Archive for the ‘development’ Category
Taking the short way
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Take the fast route baby!
There are so many resources out there on keyboard short cuts out there. Some really good ones that just got published include Mastering Photoshop: Unknown Tricks and Time-Savers (where I learned how to commit the text I had just written when my toolbars were hidden: It’s cmd enter!) and I’ve just finished installing Zen Coding into my Coda and Textmate, which will save me a lot of time formatting boring static text, definitely.
Shortcuts are great…
I know quite a few shortcuts in the Adobe package, and I can get around my mac pretty easily with a combination of key strokes. It saves me so much time, and it makes it so much easier to get into my “zone”. We all have our techniques for efficiency when we’re on the computer.
…but they’re also really frustrating
The problem is, they’re not universal. I hit the “V” key constantly in flash in order to get my direct select arrow. I hit “command D” constantly in Illustrator to place an image, but that’s the command for inDesign. After a while I get frustrated enough that I’ll go and change them in the settings, but by then, all flow has dissipated.
They also make teaching difficult
I have often gone to show people how to do something very simple in Photoshop, and to be honest, it takes me a while to find certain things in the menus. I hit keystrokes to change tools, and they are shouting, “Wait! What is that?”
Remember these words: patience and repetition. I think people should always learn the long ways of doing it first. Menus and panels often give a context that learning shortcuts do not. It’s like at school with math: the teacher would show you once or twice how a formula was derived, and then you just remembered the formula, but understood its context. It meant memorizing the formula was much easier, because it had something to connect to in your brain.
They make “experts” out of “amateurs”
I’ve met a few people who are whizzes at Photoshop, could talk to the talk, do the shortcut walk and then I saw their stuff, but it turns out they couldn’t design themselves out of a paper bag. Just because I’m really good with the drill and the hammer, doesn’t mean I should be designing the house.
This short-cutter has mistaken tool mastery with real skill, and that’s a huge problem. For those who strive for mastery in design, shortcuts are not important.
Rant about the “tech girl”
Monday, July 13th, 2009
I just watched this talk from Adriana Gascoigne, who is the creator of Girls in Tech. She’s very charismatic and a good speaker, but I think the facts that she presented were the wrong ones. I knew what she was fundamentally trying to say, but her figures didn’t say it, and talking to a predominantly (tech) male audience, they didn’t mean anything. She forgot that…
The disparity between the sexes is old news.
I’m really torn between those that are saying, “Women in tech aren’t getting the recognition, there’s only 8 women that are hear of fortune 500 companies… blah blah” and the other side that says, “Sorry, but there just aren’t as many women in tech, and proportionately the same amount that are doing anything really amazing.” I don’t want to hear mediocre women speaking about mediocre things. I want experts, same as everyone else.
It’s something brought up so often, but I still find myself wondering about it. We’ve beaten this topic to death, but why do we keep bringing it up? Because we’re still lonely, us girls in tech.
We’re just oh so lonely. And, frankly, it’s kinda embarrassing.
Where are you, ladies?
The question is, why aren’t there many women in tech?
While I consider myself a designer first, I do spend 80% of my life coding these days, so I guess I’m a tech girl, and my two closest tech girl friends here in London are probably the most fierce, competitive, self-starting, and definitely intelligent ladies, but also developers. No one would call any of us timid. Is this lack of traditional “girliness” a requirement for these lonely female developers? First thought, maybe, but that’s not it, I’m sure of it.
Me and my nerds, nerding it up at the firefox 3 launch party
Something scary about being surrounded by men?
Fact: if you’re in tech, you’re going to be surrounded by guys. Is that why there aren’t more girls in tech?
No, because the guys in tech are very open to having girls around. They WANT there to be more talented girls in tech (well, most of them… there’s always a few haters).
Most teams don’t want to be all sausage, and often a sole girl will have a bit of an advantage over an interview with a similarily qualified male competitor. (note: I hate the idea of a girl getting a job just because she’s a girl– I am very hard on my female techs: they better be at least as good as their competitors. None of this, “Oh, we need to get the male/female ratio right” bullshit.)
But it’s ALL men. My work is 5 guys and me. My graphic design course in highschool (to learn photoshop/illustrator) was 22 guys, and 2 girls, and most other start-up tech teams I’ve met have been predominantly male (with a token female every once and a while). If, as a girl in tech, you’d like a bit of female companionship, you’re going to be well out of luck. If you’re not a confident lady, it’s not easy being amongst all men, no matter how nice everyone on the team is.
