Recruit Javascript

我们认为最优秀的产品一定是最完美的UI设计 + 前端代码的实现。我们现在有了最棒的UI设计，还差你来让我们的团队完整。

我们希望你能认同：

1. 用户体验是一个伟大产品的核心和最有效竞争力。
2. 创业公司文化：激情、奋斗、分享
3. 公司小而精，做的事情伟大
4. 我们的产品可以改变用户的听音乐的习惯

我们希望你是一个：

1. 对细节的孜孜以求的完美主义者，包括代码书写、字体用法、图片的加载等
2. 对前端技术总是有各种深入研究，为了动态效果或者为了页面执行效率可以尝试各种方法
3. 经常去Github, Google Code, Sourceforge分享自己或者别人的代码，给开源项目打patch
4. 对前端技术JavaScript/HTML5/CSS3都精通
5. 不仅仅是一个Coder，你也是用户也是产品

你将会在这样的环境下工作：

1. 开放、年轻、富有激情的办公环境
2. 你不用操心晚饭、下午茶，这些都有我们的HR同学来保证
3. 你会与天才产品一起来把面子撑起来
4. 你有坚强的后台团队给你保证舒适的API
5. 你有一群对新技术狂热的同学和你一起讨论
6. 你还有一群对音乐痴迷的同学跟你分享音乐

工作描述和要求

1. 精通JavaScript语言，并且仔细研究过至少一种开源框架（JQuery, Prototype, MooTools等）
2. 能够开发相关的独立插件，能够开发通用类库和JavaScript框架编写
3. 精通AJAX以及json, jsonp的前端数据编程
4. 精通/熟悉前端执行效率，Web前端优化
5. 精通HTML/CSS切图和各种浏览器兼容性hack
6. 进行丰富互联网的Web开发，致力于通过技术改善用户体验

有意的同学请推荐和自荐，我的邮箱是 chenillen [at] gmail.com。

New UI of Allen Chan's Blog

之前貌似看到过，没有太注意Twitter Bootstrap，博客的UI也已经用了2年了，是该换换新样子了，于是选用了Bootstrap的样式，基本没有调整任何原始的东西。直接用。看起来挺清新的，简单的。

补充一句，还是继续不支持IE6的。放弃IE6活动一定要支持到底

得放一张之前的作为纪念和对比：

2009 UI of Allen Chan's blog

现在，互联网公司里开始重视产品经理了，这是一个好事。以前互联网谈融资，谈商业模式，谈战略，很少有谈产品的，因为产品可以从国外抄，谁下手快谁就能获得先发优势。现在，互联网里的资本已经不成问题，抄袭速度都一样快了。这个时候，互联网比拼的就是谁能更好的理解用户需求，比谁能做出比别人更好的产品。此时，产品经理的作用至关重要。

那么，怎样才能成为一个优秀的产品经理？或者说，一个优秀的产品经理需要具备哪些素质？

一个产品没做好，原因可能很多，比如说功能做得太多，或者定位不清楚。这些原因都容易看出来，给产品经理指出来。但是，原因背后的原因如果找不到，产品经理就会犯同样的错误，那也意味着根本不会成为一个优秀的产品经理。

从我个人的经历来看，要成为一个优秀的产品经理，必须在心里要有一个“大我”和一个“小我”，可能你要经历这两个过程的磨练，才能找到原因背后的原因。

什么是“大我”？我的意思是，一个产品经理要把自己当成CEO。在《兄弟连》里面的连长的绰号就是CEO。产品经理要对一个产品负责，虽然挂的是经理的头衔，但行驶的是总经理的职责。因为要对产品负责，产品经理还要经常去协调很多部门，要去推动很多不归他管的人和事，比如要跟设计打交道，要跟技术打交道，要跟测试打交道，还要去了解用户的想法，还要去跟市场谈支持。产品经理要操的心，一点也不比一个总经理少。所以，我说一个优秀的产品经理首先要把自己当成一个CEO，既要负责执行、推动（Executive），也要负责用户体验（Experience）。可能别人不拿你当回事，但你自己心里的有一个“大我”。你对一个产品负责，你的title不重要，但是你一定要把这个责任担负起来。

所以，优秀的产品经理不必在意今天管了多少人，不必在意自己的头衔是高是低，关键最是你能不能利用公司里的资源，不管采用什么手段，最后做出来一个好产品。上亿的用户选择使用你做出来的产品，就是对产品经理最大的认可。在其他相同的条件下，你做的产品有上亿用户用，他做的产品只有几百万人用，那么你就比他要优秀。

可能你会说，我是想做一个优秀的产品经理，但我太年轻，没什么资历。我觉得，产品经理要非常自信，你要有这种气势。如果没有这种自信和雄心，我建议你也别干产品经理了。十多年前，我在方正集团，只是一个很不起眼的产品经理，别人都说：“周鸿祎这个人怎么看起来成天牛哄哄的，整天胸怀世界，天天跟老板似的？”他们说得没错，那个时候我觉得我就是老板，是我自己的老板。

一个优秀的产品经理心中有“大我”，但同时还得不断地“小我”，甚至要“忘我”。这就是说，产品经理要忘掉自己。根据我的经验，产品经理最容易犯的几个错误，包括今天我都还在犯，就是产品做着做着，就不是给用户做产品，而是给自己做产品，给同事做产品，给领导做产品了。

