basically you will need to keep a few things in mind:
people dont read crts/lcds like they do a piece of paper. it's pointless to simply put up an online version of a brochure like many companies do, you can spot it straight away. people scan a screen. namely due to the way we perceive things, and reflected light(paper & ink) is much easier on our eyes than direct light (monitors). kinda why "digital paper" hasn't taken off to date and why we aren't all reading the newspaper on our pdas.
try to keep scrolling to a minimum. horizontal scrolling is a definite no-no
contrary to microsoft and several other window managers beliefs, we naturally scan left to right from the top for things. so navigation and commonly accessed items should be along the top or the bottom
yes it may be pretty to remove underlines and other features, but (un)fortunately people have become accustomed to these signifying links. see you probably think this is a link, dont confuse users uneccesarily.
your use of colours is extremely important, and I suggest you read up on it. they will elict different emotions from the user and drasically effect readability
capital letters are more difficult to read than lowercase, use them sparingly and dont use them to highlight items... it will have the inverse effect
all these are of course simple usability thoughts. you still need to consider file sizes/image optimisation, cross-browser issues, etc. key to all of these though is knowing your target market. if I'm making a site for other designers it's doubtful it would need to support anything less than 32bit colour 1024x768, a higher than usual bandwidth and slightly more patience to see some eyecandy. however cross-browser compatibility becomes a key issue.
thats all for now, i may follow this up a little more if people want it at a later date.
There is a very nifty email filter type thing available called MailWasher. Only downloads the headers, so dont worry about all that HTML and imagery. If you dont want it, delete it from the server. If you never want to hear from them again, click the bounce button and it will bounce the mail in the hope they will never main you again.
While I agree with you that the paper is worth it, and with only a semester to go it would seem a great waste to throw it in, it'd be completely hypocritical of me to say it is what you SHOULD do. Ultimately the decision is up to you, and long-term your piece of paper wont be what gets you a job, it will still be you.
As for anonymous brave guys friend, it's very unfortunate they didn't get an interview, but they mustn't have been willing to put themselves on the line enough. I was doing multimedia tech, but coming from a mainly CS background. CS was boring me and I wanted a bit more creativity... then multimedia was boring me. After been excused from most classes because the tutors and lecturers had deemed my attendance was "unneccessary" until exams so long as my scores remained as high on all tests and work requirements, I ended up dropping the course two weeks before my exams.
The parents weren't too happy about it, but it's what I wanted. And it became my biggest selling point. I wasn't just another prima donna who said he dropped out because he was bored and the course was unchallenging, I had the academic record to back it up and the balls to back it up with some action. Willing to take a challenge, ambitious, decisive, and able to take control were all benefits I made sure my employers saw in my situation. As I said, it's all about how you sell it, just make sure the employers see it the same way you want it to.
Employed here for 2 years now (was my first job interview, while I had 4 I played them off each other to get the best deal for myself), 3 pay reviews in that time, a promotion into a more managerial position, and a 20th birthday today... things are great and not chance I'd go back to doing my course. I may however go back to uni in 5+ years or so to do something completely unrelated to my job, just because I want to.
I'm in the position at my place of employment that I have to ensure the uptime of all our IIS boxen. We've yet to be infected by one worm or have any security compromisations of any way, shape or form.
This isn't because I'm on top of security patches before they are released, it's just a basic principle I learnt before I even knew what a sysadmin was... dont run anything you dont have to. Admittedly out of the box IIS is a pig and full of holes, but remove the default website, the administration site, and all script mappings except.asp and.asa and you are pretty right. I mean who here has actually used a.idq file and couldn't survive without them?
Re:Too much design, too feature laden.
on
Freshmeat II
·
· Score: 1
I'd have to say that I could not be any further opposed to this viewpoint
When I go looking for software for my red hat install, I dont wanna just be opening a page and getting the results of an ls. Could just use sunsite or a public ftp server for that.
