#hes an adding machine! i also think its fun if he talks via. print outs at least partially

[baalzebufo]

despite everything, I actually think these two work together quite well! combining brians ego with bucks general tomfoolery does make him pretty maniacal in a cartoon villain way though. he's also definitely not productive to the company, lol... spends all his time buying stocks or trying to cheat people at poker

[theonyxpath]

Over a month ago, I was talking about Onyx Path‘s sales venues and things like that. Just kind of getting folks caught up on where they could find our stuff and which projects you could find there.

A different, but similar, thing that I wanted to touch on today is some of the other sorts of projects we have to offer beyond book-shaped things. Specifically, because Mighty Matt McElroy sent me some pics of the proofs for a couple of card projects, I’m going to touch on those today.

(Never mind that I haven’t received my card proof samples yet…sob.)

The Realm illustration by Yiyhoung Li

There are two types of card-based projects that we have been creating. The first, are card games. We don’t do a lot of them, as we need to see a clear connection to whatever TTRPG they are derived from or it’s tough to put effort towards them when there are books to be created.

Right now, we have Justin Achilli’s Prince’s Gambit for Vampire: The Masquerade, which we saw as a fun political machinations game that is waaay shorter than a VTES match. Something to play while waiting for your RPG or LARP session to start up.

And Fetch Quest for Realms of Pugmire, which has shipped to Kickstarter backers, should be available to order and in stores in May, and which we are waiting for the PoD proofs for. This is a cooperative card game set in the wilds around Pugmire that complements the TTRPG.

In fact, we’re looking to have the option for folks to make their own cards via DriveThruCards, so folks can play their TTRPG characters.

You might have noticed that the part of DriveThru that deals with these sorts of things is DriveThru Cards, which is a different Print on Demand company than the one who does our books. Everything still all goes through DTRPG, or OBS as it’s corporately known, but the card guys have their own little differences in how they proof, etc.

We’ve been really happy with the quality of their cards, and that’s one of the reasons we have made both the games, and the second type of card projects we put together: roleplaying aids. These can be the extensive selection of Charm Cards for Exalted 3rd, or Condition Cards for our CofD games, or Trick Cards for Pugmire, and more.

Pugmire also has Spell Cards, and right now we are proofing Spell Cards for the Scarred Lands that can be used for a SL campaign, or worked into any 5e fantasy roleplaying session.

If you’re saying, “Hey, what is this here Scarred Lands you keep going on about, Mr. Rich?“, then you should give a listen to last Friday’s Onyx Pathcast where our terrific trio take a Deep Dive into the Scarred Lands setting, and highlight the things that they think really work. Link below in the Blurbs!.

They do a fantastic job of conveying what they love and are intrigued by in Scarred Lands, which is actually really interesting to me, as a guy who helped create it way back in the crazy d20 Rush days. None of our Trio were around then, so to hear them go over the parts that compel them about our new edition and the first one, is kind of like hearing a whole new generation finding it.

Makes me feel both old and proud, by crackee!

C20 Players Guide illustration by Brian LeBlanc

Finally, to wrap up the Scion Errata situation I touched on the last couple of weeks, Neall, in his non-real-world-job time, was able to assemble and create a list of the corrections that he had made but which hadn’t stuck. We turned that into a downloadable PDF (in both full-color and easy to print versions) for any and all to get ahold of, and input the corrections and the backer credits into the PDF and the upcoming PoD files.

When all was said and done, there is a page of Scion: Origin errata, a page of Scion: Hero errata, a page for a FAQ Neall put together, and ten updated pre-generated character sheets. For perspective, Neall’s original list derived from backer input from all over the internet was well over 300 entries (many of them duplicates) across the two books so the vast majority of the fixes worked – except for a page per book’s worth.

While we wanted all of the errata we painstakingly gathered and collated to have stuck as we intended, and we’ve changed a couple of processes to try and make sure that when a change is made it by-gum sticks, we’re just glad that none of them were so bad that they wrecked the books and made them impossible to read and play.

As Neall noted in a message to the backers, we’re disappointed that the projects aren’t as polished as we intended, and we apologize to all involved for disappointing you too.

We will do better, as we continue to create:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Our next Kickstarter starting in several weeks will be for Pirates of Pugmire!

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Illustration by Charles Bates

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast is our 50th! So please join Dixie, Matthew, and Eddy, as they look at Fun! What is “fun” in gaming? Should games even be defined by the fun they provide? Come hear them answer these and other pressing questions of our time on: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

Here’s last week’s Onyx Path News, in which Matthew talks a little about the conclusion of the Contagion Chronicle Kickstarter and the movements on our schedule: https://youtu.be/UGERLK6nFQc

No Contagion Chronicle actual play this week, as our audio failed! We do however have a wonderful Scarred Lands actual play, run by Matthew for the Red Moon Roleplaying folks. Here’s the link to episode one: https://youtu.be/1xmU0HvT1Bw

If YOU have a podcast, YouTube or Twitch channel, or talk about games on a blog or other website, and want to perform actual plays or make reviews of our games, please reach out to the Gentleman Gamer on the Onyx Path forum. From there we’ll share emails and get you started, so when you do start producing content we’ll be able to promote it on our blog and YouTube channel!

Here’s the Story Told Podcast‘s superb Dragon-Blooded actual play, for all of you who are audio-inclined: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-episode-4

As well as Occultists Anonymous, which ventures into ghost territory with their Mage: The Awakening chronicle: https://youtu.be/_rMd7rda2a0

We’re never not going to promote the superb folks at Devil’s Luck Gaming, with their excellent Scarred Lands actual play: https://www.twitch.tv/DEVILSLUCKGAMING

The Dramatic Failure Podcast ventures into Mage territory over here with a big, big story arc filled with inspirational ideas: https://dramaticfailure.podbean.com/

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING:

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Here’s an update from the App devs:

Onyx Dice!  We’ve recently released the Changeling: The Lost, Trinity Continuum: Aeon dice, and now the Geist dice.  Next up on our radar is: Demon: The Fallen,  Mummy: The Resurrection,  Kindred of the East, Vampire Dark Ages, and Mummy: The Curse.

We have a serious issue on the Pixel and Motorola phones that prevent the user from using the app correctly.  A fix is coming shortly.  A temporary workaround is to minimize the app without shutting it down, and then restore it.

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio 2: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can now order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’ll be offering the Advance PDF of the Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition Players’ Guide!

CONVENTIONS

UK Games Expo: May 31st – June 2nd From the US comes Eddy Webb, Matt McElroy, and Rich Thomas to join with Matthew Dawkins, Steffie de Vann, John Burke, Chris Allen, and Klara Herbol! Gen Con: August 1st – August 4th Save Against Fear: Oct 12-14 GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Redlines

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Threat Guide (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Let The Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Blood Sea: Crimson Abyss for 5e (Scarred Lands)

TC: Aeon Ready Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Development

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Manuscript Approval:

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Editing:

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Post-Editing Development:

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Indexing:

Trinity Core

Trinity Aeon

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff  

Chicago By Night

They Came From Beneath the Sea!