所以，产品经理心中要做到“小我”，甚至“忘我”，就是产品经理必须身临其境，把自己当成一个典型用户，让自己精神分裂，这样才能体会用户心中真正的想法和需求。

举一个例子。我是技术出身，做了这么多年的客户端软件，我相信任何客户端软件到我手里，解构起来都不是难事。但是，我可以告诉大家，360的产品到我手里来用就会出问题。为什么？因为我只要一用产品，我马上就会变成另外一个“周鸿祎”，一个对电脑一窍不通、非常急躁、乱敲键盘的“周鸿祎”，这样一搞，很多程序没走几步就死机了。

有的人可能会笑，但我告诉你，用户就是这么急躁，就是这么没有耐心，就是这么乱敲乱点。用户用你的产品，是为了完成任务的，不是为了了解背后复杂的技术的。而且，他有意见也不会向你反映，直接卸掉了事。但是，如果一个产品经理不能放下自我，没有“小我”，或者说没有“忘我”，他怎么会做出一个用户喜欢的产品出来呢？

怎么才能练就出“小我”，甚至达到一种“忘我”的境界呢？我做产品的时候，也没有人指导，完全靠摸索，实际上是因为做失败的产品比大家多，挫败感多，因此感悟多，思索多，总结多。比如，我在读研究生的时候，做防病毒卡，拿出去卖。结果，有时候会接到用户电话，被用户骂。像我这样的技术人才，被用户骂，那也没办法。那个时候，我感觉到原来用户想法跟我的想法是不一样的，做产品不能给自己做而是给用户做，这是一个很简单的道理。

有时候，产品经理做出产品来，不是为自己，而是为公司，这也是要不得的。我们经常可以看到，某个公司做一个产品，是因为公司需要，而不是用户需要。公司需要做某个产品，目的不是服务用户，而是服务公司。我曾经看到一家大型的互联网公司做的关于怎么做IM的报告。50页的PPT，从头到尾就在谈这个IM做好了，对这个公司的业务有什么样的帮助，但却没有说明这个产品到底要满足用户的哪些需求。

所以，一个优秀的产品经理，当你能够调动公司的资源做产品的时候，一定要避免我提到的这种陷阱。这种陷阱有时候我自己还会掉进去，只不过我会经常提醒自己要警惕，所以还能爬出来。

其实，我从事互联网行业这么多年，也做出了一些大家还觉得不错的产品，但有时候回过头去想一想，其实发现里面有一些是运气的成分，是不自觉地在正确的时间做了一件正确的事。

很多做产品的感悟，实际上是在失败中磨练出来的。比如，最近我一直在感慨：乔布斯其实犯过错误。佛法里说，人是贪、嗔、痴的，贪是每个人的本性。所以，公司的CEO总是喜欢开发新产品，产品经理总是喜欢给产品增加新功能。在PC时代，乔布斯要打败微软，什么都做，但是遭遇到很多挫折。但当他上了一定岁数，重新回到苹果做iPod的时候，每个阶段他只是专注在一个产品上。乔布斯对新事物可能不像年轻人那样敏感，他的创造力可能没有年轻人那么锐利，但是他找到了感觉，找到了正确的方法，结果取得了巨大成功。

怎么样做一个优秀的产品经理？这个话题其实蛮复杂，我希望业界能够多讨论，因为只有出现更多的优秀的产品经理，中国互联网才能产生更多优秀的产品。要知道，产品是互联网发展的基础，离开这个基础，谈虚的，谈大的，都没用。我也希望每一位产品经理，不管是在哪个公司，不管你是不是与360竞争，不管你是不是喜欢360和周鸿祎，看到这篇文章后，都能够以自己身为一个产品经理为骄傲，能够有一个充满自信的“大我”，同时又有一个以服务用户为本的“小我”。

做出一个好产品，千万用户用，上亿用户用。别人怎么看你的头衔，不重要。能否做出一个好产品，很重要，因为这是检验一个产品经理是否优秀的唯一标准。

via http://horusming.blog.163.com/blog/static/818026372011190136175/

周末去了平谷，小猴子爱吃桃。好大的桃，嘿嘿。这篇的图全部是©O2City，摄影师啊，专业级别的。桃就是硬硬的，清香清香的那种好吃。

原文请见：http://o2city.cn/?p=1866

转来了今年夏天最火爆的图。北航2010届毕业生的床单文化展。传说的12楼，13楼的学弟学妹们疯狂了一把。想当年，床单文化始于我们毕业的那一年，正好是这届学弟学妹们入学的那一年2006年夏天。这就是创意，北航学子的创意真是独特独特啊。当年我们楼只有一两幅，而且没什么犀利的内容。今年可算是百花起放！仅供欣赏。

北航兄弟姐们有创意快点展示了~~~，后面最新追加29日午夜版本，希望当成本夜世界杯的赛前小菜，好戏马上上演……

“预备”展览开始，请大家固定好各自眼睛。

仰望办证……多少人不是为了那纸文凭？北航仰望办证哥犀利探头

楼上风景收复台湾DOTA图

“牛X北航”！

我们还有仰望星空~~~看，“天上人间”

