Siurana, Espana
Spain, a lovely country with many faces. The culture is wonderful and the country has such a rich and long history. We visited Spain numerous times the past years, on vacation and to visit family, and next to the beach and sunbathing we like to explore, and see what else Spain has to offer.
What most tourists at the costas don't see, is the beauty of the countryside and the quiet small villages with pittoresque churches and architecture. One of those places, in the Costa Daurada region, is Siurana.
Siurana is a town with a long history. As early as the year 900 the Moors had built a castle on top of the rock. A strategic location, because you can see for miles at the top. Some centuries later, during the Reconquista, the village came into christian hands again, and developed itself through the mediaeval period. Siurana has been well preserved over time and the layout, a lot of the buildings and the streets are still in their mediaeval glory, be it restored. All that time the ruins of the old Moors' castle remained.
Today Siurana is only well known in the world of climbing, as the rocks it sits on are popular in the climbing world. They go very steep and make this village even more impressive. Also, the road to the village is breathtaking with views of rocks and mountains, and the big curly reservoir below.
We have great memories of this little village, so beautiful, peaceful and calm. A must visit location if you are ever in the neighbourhood. More photos in the 'travel' section.
2010 must-read starters
Happy new year and best wishes for 2010. And it'll be a promising year!
Here some topics you might have already heard of or read about on the web if you're into webdesign, development and all else that is front-end. If you haven't then it's reading time for you, because these topics really picked up speed in 2009, and I hope to hear and see more about them this year. So these things need word of mouth.
Scrollbars....hmmmmmmmm:
More and more I read blog post and articles referring to conventions we disliked in the past, but are currently turning around, or get more consensus. It does also come together with changing technologies like screen resolutions, internet connection speeds , etc. (ah..... progress) but it just feels like we're really getting into the next phase of the development of the web. Scrolling for instance, it was very important not to too far beyond the screen bottom with your important content, concentrate your important content above the 'fold', but no more: "It's ok to scroll"
- http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200912/dont_fear_the_fold_people_do_scroll/
- http://www.thereisnopagefold.com/
Bye bye IE6:
IE6 is out. Every day more people denounce it officially: "Bye bye IE6"! Now, visitors using IE6 get custom I-do-not-support-IE6 pages, messages blocks or only get to view the site in minimal boring visual style with barron IE6 css stylesheets. It got picked up by the big sites as well. It's a revolt! And I'm glad it's here.
Type:
Typography gets bigger and bigger. It seems you need a type of text replacement thingy on a website now. There are several ways, each with it's own pros and cons. As always, embrace it, use it wel but use it wisely and sparsely!
24 new ways:
And as allways at the end of the year, the excellent 24ways! Enough to catch up on.
Hubble got fixed
The Hubble telescope has been revolving our little globe for the last nineteen years already, and has given us the most beautiful imagery from deep space. Every time a new set of photos is released, I can only gasp at them. True, they are somewhat color manipulated or "enhanced" if you will, but nonetheless they amaze me. It's such a wakeup call, telling us how small we actually are here on this green 'n blue dot. For something out there we are the equivalent of what for instance a molecule is for us. It sobers me up everytime. Currently, Hubble has some new and improved camera's that will give us even more detailed and beautifull imagery from the deep black. See some of them below.
Earlier this year I read there's a place on Earth -somewhere around the South Pole- where it is that dark and remote that with a less powerfull telescope equal quality images (or even better) could be made. Maybe that made the Hubble people upgrade. :) I have to see it first though. The cold don there could really mess things up imho. Untill that time, just enjoy these shots from Hubble.
More photos and images can off course be found on the Hubble website.
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