More Theory
https://more.theory.org/
from jonathan moore + matt chisholm + jeremy avnet (brainsik)en-us2004-03-28T12:48:17-08:00Typography & Typesetting Tidbits
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_typography.html#000122
Some nifty typography and typesetting links today. If you haven't already seen it, The Alphabet's Bastard Children links to a number of totally rad projects that push the boundaries of typography (including my Alphabet Soup). The MicroFoundry looks like it touched on some pretty interesting font variation techniques, although the site design is hideous and everything requires "Shockwave," c. 1998. Read Regular is a pretty nice looking font designed "For more effective reading and writing" (too bad it's not available for download or purchase anywhere). P.J. Chmiel's type/lettering samples are some nice examples of typography in middle america. The Untitled...Typographymatt2004-03-28T12:48:17-08:00Nautilus Goes Spatial
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_user_interface.html#000118
This post on FootNotes/Gnomedesktop.org outlines the Nautilus project's decision to implement an object-oriented or spatial file browser. This means it will be more like the Mac OS Finder, and less like Windows Explorer. Diving into Gnome 2.6 has more details about what this means. I could not be happier about this; the Mac OS Finder was incredibly flexible, powerful, and easy to use. The "navigation" metaphor (think your-hard-drive-is-a-website) implemented in Windows Explorer (and unfortunately parrotted in most Linux file browsers, until now) is more constrained, artificial, and less functional. Three cheers for Nautilus!...User Interfacematt2004-03-09T20:22:09-08:00Hacking Social Networks part II (Don't search private data)
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_social_software.html#000110
This installment of Hacking Social Networks is about search and private data. The point we want to make is that public searches should never be allowed to return results based on private data. To be clear, we do not mean results that explicitly include private data, but results that, while only containing public data, are constraind by private data. Let's take three pieces of private data on Friendster: last name, zip, and email adress, and consider how they can be abused or discovered....Social Softwaremoore2004-02-10T13:11:41-08:00Visualizing Disk Space
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_user_interface.html#000107
A few months ago, Steffen Gerlach's scanner introduced the useful technique of visualizing disk space and file size within folders concentrically (the app runs delightfully well under Wine). Now there's Filelight, a KDE based tool which uses the same concentric rings layout (unfortunately not yet available for Debian testing/stable). And there's kdirstat, which uses the terminally nifty treemap layout technique to show file & folder sizes. A technique for quickly and clearly visualizing exactly what's eating up all of your disk space is suprisingly missing from most standard OS interfaces and file browsers. But in this age of massive music,...User Interfacematt2004-02-07T21:24:18-08:00Hacking Friendster, Part I
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_social_software.html#000106
EDITOR'S NOTE: I have posted these hacks in the hopes of publicizing security holes and forcing the networks to close them. Please do not send me email, myspace messages, or friendster messages asking me to spend my free time helping you duplicate this hack. Both Myspace and Friendster have modified their sites enough so that these hacks no longer work. In addition, this article contained far more than enough information to duplicate these hacks (when they worked), and still contains enough information to build similar hacks today. If you do not understand how to make similar hacks, consider doing your...Social Softwarematt2004-02-05T01:20:34-08:00A UI my mom could use
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_user_interface.html#000085
Segusoland is a new file browser that has what I think are some truly revolutionary ideas behind it. The program presents several lists to the user, of files, programs, actions, times, and devices, and then narrows all the lists as you select items from each, until you are left with the command you want to run. Check out the screenshots & tutorial....User Interfacematt2004-01-17T15:13:30-08:00A Better Threader
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_user_interface.html#000065
Microsoft Research is cheerleading for a threading technique which sorts messages vertically by time, and horizontally by thread (Screenshot) (PDF). There's lots of hullabaloo about how good a job this will do for email, but where it really stands to improve things is in instant messaging interfaces. Similar techniques are present in Lurker, and probably in other places too....User Interfacematt2004-01-11T01:21:27-08:00Seeing Stars
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_systems.html#000064
