Smashing Magazine - we smash you with the information that will make your life easier. really.
Write a Guest Post and Win Apple MacBook Air
As you may know, we are looking for motivated, talented and professional writers and authors. And we are paying each author $100-300 per post — depending on the quality of the delivered article. If you think that you are one of them contact us — we want you, we need you, we can’t live without you and we would really be happy to have you in our Smashing team.
And to spark your interest for writing we’ve decided to announce a guest author contest — write a small guest article for Smashing Magazine and win one of dozens of attractive prizes waiting for you.
Awards
Best guest articles will be published on Smashing Magazine with the link to the author’s site. The best guest post will be determined by the editorial team and will be awarded with Apple MacBook Air, a compact, ultrathin 13.3″ laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive) released by Apple few months ago.
Apart from that the places 2-5 will be awarded with attractive designer laptop sleeves and bags. And the places 6-10 will be awarded with design and web-development related books. We also have a pretty nice special prize for the most unusual guest post. However, we are not revealing it yet.
What are we looking for?
The main idea behind the contest is not to get as many guest articles as possible, but to find talented guest authors who will want to work with us after the contest and get properly paid for their work. If you would like to write for us beyond the contest — drop us a line, we’ll figure something out.
So what are we looking for and what are we expecting? As a guest author you have two options to choose from.
Authors who have something to say…
We are looking for a short discussion article which would manage to spark a conversation in the comments and involve many readers of our magazine in a discussion. Your article should meet the following guidelines:
- it should have between 450 and 1200 characters (yes, characters, not words; space characters and HTML are not included in 450-1200 characters),
- it may be controversial and subjective, but it should not be boring,
- it may present some idea, approach or remark about recent developments, but you need to argue well and explain your position properly,
- it should have a valid HTML-markup.
In this case we are interested in guest authors who have original ideas and a good writing style (please read it again: original ideas are important). We will select best discussion articles and publish them in the magazine.
Here are some examples (please don’t use them for your discussion articles):
- designers should work with at least 3 displays at the same time,
- reasons why I hate becoming a designer,
- arguments why Fireworks is much better than Photoshop.
- one can actually live without Google (how?).
…and authors who have something to show.
Alternatively, you can submit a top-10-list instead of a discussion article. We are looking for the masters of lists (if your name is Yoda, consider you already got some bonus-points). We expect useful and beautiful top-10-lists. Your top-10-list should meet the following guidelines:
- an exciting and eye-catching headline,
- a quick yet attractive introduction (usually 2-4 sentences),
- 10 list items with a brief description (usually 1-2 sentences) and with links if necessary,
- at least 2 images or screenshots (if it is impossible to make screenshots or find images for your topic ignore this condition),
- it should have a valid HTML-markup.
In this case we are interested in authors who are original, possess knowledge and experience and have some good sources to find images, links etc. We will select best discussion articles and publish them in the magazine.
Here are some examples (please don’t use them for your top-10-lists):
- top 10 most beautiful wallpapers with ladybugs,
- top 10 best Wordpress-themes with yellow background,
- top 10 reasons to fire your web designer,
- top 10 best tricks to search on Del.icio.us,
- top 10 best GIMP-tutorials.
Restrictions and Rules
Please follow the following guidelines when sending your articles:
- all files should be packed in a .zip and include all images which occur in the article,
- an archive with an article written by John Doe should be titled john-doe.zip,
- you can submit at most 3 articles (at all, e.g. 2 top-10-lists and 1 discussion article or vice versa),
- please use our template for your article or/and top-10-list if possible,
- you should be the writer of the article you submit,
- the article should not be published already (updated).
- send the article to Sven Lennartz with the subject “[Guest Author Contest] Aritcle_title”, using the following … contest is closed for submissions now.
Deadline
5th of August 2008.
Winners
Best discussion articles and top-10-lists will be published on Smashing Magazine. We will carefully observe the reaction of our reader in our comments. Depending on the number and quality of the comments we will assign some score to every article. Once the scores are assigned we will announce the articles with the highest score and award their authors with prizes and awards.
Get creative, folks. And good luck!
The Co-Founder of Smashing Magazine. Former writer, web designer, freelancer and webworker. Author of several books. Runs the business.
(No votes yet)
Loading ...- 225 Comments
- 1
- 2July 17th, 2008 6:10 am
Cool!, what a challenge…….i’ll be workin on it.First!
- 3July 17th, 2008 6:11 am
Wow. I’m on it!
