Now, instead of the web address being in all black like you might have grown accustomed to over the past 10 years, the powers that be have decided it would be better to color all of the URL gray (except for the primary domain name, which still appears in black).

I can see how this could be helpful to the ignorant masses who get scammed by phishing emails, but I’m a relatively intelligent internet user, and I have been browsing the net long enough to know what the primary domain name is in the URL without needing to have it colored different.

If you are like me and wish to set the address bar colors back to the way they used to be in prior versions of Firefox, simply follow these easy steps:

1. In your Firefox address bar, type “about:config” (sans quotes), and press enter.
2. In the filter search box, enter “browser.urlbar.formatting.enabled“
3. Right-click on the “browser.urlbar.formatting.enabled” line item in the listing and select “Toggle” to switch it to false

Over the years, there have been a number of companies/organizations that have tackled this problem, and recently a couple of solutions have bubbled to the top in popularity. OpenID, Google Friend Connect, MySpaceID, and even the Twitter Login API have all been used as “universal login” methods which can be integrated with a web site.

None of these solutions, however, have even come close to the adoption rate boasted by the Facebook Authentication system. Practically everyone has a Facebook account these days, regardless of age, gender, education level, location, favorite web browser, email address, or internet provider! Facebook embraced this fact and built a nicely packaged authentication system which enables developers to integrate Facebook Authentication into pretty much any app or web site they can imagine. You can now find the Facebook universal login method in everything from iphone apps and desktop applications, to normal run-of-the-mill web sites.

This brings me to my point: Potential Security Risks

While logging into my Facebook account via all the different web sites and various applications which I use on a daily basis, I became acutely aware of a glaring security risk with the Facebook Authentication system. Basically, the way how Facebook instills a sense of security is via a recognizable blue bar which has a gray bar and diagonal stripes underneath it. This familiar imagery is displayed whenever you are asked to provide your Facebook login information. The idea that is consequently trained and reinforced in end-users’ minds is that the familiar imagery represents a genuine Facebook login screen. As such, if you are being asked for your Facebook information in a login popup, but the unique blue and gray bar is missing, you would immediately suspect that something was wrong.

Notice, however, that the Facebook URL is nowhere to be seen in the login popup. There is literally no easy way to verify where the contents of the login form are actually going. This is especially true in the countless iphone applications and computer programs which are making use of the Facebook Authentication system. A rogue developer could easily create a form which displayed the blue and gray bar, but that actually transmitted the login information somewhere else entirely (such as a database on their own server) before it sent the information to Facebook.

The exact same thing could be easily accomplished by any semi-competent web developer with 15 minutes worth of spare time. All they would have to do is make a mock-up copy of the legitimate Facebook login popup, but have it submit somewhere else entirely. The end user wouldn’t know the difference.

In summary: Facebook’s way of instilling a *false* sense of security via their blue/gray bar is totally flawed and easily exploited. They need to come up with some sort of method which enables end-users to verify the form’s authenticity before they enter their login information.

This whole site started 10 years ago today, with the first post being made to a simple little HTML file that I uploaded to my server. Initially, it was a simple little page that linked to interesting web sites, and then grew into a massive collection of thoughts, design inspiration, and articles.

Click here to see screenshots of what BrainFuel looked like over the years.

Some stats! There have been 3,121 posts in 17 categories over 10 years. More than 15,081 comments!

Yes, BrainFuel has been less of a priority for me personally in the last few years, as I’ve focused on business with Tornado, with working on a startup (it’s going to launch!), and getting married, and now expecting a baby in July.

I’d like to personally thank the people that have made this site what it is. Without you, BrainFuel would have been less-interesting, and probably gone offline. Special thanks to Kent Downer for contributing interesting posts, and for heading up the recent BrainFuel redesign. Thanks to Tom Chapin for interesting posts. Thanks to Ben Wood for his interesting posts and for managing multiple iterations of the site and for coming up with the name BrainFuel. There are also several others who have contributed posts over the years. Thank you!

I’ve had the opportunity to meet many very interesting people as a result of this site, and made friendships I treasure.

So, here’s to another decade of BrainFuel! Thanks for being a reader!

Mundane task, done in less time, equals a happy designer.

Hat tip: Josh Pigford.

What is Ketchup Week? It’s one week where you can “catch up” on all of the projects you’ve been putting aside. It’s the one week when all of your customers are on vacation, and when the phone rarely rings. It is the one week when the office is quiet and distraction free.

So take the mantle, er, the ketchup and get to work on those personal dreams. Start a new business, or make a craft, or just spend time away from the mundane. Have a great Ketchup Week, everyone!

You can follow Ketchup Week on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook.

Here’s how Brian describes it: “You put your grandfather IN the grandfather clock!”

The entire site is made with Flash and besides the great product photography, they have some great background textures. And most of the textures are fabrics like those from Converse shoes.

Many of the products have hand drawn illustrations for a backdrop. It works surprisingly well and fits the theme of the site.

As you know, BrainFuel has been publishing since 2001 and our desire is to share the best of web design. With tips, tricks, and profiles of cool sites we see in the wild. A new feature will be a monthly interview with a designer.

Thanks for being a reader and be sure to grab our RSS feed, or follow us on Twitter!

BrainFuel is a production of Tornado in Phoenix, AZ. We’re also the makers of Minuteglass.

Now, we’re going to focus exclusively on design and start a new column interviewing designers we respect in the industry.

BrainFuel from July 15, 2005 through October 21, 2009

This iteration of BrainFuel was designed by myself and Andrew Smith. It has lasted quite a while and been really great. But it is time to move on.

