Other random links

Ninja Scripts
Weight Watchers circa 1970s
Star Trek Failure Generator
The Kingdom of Loathing
Hot dogs and buns Now!

In an effort to emphasize this to the user, I had placed the print button in very close proximity to the actual agreement on the page. This way the user would immediately recognize that they had the ability to print the agreement and review before proceeding forward. The client’s immediate reaction was to comment that it wasn’t consistent with the placement of print button on other pages. For them, the print button should always remain in the upper left-hand corner of every page. For me, this defeated the purpose of providing the print functionality or displaying the agreement all together. By placing it far away from the agreement, it would more than likely be missed and only add visual noise. The whole objective of being transparency and trust was lost.

This is where the concept of consistency breaks down. Consistency doesn’t take context into consideration. To remain consistent at all costs sometimes blinds the user to useful information that could have moved them to complete a task or make a decision. User experience design is about knowing when to be consistent and when to break the rules and provide the user with the right information at the right time.

Here another Communist plot to brainwash children: The Theory of Smurfian Communism

Also a strategy is just a plan based upon what you think might happen in the future. It’s fun to think about what might happen, but at the end of the day you will be wrong. You will be wrong because you are human. Your prejudices and assumptions will undoubtedly screw up your vision of the future. A plan is a good starting point, but you will not understand what you are doing until you start doing it.

Last week I had a crazy idea for a friend’s birthday party. I pictured many colored cuts-out of her face each wearing funny hats so I gathered up some cardboard, scissors and an Exacto knife and found a picture that I thought might work. As I started editing the photo, I immediately ditched the idea of color. After enlarging the image, her face looking sun burnt and blotchy so I went to B&W.

Next, I started cutting out her face on paper and gluing  the same shaped cardboard cut out. Again I ran into a snag, the cardboard was too thick to make precise cuts so I rummaged in the recycling for thinner cardboard. After switching to the lighter cardboard, cutting and pasting became easier and the work went faster.

When I finally finished (around 40 heads), I placed them on wood sticks and stuck them in a Styrofoam block. It looked cool, but I needed something else, something more personal. The idea of adding word bubbles popped into my head. I thought about funny things she would say, but as I was walking to the computer, I noticed a written top ten list on top of my printer. My wife had written out ten great things about our friend. Perfect.

So what’s the point of all this? It’s to illustrate that while I had a plan of how I was going to accomplish my vision, it didn’t work out the way I envisioned. There were problems with the image, the cardboard and how much time it was taking. Also when I actually finished, the center-piece didn’t fit my original vision. It didn’t fully connect to the occasion or person. How could I have realized any of these things without actually doing the work? The answer is couldn’t have.

Fuck you indeed Michael Bay.

More This is for you Michael Bay

HotGloo interface is similar to Visio but it’s completely geared towards designing webpages. It has a palette of basic shapes, input fields, icons and navigational elements which you can drag and drop on a grid. At first I didn’t think the palette had enough elements, but the inclusion of the basic shapes (square, circle, triangle, line) allowed me to create and save custom elements outside the basic drop-down fields and input boxes.

In addition, HotGloo has also added the ability to add interactions to web elements such as simple linking to more advanced actions such as user states. Advance text controls such as padding, leading and indenting is also available which I love because applying leading and indenting in HTML/CSS can be extremely time consuming. Other niceties are the ability to create layers (like Photoshop), export pages as images or PDF and invite others to review and edit the pages.

The application did crash a few times on me, but none of my pages or changes were lost because the smart people at HotGloo included an auto-saving feature. Other than some minor bugs, there not much too complain about, although their pricing plan could us some work. Right now you can sign up for one project at $7 dollars a month, $14 for two project, then it jumps to $48 for unlimited.  It would be nice if you could just add an additional project for $7 as you went along. Right now I have 2 simultaneous projects running, if I get another then I have to jump to $48.

When comparing with design in HTML/CSS, the only thing I really miss find and replace. As you are progress through a project, there are always navigation and text changes. These types of change turn into tedious cut and paste jobs as you have to go through each page to make the change. This is not a criticism of HotGloo, but just a difference between using essentially a graphics tool versus a programming tool.  With that said, I still have strong feelings about designing in the native language (HTML) of the thing you are trying to build (a webpage), but not so much that I won’t consider using tools such as HotGloo, MockingBird or MockFlow for situations that require rapid prototyping.

Here’s a list of some of the top wireframing tools out there

Warning! Pretty much every recipe incorporates boiled eggs, tuna and/or tomato sauce!

I wish there were pictures like this Weight Watchers Cookbook from 1974, but there are some great recipe titles:

• Yogurt Soup With Meatballs – Not only does this break Jewish dietary restrictions, it breaks the laws of nature. Yogurt and meat, like dark and light matter, should not come within contact of one another. Spontaneous combustion will occur in your stomach.
• Cornucopia Salad Platter – The recipe asks for hot dog relish, bologna and hard boiled eggs. Why?
• Swiss Gypsy Salad – I didn’t realize there were Swiss gypsies (I looked it up). This dish is probably why they are all dead (that and the Nazis). Ingredients ask for Swiss cheese, salami, French dressing, anchovy, potatoes, and of course, boiled eggs.
• Neptune Spaghetti – “A can of tuna makes this delightfully different tomato sauce for spaghetti.” No it doesn’t. All I can think of is a Hobo cooking it over a trash can fire.
• Oyster Loaf – Nothing with the word “loaf” in it inspires confidence.
• Spaghetti With Tuna-Tomato Sauce - Again with the tuna and pasta! “A colorful and inexpensive entree for an impromptu meal”. How is this colorful? Smell, not sight, would the crowd-dazzler in this dish.
• Liver in Tomato Sauce – Stop putting stuff that doesn’t belong in tomato sauce! I’m warning you!
• HotchPotch - The title of this dish only reminds me of the word “crotch”. Say it with me, “Hotch, Potch, Crotch”. Now faster, “HotchPotchCrotch”.
• Giant Brunswick Stew – The city of Brunswick, NJ is a huge dump which is exactly what you will take after eating this stew.  ”Get me the plunger! This Brunswick is giant!”

In addition to these wonderful dishes, the book contains some money saving tips!

• “Don’t throw away leftover cheese after a party. Save even the tiniest wedge, grate it, and freeze it in an airtight plastic bag.” Gross. I don’t really want cheese that a bunch of your trailer park friends have palmed over.
• “Save those snack food tag-ends. Crush the last pretzels, potato chips or crackers and use as a casserole topping.“ Dude! This Ranch Dorrito, Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles, and Spicy Pork Rind casserole rocks!
• “Save the oil from cans of tuna, sardines and anchovies to use in cooking and salad dressings.“ It gives your salads that extra metallic flavor the kids love.

The ideal candidate will have two to four years of management experience and a deep knowledge of Web services technologies, an MVC framework such as Django or Ruby on Rails as well as experience with Flash AS3, Flex and XML. The successful applicant has expertise in contemporary web design and development techniques, including  knowledge of HTML, CSS and Javascript (JQuery, Prototype). Candidates should have experience with web APIs and experience integrating data, audio, and video to drive Flash multimedia presentations. The qualified candidate must be a detail oriented individual with ability to handle tight deadlines, work well under pressure and prioritize multiple projects with strong leadership skills.

chance_quits (.mov)