I'm not sure what to call this. Maybe it's Karma, maybe it's coincidence, maybe it's dumb luck, maybe it's a glitch in the Matrix. It's known to happen when they change something. This is exactly the kind of thing that usually don't happen to me, but that's all going to change, because I have a policy that it will happen much more often from now on. Policies are neat that way.
A little over a month ago, I gave Gmail invitations to a few readers. They were all lurkers, one of which, Peter Johansson, was especially grateful. We talked a bit over Gmail, about Gmail itself, web design, and about PowerBooks. During which, the winners of Dan Cederholm's contest to win his book "Web Standards Solutions" were announced, and Peter just so happened to be one of them.
I myself hadn't even bothered to enter the contest, because I didn't think there was any chance of me winning anyways. I didn't even realize that it was a lottery of sorts, I thought Dan would handpick the best links, but apparently not.
Peter, having already purchased the book and thus ended up with two copies, sent one to me. So I guess that it's actually possible to win a contest without even entering it. Does this strike of luck increase or decrease my chances of winning anything in the future though?
Thanks again, Peter.
Comments
I think it is just one more wonderful thing about gmail; the benefits are apparently endless.
Comment by donnie at 17:46, 09 Jul, 2004 #
Is the book any good? :)
Comment by swimp at 18:35, 09 Jul, 2004 #
The book is good. I'd say that coupled with Zeldman's book, they offer a very solid base in understanding semantic mark-up and CSS.
The other major book that is a MUST HAVE (imho, of course) is Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide 2nd Edition. by Eric Meyer, published by O'Reilly. This is quite literally the definitive guide to all the CSS 1 and 2 properties and how they are used. It however, is not meant to be a tutorial on any level.
Comment by CM Harrington at 19:11, 09 Jul, 2004 #
It is a good book, but most likely meant for an audience well below my level of CSS savvyness. It's probably a great resource for beginners though.
Comment by Tomas at 19:36, 09 Jul, 2004 #
I think I would file this under karma, not luck. :)
Comment by cedmond at 11:55, 10 Jul, 2004 #
Was the cat thrown in at no extra charge?
Comment by Greg at 17:07, 10 Jul, 2004 #
hi sweets, how's the book? anything you think i'd like to read as well? if yes, then thank Peter from me as well ;)
Comment by Maria at 19:09, 13 Jul, 2004 #
Glad that you appreciate it. I've read my copy now and it's a good book - no doubt about that. Perhaps not a must read for the experienced developer/designer, still a good read though. I think a good target audience for this book is those who just read Zeldman's "Designing With Web Standards" and would like to continue with more advanced techniques and gain a deeper understanding of some of the more common tricks out there.
Comment by Peter at 16:52, 15 Jul, 2004 #
The discussion has been closed on this entry. Thanks to everybody who participated.