And finally...
So which "And Finally…" links entertained me most this year?
When I started putting this together I had the idea to put the links in order, crowning an ultimate champion, but they're all so different that it really didn't work. So in no particular order, here are my ten favourite "And Finally…" links for 2018.
- The importance of kerning by Douglas Hill.
- Die with me from Dries Depoorter and David Surprenant.
- Did you know you're connected to the production database? by I Am Devloper.
- When a subway station is a better programmer than you are… by Ujjwal Sharma.
- I came up with a brilliant idea for an app… by Tom Scott.
- I joined the iPhone team in the fall of 2008… by Bethany Bongiorno.
- OG skeuomorphism by Ben Cohen.
- How designing these tiny icons changed my life by Angela Guzman.
- Apple HIG pre-release, 1985 by Timoni West.
- Also Apple by Mark Aufflick.
Thanks to everyone who made me smile this year, even if you didn't make it onto this list, or even into the newsletter at all. Happy New Year everyone and here's to a great 2019! 🎊
Dave Verwer
You may know that I usually take a one week break over the holidays, but as I mentioned last Friday this year is a little different and you're getting an email.
However there's no news articles, no code links, no sponsor, no business or design sections, and no "And Finally…". Wait... Actually, there is an "And Finally…", in fact this issue is all about "And Finally…". 🎉
The most popular link in this newsletter is almost always the "And Finally…". I remember talking to someone in traditional email marketing at a conference once and they nearly fell over when I told them that the very last content link at the bottom of a long email was consistently the one with the highest number of clicks! 😂
So it's the most popular bit of the newsletter, but it hasn't always been there. The first appearance of it was in Issue 8 and the honour of that first one went to Brent Simmons.
I do remember why I started adding it to the end of each issue though. While iOS development links are interesting, they can sometimes be a little dry. Of course the primary purpose of this newsletter is to educate, but I do remember thinking that it would also need to be occasionally entertaining if it were to become popular.
During my childhood, there was a show on local TV called Granada Reports. It was a regional news programme which could also be a little dry, so they always ended with a lighthearted item to brighten up the end of the show. They would introduce the segment by starting the first sentence of the story with "And finally…" and it was a well loved feature of the show (a dramatisation of this segment even appeared in a movie). 😂
That was the idea behind adding the "And Finally…" link to the end of each issue of this newsletter. It was intended to be something to either make you smile or give you something entertaining to read in addition to the more serious content.
So, today's newsletter is a tribute to my favourite "And Finally…" links from 2018. Happy New Year everyone, and let me know if you enjoyed this issue and I'll maybe do it again next year. 👍
Dave Verwer