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Design Tweets Of The Week Ending 07/02/10
Here’s some of the interesting design related links that came up on twitter this week.
- Archive of Australian Graphic Design 1960-1980. Plenty of work here not only standing the test of time, but also looking trendy again as retro styles become popular.
- If you’re debating about whether you should move to Chrome but are afraid you’ll miss Firefox extensions, this article from 1st Web Designer might convince you to change: 30 Irreplaceable Chrome Extensions.
- Nice effect of creating depth and 3D ribbons using only CSS3.
- Interesting thoughts on the revised font stack.
- Creative Pro review of the new wireless Intuous tablet from Wacom. I have the one with the wire, but now I want this one!
- New York Public Library has photos on Flickr complete with source and rights information. Great resource.
- Why it’s best to pretend you don’t know anything about computers.
- The web design sketchbook is a 52 page book features pages of varying canvas sizes complete with grids and browser chrome and areas for taking notes, adding descriptions and rating your concepts.
- Maybe a little bit later for this one but, HongKiat have a nice collection of free printable 2010 calendars and desktop wallpapers.
- How to get organized and make those connections you need for your design business. Networking tips for the busy designer from Vandelay Design.
- UXBooth have an article on the history of eye-tracking, a very important topic for web designers.
- I think design-related laugh of the week goes to this image of Kulala Air’s clever paint job. (via gadling.com)
- There Is No Page Fold
- An essay on the future of web design. “To see beyond today’s limits of the web all we need to do is see what is needed.”
Related posts:
- Design Tweets of the Week Ending 31/01/10
- CSS Theme Week… And That’s All Folks!
- The Week in ColdFusion: 30 Jan-5 Feb: a bit of everything
Massive SitePoint Reference Update Completed: It’ll Save Your Sanity
If you’ve been browsing the SitePoint HTML and CSS References lately, you may have noticed that the compatibility tables have been updated!
Ian Lloyd, Paul O’Brien, and Tommy Olsson have been hard at work testing HTML elements and CSS properties with the latest crop of browsers, as well as taking in feedback from reference users, and updating the information where appropriate.
The CSS and HTML References now show compatibility information for the following browsers:
- Internet Explorer versions 5.5, 6, 7, and 8
- Firefox versions 1.0, 1.5, 2, 3, and 3.5
- Safari versions 1.3, 2, 3.1, and 4
- Opera 9.2, 9.5, and 10
- Chrome 2
(Icons courtesy of Browser Version icons)
What I like the most about the SitePoint Reference is the Compatibility Notes section, because it helps you make informed decisions and prevents you from falling into compatibility testing traps; the kind of situation that has you tearing your hair out, because you’ve no idea why your CSS works in every browser but one.
For example, we can now see from the Reference that there’s reasonable browser support for CSS3 attribute selectors:
So, pretend you’re working on a big project that’ll give you much fame and fortune. Deciding on whether or not to rely on CSS3 attribute selectors in your project is now a little easier. You can see that IE6 offers no support at all, so you can choose whether you’ll support that browser. If you decide to forge ahead with using CSS3 attribute selectors, you’re forewarned that you may have a problem with IE7 and 8. You read the Compatibility Notes section and this is what you find.
In IE8, if you’re trying to match a td or th element by the rowspan or colspan attributes, you’ll end up selecting all td or th elements. It’s an edge case and probably won’t affect this project, but it’s good to know.
However, in IE7, if you’re trying to target a label element with a for attribute value, you’ll have a problem. If you’re attempting to select a label element with the for value "name", the selector label[for="name"] will fail in IE7; you’ll need to use label[htmlFor="name"] instead.
As it turns out, that’s exactly how you were going to style your field labels in the client-side field validation library you’re deploying. Your client has a significant number of IE7 users and that little tip just saved you half a day of frustration.
Thanks SitePoint CSS Reference — you’re the best!
Related posts:
- Introducing The SitePoint CSS Reference!
- Virtualization – Save Time, Money and Sanity
- The SitePoint HTML Reference Is Live!
How to Manage Postpurchase Dissonance in Your Freelance Clients
The concept of postpurchase dissonance — the unease buyers sometimes feel after they make a purchase — is familiar to every one of us who has ever bought goods or services. We’ve all experienced a feeling of uncertainty or anxiety after we’ve made a purchase.
The likelihood that postpurchase dissonance will arise is undoubtedly higher when you’re selling intangible services rather than nice, safe physical products. It also increases with the price of the services you sell.
As freelancers, it’s important that we’re aware of the concept and practicalities of postpurchase dissonance and that we know how to handle it when it does occur.
Why so blue?
Clients may feel uneasy after a purchase — whether they’ve merely signed you up to work on a project, or the job’s been completed and delivered — for any number of reasons, many of which may not relate to you or your work.
They may overhear a comment from a peer or superior about the project. They may simply feel nervous after a large expenditure of company funds. They may see a similar project that they believe is better in some way, even though they were perfectly happy with the output you produced at the time. Or they may feel for political or personal reasons that they should focus on the things the project didn’t achieve.
