Toluu

Jason Santa Maria | Articles

Leaving Happy CogJanuary 6

After nearly five years of working with some of the smartest and most caring people I’ve ever met, I’ve decided to leave Happy Cog.

This was a tough decision for me to make; everyone at Happy Cog is like family to me. I’ve learned a tremendous amount during my time on board, much of it just by watching and listening to how great people work. Jeffrey is one of the most creative guys around, and I’m thankful that he took a chance on me years ago.

Make no mistake, Happy Cog is the best company I’ve ever worked for. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work on a variety of great projects over the years, but it’s time for me to move on and try some new things.

Moving Forward

Luckily, I’m leaving on the best possible terms. I’ll still be working on A List Apart, speaking at An Event Apart from time to time, and maybe working on the occasional Happy Cog project, but from here on out I’m back in the freelance world. I’ve got a few projects in the works, including some interesting writing prospects, and will be taking on a few new consulting gigs.

To all of my friends and coworkers from the New York and Philadelphia Happy Cog offices, best of luck, I�

The Death Throes of Print?December 17 2008

For years people have declared that print is dead, but perhaps these are now its final days.

Nearly every morning you can find a new article about some publication closing up their print editions and moving solely over to the web. The failing economy is an easy direction to point the blame, but it’s likely just the last nail in the coffin.

It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. The Christian Science Monitor and PC Magazine move to the tubes. The Tribune files for bankruptcy protection. Once great newsstands close as people get more of their news online. Google is

24waysDecember 15 2008

I’m pleased to be asked back to contribute to 24ways, the advent calendar for web geeks. A couple of years ago I wrote Cheating Color, a way to alter your color values to deal with perceived color shifts, and this year I wrote about Making Modular Layout Systems. This year’s article delves into one of the pieces behind making my site possible. By using a modular approach to handling images, I’ve setup a system that allows for quick and diverse layouts. This gives me the options I need to lay out articles in a way that’s appropriate to the content.

24ways also sports a slick new website this year, and the writing has been top notch as usual. Some favorites of mine so far are Richard Rutter’s Easier Page States for Wireframes, Jeremy Keith’s The IE6 Equation, and Mark Boulton’s Art Directing With Looking Room. Thanks and congrats to the 24ways team that made it all possible,

Cultivating ConversationsDecember 3 2008

I go to a website and read an article. Man, that was really great. I’d like to comment and ask the author a question. I scroll down… 384 comments. Ugh. Screw this.

This seems to happen more often these days. I only have so much available cognitive time I want to invest before participating in a conversation. The longer the amount of time, the greater chance I will give up. The problem is, this doesn’t relieve my desire to comment or ask a question, just my desire to participate. But there is a fine line between investment and work.

What’s the average reader to do when faced with a glut of comments that precede them? Is there a way to make comment threads more useful, and more usable?

Where We Are

Authors spend a good chunk of time and attention writing articles, but so little attention is given to the conversation that happens afterward. Most of the time readers are left to fend for themselves in a comment wasteland. As the comment count soars into the tens and hundreds for an article on a popular news or personal website, the chances of anyone reading both an article and the comments that follow before contributing plummet. This doesn’t stop people from commenting, but after a certain point, most people appear to be commenting blindly. They acknowledge they didn’t read all the previous comments. Sometimes they even apologize if they are raising a duplicate question or point. Doesn’t this just exacerbate the

My First WebsiteNovember 20 2008

I can remember getting my domain back in 2000. I was just days away from graduation and hot on this “web design” whatsit after taking an intro class over the previous summer.

Warning! The following websites may contain logos of an animated nature and are not intended for young viewers.

Training Wheels

I finished my portfolio early and was already shopping my work around to get a job. The one agency where I really wanted to work was split evenly between print and web work, websites being a distinct missing feature from my all-print portfolio. I resolved to spend all of Christmastime “learning” Flash and getting a workable portfolio site online.

The personal branding I developed in school centered around the idea of a nerdy noir hitman of sorts: design for hire. I quickly set about abusing Flash like most first timers, spinning and scaling with little regard for my actions. The absence of a bitchin’ soundtrack was likely only due to time constrains. The end result somehow netted me the job I wanted and paved the way for later years of personal expression via the mighty pixel.

Preservatives

As embarrassing as it might be, I’m putting t