- 4July 17th, 2008 6:12 am
great, i want the macbook :)
– first –
- 5July 17th, 2008 6:15 am
YEAH !
That’s what I like – a new Mac is what I need – my old one just thinks he is a toaster, made for being “hot” and a “freezer” at the same time.Well, I already have my topic – so I am writing it as soon as possible and sending it in.
I hope I can handle it with my poor english. Yep – I’m german.But, let’s see how far I come :D
- 6July 17th, 2008 6:19 am
composing has been said!
- 7July 17th, 2008 6:21 am
I’m in it. Nice contest!
- 8July 17th, 2008 6:31 am
Yeap! Smashing Magazine, the best forever..
- 9July 17th, 2008 6:40 am
Hey wow this is so awesome. I have always been around here, lurking in the dark corners. Thanks for the great oppurtunity. I am very excited.
- 10July 17th, 2008 6:43 am
Wow that is quite the prize list! Will have to think about this :)
- 11July 17th, 2008 6:47 am
I want one too, keep on doing what you do! :o)
- 12July 17th, 2008 6:48 am
I don’t have any experience writing articles, so this should be interesting. Thanks.
- 13July 17th, 2008 6:54 am
How many articles can we submit?
- 14July 17th, 2008 6:55 am
omfg…. mac i`d write about THE 10 Most Boring Smashing Magazine Articles EVER!
- 15July 17th, 2008 6:57 am
When you say valid HTML, do you mean based around this site or on our own or original site?
- 16July 17th, 2008 7:15 am
I collect all your propositions, just send it by email, I plan to write “Top 10 guest posts submitted” :p
- 17July 17th, 2008 7:17 am
how many? please only one – your best ;-)
- 18July 17th, 2008 7:25 am
Hah, sounds like you guys are going to get plenty of submissions!
- 19July 17th, 2008 7:26 am
Yippie, i am in (is contribution from europe welcome?)
Top 10 (legal) ways of getting a Mac Book Air for free:
1. write a small guest article for Smashing Magazine
2. Have Steve’s Job
.
.
.please add ;-)
- 20July 17th, 2008 7:42 am
This is cool. I’m on it.
- 21July 17th, 2008 7:43 am
This is a great competition. I have a great article in mind, and I know exactly what I want to focus on.
Can’t wait. - 22July 17th, 2008 8:01 am
whaa great contest! i’m joinin’
- 23July 17th, 2008 8:24 am
Hi Smashing Magazine
Two questions:1.) What about HTML?
I assume writing an article in f.e. MS Word incl. images which I send you via mail.2.) 1200 characters incl. or excl. space characters? (I know that even spaces are characters but first of all this is a normal question regarding articles and secondly 1200 incl. spaces are imho extremely little)
- 24July 17th, 2008 8:31 am
Ich würde gerne einen Artikel schreiben, glaube aber dass mein Englisch nicht gut genug ist.
Is it possible to write an article in german and someone else translate it to proper english? - 25July 17th, 2008 8:40 am
The scoring system seems flawed to me. It would be quite easy for an author to get a bunch of friends to write some quality comments and skew the results.
- 26July 17th, 2008 8:43 am
@Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz
Don’t the rules say “You can submit at most 3 articles (at all, e.g. 2 top-10-lists and 1 discussion article or vice versa)”
So really we can submit three but you would prefer just one good one. Is that correct?
- 27July 17th, 2008 8:46 am
Game On!
- 28July 17th, 2008 8:46 am
this sound really cool as there are so many talents out there that are not being noticed,
anyway, unfortunately I’m not taking part as i’m going on holyday, but hope that this is not the last opportunity of this kind.
- 29July 17th, 2008 8:47 am
this is quite interesting
- 30July 17th, 2008 8:57 am
iei.macbook.nice.
- 31July 17th, 2008 9:21 am
Hello again,
I propose about 2000 characters incl. spaces ?
1200 seems to less after a first idea of mine.Thank you.
- 32July 17th, 2008 9:40 am
if i win this. something impossible happened.
and thats impossible
- 33July 17th, 2008 9:41 am
450-1200 characters? Seriously? Are you sure you don’t mean words – 450 characters is about 10 sentences, maybe three lines of text!
- 34July 17th, 2008 10:07 am
I’m with Matthew Pennell–don’t you mean 450-1200 words? I hope so!
- 35July 17th, 2008 10:09 am
And again Smashing Magazine is about to bring the web development scene one step further. Thank you so much, guys, you deserve respect.
- 36July 17th, 2008 10:13 am
Nice initiative. :)
- 37July 17th, 2008 10:17 am
This is amazing.
