Internet is a book

A nice to the point tweet from Hugh kicked of this train of thought. With the announcement that iBooks can handle javascript it became clear that ebooks are digital files in their own right. And with the region CSS suggestion from Adobe (or the FT webapp or the Playoby one), the boundaries between "publishing" something as a fixed file as opposed to making it flexibly available is blurring a bit more.

A blog post is fixed, until it is edited. But a tweet is a self contained unit of content. Except when it is a retweet, or a reply, or garners retweets and replies - then it is a part of a conversation more than content. Right?

So that is where the "microblogging" comes in (and no, I don't include twitter in that bucket - due mainly to the lack of easy navigation and structure when compared to the others) - tumblr and posterous, surely many others as well [see wikipedia], but those are the two that I've played with myself.

Sitting between the possiblity of conversation in a blog (aka the comments, and sometimes pingbacks) - and the almost necessity of it at twitter, the microblogs make sharing posts and following users a central part of the experience.

But does that make them fundamentally different? Or just slightly improved for the users that want the whole flow rather than the main content?

How does it compare to publishing a "fixed" piece of content, be it on Slideshare, as a downloadable pdf, or in the form of an ebook?
Does the temporal permanence change how we as users/readers perceive and interact with the content?
Or is everything consumed in a "here and now" setting, rendering the packaging irrelevant to the usage?

hey everybody: ebooks are just websites built for special browsers. it should not suprise you that ebooks can do what websites do [1]

@hughmcguire 

And for some twisted thoughts brought out in music, the new single from Bjørk is streamable over on another tumblr - reminds me that I actually have three of her albums, and here they come into the play queue shortly... when this was written - pre-scheuled for release.

Digital wins most times. (now on Debut, track 04 - There's More To Life Than This - oh yes)

The big 450?

It took a bit of time, and quite a few stops and restarts - but this should be post number 450 here on the 3-3-3 blog. So still some room for growth, and perhaps a more planned celebration/recap on closing in on 500 posts or ten years (depending on what comes first/last...) Stay subscribed - RSS is the ONLY meaningful way to get the erratic posts.

The main topic of the day isn't all meta - but almost;

Information (..) could not only get that, but then she’d be given recipes specific to the location where she’s looking at the wine: chowder pairings in Boston and chili recommendations in Austin.

Quote from mr Brogan - don't get hung up on tech - sure it needs location awareness, some sort of id input (code, name, qr,..) and a database, but for the user it is all about getting more from their interaction with the wine, on her own terms.

Which is a good reminder - it is really easy to fall in love with shiny objects (be they iPads or CSS regions prototypes), especially when you spend most of every working hour either learning, developing, testing or debugging new stuff.

so how to keep the open mindedness needed to reboot while keeping things grounded? How to be playful and exploratory, yet at the same time focus on the everyday nuisances the users don't even really know they have?

Manhattan state of mind

One of the few comics I have on close to pre-order at Amazon is DMZ by Brian Wood, following the trials and tribulations of journalistic-hopeful Matthew Roth inside the hot-zone of Manhattan (the DMZ - civil war more or less rages in and across the US)

So reading the interviews over at Live from the DMZ is both great and a little sad, since it is in a way counting down to the end of the series (issue 72 in december). Volume ten of the trades just came out (and is making it way in my direction really soon), and if you haven't read any the first trade used is less than a latte at $3.35 right now in the affiliate box ;D

Interesting concept as well - a DVD style commentary to supplement each trade, giving room for more in depth than the normal page or two of intro in the printed edition.


The other mainstay of my comic diet, Freakangels, is also winding down - just a few more 'issues' to go. Being a webcomic has made the interaction and commentary directly available, with the Whitechapel Forum "to discuss this week's installment." creating a community along the way.


Side note of the post; the site is based on tumblr - a really good alternative for small and quick set-ups. Just like here on blogger you can adjust the template and add inn additionally custom html and css, but the post-types, dashboard, app and tablet (iPad) use takes things to another level.

Also the API looks like a real 'killer' for reusing tumblr content in a larger editorial setting (such as a full scale CMS)... just saying (and playing for now)

Flow like that!

Finally got around to testing out the Adobe CSS Regions Prototype today. And boy was that fun fun fun! As a proof of concept it is really stunning to see how well it handles text-flows between containers especially, but also around regions or objects - in multiple layers or stacks just like InDesign.

The download can be found in the Adobe Labs - it is basically a tweaked version of Webkit along with some sample html pages and the documentation that mirrors the intro article from early in May.

For setting up a flow all you need are a couple of target DIV's and two lines of CSS!

One for setting up the content source;
-webkit-flow: "main-thread"

And another for assigning it to the blocks; content:from(main-thread)

From looking at the FT.com webapp javascript code, and thinking about how I would attack it in terms of parsing the text, duplicating tags etc - this is scary simple.

One caveat is that, at least for now, you loose the ability to "target" the text in each container separately. You can adjust anything relating to the block element itself (margin, padding, background) - but CSS related to the actual flowing content has no effect. That means only one style for font-size, color etc. Which I'm sure makes sense from a performance standpoint on window resize, but is a bummer in terms of recreating a "true" magazine feels like a Wired page.

Hopefully that is something that could be added - but would require a bit more integration into the CSS rendering and parsing engine. Right now it looks like the content blocks are added as new containers (no inspector included in the custom build)

And it is important to note that it is actually CONTENT blocks - not just text level elements, but also images inline in the flow are slotted into the 'right' container.


On a sidenote; I'd love to see how aside works in the browser not just on the iPad, but that means bypassing their eight-step browser-sniffing script (reproduced at jsbin) in some meaningful yet simple way... guess I could try firebug breakpoint and just replacing the values?


- ....and the sun shines brightly outside despite the watch showing nine in the evening, summertime is really here again...