- Calligrapher Donald Jackson approached the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s University and Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, with his life-long dream: to create the first handwritten, illuminated bible commissioned since the invention of the printing press. You can see numerous samples & read more about the process in this Library of Congress exhibition. The Adobe type guys have been screening a BBC documentary on the work here at the office.
- Experimental Jetset created the "John & Paul & Ringo & George" shirt, only to be "sincerely flattered" by dozens of imitators–many of whom they’ve cataloged on their site . I dig "Juan y Pablo y Jorge y Gringo" especially. [Via]
- In The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web, Richard Rutter attempts to apply the principles of rhythm, proportion, harmony, and more in a Web context. [Via]
- Campbell’s Soup has created an excellent–and functional–anti-hunger display that uses soup cans to construct (and deconstruct) a word. [Via]
- Sharon Mount’s Tiny Buildings blog is all about her beautiful little creations–tiny buildings created from type-clad bits of paper. [Via]
- The March of Dimes renders babies with type to answer parents’ questions. [Via]
- If you’re looking for retro inspiration, check out Roadsidepictures’s Flickr set of 60’s supermarket signage. [Via] See also his set of 60’s Polaroids of signs in Washington.
John,
I’m a big fan of your blog. But at this moment, I’m a very unhappy Adobe customer.
I just bought my first CS3 app — InDesign ME, for just shy of $1500. And I have just wasted five hours trying to install it, so far unsuccessfully.
I have worked through the various help files and knowledge base techniques I have been able to dig up. So I have run the removal script, which finally let the installer start. I have turned off the firewall, so Bonjour can start up. And I have been looking at installation logs, and have now fired up event viewer.
And what I have found in the event viewer makes me furious. You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m a victim of Windows Vista; at least, I assume that’s why the error in the log is:
So the installer has created a file it can’t write to. My manual efforts to make it writable have so far failed.
But what really angers me, and the reason I’m venting here on your blog, is that the writers of the Adobe Installer program are arrogantly inconsiderate. According to the Windows Event Viewer, the Bridge writer error occurred at 6:38pm. The installation itself didn’t stop until 6:44pm. Those 6 minutes, in which the program failed to report a fatal error, add up. with an installation as complicated as Adobe, particularly with an operating system built by an Adobe competitor.
A common theme on this blog is your appropriate desire for people to respect Adobe and its copyrights. I feel like I am now on the receiving end of Adobe’s disrespect and perhaps even contempt for its customers. Six hours ago I was happy to hold a DVD for which I had paid $1500. Now, I feel like I have been had.
One concrete suggestion for Adobe: Put in a crash program to create a new installer for Windows Vista. Give the installer reporting capabilities (I shouldn’t have to be untarring log files), have it incorporate the uninstall scripts, let it provide full and timely error reporting; and for God’s sake, give it the brains to let me keep a web browser open while I’m installing InDesign — nothing makes time feel wasted, like spending six hours with my Firefox closed.
To see the sort of contortions that Adobe has made me go through, you can check out some partially useful (though still not yet successful) notes here, here, and here.
OK, 7 hours later I have the solution: I have Vista Home Basic, and CS3 is only certified to run on Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise. So I’m now debating whether to (1) hand Microsoft $80 more for Vista Home Premium, (2) hand Microsoft $100 for Windows XP, or (3) investigate whether 6 hours in the Warez underground would get me a working version of Home Premium.
Again, there’s no reason why a CS3 installer couldn’t tell me the bad news before I waste a day on this install. And with the proper spin, perhaps I might have happily purchased the Windows upgrade from an Adobe partner.
Now, I’m as annoyed at Adobe as I am with Microsoft. Think about it.
Or, there is (4)disable Vista’s UAC controls. I tried that and… it worked!
That’s $80 not in Microsoft’s pocket. And again, a tidbit that an installer program ought to be able to handle.
John, I trust you’ll be able to pass this on to the people responsible for writing tech notes and the like.
[Larry, I haven’t yet gotten to digest what you’ve written, but I’ll pass along the feedback to the right folks. Sorry that the experience has been so frustrating. –J.]