At barcamplondon... spot the girl, almost like a where's waldo!
Why haven’t more girls gone into tech?
I’m really not sure, but I think it has a lot to do with nerdiness.
There doesn’t seem to be the same high level of awkward girl nerds around as there is for guys (not saying that all tech are awkward, but we definitely are nerds!). And to be really good, you have got to be a full on, hardcore nerd since you were 12 years old.
My friend Margaret, a java developer, told me that she used to fix the computer for the teacher when she was in primary school. She was excellent at math. I was always in the top of my math classes in primary school and high school. I spent HOURS on our Mac LC3, reorganizing, designing, learning new applications, creating clubs, designing newsletters.
I asked a few of my dev guy friends what they wanted to be when they grew up, and many have said, “I’ve always wanted to do something with computers.”
Everyone around is touting about becoming an expert taking 10,000 hours. Coincidence that these guys have been honing their skills in every possible moment of spare time since they were pre-pubescent? I doubt it.
These guys, and the token female nerd, definitely have an advantage over those people that only decide to do computers in university. Growing up, none of my girl friends liked computers that much. Why? Because they were nerdy, possibly. I know I did, but then again, I was a huge nerd. Complete with glasses and a mushroom haircut.
Guess which one is me!
Computers are a lot cooler than they have been in the past, so maybe this will start changing. I hope so, because then I will be on the cutting edge of cool.
It’s a man’s world
I love computers. I love design. I love learning new stuff. But, as much as we don’t want to admit it, I’m a girl in a guy’s world. It was not built for me, and because it was built by enthusiasm, and continues to move fast, it’s still predominantly built by guys. Should that matter? No. Does it make a difference? Sure. A great rugby player who joins in a soccer match will have to adjust to a very different game, same as a guy who becomes a stay at home dad. It’s not his world. I don’t mind: I think they’ve built it very well, but maybe that’s a barrier to some of these girls getting their feet wet.
Women are supposed to be fantastic at languages, and while we’re on the sexual stereotypes, they’re also great communicators. What is a computer built on? A language. In my high school, the girls were equally good at math and science as the guys. Where’s the barrier to going into computers?
Side note: I hate the “girl in tech” winers
I really hate them. Just because you’re a girl in tech doesn’t mean you should get recognition. Just because you’re the only one you know doesn’t mean you should get some award. Sure, it’s difficult not having the same-sex companionship and community, but I’m tired of seeing mediocre design and dev girls wondering why they’re not rock stars. Or, the mediocre dev girls that become rockstars because everyone feels like they have this obligation to have equal opportunity. I don’t want to hear about your mediocrity.
And as much as the guys want some eye candy around, I’m sick of mediocre devs/design girls becoming popular just because they’re gorgeous.
Okay, maybe I’m just jealous.
But, I love being a girl in tech
First and foremost, I love all the guys I’ve worked with. They have been so supportive, encouraging, and, while sometimes harsh, have always done it in a way that makes me continually improve. I think being a girl on the team, and especially since I’m an outgoing one, adds a good balance and fun that they wouldn’t have without me. Of course, they may think differently….(but I’m sure they’re too scared of me to tell me! hahaha!).
Joining the team
I’ve joined some women in tech groups (there are LOADS of them, for design and for dev). So far, I haven’t seen them making much progress in getting publicity. Maybe that will change, but right now, it’s pretty much a love-in for ladies scratching their heads wondering why they’re not getting results. Hopefully my membership will become more useful as the number of talented ladies increases. If any of us does become famous, I just hope it’s not just because we’re a girl though.
Is it a bad thing to use your lady status?
Sometimes I really wish I weren’t judged on being a girl. But you know what, I am one. Saying ‘people shouldn’t judge’ is a complete cop-out that takes reality and chooses to ignore it. Sometimes being a girl is a disadvantage, but I also believe that you use everything in your arsenal to your advantage. Standing out is the only way to get ahead, and I plan on doing it morally but smartly. I’m a decent designer, but definitely not the best, and definitely not within the top 1% (maybe top 5%… there are a lot of crappy designers out there!). In the world of women though, I’m pretty darn good. In the whole field, I wouldn’t be noticed as easily if I were a guy. This doesn’t mean I think I deserve this extra publicity, but I’m going to take it. You know what, I’m going to take every advantage that I can. And when I launch an app that I have lovingly crafted, that I get 3% more traffic because I’m a girl in tech, well, I’ll take the gender divide to my advantage, thank you!
