Resources

=Resources= toc

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465 deals specifically with web development and web standards. Roger Johansson (the author of the website) focuses much of his attention on issues of standardization across all browsers and the need for more accessible website design on all platforms. While designing for web during the past few summers, I found 465 to be an invaluable resource as it breaks down the complicated theoretical problems behind designing a fully accessible site and provides concrete solutions and or fixes for problems currently faced in the industry. His writings are both interesting and informative and this website has found a permanent place on my list of most often read bookmarks. [|465 Berea St.]
 * 465 Berea St.**

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Steve Paikin of TVO's the [|Agenda] interviews author of the "Art of City Making" [|Charles Landry]
 * Art of City Making**



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"Biomimicry" 24, Sept. 2007.< [|database.biomimicry.org]> The site deals with anything to do with biomimicry. You could find just about anything related to the topic biomimicry. This is good for the design courses and especially workshop.
 * Biomimicry**

"[|Blog T.O] is a web site about Toronto written by a group of obsessed artists, musicians, photographers, politicos, advertising and media types, dancers, tech geeks, food lovers, aspiring film directors, fashionistas and people for the ethical treatment of animals."
 * Blog T.O**

//Some Interesting Sections recommended and related to Design Info// [|Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles], [|Environment Issues] in Toronto (ex: "Marc the litter guy helps clean Toronto"), [|Street Characters] (drawn by observation) and Other Cartoon Strips.

blogTo.com has several podcasts about events in the GTA but it also does neighbourhoud profiles. Somtimes it helps to have a glossary of all the different communities that exist in Toronto. Some can go overlooked. http://www.blogto.com/neighbourhoods
 * Blog T.O Neighbourhood profiles**

A site where you could view and place in fun stuff that you come across in just about anything that you see in any media. It also links to the most fun and interesting sites on the Internet [|www.bored.com]
 * Bored.com**

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= = In case you aren't very familiar with MLA and need help, [|this site] tells you how by not just giving examples of proper use, but by saying things like "Last Name of Author, First Name. Title of Website. ..." so that you know exactly what to put. Scroll down to the very bottom to get to the MLA options.
 * Citations**

[|The City: A visual lexicon] project presented in class is now up and running.
 * City from A-Z**

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[|daily dose of imagery] is a simple view of Sam Javanrouh's day to day visual experience (mostly in downtown Toronto), or his personal photoblog. he posts one photo a day on this web site. Check the about section for more information (specially the awards and recognitions column).
 * Daily Dose of Imagery**

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To bring in a Flash File: make sure your file is less than 10MB. You then Embed the file and you got your flash file on. don't forget to double click it.
 * Embeding Flash files**

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 * Flashkit**

[|Flashkit.com] is a great site for tutorials and source files. If you search for "xml" and/or "photo gallery", there's some great ideas like this one [|here]

http://www.mustardlab.com/developer/flash/objectresize/ There are several reasons you may need to control a Flash stage at runtime. With Flash being used more and more as a rich internet app with dynamic content it is sometimes impossible to know how large to make the stage. Dynamic menus, articles, and photo galleries are no place for Flash scrollpanes. Luckily with javascript you can start turning that small flash movie to any size you want and then back again when you're done.
 * Flash: Resizing the stage using javascript**

Flash Tutorial This is an excellent tool if you find yourself having trouble with flash. This flash tutorial website is maintained very well and kept up to date, so if ever in doubt [|kirupa.com] is a useful resource to turn to.

Flash Tutorial For a large selection of Flash Tutorials check out [|tutorialoutpost.com]. Featuring step by step instructions and pictures these Flash Tutorials have helped my get through Flash when I've been stuck.

File Transfer Protocol, ftping with when you transfer files from one source to a server. It is the interaction of servers or servers to your computer. On a mac, this is pretty straight forward, but for a PC it gets a little dicey, so I thought I might put up how to use an FTP on a PC. For a mac, an FTP client is already installed (go>connect to server, done) but for a PC you will need to download a specific program. This is both nice and annoying. Nice in the sense that some of the programs you can download give you a lot more control than the mac built in, but annoying in the sense that they are not very nice to use. If you're looking for an FTP client, try WS FTP, [|WinSCP] or my favorite [|SmartFTP]. All are free for personal use. Basically, install and run. When it asks you for an address enter the location of the server (for example, digital-locker.design.yorku.ca) For login, enter your login on that server, and so on. There ya go, these programs can be finky, in my experience, so if one doesn't work, try another!
 * FTP** **on a PC**

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[|Projects for Public Spaces]. Browse through **over 600 public spaces** to see what makes places great--and why each one is unique. While you're here, you can [|nominate] your own favorites or add to the [|Hall of Shame].
 * Great Public Spaces**

An extract (pages 49-74) from Victor Papanek's book [|The Green Imperative] (Thames and Hudson, London, 1995). In his groundbreaking work, Design for the Real World (1971), Papanek introduced the idea of an ethics of design. 25 environmentally irresponsible years later, he reiterates his plea for ecologically sound design of everything from food packaging to buildings. __Designers and architects possess a remarkable ability to blend the demands of aesthetics with those of technology.__ Reference: Amazone.com
 * Green Imperative**, The


