Why is responsive web design crucial? Because there are so many screen sizes out there, that designing a solution for each one of them is too costly and there is no real reason to do this. Responsive web design offers us the solution to designing for all screen sizes in the same time back in 2010 and since then it became a trend. Responsive web design is brilliant and the results are more than satisfying.

Back in 2011 many websites started to be coded responsively and while the concept is still young, it is already well known and popular. Media queries are a great invention and only show how web designs keeps running just behind technology evolution. Having a version of your website for a mobile phone is something everybody needs to have today, because let’s face it, who doesn’t (or will not) have a smartphone or a tablet?. Now we have internet wherever we go, 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

Images courtesy of mediaqueri.es.

Besides making websites work on all screen sizes, building websites responsively taught us something else as well: that content is as important as ever. Content is also in focus when designing responsively, because we need to cut back on too many design elements and make the content easy to read and clear; fonts have a very important role here as well.

If you thought 2011 was the year of responsive web design, I think you are wrong. Buckle up, 2012 will bring even more exciting things.

Grid systems are also partially involved in responsive web design. More and more of them appear on the web and people have started using them more frequently. Now that they’ve been out for a long time designers are starting to trust them and this only makes the web better. Frameworks were very popular in 2011 and will continue being so in the following years. They offer fluidity and give a sense of discipline to every design built on them.

designinfluences.com/fluid960gs/

cssgrid.net/

960.gs/

Typography is not something that just appeared last year, it’s been out for a long time. Steve Jobs said himself that he studied calligraphy back in college. That was more than 30 years ago. Typography started as a discipline on the web around 5 years ago, when people realized how powerful it can be and the effects it has over how people perceive content. Typography continues to grow, people continue (or start) to read books about it and get better at combining typefaces and using them properly in order to create the desired effect.

However, for the last year something is worthy to note – people started realizing fonts are made to be read and likewise the content. Using too many fancy fonts that were difficult to read disappeared and this will continue in 2012. Education happens really fast on the internet nowadays and people tend to learn about common sense in design more than everything else. Emphasizing content is still something people have to learn more about, but this is exactly what is going to happen in 2012.

englishworkshop.eu/

kantt.dk/

The fold’s importance has been played down a lot in the past couple of years since smartphones emerged. People now think it is OK to scroll. I debated this topic one month ago here. People can have their own opinions and this made some of them start realizing scrolling isn’t a problem for users. And let’s face it, nothing is a problem until you make it a problem. If scrolling is not an issue for you, then the fold’s importance is minimal.

Now that smaller screens have become popular, scrolling is something that people just can’t avoid, so we will have to embrace it. The ones trying to play down the fold’s importance managed to do it thanks to the technology and gadgets which emerged on the market in the last years. With this trend set to continue, it’s clear “the fold” will be history by the end of this year – or at most by the end of the next one.

However, if there is something we will see a lot of during the next years, then this is the parallax effect. It is at its bottom scrolling, but not by using the wheel or the trackpad. You simply scroll to another area of the page by clicking the buttons in the menu. The parallax effect is something I simply love and I can’t wait to see more of it – it is just such a great way to make peace between the fold-lovers and the other people. The only issue is that it doesn’t fit with the responsive web design at all, so this is something that developers will try to sort out during 2012.

Using modular interfaces is also something that has become quite popular lately, although it is still a debatable practice. There is not much research behind it and we are still not sure how well it works – but this is why we have 2012. This year we will see how successful the modular interfaces will get.

Google Web Fonts

People will also keep it minimal. Minimalistic design has been the most popular throughout 2011 and this style will continue dominating the industry – although not very easy to design because of its multiple theories, it is quite easy to code and is very pleasant to the eye. It is simple, gets right down to the point and doesn’t waste anybody’s time – just what everybody looks for – information given as fast as possible.

Simple, eye-catching and elegant designs will emerge even more and will continue to stand out in 2012. People with inspiration and imagination will turn their designs into huge hits. With minimalistic web design being very simple, there are not too many ways of finding something new that nobody thought of before. The designers that manage to do it this year will definitely be the key people of 2013.

wearepropeople.com/

freshness.hu/

Otherwise I don’t see too much new stuff coming in 2012. I see designers and developers continuing on the same track and improving the concepts and tools they use right now. I also see web designers digging motivational articles even more, because this is something that keeps them running.

