There was a good post on Ajaxian on the subject of unobtrusive javascript. It points to an outstanding article written by Christian Heilmann called The seven rules of Unobtrusive JavaScript. I understand unobtrusive javascript, what it means, and the reasons why it’s needed. However, there are a few times when it’s just not practical. For example, if your application heavily depends on javascript then having a hard rule to always use unobtrusive javascript doesn’t make much sense.

You can actually gain a few things doing the opposite like performance and even save developing time. (See the video posted on yuiblog.com – Joseph Smarr: “High-Performance JavaScript: Why Everything You’ve Been Taught is Wrong”)

Naturally, it’s best practice to use unobtrusive whenever possible, but when pragmatic enough I can see both sides of the coin.

For all you designers out there, Style Ignite has a very nice article about tracking the web 2.0 trend of horizontally divided pages. Out of those samples, I like Wishlistr.com the best.

Normally I read John Dvorak’s column with a grain of salt (I mean when you make a thousand outrageous predictions, you’re bound to strike gold once in a while), but he had an interesting thing to say about the GooglePhone that puts things into perspective.

People have had eons to program for the Windows smartphones and nothing has come of it. What’s so different now?

Puts the whole OHA/Android thing into perspective doesn’t it.

There’s not much to say, since they basically announced nothing, is that I hope it succeeds. The more innovation in mobile the better I say.

Donnie Flood posted 5 reasons why everyone wants a Gphone and I was thinking to myself if I would get one. Based on all the available info, the answer right now is no. (Now I think we all agree that no official information has been released, not to mention this is all based off non-confirmed rumors and what not, therefore such as.)

1. Heavily tied to Google services
   I’m sorry, but I don’t use Gmail or Calendar or most other Google services for that matter. I prefer Yahoo! Mail over Gmail and I already get faux-push of Y! Mail to my Blackberry. Google Calendar just doesn’t work that well for me or maybe I just don’t need a scheduling tool. The only 2 Google services I use regularly are Search and Maps, and I can already get both on whichever phone I already have. In fact you can already get most of Google’s services mobily.
2. Google makes software not hardware
   This will be Google’s first foray into consumer electronics. I don’t care how many PhDs they have working at the plex, confidence is not high in Google making a kick-ass cellphone.The latest rumors have Google partnering with HTC as the handset manufacturer. I’ve never liked any of the HTC products which includes the T-Mobile Dash and the AT&T 8525.

   
   Sexy is not thy name, 8525 is.

   None of those phones particularly excite me from a design perspective. Wonder why the iPhone has been getting all this attention from people that don’t even know care to know OS X from Vista? It’s all about aesthetics and the currently HTC line up falls short in that department.

3. Tin-foil hat factor
   Not that I’m paranoid or overly concerned with privacy or anything (heck, you are on waynepan.com) but Google already handles all of my search and knows exactly where I’ve needed directions to lately. Imagine if they can track your every movement on the grid in combination with your emails, scheduling/calendaring, and search! It’s a bit scary if you ask me.

Who knows, I may eat crow when Google finally announces something. It could be the best phone since …. since …. the iPhone! I am a geek after all.