貌似折翼的天使成了新一代关键词，不过北航的单翼型飞行物也忒多了

这些不会也是支援西部的“优秀”大学生吧？带走自个行李就行了。

坐等广电总局、国务院、文化部、新闻出版总署、各大电信传播服务商……封杀

一千个眼里，有一千个床单背后的意思，这个意境大家自己悟……

限制级重口味……终极必杀床单，世界五百强“荣誉员工”凤姐口号现身。注：本床单仅代表个人意见，不代表北航官方学生言论。

文明离校，旁边的这位自恋情结异常严重。僧多粥少的结果。

各回各家各找各妈，北航，再见了

此床单宣告着毕业床单文化不单单是“撩骚”的男生们的独占舞台，同样也是巾帼们留下传奇的途径，此姐依然不再北航，如果因此帖成为传奇，这个床单没白费。以此共勉。

PS；路遇宾得爱好者，2.8的恒定光圈，羡慕中……期待他的作品

忘本单作者自行解释……

无兄弟不DOTA……阿迪版

“日控”也跳了出来，莫怪北航男饥渴，是男女比失调太严重……

来个主旋律“读书人”

………………

DOTA不愧为第一电游

依然“主旋律”

大家别当真……

世界杯最大的悲剧，不是法国雄鸡，亚平宁人的悲惨回家，不是淘汰赛大不列颠被德意志战车掠过，而是因为我们的离去……

严重怀疑这是校宣传部门“奸细”不排除“潜伏”的内线放出的挽救同志们的床单信

关键词屏蔽，关键词屏蔽，关键词屏蔽……

含蓄的北航女生……

汗一个，终现彪悍语，哥挺你们，希望此单能给你们带来三轮车+免费劳力

=================================================

敬请期待午夜闪灯版………………………………

又现“限制级”还是凉席，请18岁以下看客自动屏蔽或与监护人一同观看，谢谢~~~

绝对的午夜加强版，走在路上很抢眼

严重失调这一违背社会进步的现象会引起校领导会引起绝对的重视的，起码向综合性研究型大学上发展来看，这个的指南方向已经有了很好的铺垫

可口可乐公司果粒橙荣誉“赞助”

这个是他挂歪了……

很有味道

从头到尾张扬出彪悍的学风

声援107，新一点“钉子哥”横空出世！

坚强，坦荡哥

XXXXX，这个没评语了，就剩无语了……

供需失衡导致北航女生一直处于超高价位，自古以来都是买账不买跌，何况还是快要退市的货色……

16楼的哥们揭被而起~~~

学院的官方宣传——

＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋

先上个凉菜～～～

开口必言谢国家，大家以后记住了！

打开“翻墙”软件，正餐陆续到位～～～

后会有“妻”

本单版权归ＸＸＸ同学所有，期待正版解释

忽如一夜校歌来，漫山遍野仰望男

不知道下一代怎么折腾这栋楼……不过２０１０级的学弟学妹，崭新空白的的沙河校区等待你们激扬文字，涂抹床单

坐等正解

找到工作了……

床单培养诗人的沃土

有一个限制级，言辞越来越露骨了……

可惜凤姐眼光忒高……

防火防盗放学长……

SEE　YA！

给力，绝对力

在一个雄性荷尔蒙充斥着绝大多数的理工院校，两个的完美世界惨变为一个人和手以及“苍井空”们意淫的独欢。

求虐帝……

加入豪门的穷媳妇……

顿时，内牛满面……

We　Are　Together！

全景图……更新中

很喜欢这个设计，北航也有内秀的泛着点点精致的忧伤，一把小伞，些许玩具，轻飘这的中国结，１３楼最美的装饰品……

好了，今天的最雷床单得主……

正当我回味上一个的优雅时，顿时被下一个世界“杯”轰的外焦里嫩，彪悍的“Ｆ”ｉｆａ姐终于轰轰烈烈的横空出世，估计下一个丰胸广告的研发基地将落户北航研究生院。出没北航男生们小心了大尺寸“胸”器傲然……

＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋

这个明显为了赶工期，质量很烂，大家凑合看吧

“北航中巴车”

“圣寝”

又一ＤＯＴＡ迷

插播一个广告

北航学子太有才，个个都赛福楼拜

强烈建议这种传奇单应该挂上马赛克头像、背景、侧影等让“后人”有个最求的模样

这屋仁兄们应该集体去消协、工商局、食品安全局等检验检疫的　保障消费者的机构，谁敢生产假东西，给来一梭子

依稀记得之前有同学请假，理由——工会有活动……

看了前半句，徐志摩从坟墓中重生了，看了后半句，他又死去而来，他是来拿那个５００Ｇ硬盘的……

“代表二弟向伟大的“教育家”——空姐致敬，您对玉树的捐款，我们不会忘记”

…………………………………………………………关键词屏蔽

北航人，天空才是你施展才能的地方，希望大家把床单的上激扬文字的脑筋用来各自擅长的领域，２０１０我们已经创造了历史，还有更多的成绩等待大家去争取，与２０１０届毕业生共勉

