1. Content is king; a pretty design does not a blog make.
2. Clutter (i.e., extra stuff) can be cool, but is hard to keep moving.
3. Whitespace is under-appreciated but often misunderstood.
4. Take a cue from car companies and carry throughout a design thread.
5. Unless you are Middle Eastern, entries belong on the left (think language).
6. Minimalism is not synonymous with ‘plain.’
7. You may go single for a while, but you always come back to sidebars.

However, please keep in mind that these opinions are subject to change at a moment’s notice. As Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes once said (emphasis added), “Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads. I pragmatically turn my whims into principles.”

For the record books, the current layout started as Simpla and was ported to Sandbox. From there I added special classes that correspond with categories in WordPress in order to create the tumble-hybrid look. I also intensified the colors slightly and tweaked a few features (hid this, added that, etc.). I will continue to make small updates over the coming days, but if you see anything amiss feel free to let me know. Also, if you have any “logo” ideas please pass them along. I think it is time for Transformatum to get a little more brand identity.

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons. HT: Tim

One of the criticisms of the Palm Foleo was that it had a price point of $600 ($500 after rebates for early adopters) in a market where $400 to $600 laptop computers are a dime a dozen. Sure, you are giving up on size, but gaining in processing power and storage capacity. “There was nothing innovative [enough] about the Foleo” was another complaint, although similarly sized PC’s have previously sold for more than double or triple the cost. Enter the Asus Eee PC; offspring of the one-laptop per child project; affordably priced at $249.

Have you looked at what they are asking for desktop PC’s lately? Even Macs have come way down in price with the introduction of the Mac Mini. You can now get a home computer with a blazingly fast processor, beau coups of memory and all the bells and whistles for less than $600. However, try to get those same specs in a laptop and you are talking $1,000 minimum, if not more like $1,700 to $2,500 for the wider screened editions (sadly, this is the range I paid for a Win98 Compaq desktop in 1995 and my current WinXP box that I have had since 2003).

There will always be exceptions — mobile professionals running resource intensive applications, hardcore gamers, the space conscious, etc. — but when I travel for both business and pleasure I end up using two, sometimes three, features on my IBM ThinkPad: email, web browsing and the working on the occasional office document (spreadsheet/text). Each one of these tasks can be easily handled by a modestly sized and moderately priced mobile companion. I also believe that there are many people in the marketplace who fall into this same category.

It may seem like a stupid idea to go out and buy a mobile companion that can do less for a slightly lower price than many Windows laptops, but when you factor in the size, simplicity, short boot-up times, savings and (most importantly) intended usage; it makes spending $2200 on an “entertainment laptop” look like buying a dump truck when all you really need is a small pickup to get the job done. In fact, you might even find yourself waiting less and less to use that powerful desktop back at the home or office.

Part II will explore some of the practical considerations of owning a mobile companion relative to smartphones, mobile computing and changing lifestyles.