Someone wants to give me a little bit extra because I’m a girl? Is that bad? I don’t think so, because I’m definitely not coasting on it, and in all honesty, it’s really not giving me that much extra. No one could say that I’m not hungry to get better, to create constantly, and it’d be difficult to hold people’s attention without substance.
And you know what, if I get really good (which I plan on doing), I will definitely become a mentor. I wish there had been a lady around to mentor me. We ladies like to have mentors.
Then maybe we can stop talking about this, and just get on with it!
Meet thepickuptruck!
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
I’ve just completed thepickuptruck.com, my first app of my own I’ve actually finished!
So, it’s pickups, but it allows anyone to add pickup lines in (either by doing it anonymously, but also by claiming your pickups by putting in your twitter name). You can vote on pickups. We (myself and Dan Wichett, a fantastic developer, who has been my partner on this whole thing!) have also made a mobile app, which uses the opera widget process, where you can save your favourites.
I would love your feedback on the truck! Let me know what you think!
screen shot of thepickuptruck
Adobe’s website drives me insane
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
I wanted to purchase an adobe product, as my trial had run out. Their store is built in flex, and they are the CREATORS of flex (builder at least).
It crashed my browser 10 times (both firefox (7 times) and safari (3 times)), while trying to open the store.
I restarted my computer, and I finally got into the store.
I tried to purchase using paypal. Transferred me out to paypal no problem, but upon returning me to the store, it gave me the spinny ball for 10 minutes. I was concerned that if I refreshed or tried again, it would charge me twice (as it had gone through fine in paypal)…. Took a chance and tried again. Still screwed up (doesn’t look like they charged me, but keep your fingers crossed). Restarted computer, still didn’t work. Finally decided to just use my credit card. Whole situation took over 1.5 hours.
What an absolute pile of crap. I like adobe products, and I really like flex as it’s a great combo between flash beauty and building dynamic applications, but I think that their website is very convoluted and difficult to use. Shame on you, Adobe.
New safetygoat!
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Well, well, well! I said I was going to fix up safetygoat, and it’s taken me a lot longer than I thought….but it is here! It has been a time consuming endeavor. For example, adding in a simple plug-in often took three hours of frustration (followed by 2 minutes of knowing bliss!), sometimes two days, but it was never as simple as people said (which leads me to believe that I’m a wordpress retard). I will post code snippets that I figured out in the coming weeks so hopefully others will learn from all my pains (and hopefully the codies out there will tell me if I’ve done a really big ‘faux pas’ or two!).
Some of the things I really wanted were easy-ish… getting flash and jpgs into the same gallery for my portfolio, for example, but my main goal was to make the front page more interactive. This meant having haikus that people could scroll through and add to, a sneak peak into my portfolio (I’ve grown quite fond of that frame and don’t feel bad for one second about how much of your bandwidth I’m taking up!), somewhere where I can pull in photos of safetygoat that other people have taken (add yours to my flickr group!), as well as feeds for my last.fm, brightkite and twitter. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be tweaking it and testing it in different browsers, but I would appreciate all of you lovely people to take a look through. If you could let me know if you spot any bugs, or if you have any tweaks I can make to just tidy it up, I will put on my tough girl skin and take your advice lovingly into my arms.
Replace pseudo-class :last-child using JSTL by determining the loop status
Friday, October 24th, 2008
I wanted to know how you’d figure out when you’d come to the last in a list of items when coding in a jsp. When the number of items vary, there’s no way you can hard code this in.
I wanted to add a :last-child in my webpage so that my list’s last element wouldn’t have a border-bottom, but the rest of the list would. I’m all for progressive enhancement, but sometimes things look so shocking in ie7 and ie6 that you just need to find another (non-css) way to take the border off.
In css, it’s
.keyContact li{border-bottom: 1px solid #000;}
.keyContact li:last-child{border-bottom: none;}
But this doesn’t work in IE7 or IE6. Without it, I get a crappy double line thing, and looks shocking. In my jsp, I’m not sure how many key contacts I’m going to have as it’s running through a loop. But for each item we determine their status:
< c:forEach items="${contacts} var="contact" varStatus="status">
<li class="contact ${status.last ? 'noBorder':">Contact info</li>
</c:forEach>
Of course, you still need to define what noBorder is in the css…
.noBorder{border-bottom: none;}
Now you can delete your li:last-child class in order to keep your css tidy.