莫生离伤空对窗，自有华年向天扬。离别是又相逢的开始，一人，一行囊。潇洒的奔向未来

温情篇……祝这位校友生日快乐

N年前的剩饭了，旧戏新唱，关键词屏蔽板作为谢幕联

此文转自于：http://juetuzhi.net/2010/07/bei-hang-chuang-lian-zhan.html

24小时华山

五岳归来不见山，华山归来不见岳

天下第一奇山，我终于有兴到了，6年的计划。又是今天空闲着，翻出两个月前本该发的文章。没有什么文字，全是图。全部都是Canon 400D拍的，我最大的本事就是能把单反机照出卡片机的效果，而把卡片机照出还是卡片的效果。

第一山

西岳华山

北峰

夕阳

日出中的月亮

混沌

看到那个小圆旦了吗？

日出来了

日

生殖器崇拜

传说中华山也有迎客松

连续唱完35首歌。把电脑拿出来给iPhone充电，发现这个KTV里面还能上网。于是翻出了这篇10年2月份写了一个开头的文章，继续：

过去十八岁/没戴表/不过有时间
够我没有后顾/野性/贪玩
霎眼廿七岁/时日无多/方不敢偷懒
宏愿纵未了/奋斗总不太晚

2010年是八零后第一拨人迈入30岁的一年。孔老二说过：“三十而立，四十而不惑”，到了这个而立之年，八零后的我们都立了些什么起来呢？也许这个“伟大”思想家也许没有预料到2000多年后的中国的三十岁的男人们，过得是如此艰难。“疑惑，不安，怀旧”这三个标签可以大部分的说明八零后这一代的问题。

什么是立？成家、立业。这是大家公认的30岁人应该有的东西。可是大部分同学们却还在为一个报酬较高的工作而奔波，北漂，上飘，各种飘着，不稳定、收入不高、生活环境差，远离家人却是我们之间流通的标签。房子，车，另一半？也许大家都是为这些默默的在奋斗着。但是

你献出了十吋/时和分/可有换到十吋金

虽然也有不少的同学不属于这些标签的范围内，但是据报道，80%的八零后还处于迷茫阶段，根本达不到三十而立。不是为自己开脱，也不是想逃避，谁都想自己事业有成，谁都想能够有一个幸福的小家，逃离漂泊的租房一族。古人未及弱冠就已经成家，他们有相对足够时间去完成三十而立。或许对于我们来说，三十而立是理想，要争取能够达到，不行也不要强求自己，压力太大反而有了反的效果。三十不行，就四十而立吧。

Updates:

其实我已经完全不记得当时写的时候的立意了，或许是想给自己找个借口，或许是看到周围的同学们发出的感叹。不管怎样，只有自己好好的计划接下来的Life才能达成目标。再也不要盲目撞墙了。

2010 - 2020

2000

十年前的今天，我刚好高一暑假。我的目标很简单，想去北京航空航天大学，今日的北航。

为这个目标，我也算努力，人笨点，多花点时间，也是能得到一些回报的。

2001

九年前，在我刚上高三的第一个月，我的生日那天，我敬爱的外婆离我而去。

她从小带我到大，可以说比我妈妈还关心我。

癌症，这个到如今人类无法攻克的难题。

2002

高考终于来到，我也侥幸通过。加十分就过了录取线，去掉那十分，我就是个落榜生。

这都是我外婆在天堂里保佑我。

2003

非典在北京爆发了，学校里面很和谐，大家玩得很开心，不用担心考试，学习。

只是大家都在小心的防备不要被传染上了可怕的非典。

那个夏天让我感受到了温暖的同学情。

2004

• 十年之前/我不認識你/你不屬於我
• 如果留下多一秒钟
• 我想我不够爱你
• 十年之後/我們是朋友/還可以問候?

2005

我颓废了一学期之后，朋友让我加入她的广播站。

很幸运的我获得了新生。

2006

毕业前的纠结。最终我离开了那个看似铁饭碗的事业单位。

因为我发现，我的个性根本不适合在那儿呆下去。

新的公司，让我觉得非常的开心。做自己喜欢的工作。

2007

还是这家公司，做着喜欢的工作。却发现，原来世界上没有一件事会让你一直喜欢下去。

因为都在变化，因为我们是人。

收获和自信心都在增长，我始终还是在接受。

2008

习惯成自然。开始有了自己的想法，却发现，自己的见识实在太少了。

以为很了不起的想法，却没想到别人早已经捷足先登了。

汶川地震和奥运会的悲喜交加，让我感到命运的不可理喻。

2009

The Year of Change. 改变在各个方面。于是我有了更深刻更深入的思考。

创业也许是我的一条出路。

我只想让以后的生活会更轻松一些。不必要为一些琐碎事情儿烦恼。

2010

The Year of Social Media!

从我成年来第一个十年结束。这个十年我还是属于学习，大学四年，在Tinselbird四年。

都学到各种东西，生活，感情，职业。我也能感觉到我的成长。

人生的方向？我已经有了明确的目标。

好好的策划自己的下一个黄金十年。

没有惊心动魄的战争，只有踏踏实实的专注。

Focus! Confident! Never giving up!

