Category: book

Posted on

Stories

Stories can be either bacteria or light; they can infect a system, or illuminate a world.

Birds of Heaven, Ben Okri

I had forgotten what a great book “Birds of Heaven” by Ben Okri is. It is a short book focused on the power of words and also the role of storytelling in the world. I guess it contains stories about stories.

Nations and peoples are largely the stories they feed themselves. If they tell themselves stories that are lies, they will suffer the future consequences of those lies. If they tell themselves stories that face their own truths, they will free their histories for future flowerings.

Posted on

Quick Review: eduStyle.net / The eduStyle Guide to Usable Higher-Ed Homepage Design

If you’re involved in web design and development for Higher Education then you may already be aware of the great website eduStyle which showcases examples of website design from Higher Ed institutions from around the world with the aim to provide a place for “web professionals to learn from and be inspired by work of their peers“.

The main feature of the site is a gallery where you can browse through various sites. Each site has a screenshot of the website and you can then click through to a detail page showing a large image and of course the URL of the site. It also allows you to vote for the site as to whether it’s ‘My Style‘ or ‘Not My Style‘. eduStyle also run the annual Higher-ed Web Awards so if you see a site you like you can also nominate the site for an award via link on the detail page. There’s also a blog with regularly updated articles and info about events etc.

Review of “The eduStyle Guide to Usable Higher-Ed Homepage Design”

Ok, slightly odd to call this a review when I haven’t even read the book yet! However, eduStyle have published a book titled “The eduStyle Guide to Usable Higher-Ed Homepage Design”, given that the website is such a good resource then it’s certain that the book will be very useful too. It’s been released as a PDF version initially and will be published in print in due course for those, like myself, that like the feel of real paper! The book has some interesting goals:

  • Get External Validation of Your Design Ideas
  • Learn Best Practices and Common Pitfalls of Higher Ed Homepage Design
  • Get Tips To Improve the Usability of Your Homepage
  • Find Out Leading Edge Design Trends
  • Discover Common Themes Between Noteworthy Winners
  • Understand the Reasoning Behind Your Competitor’s Designs
  • Learn Secrets That Can Get Your Homepage Noteworthy Status

Anyway, that’s enough rambling about a book I haven’t read, you can go to the eduStyle site to read more about it yourself!

~Rick