No, instead I want a yahoo like thing. So I type in "ICQ" in the search box, and up comes a list of instant messaging programs. I can click on each one, have a decent read about what it does, features, bugs, latest release, how it compates, and chose the relevant package for myself. Dagnabbit, I can even click a link to go to a homepage and see some screen shots if I want.
And then when I'm bored and feel like using up some of my precious/usr/bin and other parts of my drive with something other that MP3 I can just go a browsing, read some reviews, and give what looks like some decent software a try.
If I want software for my windows machine I know the first place I always go is Tucows, and thats because of the reviews and editorials they have on almost every product. I dont wanna spend an hour and a half on my dial-up to install something that is a lemon and will be blown away quicker than it installed.
I love it! Very clean, very easy to use, very obvious design/navigation.
I'll never forget the first time I used freshmeat, it took me a good month to work out how to simply just browse for something without doing a search first, because off the way "appindex" was written without any spacing I was reading it as part of the human anatomy and not an "Application Index".
My only criticism would be to switch the login and menu/news things to the opposite side of the screen. Having been a web developer for over 6 years now and having to put up with corporates doing usuability testing which often kills a damn sexy looking site (heheh, nobody wants to use it! They just want it to look cool!!), navigation and the like should be left based as it is where the human eye is naturally used to moving for index/content topics. And all those usuability testers would love those "hot links" that you permanently have across the top of the site for easy jumping to sections.
Good work --
Glenn
HEALTH WARNING:
Re:(Standardized) Tests
on
Watch Camera
·
· Score: 1
Here in Australia they already do ban watches for exams as there are too many on the market that will accept textual input into them. Much the same way as each calculators memory is reset upon entry for all students undertaking exams.
--
Glenn
Can pseudo-connect it to your PC and/or transfer any pattern "backups" *wink wink* with a Gameboy Xchanger from Bung Enterprises, www.bung.com.hk --
Glenn
It is still just a series of still images. When shown in quick succession our brain perceives motion (commonly called the phi phenomenon). The same way that using Gestalt principles the brain perceives these 10mm dots to form a whole image, and not actually be a series of dots. They may be created differently and on different mediums. But at the appropriate distance, they will be perceived the same. Just because you stand and look at a billboard for 3 hours wont mean that it's quality will deteriorate before your eyes. And you could only realistically draw this comparison when talking about the said images, if the movie was to be paused.
It's the same as most billboards you see these days. View any of them up close and you can see a series of dots, depending on the intended viewing distance these dots could be the size of your fist. However, walk back a few metres and suddenly the dots aren't as noticable as they once were
So long as the minimum intended viewing distance (the closest anyone will be to the screen) is scaled in proportion to the the dot pitch there will be no problem. With most cinemas I've been to recently here (Australia) the screens are at least a good 2-3 metres above the ground, with the first row of seats at least 10 metres back from the screen. So I couldn't imagine any problems using the screens as suggested in this post in most modern theatres. Any closer than that though and things may need to be reviewed.
What I cant understand though is why would a director/producer/whatever ONLY create the movie for this resolution? It seems far more logical to me to create it at a much higher resolution (well slightly higher than HDTV will require) so that in situations where I higher resolution is possible, it can be fully utilised. I can think of nothing worse than having this HDTV become widespread, but being wasted because of a few shortsighted people in the film industry.