This sets a variable so each time it goes through the loop, it knows which is the first, last etc. And when it determines that it is the last element, it will add the class “noBorderâ€, otherwise it will add nothing. (Read it as “is the status last ? (question mark). If yes, add noBorder, otherwise (:) add nothing). FYI this is called a JSTL loop status. Hope that helps!
Making text in inputs disappear when you click on it
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
This is probably really REALLY obvious to other front-end coders, but I didn’t know how to do it. It’s a great way to save room on a design, but still label things clearly. So here it is….
<input onfocus=”this.value=”” type=”text” value=”sometext” />
So you can put an id or class on this as you normally would, but the words ’sometext’ will appear until someone clicks on the input box. If you want them to have to select and delete the text before they enter in their own text….
<input onfocus=”this.select()” type=”text” value=”sometext” />
Update: My good friend Andrew, of Pepsmedia, has informed me that this is a bit naughty, as I’m putting a javascript function on an actual html element. He suggests going to this link and using the jquery method.
My 5 Women Web Designer Heros
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
Bonnie thinks we need heros. It’s true. But I was getting worried when all of my web design heros were men. I really didn’t think that there weren’t any girl heros to be had…
Lots of girls are fantastic graphic designers or illustrators, but that’s not enough for me. I’m talking about the whole package here, with extra emphasis on webdesign. So many of the girls’ sites I looked at had glimpses of genius, but when you’re looking for a hero, you want someone whose complete portfolio blows you away, and makes you wish you were a better person. And some lists, including this one from Just Creative Design, made me embarrassed that these women, although very talented, were not heros, especially not to us girl web designers, as some of their websites were unprofessional, badly designed, or just PLAIN plain (the exception being Marian Bantjes who is my typography hero… from both genders, but this is supposed to be about webdesign, so she’ll go on my “general hero list”).
I’m just beginning my web career… I need heros to look up to!
Here’s the attributes I was looking for in my heros.
1. Every piece was polished
A lot of people have one nice piece, or others had a beautiful personal site, but their portfolio was mediocre. She needs to inspire awe with every piece of work she has done.
2. They have their own website portfolio
I know some girls that have designed a site I really like (perhaps being the art director), but they don’t have their own portfolio, so how can I be sure of their greatness? I don’t want to be disappointed.
3. They create something awe-inspiring
I know how to make mediocre stuff already. There is a lot of good stuff out there, but the stuff that inspires needs to achieve a whole new level.
4. Made me wish that I had done it.
If it doesn’t make me feel inferior or if it doesn’t make me feel like I have no talent at all, it can’t be from my hero. Design heros are there to smash your self-confidence. Period.
5. I didn’t just pick them because they’re a girl.
There’s a debate on whether it matters if a designer is a girl or a guy. For my list, I wanted my choices to be so good that it could be a list of just “web design heros”, not just because they’re girls. Does it matter? Maybe it shouldn’t, but I just haven’t seen that many girls around, and I really want to relate to other women designers. I’m sorry, but girls and guys ARE different, even if I don’t agree that one sex is more capable than the other.
So here they are in my personal order…
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Top 10 tips to make your own web app projects
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
Let’s face it. If you’re a regular developer or web designer, your day job isn’t going to allow you to put all those cool things you keep reading about into practice, are they? A lot of people suffer from the old problem that they do something cool, only to have it thrown into the garbage. My work isn’t bad actually– they want to put some cool stuff in, but let’s face it… I’m never going to have complete freedom. And neither are you, most likely.
So I suggest you start your own project. If you have such good ideas, stop your whining and SHOW people.
I got tired of whining, so here’s a little sneak-peak at the project Ollie and I are working on right now. It’s all about getting and sharing ideas. It got me thinking about working on your own projects… So I made a list of 10 tips to working on your own mini dev projects.
1. Make sure it’s original
There’s nothing worse than doing something that has been done many times successfully already (especially if they have a team of people working full time that have done a better job than you). Try and think of something really new, or at least approach a known solution in a new fresh approach. You want people to get excited about it and talk about it!
