The week got away from me (good news, I had some potential projects come my way), so the weekly link list is a day late.

In additional to web design and user experience links, I discovered great business and productivity resources this week I hope you’ll find helpful.

• Mobile is Making the Desktop Obsolete? Or Is It? from Zurb: Good discussion in the comments. For me, I don’t see myself retiring my desktop computer any time soon.
• Screen Readers, HTML5 and Accessibility by Leonie Watson: HTML5 support for landmark roles like “navigation” can be problematic in screen readers, but Leonie offers a solution.
• Bidsketch: Simple online application that allows you to create, update, and store proposals. Pricing is reasonable (USD) at $9/month or $19/month.
• 7 Sins of Website Copywriting That Send Prospects Fleeing: It’s not about you, it’s about the user. What benefits can you offer?
• An Introduction to LESS and Comparison to SASS by Smashing Magazine: Excellent introduction to the LESS CSS framework/metalanguage – everyone seems to be calling it by a different name.
• 10 IE CSS3 and HTML5 Modern Browser Mimics from jquery4u: If you’re frustrated by Internet Explorer’s lack of support for CSS3 and HTML5, you’ll find some tips and workarounds in this post.
• 8 Tools and Tips for Responsive Web Design from Web Design Ledger: Submit a URL on the Responsive Design Testing site to easily view sites under different device sizes and widths.
• What Popular Movies Can Teach Us About Design: What can Harry Potter teach you about design?
• Axure RP: Get a free license of Axure RP, if you’re a higher education student studying user experience design or related field. Visit the Axure RP pricing page, then select “Students/Teachers” in the navigation near the bottom of the page.
• Leveraging UX Insights to Influence Product Strategy: What roadblocks prevent us from having a strategic influence on product development? And how can we achieve influence?
• MeetingBurner: Currently in beta, MeetingBurner is an online conferencing application. Simple beautiful interface. Nothing to download.
  1. One click to share a recording to YouTube.
  2. There are features I wish it had (like chatting with fellow attendees), but ease of use is its top benefit to those people looking for a webinar or online conference solution. 
  3. The beta version supports 25 people by default, and you can request support for up to 100 people. 
  4. Did I mention it’s free while in beta?
• Just Another CSS3 Buttons: Good tips and excellent charts for how the buttons display under browsers (including Internet Explorer 7). Check the comments for reported issues and workarounds.
• 8 Tips About How To Respond When A Potential Writing Client Calls: Good advice for any type of project, not just writing.
• World’s First Fully Functional QR Code Portraits: Interesting to see Mona Lisa and Barack Obama portraits in a QR code.

Interesting posts that had me thinking this week:

• The Art of the Note: When was the last time you wrote a handwritten note to congratulate someone? Or thank someone for a simple kindness? Keep the postman employed, write a handwritten note.
• When It Comes to Fixing the Roof, Look Before You Leap by Bob Tedeschi: Timely for Bob, he managed to get the roof fixed before Hurricane Irene hit.
• Under Suspicion At The Mall of America from National Public Radio (NPR): Continuing its investigative series on private counterterrorism programs, NPR focuses on the biggest tourist attraction in Minnesota, the Mall of America mega-shopping center. The stories are chilling, mall security contacting local police who in turn contacted the FBI. For a person shooting video of the “ mall experience.” I visited Mall of America pre-2011, but given this report, it’ s not likely I’ll visit again. And I’ll think twice before I visit the neighborhood shopping mall.