 * H**

For those who need to brush up on html and css for project 3: http://www.htmldog.com/ For the html code to embed flash into a webpage. It also shows an alternate way to embed through flash. http://www.w3schools.com/flash/flash_inhtml.asp
 * HTML Tutorials**

Another useful tool put out by the good folks at W3C. Here you can enter the URL of a site, upload a page, or copy and paste text in, and the code will be checked to see if it meets the industry standards. These standards can be set before you check the code by asking for more options. Here enter which rules you want the validator to check by and any other specific elements that might distort the outcome.
 * HTML Validator**

http://validator.w3.org/

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RonxgjIoqw [Table top interactive mood-board creator which we introduced in class]
 * Interactive Brainstorming Table**

http://boomdesigngroup.com/ http://www.andrewwilsondesign.com/ (Experience Prototype Lab example) http://www.sebdesign.eu/ - Doesn't overtly use mood boards but his work definitely has feeling.
 * Interactive Storyboard Visual Inspirations**

This [|website] looks at the signage and typography issues within the TTC system.
 * Inscribed in the living tile: Type in the Toronto subway**

This feature is new in google and alows users to locate different areas, such as complexes, destiations, locations, geological locations, and objects within our galaxy (which is a new feature). It is a map system of high quality detail (3D mode) unlike that of a 2D map system.
 * Interactive Map Systems: A google feature**
 * [|earth.google.com]**

//[|Science Daily] —// Contrary to fears that the Internet will destroy community life, a University of Toronto sociologist says it could integrate society in new ways. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/03/980320141110.htm
 * Internet and Public Space****Internet Encourages New Social Interaction, Research Shows**

Just as large-scale economic forces are causing gentrification of our cities and the elimination of public spaces that allow culture and politics to flourish, powerful economic interests have also launched a full-scale attack on our public information spaces, many of which exist on the Internet. This article uses the disappearance of public spaces in our cities as a metaphor for the disappearance of public spaces in cyberspace. It focuses on the Content Industry's use of copyright law to assault the public domain and their attempt to turn all information into commodities. And it discusses the horrific implications of all of this on free speech, artistic endeavors, and our entire way of life. [|http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~howard/Papers/pw-public-spaces.html]
 * Intellectual Property: The Attack on Public Space in Cyberspace**

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In James Howard Kunstler's view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life -- the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about. Reengineering our cities will involve more radical change than we are prepared for, he believes, but our hand will be forced by earth crises stemming from our overconsuming lifestyle. "Life in the mid-21st century," Kunstler says, "is going to be about living locally." Passionate, profane and funny, this talk will make you think about the place where you live. [|TED's Talk].
 * James Howard Kunstler: The tragedy of suburbia**

If you are looking for all the pdfs that are writtne by Jesse James Garrett, the guy that we are keep mentioning in class. Go to [|this website]. It offers all the pdf that are part of our reading and a tutorial on [|Visual Vocabulary for Information Architecture,]as well as other materials on information architecture and user experience.
 * jjg.net**

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http://www.kirupa.com/ The flash site that David Gelb keeps referring to. It is a wicked source for learning about flash, actionscripting, xml and the like.
 * Kirupa**

This site is provided by Adobe and is a user-based colour scheme database. Basically, people with accounts can use a colour selector selector to create a coloure scheme that is displayed in a series of vertical bars. Other users can then rate the colour scheme and top rated ones are highlighted on the main page. I find it's a great place to start if you're at a loss for inspiration, its surprising how much a series of colours can motivate you. http://kuler.adobe.com/
 * Kuler**

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http://www.design-skills.org/mood_boards.html A brief explanation of mood boards followed by some examples.
 * Moodboard - Examples**

http://www.lifeclever.com/5-reasons-to-design-with-mood-boards/ This is a good outline of how to create a Mood board and how it is a useful utensil in assembling a feel, a flavour for your identity. I believe this is the outline that David showed us in class, so I thought it might be helpful to have it on reference.
 * Moodboard - Examples and "How to" Guide**

//Examples of Neat/Interesting Moodboards// http://www.flickr.com/photos/veronicatm/277425465/in/set-72157594178323968/ http://www.mevrouwcupcake.com/blog/2007/8/8/setting-the-mood.html

//Color Combinations on Moodboards// http://glamourthis.wordpress.com/category/ideas-mood-boards/

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 * Philips Research Technologies** -go to the [|website]

This is an interesting site that deals with the some of the most modern technologies or under-developing technologies. The main of the technology is to create an "Ubiquitous computing " system with Ambient Intelligence in our everyday life, which will make our life more convenient so people can access information at any time at any where. This site definately gives a vision of our future life.

