Archives for March 2005

Pashua

March 26, 2005

One of the areas that I am most excited about in switching to a Mac is the ability to utilize scripting for various tasks. My knowledge of PHP and Perl will be quite useful in creating various tools, and I look forward to learning other languages to extend my capabilities.

While some of these tools will be automated, or easily run from the command line, others will prove much more useful if they use a graphical interface. Enter Pashua, “a tool for creating native Aqua dialog windows for Perl, PHP, Tcl, Python, Ruby, Rexx and shell scripts as well as AppleScript.” It looks to be a great tool for learning the ropes along the way to developing in Cocoa and other OS X languages.

Hat tip to Mac Geekery for introducing me to Pashua.

I love the OS X community.

Efficient CSS with shorthand properties

March 3, 2005

Efficient CSS with shorthand properties from 456 Berea Street is handy to keep around as a reference for those comfortable with CSS. For those new to Cascading Style Sheets, it should prove to be a useful source of knowledge.

Web Application Form Design

March 2, 2005

Luke W has posted a great series discussing the use of Forms in Web applications. The first, Web Application Form Layout, introduces the subject, focusing upon consistent and usable presentation of the ubiquitous Web form. The second, Web Application Form Design provides further study of various layout options and their impact on usability and user-understanding. The third, Web Application Form Design Expanded provides further clarification and examples of unifying the various components of Web forms.

I highly recommend tat every Web developer and designer read through the articles. With an understanding of these concepts, the Web professional will produce better, more-usable Web forms.

User Experience Diagrams

March 1, 2005

Functioning Form gathers together a great collection of User Experience Diagrams

Design Inspiration – Part Three

March 1, 2005

I keep a list of well designed Web sites to give me a creative nudge when I get designer’s block in the midst of creating a Web site. Different designers handle this frustration in different ways. Some avoid any outside influence, while others, like me, seek out amazing work, searching for a small spark to re-ignite their creativity. There are times when this spark can come from something as simple as the shape of one curve, or the choice of color pallet. You never know. Well, at least I don’t. So, for that reason, here are some sites that I visit for inspiration.

This is the third entry in my design inspiration series, please see parts one, two and four for further inspiration.