Paul Jacobson

Category: Design

  • A new, open source font designed for aircraft cockpit screens

    A new, open source font designed for aircraft cockpit screens

    I get a kick out of stuff like this: In 2010, Airbus initiated a research collaboration with ENAC and Université de Toulouse III on a prospective study to define and validate an “Aeronautical Font”: the challenge was to improve the display of information on the cockpit screens, in particular in terms of legibility and comfort…

  • Watch this if you’re still on the fence about the new WordPress Editor (aka Gutenberg)

    If you’re still unsure about the new WordPress Editor (aka Gutenberg), it’s worth watching Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word keynote at the recent WordCamp US 2018 event in Nashville. You can find links to parts of the talk, along with slides, and commentary in Matt’s post, here: I’ve been using the new Editor almost…

  • I like the new Twenty Nineteen theme, but …

    I like the new Twenty Nineteen theme, but …

    WordPress 5.0 has been released, and with it the new default theme, Twenty Nineteen. I like the theme, except it doesn’t support a sidebar, and all my widgets look like they’re really packed in there when I test my site with the theme. I’d love to have a theme that’s pretty close to this one,…

  • Colourful computer history

    I love James Ball’s colourful photographic history of computers. These machines are grossly under-powered compared to the devices we use today. Still, they’re a wonderful reminder of how far we’ve come, and what lies ahead for us in technological terms. This Telefunken RA770 (circa 1970) is one of my favourites: Via The Stylish & Colorful…

  • Scientific papers shouldn’t be published as PDFs

    I enjoyed James Somers’ article in the Atlantic titled “The Scientific Paper Is Obsolete” about how the standard format for scientific papers, namely PDF, is no longer the appropriate format for such data-intensive work. This is, of course, the whole problem of scientific communication in a nutshell: Scientific results today are as often as not…

  • The Explainer

    A big part of my role as a Happiness Engineer at Automattic is explaining stuff to our users. I have a knack for it, particularly when it comes to email support. I commented to some colleagues today that I should change my job title to “Explainer” (we can basically choose our job titles at Automattic).…

  • ISS Expedition Posters Are Gifts For Geeks

    If you consider yourself a geek, especially a space and sci-fi geek, you have to take a look at this collection of ISS Expedition Posters. They are awesome

  • The rat race and our search for Happiness

    Steve Cutts’ video titled “Happiness” is disturbingly accurate portrayal of so many aspects of our daily lives. When I watch this video, I can’t help but wonder why we buy into all these promises of happiness, and chase them so relentlessly?