Even if i never won in the past in here I must say that this contest is WOW! I rush in to post something and take my chance after i saw this on your feed.
(register to smashingmagazine.com feed guys!)Good luck everyone with this contest.
- 38July 17th, 2008 10:36 am
Wow, hopefully going to get one…
- 39July 17th, 2008 10:53 am
hey Apple MaC we like u ,
{
DesiGn wiTh u is mUCh BeTTeR,
HarD and SoFt { Yes : ‘realy GOOD’ },
{ ViruS : ‘you never found one’} ,
media : {’high’}
};WIN = ‘is not impossible so I try like every one’;
- 40July 17th, 2008 11:07 am
@Eric B.: valid HTML-markup means that it should have no syntax errors and pass the W3C Validation test.
- 41July 17th, 2008 11:22 am
@Julian L. (#23): the article should be written in HTML, not in MS Word. But if you have any problems with sending the HTML-version, please send your Word-version. And regarding characters: space characters do not count, so it is 1200 characters without spaces.
@Kai Spriestersbach (#24): please try to write in English, you need to submit the article in English as otherwise we won’t be able to publish it in the magazine.
@Kevin Cannon (#25): we will do our best to monitor the timing and activity of our readers. We have a large user base and we’ll try to make sure that the diversity of readers is represented in the comments.
@Ian (#26): the comment at the top was written by Sven. You can submit up to 3 articles, but of course, you should rather focus on writing a really good one than three average ones.
@Julian L. (#23): fair enough.
@Dan (#34): we want all participants to get right to the point. Since we won’t be able to award all participants, we don’t want to impose 2000 words or so on them. E.g. you can briefly sketch your ideas in a short discussion post and after the contest send a large version of it which we would pay you for, of course. That would be fair. But we need to agree on topics first, of course.
- 42July 17th, 2008 11:35 am
Very very very interesting. Do you accept also non-English mothertongue?
I’m Italian but I like to speak and write in English. It could be a stronger challenge for me!
You will get my articles soon! - 43July 17th, 2008 11:38 am
@Lauryn (#42): the articles should be written in English. Otherwise we won’t be able to consider them because we won’t be able to publish them.
- 44July 17th, 2008 11:59 am
Sounds like a decent idea honestly. I have a pretty lengthy list of topics that I have been working on for my own site visual28.com I could easily contribute an article or two in hopes of winning some great new swag.
Clarification: The rules state “it may be controversial and too subjective, but it should not be boring,” Is this an incomplete sentence? and is it supposed to read: “it may NOT be controversial and too subjective” Or is controversial and subjective encouraged?
Thanks.
- 45July 17th, 2008 11:59 am
Man, I think you’ve got your winner right here…in this comment section. Nothing would get more replies than people who don’t understand instructions. I’m a huge fan of SmashingMagazine and visit it daily, but have never felt the need to comment on any articles, usually just enjoy it in silence. But this one…I HAD to reply telling these folks to please read the instructions first before asking silly questions, and when you’re finshed reading and have a question, read it again to see if the answer is not in the instructions! That’s what’ll get the most hitts! Anyone agree? Here’s my entry right here…
- 46July 17th, 2008 12:17 pm
I am on, for a while I was wondering write an article. Now there is this great, rewarding opportunity.
:)
- 47July 17th, 2008 12:32 pm
This is the best website. I am subscribed to the feeds and I read it daily.
- 48July 17th, 2008 1:10 pm
In your example list, you list “reasons why I hate becoming a designer,”. I was just curious if you had read the same post that I had read last month on this same topic. It is worded almost exactly as your example and appeared on Digg last week… here
- 49July 17th, 2008 1:25 pm
Guys! – As several commenters have said, surely you mean 450 – 1,200 words.
Best correct that soon or you’ll be getting some really poor entries. - 50July 17th, 2008 1:32 pm
Wow. Nice initiative. You are amazing!!. Thanks guys
- 51July 17th, 2008 2:34 pm
Great contest.
I’m an italian guy.
This is a double contest for me. I must write english perfectly :)
I’ve got a great idea for at top 10.Let’s contest!
- 52July 17th, 2008 2:43 pm
If you would have gave away a Mac Book Pro with 17″ screen i would have been in the game. To bad mac book air isn’t so apealing. It has nothing on it.
