Make mistakes. All the time.

Quote and image from Chris Brogan this time around - on the willingness to be wrong;

"The amount of mental energy we expend by trying to be right all the time is a waste. I have come to learn that it’s a lot easier to be wrong from time to time, and that the process of being wrong can certainly speed up the finding of what it is that ends up being right."

[Be Willing to Be Wrong]

Part of a recurring theme here - failure is not a bad thing. Failure is bad if you don't use it for something. And it is better to "fail fast", than to drag your feet - or keep pouring resources onto sunk costs.

As long as you are open about it in the process as well; our best estimate is that.... based on what we can find today it .....

Decide how much time you have to make sure, then use your best judgement, launch, measure, change and do it again.

Don't go for perfect track records.
Go for always trying.
And always improving - if only by a little bit each time. It adds up.

Too good to fail?

Kicking off the week, and starting the autumn season with some thoughts on this piece by Seth on competence as a barrier to possibility. Basically considering that when we get good at something, we know how it is done and what the result should look like.

And just maybe because of that, it is easy to loose sight of the possibility of "creative mutation" or "successful failure"

Just like automation takes out the "handmade" feel in products?

Jaime Oliver used to say that he intentionally cut pieces at odd angles and assorted widths, just to retain that feeling of a personal touch. Smashing up the onions and the mushrooms a bit, so it looked like "real" pieces, rather than machine processed goods.

How easy is it to use an error as something to build on, rather than just something to be pruned out with out further consideration?

Chances are, if something is a bit off, it might trigger ideas that then lead to further changes and explorations.

But they could also just lead you on a tangent. So setting aside some time, rather than doing it every time is a good idea

Test like there is no tomorrow

Why have a series of meetings, when you can set up a test in minutes or seconds?

Why is it so scary to let go, and test your way forward?

No fear no launch?

Hence the opportunity. If you do things that are safe but feel risky, you gain a significant advantage in the marketplace. [seth]

Since everybody else is shying away from those things that feel risky, but in fact are probably not - just new and strange, actively pursuing those "blind spots" can be a worthwhile endeavour.

This of course is based on a few assumptions running as a red thread through seth godin's later works;

Fear is a natural thing, but not a rational one - meaning it doesn't really make sense to fear the things that were scary 10 000 years ago (change, loud noise, uncertainty) when we have culturally evolved our settings to such a degree.

Secondly, you have to be able to differentiate risky from risk - some things and efforts are still liable to burn through a lot of money. Fast. And depending on your position that could hurt. But doing an online start up, using cloud services and open source baseline, you can scale both up and down a lot more effortlessly than during the 2000 bubble.

Third, it has to be something that is sustainable, and not something everybody will just copy when you have proved it viable

And that last part is probably the hardest, with so many people doing start ups, apps, re-nnoavtiong or pivots - finding a good spot to take a business might be harder than going ultra niche and global.

So, let fear be an indication that you are moving into a zone of opportunity rather than a danger zone, but keep the scope sane

Factual dreams - a true oxymoron

Sometimes it is easy to forget how "magical" current tech would seem to a visitor from the pas, or even ourselves enough years ago. 

Sitting here typing on a laptop with glowing keys so the light can be down and the sky outside can set the mood (scheduling pub time, summer dusk at present) 

With music coming down from the cloud, landing on my small slab of a mobile (or smart glass, or mini computer) and out via the connected speaker.

 Eva & The Heartmaker: Live fra Rockefeller http://wimp.no/album/20517767

And then glancing down at my e-paper watch to see the track title, and maybe skip or pause. 

In another ten or five years, the keyboard might be connected to the phone-slab as well, with the screen being multipurpose, rather than welded onto a battery and cd combo. Or the phone will be gone, replaced with a small biometric knob - able to connect to assets at home, at work and in the coffee shop.

Or not. It will change, but how it will transition is still thankfully unclear. We can dream, play, test and explore our way forward. Ipad,Air or MS Surface - will they become one or will all three have their niche? 

