I know that most people out there are not really interested in printing pages from the internets. But hey, some of us are! The main problem you find when trying to print pages is: they (usually) are not meant to be printed! In comes Firefox and its add-ons. More specifically: the Web Developer Firefox add-on. With it you can (among a million other things) change a page’s look by altering its CSS. Ok, this tip is not going to work for everyone, but if you do know CSS, a little bit might go a long way to help you save paper and your poor eyes: the changes you make on the CSS using Web Developer are taken into account when a webpage is printed!
An example: this interview with Jonathan Barnbrook really got me interested and I wanted to print it. It takes just a quick look at the page to realize it will look bad when printed. More specifically, it’ll look like this:
You can see how the font is really really small and a lot of prrrecious paper is being wasted (the article spans 7 printed pages). Now just fire up the ‘Edit CSS’ feature on Web Developer (under Tools-> Web Developer-> CSS). At the end of the code shown on the newly opened sidebar type something like:
* {
background: white;
font-size:12.5pt;
}
table {
width:100%;
}
i {
font-family:Georgia;
font-size:16pt;
font-style:normal;
font-weight:bold;
}
.bodytext{
font-family:Georgia;
font-weight:bold;
}
p{
text-align:justify;
font-family: Times New Roman;
margin:0;
padding:0;
margin-top:0.5em;
line-height:1.5em;
text-indent:25px;
font-weight:normal;
}
.headings {
font-size:24pt;
}
And you’ll get is this:
Notice how fonts are larger, changed and much more readable when printed. All the wasted space is gone and, despite the fact that the printed article still amounts to 7 pages, we are not wasting paper: it is actually being used to improve readability (you could have used smaller “line-height” so that lines are not so far apart; you could also use smaller fonts). And that was just a quick dirty edit of the CSS, the more you want it to look good, the further you’ll get.
Another trick worth mentioning is: if a page has lots of links and you don’t want them to be stupid blue text you can actually write the link address after the linked word, simply use this nifty css rule:
A:after {
/* Expand URLs for printing */
content:” (” attr(href) “) “;
text-decoration:none;
}
See how this:
Magically turns into this:
Hope this was useful.
rhwinter, February 5th, 2007
Filed under: firefox, css, code
2 Comments
Non-Format “is a creative team comprising Kjell Ekhorn (Norwegian) and Jon Forss (British). They work on a range of projects including art direction, design and illustration for music industry, arts & culture, fashion and advertising clients. They also art directed the monthly music magazine The Wire between 2001 and 2005“.
Indeed the amount of work they do is incredible, and in all possible fronts. So, no matter your taste, you’ll probably end up finding something you like in their site (which is not necessarily good, nor bad). Some highlights:
They do work with television:
Create different styles of types:
And more:
This last one is simply great, especially considering they call themselves designers (or do they?):
Mind that this is just a small sample. They also have works related to: interior design, packaging, outdoors, exhibits, catalogues, websites, folders, magazines, photography… For more: http://www.non-format.com/ (the only bad thing about it is the amount of ads you end up seeing).
rhwinter, February 1st, 2007
Filed under: design, type
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At a glance you could say that Norwegian photographer Jonas Bendiksen has a more “traditional” approach to photography than the others featured here before.
But, sometimes, these things come up…
And that is exactly what draws and fascinates me s about his work: it is carried out in a frontier. He creates pieces which can be considered “good” or “correct” under the most traditional terms of photography (such as exposure, framing, color, light, etc) and, at the same time, presents some which are a bit more “challenging” and related to trends of the so-called contemporary photography (or those in which photographs themselves are the subjects).
What is even more striking is that he does it all in a meaningful way and within the scope of his own work, that is, it all seems to make a lot of sense so that when you see one of his images you almost “know” it really is his.
More Links
rhwinter, January 25th, 2007
Filed under: photo
1 Comment
I have this problem with keychains: they are usually too bulky and, worst of all, they make an annoying tingling noise. That is why I decided to make a keychain myself. After a long period of intense research looking for the right material, techniques and design (yeah, as if!) I came up with a solution.
You see, I carry my wallet/notebok (image above) around with me all the time, so I thought my keychain should somehow be there all the time.
This wallet-thing has compartments for cards and whatnot. So I made a card-keychain.
The thing is very simple and easy to make with a small piece of cardboard and a knife. First you’ll want to make your keys become 2D, or stick them together so that they stay horizontal relative to one a nother. Then cut the shapes of the keys throught the first and middle layers of the cardboard making sure not pierce throught the third one (the other side). Finally remove the middle layer from the inside of the cut area. And that’s it! I added some scotch tape on the sides to make it more rugged.
All in all it works, but there are some problems with the current “prototype”, those are:
- the shape of the keys was excessively precise, now I can only fit them in one exact position; next time: make the shape fit the keys in all 4 possible positions
- the cardboard was cut too smal and the keys didn’t fit right; next time: shape the keys before cutting out the card-size cardboard
- it is rather inconvenient because it requires you to use both hands to get a key; next time: try something different, maybe more like swiss army knife type of thing.
