On the Floor

Too many words, too little space
Recently one of our print clients had a dilemma. We had previously designed for them a standard 3 panel/2 fold brochure that was meant to be modified and reprinted several times throughout the year as the information changed. Their budget had already been approved by the powers that be. Read more...

Easy access control in Rails using CanCan
A common problem when developing a web application is access control.   A great, tidy solution I've found for this when building applications in Rails is CanCan.    Rather than spreading permissions and access control logic throughout the application, CanCan centralizes permissions to a single class which gets initialized in the context of the current user and the item being accessed. Read more...

Improve Usability by Tapping Into Your Own Experiences
Last year, against my better judgement, I joined a ball hockey team.   I've always liked hockey, but as a small kid who couldn't skate well and hated mornings, playing it just seemed to be one of those things that wasn't for me.   Still, when my friend told me he was starting a team that played on Sunday afternoons and didn't require any skating I figured "why not" and signed up. Read more...

Designer/Programmer Harmony: We're Not Always Right (Just Usually)
Of paramount importance to designer-programmer harmony is an understanding within each camp of the other's capabilities. It is not enough for a designer to know what websites look like in order to design websites, despite where the bar may appear to currently rest. The designer has to know what capabilities the programmers have, what features are possible, what is worth the time and effort and what isn't, and how all of this can change overnight. Read more...

Top 5 FREE Apps I Can't Live Without
If you're anything like me, you're easily distracted while reading on the web. I try to stay informed by reading a number of design blogs, cycling publications, music reviews and general news stories. However, I have a very hard time reading anything longer than about 140 characters without being distracted by a flashing ad, a compelling photograph, or another headline altogether (if you've made it this far, you're already more focused than I am). Read more...

Going To The Source Of Open Source
One of the the best ways to improve your programming skills is to study other people's code.   When your work revolves around open-source technology, you can study the code you use every day. This has several advantages: you get to study code written by the very best programmers out there, you have an excellent idea of the problem it solves, and you gain a deeper understanding of your tools. Read more...