Why am I writing this on the big MBP, and not the iPad - or even over at the workhorse stationary pc? Full size keyboards on both, but the immediacy of the mid sized screen up close, as opposed to the vastness of the 24'' might be part of it. Or possibly the avoidance of distractions - games are lined up over there, a backlog of golden rpg games, bought digitally to fill in the gaps in the collection. Same goes for the iPad, the lack of full on keyboard (despite the nifty Touchfire needing some love) and an abundance of consummation apps makes other uses better than blogging. 

And still I lust for a brand new Air. Not because I need more gear. Nor because it is time to replace the latop. But because it is new. And shiny. And better than the one I lusted over last year. 

Solved it then by having a friend buy one with myself as advisor during the test and purchase. Not to mention rebooting the iPad2 for a forth gen. A cheap perk for my employer, considering the hours spent reading and staying up to date, on my own time. For now blaming the lack of instant OS update might be enough. Hassle free being a key decider in anything that will be just for fun and on my own time.

On that note it seems right to get around to the quote that started the tangent off:

This is the challenge of the Kickstarter artist, the growth stock CEO and the well-published author. Dreams are irresistible, but they will never match reality when it finally appears.

[seth G, my link added]

And that is why Kickstarter is the ultimate "weird" shopping experience - you get to play along with the process, so by the time you get the product you are vested, and using it feels a lot more natural than something you "just" bought in a store.

For some products the experience up to the product might be enough in and off itself. The feeling of being a patron of the (creative) arts making a transaction justified even if you don't really need the product that much.

Might also be why I had more or less shifted into digital only projects. Until a weak moment saw a dual dose of robots getting some support. So by xmas there should be a Sparky trotting along with some sort of BrickPI creation. Provided they both make it past customs and survive shipping.

It's all about the execution, stupid

Not really, since Strategy matters more than ever:

When everyone is playing the same game, your execution is critical. [...] Not changing your strategy merely because you're used to the one you have now is a lousy strategy.

Yup, Seth again, this one from July 23, 2012 - such a treasure trove. The gift that keeps on giving.

Does digital open up for more copycats, or does it force us into our own path and localized maximum?

There are probably more Groupon clones, than there are active users of coupon services. But there are still more other start ups playing in the distribution, rewards and benefits arena. And as the different ideas gain traction, it makes a lot more sense to do it differently, rather than trying to "out Amazon Amazon"

Not even sure if Google or Microsoft* can do that in terms of cloud offerings - AWS is THE dog, it plays for scale and pushing costs to zero. Having services like Netflix does a bit for your volume and requirements.

Same way YouTube totally dominates in video hosting, distribution, monetization and partially creation. Pushing the scope ever outwards, doing hangouts on air, paid channels, longer clips, higher quality. Step by step eating up the niches. Vimeo made sense in a more constrained time for the "above average" video producer, but now?  

The same digital flexibility is what you need to play around with, map out not THE path, but a set of options, interconnected or related, and figure out how you might need to pivot up front. Just like playing chess - if competitor X launches this, we'll do ..., but if competitor Y appears, we'll just ...

Run the scenarios. Describe the story. Map the future. 

Rinse, repeat. Because in 6 months there will be new players, models and options.



* love how the blogger dictionary doesn't see the need to capitalize Blogger or Google, but microsoft gets a red line

-...and the sun has been staying around in the early days of June, here's to hoping for many more lazy days and late warm nights...

I want to do it all, and then some more

How do you decide?

Chances are there are more thing you want to do, than people to do it.
More ideas than project teams.
More bugs than developers, never mind testers.

Should you focus on those big things that "wake up the neighbors" - attract a lot of attention and flair, preferably within the niche or market you play in - or should you do a lot of smaller, unknown and unknowing tests? Build the future stepwise, or stay the course first and foremost?

How do we find a balance? 

Can we?

Should we even try?

One reason that incumbents are so often defeated by newcomers is that the incumbents put their best people and their urgent focus on the stuff they used to do (like winning Pulitzer prizes, selling ads to cosmetic companies and counting dead trees) while the new guys have nothing but the new thing to focus on.