EX3 Lunars

Hunter: The Vigil 2

Contagion Chronicle

VtR Spilled Blood – Hiring artists.

M20 Book of the Fallen

Dark Eras 2 – Getting the rest contracted out.

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Pirates of Pugmire – KS art contracted, sketches and finals coming in.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant – KS art started contracting.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – With Josh.

Shunned By the Moon

Scion Jumpstart

C20 Novel: Cup of Dreams

Proofing

The Realm

Book of Oblivion – Inputting last corrections.

Signs of Sorcery – Dev comments back to layout.

Trinity Core and Aeon Screens – Prepping for printing.

Aeon Aexpansion

At Press

Scion Hero – Shipping to backers, PoD version processing.

Scion Origin – Shipping to backers, PoD version processing.

Scion Dice – Shipping to backers.

Scion Screen – Shipping to backers.

Fetch Quest – Waiting for PoD proofs.

In Media Res – PDF out to backers, gathering errata with new sheet.

Geist 2e – PDF out to backers, gathering errata with new sheet.

Scarred Lands Spell Cards – Waiting forPoD proofs.

Adventures for Curious Cats – Errata.

Tales of Excellent Cats – Errata.

Dragon-Blooded – Deluxe at printer.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – At printer.

C20 Player’s Guide – Advance PDF on sale this Wednesday!

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: 

On this day in 1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans. (And then she got screwed over. I’ll leave the message you may derive from that to you.)

[everettwilkinson]

TRUMP keeps up BLUMENTHAL attacks — NORTH KOREA says no negotiations, will use nukes against U.S. if provoked — SPOTTED: Robert Bennett, Abbe Lowell lunching

Good Tuesday morning. TWO FUN SPOTTEDS to kick off your morning …

— ROBERT BENNETT, who represented Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal, having lunch with ABBE LOWELL, who is representing Jared Kushner in the Russia investigation, at the Greenhouse Restaurant at the Jefferson Hotel Monday.

Story Continued Below

— ROBERT REDFORD enjoying dinner last night at Geronimo in Santa Fe, dishing at length about Trump and the media. The Hollywood legend told his companions that he was glad Trump had galvanized reporters but that CNN-style panel discussions — “they’re just yelling at each other” — were harming public discourse. The star of “All the President’s Men” added that while print publications had held politicians accountable in the past, “film, not print” was necessary in this video-dominated era. He also implied that the president was a slippery target: “He’s like soap.”

BIDEN WATCH — CRAIN’S DETROIT’S CHAD LIVENGOOD (@chadlivengood): “SCOOP: Ex-VP @JoeBiden recorded robo call for @MayorMikeDuggan that went out to Detroit voters tonight ahead of tomorrow’s primary.” http://bit.ly/2hFoIaU

**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/2lQswbh

SHOT: WHAT DONALD TRUMP IS TALKING ABOUT — @realDonaldTrump at 4:48 p.m.: “I think Senator Blumenthal should take a nice long vacation in Vietnam, where he lied about his service, so he can at least say he was there” … at 4:39 p.m.: “How much longer will the failing nytimes, with its big losses and massive unfunded liability (and non-existent sources), remain in business?” … at 4:15 p.m.: “The Fake News Media will not talk about the importance of the United Nations Security Council’s 15-0 vote in favor of sanctions on N. Korea!”

CHASER: LEAD STORY IN WSJ — “North Korea Says It Would Use Nukes Only Against U.S.: Pyongyang threatened it will use its nuclear weapons against U.S. if provoked militarily,” by Ben Otto, Jake Maxwell Watts in Manila and Farnaz Fassihi at the United Nations: “Defying pressure from new United Nations sanctions, North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons against the U.S. if militarily provoked and said it would ‘under no circumstances’ negotiate on its nuclear and missile weapons programs.

“North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on Monday delivered the strongly worded statement to reporters on the sidelines of an Asian regional security conference hours after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vowed to implement the stiffest sanctions yet imposed on the Pyongyang regime. …

“Mr. Ri’s statement rejected assertions by some Security Council members that North Korea’s military programs constituted a global threat and said they were instead a legitimate option for self-defense ‘in the face of a clear and real nuclear threat posed by the U.S.’ If the U.S. attacks North Korea, the country ‘is ready to teach the U.S. a severe lesson with its nuclear strategic force,’ the statement said. Other countries were not being threatened unless they joined the U.S. in a military attack, it said. … ‘The unwise conduct of the U.S. will only speed up its own extinction,’ North Korea said in the statement, adding that the U.S. was getting ‘more frenzied and desperate’ instead of learning to coexist with the country.” http://on.wsj.com/2vAn1l7

— THE ATTACKS AGAINST SEN. DICK BLUMENTHAL — which were spread across nearly 10 hours — seem completely and utterly irrelevant in comparison to North Korea threatening to start a nuclear war with the U.S. … REMEMBER WHEN pundits and operatives were looking to recently installed chief of staff John Kelly to set a new tone at the White House? He may have changed how senior advisers are granted meetings with the commander in chief, but clearly Trump still has control of his Twitter account, which is the single most public facing element of his presidency.

TRUMP’S STRATEGY — “Trump appeals to loyalists as support slips, agenda stalls,” by AP’s Julie Pace and Laurie Kellman: “President Donald Trump is trying to combat new weakness in his Republican base and re-energize his staunchest supporters after months of White House backbiting and legislative failures. White House officials have been urging the president to fire up his efforts on immigration and other agenda items favored by conservatives, evangelicals and working-class whites who propelled him to the Oval Office. The president has increased his media-bashing via Twitter and staged rallies hoping to marshal his base to his defense. On Monday, he lashed out at Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal in multiple tweets after the lawmaker expressed support for a special counsel’s probe of Trump’s associates’ links to Russia.

“The surge underscores Trump’s shaky political position not yet seven months into his presidency. Trump has remained deeply unpopular among Democrats, and there are signs that his support among Republicans may be softening. His advisers are aware that a serious slip in support among his core voters could jeopardize hopes for a major, early legislative accomplishment and would certainly increase Republicans’ worries about his re-election prospects.” http://bit.ly/2wCPiEs

ABOUT THOSE NUMBERS — “Poll: Trump support eroding with his base,” by Henry C. Jackson: “A new poll shows Donald Trump’s support dropping with his strongest supporters as he hits the 200-day mark of his presidency. In a fresh survey from CNN, conducted by the independent research company SSRS, Trump’s ‘strong approval’ among Republicans has dropped from 73 percent in February, shortly after he took office, to 59 percent now. Overall, 83 percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s performance, with 14 percent disapproving.

