I recently received some .ai files from a design partner and needed a way to view and manipulate the data. My first assumption was that I would need Adobe Illustrator in order to open the proprietary file format. Turns out there are a couple of simple and free options:

1. Rename [filename].ai to [filename].pdf — the file can then be opened with a PDF viewer like Adobe Reader. This is a great option is you just need to view the content.

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2. Download the free, open source vector graphics editor Inkscape.  Here’s a blurb from the Inkscape website:

Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format.

Even though Inkscape uses SVG natively, it can open and manipulate .ai files. You can download it free from Sourceforge.

In an effort to simplify the UI (and corresponding HTML) for Google Reader, Google has stripped it down a bit.  Much of the rounded corners and shading are gone, and rendering performance is improved.  (More details on the official Google Reader Blog.)

But why is it that typography and colors took a back seat in this redesign?  The purpose of Google Reader is to present reading material, hence readability ought to be paramount.

I was very comfortable with the old theme, which made minimal use of bold typefaces and tended to present the non-focused screen areas in lower contrast text with a light blue background.  In that design, I found it very easy to fix my eyes on the article I was reading.

The new theme is an assault on the eyes, for a couple of simple reasons.  The background, now almost entirely white, is the new canvas for extensive use of black Arial Bold.  Black Arial Bold on a white background is quite stark — It’s as if the text has been “cranked up to 11.”  I am now finding it much harder to concentrate on a single article or to browse articles by title.

It would be trivial for Google to add some user settings that allow for color and font adjustments.  They’ve even implemented full-blown theme support in GMail.

In the absence of a customizable Google Reader, it looks like I will need to resort to a Firefox extension like Stylish or Greasemonkey to produce a more pleasant reading experience.  That means I will be ditching Google Chrome, which had been my browser-of-choice for Google Reader.

Or, if I don’t want to mess around with software changes, I did find a special accessory store that markets devices for reading high-contrast web sites.