I switched to Chrome from Firefox probably close to a year ago on my Mac permanently. Firefox got too slow and crashy for me to handle, and Chrome had snuck up as an amazing alternative for its speed and well thought out UI. I’ve become increasingly open to changes in my workflow and its interface over the past year or so, especially while dropping my five or six previously vital Firefox extensions in favour of slightly more manual processes that keep things lean.
The HTML5 audio API as implemented in JavaScript has one of the most un-computer-like responses I’ve ever seen, and inspired the title of this post. Calling
new Audio().canPlayType('audio/mp3'), which queries the system for format support according to a MIME type, is supposed to return one of “probably”, “maybe”, or “no”.
Almost forgot about 24 Ways this year – and this post is worth a read.
Every time I create a custom post type that requires a thumbnail of some sort, it only make sense to use WordPress’s built in Featured Image functionality. Problem being, the default ‘Featured Image’ meta box isn’t totally self-explanatory to your clients (and if you’re mildly OCD like me, it bothers you even for your own site). Let’s change that copy on a per-post-type basis. More »
Even when the PS3 came out, people seemed to marvel at its touch sensitive eject and power buttons, and not even for a second have I understood it. Design for design’s sake, form over function, etc. My current main monitor at home is a Samsung 2443BW, a 24″ LCD which I preferred over others at the time of purchase because of its particularly narrow bezil. It was also in the same line as, and only somewhat changed aesthetically from my previous monitor – the 225BW, a 22″. One key difference was the move from simple front-mounted, small, circular buttons for power and navigating the screen’s menus to capacitive buttons mounted in the same place. I’m sure that for a moment there when I unboxed the thing that I too was lured in by the cool factor, but this was quickly deflated that very night when I went to calibrate some settings and had to constantly look at the screen and down to the controls to make sure I was touching the correct square centimeter of the bezel, as there’s zero tactile interface.
Also that night, I first tried to turn on my monitor in a dark room, and that was when I decided this interface is a complete useless gimmick. The PS3 has small indented symbols on both of its buttons, and since there are only two on a relatively large surface it’s not hard to feel them out, but does this make any sense?
In short, no, and that’s all I really have to say.
Next up: The blue LED is in almost every single gadget I own that isn’t Apple-designed. #ffffffffuuuuuuuu
Figures the first truly near-perfect implementation of simple, flexible, and un-annoying reminders on Mac OS would come from the Swiss. Alarms solves a problem I’ve been having since I first went Mac. iCal’s alarms implementation probably works for some, but absolutely sucks for my purposes. I use reminders a lot – for instance, if I have a meeting at 10am on Tuesday, I want to know about it on perhaps Monday morning, late Monday evening, and first thing Tuesday morning. Then, if it’s a conference call or something else very time-sensitive, I’ll want one right when I should be picking up the phone. Now this could be because my memory sucks and I’m for too easily distracted, but really I’m sure lots of people are this way.
Alarms solves my problem completely and beautifully. It lives in my menu bar, and while I don’t like clutter up there, it deserves the space because of how well it builds off that position. I’d show off screenshots, but it’s a somewhat difficult application to screenshot. Take my word for it, if you don’t have a reminder application and need one, or are currently using iCal, Alarms is pretty kickass. Free trial for 2 weeks or $15 for a license.
I find as I learn more and more on WordPress as a CMS, the requirement to keep users out of the WordPress dashboard altogether becomes increasingly common. The issue with prohibiting such access is, a user’s settings are normally handled through a dashboard view. In search of a solution, I found two routes:
I’ve needed to, on multiple occasions, output post thumbnails for different content types at different sizes.
This is the code you probably have:
add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' ); set_post_thumbnail_size( 94, 144, true );
At this point, all instances of the_post_thumbnail will output the image at 94×144. There are two main ways to output a different size: using predefined image sizes, or by specifying your own. Using the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail'), for instance, will display the thumbnail using your install’s thumbnail settings, in Settings > Media. This too, however, can only be set globally, and isn’t ideal since the thumbnail size is likely used elsewhere on your site. More »
Every once in a while you encounter a tiny feature of a website that makes your day and improves your perception of the site as a whole drastically.
I ran into one of these on Quora today. I signed up months ago, but I must not have completed the registration process – I went to sign in and this is a capture of exactly what happened once I tabbed to the password field.
Tiny feature, but incredibly well thought out. This is the stuff that makes websites amazing to use.
