Currently I have to use InDesign for a small magazine for school. I know, it’s a very feature-complete and extensive program, but most of the time it’s just terribly complex and everything but intuitive. Therefore I thought of what I would consider a better alternative.
What you may need to know: I do a lot of web design and enjoy structure and clean separation of content and appearance. So, what I came up with is basically just a combination of these experiences: On one hand I know that the concept of InDesign does not work well for me, and on the other hand I know that CSS is a powerful tool for designing and specifying layouts of webpages.
I thought, if CSS works for the web, why shouldn’t it work for print? The next step was to determine how the content should be represented. Well, I chose CSS so the logical choice would be XML for the content. Now, why would anybody want to make a layout using style sheet language instead of buttons and menus? And even more bizarre, what would you achieve by that?
I’d say you can benefit at least four times from the concepts of XML & CSS here:
- You can structure your layout without any problems, just by using XML.
- You can use
classes andids to apply styling of your elements using CSS. As a result, you can easily style related design elements coherently with minimal effort. - You don’t need to search menu items in a messy application or are forced to use just one app, you can create and edit your layouts and contents with every small editor.
- You can create the XML of your layout automatically with almost every programming language in a blink of an eye (I myself like to do this in Python).
Besides that, you can theoretically view your layout in a regular web browser.
Of course these are the advantages. Sad to say, the disadvantages are quite serious yet, but I’d say if someone would really like to implement this whole idea it wouldn’t take long to eliminate them. Currently, there is no system I know of that uses pure XML and CSS for print layouts, so there is no standard in any way yet (naming of elements and properties). Also, there is no way I know of to guarantee that the typography looks anything alike when you render it across platforms.
All in all, I would say that the possibility to manipulate and see all the elements and style of your layout using rather simple XML and CSS is a really promising alternative to sticking to proprietary default applications for that job.
Maybe you already know it, but this blog is about crazy ideas. Here’s just another one I thought much about lately.
I would like to store much more information digitally and I would like to enjoy using it. I image a scene where I take my iPhone, push some buttons and get the information I need in that situation. The idea is that I don’t want to open an app and scroll through lists—I would rather enter some search term and see instant results.
When I think about it, I would almost say this search should work like a command line where you enter what you want to know and the software shows it to you. I would like the software to give me an outline of my information and then help my dig deeper into it easily—with the chance to enter new things as well.
For example: I enter a date like 5.2. (2 February) and get not only a list of appointments I have on that date but also other relevant information. When someone’s birthday is on that day and I have a note somewhere what I wanted to give him, this note should be displayed right here.
You see, interconnection between information is quite essential for this idea and I don’t know whether there already is a system that supports that kind of context creating as flexible as it should really be. And again, it is not about what apps you use but about the information that should be independently saved and that is just accessed and displayed/edited by them.
I really want to be clear on this one: I want interconnected information that can be stored and accessed independent from specific apps (but dependent on a specific system the apps are based on). I think this is where personal computers and technology in general should be headed to regarding information management.
Sometimes I have these dreams where I have to achieve something and when I fail to do so I am set back to some other point in time. At first I thought I dreamt of some video game but then I realized it was actually common for my dreams to happen in non-linear and non-coherent time.
Anyway, I got the idea to write a story sometime that is set in a dimension or place where various timelines and chains of possibilities are mixed up and not as coherent as in our reality.
After my death, all my work should be public domain.
Although I don’t know what I will achieve in life, I am pretty sure that it would be a good idea to have my work free for every one to use after my death. I won’t profit from it anymore anyway, so why not be kind and let the following generations use my work?
I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what crazy ideas are about. It may be possible to break the adhesion of a new (imaginary) kind of glue by energizing the glued materials using specific microwaves or some other non-fatal radiation. This way one may develop a glue that can be quite strong but also easily removed.
I came up with the idea when I saw earlier this week that the ear tips of my in-ear headphones are becoming kind of loose and I was going to lose another pair if I wouldn’t glue it in some way.
