We’re proud to announce the launch of Design Foundations, the latest course on Treehouse!

Design touches every part of our lives. In this course you will learn what design is and how to harness its power. We’ll break down the components that conjure the perfect aesthetic. You’ll also learn the problem solving process and why it’s so vital to a designer.

Start Design Foundations

The post Announcing Design Foundations appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

Another chance to catch the most interesting, and important, articles from the previous week on MIT Technology Review.

There is a lot to quote in this great article by Stijn Debrouwere:

There’s nothing like a dashboard full of data and graphs and trend lines to make us feel like grown ups.

... metrics only make sense when you’re going to do something with them.

I’ve never seen a news organization that has a workflow that would allow them to routinely respond to their readers’ behavior right now.

1) Have an idea where, depending on data, you’ll do A, B, or C. 2) THEN look at data. 3) Then do A, B, or C.

Direct Link to Article — Permalink

Cargo cult analytics is a post from CSS-Tricks

This morning, we opened the Fall 2013 “Dissertation House for Employees and Non-Traditional Students.”

————————————————————————

Here is the original announcement that went out via MyUMBC:

If you are an employee of UMBC (50% time or more) or a “Non-Traditional” student, and if you are working on your graduate school courses, proposal, or dissertation, then this event is for you! We’ve worked with our UMBC employees who are also graduate students at UMBC, College Park, Northeastern, and other institutions.  This year, we are extending this opportunity to non-traditional students who are coming back to school or working full-time. This time is for you! This session will have support, coaching, and food will be provided for you on both days.

You work hard every day to serve others on our campus! You may be supporting your family members, or you have decided to take some time for yourself to reach your goals.  Now, let us work with you to finish your graduate degree. This version of the “Dissertation House” was created just for you!

Dissertation House for UMBC Employees and Non-Traditional Students
Friday, 10/11/13,   9:00 – 5:00 PM (Part I), COMM 331
Saturday, 10/12/13, 10:00 – 3:00 PM(Part II), COMM 318/COMM 332

If you are a graduate student from another school within the University System of Maryland, you may apply to participate in this session, and your application will be considered. You are responsible for your own transportation and lodging. 

UMBC’s graduate students: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/18934

ALL applicants must adhere to the regular “Dissertation House Application” procedures: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/apply/

This morning, we opened the Fall 2013 “Dissertation House for Employees and Non-Traditional Students.”

————————————————————————

Here is the original announcement that went out via MyUMBC:

If you are an employee of UMBC (50% time or more) or a “Non-Traditional” student, and if you are working on your graduate school courses, proposal, or dissertation, then this event is for you! We’ve worked with our UMBC employees who are also graduate students at UMBC, College Park, Northeastern, and other institutions.  This year, we are extending this opportunity to non-traditional students who are coming back to school or working full-time. This time is for you! This session will have support, coaching, and food will be provided for you on both days.

You work hard every day to serve others on our campus! You may be supporting your family members, or you have decided to take some time for yourself to reach your goals.  Now, let us work with you to finish your graduate degree. This version of the “Dissertation House” was created just for you!

Dissertation House for UMBC Employees and Non-Traditional Students
Friday, 10/11/13,   9:00 – 5:00 PM (Part I), COMM 331
Saturday, 10/12/13, 10:00 – 3:00 PM(Part II), COMM 318/COMM 332

If you are a graduate student from another school within the University System of Maryland, you may apply to participate in this session, and your application will be considered. You are responsible for your own transportation and lodging. 

UMBC’s graduate students: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/18934

ALL applicants must adhere to the regular “Dissertation House Application” procedures: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/apply/

Just weeks after the successful launches of the first Firefox OS smartphones to Spain, Colombia, Venezuela and Poland, Mozilla has announced that new launches of Firefox OS smartphones will begin soon with more devices and in more markets around the world.

App designers may already know this is not “yet another platform” to factor for projects. Rather than building apps for Firefox OS — developers are able to build HTML5 apps for the Web. Part of the Firefox OS genius is that it enables developers to access the hardware of the phone by means of Web APIs.

For designers and developers that have already have broader tech access, a global view of web design will go from academic protocol and specifically targeted localizations to an explosion of new potentials and new demands.

Mozilla’s focus, however, is on bringing the power to create and communicate to designers and businesses in the countries that “hold the phone”: upcoming app workshops are scheduled for Guadalajara, Mexico, on Saturday, October 26, and Budapest, Hungary, on Saturday, November 23.

In keeping with its mission to “keep the power of the Web in people’s hands,” Mozilla is wasting no time in establishing partnerships with more regional providers. The OS will appear in Brazil and other Latin American markets in Q4 of this year. Other partners have announced releases in Germany, Greece, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro, also by the end of 2013.

By focusing its efforts away from the saturated North American market Firefox OS is aiming to establish itself as a strong global player. If it succeeds in establishing itself, its commitment to HTML5 standards can only be a positive thing for mobile developers in every territory.

Would you switch to Firefox OS? Are HTML5 apps better than native apps? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

100 Colorful Grunge Textures from Florin Gorgin – only $12!

The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group and the SVG Working Group have published a Last Call Working Draft of Compositing and Blending Level 1. Compositing describes how shapes of different elements are combined into a single image. There are various possible approaches for compositing. Previous versions of SVG used Simple Alpha Compositing. In this model, each element is rendered into its own buffer and is then merged with its backdrop using the Porter Duff source-over operator. This specification will define a new compositing model that expands upon the Simple Alpha Compositing model by offering additional Porter Duff compositing operators; advanced blending modes which allow control of how colors mix in the areas where shapes overlap; and compositing groups. Please send Last Call comments by 8 November 2013. Learn more about the Style Activity.