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burnblue

191 karma · joined July 26, 2011

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burnblue··on Science Fiction Author Ray Bradbury Dead at 91
If he died two years in a row, yeah, that warrants the front page
burnblue··on Put the logo below the fold: Breaking design rules for profit
Then why is it there at all if you don't expect your users to notice it?
burnblue··on Apple, wtf is wrong with you?
TL:DR: "My mac broke. I didn't actually bring it in to get it fixed, but fuck Apple for not fixing it anyway."
burnblue··on Suits are back (cf. pg's submarine essay)
The title of the article ("Timeless suits from London's Savile Row back in fashion") is a contradiction in terms. Either the suits are timeless OR they go in and out of fashion. Can't have both.
burnblue··on Wireframing Tools Suck
Any time you're working on a multi-page project, you will have items that get used across multiple pages. Navigation is the most common. If you're copy+pasting anything every time you add a new page, you're wasting time…

For me, master pages and something like Illustrator Symbols ("master elements", "template elements", whatever) save vast amounts of time for complex multi-page projects.

burnblue··on Surprises When Designing An iPhone App
I designed at 2x (even pixel sizes) for a long time. Now I design at 1x using vector shapes. With vectors you can double the size and remain perfectly crisp. My workflow is now MUCH faster.

Bonus: 1x comps are better sized for clients to view on non-retina screens anyway. I always got complaints showing giant 640px wide mockups…

burnblue··on Entrepreneur’s Don’t Think Enough
Evidently neither do title writer's
burnblue··on Ask HN: Anyone living/working in Thailand?
I have lived in Chiang Mai for the last two years. My wife has Thai citizenship, which allows me to get a one year renewable visa. Still have to do 90-day border runs (never figured out why).

Staying in Thailand for less than a year at a time is easy to do. If you want to stay on a more permanent basis you'll need to either get married (marriage visa), enroll in a Thai language school (education visa), or be over 65 and have 25 grand or so in the bank (retirement visa).

If you can wrangle something, it's a wonderful place to live. There are the well-known sights and the low cost of living, but for me it goes much deeper. I've become a calmer and more thoughtful person, quicker to smile and slower to anger just by spending two years among the Thai people.

Re: gexla's post – he makes it sound a little cavalier, but there really is a sense in Asia of "eventually this will work out somehow". There are limits and boundaries where this doesn't apply, of course, but in general I find the saying about India applies equally well to Thailand: "everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, it isn't the end" ;)

burnblue··on Apple-Samsung Case Muddies the Future of Innovation
If innovation == blatant copying, yes, this will muddy the future of innovation. If, however, innovation == trying something that hasn't been done before, I fail to see how this will do anything but help.
burnblue··on Sealander (Amphibian Camper)
*amphibious. An amphibian camper would likely fail to appeal to its target market.
burnblue··on [dead]
Article doesn't say a single thing about the iPhone 5, just rehashes the iOS6 press release.
burnblue··on Apply shutting down iWork.com
This is a bummer for those who use Keynote as a wireframing tool. By sharing a Keynote file to iWork.com, clients could see and comment on the frames online and download the file in various formats.

After years of trying various options, I find Keynote by far the fastest option for creating wireframes. But if I want to keep using it after iWork.com shuts down, I have to export all pages as .pngs and then share them online with a service like Invision or Notable, which takes a lot more time and is less convenient for the client.

burnblue··on 99¢ - Apple FaceTime App - Really?
Well, except that didn't stop Apple from offering iBooks, Find my iPhone, iTunes U, Apple Store, Remote, Find My Friends, iTunes Movie Trailers, AirPort Utility, and Cards apps for free…
burnblue··on Bing revamps its search page with much cleaner design
Am I the only one who is bothered by how similar the Bing results look to Google results?

To illustrate my point, one of these is Bing and one is Google: http://d.pr/i/4KA5

Does this not cross an ethical line?

burnblue··on The Apps are Too Damn Big
It will certainly make me think twice before buying new apps, yes. In some cases the app simply won't be worth the extra storage required (I'm thinking music apps in particular, since I like to play with them but don't use them seriously).
burnblue··on Half of Americans Support Legal Marijuana—Is the Drug War Almost Over?
More than 2/3 of Americans support higher taxes on the wealthy, but I wouldn't hold my breath…
burnblue··on Adobe's new HTML5/CSS3 demo site
Seems odd to use 1px png background images for the nav instead of rgba colors. They're already using modernizr-style classes on the html element, so browser compatibility isn't the (only) reason.
burnblue··on Ask HN: What's your favorite UI Mockup tool?
I've gone through a bunch - Illustrator to Balsamiq to Mockflow and now HotGloo. I like Mockflow and HotGloo (both online fee-based apps) because they offer:

(1) Master Pages (or at least Master Objects) to keep things DRY (2) a way for clients to view, navigate, and comment directly on the frames (3) a good balance: low-fi enough to avoid seeming like a design pass, but hi-fi enough that each object is distinct and recognizable (4) a good selection of resizable, customizable widgets (5) an environment separate from the design file. Unlike many, I actually prefer to start from scratch with the design - it frees me from conforming too tightly to the frames, and leaves open the possibility for further iteration. Also, it's handy when passing frames to a visual designer - they can use whatever design tool they like.

burnblue··on Ask HN: What's your favorite UI Mockup tool?
I found Balsamiq completely unusable for large projects because of the lack of master pages. Maybe they've addressed this by now; that was ages ago.
burnblue··on Ask HN: What's your favorite UI Mockup tool?
I used to feel that way, but when I began using separate framing software I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Having to start the design phase from scratch in a new program freed me from slavish adherence to the frames and allowed designs to progress further. Horses for courses though - I'm sure everyone has their own take.
burnblue··on Social safety net harmful to economic growth?
His argument doesn't make sense. Personal savings don't get reinvested in capital equipment, corporate savings do. Corporate savings are being spent on all-time record CEO paychecks. Companies aren't investing in capital equipment because there is no demand. People are saving, not spending, because there is no safety net and now they have no ballooning home value to buoy their consumer habits. No spending = no economic recovery. A strong safety net won't solve everything, but in this case Greenspun seems to have things exactly backwards.