This is much like one of the measures done on the currency over here (think it's something us Aussies have got pretty well worked out). Here's a brief run down on all the security features I can think of on our notes: Varying sizes - Not so much a security feature, but something to help the visually impaired. Notes of each denomination increase in size as the face value of the note increases Varying colours - Each note has a different colour. But even on a single note there is a swirling pattern that consists of varying tones and shades of a base colour. Raised print - Certain parts of the note actually have raised print on them. So running your fingers over a section, you should be able to feel quite a noticeable change in texture. Once the note has been in circulation for a couple of years this texture change isn't as noticeable. But means any would-be counterfiters have to go to the trouble of making their notes look creased an old. A fresh looking note should have no problems in showing you raised text. Scanning distortion - On all the notes, following the swirling patter of the colours, is a series of swirling lines. If anyone has tried to scan one of these, because the lines are so close together, all domestic scanners I have tried these one have produced an obscure banding affect in the lines and the crispness of the original is lost Small print - In the top corner of each note is a series of what appear to be lines. On closer inspection (as in holding it to your nose and staring) it can JUST be seen that it is the denomination of the currency written in extremely fine print over and over again (i.e., "five dollars five dollars five dollars...."). Scanning in a note either blurs the text, or does not display it at all and instead shows it as a series of solid lines. Materials used - All Australian currency is printed onto a plastic type film. Not only does it have the added benefits on not being destroyed in a washing machine, easily cleaned if dirty, and not ripping easily, it's also extrememly hard to replicate and print on. This is coupled with a section of the note that remains clear (bar a security print on the middle of the "window") so that you can actually see through the note. So I hope at the vary least, these ID's dont become a world-wide phenomenon purely because American currency is more easily counterfeited.
I think that any US citizens/residents that take this to matter personally have a whole bunch of problems of their own. I'm sure most people (including the guy that noticed the attack) would assume that the address of the machine was either spoofed, or the machine had been "owned".
Do you seriously believe that simply because a single media outlet gets their hands on some information (info which another poster points out had to be reported to authorities), and then twists it around to try and grab a headline, that all Australians believe it to be true and that the Americans are all against us? Of course we do!! Newspapers and other media outlets would never twist a story or try a bit of scare-mongering to lure in a few extra $$
Okay... here I go again blabbering on about stuff I have no clue about, but anyways... Do we even know where Halley's goes off to? I'd assume it'd only take it 38 years or so to get there though anyways. But what if you harpoon onto the comet, and then retract the harpoon real fast before releasing it, catapulting yourself on from the comet. No resistance and all that up there, wouldn't you then be travelling x times faster than the comet was originally travelling?
What are the possibilities as far as using this method to help get us around the solar system quicker? Wait for a comet to pass, harpoon it and hitch a ride to the extremeties much quicker than we currently can. Or am I dreaming again?
Slashdot Mirror
oh yeah, and a few resources to check out as far as current trend designs are concerned:
www.moluv.com
www.linkdup.com
www.designiskinky.com
www.newstoday.com
there are of course plenty more, but they make a great start
all these are of course simple usability thoughts. you still need to consider file sizes/image optimisation, cross-browser issues, etc. key to all of these though is knowing your target market. if I'm making a site for other designers it's doubtful it would need to support anything less than 32bit colour 1024x768, a higher than usual bandwidth and slightly more patience to see some eyecandy. however cross-browser compatibility becomes a key issue.
thats all for now, i may follow this up a little more if people want it at a later date.
There is a very nifty email filter type thing available called MailWasher. Only downloads the headers, so dont worry about all that HTML and imagery. If you dont want it, delete it from the server. If you never want to hear from them again, click the bounce button and it will bounce the mail in the hope they will never main you again.
While I agree with you that the paper is worth it, and with only a semester to go it would seem a great waste to throw it in, it'd be completely hypocritical of me to say it is what you SHOULD do. Ultimately the decision is up to you, and long-term your piece of paper wont be what gets you a job, it will still be you.
As for anonymous brave guys friend, it's very unfortunate they didn't get an interview, but they mustn't have been willing to put themselves on the line enough. I was doing multimedia tech, but coming from a mainly CS background. CS was boring me and I wanted a bit more creativity... then multimedia was boring me. After been excused from most classes because the tutors and lecturers had deemed my attendance was "unneccessary" until exams so long as my scores remained as high on all tests and work requirements, I ended up dropping the course two weeks before my exams.
The parents weren't too happy about it, but it's what I wanted. And it became my biggest selling point. I wasn't just another prima donna who said he dropped out because he was bored and the course was unchallenging, I had the academic record to back it up and the balls to back it up with some action. Willing to take a challenge, ambitious, decisive, and able to take control were all benefits I made sure my employers saw in my situation. As I said, it's all about how you sell it, just make sure the employers see it the same way you want it to.