- 53July 17th, 2008 4:46 pm
I really want to participate in this contest but I feel as if I’m not good enough. Are there any consolation prizes? :P
- 54July 17th, 2008 5:33 pm
Please tell me that you mean 450 – 1,200 WORDS. Comment #45 is 502 characters without counting spaces. What in the good Lord’s name can anyone write with any amount of creativity in that small amount of space. Even double that size is barely enough to get a decent intro going. And does the HTML code count toward the character count? This would be kind of important to know ahead of time.
Heck, even a top 10 list with links and a two sentence intro would be difficult to squeeze down into something so small. I realize you’re trying to just get a brief idea of what people may have to offer, and don’t want them to go through a lot of work and then not win, but this is a contest, and people know the deal going in to it. I would think that a 500-1,500 WORD count would be acceptable enough to get an idea of one’s capability and creativity, without making them go through a lot of extra work.
In case anyone’s counting, my entire comment here is already 815 characters.
- 55July 17th, 2008 5:43 pm
No need for anyone else to enter this. that macbook air is mine!!
- 56July 17th, 2008 6:30 pm
:) MacBook the Ziling give gonna are you ,this read can you if ,Vitaly & Sven Dear
- 57July 17th, 2008 6:46 pm
may the best man win!
(i plan to ;) - 58July 17th, 2008 7:31 pm
yup macbook air i want it
- 59July 17th, 2008 9:58 pm
Truly Madly Deeply
- 60July 17th, 2008 10:03 pm
Sounds good, but 1200 characters? What can you write in 1200 characters?
- 61July 17th, 2008 10:05 pm
Love you Smashing
- 62July 17th, 2008 10:53 pm
What will happen to non-winners articles ? Will they get publish or do we keep all the rights on them ?
- 63July 17th, 2008 11:12 pm
BrainStorming has begun.
- 64July 18th, 2008 12:27 am
I will do my best, to win the mac book? It is enough? ;-)
- 65July 18th, 2008 1:02 am
I think they do mean characters, it’s been stated in the response as characters not words as well. Plus a spell check doesn’t count spaces as words.
1200 characters can be enough to start a discussion article which is what they wanted, not an in depth article. They’re trying to find good writers for future articles where you will have the chance to write longer articles. It’s just a preview of what you have to offer. - 66July 18th, 2008 1:14 am
/!\ __ | Yeap! Smashing Magazine, the very best forever | __/!\
- 67July 18th, 2008 2:02 am
Nice price!!!
I want it, i need it. - 68July 18th, 2008 2:39 am
@Mark Aplet (#44): the sentence is correct. The article can be controversial and subjective.
@ZenBug (#48): no, we mean 450 – 1200 characters (empty spaces are not included), not words. That makes 5-15 lines of text (with 90 characters per line). HTML-code doesn’t count as characters. Please notice that we do not have any space restrictions for top-10-lists.
We repeat what we have written above: we want all participants to get right to the point. Since we won’t be able to award all participants, we don’t want to impose 2000 words or so on them. E.g. you can briefly sketch your ideas in a short discussion post and after the contest send a large version of it which we would pay you for, of course. That would be fair. But we need to agree on topics first, of course.
@Steve (#59): What can you write in 1200 characters?. That’s what we intend to find out.
@MyW (#61): the owners of the articles which won’t be published have a copyright on it, hence we won’t use them. If we would like to publish them we would ask for their permission. However, all articles which will be published on Smashing Magazine can be republished only with our and author’s permission.
@Jo (#64): you are absolutely right, thank you.
- 69July 18th, 2008 3:46 am
great, i want the macbook
- 70July 18th, 2008 4:09 am
Here’s a useful tool I found for those writing their entry in text edit on a mac :
http://www.supermagnus.com/mac/Word_Counter/index.html
Just go to preferences and set spaces off and you’re good to go.
- 71July 18th, 2008 6:29 am
Wow, great competition, I would enter because I really would love a Mac, but my content writing is up to the standards of the greats around. But good luck to everyone entering.
- 72July 18th, 2008 6:39 am
ok Two questions!
1) Valid HTML mark-up is fine, but what about its styles? Do we need to css according to Smashing magazine’s styles in order to make it easy for you to publish it on your site?
2) Can we have relevant image(s) at the (top, middle, or bottom) of the article?
- 73July 18th, 2008 7:12 am
Keep an eye out for my article, I guarantee it will be a winner.
- 74July 18th, 2008 7:14 am
Keep an eye out for my article, I guarantee it will be something you’ll love.
- 75July 18th, 2008 7:18 am
THis is my airbook, what a challenge……. i’ll be workin on it.First!
- 76July 18th, 2008 7:28 am
Is there an age restriction, and/or region restriction?