“Notably, there’s erosion in enthusiasm among important subgroups: Trump’s ‘strong approval’ among whites without a college degree — a group that helped propel him to office — dropped 12 percentage points from February. The poll mirrors other recent surveys in finding Trump’s overall approval rating underwater. It comes after a month of setbacks and turmoil for the White House — including the failure to pass an Obamacare repeal in the Senate and the replacement of Trump’s chief of staff. CNN and SSRS conducted the survey to mark the 200-day point of Trump’s presidency.” http://politi.co/2wp4PZ9

ANNIE KARNI: “Trump bashes the media but still loves good press”: “Media bashing has become one of the organizing principles of Donald Trump’s presidency. But behind the scenes, the Trump machine is eagerly promoting the nuggets of positive press they receive from the very outlets the president seeks to discredit. The White House director of rapid response, Andy Hemming, 31, spends his days immersed in cable television, Twitter, print and online media to suss out positive stories about Trump, which he blasts back out to his list of more than 1,000 influencers — mainly reporters, but also television talking heads — who together craft the overall story of Trump’s presidency.

“There’s nothing new about an administration trying to promote its wins. But in the Trump White House, where Hemming’s job is not to discredit the mainstream media but to celebrate stories the administration likes, it can seem like he is trying to bail out a sinking boat with a teacup. And it’s a role that feels out of sync with Trump’s constant attacks on the press. …

“‘They don’t always get it wrong,’ White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of mainstream news outlets like the New York Times and CNN. ‘But for every one good story we push out, there are probably 150 really bad process stories, or hit pieces, on the administration.’ … [F]or the first few weeks of the administration … Hemming would blast out his carefully curated clips, sometimes multiple times a day, with the goal of driving more positive news coverage. But for weeks, sources inside the White House said, no one informed him that the White House IT system could not handle an email going out such a big list, and that all of his emails were all being blocked by a firewall and reaching an audience of zero readers. That glitch has since been corrected, and the administration thinks Hemming is helping to slowly change the course of the coverage it gets.” http://politi.co/2hFlc0r

****** A message from the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD): If you know only one fact about rising drug costs, know this one: drug makers set prices for prescription drugs. To help manage nearly double-digit price increases, employers, unions and government programs use PBMs to negotiate lower net prices to help curb costs for employers and patients. Learn more at affordableprescriptiondrugs.org ******

BIG CLIMATE NEWS — NYT A1, “Government Report Finds Drastic Impact of Climate Change on U.S.,” by Lisa Friedman: “The average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to a sweeping federal climate change report awaiting approval by the Trump administration. The draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies, which has not yet been made public, concludes that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. It directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited. …

“Scientists say they fear that the Trump administration could change or suppress the report. But those who challenge scientific data on human-caused climate change say they are equally worried that the draft report, as well as the larger National Climate Assessment, will be publicly released.” http://nyti.ms/2uk7bqC … The draft report http://nyti.ms/2vINDQo

WASHINGTON INC. — “Secrecy and Suspicion Surround Trump’s Deregulation Teams,” by NYT’s Danielle Ivory and ProPublica’s Robert Faturechi: “When President Trump ordered federal agencies to form teams to dismantle government regulations, the Transportation Department turned to people with deep industry ties. One appointee had previously lobbied the department on behalf of American Airlines. Another held executive roles for several electric and hybrid car companies regulated by the department. A third was a lawyer who represented United Airlines in regulatory matters.

“The three appointees have been identified by The New York Times and ProPublica in a continuing effort to track members of the deregulation teams. The appointments, previously unreported, follow a pattern identified by the two news organizations: By and large, the Trump administration has stacked the teams with political appointees, some of whom may be reviewing rules their former employers sought to weaken or kill. A full vetting of industry connections has been difficult because some agencies have declined to provide information about the appointees — not even their names.” http://nyti.ms/2wCWPTN

–“Trump’s Stalled Trade Agenda Leaves Industries in the Lurch,” by NYT’s Alan Rappeport: “Donald J. Trump promised Americans that they would be exhausted from ‘winning’ on trade under his presidency. But nearly seven months after Mr. Trump took office, the industries he vowed to protect have become tired of something else: waiting. After beginning his presidency with a bang by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact in January, Mr. Trump has accomplished little else of significance when it comes to reorienting deals with other countries. Instead, his administration has been struggling to work through the complicated rules that dictate international commerce.

“All the while, they are learning that bold campaign promises are hard to keep when many voices advocate different plans. For many businesses that had raised their hopes, frustration is mounting by the day. America’s steelworkers are on edge as they wait for Mr. Trump to fulfill his promise to place tariffs on steel imports. Home builders are desperate for the president to cut a deal with Canada to end a dispute over its softwood lumber exports. And cattle ranchers are longing for a bilateral pact with Japan to ease the flow of beef exports.” http://nyti.ms/2vIr3Y1

FOR YOUR RADAR — “U.S. May Begin Airstrikes Against ISIS in Philippines,” by NBC News’ Courtney Kube: “The Pentagon is considering a plan that allows the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes on ISIS in the Philippines, two defense officials told NBC News. The authority to strike ISIS targets as part of collective self-defense could be granted as part of an official military operation that may be named as early as Tuesday, said the officials. The strikes would likely be conducted by armed drones. If approved, the U.S. military would be able to conduct strikes against ISIS targets in the Philippines that could be a threat to allies in the region, which would include the Philippine forces battling ISIS on the ground in the country’s southern islands.” http://nbcnews.to/2vypyfj

ISAAC DOVERE in the latest ��OFF MESSAGE” podcast: “Thirteen independent candidates who feel they don’t fit in the Republican Party in the age of Donald Trump are joining forces with a few Democrats eyeing runs for governor and Senate in 2018. The plan, this weekend at the Union League in downtown Philadelphia, is to create shared infrastructure and funding for a slate of campaigns around the country, in the hopes of making this more than the latest go-nowhere whining about how awful the two-party system is. ‘If a candidate comes up and says, ‘I’m a Republican, or ‘I’m a Democrat,’ people know within probably 70 percent of where they stand. With an independent, it’s like, ‘OK, tell me about yourself,’’ Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, the only independent governor in the country, told Isaac Dovere for the latest Off Message podcast. “Expected in Philly: Terry Hayes, running for governor in Maine; Greg Orman, expected to run for governor in Kansas; and Evan McMullin, looking at a Senate run in Utah against Orrin Hatch. Walker on climate change: ‘it’s real because we’re seeing it.’ On being concerned about Alaska being hit by North Korea: ‘No one’s hiding under the desk that I know of at this point, but we do have to make sure we have the technology and awareness of what could happen.’ On Sarah Palin: ‘I was looking for results and not just attention.’ On inspiring more young independents: ‘I think they may have seen the path, perhaps that they don’t have to necessarily fit into a particular box.’” http://politi.co/2vhzpnx … Listen to the full podcast http://apple.co/2e2dLvm

— “Sanders ‘litmus test’ alarms Democrats: Bernie Sanders’ single-payer plan sparks fears of primary election challenges,” by Gabe Debenedetti: http://politi.co/2vg8uIo

BIG NEWS FROM JERUSALEM — “NETANYAHU: I WON’T BE TOPPLED, I HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR: Likud planning mass rally in support of Netanyahu … A-G to indict Sara Netanyahu,” by Jerusalem Post’s Gil Hoffman: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected criminal suspicions leveled against him in recent days, amid speculation that his tenure will end soon.

