Desktop Wallpaper + Calendar = Crazy delicious!

What have you got on your computer desktop? The default image that shipped with the computer? Bo-ring! Pictures of your kids at Lake Mazonga? Bo-ring! …to other people, at least. A mural of unicorns fighting the undead in a lake of fire? Bo—, wait, that actually sounds kind of neat.

In any event, while these examples may not all be that boring, how many of them are useful? Smashing Magazine has a passel of freely downloadable desktop wallpapers that are both incredibly not-boring and incredibly useful.

Okay, maybe “incredibly” is overstating it a bit, but they are cool designs/art, and they do feature monthly calendars.

Click over to Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: July 2008 to be not-bored.

via popurls

PDFs! For designers! Online!

Exclamation point! Okay, maybe that’s a bit more excitement than warranted for yet another ‘list’ post. But, Positive Space Blog’s “30 Essential PDF Documents Every Designer Should Download” is actually worthy of exclamation points.

Well, maybe just one.

Anyway, the 31 (!) PDFs are divided into 5 categories: Resources; Web Development & Programming; Presenations; Freelancing & Income; and PDF Collections.

Enjoy.

via popurls

Atkinson Photographic Archive

The Atkinson Photographic Archive provides access to high-res photos of campus buildings for University of California-related purposes.

Note: Photo quality varies. Please read copyright instructions before using.

Photograph © 2003 by Alan Nyiri, courtesy of the Atkinson Photographic Archive.

Official Berkeley colors

via Webnet

A few minutes ago, I received the following email from a member of Webnet:

Can anyone point me to where the official Berkeley colors -- in CMYK and RBG -- are posted, or direct me to someone who would know what they are?

I've visited the Identity Resources page (identity.berkeley.edu) but only see guidelines for the seal, signature, typeface, and format.

Here was a reply from another member:

I don't have the CMYK or RGB values handy, but someone inquired about "official" PMS colors recently. Here are some combinations that are typically used:

These are typically used for the seal:
540 (blue)
139 (gold)

540 (blue)
874 (metallic)

These are used when brighter colors are required, e.g., for athletics:
287 (blue)
1235 (gold)

288 (blue)
1245 (gold)

Looks like we should update the identity site to reflect PMS, CMYK, and RGB recommendations, for both print and web.

Standards-based design with CSS

via a handout from the March 20, 2007 Webnet presentation
by Caroline Boyden, a member of the LSCR Web Team

HTML and XHTML Frequently Answered Questions
www.w3.org/MarkUp/2004/xhtml-faq

W3C Recommended list of DTDs
www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html

W3C HTML Validator
validator.w3.org

W3C CSS Validator
jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator

Web Standards Switch: or how to improve your Web site easily
www.w3.org/QA/2003/03/web-kit

Google Webmaster Guidelines
www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

Where Our Standards Went Wrong
alistapart.com/articles/whereourstandardswentwrong

12 Lessons for Those Afraid of CSS and Standards
alistapart.com/articles/12lessonsCSSandstandards

How to Grok Web Standards
alistapart.com/articles/grokwebstandards

The Way Forward with Web Standards
www.maccaws.org/kit/way-forward

CSS Zen Garden
www.csszengarden.com

Layout Gala: 40 CSS layouts
blog.html.it/layoutgala

Still throwing tables
www.stopdesign.com/log/2005/07/27/still-throwing-tables.html