open-source-ux

As you say, Sketch and Adobe XD are desktop apps for the sole designer. In Figma, no designer presence needed for a myriad of use cases and user types.

I can only assume in the future soon Adobe will change Figma sign-ups into Adobe ID accounts (like Adobe have done with Behance).

[1] The Sketch team wrote a blog post extolling the virtues of native apps - no doubt with a nod to their Figma cloud rival.

Why we’re proud to build a truly native Mac app (Oct 2020): https://www.sketch.com/blog/2020/10/26/part-of-your-world-wh...

I wish I could share a similar sentiment. But my impression is that privacy is low down the priority of many developers. Even this thread has 300+ comments and yet has not one single comment raising the privacy implications a cloud OS/desktop.

In contrast, Figma overlaps with a tool like Miro. Figma's let's you create virtual whiteboards, digital post-its, collaborative presentations, and more. For example, a small team of developers could use Figma as a brainstorm/meeting record/virtual whiteboard. In Figma, no designer presence needed for a myriad of use cases.

Sketch will not be able to match Figma's much broader user appeal: designers, developers, product managers, project managers, marketing staff. Where does this leave Sketch? I don’t know.

Why we never sold Basecamp by the seat (2017) https://m.signalvnoise.com/why-we-never-sold-basecamp-by-the...

I assume Basecamp must have realised the flat pricing does not work when they have so many users in medium to large companies. Hence the switch to pricing per seat.

From: What is ultra-processed food? https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_...

> Ultra-processed foods usually contain ingredients that you wouldn’t add when cooking homemade food. You may not recognise the names of these ingredients as many will be chemicals, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives.

> More surprising to some will be...“other ultra-processed foods”. This includes baked beans, tinned soups, meat alternatives, soy and drinks used as dairy milk substitutes.

> It can be tricky to identify food that has been ultra-processed because in some cases the same type of food could be minimally processed, processed or ultra-processed, depending on how it’s been made. For example: Bread made from wheat flour, water, salt and yeast is processed, but add emulsifiers or colourings and it becomes ultra-processed.

(My emphasis)

I don't know, but the PHP UK conference videos for 2016 to 2022 are on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/c/phpukconference/playlists

Gopher UK conference videos (2015 to 2022):

https://www.youtube.com/c/GopherConUK/playlists

The programme can be downloaded: The Rosetta Stone: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s2qd

Description:

> Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most famous museum objects in the world. It is a damaged, dark granite block on which you can faintly see three scripts engraved: Greek at the bottom, Demotic in the middle and Hieroglyphs at the top.

> Napoleon’s soldiers found it in a Mamluk fort at Rosetta on the Egyptian coast, and soon realised the Greek words could be used to unlock the hieroglyphs. It was another 20 years before [Jean-François] Champollion deciphered them, becoming the first to understand the hieroglyphs since they fell out of use 1500 years before and so opening up the written culture of ancient Egypt to the modern age.

Although the film is highly rated, I found the premise more intriguing than what the film delivers. For me, the film was OK, not great. But I encourage you to watch and make up you own opinion.

Garland has also written and directed a 2020 TV series was Devs, which I haven't seen. For anyone's seen it - is it any good?

(Note: the terms shyness and introversion are often used interchangeably, sometimes mistakenly, but they are also closely related for some individuals.)

In a different context, I've seen YouTubers (like the link posted here) confess on camera that they are introverts or shy, but still reveal about their lives and continue to talk confidently in front of the camera. Behaviour that might contradict our perception of introversion or shyness. (I presume an 'invisible' audience of thousands of viewers on a YouTube channel is much less daunting that talking to a real audience in front of you.)

If you find this topic interesting, here's another video: Can you be an introvert movie director? (it features the director David Sandberg who directed 'Lights Out', 'Annabelle Creation', and 'Shazam') https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEyFH-uzlGg (note: this features a very brief NSFW horror clip).

For example, in the UK, we have no national ID card. So, first-time passport applications and photos must be signed by someone else (the ‘countersignatory’) to prove the identity of the person applying.

(From GOV.UK) Your countersignatory must:

- have known you for at least 2 years

- be able to identify you, for example they’re a friend, neighbour or colleague (not just someone who knows you professionally)

- be ‘a person of good standing in their community’ or work in (or be retired from) a recognised profession (there is a accepted occupations for countersignatories)

The countersignatory signs one of you photos and application. As far I'm aware, there is no real way to verify the countersignatory.

How are brand new passports issued in other countries when identity is required?

"I'm not a big fan of unix myself and so 'essence' is designed without any sort of unix influence"

Essence OS demo (2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGxt-tQ5Bt

Just to be clear, overall HN stories reflect very varied programming language discussions.