Until next time… what do you think I missed? Is there something else you consider important enough to mention? Do you have a prediction for this year?

1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog

1. Researcher/Big Data Analyst;
2. Coder/Widget Developer
3. Information Visualization Developer

COMPANY:
EarthGame. See attached flyer

LOCATION:
Media/Philadelphia, PA

REQUIREMENTS:
Depends on job; socio-economic and environment data-intensive research; code in JavaScript; pattern recognition, visualization of large statistical data sets regarding world problems, resources, economics, environment, etc.. See http://earthdash.org/DraftDash/earthdashboard3/index.php for best idea of what you will be doing, why, etc.

DUTIES:
Developing the Earth Dashboard website: http://earthdash.org/DraftDash/earthdashboard3/index.php

COMPENSATION:
This is an unpaid internship.

HOW TO APPLY:
Contact Medard Gabel at medard@bigpicturesmallworld.com

Digital Media Program

Complete Appropriate Form

To obtain new blank sections, it is necessary to fill in a Form DS-4085. It is available over the Internet or from an acceptance facility or passport agency. If downloaded over the Internet, the form may be completed online and then printed or it may be printed and then completed by hand.

Printing and Completion

Forms should be printed one page per sheet. It must be legible and completed in black ink. If the form is not completed correctly, especially if it does not include the Social Security Number, the application will be delayed.

What To Submit

Once completed and signed, the form must be submitted to the national processing center for passports, together with the appropriate fee and the currently valid passport. There are two addresses, depending on whether your request is routine or you need to expedite it. They are nearly the same but are distinguished by their zip codes. Make sure you use the correct address.

Expedited Delivery

Routine requests are handled within four to six weeks. More urgent applications are processed in less than three weeks, sometimes within two. If the passport has to be sent to a foreign embassy to get a visa for travel to a foreign country in less than four weeks or if the holder is travelling to a foreign country within 14 days, an appointment must be made at a passport agency. If the request has already been submitted and it is required for foreign travel within less than a calendar week, the National Passport Information Center must be contacted and a Customer Service Representative consulted.

Overseas Requirements

The requirements are slightly different if the request is made when the holder is overseas, for example, at the American Embassy in London. For one thing, they are not authorized to accept either cash or personal checks. They also cannot accept over-payment. They will accept credit cards, bankers drafts, certain debit cards or an international money order in the exact dollar amount.

Additional Information

Submitting a correct new pasport application is no guarantee that it will be granted and the new passport sent. The current one may be damaged or expire in transit. In this case, the fee is not refundable. American ex-patriots residing in Wales or England, in Scotland or in Northern Ireland must follow different instructions, depending on their nation of residence. Forms and instructions are available on the US State Department website. Application must be submitted in person if international travel is due to take place in less than ten days. Otherwise, it may be submitted by mail.

I’m at the J.D.A. Perera Gallery which is showcasing some of the artwork of Colombo Art Biennale. Four years ago, which was when I last visited this part of Colombo, there was no art gallery here: just the modest buildings of the Faculty of Visual Arts. Finally these talented students seem to have got a place to hang their paintings.

Photo credits: Achala De Silva

As I walk past the displayed works, the brilliant and the meh, the blogger in me regrets not bringing a camera. I don’t, for they look much better in plain sight than through a viewfinder.

Anoli’s dress, titled ‘Elastic Dress II’ is part of ‘Second Skin’, a combined artwork that refers to ‘the female experience of dealing with the anxieties of change that their bodies are subject to’. Shirmal Silva’s photographs under the art direction of Dilki Perera explore this through a series of images where a woman ‘wearing’ this red dress is seen almost trying to hide from us within its many folds.

Dwarfed by the Second Skin, sitting in a corner, are Vaidehi Raja’s four beautiful woodcut and mixed media prints titled ‘Time for Reflection’. It’s a depiction of how one has little time for personal reflection in a world that is in a race to accumulate ‘things and titles’: an apt reminder to a generation that has more Facebook friends than real ones.