“According to a report on Kan, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, Netanyahu lashed out — in private conversations with Knesset members — at the press, the opposition and members of his own party, whom he accused of conspiring to unseat him. ‘They are trying to get me and attempting to topple the Right,’ Netanyahu told senior officials in his coalition, according to the report. ‘This is not new. They have been trying for many years. I don’t see us going to elections now.’

“Netanyahu mocked reports about his former chief of staff, Ari Harow, who has turned state’s witness against him, and Case 2000, in which he is accused of conspiring to harm one newspaper and help another. ‘It’s not like I am going tomorrow and they are going to replace me,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what they want from me. I have nothing to fear. I don’t think I have a problem.’” http://bit.ly/2vAx6OH

NOT HOW WE REMEMBER IT! — “PM’s Iran speech to Congress left no bad blood, top Democrat says,” by Times of Israel’s Raphael Ahren: “‘All of us together support Israel and there is no residual impact [from Netanyahu’s speech], whether you were pleased or not pleased,’ House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer told reporters at a press conference in Jerusalem.” http://bit.ly/2vfeoeG

THE JUICE …

— WAPO’S RELIABLE SOURCES: “Stephen Miller blasted a reporter as ‘cosmopolitan.’ But he lives in a $1 million CityCenter condo.” http://wapo.st/2hFq8lW

— REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CALIF.) is heading to Iowa for this week’s 2017 Iowa WingDing, the big annual Democratic grassroots fundraiser slated for Aug. 11. California Playbooker Carla Marinucci writes us: “Swalwell’s made multiple trips to the Hawkeye State this year. The chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee has talked with young Iowa voters in his role as a founder of the Democratic Party’s ‘Future Forum,’ an effort to engage Millennial voters around the country. In February, he stared at the ‘Unite, Resist, Reclaim’ event for Iowa Progressive Dems.”

— L.A. TIMES: “‘May you die in pain’: California GOP congressman gets an earful at town hall,” by Phil Wilson in Chico: “‘May you die in pain.’ That was the nastiest moment of Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s early morning town hall in the Northern California town of Chico on Monday. The wish was uttered by an older man who criticized LaMalfa for voting for the House GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. He was also holding a pink sign that read ‘Lackey for the Rich!’” http://lat.ms/2vKmQ76

— @justinhendrix: “Blackwater founder Erik Prince tells @ErinBurnett he met w/ Russian ‘fund manager’ over ‘one beer’ in Seychelles.” http://bit.ly/2ukg03M

TRUMP’S TUESDAY — THE PRESIDENT will attend an opioid briefing with HHS Secretary Tom Price in Bedminster … VP MIKE PENCE is lunching with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) and Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) in D.C.

WHAT LANGLEY IS READING — NYT A1, “Trump Likes When C.I.A. Chief Gets Political, but Officers Are Wary,” by Matt Rosenberg in Aspen: “Sweating under the hot glare of stage lights, Mike Pompeo, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, had reached the limits of his patience with questions about Russian interference in the presidential election. ‘Just look,’ he snapped during the rare public appearance last month at the Aspen Security Forum. ‘This is the 19th time you all have asked.’ It was, in fact, only the fourth question about Russia that evening. But Mr. Pompeo could be excused for snapping: He runs an agency that is certain Russia meddled in the election, yet serves a president who has dismissed the talk of Russian interference as ‘fake news’ and denounced the investigation into it as a witch hunt.

“All C.I.A. directors must balance the political demands of the president they serve with the agency’s avowedly apolitical idea of itself. Yet rarely has a director had to straddle so wide a breach as has Mr. Pompeo, perhaps the most openly political spy chief in a generation — and one of President Trump’s favorite cabinet members.” http://nyti.ms/2veTmN2

ATTN. WEST WING — JASON ZENGERLE in GQ’s September issue, “Who’s Afraid of President Pence?” (online headline: “What If Mike Pence Becomes President?”): “No matter the circumstances of Trump’s exit — whether he leaves early or not — Pence will inherit a hangover. Recall Gerald Ford’s efforts, in the wake of Watergate, to declare that America’s long national nightmare is over.’ Pence might need to do something similar. … [I]f Trump were to resign or be forced from office, Republicans would struggle in the long shadow of scandal and turmoil — and nobody would be more enveloped in it than Pence himself. … Consensus holds that Pence would want to surround himself with new staff — particularly Republican heavyweights, aides and operatives of the stature and pedigree that Trump wasn’t able to lure to the White House. …

“Surprisingly, one high-profile survivor might be Kellyanne Conway, who served on Pence’s gubernatorial campaign as a pollster. At one point she even urged him to run for president in 2016, and later she talked him up to Trump during the veep search. ‘A lot of where Mike is today,’ says the former Pence adviser, ‘he owes to Kellyanne.’ … [F]or all the fears of a coming theocracy under Pence, more sober-minded observers suspect he could be largely hamstrung on sweeping social issues. Indeed, Pence’s religious fervor might, ironically, give him less room to push for some of the conservative policies Trump has enacted.” With cameos from Bill Kristol, Steve Schmidt, Ramesh Ponnuru, Ryan Williams, Rex Elsass, Anita Dunn http://bit.ly/2hEnrB5

— @HallieJackson: “VP Press Secy. responds ‘I don’t talk about hypotheticals’ when asked if Pence would run for POTUS in 2020” http://bit.ly/2hF6mqB

****** A message from the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD): Pharmacy benefit managers negotiate the lowest net price for prescriptions on behalf of employers and other health care purchasers; however, the list price – the important starting point for those negotiations — continues to rise, at a rate of nearly ten percent in 2016 alone. Increased competition, faster reviews of generics and biosimilars and ending anti-competitive practices can also bring down the cost of medications for patients. Learn more at affordableprescriptiondrugs.org ******

GEORGE ORWELL ALERT — “U.S. federal department is censoring use of term ‘climate change’, emails reveal,” by The Guardian’s Oliver Milman: “A series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation, show that the incoming Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change. A missive from Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health, lists terms that should be avoided by staff and those that should replace them. ‘Climate change’ is in the ‘avoid’ category, to be replaced by ‘weather extremes’. Instead of ‘climate change adaption’, staff are asked to use ‘resilience to weather extremes’. The primary cause of human-driven climate change is also targeted, with the term ‘reduce greenhouse gases’ blacklisted in favor of ‘build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency’. Meanwhile, ‘sequester carbon’ is ruled out and replaced by ‘build soil organic matter’”. http://bit.ly/2uBzRL8

WHAT PREET BHARARA IS READING — “The White House Has Pitched a Nominee For Manhattan’s Powerful U.S. Attorney Opening,” by BuzzFeed’s Zoe Tillman: “The White House is considering Geoffrey Berman, an attorney who practices in New Jersey and New York and one of Rudolph Giuliani’s law partners, to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan — one of the most high-profile federal law enforcement jobs in the country. Berman’s name was included as part of a package of proposed candidates for New York judicial and U.S. attorney vacancies sent by the White House in mid-July to New York’s Democratic senators.” http://bzfd.it/2veTKvc

