software development concepts
If you’ve used a computer for any length of time, you’ve probably clicked through hundreds of End User License Agreement (EULA) dialogs. And if you’re like me, you haven’t read a single word of any of them. Who can blame you? They’re mind-numbing legalese.
security
In How to Clean Up a Windows Spyware Infestation, I documented how spyware can do a drive-by infection of your machine through your web browser. To be absolutely clear, I never clicked on any advertisements, or downloaded and executed any files. All I did was open a GameCopyWorld web
programming practices
Is software development an activity preferred by anti-social, misanthropic individuals who’d rather deal with computers than other people? If so, does it then follow that all software projects are best performed by a single person, working alone? The answer to the first question may be a reluctant yes,
software development
I find it helpful to revisit Steve McConnell’s list of classic development process mistakes, and the accompanying case study, at least once every year. Stop me if you've heard this one before: “Look, Mike,” Tomas said. “I can hand off my code today and call it ‘feature
security
I recently upgraded my dedicated racing simulation PC, so I was forced to re-install Windows XP SP2, along with all the games. As I was downloading the no-cd patches for the various racing sims I own, I was suddenly and inexplicably deluged with popups, icons, and unwanted software
user experience
I’m a big fan of incremental search. But incremental search isn’t just for navigating large text documents. As applications get larger and more complicated, incremental search is also useful for navigating the sea of features that modern applications offer. Office 2007’s design overhaul is arguably one of
technology trends
In a recent post, Dave Shea documented his love/hate relationship with the pixel grid: Here’s the caveat though – high resolution displays. At 100dpi, ClearType wins out, but we’re not going to be stuck here much longer. Give it a few years, let’s do this comparison again
font rendering
I’ve finally determined What’s Wrong With Apple’s Font Rendering. As it turns out, there actually wasn’t anything wrong with Apple’s font rendering, per se. Apple simply chose a different font rendering philosophy, as Joel Spolsky explains: Apple generally believes that the goal of the algorithm
font rendering
I had read a few complaints that OS X font rendering was a little wonky, even from Joel Spolsky himself: OS X antialiasing, especially, it seems, with the monospaced fonts, just isn’t as good as Windows ClearType. Apple has some room to improve in this area; the fonts were
desktop applications
I’ve sworn by Microsoft Streets and Trips for years, since the late 90s. I make a point of installing the latest version of Microsoft’s mapping application all our desktop PCs for all our desktop mapping needs. It’s also great on laptop PCs; combined with a USB GPS
information retrieval
I’m currently reading through Peter Morville’s excellent book Ambient Findability. It cites some papers that attempt to explain the search behavior of web users, starting with the berrypicking model: In a 1989 article entitled “The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques for the Online Search Interface,” Marcia Bates
consumer behavior
James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds, writes about the paradox of complexity and consumer choice in a recent New Yorker column: A recent study by a trio of marketing academics found that when consumers were given a choice of three models, of varying complexity, of a digital device,