If you have any other ideas or solutions on how to solve this problem that afflicts mankind, don’t hesitate: comment here!
rhwinter, January 20th, 2007
Filed under: DIY
2 Comments
Or is it? “Noise” is going analog for the next few weeks, which means I won’t be able to post for some time. But don’t despair: I wrote some things which are scheduled to be automatically published!!! (I’m not sure it will work, but…)
During this time I won’t be able to approve/reply comments either, but don’t let that stop you from commenting: as soon as I come back I’ll sort them all through.
So, don’t remove “Noise” from your readers, lines, buckets, reddits, boxes, rojos, etc just yet!
rhwinter, January 19th, 2007
Filed under: meta
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When Katsushiro Otomo does something, we watch. But this time around he is going into new grounds, so watch out: Mushishi is his first live action feature, but contains elements seen on his previous animations, such as heroes, fantasy and lots of SFX. The movie was named Bugmaster for english-speaking audiences, but Mushishi sounds much better. Check out the trailer:
Mushishi’s trailer: http://www.mushishi-movie.jp/trailer/trailer.html
If you are lucky enough to be in Sundance, go watch it. And, if you are interested, some more information has popped up before.
rhwinter, January 17th, 2007
Filed under: cinema
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If there is one thing a documentary must do is deal with something that draws attention so that people get interested (well, maybe not). The trailer for “I Met the Walrus” did exactly that to me. The thing is: “in 1969, the 14-year-old Jerry Levita, armed with a reel-to-reel tape recorder, snuck into John Lennons’ hotel room for a chat”.
However interesting the trailer seems, I’m not sure I’d like to spend hours watching this and still stay interested (as is usually the case with really good documentaries).
Trailer | imetthewalrus.com
rhwinter, January 11th, 2007
Filed under: cinema
2 Comments
Up to the 22nd of January, the Norton Simon Museum will house an exhibition featuring Ed Ruscha’s works, called “Ooo: Early Prints by Ed Ruscha“.
‘City’ - oil on canvas (1968)
The exhibition covers the period in which he produced a series of oils on canvas with nothing (or almost nothing) more than words painted as if they were liquids. The work was developed from 1966 to 1969, and can be seen more fully on this excellent and complete official site/catalog. The paintings shown here are a small sample of the amazing things which can be found there. His work with colour is really interesting and the technique used to portray liquids is so good that it is actually scary.
‘Ruby’ - oil on linen (1968)
According to Artforum:
During his two-month fellowship at Los Angeles’s Tamarind Lithography Workshop in 1969, Ed Ruscha cultivated his “liquid word” images, a theme he had developed through paintings three years earlier. These images, sometimes based on arrangements he staged in the studio, present short, often monosyllabic words, like EYE and AIR, figured as splotches of liquid on flat fields of color. Fourteen of these works, on view in this exhibition, evince Ruscha’s technical knack for graphic art while marking both his attention to language and his unmistakably American sense of humor.
‘Lisp’ - oil on canvas (1968)
The most interesting thing to me was finding out that so far back there was already a work developed which could be considered contemporary art and also dealt with type design. I acknowledge that it is closely related to Pop Art (which was interested in type studies), but even the popular stuff which was made then did not have this aspect. And more, most of the type design being made was regarded simply as design, not art. Another thing worth mentioning is how the aesthetic of Ruscha’s work is worthy of what designers are trying to achieve today using computers, especially ‘real’ textures that can fake intricate objects, some so intricate that would require a great deal of work to be actually made (despite the fact that the virtual counterparts are very hard to achieve as well). There’s been a great deal of advance in computer graphics (especially 3D) which point to a return to (and incorporation of) an organic feel through the improvement of mechanical techniques.
‘Desire’ - oil on canvas (1969)
Another thing is the proximity established by him with questions posed by linguistics, such as the relations between sign, signifier and signified; so subtly inherent to the images that can easily be overlooked. There are also some other aspects which we, who will only see these low quality images on a computer display, won’t admire: apparently Ruscha was very keen on detail (and that is easily seen on the paintings), which led him to add some small elements to them (flies, dirt, particles and other small bodies) both enlarging the significance space and adding a comic relief to his simple and complex works.
Other links
The ‘National Gallery of Art‘ in Washington has a detailed (21 pages long) discussion on another version of “Lisp”; which, by the way, can be compared to this edition of the Globe Magazine, dating back to 1937!
Another intersting organic-feel type design work is the one done by Ralph Steadman to illustrate Hunter S. Thompson’s “The Curse of Lono“.
The series “Things I learned in my life so far” by Stefan Sagmeister (an important figure in the world of graphic design) also features some interesting type design.
rhwinter, January 10th, 2007
Filed under: type, painting, art
5 Comments
rhwinter, January 6th, 2007
Filed under: photo
3 Comments
Jonah Dempcy, 23, producer and jazz pianist. Together with Seamus Blake (saxophonist for Mingus Big Band), Matthew Garrison (bassist for Herbie Hancock) and Lucas Pickford (Brian Blade) crafted Increase the Dosage, which unites “electronic music with live improvisation, resulting in a style of music described variously as nu-jazz, electro-jazz or electronic breakbeat jazz”.
Recordings started back in 2000 and in 2005 the album was released under a Creative Commons license. Which means you can download it for free, listen and decide for yourself how you like it (instead of reading my ramblings):
Revolution Void’s Website | About Jonah Dempcy | Other albums by them
rhwinter, January 5th, 2007
Filed under: music
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