[seth, who else?]


Are you doing it wrong if you do what you know, what makes sense right now, and what "everybody" else is doing? Is radicall innovation and transformation advisable, never mind possible? Is it right to say to your current customers "sorry, we want someone else, so you'll be getting an inferior product - but it will be a lot better in a while, albeit something completely different"?

Apple could do the iPhone because they didn't have a phone business, didn't have telco relations to maintain, and an upgrade path to stick to. 3g, 4, 4s, 5? Incremental wrapping and icing on the cake.

Apple could also do the iPad, because they had 10% or less market share for laptops. Microsoft couldn't for the same reason. They had too many partners to placate, making the assorted touch screen laptops never-rans.

Facebook bought Instagram. Even if they had the bigger volume of users. Even if they had apps and were THE photo destination. But they didn't have or get mobile. As a core. As the only thing. Do they now? At least a bit more than before the 1 bn.

Just right, just so?

Consistency is a drag

"This is the best I can do" vs. "It's not good enough."

[seth]

Yes, it is another Seth Godin quote, there were a few in the draft backlog - deservedly so. Topic is failure to launch, innovate, improve and otherwise change.

For some it is due to a complacency - "if it ain't broke" type mentality. Change is hard and painful  Launching is scary. So it is a lot better to stick to the course, keep churning out the widgets / 30 second spots / 300 word pieces. We lull ourselves into thinking that we have tried and discussed other ways, but this is the best for the time we are in in, the people we have, the customers we serve.

For others it is due to perfection - it could be a bit better, the design needs some work, we have to get another blurb, run another focus group, wait for a better window, avoid this week, don't compete with that event. When there is no deadline, it is all to easy to let it be dead on the line instead.

The way to improve, is to change. And to change we have to get feedback. And to get feedback? Launch. Get it out there. Call it a beta or a soft launch, but get it out the door.


one caveat; make sure you set aside time to listen, evaluate and then re-launch or re-boot.

Inspiration makes the future something worth waiting for

"...and you’re off to the manufactured normalcy races, where nobody wins because everyone goes to fucking sleep."

  W. Ellis 

Quote from a keynote he did in September 2012. So we are already in the future, looking back and forward again. Would have loved to seen it as a video, but well worth reading in full.

The main takeaway (for me) is about how we need ideas to push us to make reality. Slapping a Hello Kitty case on a phone isn't innovation. But making a phone so slimmed down it almost NEEDS a case to protect it is.

It is the wild ideas and visions from art, books, movies that push us to try to make a different tomorrow.

Kevin Kelly touched upon a similar vibe in the 20 years celebration issue of Wired, it is about spreading ideas and opportunity out globally, at scale. Change the world one byte at a time. And if you can envision a better tomorrow, then somebody else is probably impatient enough to try to make it next week rather than next year.

The same idea was a foundation for the Ridley Scott show "Prophets of Science Ficiton" on Science, covering greats like Jules Verne, Asimov, Heinlein, Clark. How reading their books prompted a lot of people to not only study science, but try to make it a reality. And preferably before someone else did it. Not enough to get to the Moon, it has to be first, fastest, longest.


Because, if we settle for JUST pushing the button 3px to the left, we risk loosing that drive, the competition and the dream of a new tomorrow.

No worries, no happy?

"The no-problem problem":

An organization that's run on emergencies and reaction to incoming doesn't know what to do when there are no problems.

[Seth]


So true, isn't it?

If the culture is all about putting out fires, then the fire marshal is the man in charge, with the shiny buttons and all the attention.

If the world is about to end, then you worry a lot. But if it is only your current business model that has an expiration date, how do you shift gears into innovation, expansion and delighting the customers you do have for as long as you have them?

Can you do both? Or all three?

Man the pumps, keep the band playing - and still sell tickets to space?

Oh yes, that mixes Titanic with Virgin Galactic via the Megastores as a mental link for issues. It is wonderful to talk about the ability to disrupt yourself, or cannibalize yourself before someone else does it faster. But you still have to juggle the existing business, develop it a bit every day, and deliver on the promises every second.