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

下一个黄金十年，我等着。

永字八法 - The Eight Principles of Yong

在Smashing Magazine看到一篇关于亚洲文字的文章。很了不起，中国的书法也被外国设计师们研究着。美丽的字体是没有国界的！（The beauty of typography has no borders. ）先把全文贴过来，我再慢慢翻译。永字八法（The Eight Principles of Yong） 。

East Asian Writing Systems

Obviously, the Chinese uses Chinese characters (where they are known as hanzi). But Chinese characters are also used in various forms in Japanese (where they are known as kanji) and Korean (hanja). In this section, we will look at four East Asian writing systems: Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.

Chinese Characters

Chinese characters are symbols that do not comprise an alphabet. This writing system, in which each character generally represents either a complete one-syllable word or a single-syllable part of a word, is called logo-syllabic. This also means that each character has its own pronunciation, and there is no way to guess it. Add to this the fact that being literate in Chinese requires memorizing about 4,000 characters and you’ve got quite a language to learn. Fortunately for us, we don’t need to learn Chinese in order to appreciate the beauty of its writing.

Because many commonly used Chinese characters have 10 to 30 strokes, certain stroke orders have been recommended to ensure speed, accuracy and legibility in composition. So, when learning a character, one has to learn the order in which it is written, and the sequence has general rules, such as: top to bottom, left to right, horizontal before vertical, middle before sides, left-falling before right-falling, outside before inside, inside before enclosing strokes.

The Eight Principles of Yong

The strokes in Chinese characters fall into eight main categories: horizontal (一), vertical (丨), left-falling (丿), right-falling (丶), rising, dot (、), hook (亅) and turning (乛, 乚, 乙, etc.). The “Eight Principles of Yong” outlines how to write these strokes, which are common in Chinese characters and can all be found in the character for “yǒng” (永, which translates as “forever” or “permanence”). It was believed that practicing these principles frequently as a budding calligrapher would ensure beauty in one’s writing.

Four Treasures of the Study

“Four treasures of the study” is an expression that refers to the brush, ink, paper and ink stone used in Chinese and other East Asian calligraphic traditions. The head of the brush can be made of the hair (or feather) of a variety of animals, including wolf, rabbit, deer, chicken, duck, goat, pig and tiger. The Chinese and Japanese also have a tradition of making a brush from the hair of a newborn, as a once-in-a-lifetime souvenir for the child.

Seal and Seal Paste

The artist usually completes their work of calligraphy by adding their seal at the very end, in red ink. The seal serves as a signature and is usually done in an old style.

Horizontal and Vertical Writing

Many East Asian scripts (such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean) can be written horizontally or vertically, because they consist mainly of disconnected syllabic units, each conforming to an imaginary square frame. Traditionally, Chinese is written in vertical columns from top to bottom; the first column on the right side of the page, and the text starting on the left.

In modern times, using a Western layout of horizontal rows running from left to right and being read from top to bottom has become more popular. Signs are particularly challenging for written Chinese, because they can be written either left to right or right to left (the latter being more of a traditional layout, with each “column” being one character high), as well as top to bottom.

Different Styles

In Chinese calligraphy, Chinese characters can be written in five major styles. These styles are intrinsic to the history of Chinese script.

Seal script is the oldest style and continues to be widely practiced, although most people today cannot read it. It is considered an ancient script, generally not used outside of calligraphy or carved seals, hence the name.

In clerical script, characters are generally “flat” in appearance. They are wider than the seal script and the modern standard script, both of which tend to be taller than wider. Some versions of clerical are square, and others are wider. Compared to seal script, forms are strikingly rectilinear; but some curvature and influence from seal script remains.

The semi-cursive script approximates normal handwriting, in which strokes and (more rarely) characters are allowed to run into one another. In writing in the semi-cursive script, the brush leaves the paper less often than with the regular script. Characters appear less angular and rounder. The characters are also bolder.

The cursive script is a fully cursive script, with drastic simplifications and ligatures, requiring specialized knowledge to be read. Entire characters may be written without lifting the brush from the paper at all, and characters frequently flow into one another. Strokes are modified or eliminated completely to facilitate smooth writing and create a beautiful abstract appearance. Characters are highly rounded and soft in appearance, with a noticeable lack of angular lines.

The regular script is one of the last major calligraphic styles to develop from a neatly written early-period semi-cursive form of clerical script. As the name suggests, this script is “regular,” with each stroke written slowly and carefully, the brush being lifted from the paper and all strokes distinct from each other.

Japanese

A rather different writing system is Japanese, which is syllabic, meaning that each symbol represents (or approximates) a syllable, combining to form words. No full-fledged script for written Japanese existed until the development of Man’yōgana (万葉仮名), an ancient writing system that employs Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. The Japanese appropriated Kanji (derived from their Chinese readings) for their phonetic value rather than semantic value.

The modern kana systems, Hiragana and Katakana, are simplifications and systemizations of Man’yōgana. Thus, the modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts: Kanji, which is used for nouns and stems of adjectives and verbs; Hiragana, which is used for native Japanese words and written in the highly cursive flowing sōsho style; and Katakana, which is used for foreign borrowings and was developed by Buddhist monks as a shorthand. In Japan, cursive script has traditionally been considered suitable for women and was called women’s script (女手 or onnade), while clerical style has been considered suitable for men and was called men’s script (男手 or otokode).

The three scripts are often mixed single sentences.

