Category Archives: Uncategorized

You have to write help files anyway, so as you are designing the application, write definitions of key terms in html that can become your help file. Write descriptions of how the application works (aka use cases) in html that can become part of your help file.

”The notion of drawing as the core skill within Fine Art has been the subject of a challenging and contentious debate within recent years in education. The commercial galleries have never promoted drawing as a significant activity, and sometimes artists themselves have contributed to the mystification of the subject, collaborating with markets and the mediaContinue reading “Process”

There are certainly many ways to learn and many stories of successful people who famously did not attend or dropped out of higher education. Yet for my time and money, there is no better path to professional and intellectual growth than immersion into an environment where you are guided by industry experts through an exchangeContinue reading “The Value of the College Experience”

What makes a great web application? From David Verba, Director of Technology, Adaptive Path: ”A successful product depends on the experience your users have and how well your product serves their needs.” ”Don’t try to be everything to everybody.” Selections from Robert Hoekman, Jr., interaction designer and usability specialist: ”It conforms to the way usersContinue reading “Qualities of Great Software Design”

“The focus should not be on features, the focus should be on focus. An obvious application is a focused application. It is easy to explain to other people. It makes sense to those using it because the purpose of the tool is self-evident, and nothing in it strays from that purpose. Every feature supports theContinue reading “Web Application Design: Focus”

Google Gears Google Gears javascript libraries transparently create and update a local database. Developers simply execute SQL against a local database. Google Gears’ database module takes care of prompting the user for permission, creating the database, and executing the SQL. Google Gears also provides a local server module to cache web content and then serveContinue reading “Google Gears”

”When you begin a picture, you often make some pretty discoveries. You must be on guard against these. Destroy the thing, do it over several times. In each destroying of a beautiful discovery the artist does not really suppress it, but rather transforms it, condenses it, makes it more substantial.” – Pablo Picasso Code thatContinue reading “Destroy…transform…condense…make it more substantial.”

I have just returned from three days of RailsConf 2007 in Portlant, Oregon and wanted to share my overall impression of this very well-done event. There were four tracks, so no one could have attended all sessions. So, I won’t be sharing a play-by-play summary of each of the sessions. The guys over at OnRails.orgContinue reading “RailsConf”

In most airports this space between the “up” and “down” escalators would be an unoccupied, dusty corner. Not here at Portland’s airport. btw I’m here for RailsConf 2007. Full reports on the next three days of geek-speak to follow.

Sometimes a slicker ajax-y UI is not the best choice. For instance, every LeadsOnRails contact can be tagged with an unlimitted number of tags. To add a tag, users either enter a new one in a text box or select an existing one from a drop-down box. An alternative design would have been to useContinue reading “Design Decision: Tags”