This week in web design & development podcasts

Or as a like to call it: podcasts that have caught my eye in the past week or so. And they differ in several ways, so there’s sure to be something for everybody. Take your pick:

The Wayward Irregular

Confession: It took me a while to realize that this podcast is actually the previously-named You Suck at Web Design, relaunched as a new brand with a new site design. This show isn’t so much a bag of tricks on web design as it is a quirky, personal storybook told by Matthew D. Jordan, but still a must-listen.

5 by 5

This is not just one but seven shows tackling different topics, from photography to Ruby programming, founded just last year by Dan Benjamin. I love the idea of a whole network of shows about the internet, on the internet, and here we have a whole suite for people who make websites. I can think of few things better than that. More networks and more topics, perhaps?

CSSquirrel

In light of the “circuses” happening in both the Hollywood late night talk show circuit and the web working groups, standardista slash comic strip creator Kyle Weems aka CSSquirrel announced this:

I am in the process of devising a “late night” talk show that the Squirrel will host, featuring interviews with cartoon representations of various web designers/developers/standardistas. It’ll draw from the mighty traditions of the Tonight Show, The Daily Show and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, and in theory will be a plug-in free experience brought to you in part by HTML5, JavaScript and vector tree-climbing rodents.

Check out the podcast over at SitePoint, titled HTML5 is a beautiful mess:

The podcast touches on that matter, and spins out to the state of the actual implementation of HTML5 itself, whether there’s a challenge in getting designers and developers to start using it, the issues of accessibility in <canvas>, and how delightful it’d be to move past plugins.

Truthfully, I’m trying to avoid getting caught in the sticky details of how HTML5 is developing at the moment because it only adds to the anxiety (isn’t stressing over Internet Explorer enough?) and diminishes hope (we’re supposed to be moving forward with these technologies already). But it also helps to stay realistic not just idealistic, and drawing back the curtain on how the working groups are actually working on the HTML5 standard is a good way to do that.

Unmatched Style’s video podcast: the next step for inspiration galleries?

Unmatched Style, which is one of the better CSS galleries out there, has posted its first video podcast discussing several notable websites featured in their showcase within 10 minutes. You can watch the episode below:

Unmatchedstyle.com Video Podcast #1 from Gene Crawford on Vimeo.

Let’s see what is happening here. The video podcast is a good solution to explaining why a certain website made it into the UMS gallery. Gene and Jay discuss what they like—and don’t like—about it as the site is being displayed, which seems more convenient than having to visit the site and then switch over to an article pointing out the nice design bits here and there.

I say seems because of course, actually visiting and interacting with the site trumps watching videos and viewing thumbnails any day.

Still, I think it’s a solid way to innovate and add value in this already saturated market of CSS galleries. This is almost the opposite of going niche, because what UMS has been doing is being more than just a trend-imitating, money-making gallery but a definitive resource. Something that isn’t just a CSS gallery anymore.

I think we need both, any, and all sources of inspiration, though. CSS galleries are usually just a collection of screencaps that become attractive depending on their content, but we need as much inspiration as we can get our hands on. Sometimes we’re looking for that specific site type; that’s where niche galleries come in. And then we need opinions from other people to help point out what we may have missed.

I’m looking forward to another ten minutes of UMS’s next video podcast, and curious as to how else one can improve the quality of these “inspirational” sites.