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zeldman

@[email protected]

Ava’s dad. OG blogger/web designer. Automattician. Author, “Designing With Web Standards” and “Taking Your Talent to the Web.” Publisher, A LIST APART and A BOOK APART. Emeritus: Happy Cog™, An Event Apart, School of Visual Arts MFA IXD faculty, and The Web Standards Project.

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@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

When I moved into my apartment in 2008, the previous owner had left a mezuzah on the doorway. Initially, as I’m not religious, I planned to take it down. Somehow I never got around to it. Now I never will. Jew haters can kiss my tuchus.

(wp.me pfmEgz-56c)

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Inside a Texas nurse’s quest to document the life and death of every woman killed by a man in America, by Christa Hillstrom

https://magazine.atavist.com/2025/14445-and-counting-femicide

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

“To recoup their existing and announced investments, AI companies will have to bring in $2 trillion, more than the combined revenue of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia and Meta.

“And they have to bring in that $2 trillion before all those GPUs burn out…which is, again, about 2–3 years.

“Or sometimes just 54 days.”

https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-10-16-post-ai-ai-productive-residue-5cc95ad345f9

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Congrats to The Guardian on hiring Doctorow to explain enshittification to the non-tech masses.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

“Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build–why, I’ll be there.”

—Tom Joad’s last words to “Ma,” in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”

Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda in John Ford’s film version of Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” tells his “Ma” he will always be with her—and with all The People—wherever there’s a cop beating up a guy, or a fight so hungry people can eat. The actor is filmed in closeup. His penetrating, almost otherworldly gaze is on his off-camera mother, but he also looks beyond her, sharing a deep spiritual and psychological insight as he prepares to flee for his life. There's a fresh scar on his face.
ALT
@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Imagine a web page that loads instantly, deploys effortlessly, and never needs a security update.

https://joeldare.com/why-im-writing-pure-html-and-css-in-2025

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

“AI isn’t magic; it’s a pyramid scheme of human labor,” said Adio Dinika, a researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute based in Bremen, Germany.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/11/google-gemini-ai-training-humans

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

★ Stroll with us down memory lane as we celebrate pixel art, the early web, and some of the many artists and design languages the mighty pixel inspired.

https://zeldman.com/2024/04/13/for-love-of-pixels/

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

“Brad Frost sits down with the legendary Jeffrey Zeldman, a pioneer in web design and an influential figure in Brad’s life. Jeffrey shares his journey, from writing ‘Designing with Web Standards’ to founding ‘A List Apart,’ and how these accomplishments impacted the web design community. The conversation delves into a variety of profound topics...”

https://share.transistor.fm/s/652640f2

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Which old websites that are functional but no longer popular do you still use, and what do you love about them?

Jim Carrey as The Riddler in Warner Bros’s “Batman Forever” (1995, directed by Joel Schumacher).
ALT
@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Study: When experienced open-source developers used current AI tools, work took 19% longer to complete. In spite of which, the developers thought they were working faster.

It’s just one study, and they don’t claim anything beyond what they observed. Their results are not predictive. Still....

(There must be a name for the psychological trick we play on ourselves to believe we’re being more productive even when we’re considerably less so.)

Hat tip: Dave Martin

https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

After 9/11, I stopped living in a rented NYC apartment ... and bought one.

If you’re frightened by the prospect of a mayor who cares about all New Yorkers—not just the donor class—by all means, leave town.

It will help lower the cost of living for the rest of us.

P.S. See also the ALT text.

The Twin Towers burning on September 11, 2001, looking south from Midtown Manhattan. The Empire State Building is visible in the foreground. Some of us worried it would be the next to fall. But we fucking stood our ground. “I heart NY, now more than ever,” as Milton Glaser wrote at the time. People treating the rise of Zohran as a threat instead of a beautiful opportunity for positive change can, if I may say so, fuck right the fuck off.
ALT
@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Don’t mess with the Zohran!

The appalling smearing of Zohran Mamdani as “anti-semitic”: It's Islamophobic. It's racist. It's also completely untrue.

https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/smearing-zohran-mamdani-anti-semitic

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random
@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Smashing Frames: “It’s not that they just picked something cute and accidentally the co-founder of that studio hates their whole approach from the bottom of its heart. OpenAI picked Studio Ghibli because Miyazaki hates their approach.”
– @tante | h/t @brockfrench.bsky.social

https://tante.cc/2025/03/28/vulgar-display-of-power/

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

You don’t need to be Jewish to apply.

$10,000 interest-free loan for folks who need to relocate because of anti-LGBTQ+ laws, policies, and climate in their current state of residence.

https://www.keshetonline.org/movetothrive/

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Not every pick will be to your taste, but a surprising number belong in almost any collection.

“An artist’s first shot is a singular and special moment. While some debuts are scrappy learning experiences, others arrive fully realized. For the artists below, their debuts not only shaped culture at the time of their release but continued to influence music for decades, spawning movements, copycats, and entire genres.”

https://www.discogs.com/digs/collecting/best-debut-albums/

Peel slowly and see: the Andy Warhol banana cover art for the world-changing debut LP, The Velvet Underground and Nico.
A lightning bolt hits the Capitol Building in Washington DC on Bad Brains’s world-changing first album.
The unforgettable documentary-style cover to Nas’s debut, Illmattic, features a young Black child staring at a bleak urban scene.

The unforgettable documentary-style cover to Nas’s debut, Illmattic, features a young Black child staring at a bleak urban scene.
ALT
@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Occasionally, CNN remembers that it is a news organization:

“This pardon — and specifically the blanket nature of the pardon — sends the message that so long as your candidate wins, partisan violence against law enforcement in the seat of our nation’s government is acceptable and can be an effective tool to accomplishing political ends.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/politics/what-to-know-pardons-january-6-trump/

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Happy Sentencing Day to
all who celebrate.

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

A man with a beard and blue eyes is wearing a blue beanie and a dark hoodie. He has a relaxed expression and appears to be close up. (It’s me on Blue Beanie Day.)
ALT
@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

In 2021, we at A Book Apart were thrilled to help Tom Greenwood bring his important book to the web design community. Today, I’m equally delighted to see Tom releasing this new version following the unfortunate closing of our little publishing house. Highly recommended for all who love the Earth. Available in print, ebook, or both.

https://www.wholegraindigital.com/blog/sustainable-web-design-book-updated/ h/t @jasonsantamaria

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

“Look at us, resplendent in our pauper’s robes, stitched from corpulent greed and breathless credulity, spending half of the planet’s engineering efforts to add chatbot support to every application under the sun when half of the industry hasn’t worked out how to test database backups regularly.”

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/ h/t @photomatt

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Poachers, when caught stealing content from our website, always blamed the theft on an “intern” or “freelancer.” We always pretended to believe them.

https://zeldman.com/2024/05/22/ah-yes-the-famous-intern-did-it-syndrome/

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Happy 21st anniversary to . Thanks to Web Design Museum for the reminder.

ALT: On May 14, 2003, web designer and founder of A List Apart magazine, Jeffrey Zeldman, published a book entitled Designing with Web Standards. In his book, Jeffrey Zeldman explores the benefits of implementing web standards. #WebDesignHistory.
ALT
@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

Back from E.R. Ava was concussed. She is doing fine, she’ll be okay.

@zeldman@front-end.social avatar zeldman , to random

My take on the Apple ad: the killing in Gaza must stop.