user experience
In Typing Trumps Pointing, I extolled the virtues of the full-text search included in Vista’s new Start Menu. As many commenters pointed out, the feature itself is nothing new: I love keyboard searching, but basically you say you are installing Vista, an entire operating system, just so you don’
user experience
I’ve largely been ignoring Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child initiative. I appreciate the nobility of the gesture, but how interesting can sub-$100 hardware running Linux really be? Well, that was before I read about the novel user interface they’re building into those small green and
software development concepts
I happened upon Russ Walter’s Secret Guide to Computers around 1993. By then it was already up to the 18th edition. The first version of The Secret Guide was published in 1972 as a self-typed 17 page pamphlet. The latest edition is a hulking 607-page monster, a rambling, zine-like
software development concepts
As I recently discovered, playback of high definition video is very demanding. You’ll need a beefy PC to achieve the holy grail of maximum 1080p (1920x1080) resolution playback. Here are the minimum system requirements according to Cyberlink: * Very fast single core CPU (3.2+ GHz Pentium 4, 2.0+
programming languages
Eric Lippert is one of my favorite Microsoft bloggers. He’s one of those people who reminds you that Microsoft, despite all its problems, still employs a lot of incredibly thoughtful, near-genius programmers. Take a look at his greatest hits: * How many Microsoft employees does it take to change a
programming languages
In an earlier post on the philosophy of code comments, I noted that the best kind of comments are the ones you don’t need. Allow me to clarify that point. You should first strive to make your code as simple as possible to understand without relying on comments as
programming languages
A recurring theme in Edward Tufte’s books is the massive difference in resolution between the printed page and computer displays. Printed pages lend themselves to vastly greater information density. Sparklines are one particular technique of Tufte’s designed to exploit the greater resolution of the printed page. I was
software development concepts
Anil Dash and I have the same job title: evangelist. I share Anil’s reservations about his job title, too: You see, these days my business cards describe me as “Chief Evangelist.” On the plus side, it’s the first time in the history of the company that I’ve
user experience
Deep down inside every software developer, there’s a budding graphic designer waiting to get out. And if you let that happen, you’re in trouble. Or at least your users will be, anyway: Joseph Cooney calls this The Dialog: A developer needed a screen for something, one or two
software development concepts
Simplicity isn’t easy to achieve, and John Maeda’s short book, The Laws of Simplicity, provokes a lot of thought on the topic. Programmers swim in a sea of unending complexity. We get so used to complexity as an ambient norm that we begin, consciously or unconsciously, projecting it
software development concepts
I’ve been using Microsoft Project quite a bit recently with a certain customer of ours. They bleed Gantt. I hadn’t used Project in years, and after being exposed to it again, it really struck me how deeply the waterfall model is ingrained into the product. Take a look.
user experience
In my opinion, the new Office 2007 user interface is one of the most innovative things to come out of Redmond in years. It’s nothing less than the death of the main menu as a keystone GUI metaphor. This is a big deal. Historically, where Office goes, everyone else