Actors are not too different from bloggers. They have a talent of expression that they want to share with an audience. Their traditional avenues, on stage and on film, are equally costly and sparse. Unfortunately, a great many actors are convinced those are the only avenues and will give up their passion when they find themselves unable to make it to the elite level. (more…)

It’s so simple really, and not at all new. It’s the original Facebook model, before it became huge.

Twitter is about proximity. Over the past year I have sent about 100 Twitter “tweets”. Over the past week I doubled that. Why? All the people who I am following, and who were following me, were all in the same location (at SXSW conference in Austin).

Proximity changed everything.

Previously, I would have argued that if you saw my tweet “Going to Stubbs for some BBQ” it would provide you with a topic of conversation for the future. When you see me next, you can ask what I thought of the famous Stubbs ribs instead of just approaching me with a broad question like “How are things?”.

But proximity adds another layer. Now, you can join me at Stubbs if you like. I broadcast I would be there at lunchtime, and if you were to come, you would find me there and you can trust that I would welcome the company (because if I wanted to be left alone, I wouldn’t have broadcast where I’d be to the world).

I wasn’t in college when Facebook came onto the scene, but I imagine this was how it originally became huge. Students, on the same campus, updating their activity (late for class, in the dining hall, studying in the library) so other students on the campus could find them.

One of the primary concepts of modern web design is the separation of style and content. For many years when table layouts, tags and inline attributes likeroamed the web, it was impossible to disconnect the two; but, with the advent of stylesheets, separation it became an achievable goal.

I have spent years advocating building web sites that render legibly when stylesheets were turned off: because it is how some mobile browsers or antiquated browsers will render the site; because many people require accessible website that can be rendered by text-reading browsers; because it just seemed like the right thing to code.

Many web designers agree, or will at least say they do. But one day a year, we all are asked to prove it. For 24 hours we, the site owners, are asked to turn off their stylesheets and show the world if truly all that’s left is content. That’s CSS Naked Day, and that’s today.

So, this is what my site looks like naked or sans-design. All the stylistic elements, from color to typography to background imagery, all contained in the CSS, have been turned off. If you think its hideous looking, you are right, but you were able to read it. (You’re already through fourth paragraph), and that’s what counts.

The stylized version will be back tomorrow, until then, enjoy the naked version of Robleto.com, and click here to learn more about CSS Naked Day.

Above is a screenshot from CSS Beauty. I visit this site often for news and inspiration. It has great industry related information and ideas wrapped in a clean sharp design but built into a surprisingly unorthodox layout. Here’s the same screenshot, with the relevant content highlighted.

That is only about 10% of the visible page; the other 90% is navigation, advertisements and branding. The small allotment of space for the page content would still work and have not made me think, if it was placed using expected conventions: at the upper left or centered within the white content field.

This design appears thought through, so I expect there was a rational behind this layout choice, I just have yet to discern it. I am just glad to finally recognize it, for the longest time, I would click a link on CSS Beauty and have to wonder whether it bothered to load the page, because I didn’t know to look below the ads to find the new fresh content.

I never watch TV in real time anymore, that’s why I have TiVo. And if TiVo glitches and forgets to record a show, as it did with Prison Break this week, now, thanks to cross-media syndication, I can just go online.

Prison Break is on Fox, who syndicates on MySpace. I was concerned I would have to suffer through yet another horrendous MySpace experience to see the show. To my surprise, Fox has done right with its Prison Break page/site/player. The viewer was nearly full-screen and played in high resolution. Commercial breaks were minimal, and there was no skipping or dithering. Overall a very positive experience and a great new backup plan.

This is Robleto.com 5.0, the fifth major overhaul of my website all about me. Each previous redesign updated the look and feel of the site, and improved the code underneath. This latest addresses goes even deeper, addressing the purpose of the site and how to handle outdated content.

Previously, Robleto.com delved into numerous personal topics including who I am, my interests in theatre and travel and what books I recommend. These areas of the site, while providing a strong reflection of my identity, all too frequently fell into decline from lack of updating and made the entire site feel abandoned

In trying to rectify this situation, I asked myself which areas on the site (or the web) that I do actively keep up-to-date. I found three:

• My Blog - What you are reading right now, driven by Blogger (for now).The focus has changed from personal to referential to profession, but it has been kept updated on average once a week for the past four years.
• My Links - In order to be able to reference links at home or at work, I have abandoned browser Favorites/Bookmarks and cite any site that is of interest to me by tagging it to del.icio.us.
• My Photos - Having recently gone Pro, I am actively growing my Flickr account as my primary source of displaying and organizing all of my photos and images.

So, when I committed to a redesign, I decided to focus solely on these areas. I have removed the static pieces of Robleto.com that were never updated and seldom viewed, and radically simplified the site. It is now only three pages: my blog, my photos and my links.

This choice is a complete shift in the approach to this site. It veers away from the previous brochure style which literally stated who I am and what I like spun whatever way I chose, in favor of this new approach. This site, as you see it today, doesn’t really state anything extensive about me directly, but by aggregating content that I actively keep up-to-date, it should paint a pretty good picture of who I am and what’s important to me.

Enjoy!

If you are in the industry, you know about Web 2.0, but you may ask yourself, “Am I really applying the practices of this new movement. Sure I make a bottom reflection to my logos and write titles really really really big, but could I be doing something more?”

Yes you can.

Have you included a blogroll, tapped into the Google API, or referenced “Less is More”, “VC”, “The Long Tail” or Dave Legg? Have you incorporated both AJAX and prototype into your XHTML 1.1 strict website?

I didn’t think so.

Fortunately, the boys over at 30 Second Rule, have set the bar for all the Web 2.0 designers with this easy to use Web 2.0 validator. Use it often to check to make sure you are keeping up-to-date and in touch.

So, the company I work for, The Motley Fool, just launched a really cool new online game “” CAPS.The premise (as I understand it) is that there are these guys like Jim Kramer on CNBC who yell and bellow “pick this stock” or “pick that stock” with no accountability. There is no follow up if that pick made money; no way to really know if this Kramer guy really knows what he’s talking about.

So, the Motley Fool came up with a way. They made this game where you can rank whether you think any stock will either beat or lose to the S&P 500. It’s sort of like High-Low with stocks. You choose your stock, determine whether it will do better or worse than the S&P and (optionally) write why you think that.

So if you are like me and love Disney, you can pick DIS to succeed “cause their awesome”, or as time goes on and you get more experienced and familiar with stock trends, you can take a more analytical approach and say that since “TheKnot.com has absolutely cornered the market on online wedding websites”, that KNOT would have a good chance of beating the market.

It’s free to play, no money is exchanged. You only need to pick seven stock to get into the game, and then once you are it becomes real fun, because you can track yourself over time, against other people, against financial celebrities (I am kicking the tar out of Jim Kramer right now), and against the field. You also can see the picks everyone else has made, from the best players down to the lowest ranked.

And that is the key to the whole thing: you are now in contact with people who make good picks and are accountable for them, a very useful resource to have if you are trying to understand the stock market a little more, or especially if you are thinking of putting some money into it.

You can find CAPS at http://caps.fool.com, and once you are in and have made the seven required picks to begin, then look for me, and set me as a Friend or Favorite, my screen name is TMFShakespeare.