programming languages
Links are the fundamental building blocks of the web [https://blog.codinghorror.com/dont-click-here-the-art-of-hyperlinking/]. And every time I click on one, I can't help recalling the odd visionary who came up with the original idea of clickable links in text, aka hypertext [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext]
writing style
Are you familar with happy talk? If you're not sure whether something is happy talk, there's one sure-fire test: if you listen very closely while you're reading it, you can actually hear a tiny voice in the back of your head saying "Blah
web programming
Michael Braude decries the popularity of web programming: The reason most people want to program for the web is that they're not smart enough to do anything else. They don't understand compilers, concurrency, 3D or class inheritance. They haven't got a clue why I&
user experience
Will Work for Praise: The Web's Free-Labor Economy [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2008-12-28/will-work-for-praise-the-webs-free-labor-economybusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice] describes how many of today's websites are built by the users themselves: > It's dawn at a Los Angeles apartment overlooking the Hollywood Hills. Laura Sweet, an advertising
windows
While I haven't been unhappy with Windows Vista, it had a lot of rough edges: This is why the screenshot of the Windows 7 Calculator, although seemingly trivial, is so exciting to me. It's evidence that Microsoft is going to pay attention to the visible parts
software development concepts
A few months ago we bought a new digital camera, all the better to take pictures of our new spawned process. My wife, who was in charge of this purchase, dutifully unboxed the camera, installed the batteries, and began testing it out for the first time. Like so many electronic
technology trends
The original iPhone was for suckers hard-core gadget enthusiasts only. But as I predicted, 12 months later, the iPhone 3G rectified all the shortcomings of the first version. And now, with the iPhone 3GS, we've reached the mythical third version: A computer industry adage is that Microsoft does
security
In my previous post, Url Shorteners: Destroying the Web Since 2002, I mentioned that one of the "features" of the new generation of URL shortening services is to frame the target content. Digg is one of the most popular sites to implement this strategy. Here's how
search engines
Google's Chrome browser passes anything you type into the address bar that isn't an obvious URI on to the default search engine. While web browsers should have some built-in smarts, they can never match the collective intelligence of a worldwide search engine. For example: weather San
user experience
When it comes to user interface design, I'm no guru, but I do have one golden rule that I always try to follow: Make the right thing easy to do and the wrong thing awkward to do. The things you want users to do should be straightforward and
software development
I haven't had the opportunity to talk at all about Google's new Chrome browser yet. Which is a shame, because it's easily the best web browser I've ever used. If it wasn't for the complete and utter lack of an
keyboard
My beloved Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 has succumbed to the relentless pounding of my fingers. A moment of silence, please. OK, it still works, technically, but certain keys have become.. unreliable. In particular, the semicolon key is now infuriatingly difficult to use. I don't know if this is