- 77July 18th, 2008 8:03 am
Would be nice if you could whack up a form that does this unconventional character count. It will save each of us from writing our own script :-)
- 78July 18th, 2008 8:07 am
@Mohiuddin Parekh (#71): you don’t need to apply CSS according to Smashing magazine’s styles. You can use the following template which already does this (but you don’t have to): http://www.smashingmagazine.com/template/sm-template.zip
Can we have relevant image(s) at the (top, middle, or bottom) of the article? Well, you should. :-) Otherwise the article (particularly top-10-list) may become quite boring.
@Chris (#75): no, no restrictions.
- 79July 18th, 2008 8:25 am
Hey,
nice magazine, nice notebook.Cheers
- 80July 18th, 2008 8:41 am
i’am the mac and others just pc guys ..
- 81July 18th, 2008 9:01 am
Okay, sounds great.
At the risk of again trying to correct an error that is not actually an error:
We also have a pretty nice special price for the most unusual guest post.
Should that read “nice special prize“?
- 82July 18th, 2008 9:08 am
Delivered a mail to you, into your mail box.
Hope you put a smile onto my face by accepting it the way I put a smile on your face by sending you the mail… ;) - 83July 18th, 2008 9:20 am
i am actually going to try for this. talk about how IE 5.5 is w/o a doubt the best web browser ever to be in use.
- 84July 18th, 2008 10:01 am
@ZenBug (#81): you are right, it should be prize, not price. Thanks, fixed!
- 85July 18th, 2008 10:15 am
truthfully smash mag rules
- 86July 18th, 2008 10:43 am
Without Smash Mag i wouldn’t know, where i get my inspirations.:) thanks.
- 87July 18th, 2008 12:25 pm
Heyyy! Thanks for great contest!
- 88July 18th, 2008 1:15 pm
Very nice contest and very very nice prize!!! Thank you
- 89July 18th, 2008 2:30 pm
1. Is there a size limit on images?
2. Are we allowed external links?
3. Can I have a Macbook anyway?This is an awesome idea. I really appreciate the low character limit; it means I can write something short and not be worrying about how much I wrote.
- 90July 18th, 2008 3:18 pm
@Gabriel (#89): the maximal width of the images should be 500px. Height doesn’t matter. You can (and probably should) use external links.
- 91July 18th, 2008 4:05 pm
awesome.
I know you’ve already commented on the subject, but is the maximum word limit mandatory or simply a guideline? You said you didn’t want to impose a 2000+ word article, but should I choose to do a larger article would it “lose points”?
- 92July 18th, 2008 4:35 pm
Really interesting. Maybe I`ll try :)
- 93July 18th, 2008 4:35 pm
@Lucas (#91): it is a guideline, but it is not mandatory. That means: if you have 10 characters too much you won’t lose points. But if you have 1000 characters too much we may consider it in our score assignment.
- 94July 18th, 2008 9:16 pm
Will there be less consideration of your entry if you are a little outside the 1200 character range? Say 1300 characters?
- 95July 18th, 2008 9:25 pm
It’s a blog! Blog entries are usually short. The point of the contest is to see if you *do* have the skill to write a *short* yet still (informative)(witty)(useful) piece of content.
- 96July 18th, 2008 9:47 pm
Hello smashing!
I don’t have much blogging experience, my blog is still fresh, but I know I have whats necessary to be your fav guest author.
so tell me please, is the lake of experience will be a point against me ? would it stop me from being an author at smashing magazine?!
love u all, mwah - 97July 18th, 2008 10:09 pm
great prize…..
and good luck for the winner.This site is really useful.
- 98July 19th, 2008 12:04 am
Wow , I am in …
- 99July 19th, 2008 12:18 am
@Andrew (#94): 1200 character range is a guideline, but it is not mandatory. That means: if you have 10 characters too much you won’t lose points. But if you have 1000 characters too much we may consider it in our score assignment.
@Andrew (#95): exactly, that’s what we are after.
@Nisreen (#96): the lack of experience is in no way a point against you. Maybe you are a hidden talent? Let us give it a try!
- 100July 19th, 2008 12:40 am
HI i really want the air there are new things in the air well thats for me anyway
please let me win im a massive fan - 101July 19th, 2008 12:43 am
I’m on too.. good idea Smashing Magazine!
- 102July 19th, 2008 4:27 am
Your site does not validate:
23 errors in your CSS
34 errors in your HTML
You should practice what you preach! - 103July 19th, 2008 5:40 am
A nice incentive to get people thinking. Looking forward to seeing what people are thinking.