2. Make sure it solves a problem that exists.
Besides unoriginal apps, second worst sin is a useless app. Well, maybe not nothing worse, but if there is no point to what you’ve built, why are you doing it? Always ask yourself, “How does this make anyone’s life better/ more exciting/ easier etc?” If you have to say, “It doesn’t”, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. If it solves a problem, ask yourself, “Does it solve a problem that needs solving?” If people don’t care about it, and won’t use it, then you’re lost.
3. If it takes you more than 1 minute to explain your idea to someone, then it’s too complicated.
Sure, it can take more than a minute to explain the details on how it works, but with the idea, it should be simple. The shorter amount of time to explain it, the better. Ollie and I can explain it in 10 words.
“It’s about giving people interesting things to do.”
Okay, that’s only 8, and it’s a concept that hasn’t been done in the same way that we’re doing it… at least not that I can find. (If someone has seen something like our app around somewhere, please send me a link! I’d love to see how other people are doing it.)
4. Do your research.
Maybe you think you have a brilliant idea. Maybe you do. But there are so many ideas out there that can help you make your app absolutely STUNNING. This means going around and seeing all the cool things that are out there. Don’t plagarise, but do get inspiration from people that have done something similar. Besides seeing things you like, you can also learn about potential mistakes you could make.
5. Plan Plan Plan (on paper).
You probably hate the planning stages of work projects. This is different, don’t worry. You won’t have to deal with people who don’t have a clue what you’re talking about (because you’re talking to yourself), but don’t think that because it’s a brilliant concept in your head that you don’t have to write anything down. As you write down your plans or make your wireframes (even just roughly is okay), you find the gaps in your thinking process, and you nail down a tighter app.
6. Talk it through with someone who isn’t in the industry.
Don’t underestimate the value of talking to someone. Try to explain how your app works to someone who can use computers but doesn’t develop on them. You’ll quickly find out if your app is too complicated for the real world, and it will help you think about the messaging you have on your site.
7. Language matters.
Not only is it important to choose which language you develop in (we’re using ruby), it’s also important to think carefully about the language on your site. First time users will get frustrated with your site if it’s riddled with grammatical mistakes and incoherent sentences. Not a good writer? Get a good friend or family member to edit your material, and make sure it makes sense. Nothing makes you look worse (and slightly incompetent) than grammar and spelling mistakes on your beautiful polished app.
8. Develop within your capabilities.
We all have ideas that would be great, if only I had a physics professor and an olympic pole vaulter involved. Make sure it’s within your grasp. Yes, challenge yourself, but if you can barely grasp html, you shouldn’t be trying to build the new facebook.
9. Make sure your work doesn’t feel threatened.
Does your app do ANYTHING the same thing as your work? If it does, and you don’t plan on handing it over to them, prepare for them to be very very nervous. And probably start looking for a new job. Make sure that you don’t work on your app during work hours, and that you still get all your work done. It’s all good and well being secretive about it, but in the web world nothing stays secret for long, so make sure you approach your work carefully. If you think they will be angry, best to talk with them about it and reassure their fears. If they start talking about owning rights to your intellectual property and that you’re not allowed to work on other things outside work, I think it’s time to find a new job in anycase. You don’t want to have your “baby” stolen after all your hard work is finished!
10. Stop procrastinating and get it out there!
If you have good ideas, you’re going to have to give up those three hours of CSI followed by two hours of Mario Kart if you want to get it out any time soon. Bootstrapping takes longer, but all those evenings and weekends mean that you have made something awesome.
Besides making a kick-ass app, you’ll learn a lot, and your work will see loads of benefits from you, including a renewed sense of enthusiasm, an upgrade in your skills (working on my own projects has made me a MUCH better designer, which has made me a better designer at work), and the benefit of learning new technologies.
If you want to sign up for when my app comes out, go to theboxcat.com, and sign up. We’ll send you an email when it comes out! Ollie and I very excited about it!! Remember, your project should be fun, and the more excited you are about it, the more excited other people will be too.
good women developers…rare because women can’t be specialists?
Friday, June 20th, 2008
Recently I received an article from the wall street journal entitled, “Men write code from mars, women write more helpful code from venus“, and as girl surrounded by quite a few male developers, I forwarded it to the dev team with some random comment about “Girls are great developers” and that they better be ready for it, because I had already commented the entire code base out with kisses. Meg, our other girl developer, said, “Girls are just better in general!” and we were all laughing, when Rob, another developer piped in, “Boys are better in specific!” to further laughs.
But he continued, “Girls aren’t good at specializing. Genetically that’s just the way it is. Scientific studies have proven it.”
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