July 2009
19 posts
6 tags
Booyah? I say boo.
I got excited when I started reading about the new iPhone app Booyah Society. It’s a great example of a cross-over that brings aspects from computer gaming and applies them to other aspects of life. About a month ago, I wrote about incorporating a rewards system into productivity applications, and I specifically mentioned the Achievements system in World of Warcraft. Booyah claims to be an...
6 tags
IDEA 2009
The winners of the 2009 International Design Excellence Award competition have been announced. I’ve perused the gallery and picked out the ones that I find most inspirational.
I’m always a sucker for new takes on products that we take for granted. The Eva Solo Grating Bucket “…turns the traditional handheld grater upside down.” The grated matter is contained within the grater, rather than left in...
5 tags
Designed for Mobility: Pure-Fi Anywhere 2
My wife and I both enjoy listening to podcasts and audiobooks in the morning while showering and otherwise making ourselves presentable. I had been using an old pair of computer speakers. They sat on the floor under the counter with a mess of cords, and I would have to search for the end that plugged into my iPhone. Finally, I decided to give Susie iPod/iPhone docking speakers for Valentine’s...
1 tag
Big Bird Lock-in
In the northeast of the United States, there is a supermarket called Giant Eagle. In the Pittsburgh area, it is by far the most common—nearly monopolistic. As many stores do, they have a card that allows you to take advantage of special offers when you check out: the Giant Eagle Advantage Card. Of course, this also allows them to track your purchases and provide coupons at checkout based on that...
3 tags
Hello, my name is…
Ever since Apple announced the iPhone App Store, I’ve been wanting to develop applications for it. But, given all of my other activities, finding the time to learn Objective C might take until retirement, or at least until the kids are in college. I’m quite happy to say that one of my developer friends recently purchased a Mac Mini. We’re teaming up.
I took some time while I was on vacation last...
1 tag
Vacation
It’s that time of year again. I’ll be taking off tonight for my annual retreat into the woods of West Virginia. It will be what I consider a well-deserved break—from work, as well as DesignAday. I’ll return with batteries recharged and with some exciting news to share.
Jack, was that a tease to get your readership back after a week without posts? Well, yes, but it’s not an empty promise. I’m...
4 tags
In the Details: Attach Files
We use JIRA for issue tracking at my company. All of my design documentation gets posted to JIRA, attached to whichever issue required it. Awhile back, we updated to a new version, and there was one particular feature improvement that significantly improved my experience with the software.
Previously, to attach a file, you would click on the “Attach File” link, and you would be presented with a...
3 tags
Transparency
“Design for visibility to make inspection and debugging easier.” Thus states Eric Raymond’s Rule of Transparency from his book The Art of Unix Programming.
A software system is transparent when you can look at it and immediately understand what it is doing and how. It is discoverable when it has facilities for monitoring and display of internal state so that your program not only functions well...
4 tags
Design Pattern: Multi-select
Selecting multiple items from a list was a tricky interaction in the past, especially on the web. The standard multi-select list widget leaves a lot to be desired. For one thing, the user must realize that they can select multiple items and know to hold down a modifier key to do so. Even when you know how to use it, it is easy to accidentally select something you didn’t intend to, or accidentally...
3 tags
Back to Basics: Sorting Paginated Lists
There are quite a few options to consider when displaying search results, or any other type of tabular list, for that matter. What information should be represented in columns?Should columns be sortable, and which ones? How many results should be delivered, and should they be paginated? What do you display when the list is empty (e.g. no results found)? There are any number of combinations and...
3 tags
Notable Notebook
Back in April, I posted about using “Training Wheels” to help users learn features which they haven’t yet tried. Just this weekend I began using Circus Ponies’ Notebook, and was pleasantly surprised by their implementation of training wheels.
Little tips like this one pop up the first time you encounter each feature. They fade away after several seconds. It’s an effective method of giving...
1 tag
What’s Hiding in My Apps Folder?
Once upon a time, my applications were categorized in folders by the type of work they allowed me to do. I had a folder for my design apps, one for games, one for internet apps, one for “productivity” apps like Word Perfect and MacinTax… Yes, I’m talking pre-OS X here. When I moved to OS X, I was rather annoyed at first that I couldn’t do the same thing. OS X has an Applications folder, and...
5 tags
Changing Hats
As I’ve become more proficient with CSS, and as CSS has become more capable, I have found myself contributing more and more of the final code. Behaviors that once required a developer to write JavaScript, I can now accomplish with dextrous application of styles. Lately, it is common for me to deliver all of the final HTML and CSS to the developer. I much prefer this, as I am able to attend to all...
2 tags
Designer’s Toolbelt: LittleSnapper
For most purposes, I find Mac OS X’s screen capture capabilities to be perfectly adequate. I can capture the entire desktop (with multiple monitors captured as separate images), a single window (complete with drop shadow and transparent background), or draw out a rectangle to capture a particular area. However, every once in awhile, I need to do something a little different. For such cases, there...
1 tag
Children’s Museum Experience
The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh has a lot of good things going for it, and my kids had a great time there Sunday afternoon, but there were a number of details that left me dissatisfied.
It has been a couple of years since we last visited, but not much has changed.
My daughter begged enough that my wife gave her a quarter to put in the fortune teller. The animatronic woman moved, the crystal...
3 tags
Accessible Menu
I’m not a fan of Eat’nPark. They serve a decent breakfast, but overall, I find their food to be blasé. There is very little on their menu that I would want to order for dinner. If I’m going to spend money to eat out, I’d prefer to spend it somewhere that I look forward to eating. Of course, not everyone shares this opinion, so that is where I found myself having dinner last night. To wit, I...
2 tags
Disney Movie Snub
I have young children, and some years ago signed up for the Disney Movie Club. I don’t often order DVDs from them, but I haven’t taken the effort to close my account. Once a month I receive notification about the selection of the month and have to go on their website and say I don’t want it.
For months now, their website has been completely borked in Safari.
I had to use LittleSnapper to take...
1 tag
Touch My Shag
If you have been reading this blog regularly, you know that I recently purchased a Nissan Cube. I’ve been enjoying the car quite a bit. I still have yet to see another one on the road, and everyone asks me about it.
One feature of it in particular always seems to pique people’s curiosity. “What is that thing on the dash?”
Nissan calls it a Shag Dash Topper. It sits right in the middle of the...
4 tags
Heavy Duty
I was eating leftover steak for lunch today, and I was having a hard time of it. My company stocks the entire office, including the kitchen, from Staples. I guess that easy button works. In one cabinet above the sink, there is a box full of plastic spoons, another containing forks, and a third offering knives. All of them say “Heavy Duty”. Now, I’d like to know what specifications had to be met to...
