let me count the ways…
This article from Smashing Magazine is absolutely brilliant. It talks about layout and rules in different disciplines that can be applied into designing web pages. These being the rule of thirds and the golden ration. There is some extremely compelling writing and examples included also. Images for eye candy and preview, hit the link to go to the actual article.
The Golden Ratio
The rule of thirds
Just got a beta invite for something (firefly) that I think is making the “social networking” boundary blur terrifically. It’s basically a nice little app that adds chat functionality to your site. Check down in hte first column widget pane to have a go. Very nice.
One of the things that I’ve found useful in a content matrix that I’ve been writing is using a character limit guide to see on a page at different font sizes the relative space a certain amount of text takes up. So I thought I would post it up in the manner my blog is accustomed to - ie. Other than anything else it is a repository of useful stuff and my own personal log book that is open to all under Creative Commons.
6 words / 30 Characters with spaces
On the other hand, enjoy life.
9 words / 40 Characters with spaces
On the other one, enjoy life and love it
10 words / 50 Characters with spaces
On the other one, enjoy life and prosper every day
10 words / 70 Characters with spaces
On the other hand, we thoroughly denounce with righteous indignation.
30 words / 172 Characters with spaces
On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire.
50 words / 281 Characters with spaces
On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who?
100 words / 459 Characters with spaces
On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammeled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what?
200 words / 1162 Characters with spaces
On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammeled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains.
I'm an Information Architect working in Wellington New Zealand who deals a lot with web standards, conventions and best practice every day. This is the place where I place findings, musings and facts as a repository for myself and anyone else who might benefit. 