Employed here for 2 years now (was my first job interview, while I had 4 I played them off each other to get the best deal for myself), 3 pay reviews in that time, a promotion into a more managerial position, and a 20th birthday today... things are great and not chance I'd go back to doing my course. I may however go back to uni in 5+ years or so to do something completely unrelated to my job, just because I want to.
I'm in the position at my place of employment that I have to ensure the uptime of all our IIS boxen. We've yet to be infected by one worm or have any security compromisations of any way, shape or form.
.asp and .asa and you are pretty right. I mean who here has actually used a .idq file and couldn't survive without them?
This isn't because I'm on top of security patches before they are released, it's just a basic principle I learnt before I even knew what a sysadmin was... dont run anything you dont have to. Admittedly out of the box IIS is a pig and full of holes, but remove the default website, the administration site, and all script mappings except
Actually thats not quite true. If McDonalds have the ingredients, they will also make anything you want.
--
Glenn
HEALTH WARNING:
Could we all take a leaf out of the book that sites like the following and the ones they link to use?
http://www.linkdup.com/
http://www.moluv.com/
--
Glenn
HEALTH WARNING:
I'd have to say that I could not be any further opposed to this viewpoint
/usr/bin and other parts of my drive with something other that MP3 I can just go a browsing, read some reviews, and give what looks like some decent software a try.
When I go looking for software for my red hat install, I dont wanna just be opening a page and getting the results of an ls. Could just use sunsite or a public ftp server for that.
No, instead I want a yahoo like thing. So I type in "ICQ" in the search box, and up comes a list of instant messaging programs. I can click on each one, have a decent read about what it does, features, bugs, latest release, how it compates, and chose the relevant package for myself. Dagnabbit, I can even click a link to go to a homepage and see some screen shots if I want.
And then when I'm bored and feel like using up some of my precious
If I want software for my windows machine I know the first place I always go is Tucows, and thats because of the reviews and editorials they have on almost every product. I dont wanna spend an hour and a half on my dial-up to install something that is a lemon and will be blown away quicker than it installed.
--
Glenn
HEALTH WARNING:
I love it! Very clean, very easy to use, very obvious design/navigation.
I'll never forget the first time I used freshmeat, it took me a good month to work out how to simply just browse for something without doing a search first, because off the way "appindex" was written without any spacing I was reading it as part of the human anatomy and not an "Application Index".
My only criticism would be to switch the login and menu/news things to the opposite side of the screen. Having been a web developer for over 6 years now and having to put up with corporates doing usuability testing which often kills a damn sexy looking site (heheh, nobody wants to use it! They just want it to look cool!!), navigation and the like should be left based as it is where the human eye is naturally used to moving for index/content topics. And all those usuability testers would love those "hot links" that you permanently have across the top of the site for easy jumping to sections.
Good work
--
Glenn
HEALTH WARNING:
Here in Australia they already do ban watches for exams as there are too many on the market that will accept textual input into them. Much the same way as each calculators memory is reset upon entry for all students undertaking exams.
--
Glenn
HEALTH WARNING:
Can pseudo-connect it to your PC and/or transfer any pattern "backups" *wink wink* with a Gameboy Xchanger from Bung Enterprises, www.bung.com.hk
--
Glenn
HEALTH WARNING:
Just imagine what microsoft could have instead of that annoying little paper clip!
--
Glenn
HEALTH WARNING:
yes, the year 2000 is now reported back as being 100. But how is that a problem? You simply continue to add the 1900 to it, and voila! You have 2000.
It is still just a series of still images. When shown in quick succession our brain perceives motion (commonly called the phi phenomenon). The same way that using Gestalt principles the brain perceives these 10mm dots to form a whole image, and not actually be a series of dots. They may be created differently and on different mediums. But at the appropriate distance, they will be perceived the same. Just because you stand and look at a billboard for 3 hours wont mean that it's quality will deteriorate before your eyes. And you could only realistically draw this comparison when talking about the said images, if the movie was to be paused.
