security
In The Humane Interface, the late Jef Raskin asks an intriguing question: why do login dialogs have a “User” field? Shouldn’t login dialogs look more like this? And you know what? He’s right. Your password alone should be enough information for the computer to know who you are.
windows
When I see people using the default, crappy Windows ALT+TAB task switching behavior, I experience physical pain. TaskSwitchXP is completely free and so much better. It’s super small, totally elegant, lightning fast, and generally a massive improvement in task switching functionality. Friends don’t let friends suffer through
c#
As promised, here is my C# implementation of the ASCII85 algorithm. This code is a loose port of the C sample referenced from the Wikipedia page. It’s too much code to paste into a single entry, so I packaged it as a VS.NET 2003 solution – using Clean Sources
programming languages
On one of our e-commerce web sites, we needed a unique transaction ID to pass to a third party reporting tool on the checkout pages. We already had a GUID on the page for internal use. And you know how much we love GUIDs! 22da5537-de54-459d-9b33-f40f2101143b A GUID is 128 bits,
user experience
One thing I dislike about classic WIMP GUI applications is the way they typically present you with a blank page at startup. Here’s what Word 2003 looks like just after I launch it: This leads to Blank Page Syndrome: when presented with infinite choice, it’s sometimes hard to
user experience
This OS X versus Windows XP site contains an exhaustive, extensively illustrated 100-topic comparison of these two operating systems. The author tries to be objective, which is admirable, but the extremely detailed comparison is worth reading mostly because it highlights a lot of subtle design differences. For example, this little
customization
In The Problem with Configurability, I noted the tenuous balance between the opposing goals of customization and convention. Kam VedBrat, one of the Microsoft Windows UI designers for Vista, riffs on a similar theme. Why isn’t Windows Vista completely skinnable out of the box? There is also the issue
windows
We’re in the middle of an after-hours MAME arcade project at work.* As one of the final fit and finish steps, I did a bit of research on how to replace the default Windows XP boot screen with something a little more arcade-y. I came up with StarDock’s
programming languages
One of the oldest computer games is Artillery. It’s all about going mano a mano with nothing but wind, angle, and power on your side: The origins of artillery games are unclear, but the first such games were probably played on mainframe computers in the 60s. The programmers of
windows 95
What would the world be like if Windows 95 and Windows NT has been cancelled? You’d be surfing the web right now in Windows for Workgroups 3.11: I absolutely love the fact that we get a javascript error on the Google homepage. Not unreasonable, considering WFW 3.11
keyboard
I was plenty excited when I saw Microsoft was releasing a new non-mangled ergonomic keyboard – the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. Now that I own one, I’m not excited any more. I’m ecstatic! This keyboard is the natural heir to the obsolete but much loved Microsoft Natural Keyboard
guids
Do you remember the scene from the movie Full Metal Jacket where the marines recite the USMC creed? It’s a little known fact, but programmers have a similar creed: This is my GUID. There are many like it but this one is mine. My GUID is my best friend.