Show me the likes!

A great Dilbert strip - the some expert.

Various and vague? How can that possibly go wrong? And just to clarify, it is not a dig at any specific people, more the attitude of "hire someone to do something so that you can say that you are doing something". Be it web, wap, web 2.0, mobile, social, big data and so on.

Somehow it seems that there are three cultures in terms of "buzz" handling;

1. explain it to me - why do we need a website, we go mobile first - handholding more than anything
2. oooh shiny - or everybody else is doing it (or saying they are), we should to - no goals, no metrics or KPIs, just taking action is seen as enough
3. just do it - we don't need to shout about it, but we do it, step by step, learning, iterating and moving on

Where does your business fall, and does it depend on the wave or stay constant time and time again?

Dilbert, 09.30.2012 - (c) Scott Adams

[src] via Dilbert Daily Strip - originally September 30th, 2012

Throw away the crutch

GODIN; Competition as a crutch:

The problem with competition is that it takes away the requirement to set your own path, to invent your own method, to find a new way. 

This brings to mind the staircase question, in that making the rules and the playing field is a core tenet for doing innovation. At least of the breakthrough kind.

Take the iPad versus the other tablets. Apple went beyond phones, net pc and failed mixtures, into something different. Big as a magazine. Not for stuffing in your pocket on the go, but for sitting back on the couch at the end of a long day. It redefined an unknown need. 

As long as you are doing benchmarks or competitor analysis, you will stay in the shallow end of the pool, playing with the other kids.

Then one day you strike out, start to swim, and discover a world filled with islands, beaches and enjoyment.

Push it out - pebble coming

Pebble started off with a rather humble kickstarter page - then it went truly viral and ended up with a "slight" over-signup:

$10,266,845
PLEDGED OF $100,000 GOAL

So much so in fact that they had to limit the number of backers for all the regular levels, meaning that in order to get a single watch you had to get in reasonably early. I almost missed it, thinking that there would surely be enough time before the deadline. But as I saw the numbers dropping of free slots it was a race against time. In the end I probably ended up with on of the five or so last slots on the table.

Now I'm looking forward to getting one, not sure if I will make my own tools or apps, but will surely skim the code - like they said in the video, the sub/pub style connections seem easy enough to set up and get (pun intended) running.

Already swapped from Motion GPS to Runkeeper for my bike trips, in anticipation of getting a proper "hud" feeling over the summer. Says a lot, happy enough with Motion and the data there, but playtime trumps pure utility.


On a side note there is a bike mount on its way from Deal Extreme so the phone will be getting a bit of an airing on its own prior to the pebble arrival



- ...and the sun shone for most of the day keeping it warm - but a steady wind up to 10 m/s gave a bit of wind chill...

Here a quark, there a...?

Some potentially big science news over the weekend - looks like the CERN teams working with the LHC might have found the Higgs Boson.

I'm not going to take a shot at explaining just why it is such a big deal - but the video below is a very good overview. Sufficient to say that it might change a lot of our understanding of the Universe and matter.

I got it via NASA... which I in turn found via Jay Rosen @NYU on twitter, it was his crowd sourced recommended overview of the story. The power of networks and digital access.



Another solid piece well worth a read was in NYT - snappy title and all;  "Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to Universe"

In Geneva, 1,000 people stood in line all night to get into an auditorium at CERN, where some attendees noted a rock-concert ambiance. Peter Higgs, the University of Edinburgh theorist for whom the boson is named, entered the meeting to a sustained ovation.

Must say that what I most wanted to see was a Big Bang Theory instant update from Sheldon, but so far no luck.

Maybe? Not an option

Do or do not. ..............


Did you fill out the rest of the quote?
Did it just jump into your head?

Why is it so memorable? Because it juxtaposes the normal way of saying it. Sure, but also because the point goes deeper. It makes sense on a base level.

