Tim Brown

“Subtle Patterns is a collection of 88 high quality design patterns for you to use freely. New patterns added weekly. A project by Atle Mo.”

Tons of links.

Hover on text, see the font being used. From Chengyin Liu.

Mark Boulton: “If […] layouts are based on a system that defines its ratios from the content, then there is connectedness on two levels: connectedness to the device, and connectedness to the…

Tom Rickner for FontsLive: “It is a significant challenge to produce a font which renders the same pixels in multiple environments.”

Ethan Dunham: “The hack that makes this work is the ‘#’ following the EOT filename. Seriously.”

I used to keep all of my notes in Backpack. Then I got an iPhone, and began using Simplenote and Notational Velocity for their excellent sync capabilities. Jot some notes at my desk, close the laptop, step outside for a walk, and the notes I just typed are already in my hand. It’s like magic. I still savor the experience of using Backpack, but these other two apps are faster and easier for day-to-day stuff like notes, to-do lists, random ideas, and groups of links/thoughts on a particular topic.

Then, there’s writing. Composing text.

When I used to use Backpack, integrated Writeboards were where I not only kept versions of a text but *composed* text (a strategy not without its problems; more than once, browser/OS crashes robbed me of a morning’s work). When I switched to Simplenote/NV, I wrote whole texts within those apps. I would just create a new note, collect relevant ideas from their random places in my collection of notes, and compose. This strategy also had problems — some sync actions, and some app crashes, have erased notes on me. (Because I point Simplenote/NV to a Dropbox folder, everything’s versioned and backed up, so I haven’t lost anything. But it’s annoying.)

In addition, there were subtleties about the Simplenote/NV strategy that didn’t suit my preferences for composing text. For one thing, NV doesn’t have a full-screen mode. So when I’m writing on my Mac, I can see the menu bar, desktop icons, dock, etc. Simplenote, on my iPhone and my wife’s iPad, only does black text on a white background, which is too bright when I’m trying to write in the dark. I appreciate these constraints, mind you — I wouldn’t want these options in those apps, because the strengths of Simplenote/NV are their simplicity.

But for composing text, I have a new strategy, including new apps. Ommwriter on my Mac, and Elements on the iPhone/iPad. I’m using the free Ommwriter Dana I right now, but considering upgrading to Dana II just so that I’m aware of updates via the Mac App Store. It’s a super-simple, full-screen editor that blocks Growl notifications and hides its own interface when I’m typing. And I love the keystroke sound effects. The app’s typesetting preferences could use some help.

Elements has been great, too. Very straightforward, and I haven’t had the syncing problems I’ve experienced with Simplenote. I think Simplenote gets wonky with notes full of very long texts.

So now, when I’m ready to write, I gather related notes from Simplenote/NV and move them to a new text file in my Dropbox/Elements directory. Both Ommwriter and Elements look there, so I’m synced, solid, and writing comfortably.

A set of plugins by Tim Ahrens that help type designers harmonize glyph shapes, tune letters, and create different versions of glyphs for condenseds, extendeds, small caps, etc.

“An independent directory of typefaces organized into categories.”