So postpurchase dissonance isn’t necessarily engendered by factors within the project, or factors that you can control. However, if you want to keep the client and work with them in future, you’ll want to minimize postpurchase dissonance whenever it rears its ugly head. These are the typical tactics I use to keep it at bay.
1. Listen to your client.
Pay attention not just to what your client is saying, but to the way they’re behaving. If they seem less gung-ho than usual, slightly nervous, uneasy or questioning, don’t gloss it over. Ask them if there are any problems. Try to find out what’s bothering them — once you have this information, you can act to reduce its impact on your relationship and your reputation.
Clients won’t always express their concerns to you up-front, so you’ll probably need to do a bit of mind- and body-langauge-reading. Every time I speak to a client, I try to make sure they’re comfortable and happy with the project, the process and our progress, and if I sense there’s a problem, I ask them about it on the spot. This helps to prevent situations in which small issues compound and escalate into serious client dissatisfaction.
2. Remain open.
Don’t take the client’s unease as a criticism or indication that your performance isn’t up to scratch. Postpurchase dissonance is about the buyer, and about their feelings. And you’ve asked to hear them!
Accept what they say with grace, and instead of trying to defend your actions or your work, start to consider the steps you can take that might reduce the tension. Discuss these openly with your client, to see if the options you’re considering will put them at ease. If the opinions of your client’s colleagues, managers, or others are required, you may find it best to speak with them directly.
Your negotiation skills may come into play, as will your professionalism, but it’s important to remain open through any discussions about client unease. If you can’t manage to do this, you’re almost guaranteed to lose the client.
3. Deliver what you’ve promised.
If you and your client have agreed on a course of action that will put them at ease again, deliver on those promises. Exceed the client’s expectations. And when you’ve done that, speak again to your client to ensure they’re happy. If they’re not, repeat the process we’ve discussed here. Only once the client’s sense of unease has been ameliorated should you let the issue drop.
Most of the postpurchase dissonance I see in my clients is subtle — often they may not be entirely conscious of it themselves. But since I want to deliver great service to every client, I seek it out.
This week, a new client was bamboozled by the features of a common software program we were using. I spoke with her after I delivered the completed phase 1 of the project, and I could hear that she was uncomfortable. She wanted to make alterations to the project as we’d discussed, but the software wouldn’t let her do so. During the day, I researched known bugs with the software, sent her the content in different formats, and so on. In the end, none of the solutions had worked and, understandably, her unease was growing, so I sat down and walked her through the software’s functions over the phone.
At the end of this exercise, she was obviously very relieved and pleased. The day before, it seemed, she’d been worried that she would have to pay me for the work I’d done, even though it seemed she’d be unable to use it. Instead of leaving her to work out her own tech support issues, I spent maybe half an hour all up to solve the problem, which returned full control over the project to her, and made me a hero in her eyes.
Her postpurchase dissonance was replaced by a sense of understanding and respect. And as I left her to review the work I’d delivered, I encouraged her to call me with any queries throughout the day. By now I’ve realized that she needs support with this project. And since I want to work with her further, I’m happy to deliver that.
Do your clients tell you if they’re feeling uneasy after committing to a project? How do you respond to reassure them and minimize their fears?
Related posts:
- Getting those first 10 Clients
- 5 Ways to Please Your Clients and 5 Reasons Why You Should
- Can I Have Fries with That? What Clients Really Want
Could The Internet Win the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize?
This is an unusual story. The Internet has been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Although the Nobel Committee maintain a strict silence over candidates, they can be announced by the people who made the nominations, including former laureates and selected members of governments and universities.
The Internet was proposed by the Italian edition of Wired Magazine. Their manifesto:
We have finally realized that the Internet is much more than a network of computers. It is an endless web of people. Men and women from every corner of the globe are connecting to one another, thanks to the biggest social interface ever known to humanity.
Digital culture has laid the foundations for a new kind of society. And this society is advancing dialogue, debate and consensus through communication. Because democracy has always flourished where there is openness, acceptance, discussion and participation. And contact with others has always been the most effective antidote against hatred and conflict.
That’s why the Internet is a tool for peace. That’s why anyone who uses it can sow the seeds of non-violence. And that’s why the next Nobel Peace Prize should go to the Net. A Nobel for each and every one of us.
A new website, internetforpeace.org has been created so you can voice your opinion. The ambassadors include 2003 laureate Sherin Ebadi, Riccardo Luna of Wired Italy, Chris Anderson of Wired US, David Rowan of Wired UK, Joi Ito of Creative Commons, Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, scientist Umberto Veronesi and — strangely — Giorgio Armani the fashion designer.