Posted a long time ago about saying hell yeah based off a podcast by CC. Now he just had a post on saying NO. Which iterates some of the same points. Don't do anything just to do it. Don't do it halfway or partially. If you can't commit - don't bother. And if the other party can't? Same.


And by that little round a bout we get to the inspiration for the detours, namely

CREATIVITY IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT

the title font just looks so right, guess we'll have to keep it...! The post is not new. I mailed it to myself end of May in 2011. No comments, no notes, just the link. No idea anymore where I picked it up unfortunately. And no idea what I might have planned on writing.

But that is the great thing about being in this wonderful month of June - flow all the way. 

Flow is a wonderful, and sometimes necessary, state. It is great when coding (rather than debugging or just tweaking). And when writing it is the fuel for the fire. Writing begets writing. One post sparks off ideas for more.

So why is that post from last year worth your time? Because of the attitude - birthright puts a spin on the rest of the post. This isn't just something you should pick up for fun or profit. It is something you are entitled to. Something you need to have, to use, to develop. Nurture it.

....chair-dancing to "lets go crazy" - vintage Prince & The Revolution...

The insights of Khan

Another back issue of Wired, another post based loosely on a theme explored.

Education - and how we can change it using digital tools.

Nothing less is the driving force for Khan Academy, featured in 19-08 (link added):

Khan’s videos are anything but sophisticated. He recorded many of them in a closet at home, his voice sounding muffled on his $25 Logitech headset

The piece also had an overview of some other edu sites, on the second page online. But with John Resig aboard the Khan team I can't help but but hope for and expect (more) great things from them in the years ahead.

It must be exhilarating going into school now - knowing that if you don't really get things the way the teacher tries to explain it, there is Wikipedia, Youtube and dedicated sites for most things to give you a second shot. And most of them for free (well, provided you have a computer and internet connection - or can access one at school, the library or similar)


see video in context and with links to the "rest" of Art History collection

Aside; noticed now that the piece was written by Clive Thompson. No wonder it resonated, love the writing style, even if a few of the regular columns seems a bit rehashed. Guess it comes with the turf, and is the reason I try not to reread to much of my own old stuff.

If you see it, can you DO it?

Small hassle with going backwards through the stacks - this post was a draft initially put between two other ideas, that have sort of evolved into something else. But there is still a link of some sort to the topics of how we can learn so much more with digital access - and at the same time how machine learning is actually starting to pan out. Not as the AI of old sci-fi, but as topic masters.

Wired 19.01 was the issue that originally covered "the other" C:A and his musings on "computer assisted innovation" (CAI) - as seen on the TED stage when the LXD kicked it. [wikip] Dance is just one of many fields where the ability to instantly and repeatedly view others across the globe has turned up the speed of innovation, change and adaptability.

My initial response on reading the piece on CAI, and watching the video, was "VIEW SOURCE".

For myself and a lot of others picking up web development in the early to mid nineties consisted of a few books, some newsgroups and mailing lists - and a lot of 'learning by looking'.  "View Source" - it was how the web was built; share the insight into the code, then deconstruct it, comment it and do something more.

Video means that ANY skill or niche can "play" along - and thereby get "innovation at net speed" - no printing time, no time to wait for the traveling freak show or circus to amaze you, no waiting around for the start of season 2 (or for season one to get to Norway in the first place...)

Instant access, instant gratification. Instant inspiration.




And the other noteworthy subject was a part of the AI package - on stock bots, going too fast and too large to be understood? Far way from the early 90-ies comp sci I read at university. Memory and disk space was still at a premium. Java was starting to turn up and promise a bit more hassle free environment (hello Applet!), but for hard core coding there was C++

...and for the most dedicated even Assembly was taught, used and discussed.

Thankfully (?) the iOS success has raised awareness of a stricter coding paradigm and the need for more than just a casual understanding to do dev.

Sure, you can whip up a simple hello world without more than skimming the tutorials. And you can wrap your web app into a native powerhouse using Phonegap and the likes. But as soon as you start into the more complex functionality performance and structure is taking a solid hit from messy code.

oh my apple, a run-down on iBooks maker and iTunesU

ibooks author, evil incarnate because anybody can't make money outside iBookstore - or a true revolution for learning and coursebooks?