- 104July 19th, 2008 6:07 am
Stop!. Stop all of you now!
All of you are waste your time!. That MacBook will travel to Spain… It will be mine, ¡ha, ha!.
All of you are wasting your time. That Pacbook going to be mine, it will travel to Spain, directly to my home. I can see the future and it will be for me, so you no longer comment, did OK?
My mental power make it mine. Remember: My mental power make it mine, mine, mine … Does not comment further. You can not reach it… My mind is powerful than yours… you never can win…
Say it with me: “I will not make further comment in Smashingmagazine.com”. “The Macbook will be for OscarWorld, so I will abandon any hope of winning.” “I will not make further comment in Smashingmagazine.com”.
Repeat with me again: “I will not make further comment in Smashingmagazine.com”. “The Macbook will be for OscarWorld, so I will abandon any hope of winning.” “I will not make further comment in Smashingmagazine.com.”
Repeat may times and remember: “I never can win”. “OscarWorld will be the winner”…
Ok, that is… good boy… ;-)
- 105July 19th, 2008 6:19 am
Sounds pretty cool.
I will most definitely submit articles for your review, with plenty of links and photos.
I love the incentive. Haven’t had a Mac for years.
- 106July 19th, 2008 6:59 am
i want it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my toshiba is broken! - 107July 19th, 2008 7:19 am
@OscarWorld (103): we are not sure that you are right… ^^
- 108July 19th, 2008 8:24 am
Hi
The zip files for donwnload seem to b corrupt.
- 109July 19th, 2008 8:36 am
i don´t want the iBook….jj
- 110July 19th, 2008 10:40 am
@erplav (#107): just checked the .zip-file, it seems to be OK. Where is the problem?
- 111July 19th, 2008 11:57 am
“The compressed zip (folder) is invalid or corrupted.”
- 112July 19th, 2008 12:29 pm
that’s weird. i just downloaded it and it’s fine. the problem must lie with you.
- 113July 19th, 2008 4:51 pm
I too got the invalid/corrupted error message on 2 different computers (Vista).
- 114July 19th, 2008 10:53 pm
uploaded a new version of the .zip
- 115July 19th, 2008 11:40 pm
Say Hello,
… I am a web designer and I stay day by day at my office and when I have time I read your posts, and say: that’s awesome, that’s great but in some days i choose my background wallpaper from your site. Guys you are the best.
From Sibiu with love,
Mihai A. - 116July 20th, 2008 2:24 am
I dont like MAC much
- 117July 20th, 2008 2:52 am
@Yasir Imran (#116): If you win it, you can send it to me XD
- 118July 20th, 2008 6:54 am
Anch’io lo voglio :)
- 119July 20th, 2008 8:15 am
Still getting the invalid error message. Is it just one file? Can you post unzipped?
- 120July 20th, 2008 8:21 am
Jason. It’s not only one file.There are two index pages, css sheets, images, etc.
I uploaded the version I downloaded from the original link. Check if this works: http://sova.solarion.org/sm-template.zip
- 121July 20th, 2008 8:24 am
this will be fun, although the prize will bum some people out. however, we’ll all get something from a lot of great articles, i’m sure of that.
one question though: you never mentioned when we’ll find out about the winner, or even when you’ll start publishing the guest articles. just to know if I’m going to have huge roaming fees on my mobile :)
- 122July 20th, 2008 9:13 am
Thanks Silver…worked perfectly.
- 123July 20th, 2008 9:37 am
boy, that mac sure will lure a lot of ppl around here @ smashing. take care smashing.
- 124July 20th, 2008 11:09 am
C’mon guys: 1400 chars? I’ve just written the article introduction (giving few facts before asking the main question and answering it with arguments) and I already have 1300 or so – that’s 10 sentences! How the hell am I s’posed to write something serious within such a limit? I believe you expect something more than “To use paragraphs or not?”. I mean, come on: none of your precious articles were 1400 chars. You want arguments, you want controversy, you want a debate-article. Have you ever seen a debate consisting of 1400 chars on a forum, IRC or elsewhere?
Really, do something about it if you want to get in touch with some serious writers. If not, well.. I’ll send you this one anyway and probably write another. Hopefully, I’ve got one idea, which might somehow work out under your restrictions.
- 125July 20th, 2008 11:35 am
I want to have this Mac in my hands…
- 126July 20th, 2008 2:25 pm
How are you going to “deliver” the MacBook Air to the winner? If the winner is from Canada would they have to pay the $350 duty fees, or is it going to be like a credit for an Apple Store?
