I found the Tango Icon community when I needed to develop icons for my application. I joined the mailing list, and they always have good suggestions about style. A lot of the design principles they talk about transcend icons. Even though I don't have any formal training in UI design either, I have picked up a lot of tips on how to give the UI a systematic, cohesive style.
Maybe because I am part of the Facebook generation, I am more accepting of this type of system. My experience has been that it is a real pain to deal with transferring medical records between different clinics, especially when I am waiting for someone to fax something before I can get my antibiotic. I'm not ashamed of anything in my medical records (no abortions or STDs), so I am willing to take the risk that they might be stolen/sold to a third party/examined by the government/used for targeted advertising in order to gain the convenience of being able to access my medical records quickly in an emergency situation.
Sorry, I'm relatively new to posting on slashdot, and I didn't know how to post things without replying to another person's comment. I just figured it out though!
Why is this article tagged with 'ronpaul' and 'ronpaulisanazi'? I thought this was slashdot, not digg. Why don't we just tag the article with 'omgiphonejailbreak' and '10waystoimproveyourwebsite' while we're at it?
Because there is an imaginary border at 80, I rarely go over 100 columns (even though I could nest statements and create a much longer line). It probably helps keep my code readable.
Most adult women who have children would love to find the time to sit down and scrapbook or do the crossword puzzle, but they are too busy running around working, doing errands, and taking care of the kids. I'm a college-aged girl, and I have plenty of hobbies. Then again, one of them is coding, so I might just be weird.
I am currently a freshman at a university where many of my peers go on to become engineers. In my introductory physics class, we do lab write-ups in groups, so I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the technical writing that my classmates do. Here are some suggestions of what to emphasize based on my experiences:
- First, one of my biggest pet peeves: When I pick up a technical document, I am expecting it to present information to me, not pass judgment about my reading level or my level of education. Avoid the use of words and phrases like "obviously" that assume something about the reader. A phrase like "That may have been a lot of information for you, but now on to something simpler" makes the writer seem obnoxious and unprofessional. Writing at the correct level usually means that someone who is familiar with the topic but not with the particular experiment/focus should be able to understand the writing.
- Many students don't understand the purpose of an introduction or how it differs from a conclusion. A lot of people try to add verbiage to introductions simply to add length to the paper, because they don't think that it is a very important part of the paper, or because they are not sure what to write...blah...blah...blah. Introductions should describe the problem and summarize the conclusion. They should include a derivation of equations to be used later on, with all of the correct mathematical symbols included and defined. In my opinion, the introduction is the most important part of the whole document. If the TA grading the paper is having a busy day, she might just read the introduction and skim the rest.
- Don't try to turn a piece of technical writing into a short story or a friendly letter. Using jokes/emoticons/unnecessary flowery description doesn't come off nearly as well to the reader as most students might think. Being direct and concise is itself an art.
- Formatting, layout, and diagrams are important. Show the students how to use/configure the formatting tools in Word (or whatever editor they are using). They should be able to use Greek letters, mathematical symbols, subscripts, superscripts, etc. Vectors should be distinguishable from scalars in some way. Diagrams should also be done on the computer if possible. Hand-drawn diagrams generally look less professional than diagrams done on the computer.
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I found the Tango Icon community when I needed to develop icons for my application. I joined the mailing list, and they always have good suggestions about style. A lot of the design principles they talk about transcend icons. Even though I don't have any formal training in UI design either, I have picked up a lot of tips on how to give the UI a systematic, cohesive style.
Maybe because I am part of the Facebook generation, I am more accepting of this type of system. My experience has been that it is a real pain to deal with transferring medical records between different clinics, especially when I am waiting for someone to fax something before I can get my antibiotic. I'm not ashamed of anything in my medical records (no abortions or STDs), so I am willing to take the risk that they might be stolen/sold to a third party/examined by the government/used for targeted advertising in order to gain the convenience of being able to access my medical records quickly in an emergency situation.
Sorry, I'm relatively new to posting on slashdot, and I didn't know how to post things without replying to another person's comment. I just figured it out though!
Why is this article tagged with 'ronpaul' and 'ronpaulisanazi'? I thought this was slashdot, not digg. Why don't we just tag the article with 'omgiphonejailbreak' and '10waystoimproveyourwebsite' while we're at it?
The "donated laptops" referenced in the article were not OLPCs, although I have no doubt that OLPCs will also be used to browse for porn...
Because there is an imaginary border at 80, I rarely go over 100 columns (even though I could nest statements and create a much longer line). It probably helps keep my code readable.
Most adult women who have children would love to find the time to sit down and scrapbook or do the crossword puzzle, but they are too busy running around working, doing errands, and taking care of the kids. I'm a college-aged girl, and I have plenty of hobbies. Then again, one of them is coding, so I might just be weird.
I downloaded the free trial of this product, and the company was either brave or stupid to offer a free trial.
I am currently a freshman at a university where many of my peers go on to become engineers. In my introductory physics class, we do lab write-ups in groups, so I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the technical writing that my classmates do. Here are some suggestions of what to emphasize based on my experiences: - First, one of my biggest pet peeves: When I pick up a technical document, I am expecting it to present information to me, not pass judgment about my reading level or my level of education. Avoid the use of words and phrases like "obviously" that assume something about the reader. A phrase like "That may have been a lot of information for you, but now on to something simpler" makes the writer seem obnoxious and unprofessional. Writing at the correct level usually means that someone who is familiar with the topic but not with the particular experiment/focus should be able to understand the writing. - Many students don't understand the purpose of an introduction or how it differs from a conclusion. A lot of people try to add verbiage to introductions simply to add length to the paper, because they don't think that it is a very important part of the paper, or because they are not sure what to write...blah...blah...blah. Introductions should describe the problem and summarize the conclusion. They should include a derivation of equations to be used later on, with all of the correct mathematical symbols included and defined. In my opinion, the introduction is the most important part of the whole document. If the TA grading the paper is having a busy day, she might just read the introduction and skim the rest. - Don't try to turn a piece of technical writing into a short story or a friendly letter. Using jokes/emoticons/unnecessary flowery description doesn't come off nearly as well to the reader as most students might think. Being direct and concise is itself an art. - Formatting, layout, and diagrams are important. Show the students how to use/configure the formatting tools in Word (or whatever editor they are using). They should be able to use Greek letters, mathematical symbols, subscripts, superscripts, etc. Vectors should be distinguishable from scalars in some way. Diagrams should also be done on the computer if possible. Hand-drawn diagrams generally look less professional than diagrams done on the computer.