Low End Designer Reader Survey
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Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
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- 2004.09.29
The Low End Designer needs your help. This column was planned to simply run for three months, but it has been such a success that it is going to continue past its planned run. We still have plenty of material to cover including typography, scanning, hints and tips, and lots of software reviews.
What is needed from you, the readers, is an indication of where you would like the series to go. Please answer as many of the following questions as you can and send your replies to me via email to ledsurvey@zerovis.com
About you
- What is your level of interest in design?
- Just a reader
- I do a bit of light design work
- I want to be a designer
- I am a designer
- I have no interest
- What do you design?
- Nothing
- Web sites
- Print (flyers, business cards, letterheads etc.)
- Publications (newspapers, magazines)
- Long documents (books, manuals)
- Other (please specify)
- What is your level of design education?
- None
- School/night classes
- College/university
- Postgraduate/Masters/Doctorate
- About your computers (choose all that apply)
- Compact Mac (Black and white)
- 68K Mac (inc. Color Classic)
- Pre-G3 Power Mac
- G3/G4 running Mac OS 8 or 9
- G3/G4/G5 running Mac OS X
- Windows PC
- Linux PC
- Mac running Linux
- SGI/Sun/NeXT or other exotic workstation
About the series
- What aspect of the Low End Designer do you find most
interesting?
- None. It bores me.
- The software reviews
- The hints and tips
- The proposed practical guides to typography, color usage and scanning
- I would like to see moreÖ (choose all that apply)
- Reviews
- Commentary and opinion
- Design criticism
- Practical tips for good design
- Practical tips for getting the most out of older hardware and software
- None. Please stop.
- Please make any comments on the series.
Thanks to everyone who's read the series so far, and particularly to those who've emailed me about it.
Letters sent may be published at our discretion. Email addresses will not be published unless requested. If you prefer that your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
Jason Walsh is a journalist and designer living in Ireland who has worked in design for several newspaper groups, including Mirror Group Newspapers. Walsh was art director at Gorgeous, a women's lifestyle glossy, and the East Belfast Observer, a weekly local paper.
Recent Low End Designer Columns
- The top Mac design applications of 2004, 01.10. What are the best Mac design programs released or updated in 2004?
- Scribus: Free DTP on the Mac, 12.21. "The question is, all other things being equal, is Scribus up to the job of professional DTP? The answer is yes, with a few caveats."
- Preparing for Scribus: Working with X11 and FinkCommander, 12.10. Two free tools that help get *nix software installed and running under OS X.
- ThinkFree Office: Slow, unpolished, yet useful, 12.01. Despite the name, this isn't free software, and it really calls for a higher end Mac, but it does the job.
- More in the Low End Designer index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: PowerBook 190cs, Aug. 1995 - The last 680x0-based PowerBook could take a PowerPC upgrade.
- List of the Day: The iPod List The iPod List is a forum to discuss the iPod, it's accessories, the iTunes Store, iTunes, and related topics.
- August 28 in LEM history: 95: PowerBook Duo 2300 - 00: Gaming on older Power Macs - 01: AppleShare on Linux - From Beebs and Acorns to Macs - 02: Sleep of Death, - Think smarter? - It's the software, stupid - 06: PowerBook 5300 reminiscence - You might be a Mac fanatic if... - Hiding complexity behind elegant simplicity
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- CrossOver Strikes Out, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 08.27. Running Windows apps on a Mac without paying for Windows is great in theory, but actually getting Windows software working is another story.
- MacDrought: 4 Months with No New Macs, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 08.27. The most recent Mac update was over four months ago, and the Mac mini has been unchanged for over a year.
- Resurrecting a Dead Pismo, Spotlight Search Tip, and EasyFind a Good File Finder, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 08.27. Lots of tips on bringing a comatose Pismo back to life, a Spotlight file name search tip, and EasyFind as an alternative to Spotlight.
- Best Intel iMac Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.27. Used 17" 1.83 GHz, $625; 20", $599; 2.16, $749; 24", $950; refurb 20" 2.4, $999; 2.66, $1,299; 24" 2.4, $1,299; 2.8, $1,549; new 3.06, $2,094 after rebate; more.
- Best 15" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.27. Used 1.25 GHz Combo, $600; SuperDrive, $650; 1.33 Combo, $640; 1.5, $680; SD, $725; 1.67, $730; hi-res, $800.
- Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.27. 500 GB Time Capsule, $294; 1 TB, $468; AirPort Extreme Card, $39; 802.11n Base Station, $166; 802.11g AirPort Express, $60; 802.11n, $98.
- Does Running OS X System Maintenance Routines Really Do Any Good?, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 08.26. Mac OS X is designed to run certain maintenance routines daily, weekly, and monthly - but can't if your Mac is off or asleep.
- Purposeful Reincarnation for Old Macs, Phil Herlihy, The Usefulness Equation, 08.26. The key is to avoid spending more on upgrades than the final use of the machine can justify.
- Best Power Mac G5 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.26. Used 1.6 GHz single SuperDrive, C$499; 1.8, $569; dual, $675, 2.0, $800; 2.3, C$899; 2.5, C$1,199; 2.7, $1,225; 2.5 Quad, $1,500.
- Best 17" MacBook Pro Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.26. Used 2.16 GHz Core Duo, $1,330; 2.33 C2D, $1,689; refurb, 2.4, $1,899; new, $2,099; 2.5, $2,558 after rebate; 2.6 Santa Rosa, $2,399 a/r; more.
- Best iPod shuffle Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.26. Refurb 3G 1 GB, $39; new 3G, $45; refurb 2 GB, $59; new, $68.
- Mac OS X Has More Problems than Vista, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 08.25. All it takes is a simple Google search to demonstrate that Mac OS X has more problems than Windows - and way more than Vista.
- 8 Free POP3 Email Options, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 08.25. In recent years, a lot of free POP3 email providers have started charging or left the field. Here are 8 choices you may want to consider.
- iPod touch or Cowon A3: What's a Mac User to Choose?, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 08.25. For Internet access and integration with the Mac, the iPod touch is the way to go. But for media recording and playback, the Cowon has it all over the iPod.
- Upgrading Your Lombard PowerBook G3, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 08.25. Step-by-step instructions for getting inside the Lombard PowerBook to upgrade RAM, replace the hard drive, and swap out the CPU card.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.25. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; 333, $198; blue & white 350, $55; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15.
- Best Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.25. Used 500 MHz DVD, $480; 667 MHz Combo, $500; 867 MHz, $550; 1 GHz, $678; SuperDrive, $900.
- Best Xserve Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 08.25. Used G4, $1,250; G5 from $1,700; new 2.0 4-core Xeon, $1,900; refurb 2.8 GHz, $2,599; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,299; lots more.
- More links in our archive.
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