- 127July 20th, 2008 3:00 pm
Both article-templates do _not_ validate… .
Shall we correct YOUR template??
- 128July 20th, 2008 4:11 pm
Oh, cmon, guys. Smashing Magazine is like every other project taken seriously – they wish to grow and do it properly. So they’re putting us through serious tests. Stop crying after longer character-limit. Everyone knows it’s harder to write a good piece with just a few sentences. But that’s the point! SM wants to see innovating and clever solutions. I have no worries – as long as I show some creativity, everything should be OK.
So people.. concetrate your energy on smashing ideas and not smashing-bashing!
- 129July 20th, 2008 8:10 pm
really atraccted ….win a macbook
but good luck for the winner - 130July 20th, 2008 11:50 pm
@Julian L. (#126): oh, thanks, we’ve fixed it. We have forgotten to put the Doctype-declaration at the top of the markup. Sorry for inconvenience.
- 131July 21st, 2008 1:34 am
Nice Idea.
Original.
- 132July 21st, 2008 1:49 am
Ok.. let me the first one here to tell that I am not fond of a MacBook Air… it looks girlish to me…
- 133July 21st, 2008 1:58 am
guys .. the owner of the MAC book s here.. i have already sent my mailing address to SM.. so forget about it others…
- 134July 21st, 2008 3:47 am
good luck for the winner!
- 135July 21st, 2008 6:33 am
what if a part of an article is already published in personal blog? is it an absolute no-no?
- 136July 21st, 2008 11:32 am
i would also love to write but i have 10 reasons why i should’t write an article :-(
1. actually i’m very happy with my new dell xps notebook
2. i’m a 24 year old unknown girl living in a unknown country called austria and my mother tongue is german. therefor i couldn’t express myself authentically in english.
3. i always wanted to become a writer for a online designer or music magazin but didn’t focus on it in my younger days and therefor have not the right education everyone asks for when it comes to getting a job.
4. i always start designing my homepage, photoshop tutorials and so on and never finish. i just don’t know why!
5. i don’t think that anyone is interested in my thoughts. why?
6. traditional art and digital art started a war inside my head
7. i erased the 7th reason
8. i’m not a designer,developer, have no title…
9. i have no experiences
10. i started thinking about ten reasons why i should write an article but i came up with none.i wish you (the ones who found 10 reasons “why writing an article”) all the best!
diephilippa
- 137July 21st, 2008 2:14 pm
This sounds like a great contest, but why no tutorials? I’d really like to see more tuts on Smashing Magazine… top ten lists are a dime a dozen.
- 138July 21st, 2008 3:17 pm
“Restrictions and Rules: you can submit at most 3 articles”, comment #17 “how many? please only one – your best ;-)” – which is correct?
- 139July 21st, 2008 3:32 pm
diephilippa: Oh, cmon.. give it a shot. The one that doesn’t take risks, won’t drink shampagne. I’ve got a reason for you: there’s nothing to lose!
- 140July 21st, 2008 7:24 pm
Yeeesssssssss. ~ mac air rocks……………………… Smashing magazine………..rocks………
- 141July 21st, 2008 11:22 pm
I am a fresher.Software designer,web designer.I got your link from my friend..i am still wondering about the precious collection in your site. i was really missed it for the last 2 years..Since i got the ‘knowledge’ about your site, iam visiting your site regularly…What to say…Wonder.. Wonder..Fancy..site of a designer..not ony for the web..thank you
- 142July 22nd, 2008 1:26 am
Wow, that MacBook is adorable!!!!
Smashingmagazine THE BEST, oh_i _love _it _love_it_love_it :)!!!! - 143July 22nd, 2008 2:29 am
@Bobby Jack (#138): at most 3 articles; but it is better to submit the best one which is really smashiing ;-)
- 144July 22nd, 2008 9:23 am
Should we include a small author bio?
- 145July 22nd, 2008 10:15 am
@Gabriel (#144): yes, you may include a small author bio.
- 146July 22nd, 2008 10:42 am
@diephilippa (136): Hi, my neighbour. (I am from Czech Republic, 19 years old) Please, tell me something about yourself and your work. Or better give me contact at you (ICQ, e-mail, skype…). I’d like to chat with some young Austrian webdesigner ;-)
- 147July 22nd, 2008 2:02 pm
@ Hynek Zatloukal: Try diephilippa.deviantart.com ; )
- 148July 22nd, 2008 3:55 pm
i guess i not first but being first doesnt mean youll win!