> "Prof Robert Dingwall, of Nottingham Trent University, a former government adviser during the pandemic, said...“We are beginning to see the deaths that result from delay and deferment of treatment for other conditions, like cancer and heart disease, and from those associated with poverty and deprivation."

Behind the statistics, here's one person's tragic story:

"A woman with fast-growing stage-four breast cancer says the NHS has let her down, with delays at every stage of her treatment."

'I've been let down - I shouldn't have stage-4 cancer'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62483323

My phone is still using an older Android version - unable to upgrade any further, or receive security updates. Before you recoil in horror, consider the following: the phone is in perfectly working order, it has an excellent screen and camera, it's fast for my needs. The real horror is that millions of perfectly fine smartphones are sent to landfill because these little pocket super-computers with amazing hardware can no longer be upgraded by software. Is this a embarrassing wasteful state of affairs? Or the price of "progress" on the hardware upgrade treadmill?

Tech columnist John C Dvorak disliked The Cluetrain Manifesto and wrote a very entertaining book review in PC Magazine from 2002:

Cult of the Cluetrain Manifesto: https://www.pcmag.com/archive/cult-of-the-cluetrain-manifest...

For example, instead of 'Buffer', the category or section could be called 'Social media tools'. Same for the other sections e.g. 'Analytics', 'Cold email tools', and so on.

Also, Zendesk and Freshdesk are both in the same category of help desk software but are listed separated on the page.

- Group one: Unprocessed and minimally processed

- Group two: Processed culinary ingredients

- Group three: Processed (a mix of group one and group two ingredients)

- Group four: Ultra-processed

The page says: "Ultra-processed foods usually contain ingredients that you wouldn’t add when cooking homemade food. You may not recognise the names of these ingredients as many will be chemicals, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives."

This surprised me: "[Ultra-processed] includes baked beans, tinned soups, meat alternatives, soy and drinks used as dairy milk substitutes."

"Ultra-processed foods usually contain ingredients that you wouldn’t add when cooking homemade food. You may not recognise the names of these ingredients as many will be chemicals, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_...

Sketch is now subscription-only; previously you paid for one year of updates. If you stopped paying for updates you could still continue to use the desktop app (i.e. the app did not expire).

The current Sketch model means you can use the app only when you pay to use the app: pay every year, or pay for a monthly usage.

- Wordery (UK-based, but free worldwide shipping)

- Book Depository (Owned by Amazon but appears to operately seprately from Amazon. Free worldwide shipping)

- Bookshop.org (US, UK and Spain)

UK-only

- Books etc (free UK delivery)

- Hive (free UK delivery)

- Blackwells (free UK delivery)

- Foyles (free UK delivery over £25)

- Waterstones (free UK delivery over £25)

- WHSmith (free UK delivery over £30)

It's also possible to buy titles direct from some publishers.

The most striking about these books: they are more readable and enjoyable than many programming and computing books published for adults today.

The books use illustrations extensively to explain concepts, and the layouts are varied and lively to keep readers attentive. (Compare to the stranglehold of markdown for any technical documentation).

Not only are these Usborne books well-written with clear, concise explanations, they are also excellent source for inspiration and ideas for anyone writing a technical guide, tutorial or book.

The trend I dislike is 'shorts' which are encouraged by YouTube. An obvious nod to TikTok, which ironically now allows longer videos - a maximum of 10 minutes.

So to sum up: yes, there is lots of rubbish on YouTube (as to be expected), but there is also plenty of watchable content - whether it's silly, informative, education, music or a myriad of other types. Is it unhealthy to consume too much? I guess that's a question for a different discussion.

Europe heatwave: Dangerously hot weather continues [1:24]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/62151891

- AbeBooks (acquired by Amazon in 2008)

- Book Depository (acquired by Amazon in 2011)

These companies don't appeared to have changed dramatically from when Amazon bought them. I wonder if these companies operate 'independently' without too much undue influence from Amazon?

Belson spends some time at a Buddhist retreat which seems to impart nothing from his experience. The attraction to Buddhist ideas are only at shallow, surface level.

He also employs a full-time spiritual adviser. Even the adviser looks out for opportunities advantageous to him and manipulate situations.

It's a cynical (but honest?) look at personality traits in tech.

CSS Grid has been safe for use for a few years now (if you're supporting modern browsers).

https://caniuse.com/mdn-css_properties_display_grid

The problem is that popular frameworks like Bootstrap and Bulma still don't support CSS Grid (they use flexbox only for layout).

It's ironic that developers have rightly complained how cumbersome CSS layout has been in the past. Now we have CSS Grid - and yet developers still aren't using it.