usability testing
Pop quiz, hotshot. How do you know if your application works? Sure, maybe your app compiles. Maybe it passes all the unit tests. Maybe it ran the QA gauntlet successfully. Maybe it was successfully deployed to the production server, or packaged into an installer. Maybe your beta testers even signed
css
A commenter recently noted that it was difficult to print the Programmer’s Bill of Rights post. And he’s right. It’s high time I set up a print stylesheet for this website. I added the following link tag to the page header: <link rel=“stylesheet” href=“/blog/
programming
Last year in Programmers as Human Beings, I mentioned that I was reading Programmers At Work. It’s a great collection of interviews with famous programmers circa 1986. All the interviews are worth reading, but the interview with Bill Gates has one particular answer that cuts to the bone: Does
windows
If you’re on the fence about the impending release of Windows Vista, I recommend trying before you buy. Every Vista DVD includes the ability to install any edition of Vista without a product key. When you install without a product key, you get an automatic 30 day evaluation period.
java
Edward Tufte’s print world is filled with stunningly beautiful visualizations. Even seemingly mundane things like visualizations of Ruby, Java, and JavaScript grammars can be beautiful. But they’re static. They don’t move. They’re not interactive. That’s where Ben comes in. If you haven’t visited Ben
navigation
There’s an interesting comment in this Amazon user review of The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications: My favorite entry, especially fun to find in light of Microsoft’s legal problems arising in part from its relationship to Netscape Navigator, is this Orwellian directive, found on p. 185:
documentation
Nicholas Zakas enumerates the number one reason why good JavaScript libraries fail: Lack of documentation. No matter how wonderful your library is and how intelligent its design, if you’re the only one who understands it, it doesn’t do any good. Documentation means not just autogenerated API references, but
programming
Part of Chuck Jazdzewski’s fatherly advice to new programmers is this nugget: Programming is fun. It is the joy of discovery. It is the joy of creation. It is the joy of accomplishment. It is the joy of learning. It is fun to see your handiwork displaying on the
identicons
Don Park invented Identicons last week. An Identicon is a small, anonymized visual glyph that represents your IP address. Don explains it better than I do: I originally came up with this idea to be used as an easy means of visually distinguishing multiple units of information, anything that can
advertising
While reading Larry O’Brien’s latest column in SD Times, I couldn’t help noticing that the article text was dwarfed by the advertisements. I was curious exactly how much of the page was dedicated to advertising. There’s a clever technique used in the book Homepage Usability: 50
certifications
Name any prominent software technology, and you’ll find a certification program for that technology. For a fee, of course. It’s a dizzying, intimidating array of acronyms: MCSD, SCJD. RHCE, ACSA. And the company offering the certification is quite often the very same one selling the product. No conflict
design
Robert Cringley’s 1995 documentary Triumph of the Nerds: An Irreverent History of the PC Industry features dozens of fascinating interviews with icons of the software industry. It included a brief interview segment with Steve Jobs, where he said the following: The only problem with Microsoft is they just have