal website through a few incarnations in that time. When Wendy brought her daughter Sophie on board to …qwerty v dvorak
I haven’t completely pondered all the implications of this, but I’m sure it means something. I’ve previously sung the praises of my favourite online store REMO, purevyors of many nifty and beautiful things. In a recent newsletter, REMO advised that they were offering a new t shirt featuring the Dvorak keyboard. They even provided an …energy efficient home design
Another pro bono site went live today. This one is somewhat larger than the CIWF Australia web page, a website for a chap by the name of Daniel Boon (!), who wrote a booklet called the Guide to Energy Efficient Home Design and cold-called me (well, cold-emailed) on the basis of my work on the …compassion in world farming australia
I put up a new web page today – “launched” seems too grand a term for what is after all just one page. This particular page is for Compassion in World Farming Australia, the local arm of a global organisation based in the UK. CIWF works to eliminate inhumane practices toward farm animals around the …newsletters
I’ve been following an interesting path in the last few weeks. As well as starting on a couple of new website commissions and fulfilling my regular client content management obligations, I’ve been working on what amounts to a spate of newsletters recently. There are aspects to this kind of work that generate some heat. There …juniper films
Another site I designed and built went live tonight. Juniper Films are documentary film makers who specialise in capturing stories and images of the South Pacific. Their 30+ year history is also marked by a pretty handy sideline in chronicling lives and events in the Australian arts industry. A highly enjoyable project, this one. Just …tooling australia
It’s probably time I owned up to this one. That might sound like an odd way to add another site to my portfolio, but the Tooling Australia project is a bit different to the others. It’s been built for Internet Explorer, for a start. Yes, that is the browser that is used by – as …this way to the sea
My fourth site launch in the last three weeks – will the madness never end? Still and all, I’d rather have too much work than not enough. I’m still not quite convinced that this web design / development bubble won’t suddenly burst. This website is for a book called This Way to the Sea, a …languages education in australia
March madness continues as another site goes live. Apart from presenting another challenge of getting as close as possible to a truly “good” site (with all that implies about the quality of the code, structure, content, design etc), this one has two aspects that may be of particular interest. Firstly, the Languages Education in Australia …financial education professionals
Another day, another site launch. This project has the distinguishing characteristic of being a revamp of an existing site, also designed and built by me for Financial Education Professionals in October 2003. My client is a provider of training services to financial insititutions, helping them to meet their obligations under Australian company law. This is …ab communicates
Another site I designed and built was launched on to the web today. This one is for AB Communicates, a Sydney-based consultancy that draws on the immense skills and experience of Andrew Buchanan. Andrew has a very interesting history and a very interesting line of work. I first met him when he was (I think) …search summit
I had the pleasure of attending Search Summit 2007 this week, which bills itself as “THE Australian Search Marketing Conference”. That would be a big call for any conference, let alone one that focuses on what is now called ‘the search industry’, but it lived up to the billing. The speaker who was probably most …web standards and accessibility
I’ve recently dipped my virtual toes into the waters surrounding web standards and accessibility. This has involved absorbing current and past opinions offered by members of the Web Standards Project and participating in the mail list maintained by the Web Standards Group. WSP provides lot of food for thought about the big picture – why …maton cw80/6
In 1977 I bought my first guitar. I’d been playing for a few years by then, originally pulled in by my older brother’s need to have someone play the bass line of Spicks and Specks while he sang and soloed. By the age of 18, however, I’d outgrown Andy’s hand-me-down nylon string classical and even …don't make me think
When I started working in IT, I acquired a reputation for having an ‘affinity’ with computers. This was, of course, complete nonsense. All I did, that no-one else seemed to do, was read the manual. That’s not always a small feat, given that many computer-related manuals seem to have been written by people for whom …values in education
One of my major clients is the Australian Council of State School Organisations. ACSSO is the national peak body for public education in Australia, comprising state- and territory-based affiliate organisations. ACSSO keeps schools, teachers, principals, students and parents informed about issues, policy developments, legislation and new research on education. When Prime Minister Howard stated that …bellavista, citerna