The Internet is an odd choice for the Nobel Prize. Since 1901, there have been 120 awards: 97 to individuals and 23 to organizations such as the UN Peacekeeping Force in 1988, Amnesty International in 1977, and the Red Cross in 1917, 1944 and 1963. The Internet is unusual because it’s an inanimate, er, object? Actually, it’s not even an object — it’s a tool which has no physical presence.
But it leads me to question what is actually being nominated and who would step up to the podium?
- The Internet as a concept has its roots in the ARPANET project of the 1960s and 1970s.
- The TCP/IP protocol and the term “internet” was proposed by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal and Carl Sunshine in 1974 and approved in 1983.
- Ray Tomlinson created the @ email address standard in 1971.
- UUCP and newsgroup software was developed by Steve Daniel and Tom Truscott in 1979.
- I suspect the Nobel Committee are actually considering the World Wide Web, first proposed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in 1989.
- Google, established in 1998, could also claim to be one of the the most well-known, prominent, and innovative Internet organizations.
- Unfortunately, I have a horrible feeling most users know “The Internet” as that blue ‘e’ icon they click to use Facebook.
Would an Internet win also lead to other strange nomination possibilities? The telephone, radio and television are all tools which had a larger impact on communication and democracy. Some would argue that the gun or nuclear devices have done more to enforce peace than any other invention.
The Nobel prize is often controversial so there’s no reason why the Internet shouldn’t win. It’ll be an award for us all to share — I’ll be putting “2010 Nobel Prize Winner” logos on my websites!
What do you think? Is the Internet an absurd nomination or does it deserve the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize?
Related posts:
- Internet “Brownouts” Expected From 2010
- The McFarlane Prize for excellence in Australian web design
- It’s Quiz Time Again, With a Brand New Prize!
5 New Twitter Apps to Play with Over the Weekend
We’re winding down another week, and I’d like to add to your weekend distractions by sharing a list of new Twitter tools that recently launched. Give them a try and come back to share your thoughts.
Bccth.isBccth.is is a free Twitter client that allows you to send private messages to selected followers as blind carbon copies to make sure they see your tweets, and then continue that discussion in private. The tool, which is a fully functional Twitter client, automatically shortens URLs, stores all of your sent and received messages, and clearly shows you the number of participants and comments in each of your conversations.
Tweet HopperTweet Hopper is a new way to manage multiple Twitter accounts. It has functionality that allows multiple people to tweet to one account, and it auto-follows followers and tweets RSS feeds.
Tweety JobsTweetyJobs is a free tool that turns Twitter into a job search community and connects jobseekers with employers. By entering in a job title and location, you can search hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Twittersphere and beyond, send messages to employers and set up job alerts. More community-based features are planned for this year.
TweetYourMail.comTweetYourMail.com lets you share email messages with your Twitter followers. All you do is send your email to tweet@tweetyourmail.com and your message is tweeted and posted on a web page hosted by tweetyourmail.com. All email addresses are converted to ***@***.*** to protect privacy.
Tweetz.tvTweetz.tv shows YouTube videos mentioned on Twitter through three different channels — My TV, Public TV and Search TV. My TV shows the videos that are posted by the people you follow, Public TV shows all videos posted in the public timeline and with Search TV you can look for tweeted videos on a specific topic.
Related posts:
- Twitter Joins Digg and Slashdot in Sending Server Crashing Traffic
- Terrible Idea: Magpie Twitter Ad Network
- 5 Ways to Use Twitter to Kill Your Business
Google Offers Cash For Bugs
Is money a little tight? Is credit crunching you? If you’ve got a little hacking experience, Google is offering $500 for every new security bug you find in Chromium — the open source project behind Chrome OS and the Chrome browser.
Google has recognized that most of the interesting and unusual security bugs are spotted by programmers outside the Chromium project:
Thanks to the collaborative efforts of these people and others, Chromium security is stronger and our users are safer.
The concept of cash for bugs is not new. Mozilla offer a similar bug bounty program for security issues encountered in Firefox, Thunderbird and associated plugins or extensions.
There are several conditions to the Google program:
- A panel will assess which security bugs are eligible for the $500 reward. Particularly severe problems may receive an additional bonus.
- Only the first person to report an issue in the Chromium bug tracker will be eligible for the reward.
- Bugs present in Chromium, Chrome OS, Google Chrome, and extensions shipped with the browser are eligible. Bugs in third-party components such as Webkit will also be considered.
- Your identity can be kept secret if you so choose, but rewards cannot be issued to minors or residents of countries where the US has imposed export restrictions.
I think it’s a good idea, although the rewards should be better. Hiring knowledgeable testers is not cheap and the program is likely to find problems which would never be spotted with standard testing procedures. Contributors could spent many days finding an unusual bug only to earn less than the US minimum wage! A higher reward would also provide a greater incentive for system programmers to thoroughly test their own systems.
Wouldn’t it be great if other companies followed suit? If a certain IT giant distributed cash to those finding bugs in its OS or browser, we could all give up the day job and retire!
Read the original Google post about the reward program…
Are you tempted by Google’s bug-hunting offer?
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