VALLEY TALK — “Google Fires Author of Divisive Memo on Gender Differences,” by Bloomberg’s Mark Bergen and Ellen Huet: “Google has fired an employee who wrote an internal memo blasting the web company’s diversity policies, creating a firestorm across Silicon Valley. James Damore, the Google engineer who wrote the note, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for ‘perpetuating gender stereotypes.’ He said he’s ‘currently exploring all possible legal remedies.’” https://bloom.bg/2ujZuB4

— “The End of Typing: The Next Billion Mobile Users Will Rely on Video and Voice,” by WSJ’s Eric Bellman: “The internet’s global expansion is entering a new phase, and it looks decidedly unlike the last one. Instead of typing searches and emails, a wave of newcomers—‘the next billion,’ the tech industry calls them—is avoiding text, using voice activation and communicating with images. They are a swath of the world’s less-educated, online for the first time thanks to low-end smartphones, cheap data plans and intuitive apps that let them navigate despite poor literacy. Incumbent tech companies are finding they must rethink their products for these newcomers and face local competitors that have been quicker to figure them out.” http://on.wsj.com/2hE84IJ

CONGRATS! PLAYBOOKERS on Town & Country’s “The T&C 50: New Modern Swans — The young women making waves in the age of influence”: Tara Palmeri, Katy Tur, Brianna Keilar, Olivia Nuzzi and Abby Phillip. http://bit.ly/2vzgqr0

TRANSITIONS – OBAMA ALUMNI: Eric Pelofsky has joined Shell’s D.C. office in as director of international government relations. He was most recently a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a special assistant to President Obama at the NSC and is a 16-year government veteran.

— Aaron Davis has started as national political director at J Street. He most recently was director of FEMA’s congressional affairs division.

— NEW AIRBNB HIRES — Kaelan Richards is joining Airbnb as the new U.S. East and Canada public affairs manager, based in San Francisco. Previously, she was senior regional communications director at the Obama White House. Molly Weedn is joining Airbnb as the U.S. West public affairs manager, James Lynch is the company’s new director of executive communications at Airbnb, and Katharine Kendrick is the new international public policy manager.

— @AndrewHClark: “Some news: After 2.5 years, Wednesday will be my last day at @TheIJR. I’ll be joining the team at @ShopFloorNAM as digital comms manager.”

— @APDiploWriter: “Veteran #US diplomat David Satterfield to replace retiring Stu Jones as acting asst secstate for Near East in Sept, per @statedept officials”.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD – Will Ritter, founder of Poolhouse digital ad agency and a Romney 2012 alum, and Kelli Ritter, special assistant to Mitt and Ann Romney, email friends and family: “We’re so excited to announce that our son, Calvin John Ritter, was born [Monday] at 3:41 p.m. He’s 8 pounds, 11 ounces, and perfect. Kelli is happy and healthy; we’re all here at the hospital munching on delivered subs and singing Sturgill Simpson songs together. We’re so excited to be parents and so blessed to have your love and advice during these past nine months. Can’t wait for you to meet Cal.” Instapic http://bit.ly/2woP4S9 … Pic http://bit.ly/2wpiak7

OUT AND ABOUT — Caitlin Legacki celebrated her birthday with Bingo Night at Kingfisher on Monday. The Camp 30 crew, former staffers to Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and many others gathered to celebrate Legacki and shout “BINGO” as loud as possible. SPOTTED: Jen Maclellan, Chris Ortman, Chris Hayden, Kristen Bartoloni, Nu Wexler, Eli Yokley, Justin Vail, Ben Shannon, Megan Hupp, Abbey Watson, Vanessa Ide, Dan Jasnow, Thomas Winslow, Emily Beyer and Jeff Solnet.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Ron Klain, EVP and general counsel at Revolution, is 56. A fun fact about Ron: “The spark that flamed my interest in politics came when I was six years old, and I met Bobby Kennedy when he was campaigning in advance of the 1968 Indiana primary. He filmed a campaign commercial using the backdrop of the small plumbing supply business my Dad owned, and I got to shake RFK’s hand. Decades later, when I worked in the White House, I told advance people: When you pick that site for a Presidential photo op, or ‘real people’ event, you never know whose life you will change. That day in 1968, some advance person absolutely changed mine.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2uC7zjA

BIRTHDAYS: Catharine Cypher, celebrating on a boat with her mom and friends in Michigan, extending her stay at “home,” where she was maid of honor in her best friend’s wedding this weekend (hat tip: Kellyanne Conway) … Sunny Feldman (h/t Vale) … U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is 59 (h/t Jewish Insider) … WaPo’s Jackson Diehl … Virginia Heffernan … Claire Brinberg, senior producer and political editor at ABC’s “World News” with David Muir … Sam Wilson, a lawyer in SF for O’Melveny & Myers … Politico’s Vinay Mehra … Tyler Bowders … Kate Damon … CBS News’ Kylie Atwood is 28 (h/t Jackie Alemany, filing from Nairobi, Kenya, which is holding an election today – Alemany is undergoing hostile environment training in the country) … Emily Rogers, comms manager at Urban Alliance … Kelly Jemison Needham is 29 … Michael Levin, who’s written for Politico Magazine, is 59 … Dee Ertukel … Jonah Seiger … Sara Maldonado … Will Caggiano … Marc Ambinder … Elizabeth Brakebill McAdam … Karen Hancox … James Feinstein … David Bass, president and CEO of Raptor Strategies (h/t Tim Burger) … Josh Sternberg (h/t Journophish) …

… Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group (h/t Jon Haber) … former FEC chairman Michael Toner, partner at Wiley Rein … Hayley Matz Meadvin … Mike Schwartz … Joe Walsh, former deputy assistant secretary of education for state and local engagement at the Department of Education under Arne Duncan, is 51 (h/t Judge James G. Gilbert) … AEI media relations manager Meg Cahill is 25 (h/t Maddie James) … Mike Biundo, co-founder of Right On Strategies … William Cronin … Jonah Seiger … Jeff Chu … Lance Frank, executive director of comms at CBS News (h/t Caitlin Conant) … former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard is 75 … Nuriya Janss … John Lambert … Mike Dankler … Luke Londo … Habib Durrani … Dan Betts … Kristina Dei … Samantha Brady … Mallory Hobson … Fredrick Odol … Michael Burwick … former Sen. John Culver (D-Iowa) is 85 … Karen Hancox … Dee Ertukel … Alison Diminuco … Jay Gersema … Cameron Terry … Xerxes Bhappu (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

****** A message from the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD): The high prices that drug makers set for prescription drugs can put financial strain on patients, employers, unions and others who provide health care coverage to more than 50 percent of Americans. Pharmacy benefit managers negotiate the lowest net price for prescriptions on behalf of employers, unions and government programs. But, as list prices – the starting point for those negotiations — continue their nearly double-digit increases, the effects ripple throughout the system. The key to ensuring greater access and affordability lies in fostering greater competition. Facilitating faster reviews of generics and biosimilars, identifying off-patent drugs with little or no generic competition, and ending anti-competitive practices that keep safe, effective alternatives out of the market are also key to abating rising drug costs for patients. Learn more at affordableprescriptiondrugs.org ******

