Subliminal Culture
2007 September 21
Lately I've been reading more of Lev Manovich's Language of New Media. Manovich discusses the methods in which we access new media. He mentions some research done by Paul Virilio on the collapsing effect technology has on the distances between people and content. Before, if a person wanted to see the works of Da Vinci they'd have to travel to a book store or an art museum. With the advent of new media it's as simple as pulling up a browser.
Manually Compressing PNGs
2007 September 18
With the advent of some very clean hacks to make PNGs work in IE I've found myself working them into my designs more. Using them has allowed me to achieve some effects that were next to impossible with JPEGs and GIFs. The biggest hurdle in using PNGs is their file size. The export tools in Photoshop tie your hands behind your back, not allowing you to tweak anything that may lead to a more compact file. Until Photoshop adds some functionality I think I may have a handy solution.