sugarenia.com

I was checking out the Sitepoint.com blogs the other day when I saw this book title going around, its title in huge letters dancing around. Apparently, Rachel Andrew and Kevin Yank wish to convince us that all the CSS techniques we’ve amassed during the last few years are wrong and we should start thinking differently.

The book continues by importing a new kid on the block - a method using CSS tables for layout, through the proper use of the display property.

Something in all this struck me as phony. Maybe it was the title, which reminded me Digg-bait blog posts. Maybe it was the fact that I’ve already bought and liked two of Sitepoint.com books but I still think that they are kinda shallow. Maybe it’s the gut reflex in someone telling me everything I know is wrong - orly?

I agree. We have to start thinking differently. And we’ve already started. But everything we know is wrong? I don’t think so.

Changing our way of designing and front-end coding is not a matter of days or months - it’s a slow procedure, for good or for worse.

When we were designing using tables, we were thinking we were doing the right thing. Now that we use CSS, we’re still thinking we’re doing the right thing. We settled down with the current CSS techniques because they work.

Believe it or not, after a few years of coding in CSS you almost eliminate the huge chunk of project time that was needed for IE6 debugging. You just take a glimpse at a IE6 bug and you know the solution - because of people that worked on work-arounds and so-called hacks.

We stopped using hacks and now try to fool IE6 through conditional comments - a method that was suggested even by its makers. More and more CSS3 features take their places in current browsers - we start design with progressive enhancement in mind.

Our code gets leaner and meaner by the day.

And now that IE8 will get out (rolls eyes) we throw it all away because it’s obviously the wrong thing to do?

I don’t think so. I’m not convinced. Are you?

If you have any poor souls that are into World of Warcraft (still) among your closest friends, I’m sure they’ll be already babbling about the new cool / addictive / annoying / you-name-it achievements system that got introduced in the game with the latest patch.

Achievements is a simple idea from Blizzard, that uses the simple concept of rewarding users for completing quests, slaying monsters, exploring Azeroth.

Its implementation is quite simple - there is an amount of achievements you can complete, each gives you “achievement points”, and some of them, because they require quite a bit of time and work, give you special rewards like titles and tabards. There is still no reward for getting achievement points.

So what’s so special about it?

Read the rest of this entry »

I love BrightKite.com. I’ve previously marvelled at its witty login screen, which shows a, well, log. The recently released iPhone app is very polished and one of the most beautiful apps I’ve used on the iThingy.

But I don’t really agree with the placement of the action buttons in its “Pending Friends” page.

As you see, the buttons are blaced on the top right of the requests boxes. Which is fine when there is only one request, but if the requests pile up, they get seriously mixed with the next request and you may actually find yourself approving a request you didn’t intend to. I did.

A traditional placement on the left, right after the request info, would be more straightforward in my humble opinion. Plus, to better distinguish between the two actions, I’ve left the “Approve” button and converted “Ignore” to a link, like this:

After all, you’ll probably end up approving the request, eventually.

The vertical space required gets bigger with this, but I think it’s a good trade between usability and beauty. To reduce this vertical height, I’d remove the three lines of explanatory text next to “Trust this friend” - this is the kind of help that can be easily wrapped up in a tooltip.

Just some subtle changes that have a nice impact on usability.

I’ve reviewed mr. Hoekman’s Designing the Obvious book in the past - I must say I’m somehow biased, since I enjoy too much the way he writes. His books are simple and easy to follow and much focused - something that is a bit rare in the “Web Design” shelf, take my word for that.

“Designing the Moment: Web Interface Design Concepts in Action” (as its full title goes) is no different. In this, mr. Hoekman touches most current web design aspects (or problems) and presents his take on how to design in a more effective but simpler manner.

Tag clouds, video players, forms, even the almighty (and common as hell) blog design gets tossed into Hoekman’s blender and gets out leaner and meaner. I agree with most of his points but not with all - that’s the beauty of it all, it’s like having a normal conversation with a fellow web designer, discussing the practical matters at hand. I like practical.

I can’t say if I like DtM or DtO best - they’re two different takes on the same problem. What I really liked in this was the fact that practical examples were given everywhere throughout the book. Did I say I love practical?

It’s simple, it’s short, and if you’re concerned about the best way to design things, it might get a special place in your bookplace. Give it a try.

You know Mindmeister, the online mind-mapping tool, right?

It has an awesome sharing feature that permits you to collaborate on mind-mapping with other users, editing your mind maps in real time. It’s pretty cool, use it and you’ll see what I mean.

But because I felt über enough during this fun productive Friday, I decided the best use for Mindmeister is chatting. Check it out:

Why not? Come on! It’s live, you can invite as many people as you want (I think), there are emoticons, and the logic of mind-mapping can help with conversations that span multiple subjects. Plus you get nice previews for adding links and there’s even some Wikipedia love.

No, think about it. Really!

*fades in the background*