SUBSCRIBE to the Playbook family: POLITICO Playbook http://politi.co/1M75UbX … New York Playbook http://politi.co/1ON8bqW … Florida Playbook http://politi.co/1OypFe9 … New Jersey Playbook http://politi.co/1HLKltF … Massachusetts Playbook http://politi.co/1Nhtq5v … Illinois Playbook http://politi.co/1N7u5sb … California Playbook http://politi.co/2bLvcPl … Brussels Playbook http://politi.co/1FZeLcw … All our political and policy tipsheets http://politi.co/1M75UbX

Original Source link

from CapitalistHQ.com https://capitalisthq.com/trump-keeps-up-blumenthal-attacks-north-korea-says-no-negotiations-will-use-nukes-against-u-s-if-provoked-spotted-robert-bennett-abbe-lowell-lunching/

[brendagilliam2]

21 top examples of JavaScript

JavaScript creates platforms that can engage a user and ensure that they remember your site and continue to revisit. It can be used to create games, APIs, scrolling abilities and much more.

The internet is full of web design inspiration, including great examples of JavaScript being used to bring a website to life and provide great user experiences. Here we pick some of our favourite examples of JavaScript in action for your inspiration.

01. Histography

Histography is an amazing way to explore 14 billion years of stuff

If you’ve ever watched Cosmos, you may remember Carl Sagan talking about the Cosmic Calendar. If the age of the universe was condensed into one year, recorded human history would fit within the very last seconds of 31 December.

14 billion years of events is a huge dataset, and displaying it in a browser is no easy task. But designer and developer Matan Stauber rose to the challenge – although even he wasn’t sure it would be possible: “I think the main obstacle would have to be proportions,” he explains. “How do you create a timeline when 99.9 per cent of the history we know will have to be condensed into less than one pixel of the screen?” 

The son of a historian, Stauber created Histography as a student at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, under the guidance of Ronel Mor. “If we think about ways people visualise history, timelines are probably the most common one, and yet they haven’t changed a lot since the days of the printed paper,” he says. “I saw that as an exciting design opportunity, especially today with the access to big data sources.”

The site scans and indexes events from Wikipedia, grabs the article, and pulls in a Google image and YouTube video. The data is easily discoverable and a joy to consume. If you’ve ever lost hours exploring Wikipedia articles, set aside plenty of time for this one.

02. Filippo Bello

Adoratorio opted to use CSS3 and Javascript instead of WebGL to give a sense of depth

This online portfolio showcasing the talent of Italian 3D artist Filippo Bello was conceived, designed and developed internally at Adoratorio by Enea Rossi and Alessandro Rigobello. The team were given total freedom in how to design it.

The play with depth throughout the website is very effective – the images move slowly towards the viewer, creating the impression of diving into each project. This is achieved using what is called a segment effect: the background image is replicated in different boxes that move towards the viewer. The team challenged themselves by avoiding the most obvious technologies. “WebGL is not suitable for every kind of user,” says Rossi, art director and co-founder. “So the main challenge of this site was to understand how to deepen the screen using CSS3 and JavaScript code-strings only.” 

The page transitions and the little zoom effects on the images are a nice added touch to the final result, which was – as Rossi describes it – “absolutely beyond our expectations”.

03. The St. Louis Browns

The St. Louis Browns site is styled like a vintage book

For this website about the history of the St. Louis Browns baseball team, digital agency HLK has crafted a very beautiful experience. The site reads like a well-crafted vintage book, complete with chapters and textured typography. Users can scroll through each chapter for a time-based, story-like experience.

Inspiration for the site has been pulled from 1920s manuscripts and advertisements, with many of the images directly from the years they are describing. This brings a uniquely dated feel to a modern, digital space. This is complemented by a grey-and-brown toned colour scheme, accented by a single shade of orange.

Some of my favourite parts of this site are the little details, such as the menu button (circular with a hamburger menu inside) that converts to a baseball on hover. I also love the timeline on the left-hand side, which follows the screen and updates on scroll.

The site is built using Node.js and the Express framework to allow for smooth updating and flow between content.

04. Leg Work Studio

Leg Work Studio’s site uses interactive animations to bring the experience to life

Leg Work does a lot of great work on the web, from graphic design to interaction and media. So it comes as no surprise to find that its own personal site is no exception. The studio’s personality shines through via fun, mixed-media illustrations. It combines vintage photo effects (such as the dot grid pattern) with digitally painted white accents and scans of physical handwriting to create unique art to represent the agency.

However, it is not just the illustrations that make this website notable – the interactive animations really bring it to life. Some of the illustrations themselves are actually videos instead of static visuals, created with After Effects, and website components like the sidebar animate smoothly.

The website is designed with mobile in mind, and mobile interactions are mirrored in the desktop experience, where the user can swipe with the track pad to get through the sections. The website is built using Modernizr to ensure compatibility, and jQuery for interactions.

05. Code Conf

Code Conf’s Nashville-themed site

The site for CodeConf really goes above and beyond the standard conference website. The conference was held in Nashville, Tennessee, and everything about this design pays homage to this location.

The website itself is nicely responsive and has a warm, cohesive colour palette. The whimsical illustrations give the site character and create a playful country-rock aesthetic that continues throughout the page (and even into the event itself).

No details are spared, as even the menu’s decorative horizontal rules (only seen on smaller screen sizes) flow with the country-rock aesthetic. The site implements Google Maps for location features, and is built with jQuery and AngularJS.

Everything is illustrated: all of the venues, the ‘set list’ of speakers, the call to action for buying tickets, and breaks between sections. There is also a fun cast of characters that can be found dotted around the site: vector cacti, unicorns, dragons, octocats, and cowboys and girls playing music and posing playfully around the page.

06. IBM Design

IBM Design’s site is inspired by the physical world as opposed to the digital one

In the past few years, IBM has invested in growing a design programme and steering the company towards a human-centric approach to creating software. It recently came out with the IBM Design Language, which contains an update for its animation vocabulary. It provides design guidance and resources for web developers, all open-sourced on GitHub.

What I love about this animation update (even more than the fact that it’s open sourced) is how the studio looks at IBM’s heritage and the physical world for inspiration, instead of other digital properties. Hayley Hughes, IBM design language lead, says that the team pulled inspiration from machines; in particular their solid planes, physical mass and rigid surfaces.

“From the powerful strike of a printing arm to the smooth slide of a typewriter carriage, each movement was fit for purpose and designed with intent,” she explains. “Our software demands the same attention to detail to make products feel lively and realistic.”

Why is animation so critical to IBM’s Design Language? “Just as a person’s body language helps you read the conversation, animation relays critical information that helps users understand how to navigate and use our products,” Hughes says.

07. Masi Tupungato

Image-led site for Italian wine-making project Masi Tupungato

This wonderful website from international digital creative agency AQuest for Masi Tupungato, a winemaking project based in Italy, almost lets the imagery speak for itself.

