No, no. You didn’t get me straight. I hate debugging perfectly working websites in Internet Explorer 6 as much as the next web designer, but I can’t help but comment on the recent trend of not-IE6 pride.
As web designers, we shouldn’t be proud to exclude a portion (however small) of visitors from our websites. We shouldn’t just use conditional comments to show a big fat “GET A PROPER BROWSER N00B” at IE6 users. We shouldn’t wear our non-IE6 compliancy as a banner, beaming at ourselves. Even big games like Google and 37Signals didn’t do that.
We should try to use the above conditional comments to show a proper, however limited, version of the site to our visitors. Inform them subtly that they use an outdated browser and point them to all the good directions to replace it. Finally, say sorry if they’re not able to change their browser, but they’ll have to cope with a light-edition version of the service.
Then be proud. No need at all to confuse and annoy users just because they use an outdated browser.
And that comes from me, a well filled with user-related rantings and complaints.
One of the most common mistakes I do while coding CSS is letting my headers (h1, h2 and the like) literally ’spill’ when too long. Lemme conjure a quick example:
Here we have a quite common case where the header (and maybe some header meta) is shown next to an avatar, gravatar, image anyway. The image is floated left, added a 10px margin, and the h1 and h2 tags are just to 0 margin, padding (except for the 5px top margin of h2).
The demo looks cool and nice because the title is short enough, and everything is right up in the skies.
Let’s observe what happens when the title gets a bit too long for comfort:
Tada! Spill. Why did that happen?
Because I floated the image and relied on that, without giving some padding to the block-level headings, which of course, will continue to spill flush left when the image is no longer there. Which can be the result you want sometimes, but I don’t think that’s the case when using this effect for headlines.
So a simple padding-left: 60px in both h1 and h2…
…will do the trick.
No spill!
One of the newest kids on the productivity (or as all the cool kids call it, GTD) field is The Hit List, a polished task management app from PotionFactory, the mama of Voice Candy and Tangerine!.
Having used (for just a bit) a ton of task management apps, both on Windows and on Mac OS, I can tell if one of those buggers is gonna be a hit or not. And this, my friends, is a direct crossé to the jaw of procrastination.
Things? I never quite got used to it. Sounds illogical, but it never managed to fit my workflow. I didn’t like the way it handled tasks and projects and ‘areas’, plus it stayed in beta phase for too long.
OmniFocus? I would love it. If I was Merlin Mann. I’m a quite simple-minded girl and OF was just too much for me.
iGTD? Anything with “todo” somewhere in their name? You name it, I’ve tested it. Nothing worked. So I’ve settled with TaskPaper and all its simple-text, cross-platform goodness. I use it everyday for simple lists, but I wanted an application to keep track of greater projects and complex to-dos. Enter The Hit List.
It’s sexy (even in its public beta incarnation), it’s pleasant to use, it makes you wanna do things, cross them off your list and then add some more (actually, I don’t think that’s a very good side-effect, but whatever).
What I loved:
- Getting around using only the keyboard. I cannot remember myself ever learning all the shortcuts of an application, but I’ve quickly mastered THL ones. It even has a ‘game mode’, where you can move tasks around with W, A, S, D. Support for vi and emacs text shortcuts included. Quicksilver-like “Go To…” functionality. What’s not to love?
- Nested tasks. Yes, at lasts, a task is not just a single action, it’s a tree. Thank you.
- Tabbed view, so handy and card view, which lets you focus on one task alone, adding notes at will. Perfect for brainstorming.
- When you finish a task, a pleasant sound greets you. That is one of the things that makes you wanna complete more and more. Excellent work in visual and aural cues.
- The overall level of polish, given the fact that it’s still in beta (I cannot get over Things prohibiting me from dragging stuff to the sidebar).
I have heard many people comparing The Hit List to Things, but this is like comparing your sexy new girlfriend to your interesting-looking, but pyjama-wearing ex. Yes, THL is a polished task management app like Things, but fares better in almost everything in my starry eyes.
Be sure to download it and give it a go if you’re into it. And check the default Learn The Hit List project for more insight.
* If you don’t get NKOTB, jesus. I’ve gotten way old.
