> What mattered was to get the idea out and to start the conversation, editing and polish would follow later.
On the other hand, careless writing shows that the author places little value on his thoughts, for if he thought them important he would spend a little more time on their delivery, ensuring the contents don't get destroyed in the process.
I think it depends on context and execution. For example Twitter always used them over tweets in their app, and it works quite well, or do you disagree?
I think it's a little unfair to dismiss this design pattern just because it's not immediately discoverable on page load. It really depends on the context in which this is used. Also, while better looks is one thing, having less controls on the page leaves the user with a smaller cognitive load, giving them more attention to focus on and process the content.
> And if your point is that being able to do those projects and ALSO "buy what you want" (e.g. nicer TV and car) will give you much greater satisfaction from your life, you are clueless about human nature. You might get a thrill from these items in the short term, but eventually you'll just want more and better ones. You'll be in the same place (psychologically) as where you started.
You make a mistake in your point. The mistake is that you assume that he wants to achieve happiness by acquiring these material possessions like that new TV, an expensive car, etc. He won't, and he knows that. What he'll achieve is pleasure. Short term pleasure, maybe, but so what? Desire for pleasure is natural, and being in a position to get all the toys you want will satisfy that, and keep satisfying it.
It won't fill any holes in your soul or give you long-term happiness, but it's not supposed to. That burning desire to live better is what drives human progress. Look around and see how comfortable our existence is today compared to a thousand years ago. Cars, electricity, phones, heating, plumbing--so much convenience. None of that is necessary to exist, but it's something that makes living our lives much more pleasant. That new TV or car isn't going to give our lives more meaning, but it will make them more interesting and satisfying.
Yes but how do you use WordPress without installing a bunch of stuff on your computer? You need MySQL and you need a web server to run it, probably Apache. These don't come standard with Windows, so it's not that much easier to get WordPress running locally. It's true that many hosts now offer very easy WordPress installs, but there is no reason why something like this can't be set up for Toto. But as it is right now, Toto is a great WP replacement for hackers.
Looks good. One problem: it was very difficult to actually find a link to each app's website. The little "Go to app" doesn't even look like a link. I suggest making the site link much more prominent, underlined, and perhaps use the URL of the site to make it even easier to see.
What's the value in dumping 50 links on your readers? Are we supposed to read all that? Isn't it the function of the editor to go through them and select their picks, thus saving us time by presenting only the best content? I really don't get these long lists.
Good point, but you don't necessarily need this input device to be in your pocket, and it doesn't have to come in the form of a phone. For example, here's one solution: accept/decline calls right from your headset without taking the iPad out of the bag. Perhaps the headset will tell you the caller id when you press a certain button so you can choose whether or not to take the call. Dialing can be done through voice as well, or take out the pad and make the call using the touch screen.
Simple: bluetooth headsets. If you think about it, the current way of using a phone -- i.e. holding up a device to your ear and keeping it there for the duration of the conversation -- is quite clumsy. Making a call on the tablet and talking through a light headset is much more elegant.
Maybe you could use one slider with 2 directions. E.g. the slider button starts in the center, and you could slide it right to unlock and go to the home screen, or slide it left to go straight to the phone screen.
It's not about real good/harm, it's about perceived harm. When confession lies at the core of your religion, you end up obsessing over your "sins" and then praying for forgiveness. When this becomes a norm in your life you'll have "more to answer for" than the guy who doesn't spare a second thought for his actions. Charity then becomes a way to pay for your sins.
Why not? Do you suggest we assume everyone corrupt just because there is "plenty of corruption everywhere in Russia"? Everyone is guilty by association?
While less is more in online forms is good advice, the thing about 7 items is wrong in this context. This is because while you may only keep 7 items in your head at any time you're not actually using this skill when filling out your form -- you're just scanning down the list for a particular item you need, not trying to memorize the whole list. Even if you're trying to choose between comparable items, you're still memorizing those few items, not the whole list.
Brand awareness. An ad for a BMW for example. You're not likely to click and buy the car right there, so it works the same way as their TV ad does -- it'll keep the brand in your memory until you need to make a car purchase decision.