Unusually, a loading screen is used for each of the pages as the crisp fullscreen images load up. Usually this would be a big no-no – users want the content as soon as possible. However, here it actually improves the user’s experience by ensuring images are fully loaded before any content is unveiled. The design creates a sense of empathy, leaving users feeling like they’ve been to the winery and picked the grapes themselves.

The site can be on the heavy side on some pages (ranging from 1.2MB up to 5MB in weight), which could be improved by introducing some lazy loading techniques. However, despite its weight, the site is well-built, with the start render in under one second and return visits loading within the second mark too. The framework is based on unsemantic.com, which is a successor to the 960 Grid System.

When viewing the site on desktop and larger viewports, users are able to see and interact with each of the wines separately. They can take advantage of the larger screen size to display all of the wine characteristics and details side- by-side. In contrast, on the mobile site the details and description slide in and can be slid away again smoothly.

08. tota11y

tota11y makes accessibility simpler

Making accessible websites is critically important. However, the techniques and testing involved often seem like they require deep specialisation that can make web developers and designers feel like they’re adrift.

Enter tota11y: a simple tool that can be included as a JavaScript file in a page or, even more simply, used as a bookmarklet on any site. It flags items in the page that run afoul of accessibility guidelines – low visual contrast or missing textual alternatives for images, say.

Wayward elements are flagged visually, making it easy to snap a screen grab and show team members or clients exactly what the issues are, while the expanded explanations coach users on methods to quickly fix the glitches.

Khan Academy‘s website for tota11y is not overtly glamorous, but then, important work isn’t always glitzy. The down-to-business simplicity of the text – both in appearance and in content – belies the complexity of the problem the tool itself aims to alleviate.

09. Know Lupus

The Know Lupus site explores the condition in a fun, informative way

The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) is a national organisation working to solve the mystery of lupus. Viget partnered with the LFA on a pro bono public awareness project to help the general public understand the disease.

“LFA wanted to create a fun yet informative game that would help educate the public in an engaging way, to help overcome that issue,” explains Laura Sweltz, UX designer and project lead. “Our design process focused on accomplishing that goal, while also creating something that people with lupus would actually feel excited about sharing.”

Viget’s solution was a casino-inspired card game built using React, in which each card highlights a fact about lupus. Custom illustrations by designer Blair Culbreth keep the game lighthearted while addressing the serious subject matter. Casino-inspired sound effects weave through the game.

The animations are smooth and snappy, adding another layer of delight to the game. The mobile experience is just as interactive as desktop, and responsive transitions have been fully considered. The end result is a playful experience that makes learning feel effortless.

10. The Boat

The Boat, an online graphic novel

Longform storytelling has been steadily gaining popularity on news and media sites, but broadcasting network SBS‘s The Boat, an online graphic novel based on a story by Nam Le, feels unique in both its style and execution. Sumi ink illustrations, expertly executed animations and a chilling soundscape capture the story of a young Vietnamese refugee’s journey.

To bring the story to life, illustrator Matty Huynh spent six months with Nam Le’s original prose, sketching thumbnails and iteratively creating the characters.

“I think the balance you see comes from this extended period of development,” explains producer Kylie Boltin. “That deep inward-looking period enabled the core team members to know the story inside out. We knew the story beats and we knew which moments needed to be highlighted. The guiding principle was to complement the core storytelling, rather than overpower it or add an element just for the sake of it.”

The graphic panels feel like diary sketches – urgent, imperfect and deeply emotional. This site proves just how powerful and engaging online storytelling can be in the right hands.

11. Run4Tiger

Can you run as much as a tiger? Find out with this site and your running app

Moscow-based Hungry Boys designed this show-stopping campaign site for the World Wildlife Fund Russia to raise public awareness for its Save The Tiger campaign. Why race your friends when you can race a GPS-tracked Amur tiger?

The site lets you sync your running app of choice (it currently supports nine different apps!) and pits you and other runners against the big cat, which averages 20km a day. If the tiger beats you, you donate $5 to WWF.

It’s a great concept, and there’s a great design to go with it. The sharp black and yellow colour palette – uncharacteristically bold for a charity app – conveys the urgency of the Save The Tiger initiative.

Run4Tiger’s creator Ksenia Apresyan says the team definitely had movement in mind when designing: “We wanted to make the website as dynamic as it could be. That’s why we decided to use the most fresh technologies and show our main message, made of dynamic particles, on the main page.”

Next page: 10 more top examples of JavaScript to inspire you…

12. Design Matters

The Design Matters site has a continually colour-shifting gradient background

Design Matters is a radio show launched by Debbie Millman in 2005. Over the years, Millman has interviewed over 200 designers, artists and creatives around the world. These are now housed on a beautifully redesigned site.

The first thing you notice is the morphing gradient background, which is subtle yet unique and mesmerising. The next thing you notice when you jump into an interview page is the enormous play icon overlaying the content.

“From the beginning I knew I wanted to have a giant play button on the screen, and after playing around with the design I settled on a completely transparent button,” says Armin Vit of UnderConsideration, the studio behind the site. “Since the interviews are all about transparency between Debbie and her guests, I enjoyed the visual extension of that.”

Vit used JS layout library Masonry to create a Pinterest-like grid of interview ‘pods’, each of which contains a well thought-out type hierarchy and image. As the audio is housed on SoundCloud, Vit had to figure out how to make the play button trigger a SoundCloud file via its unique ID.

What does Millman think of the site? “Armin took all the myriad must-haves for this site and created one design for me to look at,” she smiles. “I loved it the second I saw it.”

13. Wrap Genius

Food data

NYC-based designer and developer Sam Slover and team set out on a mission to document what he ate for 10 weeks, and created an interesting visual look into his diet.

“We wanted to tell the story of one person trying to figure out how to make his personal food data more meaningful,” says Slover. “So we took the audience on a journey: what does it mean to track your own food data and what insights can come of it?”

The result of his data-gathering is a one-page site that houses a beautiful collection of infographics. “It turns out there was quite a bit of data to design around,” he smiles. “We needed to make hard decisions about which areas to pursue when doing visualisations.”

Along with outlining what food was purchased, the team chose to focus on representing where the food came from, the ingredients, and an awards system where the best and worst foods were rated.

The team used Illustrator to develop the visuals, and Chart.js and D3.js to render some of the charts. While the site’s layout is simple, don’t be fooled – some serious number crunching went on behind the scenes, with the aid of a Node.js and MongoDB stack.

14. The Local Palette

Fuzzco took inspiration from the print version of this publication

The local Palate is the South’s premiere food culture magazine. In redesigning the site, the team at Fuzzco took its cues from the print magazine. “We started with a grid structure similar to the one similar found throughout the magazine,” says Fuzzco founder and creative director Helen rice. “For the typography we took a bold, modern approach and allowed space for large, engrossing photographs to reflect the engaging feeling found in print.” The navigation also mimics the look of the spine of the magazine.

The site’s stunning food photography and striking typography are arranged in a refreshingly simple layout that is a pleasure to view on any device. The recipe grids and full article pages are especially beautiful.

