Minimal

Lazy... or efficient?

First it was emails across the office. Next it was ICQ. Now, I’ve just been telephoned by someone sat less than 10 yards away. I could see his lips moving, for god’s sake! Given the library-like nature of our open-plan office, I could almost even hear him without any technological enhancements. Just how lazy is the world getting?!?

I have to admit, mind, I did rather enjoy the perversity of it. :)

Gaming is good for you

As with anything involving generation gaps, video-gaming has had plenty of bad press over the years, often from people with vested interests to protect, but mostly from people who just don’t get it. To help balance things up a little, here are a couple of Daily Mail-baiting articles from the BBC, one old and one new:

• Gaming ‘is good for you’ (12 Feb 03)
• Video games ‘good for you’ (28 May 03)

They both make an interesting read. However, the first article’s portrayal of social interactions and escapism in multi-player games is something that will ring true with gamers everywhere. In fact, it’s so spot on, it makes you wonder what all the fuss is about. It’s all so obvious — and obviously harmless.

Aliased fonts = ancient relics?

I'm currently tinkering with the visual design of various user interfaces at work and have come to realise something. Whenever I'm pushing pixels, I tend to do all font-related work without anti-aliasing.

This makes complete sense for most UI work, as the majority of standard UI fonts are between 8 and 12-point and remain aliased regardless of system settings. However, I also use aliased fonts when designing above 12pt. After all, not everyone uses the operating system's font-smoothing option, do they? I'm not just holding myself back unnecessarily, am I? Or am I?

Trouble is, the combination of aliased fonts and the limited set of typefaces on which you can rely to be present leaves you with very few choices for good-looking headings and the like. Come to think of it, I've made exactly the same compromises when designing websites too. But am I right to do so? Should I be designing for systems that use ClearType, Quartz, etc. and screw the rest, or should I still be making designs that look good without anti-aliasing?

You know, the sooner I get comments on this damned blog, the better. :)

Second wind

Despite petrolhead having been consigned to an early grave*, part of it may soon live again. Actually, that’s a rash promise to make given my track record, but its commenting system kinda works now. The only thing that stopped me completing it was the fact that cryptic ASP error messages simply broke my will. Tonight, I beat them off with a big stick and found that I had been a mere typo or two from completion.

So... the upshot is that minimal may soon get comments too. Yes, I know I could’ve used an out-of-the-box solution, but they all looked a bit pants, or their code offended me, or they just seemed like too much hassle. Ha — the irony! And once I’m done with the comments, an RSS feed will be next on the list. That should publicise my neglect of this site quite nicely.

* Speaking of graves, did you see Six Feet Under on Channel 4 last night? Looks like the second series is going to be just as good as the first. Hurrah! :)

Hallelujah

I like acts of volition. It does a nice line in operating system user interface critique. Not only that, but it looks at Windows when most stuff on the web concentrates on the designer’s paradise that is Mac OS-X (or so it would appear). Today’s post on XUL even touches on something I wish Microsoft would get a lot more flak for — the inconsistency between their operating systems and their key application suite, Office. These two have steadily been growing further and further apart over the years, at least in terms of their UIs. The Office team seems hell-bent on innovating with a complete disregard for fitting into the OS. The menus in the latest versions of Office are a classic case in point.

For your average Windows developer trying to keep their apps looking current, this presents something of a dilemma. Do you try to imitate the look and feel of the applications most of your customers are probably using day-to-day? Or do you stay in line with the operating system, sacrificing some of the latest gimmicks and widgets? In times past, I’ve plumped with mimicking Office, but the more the Office team messes with standard UI widgets, the more likely it is I’ll favour the OS. Frankly, it pisses me off that I even have to make this choice. Why can’t the two key UI teams in Microsoft just work together for once, instead of trying to out-design each other? Surely someone has to rein them in? Please?

The world at your doorstep

You know what? Sod the size of the parking space, living in the city centre is ace! :) Out of work, into the pub (via the chippy), a couple of beers down the neck and a short walk home. Splendid. Not only that, but stepping out of your front door and being only a minute or so’s walk from Eldon Square is frankly just bizarre. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but for the moment I’m walking into work with a silly grin on my face. :)

X-rated

I know I’ve got a foul mouth, but I never expected to be on a school’s blacklist of websites. That’s kinda funny. :)

Parking space usability

Well, the move has been made and I’m finally out of my parents’ place. With house-sitting (and gardening) duties over, I’m free at last. I’d like to say I’m dead chuffed with the flat, but... well... that would be lying. One thing in particular has raised my hackles: my parking space. Or maybe I should say my parking lack-of-space.

I can just about squeeze into it between the metal posts, but if people are parked either side of my space, there’s no point in me parking — I won’t be able to open my doors. And no, I’m not exaggerating. Whoever specified the width of these spaces deserves to be shot. Or at least locked in his car till he starves. For someone as keen on usability as myself, this one’s going to be hard to live with for the next 6 months. :(

Dream job

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more enticing job description than that currently posted at 37signals. Six months ago, it might’ve been hard to resist a pop at it (despite my lack of web experience & design skills!), but right now, I’m redefining my own role at work and I’d be mad to leave. Still, I’ll envy whoever gets the gig.

Diatribe

Richard Herring, comedy hero of mine, tears into Kelly Rowland(s) and her appallingly titled song, Stole. Wonderful stuff. :)

And it symbolises... what exactly?

As grateful as I might be to Antony Gormley for his Angel of the North statue, he’s still just another modern artist. Sorry, sculptor. Sorry, overseer (he never bloody does the work himself!). See what he has to say about his latest work, Domain Field (via t-melt):

“[Stainless steel strips] have been welded together to create ‘T’ patterns to create what I call a random matrix within the volume of the mould of each person. It’s kind of like an energy field or a kind of electricity that is created by these trajectories.”

What a load of tosh. I prefer to base my opinion on its aesthetics and/or explicit message rather than the creator’s fantastical notions of energy. With any luck I’ll get a chance to do just that this weekend, as it opens at the Baltic on Saturday. Well, provided I’m not still carting stuff into my new home. :/

Oh yeah... about that site-on-hold stuff: who was I trying to kid? I make most of my notes at work as it is. :)

Moving

Updates to this site are sporadic at best, but they’re about to become non-existent. I’m moving into the centre of Newcastle next week and will probably be too busy with other stuff to bother with a website. I will return, though. Au revoir.

Sick boy

There’s something very wrong about software developers wearing suits.

Smile, and the world smiles with you

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