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SimpleBits® news and weekly Studio Notes™. Plus exclusive posts (and free fonts, discounts, and other perks) for Gold members.

Twenty Years of SimpleBits

Twenty Years of SimpleBits

I used to design websites for a living. What a way to kick off a dusty ol' blog! This year, 2022, marks the 20th anniversary SimpleBits—or more specifically the anniversary of the simplebits.com domain name, which I registered for my blog and later a freelance design studio.

What I Learned Co-Founding Dribbble

What I Learned Co-Founding Dribbble

Last month, I gave a 30-minute talk at the Awwwards  conference in San Francisco. I used to give talks fairly often, mostly covering CSS and web design in general, but this one was a bit different. I decided to share 20 things I’ve learned by co-founding Dribbble over the

Kare

It's been a few weeks now, but the inspiration and buzz is still lingering. A highlight of my career was introducing Susan Kare at a Dribbble + Photoshop meetup at Adobe's headquarters in San Francisco. Last year, Rich, Charles Pearson and some of the Photoshop team had

Made By

Just last week, Naysan Naraqi and Josh Janssen from Envato visited me here in Salem, Mass. to make a short video for their Made by series. Miracuosly, they edited down my babbling into a coherent narrative. There's even some banjo playing and a quick Salem walking tour thrown

Second Edition

Five years ago, Mandy, Jeffrey, and Jason launched a little publishing imprint called A Book Apart. It focused on very specific topics for folks that build websites for fun and profit. The books were short and to the point. They paid their authors unheard of royalties compared to other publishers.

The Lift

My favorite part of snowboarding is the lift. That time spent on the chair, heading up a mountain. It can start off chaotically: Skiers and riders shuffling through a long line, the chair whipping around the corner and scooping you up. And then off you go. It gets really quiet.

Hyper Static Text

Hyper Static Text

I am not big on resolutions, but like many of you, I'd sure like to write more this year. Writing was the single biggest factor in helping my career, and it's led me to start new projects, find new interests, helped solved problems, etc. I'