To build the site, the team used the – as they put it – “usual suspects” of jQuery, Sass and Typekit to serve the type. WordPress was selected to give editors flexibility in how the content is presented.

“We set up a system for editors to change the colour of some of the homepage elements to represent the current feature article,” continues rice. “This creates the same effect as a new magazine cover.”

15. Mike Kus

The portfolio of designer Mike Kus presents his stunning work in a refreshingly clean and understated manner

Here designer Mike Kus presents his stunning work in a refreshingly clean and understated manner, in which large images live alongside simple user interface elements. Bold dashes of colour come through from the portfolio items themselves, rather than from unnecessary decorative elements.

“I think of my work as the brand, hence there was no need to add a lot of style to the actual site [or its] UI,” says Kus.

The website is fully responsive and equally easy to navigate on larger and smaller screens. What makes the site such a pleasure to explore, however, is the image selection: each portfolio item uses strong, carefully selected imagery that make you want to see more of the project.

Kus notes that “one of the main issues was making sure the site had the same visual impact across all viewport sizes” – and in our opinion, it certainly does.

16. Multeor

Multeor is written in plain JavaScript using HTML5 Canvas

Multeor is a multiplayer web game developed by Arjen de Vries and Filidor Wiese and designed by Arthur van ‘t Hoog. The idea of the game is to control a meteor crashing into earth. You score points by ensuring you leave the biggest trail of destruction. Up to eight players can connect to a single game simultaneously.

Multeor is written in plain JavaScript using HTML5 Canvas and backed with a Node.js server to manage the communications between the desktop and mobile devices using WebSockets.

Rather than using one of the many game libraries, Wiese built entirely from stratch. “We decided not to use a prefab game engine,” he says, “which means rendering the graphics, detecting collisions, keeping track of entities and coding a particle system for the explosions. Not depending on a specific game engine was great fun: it gave us a lot of creative freedom and we definitely learned a lot because of it.”

17. Here Is Today

Here Is Today required a small amount of JavaScript to put the animation in place

Here is Today was created by designer Luke Twyman. He explains the motive behind the site: “Being fascinated by the scale of time, I wanted to create something that would clearly give people a sense of that vastness, and a feeling of where we sit in relation to all that’s gone before. To do this, two important features on the technical side would be some kind of zooming/scaling mechanic, and also a super clean layout.”

Twyman kept all widths relative to make the site’s message convey equally well on a smaller screen: “From the start I decided to do away with pixel measurements and pt sizes for type, and instead set my own measurement unit based on a fraction of the screen width. I set one unit to be 1/22 of the screen width and positioned and scaled everything using that unit, so the spacious layout would be maintained on different displays.”

It took just a small amount of JavaScript to put the animation in place: “The zoom mechanic is based on a simple tween animation formula, which I’ve used numerous times now, although I’d never used it in JS before. In fact this is only the second thing I’ve built using JS, but I’ve found the transition from other languages I’ve used or tried to be fairly easy, and there’s plenty of great documentation at hand online.”

18. The Trip

The Trip is an interactive film with audio, powered entirely through JavaScript and HTML5

The Trip is an interactive film with audio, powered entirely through HTML5 and JavaScript (with Flash nowhere to be seen). The complexity of the project proved challenging, as developer Otto Nascarella explains. He says, “Most of the difficulties we had during the development process were due to the lack of cross browser/devices consistency of HTML5 new technologies, so it was decided we’d ‘recommend’ Chrome for a better experience on desktops,” he says.

“The JavaScript code uses jQuery for almost everything – even though I flirted with the possibilities of using Zepto – I wrote two plugins for jQuery, [used] TextBlur to animate blur on fonts using text-shadow, that did not get used the end, and also TextDrop, the one that is responsible for the typographic animations.”

19. MapsTD

MapsTD harnesses the power of Google Maps for an immersive gaming experience

MapsTD is a tower defence game, but with a difference. You tell it where your home is, and through the power of Google Maps, it will produce a game in which you’re defending your hometown, with the baddies relentlessly charging past the streets and houses of your neighbourhood.

Creator Duncan Barclay explains how it works. “It’s obviously built using the Google Maps API, with MooTools being used for the other aspects of the UI and as a general-purpose JavaScript library. It uses several bits of functionality provided by Google Maps. As well as the map itself, the biggest part is the route finder API, which is used to work out the paths the enemies follow. Once you’ve picked a start location, it does a lookup to get the latitude and longitude. It then looks for four routes by adding or subtracting a fixed number from that latitude and longitude (to get a point due north, due east, and so on), and uses Google to find a path between the two.”

Creeps

As the game progresses, more enemies (or ‘creeps’ as he has called them) appear on screen. Barclay found himself battling to keep performance high and timings correct: “One of the biggest challenges – one that still isn’t quite right – was the timing. Firstly, if the page isn’t active, most browsers reduce how often they check if timeouts have reached the end, resulting in creeps moving in bursts rather than moving steadily. I ended up fixing that by pausing the game when the tab loses focus. The detection code was taken from David Walsh’s blog and is in the game credits.

“The other problem was that as you progressed, there were too many things happening, which resulted in the game slowing down a lot. The workaround ended up being to use harder creeps rather than more of them, and making the game incrementally more difficult each level after level 50.”

20. Command and Conquer

Command & Conquer is back, and it’s online, thanks to Aditya Ravi Shankar

This is an amazing example of how powerful today’s tools are. Aditya Ravi Shankar has used them to create an online version of classic real-time strategy game Command and Conquer.

Recreating the original 1995 game was a long and painstaking process, says Shankar. “Every little thing took time – things like selecting single units or multiple units; being able to select by drawing the box from left to right or from right to left; making sure the panning was smooth; figuring out a decent fog of war implementation; allowing for building construction, dependencies (the Power Plant is needed for the Refinery, which is needed for the Factory) and building placement (buildings cannot be constructed on top of other buildings); and depth sorting when drawing so units could move behind buildings and trees.”

It’s only when the development tasks are itemised in this way that you realise just how much work went into the project, including some very complicated logic – making it even more impressive that the entire thing could be achieved using only HTML5 and JavaScript.

21. Peanut Gallery

Peanut Gallery is a project from the Google Creative Lab

Peanut Gallery is a project from the Google Creative Lab. Valdean Klump, a producer at the Lab, explains the concept. “The Peanut Gallery is a Chrome experiment that lets users add intertitles to silent film clips by talking to their browser,” he says.

“The technology behind it is Google’s Web Speech API, a JavaScript API that lets developers integrate speech recognition into their web apps.” The project does a good job of demonstrating the Web Speech API, which displays live text updates as it tries to understand a human’s speech.

“One of our favourite features of the API is that text updates in real time while you speak,” Klump continues. “For example, if you say ‘European Union’ slowly, you can watch as the API begins by printing ‘your’ or ‘year’ and then corrects it to ‘European Union’. “Another neat feature (for English speakers only at this point), is punctuation. Say ‘question mark’, ‘exclamation point’, ‘comma’, or ‘period’ and the API will insert the correct punctuation for you,” adds Klump.

These examples of JavaScript were originally published in net magazine.

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