- 149July 23rd, 2008 1:05 am
Not that i will ever win this thing, but it’s worth to try.
ps: Congrats with the very good site! ;-)
- 150July 24th, 2008 11:37 am
1196 characters, no problem, done. More than enough space for a blog post. Just follow good web copy writing advice – write your copy, then eliminate half the words, then get rid of half of what’s remaining!
- 151July 25th, 2008 5:15 am
thanks a lot for the template.
this is my time to shine! lol XD
- 152July 25th, 2008 5:30 pm
so do i have to be a web designer to have something to say and something to show? what if i am just a graphic designer for print and video? can i still join? thanks!
- 153July 26th, 2008 2:48 pm
@dea_tabs (#152): you don’t need to be a professional, it’s enough if you have some fresh and clever ideas!
- 154August 3rd, 2008 3:16 am
Uhm.. does the h1 title count?
- 155August 3rd, 2008 5:05 am
Sorry for not writing a post after post, but does “About the author” part present in the template count for the char limit as well?
- 156August 3rd, 2008 3:37 pm
@h-a-r-v (#154): the h1-title doesn’t count. And “About the author” section doesn’t count.
- 157August 4th, 2008 2:16 am
Thanks :-)
- 158August 4th, 2008 7:53 am
Awesome idea/contest! Just sent in my entries.
- 159August 4th, 2008 12:25 pm
Zip file not working for me :( Can I submit in an HTML doc?
- 160August 4th, 2008 2:54 pm
hi!, wanna win win win !!1
- 161August 4th, 2008 4:29 pm
There’s a mysterious typo in one of my articles and I’ve sent it already. What should I do? A trivial question, but will you be that kind and correct it, or should I do it myself and resend it with some sort of annotation?
- 162August 5th, 2008 6:43 am
how do we know if you actually receive our articles? Is there a notification?
- 163August 6th, 2008 10:41 pm
@ superxtian:
I too have the same problem here. I sent it on 5th August early Morning..I am still not sure, whether they received it or not.
@ Smashing
- Any idea for the above issue.
- When is the result date - 164August 10th, 2008 2:46 pm
@supertxtian (#162), @PrabhakaranG (#163): we have received your articles.
- 165August 10th, 2008 10:33 pm
@ Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz:
Kewl. Thankz for the reply. - 166August 11th, 2008 5:27 am
Just curious… have the “finalists” who wrote the 12 articles you’ll be featuring already been contacted? Or will we all be kept in suspense for three weeks? ;)
- 167August 21st, 2008 12:34 pm
This post (http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/11/top-ten-web-typography-sins) contains some tips from this book (http://www.papress.com/thinkingwithtype/) whithout giving any credit.
- 168August 25th, 2008 5:57 pm
macbook!
- 00
There are no trackbacks at this time. If you are interested in leaving a trackback, please use this URL.
Interact
Popular
- 100 Wordpress Themes
- Photoshop Tutorials
- Fantastic Wallpapers
- 40+ Excellent Freefonts
- Dual-Screen Wallpapers
- Wordpress Themes for 2009
- Illustrator Tutorials
- Incredible Free Icon Sets
- High-Quality Free Fonts
- 30 Scripts For Galleries
- Photoshop Text Effects
- Useful Icon Sets
- Web Design Trends
- iPhone Wallpapers
- Before Launching a Website
- CSS Layouts And Templates
- Photoshop Actions
- Stunning Pictures and Photos
- Fantastic HDR Pictures
- Logo Design Tutorials
- Free Design Templates
- 10 Mistakes In Logo Design
- Photoshop Custom Shapes
- 40 Creative Design Layouts
- 8 Layout Solutions
- 53 CSS Techniques
- Photography Techniques
- Black & White Photography
- Styling Design Elements
- CSS-Based Forms
- 50 jQuery Techniques
- 50 Portfolio Websites
- 50 CSS Techniques
- Creative Logo Designs
- Desktop Wallpapers
- 25 Open Source Mac Apps
- 50 Free Icon Sets
- The Big Showcase Of Online T-Shirt Stores - http://bit.ly/5Tq8uA
- @ilmv oh ok then ;)
- @ilmv no, the SM Book will not be out of date :) We made sure it contains universal design, usability and marketing principles.
- Apple ad bombing Windows 7 on Google - http://bit.ly/28ctPq
- Atatonic - a fresh CSS framework - http://bit.ly/4oOV2w (via @umutm)
- @HrvojeKC yes, that's an interesting idea. Maybe when the waiting is over, we'll write a detailed post about it.
youpiii wana get a macbook