The Watchmaker Project

When I have my own office, it's going to have a kettle and a toaster, and a cupboard filled with nothing but teabags and marmite.

Top 10 albums of 2008

As a part-time musician and full-time music lover, I’ve written precious little about music. And sometimes, when I notice that I’ve spent the entire day listening to albums that were released within six months of each other in mid-1991, I wonder if somehow I’ve lost touch with what makes discovering new music so exciting. Have I crossed an invisible line in my mid-thirties; is all I can expect from the future an inevitable downward spiral into dad-rock and easy listening?

Previously

Jan 02

New ExpressionEngine extension: Scroll to new comment

Jan 01

Redesign 2009

Comments

1. 

   “

   excellent new design Matthew, I like the stream of data on the homepage and the…” (on Redesign 2009)

2. 

   “

   Great little extension Matthew, I’ll certainly be giving this some use in…” (on New ExpressionEngine extension: Scroll to new comment)

About

The Watchmaker Project is the weblog and online project playground of web designer and internet know-it-all, Matthew Pennell. If you're at all interested in knowing about Matthew: He's 34, tall and skinny, and married. His favourite colour is green, and the way he spells 'favourite' and 'colour' should tell you that he is from the UK.

(If you're really interested in knowing even more, check out the About page on this 'ere very site. Or, if you want to work with me, try my freelance portfolio to see what I can do.)

Last.fm

1. Ballad of a Comeback Kid
   The New Pornographers
2. It's Only Divine Right
   The New Pornographers
3. The New Face of Zero and One
   The New Pornographers
4. All for Swinging You Around
   The New Pornographers
5. Chump Change
   The New Pornographers
6. Loose Translation
   The New Pornographers
7. The End of Medicine
   The New Pornographers
8. The Laws Have Changed
   The New Pornographers
9. From Blown Speakers
   The New Pornographers
10. The Electric Version
    The New Pornographers

Reading

Buy from Amazon.com

Flickr

Recommending

Links & Thoughts

1. 5 January

   Compare the Meerkat #

2. A Better 404 - Redux #

   Jonathan Hollin on improving your 404 page by interrogating the referrer and suggesting possible matches for search queries.

3. 4 January

   Co-op #

   Another Twitter clone aimed at in-house teams. I’ve been trying to get my co-workers interested in Twitter, but it’s difficult to explain the benefits of ambient intimacy in an office environment.

4. 1 January

   New Watchmen footage #

   Some new clips from the hopefully upcoming Watchmen movie, and Zack Snyder talking a little about the actors and the film.

5. 29 December

   State of Performance 2008 #

   Steve “YSlow” Souders looks back at the last year with respect to website performance. Lots to digest here - Jiffy in particular will be getting a closer look once I’m back at work in the new year.

6. 18 December

   Improve your jQuery - 25 excellent tips #

   Some useful little tips here - I’d never bothered to look into how to extend jQuery’s selector engine before, but now I know it’s so easy I might start.

7. 16 December

   HTML-Ipsum #

   Yet another alternative lipsum generator, but this time it also comes as a convenient Mac app that sits in your dock. Unfortunately it looks like it just loads a web page, so still no use if you’re offline.

8. 29 Most Useful Texture Packs of 2008 #

9. gridr buildrrr #

   Nice JavaScripty grid creation tool - makes mine look a poor effort.

10. 10 useful iPhone tips & tricks #

11. 15 December

    The Ultimate Collection Of Photoshop Custom Shapes #

    Bookmarked.

12. Effective A/B Testing #

    An interesting and very thorough look at the science of A/B testing online.

13. 11 December

    Gestalt Principles of Perception: 1 - Figure Ground Relationships #

    Looks like the start of a very useful series on design principles; formal design training is the biggest gap in my skillset.

14. 7 December

    Best of CSS Design 2008 #

    Some great inspirational designs here.

15. 5 December

    Looking at free charts and stats APIs #

    Content with Style’s round-up of the options available for charting data on the web.

Featured Videos

Featured Quotes

1. I have almost no nostalgia for the VHS format itself. With its springs and gears, each tape was built to fail. I can’t think of another technology that seemed so inelegant even when it was new.

   VHS, RIP (johnaugust.com)
   

2. I’ve been thinking about this record for 15 years; during that span, I’ve thought about this record more than I’ve thought about China, and maybe as much as I’ve thought about the principles of democracy.

   Chuck Klosterman reviews Chinese Democracy on The A.V. Club

3. She has not yet declared she will stand in 2012, but this week did tell an interviewer she was awaiting a signal from God.

   Sarah Palin proving yet again why you would want to entrust the running of a country to her
   

4. Beta invites are the new hockey cards. Got it, got it, got it, need it…

   Trade …On a Long Piece of String

5. We linger on such moments because movie stars are important to us. They represent an ideal form we are deluded to think exists inside of us. Paul Newman seemed to represent the best of what we could hope for.

   You wild, beautiful thing. You crazy handful of nothin’ - Roger Ebert’s Journal