In roughly 3 days I’ll be enroute to Austin, TX to take part in the SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive conference. I’m bound to be a bit overwhelmed by the festivities and elbow-rubbing parties, but I won’t lie, I’m pretty excited to meet in person the numerous amounts of online buddies I’ve made and collaborated with over the years.

To be honest, I’m clueless in regards to the seminars and presentations taking place due in part to the mess of information on the SXSW site. If anyone has put together a “SXSW Guide for Dummies”, let me know, since I’ll be running around trying to figure out what seminars/presentations/discussions will be worth attending.

If all goes as planned, I’ll be hanging with my travel pals Dave Seah and Eric Shepard and will most likely document the entire experience here, over a series of 5 days with exclusive photos and anecdotes-o-plenty.

Let me know if you’re going to be there since I’d like to meet and greet as many people as possible so I have something to write home about.

Austin here I come!

They say that one of the tell-tale signs that you’re getting older is when your eyes just aren’t working like they used to. If you think about, we take our vision for granted and that’s because there’s rarely a moment when someone will ponder whether or not their eyesight will ever fail them. Rather, we just are under the impression that like our health, our eyes will never stray from being in good working condition and that we’ll never have to resort to glasses or contacts, or anything that we’d need to depend on to flip through the pages of a book or refrain from tripping over a fire hydrant.

Earlier this morning I had my first eye appointment and when the nurse informed me that she would be administering eyedrops, I just nodded and tilted my head back. She then informed me that my eyes would become dialated and that everything would be extremely blurry up close. Again, I just nodded and was told to return to the waiting room to wait for the Doctor. A few minutes later, my eyes became extra sensitive to light and I noticed when I moved my palm close to my face that I couldn’t see anything except for a skin-toned blur. Sitting there, with poor vision due to the eyedrops, it made me think about various concerns I’ve often thought about.

In recent years, with the advent of technology, things are only getting smaller in size including the text we read on our computer screens. Unless one were to realize this initially while developing user interfaces for those with slightly poorer vision, I believe things will only become worse.

Despite this concern, I have seen various kiosks and web sites that use larger onscreen text, but some of these are only in effect because of a trend that I call “Biggie Size”, wherein the designer has decided to use larger text because it’s the “in” thing to do, not necessarily because it might help those with poorer eyesight.

It’s certainly something to take into consideration, not only because it looks cool or earn you high fives from your peers but that it might actually be more readable for those straining their eyes because of smaller text. Yet, where do we begin as designers as far as a baseline text size for onscreen reading? There’s been several debates on this topic, many of which never really draw a specific conclusion or answer to a perfectly legible text size for any reader. There’s good reason for this, mainly the fact that unless it’s a “one size fits all” t-shirt or baseball cap, I don’t think there will ever be a golden answer to that question.

Taking that into account, this is why various web sites utilize em or percentage text scaling instead of pixel perfect (px) sizing, allowing the reader the ability to increase or decrease the onscreen text. I had a discussion the other day with my friend and fellow 9ruler Peter Flaschner, who mentioned that the font size on kartooner was too small for his tastes, so he sent me a screenshot where he increased the font size to his liking.

I had no qualms with Peter doing this, especially considering that I sized everything according to a baseline font size of “small”. Everything else is scaled according to a specific percentage, including the body text (what you’re reading now) which is set at 95% of small. I could set the percentage higher and I’ve considered it, but I’m not sure if I’ll receive a complaint that the font size is too large. It’s at this point where I’m trying to figure out how to meet the needs of those who have good vision and those whose vision isn’t quite what it used to be.

Adjustment is an unavoidable, vital aspect to the stability of life, such as a control valve that changes the water level of a river. In a sense, adjustment means recognizing, adapting and changing something in any given circumstance so as to make it suitable for one’s own benefit.

Such is the case with someone who has to adjust according to a change in their work shift. When that time comes, rarely are we ever afforded the ability to fully prepare for the change that occured. Instead, we have to tweak various aspects of our routines in accordance to whatever will incur balance in our lives. It’s never easy and most of the time it means stepping out of our comfort zone and understanding what needs to be done in order to stabilize oneself. For the individual who changes to a night shift, this means adjusting their sleep schedule to meet the demands and needs of their respective position.

Another example of making an adjustment could be budgeting oneself in order to prevent financial chaos. One first has to recognize the issue at hand and then make the choice to change and consequently adapt for the betterment of the situation. The outcome of making this adjustment might mean the difference between scrapping the bottom of the barrel or wading above surface.

Either people are anxious to see fresh content or I’m just reading into it, either way, I’ve been passed a book baton by Greg, Phu and Khaled.

Number of Books on Shelf

Oh wow. Truthfully, there are about 100 books on the small bookshelf in our living room and scattered throughout our apartment I’d estimate that I’ve collected over 3-400 books that run the gamut as far as different subject matter. The plan is that when we finally take the plunge and purchase a house to store our material items, that we’ll set up more bookshelf space to properly (for once) store these books.

Last Book Purchased

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. While I didn’t go to one of those overnight parties, I did purchase it from Amazon.com and received it the same day it was released, which was a commendable feat in itself on Amazon’s part.

Book Reading Right Now

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Unlike Greg, who finished the latest Potter book in a few days, I’m about halfway through. I’d say this book is much more historically-driven than the previous novels.

Last 5 Books Read

I typically read about 5 or 6 books at a time, meaning that a lot of the content kind of mashes together into what I can only describe as a vividly stitched and interwoven storyline.

• The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
• The Notebook by Nicolas Sparks

Books That Mean A Lot To Me

As Greg stated, this is a bit difficult since there are a slew of fantastic books that have in some way or another effected me on an emotional level.

• Boy’s Life by by Robert McCammon
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
• The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
• Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Pass it Along

Instead of choosing a select few to pass this along to, I’ll just suggest that anyone that’s interested, feel free to steal this book meme and make it your own.