As we can see, the modern kana systems are simplifications of Man’yōgana. It is interesting to see how they have been simplified.

Development of hiragana from man’yōgana.

Katakana, with man’yōgana equivalents. (The segments of man’yōgana adapted into katakana are highlighted.)

Korean Squares

Korean is itself a very different writing system. It uses Hangul, a “featural” writing system. The shapes of the letters are not arbitrary but encode phonological features of the phonemes they represent.

Hangul has existed since the middle of the 15th century (approximately 1440). But tradition prevailed, and scholars continued to use Classical Chinese as the literary language, and it was not until 1945 that Hangul became popular in Korea.

Jamo (자모; 字母), or natsori (낱소리), are the units that make up the Hangul alphabet. “Ja” means letter or character, and “mo” means mother, suggesting that the jamo are the building blocks of the script. When writing out words, signs are grouped by syllables into squares. The layout of signs inside the square depends greatly on the syllable structure as well as which vowels are used.

We won’t get into the detailed rules, but here is an example for inspiration:

Vietnamese Rotation

The Vietnamese writing system in use today (called Chữ Quốc Ngữ) is adapted from the Latin alphabet, with some digraphs (i.e. pairs of characters used to write individual phonemes) and nine additional diacritics (accent marks) for tones and certain letters. Over the course of several centuries—from 1527, when Portuguese Christian missionaries began using the Latin alphabet to transcribe the Vietnamese language, to the early 20th century, when the French colonial administration made the Latin-based alphabet official—the Chinese character-based writing systems for Vietnamese gradually became limited to a small number of scholars and specialists.

However, the Chinese philosophy still exerts a strong influence. The stylized work above is by painter Tran Dat, who introduced a harmony between the shapes of Chinese and Vietnamese characters. If you rotate the first image 90 degrees counter-clockwise, you can make out the Vietnamese words. It is meant to be displayed vertically so that it appears as ancient Chinese text at first.

Arabic

Here we’ll explore the beauty of Arabic, which has many styles and techniques. The Arabic alphabet was developed from the Nabataean script (which was itself derived from the Aramaic script) and contains a total of 28 letter. These 28 letters come from 18 basics shapes, to which one, two or three dots are added, above or below the letter. Arabic uses a writing system that we haven’t seen yet: an abjad, which is basically an alphabet that doesn’t have any vowels—the reader must supply them.

Contextual Shaping

The shape of these letters changes depending on their position in the word (isolated, initial, medial or final). Here, for example, is the letter kaaf:

Diacritics

The Arabic script is an impure abjad, though. Short consonants and long vowels are represented by letters, but short vowels and long consonants are not generally indicated in writing. The script includes numerous diacritics, which serve to point out consonants in modern Arabic. These are nice and worth taking a look at.

Alif as a Unit of Proportion

Geometric principles and rules of proportion play an essential role in Arabic calligraphy. They govern the first letter of the alphabet, the alif, which is basically a straight vertical stroke.

• The height of the alif varies from 3 to 12 dots, depending on the calligrapher and style of script.
• The width of the alif (the dot) is a square impression formed by pressing the tip of the reed pen to paper. Its appearance depends on how the pen was cut and the pressure exerted by the fingers.
• The imaginary circle, which uses alif as its diameter, is a circle within which all Arabic letters could fit.

Different Styles

Arabic script has many different styles—over 100 in fact. But there are six primary styles, which can generally be distinguished as being either geometric (basically Kufic and its variations) and cursive (Naskh, Ruq’ah, Thuluth, etc.).

Kufi (or Kufic) is noted for its proportional measurements, angularity and squareness.

Tuluth means “one third,” referring to the proportion of the pen relative to an earlier style called Tumaar. It is notable for its cursive letters and use as an ornamental script.

Nasakh, meaning “copy,” is one of the earliest scripts with a comprehensive system of proportion. It is notable for its clarity for reading and writing and was used to copy the Qur’an.

Ta’liq means “hanging,” in reference to the shape of the letters. It is a cursive script developed by the Persians in the early part of the 9th century AD. It is also called Farsi (or Persian).

Diwani was developed by the Ottomans from the Ta’liq style. This style became a favorite script in the Ottoman chancellery, and its name is derived from the word “Diwan,” which means “royal court.” Diwani is distinguished by the complexity of lines within letters and the close juxtaposition of letters within words.

Riq’a is a style that evolved from Nasakh and Thuluth. It is notable for the simplicity and small movements that are required to write in it, thanks to its short horizontal stems, which is why it is the most common script for everyday use. It is considered a step up from the Nasakh script, which children are taught first. In later grades, students are introduced to Riq’a.

Teardrop-Shaped Composition

Here is an animation showing the composition of the Al Jazeera logo:

Bi-Directionnality

When left-to-right text is mixed with right-to-left in the same paragraph, each text should be written in its own direction, known as “bi-directional text.”

Material Used

In case you want to try, you’ll want to know what material to use. There is a lot of typical tools, such as brush pens, scissors, a knife to cut the pens and an ink pot. But the traditional instrument of the Arabic calligrapher is the qalam, a pen made of dried reed or bamboo. “The traditional way to hold the pen,” wrote Safadi in 1987, “is with middle finger, forefinger and thumb well spaced out along the [pen's] shaft. Only the lightest possible pressure is applied.”