Before then we had crazy headers

I can’t locate the previous design except I have located a whole lot of crazy header images we made. You can see all of them here.

Awesome old logo we used at one point, and still use for our favicon

This was an earlier logo we used here on BrainFuel.

Back when we were on Blogger, before they got bought by Google

Ben Wood was responsible for this design, which we hosted on Blogger. There was one day when Blogger accidentally charged our credit card twice and we called Ev up and sorted it out.

2003: Moveable Type! We used this way before WordPress was released

Another design by Ben Wood

Very first version in 2001

The very first version of BrainFuel was called “Cool Sites” and was hosted as a subdomain. After that we moved it to BrainFuel.tv (Ben Wood came up with the name).

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for any length of time you have probably noticed that we’ve slowed down a little bit — that’s because we’ve been working on our startup, Minuteglass (now in beta).

Stay tuned as we launch the new site later today!

In addition to the new design, we are also launching a monthly column where we interview designers. This will be a monthly column. We’ve hired a Phoenix wordsmith named Joey Robert Parks to do these interviews and we’re extremely excited about the line up.

• Todd McQueen — October
• Eric Jordan — November
• Mark Dudlik — December

We’re excited about the line up and can’t wait to launch the new BrainFuel! Stay tuned!

But I looked at a lot of sites before I came across any that were better than just average as far as design goes. Is it because it’s easier to put up a band page on MySpace instead of pushing design boundaries?

Where are the innovative site designs bands used to have? Drop me a comment link to any nice band website design you’ve seen recently.

Here are some nice ones I have found so far:

• theshins.com
• deathcabforcutie.com
• sleepingatlast.com
• camera-obscura.net
• interpolnyc.com
• theyoungknives.com
• decemberists.com
• coldplay.com
• elbow.co.uk

“The Little Street” Palette

Sampled from The Little Street, by Vermeer

“Harvest” Palette

Sampled from Harvest by Van Gogh

Searching Google images for Monet, Vermeer, Van Gogh, or Renoir will get you started.

Once you find an image you want to use, here’s a quick Photoshop tip to easily sample colors from the image:

1. Open the image in Photoshop
2. From the top menu, select Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic
3. Enter a Cell Size. The larger the number, the fewer colors in the sample.
(I like to use 10 or 20 because it isolates the general colors, yet gives you a lot to sample from.)
4. Click OK, and you’re ready to sample.

When it seems like your startup effort is resulting in futility, I would advise watching the videos listed below. Take a minute to wipe away the tears and see what some successful founders have to say. They’ll help you get the wind back in your sail. Just a warning, these guys all like to use “adult” language for some reason, so be warned.

Gary Vaynerchuck At Web 2.0 Expo

*NSFW language warning (my personal favorite)

David Heinemeier Hansson

*NSFW language warning

Ominisio Video Link

Jason Fried At Web 2.0 Expo

*NSFW language warning

Evan Williams

We’ve just upgraded to the latest version of WordPress to make this effort easier. We’d like to continue the caption contests but find a way to ensure they don’t take focus away from the focus of this blog (design, business, and the web), move the links to the right sidebar, and keep the general green / space theme.

So what do you like best about BrainFuel and what would you like to see more of?

1. Get Back Up – Nick Vujicic (via)

2. Leslie Lemke – ABC’s That’s Incredible 1981

World Wildlife Foundation | “Light Bulb”

[link]

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a software developer (.Net, C#, PHP) and an entrepreneur. I am in the process of bootstrapping a web-based startup by night, and I work for a large software consultancy by day.

In future posts, I hope to bring a little programming geekyness to Brainfuel as well as some of my chronicles in bootstrapping a software company. I also hope to add to the interesting and fun dynamic here at Brainfuel and I would like to thank Chris for including me in this community. See you in future posts.

Found on designverb.

You can watch the video of the talk on Tomas’ site and see his slides below. Definitely one of the best presentations I have seen in a long time.

His ideas:

1. Selling Carbon Offsets
2. Green Dry Cleaning
3. Rainwater Harvesting Systems
4. Biodiesel Brewers and Biodiesel Transportation
5. Green Home Builder
6. Green Business Consulting
7. Green Landscaping
8. Electric Scooters and Electric Bicycles
9. Paperless Services
10. Green Remodeling and Demolition

1. Thou shalt not abuse Flash.
2. Thou shalt not hide content.
3. Thou shalt not clutter.
4. Thou shalt not overuse glassy reflections.
5. Thou shalt not name your Web 2.0 company with an unnecessary surplus or dearth of vowels.
6. Thou shalt worship at the altar of typography.
7. Thou shalt create immersive experiences.
8. Thou shalt be social.
9. Thou shalt embrace proven technologies.
10. Thou shalt make content king.

The article also has a slideshow called “best and worst of the web” which is an interesting watch.

As a fan of typography, I think these are great! I usually don’t get excited about office supplies, but it is more of a surprise to see this type of stuff coming from Staples.

http://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/developing_an_accessible_slider/

Also, here is another good link: 60 More AJAX- and Javascript Solutions For Professional Coding.

But not just ANY good band name. It needs to be funny and catchy. It should be paradoxical or ironic. A “first album” title is optional.

Examples:
Mark Keytool & the Design Premiums (Photoshop nerds should “get it”)
The Amish Truckers (First album could be “Horsepower” — via Kent)
Union Contracts (First album could be “1,000 Lbs of Paperwork” — via Kathy)
Wayne Wheat and the Flax Seeds (via Jeremy)

I saw this going on at Twemes.com. You can participate in this Twitter meme by including “#GoodBandName” in your update. If you don’t feel like following the latest Twitter trend, leave a comment here instead!