About
Where am I?
Labolatory is a collection of daily news from new media & technology industry connected to UI /UX perceived by Jiri Mocicka — an London based UI/UX Senior Designer.
Laboratory as a web blog?
You can call it as you wish. You can also view it as a newspaper or sketch book but for God’s sake don’t call it a diary. This site is all about alternative personal perspective in web design and development, Mac OS X, Adobe CS 4 (recently) surrounding my environment and user experience.
Can anyone post a comment?
Absolutely! This site is mainly encourages reader feedback and community dialogue. Just one things mentioned – please keep your comments constructive. Whether you agree or disagree with something I wrote, explain why in your retort. That way myself and others may benefit from the exchange.
Why can’t I comment on some entries?
Two possible reasons:
One, because some posts (especially personal thoughts and business news) are written to be read and to “record the moment” – not discussed.
Two, because you have been reading an old entry.
How do I link to an entry?
If you intend to link to a specific entry, and not this site in general, you may do so by clicking the “Link” tag at the bottom of the entry and copying the URL contained in your browser’s location bar
(ie. http://lab.givision.net/2008/03/06/keep-a-mess/”).
Or, simply right click on the “Link” tag and select “Copy Link Location” (or other applicable command).
Do you have any icons, banners for linking?
No. Make something up.
What typefaces are you using?
From May 2006, I’m using FS Sinclair from Font Smith based in UK. For textual content, the body copy is Helvetica / Arial as same as for entry titles and depending on what operating system you are using.
Where did your background come from?
The bitmap style of graphic was originally created for my portfolio in 2005 when I’ve moved to UK. With some additional modifications – I change all my presentation material include CV, portfolio as well as all online presentations.
Do you publish an RSS feed?
Of course – Link to the 2.0 RSS feed here, or you can grab the News Letter here, and do what you want with them. Drop me a line if you use the data in a creative way, like a desktop application, Flash screensaver, etc.
Where I can find out more about you?
As a online community specialist I share a few different channels as the Behance, Flickr, JPG Magazine, Stumble and so on. I’m also member couple of groups such as IxD, UI Designers, UX Professional as well as AIGA and Icograda. Please follow the link bellow to find out more.
Formating
Your site looks weird. What’s up?
Laboratory validates as XHTML 1.0 Traditional and uses CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to render all markup and element positioning, which means you should use a relatively new browser to fully experience the site. Any browser can access the raw text of this site, but if you are using at least Internet Explorer 5 (Mac and Win) or up, in addition to Mozilla, Chimera, and Netscape 6, the site will correctly render as intended. Opera renders the site fine, but the browser has a few bugs and rendering limitations that can cause small issues here and there. Any older browsers like Netscape 4 or betas like iCab and OmniWeb will not fully render the site. If all you see is gray background and blue text, you desperately need to upgrade your browser. As Zeldman would say, to hell with bad browsers.
But aren’t you limiting your audience
by using these techniques?
Absolutely not. Contrary to most graphics intensive web sites, the raw textual content of this site is 100% accessible, regardless of browser, platform, or device. Specialized layout styles and visual elements are hidden from non-compliant browsers to make the environment as friendly and conducive to reading as possible. Plus, What Do I Know provides a real-world environment to experiment with advanced design techniques client work doesn’t usually allow (rightly so, in some cases). That means all the layout hacks and junk of old, including transparent gif spacers and nested tables, are banished to prepare for the next wave of web design. As more companies like Wired News redesign their online presence using CSS and ridding their sites of antiquated design methods, the less unusual this soapbox will seem. All in good time.
Software
This site is hand coded using DW . I also use industry standard apps like Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, and lots of cool little freeware utilities to speed the workflow. Check out my list of favorite OS X apps for more information.
Recommendations
I want to start a weblog.
Would you recommend WORDPPRESS?
Absolutely. If you’re comfortable with setting file permissions, ftp, and customizing your own templates, download the latest version (2.7). If you’d rather not deal with all that, and you’d rather have one set up for you (so all you have to do is type in your stuff), check out Word Press — a personal weblogging service from the same people behind Word Press.
Permissions
May I use your style sheet?
Yes, but it is not a template intended for public distribution. You are welcome however to copy and modify the mechanics of the style sheet for your own needs, but you may not use the sheet outright. Lots of time has been put into the look, feel, and style of this site, so please be respectful. For more information, read our Creative Commons License.
May I contact you regarding
a web design project?
Absolutely. Send me an email to introduce yourself. For more information about my services.
How many times have you
redesigned the site?
Until now Labolatory has done through 3 complete re-designs. The first, which lasted a couple of years, was a stripped down affair created with tables, font tags, and used Drupal to publish and manage the content. Then I’ve decided to tie this site in with my communication channel, and redesigned Labolatory to be a site of color, typography and overall style. The site was completely scrapped – top to bottom – and launched as a new using Word Press as the CMS and a visual style I’m quite comfortable with.