Speaking of vacation accommodation, I’ve just finished another website, this one for a townhouse for holiday rental in Citerna, Italy. It’s run by an Australian couple now living in Italy, Marius and Christine Webb. Marius is well-known as one of the creators of 2JJ Radio (now Triple J), while Christine was publisher of cult style …ruwenzori
Sometimes you just have to get away from the Web. There are few places better suited to this than Ruwenzori. A friend of mine who’s a train buff has hauled some railway carriages to a hilltop just north of Mudgee (about four hours drive northwest of Sydney). Scott and his wife Wendy have renovated these …rock's backpages
You have to bear in mind that significant portions of my life have been characterised by some essentially incompatible habits. From the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s I was a student and then a working actor, mostly in theatre-in-education, moving from shared house to shared house and often from town to town. I also …arty fufkin
As Paul Simon nearly said “I’m the first to admit it – I’m the last one to know”. The WD06 conference in September was the first time I’d come across mashups – the use of two or more web applications to create new blended content that is greater than its parts. An (already) classic example …suburban songbook
Bob Evans is the alter ego of Kevin Mitchell, front man for Jebediah, a WA band I’ve been fond of since their Slightly Odway album of 1997. Nice thrashy guitars, a strong backbeat, poppy and loud. Bob released an acoustic solo album in 2003 called Suburban Kid, recalling for me other favoured singer songwriters like …don chipp foundation
Another site goes live today. This is one that’s tinged with a certain sadness, but also embodies a certain defiance. The Don Chipp Foundation is the research arm and think tank for the Australian Democrats, the political party founded by Don Chipp to ‘keep the bastards honest’. A lot of people are writing the Democrats …livesite
In the course of redeveloping a website for an industrial peak body over the last few weeks, I needed to identify a good content management system. I needed an end-user friendly system that would allow my client’s non-tech savvy staff and members to log in to separate areas to update information as well as provide …the village
The term ‘global village’ still gets tossed around to convey the reach and sensibility of the web, but we shouldn’t forget about the ‘local village’ either. Some things you just can’t get from a screen or a headset. Like the excitement of performers in the flesh, so close you can touch them, making magic happen. …wizards of oz
I don’t know whether it’s a matter of cultural cringe, but my pride in Australian achievements in web development remains tinged with surprise. Australians are apparently known for a statistical tendency to be early adopters of new technology – when it’s offered to them – but it still seems to me that we punch well …remo
There are some interesting places on the web. There are some very good shops online. There are some brilliantly designed websites. There aren’t all that many sites that ooze charm, intelligence and wit as well as being brilliantly designed, interesting and a very good shop. I love REMO.pressdisplay
I don’t think of myself as a news junkie, but I do like newspapers. I find the stream of content that newspapers provide pretty irresistible. I’ve now found a site called PressDisplay that aggregates content from “350 newspapers from 65 countries in 35 languages”. OK, there are plenty of news aggregators out there, but there …google reader
I’m loving the whole blog thing. I’m a newcomer to having my own blog, but I’ve set up a number of blogs for clients and I’m an avid consumer of other people’s online thoughts – that’s largely how I pay attention to the people I pay attention to (see sidebar). The one drawback is that …neo power
On Wednesday, I went to the launch of this book by Ross Honeywill and Verity Byth. The authors, former directors of KPMG Consulting, have come up with a way of describing consumer behaviour that is markedly different from the baby boomer, gen x, gen y school of thought that categorises people according to when they …theme time radio hour
I’ve always been an admirer rather than a fan of Bob Dylan. While some of his songs have touched me, I’m more respectful of his status as a great American musical poet than empassioned by his work. However, I have a whole new take on the man after listening to his one hour XM Satellite …web directions south
Those who know this site will see that there has been a major overhaul – obviously not the first, and certainly not the last. What brought this one on? Well, I’ve just spent two days being inspired, challenged and stimulated by some of the most inspiring, challenging and stimulating speakers on matters web-related. I had …