An article that talks about the privatization of downtown public space, including things like wayfinding, control, activities, the corporate and the commercial, etc.
 * Privatization of Downtown Public Space: The Emerging Grade-Separated City of North America**

Kressel, Shirley. "PRIVITIZATING THE PUBLIC REALM." New Democracy World. July-August 1998. 20 September 2007.  This is a website that talks about design elements in public spaces as well as the problems that architecture can give to public spaces.
 * Privatizing The Public Realm**

An extract (pages 1-33) from Donald A Norman's book [|The Psychology of Everyday Things] (Basic Books, New York, 2002). Donald Norman, a retired professor of cognitive science, is bothered to no end by the fact that grappling with unfriendly objects now takes up so many of our hours. Over the course of several books, of which The Psychology of Everyday Things was the first, he has railed against bad design. He scrutinizes a range of artifacts that are supposed to make our daily living a little easier, and he finds most of them wanting. Why, he asks, does a door need instructions that say "push" or "pull"? A well-designed object, he argues, is self-explanatory. But well-designed objects are increasingly rare, for the present culture places a higher value on aesthetics than utility, even with such items as cordless screwdrivers, dresser drawers, and kitchen cabinets. In their concern for creating "art," many designers don't seem to consider what people actually do with things. Such disregard, Norman suggests, leads to few objects being standardized: think of all the different kinds of unsynchronized clocks that lurk in microwave ovens, VCRs, coffee makers, and the like--and of all the different kinds of batteries needed to drive them. Why, he wonders, must we reset all those clocks whenever the power goes off? Some designer somewhere, he ventures, ought to develop a master clock that communicates with all other electric clocks in a home--one that, when reset, synchronizes its slave units. Reference: AmazoneOnlineReader
 * Psychology** **of Everyday Things, The**

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A TED talk by Journalist Carl Honore about slowing down in our speed-obsessed world. Particularly interesting are his thoughts on what he calls "Slow Cities" - places that are re-thinking the structure and inner-workings of their urban environments in order to make them healthier and more enjoyable places to live in. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/73
 * Slow Cities**

This is a really useful site for project 2. The articles in the archives section contain interviews of people in regards to multiple spaces in the Toronto area. Some statistics are even given. This can be a great aid for determining what kind of questions you might ask in your survey if your topic is within the archives or determining what kind of product you might develop from your survey. http://spacing.ca/archives.htm
 * Spacing Magazine Archives**

Professor Jim Kinney and students' porject for the Ideas and Images course; George Brown SCHOOLOFDESIGN, April 2005.
 * Street as Studio**

http://www.surveymonkey.com/Default.aspx
 * Survey Monkey**

Royalty free stock photography, available from thousands of amateur photographers from around the world. You can search by category or narrow down your options by user popularity. This can be especially useful when there are many images to sort through and you want to see the best rated first. User comments play and integral role in the website and based on the number of comments a user receives for their work their popularity rating increasing, pushing their images up to the 'top-level' or front-page. There is no charge to use the service and members are encouraged to upload their own images. It is designed as a springboard for photographers to launch their work into the professional world. I would recommend anyone looking for that perfect image to complete a design to check here first and see what is available. [|SXC Stock Exchange]
 * SXC Stock Exchange**

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[|TED Talks] TED stands for **Technology, Entertainment, Design.** It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. This site makes **the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free**. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

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If you want some reading materials or just want to find out more on usability, this is a good site to look at. http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/reading_list/
 * Usability**

A copy of the cards shown in class can be found [|here]
 * UX Trading Cards**

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This site is like a facebook or MSN where the viewer is able to meet People, Have Fun, Hang-Out, Chat and Explore Within an actual 3D Virtual World. [|www.Kaneva.com]
 * Virtual World (3D)**

This is bar-non the best resource for viewing examples of information design. You can filter the visualization by categories e.g. Arts or Computer Systems until you find what you are looking for. It also provides a nice description of each item on display, with a little blurb about the designer and the intent of the design. If you are interested in a certain project you can sign up for an account and comment on individual work. I feel a small limitation affecting this website, are the rather small photos of the many works. I would really like to be able to zoom into great depths and pan around with many of the more complex visualizations (something that could be solved in flash, rather like google earth). Overall, this is a great website to visit if you are interested in structuring non-linear content as it shows you there are limitless possibilities (some more successful than others) when it comes to the display and interaction of data. [|Visual Complexity]
 * Visual Complexity**

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This is probably one of the best resources I've come across for simple HTML and CSS tutorials and guides, as well as a pretty decent PHP walk through, if that fancies your interest. Beyond that I haven't used it for much, but it also covers the standard web development tools, such as Javascript, XML, and so on. I would recommend using the CSS tutorial, which is basically a list of all [|CSS elements and attributes] along with what each of them do. This is so very useful when trying to figure out how to position elements and what attributes various tags have. http://www.w3schools.com/
 * W3Schools**

Not the best design visually, but has many useful links, and a lot about the social aspects of the web community. http://www.vanderwal.net/index.html
 * Web Design, Web Devlopment - Thomas Vander Wal**

A quote from the website's main page: "//The Vancouver Public Space Network is a grassroots collective that engages in advocacy, outreach and education on public space issues in and around Vancouver, British Columbia.// //This includes challenging the increase of advertising ‘creep’ in public places, promoting community-friendly urban design, monitoring private security activities in the downtown core, and devising creative ways to re-green the neglected corners, alleys and forgotten spaces of the city.//" [|Vancouver Public Space Network]
 * Websites about Public Space**

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