A comment Jon made about the Moscow Metro maps prompted me to google about for some pictures. I found this page, a comprehensive archive of Moscow subway maps going back to 1935. Since I'm a graphic design junkie, I checked them out. And I noticed something interesting. When the orange and purple lines were completed in 1973 or 1974, the map suddenly changed from a seemingly random jumble of lines to a distinct star pattern....Systemsmatt2004-01-08T19:29:24-08:00User Interfaces
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_user_interface.html#000066
I'm ringing in the new User Interface category with two of my previous posts to nooface.com. Billowing or Fisheye text interfaces have been around since at least 1999. The idea is similar to the OSX Dock's technique of enlarging icons near the pointer. Here's an implementation in CSS/Javascript, one in Flash, and a third in Java.(original post) The folks over at freedesktop.org are working on bringing true translucent windows to X Windows. XDirectFB also is working on transparency in X. Until I was forced to use OSX, I thought this was soley eye-candy, but it turns out to be suprisingly...User Interfacematt2004-01-07T01:40:59-08:00Putting People in Possession of Knowledge
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_state_of_things.html#000053
It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth. -- John Locke This quote reminds me how knowledge is passed around in geek communities. It is not enough to explain that someone is wrong, we tend to require backup (references) of our claims and sometimes will forgo even the mention of why someone is wrong and just yellout "RTFM!". It appears this line of reasoning is also becoming a staple in grassroot organizations. It is the mantra of truthout (where the quote was found), can be seen...State of thingsbrainsik2003-12-26T14:48:10-08:00A Family Friend Experiences DRM; The Loss of Digital Rights
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_state_of_things.html#000040
This morning, I received an email from a family friend. Recently, they joined the new Napster: a music service that let's you buy Windows Media Audio (WMA) music files of your favorite artist. Things went awry when they decided they wanted to listen to their music purchases on their Archos Jukebox MP3 player. The Archos player does not support WMA. They emailed me asking how they could play their WMA music on their Archos. They had tried software to convert WMA to MP3, but it failed. "Help!", they said. They didn't know the software they need is illegal under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Why can't you just transcode the WMA file you paid for to MP3? Because WMA supports Digital Rights Management (DRM).State of thingsbrainsik2003-12-01T15:45:28-08:00Why I don't like blog comments
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_antisocial_software.html#000030
The trouble with web-based discussion boards, especially the comments on blogs, is that it is hard to have conversations in such a fractured space. If you only read one blog, it is less of a problem (but still has issues). For example, danah boyd suggested a dinner to which a friend of mine responded in a comment on the blog entry. I then fallowed up with a response of my own. The thing is, unless my friend brainsik goes back to check the comments of the entry, he may never find I responded. What we lose with blogs and have...Antisocial Softwaremoore2003-11-20T23:33:27-08:00Learning From Kaleidoscope
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_state_of_things.html#000019
Back in the heady days of Macintosh System 7.5, Greg Landweber released Aaron, which changed the system's windows and buttons to match the "Platinum" appearance in the upcoming MacOS 8 (codenamed "Copland" after the composer Aaron Copland). Hacked versions of Aaron quickly appeared, with the MacOS 8 images replaced by images of the hacker's creation. Landweber realized he had a cash cow, and released Kaleidoscope, which could switch 'schemes' on the fly. Apple devotees had learned of a few "Appearances" slated for introduction in MacOS 8: Platinum, Gizmo, Hi-Tech, (and Drawing Board, released only in Japan). This may have...State of thingsmatt2003-10-14T09:45:00-08:00Choice words
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_why.html#000018
Why is it called breaking and entering when I do it but when they do it it's called Dynamic Entry? Word choice is a powerful thing, it can shape how we approach or look at an idea. There have been many theories of how language affects thought, Newspeak, Neurolinguistic Programming, and others. These theories are mostly dubious or just outright fiction, but how does language affect the way we think? What is the motivation behind the political correctness movement? What does it mean when the state uses terms, collateral damage, in an attempt to affect our views of things? Maybe...Why?moore2003-10-09T16:54:26-08:00The 'Net Builds Itself
https://more.theory.org/archives/cat_social_software.html#000014
Wikipedia persists because there are a lot of people who like to work and build Wikipedia. The BitTorrentFAQ wiki node often appears vandalized because there isn't a strong community behind the wiki (and possibly because people don't know how to easily fix it). Friendster thrives with fakesters because there is a strong community of fakesters (with a manifesto) and people who want to connect to fakesters.
[...]]]>Social Softwarebrainsik2003-10-02T05:17:35-08:00