As for the ink, you have many options: black and brown (often used because their intensity and consistency can be varied greatly) as well as yellow, red, blue, white, silver and gold. The important thing is that the greater strokes of the composition be very dynamic in their effect.

A Few Techniques

The development of Arabic calligraphy led to several decorative styles that were intended to accommodate special needs or tastes and to please or impress others. Here are a few outstanding techniques and scripts.

Gulzar is defined by Safadi (1979) in Islamic calligraphy as the technique of filling the area within the outlines of relatively large letters with various ornamental devices, including floral designs, geometric patterns, hunting scenes, portraits, small script and other motifs. Gulzar is often used in composite calligraphy, where it is also surrounded by decorative units and calligraphic panels.

Maraya or muthanna is the technique of mirror writing, where the composition on the left reflects the composition on the right.

Tughra is a unique calligraphic device that is used as a royal seal. The nishanghi or tughrakesh is the only scribe trained to write tughra. The emblems became quite ornate and were particularly favored by Ottoman officialdom.

In zoomorphic calligraphy, the words are manipulated into the shape of a human figure, bird, animal or object.

Sini

Sini is a Chinese Islamic calligraphic form for the Arabic script. It can refer to any type of Chinese Islamic calligraphy but is commonly used to refer to one with thick tapered effects, much like Chinese calligraphy. It is used extensively in eastern China, one of whose famous Sini calligraphers is Hajji Noor Deen.

Perso-Arabic Script: Nasta’liq Script

The predominant style in Persian calligraphy has traditionally been the Nasta’liq script. Although it is sometimes used to write Arabic-language text (where it is known as Ta’li, with Farsi used mainly for titles and headings), it has always been more popular in Persian, Turkic, and South Asian spheres. It is extensively practiced as a form of art in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Nasta’liq means “suspended,” which is a good way to describe the way each letter in a word is suspended from the previous one (i.e. lower, rather than on the same level).

The Perso-Arabic script is exclusively cursive. That is, the majority of letters in a word connect to each other. This feature is also included on computers. Unconnected letters are not widely accepted. In Perso-Arabic, as in Arabic, words are written from right to left, while numbers are written from left to right. To represent non-Arabic sounds, new letters were created by adding dots, lines and other shapes to existing letters.

Indic Scripts (Brahmic)

The Indic or Brahmic scripts are the most extensive family of writing systems that we haven’t looked at yet: abugidas. An abugidas is a segmental writing system which is based on consonants and in which vowel notation is obligatory but secondary. This contrasts with an alphabet proper (in which vowels have a status equal to that of consonants) and with an abjad (in which vowel marking is absent or optional).

Indic scripts are used throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of Central and East Asia (e.g. Hindi, Sanskrit, Konkani, Marathi, Nepali, Sindhi and Sherpa). They are so widespread that they vary a lot, but Devanagari is the most important one.

Devanagari Ligatures and Matra

Hindi and Nepali are both written in the Devanāgarī (देवनागरी) alphabet. Devanagari is a compound word with two roots: deva, meaning “deity,” and nagari, meaning “city.” Together, they imply a script that is both religious and urban or sophisticated.

To represent sounds that are foreign to Indic phonology, additional letters have been coined by choosing an existing Devanagari letter that represents a similar sound and adding a dot (called a nukta) beneath it. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters and linking them together.

In addition, a few other diacritics are used at the end of words, such as the dots illustrated below and the diagonal line, called virama, drawn under the last letter of a word if it is a consonant.

One interesting aspect of Brahmic and in particular of Devanagari here is the horizontal line used for successive consonants that lack a vowel between them. They may physically join together as a “conjunct,” or ligature, a process called samyoga (meaning “yoked together” in Sanskrit). Sometimes, the individual letters can still be discerned, while at other times the conjunction creates new shapes.

Here is a close-up of a nice ligature, the ddhrya ligature:

A letter in Devanagari has the default vowel of /a/. To indicate the same consonant followed by another vowel, additional strokes are added to the consonant letter. These strokes are called matras, or dependant forms of the vowel.

Thai Stacking Diactritics

The writing system of Thai is based on Pali, Sanskrit and Indian concepts, and many Mon and Khmer words have entered the language.

To represent a vowel other than the inherent one, extra strokes or marks are added around the basic letter. Thai has its own system of diacritics derived from Indian numerals, which denote different tones. Interestingly, like many non-Roman scripts, it has stacking diacritics.

Tibetan Mantras

The form of Tibetan letters is based on an Indic alphabet of the mid-7th century. The orthography has not altered since the most important orthographic standardization, which took place during the early 9th century. The spoken language continues to change. As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects, there is a great divergence of reading from the spelling.

The Tibetan script has 30 consonants, otherwise known as radicals. Syllables are separated by a tseg ་, and because many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, this mark often functions almost as a space.

As in other parts of East Asia, nobles, high lamas and persons of high rank were expected to have strong abilities in calligraphy. But the Tibetan script was done using a reed pen instead of a brush. As for a mantra, it is a sound, syllable, word or group of words that is considered capable of “creating transformation.”

