ecotypes

Green as You Go

thomas — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:00:25 +0000

I recently read an article in the WIRED magazine which featured “Hypermilers“–people who milk their car’s fuel efficiency for everything it’s worth. Instead of purchasing a new green car, Hypermilers modify their driving habits and their existing vehicles to take advantage of fuel efficiency.

They employ radical ideas in order to achieve fuel efficiency. Things like:

Properly inflating their tires
Abiding by the speed limit
Getting their car professionally tuned-up
And a lot more…

Yeah, all of the things I’m supposed to do anyway.

I love to see people making their lives greener without buying loads of new “green” stuff. Don’t get me wrong, green products are good and I love the fact that they’re becoming mainstream now–but I think it’s always better to make something you own more efficient before consuming a new “green” product.

Now where’s my tire gauge?

Going Open Source

thomas — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:53:02 +0000

Perhaps my favorite internet initiative is the collaborative effort developers put forth to create open source software. Here at ecotypes.com, I promote open source Content Management Systems (CMSs) as a viable alternative to proprietary CMS products. By using open source software, I can keep my clients’ costs down since they are not required to pay any sort of annual licensing fee. I find that open-source software is better supported and I feel much more comfortable about the product’s longevity since there are literally thousands of developers who have a vested interest in keeping their projects alive and well.

In order to conveniently test websites within a Windows environment, I’ve recently purchased a laptop that runs on the Windows OS. [This is the first time I’ve actually purchased a Windows product as I have been a devoted Mac fan since 1985.]

As a test, I have decided that I will only run open source software on this PC. So, first thing I did after connecting my laptop to my home network was to download my favorite open source application–Open Office. This application is stable, very well supported and totally replaces Microsoft Office. Not only can you open and edit MS Office documents, spreadsheets, etc., but you can also save/export back to the MS Office format. I used Open Office, in lieu of MS Office, while working as an Applications Development Specialist for a Fortune 500 company. It worked flawlessly and none of my coworkers ever knew the difference.

The second application I installed was my favorite web browser–Firefox. Mozilla’s Firefox is the “Swiss Army Knife” of web browsers–it’s designed to incorporate feature-rich add ons that enhance your browsing/development experience.

As time goes on, I will install many other open source applications–especially those created to help web developers.

If you would like to “go” open source, I would encourage you to check out OSAlt.com, a site designed to help you find open source alternatives to commercially available products.

-Thomas

Theo Jansen — Kinetic Sculpture

thomas — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:33:55 +0000

Occasionally one stumbles across design that almost seems magic.

At least, that’s the way I felt when I first discovered Theo Jansen’s kinetic sculptures. Their size and mass do not seem a fit with wind power–but it it’s perfect match. His designs are almost Di Vincian–a complex system of clockwork mechanics, yet wonderfully, beautifully, simple.

–Thomas

Like our new design?

thomas — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:33:16 +0000

You may have noticed that ecotypes.com has just undergone a facelift. We moved from a static HTML site onto a CMS platform like many of the sites we design.

In fact, we based our new design on the most simple tabbed framework we offer. You can explore this site as a demo if you’re intersted in one of our SimpleSites. Though simple, this framework is robust and will allow for hundreds of hierarchical pages, should your site need to accomodate a lot of content. The content management user interface is simple and easy to use.