‘The Patient’ makes you sad.
Photo credits: Colombo Art Biennale

My favourite paintings at the Perera Gallery are by Jagath Weerasinghe, who also happens to be a Co-Founder of the event. ‘The Patient’ and ‘The Cause of Illness’, two concertina painted books, reminded me of some people close to my heart who depend on pills to maintain the proper functioning of their bodily systems. It was a beautiful and sad and at times sarcastic exploration of the interaction between the germ and the man.

A painting on a mat by Pradeep Thalwatta
Photo credits: Anjana Marasinghe

More works are on display at the National Art Gallery, and I walk past the new Nelum Pokuna Theatre, giant and imposing and clearly beyond the budget for most local artists, to this old bastion of Sri Lankan visual art.

In the middle of the gallery is the Indian artist Vibha Galhotra’s ‘Neo Monster’, although at the moment its all deflated and quite confusing. Apparently it’s a totally different experience when the air blower is working, for then that huge pile of nylon cloth turns into a giant backhoe loader, toy-like yet dramatic and formidable.

Menika Van Der Poorten – her name betrays her mixed roots – investigates the disappearing eurasian (Burgher!) presence in Sri Lanka through a series of portraits. The first thing that occurred to me as I saw them was The Jam Fruit Tree i.e. fictional characters, not real people. That probably tells what kind of an endangered species the Burghers are.

After the J.D.A. Perera, the National Art Gallery feels small, for after several minutes I have come full circle. Perhaps it’s the Neo Monster’s non-showing that causes me to leave early. As I step out on to the Nelum Pokuna Road, there’s a different kind of exhibition, familiar and expected.

Many aspiring artists sell their paintings by this road on the weekends, and one particular collection captures my attention today.

“Are these yours, Sir?” I ask from the thin old man sitting on a plastic chair next to them.
He smiles. “No, they’re my son’s.”
“I like his style,” I say, and his face brightens up.
There’s a set of three abstract paintings that attract me with their red earthy hues.
“How much are these?” I ask.
“Six thousand rupees.”
“What, all three of them?”
“Yes.”

That’s less than 50 dollars.

I ask him about his son and his art. This proud father brings those paintings every day of the week to sell by the road side, and he tells me that on weekdays I am to look for him on that spot over there on the other end of the road.

Inside the galleries, and outside, art is blossoming in Colombo. At galleries I go window shopping; out here by the road, I’m a connoisseur.

Vesess

Timetable

A passport takes four to six weeks from the time the application is submitted to receipt of same. If the international trip is urgent, the US Department of State also offers expedited services. These services will shorten the duration of processing and delivery to two weeks.

Expedited Service

The cost of an expedited passport differs from the standard cost. The variation in the price depends on the speed at which you want the passport. There are independent agencies that provide this service. They have the passport available within a day to 12 days. However, if the passport is not needed urgently, the cost of this service is low.

Government Licensing

These agencies include Internet based and office based services. The decisive factor that should be deployed in making a choice is if they are government licensed. Once your selection is made, you will have to provide them with the necessary information to begin the application. If you chose an online agency, you should provide them with a valid email by which you can be contacted. Offline agencies will require a phone number they can reach you on.

Payment

The method of payment also varies in regard to the choice of service provider. PayPal, credit card, bank wire and other electronic means of payment are available for the online passport agencies. The offline agencies have the option of bank deposits, credit cards, bank wire, checks, money orders and credit/debit cards. The most convenient payment plan can assist in choosing an agency to patronize.

Additional Charges

The agency helping you with the expedited passport will charge you for the standard government’s passport fee. They will also charge you for their service. If they are the traveling agency in charge of your traveling arrangements, the charges might be included with other services.

Parental Involvement

Irrespective of the agency that helps you obtain the child’s passport, the parents/ guardian will be involved in all steps of the application. Their roles include applying for the passport on behalf of the toddler, child or teen. They will also be responsible for all applicable fees. The laws currently require that all minors below the age of 15 have either parents or guardian present when the application is submitted.

Book or Card

You would also be required to indicate the infant American pasport needed. The two types available for minors are the passport card and passport book. The card only covers transportation by land and sea. The passport book avails the holder the freedom to travel through any means (land, air and sea). Each of these passports is priced differently.

Despise those daily injections of essential medication? Well folks, relief could be on the way. Over a decade ago, two MIT professors, Robert Langer and Michael Cima, first considered developing a drug-delivery microchip that could be wirelessly controlled…

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