Dan Rubin's SuperfluousBanter

Blog

  • Ridiculously Cool Comment Tools

    The blogosphere is being all innovative. Way to go! I’ve observed some
    very cool comment tools and features over the last couple of days. I’m
    supposed to study hard for my last ever exam in my master degree. Oh well, you
    know how that goes. Thus it was new blog checking time (so much for effective
    time management).

    Comment Preview

    This is a very useful tool not only because it’s user friendly but also
    because it’s just plain smart. Less server requests, less load and best
    of all — less bullshit. I spotted this cool feature on blogs by Jon
    Hicks     and Shaun Inman.

    Live comment preview

    These two examples just look so damn lickable™ and are smartly implemented.
    You can read how
    Jon put this nifty feature on his blog     by checking his entry about the whole
    process and the code behind it.

    Comment Textarea

    Aren’t tiny textareas a pain in the butt? Whatever, I think they are.
    I hate scrolling all the time to see what I typed or make adjustments. But fear
    no more, someone thought of a solution. I spotted this new (atleast to me) feature
    on Binary Bonsai — blog of a scandinavian
    fellow by the name of Michael Heilemann. By the way his website is worth a visit
    — not only does he have good taste, his content is worthwhile too!

    Change comment textarea size

    Pretty cool stuff, eh? I think both these tools dramatically increase user
    experience on blogs and make adding comments a breeze. Have you spotted other
    cool new features? If so, let me know in the comments.

  • Websites Have Two Layers

    To keep this post focused and simple I will assume that websites have two layers:
    design (UI/presentation) and code (technology/mark-up). Which layer is most
    important in building a succesful website? Both you will say. But in the end
    the web is about interaction. Jason
    Fried at 37signals on the topic    :

    “There’s way too much talk about CSS and XHTML and Standards and
    Accessibility and not enough talk about people. CSS and Standards Compliant
    Code are just tools — you have to know what to build with these tools.”

    People, people, people! Web design is a bit like a car —
    the engine (technology) and everything else that makes using it bearable (interface).
    Over at the wonderfully designed Airbag, thoughts
    of Greg Storey     follow a similar pattern:

    “Now I’m all for a good conversation and exhibition of great design work
    but enough is enough. Web standards and style sheets are here to stay (ya hooray!).
    It’s time to move on. So let’s talk about money and metrics.”

    So? Is the fuzz about XHTML, CSS and other new exciting technologies over?
    Can we move on? If you buy a car you assume its engine will function. Nowadays
    there are no shamelessly bad engine manufacturers left. What really differentiates
    brands such as Ford, BMW and Volkswagen is the experience they sell. The automobile
    industry is a mature industry. The web is not — yet. Look around. Do we
    see standard compliant code everywhere? Can we assume websites have solid mark-up?

    Personally I agree with both Jason and Greg. Yet I think they’re looking
    in the wrong places. The blogosphere tends to talk about code. Yadi yada validation
    yada yadi standards yada yada. We are part of a small group that cares and knows
    about good mark-up. But there’s more happening around us. SxSW
    is not solely a user experience conference, nor is it purely a design event.
    SxSW just happens to attract a lot of people talking about CSS. Leave the coders
    do the talking about what they know best: clean mark-up. They should not stop
    innovating or spreading the word — on the contrary.

    If I want to discuss all things user experience I post a message to CHI-WEB,
    check the latest news at Information
    Design     and have a good laugh with the folks from OK/Cancel.
    Oh, and maybe even read what Jakob Nielsen
    has to say. It’s not a matter of “or”, it’s a matter
    of “and”. We need both. I focus on design, not code — it’s
    what I do and talk about. If you want to change the industry put your money
    where your mouth is, but don’t tell people to stop doing what they love.

  • Oh Canada! Oh Canada!

    So this morning I was in the liquor store to get, ermm… well, booze.
    Yeah, yeah, I know I said morning. No, I’m not losing it, just that it
    happened to be the most convenient time during the whole day. Anyway, so in
    front of me there was this guy paying his drinks. The cashier goes: “are
    you from England?”, the young man on the other side anwers: “No,
    Canada actually.” To which to cashier responds: “Oh, no good…”
    Now at this point I couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud. I’ve
    never seen a canadian guy so baffled. You should’ve seen his face: “What?
    They’re actually making fun of me here? In Europe? What’s that all
    about?” Of course what the clerk actually meant was: “Oh, my guess
    was no good.” Go figure…

    Dave if you’re reading this, you know we love you man. This one is for
    you. In the meantime enjoy yourself at SXSW 2004. By the way, many congratulations
    with the deserved awards for the CSS Zen Garden. Rock on!

  • Weekend Reading (11)

  • Opera Shares Now Trading

    While worldwide the news was dominated by the terrible bombings in Madrid,
    Spain software developer and browser maker Opera was the rising star on the
    Oslo Exchange. The stock jumped from its NOK 10 introduction price to 11.40
    later in the day. Opera raised about $16 million in cash to spend on development.

    Although I doubt they will take the desktop browser market by storm any time
    soon their software for mobile devices is impressive. In my opinion their focus
    on mobile connectivity and software     is a good strategy. On another note
    it seems investors are picking up tech shares again, a renewed interest so it
    seems. I’m still waiting for Google to go public.