2011
User Interfaces are Fun
One of the aspects of software development that has always impressed me with its depth is the side that comes with interface design. Over the past 3 months, it’s been on my mind a lot as I’m designing a couple of projects, and one thing that really surprised me is the level of customization that people are accustomed to anymore. Check out this simple question:
What G-Mail theme do you use?
I asked this just about a month and a half ago to my Facebook friends list. The results were actually quite interesting… A programmer? Classic. An airline pilot? No interface (go-go mobile). Someone in medicine? The sunset theme. Someone who has fully embraced their inner child? Ninja theme. Me? The Android theme.
The theme fits the person, in every case, and the more you know about them, the more it makes sense why they’d choose what they’d choose. Heck, I chose mine because I find the colour scheme more calming than the stock one, but it maintains the clean straight forward crispness I seek as a developer. It really got me thinking about when it comes to my work, how much customization to give. Sure, it’s always a nice thing, but when is enough, enough? It’s never something I add early on, and moreover it’s something I only really play with when I have the extra time and am not working on something bigger. But I’m at that point in one project, so I’m trying to think this thru…
As I sat here tonight, attempting to work thru another UI design, this thought process came thru my head, and I must admit I think writing this out helped me a bit. Designs are intended to be simple, but at the same time just customizable enough to allow people to have their own “feeling” without destroying the functionality of the item.
Now granted, I won’t go as far as some people who think that just because a system is customizable that it is an ugly thing by default. But in the end of things, that’s what the people wanted to make it now isn’t it? Hmm, more to think about…
Oh well, just kinda rambling. Hope everyone is well, and I’ll write more later.икониикониПравославни икони
2009
The Wave has Hit!
I received my Google Wave invite today for the open beta, and I must say I’m very impressed. It’s grown, it’s evolved, and it’s a tool that I can really see myself using more and more already even with my limited contact pool!
That said, if you have a Wave account, feel free to add me:
j…@g…e.com
Also, as a Wave user, I’ve got 20 invites available. I’m reserving about 5 of those for special individuals, but the other 15 are up for grabs. Either shoot me a wave (lolol, email), IM me, contact me somehow, and let me know your email address you’d like the invite sent to. They’re not an immediate send, as Google quotes “Invitations will not be sent immediately. We have a lot of stamps to lick.” But you’ll get it fairly promptly if I’m not mistaken.
So yea, if you’d like one, contact me, and I’ll be posting my feedback on this wonderful tool soon hopefully.
2009
Free as in Beer
So I’ve started compiling a list of things that people ask me for it seems on a daily basis. “Jamie I need a tool online to do insert_item_here.” There are hundreds of thousands of free or cheap services on the internet, but the question becomes, which ones can you trust to truly be free, and which ones do you need to avoid. Over the next couple days I’m going to be creating a new page here that will highlight some of the free services I use online, and hopefully give people a central point that I can point them to for the help they inquire about.
That said, I’m always looking myself! Are there any freebie sites you find exceedingly useful? Leave a comment here, twitter me, email me, facebook, hell, any contact method! I’ll definitely take the time to check them out, and might even add them to the page if I like them enough.
In other news, life is… moving. It’s raining today here, and I can’t express in words how good that makes me feel. Since moving away from the Bremerton area, that’s the one thing I have consistently missed was the rain, and the fun of having a “rain day”. It’s so relaxing, and gives me something that I just can’t describe, but it’s very good indeed. So I know for a fact it’s something I need in my life. Mental note to self: Never move to the desert.
Or maybe it’s just that I like hot chocolate… *shrug*
More later.
