-
Small-caps, web text, and CSS
There’s a trick to getting small-caps to work on the web, and it’s counter-intuitive. Let’s say you had an abbreviation, like CSS, that you wanted to put into small-caps, say with a little extra tracking. You might think you could use the CSS property font-variant: small-caps, and you’d be good to go. Not so. Here’s…
-
The problem with the line break (BR) tag
We’ve got the <br /> tag all wrong. It’s time to make it right. We all know the <br /> tag is used to insert a line break in HTML. But what we’ve been missing is that we were too often after something else. Let me explain. Common reasons to use line breaks Why would…
-
A model for UX design reviews
Design reviews are so important for our work as user experience designers, but they too often fail us. Here is a model for design reviews that overcomes the problems of ego, emotion, and communication that so often get in the way of helpful feedback. Alaina Kraus, Caitlin Potts, and I presented this process for the…
-
Addendum to “Getting More From Analysis” by Lewandoswki and Dilworth
UX Magazine published Getting More From Analysis by Jared Lewandowski and John Dilworth on Dec 16, 2010. The authors provide a summary of analysis as part of three design activities: Analysis Synthesis Evaluation Diagramming these activities They also provide some models for conceiving of these three activities, from linear to finally advising on a traditional…
-
Signing and Encrypting E-mail on Mac OS X 10.6 Using Self-Signed Certificates
A few years ago I wrote about using Thawte’s personal e-mail signing certificates for setting up secure S/MIME encryption with Apple Mail. Well, Thawte, so I understand, is phasing out that service. So, I’ve been wondering how to do self-signing on the Mac to set up S/MIME encrypted e-mails. This evening, I found out. Credit…
-
Google Analytics for WordPress (version 4.09) trips HTML validation when tracking outbound links
When I write HTML, running code through the W3C Validator is part of my process. If the code doesn’t pass the validator, there’s a slim chance I’ll consider that code ready for anything. So after I upgraded this blog to WordPress 3.01’s Twenty Ten theme, I was mildly irritated to find that I had a…
-
Thoughts on Richard Saul Wurman’s Why Design Now talk
Richard Saul Wurman, author of “Information Architects” and founder of the TED conference, spoke at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum‘s “Why Design Now” event. This is that talk. Wurman emphasizes that so much is designed, even the questions that we ask. To illustrate, at one point he asked Bill Moggridge, who was attending as the…
-
I got to help UXmatters with print styling
A few months ago I contacted UXmatters online magazine to let them know of a problem I had printing out articles with Firefox. The first page would print, but that was all. I could switch to Safari and print fine, but that just didn’t seem right. I found out that they were a little shorthanded…
-
IxDA Lansing kickoff featured speaker Dan Klyn
Last night was the inaugural event for IxDA (Interaction Design Association) Lansing, and information architect Dan Klyn presented “The Nature of Information Architecture.” Presentation overview Dan’s presentation was both informative and controversial. He provided some nice background on the naming of the field of information architecture, citing Richard Saul Wurman phrasings at the 1976 AIA…
-
More vacation photos