UsefulLinks Archives - Page 6 of 69

Useful links: Web Design Chemistry, Deliverables, Shared Streaming, Jobs vs. Cook

Atomic Web Design takes an interesting metaphorical look at how the bits and pieces (or atoms and molecules) of a web design work together.

The Big Think: Breaking the Deliverables Habit is from Robert Hoekman at Smashing Magazine and is definitely worth thinking about.

Not so long ago I wrote Shared Streaming: Good or Bad? Netflix has decided that shared streaming is happening whether they like it or not and is catering to it with Multiple User Profiles for Accounts.

Is it just me, or does it seem that now that Steve Jobs is gone the Apple fanboys (and fangirls, may I add) feel free to poke jabs and complaints at Apple for various decisions regarding new products? It’s as if they are challenging Tim Cook to earn their affections all over again regardless of the quality of the products. The tweets during the recent announcements about iOS7 were often critical and bitchy – where has the unquestioned glowing enthusiasm gone? Was it all about Steve Jobs and not about Apple technology at all?

Useful Links: User testing, the marketing chick, SEO success

User Testing for Web Accessbility from six revisions is an excellent summary of user testing and web accessibility.

Must reading: Misogyny and the Marketing Chick.

The Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors is from Search Engine Land. Well organized and effective tool for checking your site’s SEO practices.

Useful Links: Academic Search, Pinterest Search, Mobile Form Labels, Online Class Retention

7 Academic Search Engines Not Named Google comes from Teach Thought.

Pinterest announced you can now search your own pins.

Mobile Form Usability: Never Use Inline Labels explains why what they call “inline labels” are are such an accessibility problem in mobile design.

Retention and Intention in Massive Open Online Courses: In Depth is a study from EDUCAUSE. It examines the retention rate in MOOCs and what that means to educators.

Useful Links: Karen McGrane, Drones, Edu Apps

WYSIWTF at A List Apart is by Karen McGrane. I’ve shown her videos and linked to her speeches here several times lately. It’s because I’m convinced she is the most important thinker working on the web right now. She’s not talking about responsive design, which is important, she’s talking about content. How to make content that works. How to create CMS tools that let authors create content that works. How to get away from WYSIWYG and its formatting tools, and move into the underlying structure of content. How to make content useful. She’s an evangelist who’s out to change the web.

In case you may have blown off the previous mentions of Karen McGrane on this blog, I remind you of her keynote at Drupal Con, and the video of her talk called Adapting Ourselves to Adaptive Content.

You know drones are soon going to be everywhere when they start using them to deliver pizza. Technology replaces the pizza guy. Not much is left that isn’t changed forever by technology – especially privacy.

The Best Apps for Educators at Media Shift has 8 useful ideas.

Useful links: Responsive email, fast CSS, CC Infographic

Creating a Responsive HTML Email Newsletter for Codecademy. This is interesting. Email is so far behind the state of the art – or maybe not.

Paul Irish: Fast performance CSS on mobile is a video from Adobe TV.

Here’s a useful infographic explaining what Creative Commons licenses allow you to do.

How To Attribute Creative Commons Photos by Foter

Useful Links: Up to Date, Responsive Radio, Syfy app

How to Keep Up To Date on Front End Technologies is a new site with suggestions for Twitter lists and websites that can help keep you up to date.

Web pages that respond to the device is now a mantra in the web dev world. How about radio broadcasts that respond to the user’s situation and location? Check out The BBC shows off “perceptive radio” that can alter scripts. Here’s a working demo, which they suggest works best in Chrome from locations inside the UK.

In a similar vein to the BBC experiments, I am here to sing the praises of the Syfy app. I’m a fan of several shows on the Syfy channel, including the currently running Defiance and Warehouse 13. With a sync feature, the app pings you periodically with information about what’s happening on the screen – simple things like the name of a song in the background or something about the scene or actors. Here’s the really cool part. If you record the show to watch at a different time from the original air time, the app still knows where you are in the story and the information it feeds to you matches your personal viewing schedule.

Useful Links: the future of content, Adobe web fonts, HTML Imports

Drupalcon Keynote by Karen McGrane with Video, Slides, and transcript. One of many worthwhile ideas she discusses:

I’ve gotten the reputation of being the president of the WYSIWYG Haters Club, which is true, and if you don’t buy into my rationale here today…

I’m going have to continue my graffiti crime spree. People assume I must be some kind of markdown evangelist. The problem isn’t the toolbar. Truth is, I don’t care if users make headings and bulleted lists with a toolbar or markdown codes. The problem with WYSIWYG is that we are allowing content creators to treat the web like it’s print.

Where do you think WYSIWYG came from?

It came from XEROX. Xerox PARC. Because they invented the laser printer.

How to Use Adobe Edge Web Fonts on Your Site from Design Shack is a good look at how to make the new Adobe Edge Web Fonts work for you. Both the problems and the benefits are outlined along with step by step instructions.

The W3C released the first working draft of HTML Imports. HTML Imports are a way to include and reuse HTML documents in other HTML documents.