Chrome Tabs, Font Smoothing, and Design-Heavy Agencies

By Joshua on December 19 2009

We'd be lying if we said we scoured the web on our hands and knees for these links. With more than 900 RSS feeds pouring content into the Design Pepper monitors, it takes highly skilled technicians working around the clock to snatch the best fish from the stream for your enjoyment. Perhaps that's overstating our role in this. We do have some useful skills, read a lot of blogs each week, and are quite pleased to share our most interesting finds with you. 

Expect links to thoughtful articles on design, programming, UX, and a few wildcards that caught our attention. Enjoy!

• A Detailed Analysis of "Close Tab" Behavior in Google Chrome
  This is a great look at exactly why Chrome's behavior works better for users. If you create UIs, then this post is for you.
• How to Detect Font-Smoothing Using JavaScript
  Some excellent research and example JavaScript, showing how to detect if a visitor has anti-aliasing turned on, and display text in an alternate font if they don't.
• Jeff Croft asks, "Are Web Agencies Design-Heavy?"
  Personally, I think this might be sample-selection bias, as web designers are most likely to be familiar with design-heavy agencies. But definitely read the post and the comments. Lots of stuff to think about.

The Wildcard

• Annalee Newitz asks, When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like Avatar?
  We both watched Avatar in 3D and enjoyed it immensely. Newitz's argument has some flaws but she brings up some interesting points about colonialism and stereotypes in scifi movies.

Did you read anything especially interesting on the web this past week? If so, hit us up in the comments with a link. Write something interesting? Find us on Twitter and share it with us!