The use of mantras is widespread throughout spiritual movements that are based on or off-shoots of practices from earlier Eastern traditions and religions. The mantras used in Tibetan Buddhist practice are in Sanskrit, to preserve the original mantras. Visualizations and other practices are usually done in the Tibetan language.

Vajrasattva mantra in Tibetan.

Summary

So what should you take away from this article? We have seen that Arabic and Chinese calligraphy have many different scripts variations. From geometric to cursive to regular script, there is no such thing as one calligraphic style for a language.

Sometimes there is even no such thing as one script per language. This is why Japanese is interesting: it is written in three different scripts that mix nicely. The construction of the Korean language is also fascinating: characters are grouped into squares that create syllables. Writing systems are ultimately diverse in construction, which makes them so interesting.

Many languages also have various components that can be used in our typography. Arabic and Thai, among many others, have a large system of diacritics. Arabic has a decorative aspect. Ligatures are directly related to our Latin alphabet but can be quite elaborated in such scripts as Devanagari.

You could do a lot to spice up your own designs. Did you catch the red Chinese seal, which contrasts with the usual black ink. Have you thought of rotating your fonts to give them a whole new look, as Vietnamese calligraphers do? What about the Arabic teardrop-shaped writing? If you missed all of this, you have no choice but to scroll back up and take a closer look.

Bonus: How to Integrate These Languages on a Website?

Working with foreign languages in international design projects can get a bit tricky. Obviously, studying the specifics of the language that you are supposed to work with will help you better anticipate user’s needs and avoid embarassing problems or misunderstandings. Tilt.its.psu.edu presents general guidelines for integration of various international languages in websites. Below you’ll find references to specific pages that cover details for writing systems presented in this article.

• Japanese
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Devanagari
• Thai
• Tibetan
• Vietnamese

Via: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/05/18/the-beauty-of-typography-writing-systems-and-calligraphy-of-the-world/ By Jessica Bordeau @ Smashing Magazine

人大代表

写这种话题的博文最容易被和谐，但是我还是想谈谈，论论。跟政治无关，我只是从一个最底层，出生生长在中国的公民来说说我的看法。人大代表，政协委员们，请你们所说所做能尊重你们所代表的人民。

2010年两会正在北京“隆重”的召开，这个到底有多隆重？可以通过这条在Twitter火爆一时的推来验证，围观：

天朝开两会，实在有点贵。五千台电脑 ，七十万部队。奥迪去接机，国宴来开胃。鼓掌又举手，傻逼全都会。戴表狂挥霍，人民猛交税。温饱不得求，消你妈个费。

这两天，不断有白痴/脑残/傻逼/弱智/二逼的代表提出各种让人民心碎/心痛/愤怒/激愤的提案，其中有两个是大家都热议的。

1. 新浪网报道：昨日，全国人大代表、中国移动重庆公司总经理沈长富说，为防止学生沉溺网游，影响休息学习，建议网络游戏分时段开放。沈长富说，目前网络游戏盛行，带来不少社会问题。有的学生沉溺网游无法自拔，甚至逃课、玩“失踪”，网游还引发一些新型网络犯罪。他建议，可考虑对部分网络游戏实行分时段开放，在上课和上班时间限制性开放，尽量少开放；周末或平时休息时间，则延长开放时间。沈长富还建议屏蔽网络不良用语，如“3Q”(ThankYou)、bt(变态)，还有“囧”、“槑”等生造字，青少年长期接触这些网络语言，会产生不好影响。

   我只是想请问这位代表，3Q哪又成为了不良用语？更不用说囧，槑等中国的古老文化。BT怎么不良了，难道中文的变态也需要屏蔽吗？以后您直接宣布把英文列为不良用语得了，再提意见给教育部，让所有中国人都不要再学英语了，因为英文里面有Thank You，有Fuck You。请问这位重庆的代表您的提案有过脑子吗？还是您根本没有脑子？或是脑子进水了。我看您的职位也挺高的，在新华网都还有您的简历，应该说您在公司应该是一位德高望重的人，可是为什么51年出生的中国社会主义建设中流砥柱的您会提出这么没有水平，这么无聊的提案。我可以很认真的告诉您，您完全是在浪费纳税人的钱！浪费大家对您的信任，选您作为重庆的人大代表，真是瞎了眼！

2. 凤凰网报道：广东房产界人大代表陈华伟：嫌房价高就回老家买。广东有钱人说的话就是不一样。一副现代资本家的嘴脸跃然登场！为富不仁，傲慢冷酷，是现代一些富人的本性！我直接转了一位农民愤怒的回击：

   一个农民听后怒不可遏，拍案而起，当场驳斥：按你这样的荒诞理论，农民团结起来，共同提高粮食价格，每公斤提到5000元，愿买就买，不买就吃屎去吧！我 没房子可以住火车站，你没吃的可以吃屎吗？为什么国家放纵房子发疯涨价，而控制粮食价格呢？农民就该死吗？农民就不是人吗？就不该享受社会文明的成果吗？ 粮食和房子都关系到国计民生，关系到社会稳定，为什么这负担非要让老实的农民承担呢？农民急了也会骂：操他姥姥的！！

我只有一个要求，请代表们能真正提出代表人民的提案，也许这样的社会才会和谐。