That was more or less the two sentiments raging through the blogs and twitter back when Apple launched their iBooks author software. And for once it was a subject worthy of some strong opinions here on the blog, just not musings.

First off, the student perspective.

Having spent 4.5 years with four or five courses each semester, with an eclectic mix of solid US hardcovers, printed handouts and student curated leaflets I've spent my share of time pining over the cost of new editions and hunting through used versions for fair quality ones.

Also, with out a dedicated reading space for the first two years, dragging around 500-1000 pages books, three or four at a time for that days classes takes it toll in terms of priorities every day. For study groups we actually set up a schedule - who brings which book on what day.

Apple 1 Haters 0

Then there is the year after - when you take the next class, it would sometimes be useful (especially at the start of term and before exams) to review a bit from the first book, but that meant sunk costs rather than recouping at least parts of the cost.


So, Apple has made a deal with the major text book publisher, and is pushing the price down. Way down. Talk of a max price set at $19 ???  New, normal books retail at at least three or four times that.

As an example, the MCGraw algebra book sits at $14.95 list price on iTunesU, while Amazon has a similar book at $93. The latter you can buy used and then resell while the former could be bought with volume and education discount (also sales tax free).

Imagine a student with student loans, considering getting an iPad, but needs books instead. Now every book saves the student over $40 - that adds up fast to finance the device instead. And let's face it - students want toys as well.

Apple 2 Haters 0

Then the educator perspective

The tools is free to download. You can import just about anything into it - word, pdf, code, and so on.
And anything shared directly on campus, be it in sorority, by professor or ta, or simply student groups making their own projects available - is also free, and can be distributed directly or via iBookstore / iTunesU

Apple 3 Haters 0

But... you have to have a Mac to use it. And a new one at that. And also you would probably do well with an iPad for testing the actual output as well. And the majority of educational institutions (over here at least) are like the corporations, stuck with a bunch of pc's. Of assorted age and quality. So the upfront cost could be a bummer.

Apple 3 Haters 1

Well what about the tech?

Is is all about putting things together. Not making anything that didn't already exists in some form or another.

Tools exist — they’re getting more powerful everyday — that allow us to treat digital objects as digital objects: to collect and organize them, to fashion stories from them, to turn them into bespoke devices uniquely tuned to unlocking the world’s mysteries.

And while iBooks is not the only or maybe best way to collect and enhance "other" media alongside text. Storify could do a lot of it, and a version of prezi more suited to long form text mix.ins wouldn't be all that hard. Why, all the assorted "html presentations" would be well suited to giving a structured mix of text, images, video and plug ins. So why didn't anybody else do this?

Adding annotations, and storing them. Also packaging the content for download, with a quick course guide - read this, check. Now that is usability first and foremost. And that is why Apple might be the only one who really could make this.

Apple 4 Haters 1

The output of iBooks Author is no more intended to be an industry standard than are any other Apple-proprietary document formats — Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc

Is it so strange to see that this is not all that different from Word outputting mainly Word .doc files - and actually using it's import from WP to move the market - or Microsoft XNA for Xbox live games not running all that well on a PS3?

They never said they wanted to make a new html. In order to actually move the market companies often times have to make their own solution rather than open standards. Kindle wasn't the first ebook reader by a long stretch. But it worked. Well. And it was easy enough to get books made for it and sold hassle free. While it could also read "generic" formats.

Apple 5 Haters 1

And in closing - the fine print

But the contract / terms and conditions, and the communication from Apple regarding the changes they made to clarify it? Yeah, vintage Cupertino.

Apple 5 Haters 2


And not getting worldwide deal in place, thus leaving a lot of us "out in the cold" once more? F.U publishers, studios, and assorted guilds.

Apple 5 Haters 3



Overall, big ups to Apple for moving the educational market forward, probably kicking and screaming most of the way.

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?

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...