Tag: Web Development

The ineffectiveness of lonely icons

Posted on by Khürt Williams
The ineffectiveness of lonely icons | Matt Wilcox, Web Developer & Tinkerer by an author (Matt Wilcox, Web Developer & Tinkerer)

What icons offer that's better than words, however, is rapid recognisability to those already familiar with that specific representation of the concept. This is why we have... road signs.

That's also why we don't allow just anyone to drive a car based on the fact they can operate it mechanically. We require they learn the iconography. We require they study them, commit them to memory, and we test them.

If they fail to understand the icons, they are not allowed to drive cars. And plenty of people fail this. Even when they're read books that explicitly state what each icon is depicting. When the icon's meaning has been made explicit to them, and isn't just relying on its efficacy of conceptual communication.

Icons are great additions to labels or great when used by a targeted audience.

They are lousy at all other times.

Hat tip to Chris Aldrich.

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Programming, Code, Coding, Programmer, Javascript

Old Code

Posted on by Khürt Williams

Usage ftp.pl [-netrc] [-u <i>user</i>] [-p <i>passwd</i>] -m server -s source_dir -t target_dir [-log_dir <i>/path/to/logs/file</i>] file1 file2 ... # Copyright 2000 Williams Interactive, Inc. # Programmer: Khurt Williams, 2000.10.18 # command switches are # -netrc : uses .netrc file to find user/passwd for the destination server # -u <i>user</i> : specify the user id #…

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The Developer's Dystopian Future

Posted on by Khürt Williams
The Developer's Dystopian Future by Ed FinklerEd Finkler (the-pastry-box-project.net)

I think about how I used to fill my time with coding. So much coding. I was willing to dive so deep into a library or framework or technology to learn it.

My tolerance for learning curves grows smaller every day. New technologies, once exciting for the sake of newness, now seem like hassles. I’m less and less tolerant of hokey marketing filled with superlatives. I value stability and clarity.

.....

I’m scared that either the job “web developer” is outpacing me, or my skills are atrophying.

Marco Arment links to developer Ed Finkler who is ageing and finding that keeping up with every flashy shiny new language and development framework is just exhausting and no longer interesting. I’m almost 48 — Marco and Ed are most likely much younger — and as a former1 web developer I’m already living into my…

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