Move to Applications? (1)

We Mac users have been blessed with self-contained applications that (for the most part) don’t require an installation/setup. This means trying out a new application is a simple matter of downloading and double clicking and the app is running.

However, in many cases people end up having their applications installed to their Downloads folder instead of the “proper” Applications folder, because they don’t know or care where their apps are running.

Stay, a great window helper application with an ungoogleable name, recognizes this antipattern and is able to move itself to the Applications folder if it’s running from Downloads.

What a great way to recognize and prevent a potential headache for your customers.

Software, Usability , 1 comments

Recession proofing your webdesigns (1)

As part of my work at Substance Lab I occasionally get to chop a design (usually a Photoshop document) into pieces and implement it in squeaky clean markup and CSS.

Unfortunately some of the designs tend to be more complex and use visual treatments that are hard to use on the web, and as a result the implementation of the design takes longer, costing the client more than what’s really necessary.

The following are a few tips that’s going to make it easier and cheaper to build a design for the web. Coincidentally, some of them will even make your website design better!

Webdesign , Read the full entry , 1 comments

The small change that wasn’t (0)

The other day a client of mine asked me to make a small improvement to their application. This was no big deal and only required a single string column with some data being added to a table. An hour development time tops, so I said sure.

But then the all-seeing eye of our system administrator caught my little change. Turns out those normalization forms I once learned about actually matter - who’d have thunk?

Programming , Read the full entry , 0 comments

Don’t use placeholder text as labels (136)

One of the form field enhancements coming in HTML5 is the placeholder-attribute:

The placeholder attribute represents a short hint (a word or short phrase) intended to aid the user with data entry. A hint could be a sample value or a brief description of the expected format.

Not a new concept by any means, but it’s great that it’s being formalized and supported by browsers. The HTML5 spec then goes on to say:

The placeholder attribute should not be used as an alternative to a label.

This is important because the placeholder text gets removed as the form is being filled out and your form needs to be usable even when your placeholder text is not there.

Usability, Webdesign , Read the full entry , 136 comments

Humor driven development (0)

Happy developers are productive developers. Having fun makes people happy. So sayeth the Chief Happiness Officer.

This should come as no surprise to noone in the Rails community - after all, Rails is “optimized for developer happiness” and DHH has touted this on numerous occasions.

And the Ruby community in general seems to be a life-loving bunch. _why didn’t rise to fame solely because he was a good programmer. His code was fun and quirky, his documentation and presentations even more so.

Programming , Read the full entry , 0 comments

Webdesign critique: Cooper.com (0)

A problem with companies becoming ever more aware of and adept at social media is the fact that it’s become hard to whine about some company without instantly having a representative asking you what’s wrong. Some times you just want to whine.

This is roughly what happened after I tweeted my dissatisfaction with the new Cooper website.

Okay, fair enough, I’ll spend some time going over some of the issues I found.

Usability, Webdesign , Read the full entry

Your browser wants its back button back (8)

The other day I was playing around with a potential design for a little something I’m working on. After messing about in Photoshop drawing a button that would take the user back to the previous screen, I had to stop and ask myself the million dollar question: “Why?”

Usability, Webdesign , Read the full entry , 8 comments

RFPs are broken (1)

Last week I did something I very rarely do. I - together with visual designers, barq - replied to a Request For Proposal. The experience confirmed my suspicion that RFPs are indeed a broken concept.

Business , Read the full entry , 1 comments

My comic feeds (0)

I was asked on Twitter what feeds I have in my Comics/Humor category in my feed reader. Since 140 characters isn’t enough, the list goes here instead:

Life , Read the full entry , 0 comments

Feed the trolls: Launch your project now (3)

One of the many things I try to make my customers realize, is that their web application is never done.

There is always something that can be made easier to use, pages that can be made to load faster, new features that can be implemented, existing features that can be made more powerful, or landing pages that can be optimized.

Business, Software , Read the full entry , 3 comments