November 2005
13 posts
3 tags
Quake + Java = Jake
Once upon a time, I used to want to program games. And then I realized that I wasn’t really all that good at telling a story, making 3D models, and especially texturing those 3D models, so all I’d be doing is making an engine that probably spun some cubes at blinding speeds (if that). That being said, I wish I could get paid to write games in Java, or at least translate them from the original C.
4 tags
Finding the right color
If you have no formal design training, picking a color scheme is probably one of the weaknesses in your web development toolbox. Of course, sometimes you’re building a project where due to either time or budget constraints you are the designer.
One tool that eases this pain for me is Eric Meyer’s color blender.
It’s easy to use. You pick a startpoint and an endpoint, and are instantly...
2 tags
CSS Vista
CSS Vista is fun and easy. And very useful, especially today, when we’re building print-media css files.
1 tag
For all you budding programmers...
I know it’s all the stereotype for geeks to love caffiene (myself included), but let me tell you, the headaches are really annoying.
4 tags
Great Design, Large Firm
I spend a lot of time (at least an hour a day, probably closer to two) looking at websites that I didn’t design. I visit web standards-compliant design showcases just like every other designer, looking to learn from others, find inspiration, and compare my own work. Every day, there is a new site to look at and admire. But rarely do I come across sites that are beautifully designed AND belong to a...
4 tags
Fine Line
I’ve noticed something at realtor.com that could end up being a problem for them, especially if someone can find a way to take them on.
The problem, as I see it, is that they are overdoing it on the “showcase listing” front. I was trying to find studio condos in Burlington, VT. I made my search criteria and let the database have at it. Instead of getting the listings I wanted, I was stuffed...
4 tags
Target Design
I was enjoying a bowl of Target-brand cereal this morning with my son when I thought once again about just how nice their generic stuff is designed. From pens to playing cards and from cereal to kitchenware, I think the singly most imporant thing that separates Target from its competition is the well designed and implemented brand. This goes for everything from the circulars to the store signage.
6 tags
Leaving 800x
Urged on by, among other things, the recent redesign of A List Apart, the crew at shotgunflat has finally built up the courage to start to build real, working, client sites for 1024×768 or better resolution.
I’ve been looking for an excuse for the better part of two years now, but finally the usage stats are there to justify the change. We’ve been tracking visitation stats on three very...
3 tags
Rails session stores
For reference, since it’s not specifically in the environment.rb file and apparently no one else on the net found it necessary to place on a Google-accessible page, the proper syntax for switching from file-based session stores to DRb session stores in Rails (0.14 and onwards) is config.action_controller.session_store = :drb_store inside the Rails::Initializer block.
From what I can tell, from...
8 tags
Looking at the world through MVC glasses
Once you go MVC, you never go back. Properly using an MVC framework, particularly with web-based programming, completely alters you ability to look at your old programs the same way again.
Now that I’ve graduated to a world where new development takes place in Java/Struts or Ruby on Rails, going back to the old Perl or PHP program is a nightmare.
This is not just because out of the box...
6 tags
Realistic Expectations
In the book The Mythical Man-Month Robert Brooks puts forth the idea that there is No Silver Bullet in software engineering. There will be no single advancement that will create a 10-fold improvement in software engineering productivity over 10 years.
Even before I had read The Mythical-Man Month I began to develop a theory that I so lovingly called “No Magic Bullet” (you can imagine my...
6 tags
The correct amount of planning
In a very general sense, there is no “right” amount of planning or organizing you can do prior to starting a project. However, by identifying what “too little” and “too much” are, you can hope to find something that works.
On the “too much” end of the spectrum:
Speculating about situations that may or may not ever arise far down the road is usually a waste of time. Better to dig in and...
3 tags
Try Ruby!
If you’ve heard about Ruby but you don’t want to go to the bother of installing it just to find out you don’t like it, then you can use this interactive tutorial from one of the strangest cats (in a good way) I’ve seen pimping any programming langauge, Why the Lucky Stiff.
It just runs in your browser (though there are reports that it doesn’t work in Opera), patiently waiting for input to send...