You also have to remember this is a showcase, and sites with a lot of visuals tend to make better showcases simply because they're more fun to look at even if they're not easier or even more fun to actually use.
The numbers matter. The issue here is this: everybody isn't equal, we're all unique. Some people work hard, are more intelligent, and contribute more to society. Some people are of higher value, depending on your metrics. So a murderer (who takes from society) has less worth than a scientist whose research creates new technologies that aid society. Everyone should have equal 'rights', but everyone is not equal however.
The problem here is that you cannot know the value of this one individual vs the five. People aren't a set of bricks, all manufactured to be the same size and from the same material. Saving five people vs one is a guess -- you can be wrong and save a group of people who contribute nothing and kill the man who does. But the numbers still apply because one man cannot be worth more than thousands for example -- and I think part of this experiment was to find out what your threshold for this was.
Their new designers are adding a lot more visual touches to the interface, too. The original 37signals style consists mainly of HTML elements styled with CSS, and with all the controls unstyled, e.g. form controls. When you're not creating new images for buttons, backgrounds and boxes, then there really is little point to use Photoshop -- you just need to mock up the layout, and that can be done on paper.
When you're adding a lot of visuals, you'll end up using them in the final product, which is where designing that stuff and laying it out in Photoshop becomes more practical. It really depends on the style of the UI and how heavily it relies on custom images.
Oscar Wilde wrote: "To define is to limit". I really love that quote and I absolutely agree. I think defining yourself as a 'designer' or 'developer' is a terrible thing to do. A lot of people here are experts at multiple skills, and it is not their skills that define them. What then, does? The fruits of their labor. The things that they create is what "defines" who they are, not the skills they mastered and not some specialization label stuck on them to tell others what it is they do. Learning new skills is absolutely the best thing you can do as it will open up more and more opportunities, but don't rush into thinking that these skills are what matters -- the application of them is what does. Gain the skills you need to make something happen, and let your creations define who you are.
Quote from the article: "This allows the Gecko Edubook to be easily configured to the end-user's requirements and gives the opportunity the Edubook to be assembled or retrofitted locally. These batteries can be easily sourced and replaced as required."
I think the main advantage is that these batteries are cheaper and easier to replace.
+1 for Anonymous. It's a great font to use on OS X, especially if you're using light font on a dark background, as OS X tends to render the fonts much heavier and blurrier with antialiasing. Anonymous remains fairly crisp.
Then again, you probably wouldn't be looking for a job if your startup was a success. I agree with you though -- I think it's just a case of them not wanting someone with a high level of ambition and drive, and instead needing someone who would fill that position for the long term.
But you don't have to make a choice -- you can pick both. Why not install Firefox for main browsing and keep IE6 for use with their old apps? This gives you a more productive (IE6 doesn't have tabs...) and secure browser for primary use, and the old browser to use with legacy software.
I think it's great. There are many fonts and colors and variation, but the design still has clear sections (short product descriptions, detailed about company blurb, client videos, buzz etc.), and more important, there are points in the design that grab your attention and suck you in; these are the big icons at the top with large speech bubbles and the "A Better Way To Work" heading. This means as you glance over the page your eyes will find a place to land, and I think the copy itself is very well done -- short and to the point -- which means I'm likely to actually read it.
One thing that always bothered me is the navigation 37signals tend to use. It's stuck at the very top of the page and is set in a very small font size. Current locations are also not highlighted on some pages. Perhaps they don't rely on it at all and instead focus on getting people to click on calls to action inside the content.
Ah, but you're not countering my argument. I'm not counting bandwidth -- I'm counting people. If most people on the Internet spent their time downloading files illegally then sure, that would be the main usage of the Internet.
This doesn't matter though. If the majority/all of the most popular torrents on that site are illegal then the most popular use of the site is for illegal torrents. If most of their users go there to download illegal torrents, then that is the actual function of the site -- to share illegal downloads. It doesn't matter if that was originally intended to be so or not.