tech.thingoid

This book provides an excellent broad review of the history of information and communications technology, starting with the spoken and written word through to computers, computer networks, and the world-wide web.

Unfortunately, the title of this book gives the impression that there will be an examination of the current state of information architecture with some looking forward to the future of the “emerging profession”. Relatively little of the book is given to discussing IA as a profession, with much more weight going to the historical context. In fairness, the intention of the book is “to introduce the reader to key innovations in the history of communications systems and technologies leading to the information age”. While it is important to know where the profession is emerging from, it is just as important to look at where it is likely to emerge to. (more…)

Introduction

For quite some time I have not had a high opinion of JavaScript. This is probably because in the late 90s I spent far too much time trying to get so-called Dynamic HTML to work reliably on the version 4 flavours of Netscape and Internet Explorer. And also because JavaScript is far too often used in stupid and annoying ways on the Web, to name a few: pop-up windows, window resizing, dialog boxes, cursor trails, and JavaScript-only links and forms.

However I have recently discovered that, as with many other programming languages, the power of JavaScript can be harnessed for good as well as evil. JavaScript is a surprisingly powerful programming language and is well worth a detailed look. (more…)