Stefan Hayden

I noticed an interesting quirk of Firefox today. It happens when you are on a page that requires a login to view.

If you wait for your login to expire and then view source you don’t get the source of the page you are looking at. Instead you get the html of what ever page you get kicked to when your login expires.

When you view source in Firefox it seems to go back to the server and re-download the page source. The Server see that you are not logged in and serves you the login expired page. So the HTML it shows you is different from the page you are looking at.

This seems like a really weird quirk. I have no idea why it can’t just use the local copy it clearly has already downloaded. I suppose it would not be an issue in most situations. Though it can be confusing when you are trying to figure out what in the world is going on.

About Design asks what counts as entry level designer? Basically asking why all entry level designers suck.

I find this question interesting as well. I just graduated with a BFA from a liberal arts school, TCNJ. It was a hard program and there were many night where entire classes stayed up all night to finish projects.

I’ve heard lots of talk about how sub par design students are these days and how they don’t have the wide range of skills they used to.

I’m not entirely sure if that’s true or if the times have simply changed. I can say that a lot of time is spent at school simply learning the basics. A class in web design, a class in illustrator, a class in photoshop. it’s easy to see where other things can fall through the cracks with some much time just learning the tools.

Was there more time in the past with fewer programs to learn? I have heard people say that it’s the people who are the problem. that the golden age of design is over. I have a hard time believing that and think it has to have something to do with the process. Where does the education break down?

With Microsoft aggressively opening their new Live email accounts to colleges, the war is on. It was only several months ago that google announced that they were opening Gmail to colleges. The service they both offer is both slightly different but the interesting part id the push to get market share.

Giving email accounts to college students is a good way to get them to keep it forever. Google didn’t seem like they were actively going after colleges to join their program but Microsoft announced their service with 72 colleges read to join.

While this seems like a good thing it also seems rather redundant. Most colleges offer an email address even if it is only for the 4 years you attend the college. High Schools on the other hand do not offer email as a rule and could benefit from services Microsoft and Google could offer. Being able to create school mailing lists and perhaps even class groups would be invaluable.

The NYPD are installing 500 of these high tech surveillance unites. Wasn’t there a science fiction movie with those things? When do they start flying and shocking me every time I jaywalk? I can’t wait to hear about the NYPD using them to see if there is a long line at the corner pizza shop or if the rumor about girls hiding bombs under their skirts is really true.

This is going to go horrible horribly wrong. (via BoingBoing)

With web design so new there is a lot of talk about people coming to it as a second career. Many with out any design training at all. This of course has advantages and disadvantages, letting you come at web design with a fresh perspective but lacking the technical knowledge to back it up (though Dan Seems to do okay). Others, like Patrick and myself, are young, out of design school, and have wanted to work in the web as a first career choice.

Recently at SXSW Mark Bolton and others had a panel about design and art direction on the web and how it is really lacking. In my mind this has to be partially be because of the lack of people who understand design at a very high level.

It’s my hope that in the future, as the web matures, that more focus will be put on higher education and deep understanding of design principals. Education that doesn’t stop at a BFA but continues to a MFA.

Ricardo Miranda has a great introductory post up about how to start thinking if an MFA is a good idea for you. If you’re in design and never got a degree in it getting an MFA might be a good way solidify your foundation in design. And if you’re like me and already have a BFA an MFA might be a great way to make those formal skills razor sharp.

I still hope to make it to an MFA one day and every good guide and how to I can find will only make my decision that much more informed.