It's the same as most billboards you see these days. View any of them up close and you can see a series of dots, depending on the intended viewing distance these dots could be the size of your fist. However, walk back a few metres and suddenly the dots aren't as noticable as they once were
So long as the minimum intended viewing distance (the closest anyone will be to the screen) is scaled in proportion to the the dot pitch there will be no problem. With most cinemas I've been to recently here (Australia) the screens are at least a good 2-3 metres above the ground, with the first row of seats at least 10 metres back from the screen. So I couldn't imagine any problems using the screens as suggested in this post in most modern theatres. Any closer than that though and things may need to be reviewed.
What I cant understand though is why would a director/producer/whatever ONLY create the movie for this resolution? It seems far more logical to me to create it at a much higher resolution (well slightly higher than HDTV will require) so that in situations where I higher resolution is possible, it can be fully utilised. I can think of nothing worse than having this HDTV become widespread, but being wasted because of a few shortsighted people in the film industry.
This is much like one of the measures done on the currency over here (think it's something us Aussies have got pretty well worked out). Here's a brief run down on all the security features I can think of on our notes: Varying sizes - Not so much a security feature, but something to help the visually impaired. Notes of each denomination increase in size as the face value of the note increases Varying colours - Each note has a different colour. But even on a single note there is a swirling pattern that consists of varying tones and shades of a base colour. Raised print - Certain parts of the note actually have raised print on them. So running your fingers over a section, you should be able to feel quite a noticeable change in texture. Once the note has been in circulation for a couple of years this texture change isn't as noticeable. But means any would-be counterfiters have to go to the trouble of making their notes look creased an old. A fresh looking note should have no problems in showing you raised text. Scanning distortion - On all the notes, following the swirling patter of the colours, is a series of swirling lines. If anyone has tried to scan one of these, because the lines are so close together, all domestic scanners I have tried these one have produced an obscure banding affect in the lines and the crispness of the original is lost Small print - In the top corner of each note is a series of what appear to be lines. On closer inspection (as in holding it to your nose and staring) it can JUST be seen that it is the denomination of the currency written in extremely fine print over and over again (i.e., "five dollars five dollars five dollars...."). Scanning in a note either blurs the text, or does not display it at all and instead shows it as a series of solid lines. Materials used - All Australian currency is printed onto a plastic type film. Not only does it have the added benefits on not being destroyed in a washing machine, easily cleaned if dirty, and not ripping easily, it's also extrememly hard to replicate and print on. This is coupled with a section of the note that remains clear (bar a security print on the middle of the "window") so that you can actually see through the note. So I hope at the vary least, these ID's dont become a world-wide phenomenon purely because American currency is more easily counterfeited.
But to the best of my knowledge, the effects used in the Matrix were all done on a BSD (freeBSD?)... So why so hard to envision a linux version?
I think that any US citizens/residents that take this to matter personally have a whole bunch of problems of their own. I'm sure most people (including the guy that noticed the attack) would assume that the address of the machine was either spoofed, or the machine had been "owned".
Do you seriously believe that simply because a single media outlet gets their hands on some information (info which another poster points out had to be reported to authorities), and then twists it around to try and grab a headline, that all Australians believe it to be true and that the Americans are all against us? Of course we do!! Newspapers and other media outlets would never twist a story or try a bit of scare-mongering to lure in a few extra $$
Shame on them.
Okay... here I go again blabbering on about stuff I have no clue about, but anyways... Do we even know where Halley's goes off to? I'd assume it'd only take it 38 years or so to get there though anyways. But what if you harpoon onto the comet, and then retract the harpoon real fast before releasing it, catapulting yourself on from the comet. No resistance and all that up there, wouldn't you then be travelling x times faster than the comet was originally travelling?
What are the possibilities as far as using this method to help get us around the solar system quicker? Wait for a comet to pass, harpoon it and hitch a ride to the extremeties much quicker than we currently can. Or am I dreaming again?