XooFoo Community :: Index

Vivant

2008-12-03T21:10:00+02:00

Je vis à un rythme assez fou depuis quelques mois. Je suis sans
cesse sous pression, pour ça je ne me plains pas trop, j'aime assez la
gérer, elle me permet d'avancer dans le travail. Mais la fatigue, elle
est plus dure à contenir, car si dans ma tête tout semble aller mieux,
le physique ne tient plus vraiment.

Et je n'aime pas cette
fatigue, qui n'est pas celle qu'on ressent lorsqu'on sort de 90
minutes, d'un match de foot, ou lorqu'on vient de parcourir 10 km en
crachant ses poumons. Cette sensation je ne la connais plus et elle me
manque. J'ai peur de cette fatigue quasi latente, car combinée au
traditionnel spleen de fin d'année, pourrait me rendre moins performant.

Le
salut peut venir du sport, j'ai besoin de revivre ça, cette soufrance
physique qui fait que vous vous sentez faible, minable, mais vivant.

Et puis Marion tu me manques.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sutekidane/~3/473932100/vivant.html

Holiday SEO - start working on next year now

2008-12-03T13:54:02+02:00

If you've got holiday content that you want to promote for the November/December holiday season, I have some bad news. If you're starting now, you're way too late. According to...
Source: http://webdesign.about.com/b/2008/12/03/holiday-seo-start-working-on-next-year-now.htm

Tactile Silicon Case for the iPhone 3G

mezzoblue — 2008-12-02T02:04:00+02:00

The iPhone as a highly-usable phone for the blind? Incredible. Too bad it's only a concept for now.
Source: http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/12/01/this-iphone-is-touchier-than-most/ mezzoblue

American English vs. British English for Web Content

mezzoblue — 2008-12-01T18:23:00+02:00

Pretty much confirms what I've long suspected; there are reasons to choose on spelling over the others.
Source: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/american-british-english.html mezzoblue

Quick Tips for web developers and web designers

Roger Johansson — 2008-12-02T20:28:08+02:00

I spend a fair amount of time doing quality assurance of websites. This includes reviewing code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), reporting accessibility and usability issues, giving tips and advice, and so on.

In these reviews there are some things that keep coming up. A lot of them are pretty simple and basic things if you ask me. However, there are many people who make the same mistakes, so maybe those things aren't that simple after all. Or maybe the problem is that they aren't widely known.

In the hope that it will help some people out I am going to start a new category of posts here called "Quick Tips". Each Quick Tip will focus on one of the issues that I come across while doing QA work, and will probably be anything from a sentence to a few paragraphs in length.

This is not meant to ridicule the mistakes or the people who make them. My sincere intention is to help people avoid making these mistakes in the first place by attempting to spread the knowledge.

Posted in Accessibility, Quick Tips, Usability, Web Standards.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/456bereastreet/~3/472796418/ Roger Johansson

Making Google Maps more accessible

Roger Johansson — 2008-12-01T17:12:25+02:00

It has become very popular to use the Google Maps API to add maps to websites. While the maps work fine for most users, unfortunately Google Maps does not by default work without JavaScript - when there is no JavaScript support, you don't get a map.

Fortunately it is quite easy (but not very common) to provide a fallback for users who do not have JavaScript enabled in their browser by using the Google Static Maps API.

The Google Static Maps API lets you embed a map as a plain image in various formats. The developers guide explains the many options you have when it comes to configuring the static maps.

So next time you use the Google Maps API to put a map on a website, take a couple of minutes to add a static fallback for users without JavaScript.

While we're on the topic of making Google Maps work for more people, I recommend reading Patrick H. Lauke's article on creating Keyboard-accessible Google Maps. Making Google Maps usable without a mouse requires a bit of hacking, but the end result is well worth it.

Posted in Accessibility, JavaScript.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/456bereastreet/~3/471445038/ Roger Johansson

Getting Real About Agile Design

nospam@example.com (Cennydd Bowles) — 2008-11-30T07:27:10+02:00

Agile development was made for tough economic times, but does not fit comfortably into the research-heavy, iteration-focused process designers trust to deliver user- and brand-based sites. How can we update our thinking and methods to take advantage of what agile offers?
Source: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/gettingrealaboutagiledesign nospam@example.com (Cennydd Bowles)

Flexible Fuel: Educating the Client on IA

nospam@example.com (Keith LaFerriere) — 2008-11-30T06:29:40+02:00

IA is about selling ideas effectively, designing with accuracy, and working with complex interactivity to guide different types of customers through website experiences. The more your client knows about IA's processes and deliverables, the likelier the project is to succeed.
Source: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/flexiblefueleducatingtheclientonia nospam@example.com (Keith LaFerriere)

No job is worth sacrificing professionalism

2008-12-01T14:05:11+02:00

Okay, it's not that he hates the people, but rather the term "freelancer". Sitepoint asks Should You Retire the Word Freelancer? and Arron at Organized Chaos agrees. He argues that...
Source: http://webdesign.about.com/b/2008/12/01/no-job-is-worth-sacrificing-professionalism.htm

Reviewing Vector Magic, a vector tracing application

2008-12-02T10:45:01+02:00

Sometimes readers mail me with the question on what’s the best approach to trace logos or illustrations. They ask if I do it with the Pen tool. Yes, I do, but I have been using this tool for more than 15 years. So it’s safe to say I’m very routined. Still, there are certain situations that I wish there was a tool that could do the job for me. Let’s say on a occasion that you don’t have the time or budget to charge the time needed to redraw company logos that are delivered in jpeg or gif format. The Live Trace option in Illustrator isn’t bad, but it doesn’t give me the expected result on most try-outs (too many nodes or noisy result, path imperfections…) . Recently the developers of an application called Vector Magic gave me the chance to test out their desktop app. Here is a short review…

Vector Magic?

Maybe the name rings a bell for you as it did for me? Yes, it is that online free web-app that started at Stanford University and got rave reviews online. Now they transitioned away from Stanford to explore the commercial route and build a desktop application with the technology.

First impressions

In my opinion, Vector Magic is a great tool if you want to save time in tracing flat colored artwork or if you need to convert a low resolution jpeg or gif into a vector illustration. It's an easy tool to use as it is very user-friendly, and in my opinion, I would even say it is self-explanatory. Certainly after you've watched the 4 online movies. The application takes you through the logical steps that are needed to be able to provide you with the best possible results.

Wizard Modes to choose from

There are 3 ways you can trace your image:

Fully Automatic

Basic

Advanced

The GUI

This application's graphical interface doesn't feel like a traditional Mac interface, but more like a ported Windows application. I believe this part could be improved. This is of course the designer inside me talking :) Though, it needs to be said that this interface doesn't get in your way while working with the tool, because the overal UI is actually very good. The position of the buttons, the tools, or the way you can navigate through the different steps is all very logical. Everything is approached in an easy step-by-step process and things are very clear, logical and well explained.

Vector Magic tracing exercises

For this review I tried out 4 situations:

Tracing from a black & white logo

Tracing from a sketch

Tracing from flat color artwork

Tracing from a photo

Tracing from a black & white logo

For this example I typed the example text 'Vector Magic' in my font manager application in a typeface called Salut at a size of 152pt. Then I took a screengrab of it ad saved it as a gif. The total dimension is 912 by 215 pixels.

Here I chose the first mode 'Fully Automatic' which gave me a perfect result. Of course I started with a clean file. This only took less than a minute.

Once the image is traced the application gives you the option to review the results and do some corrections if needed. If the result is too jaggy, you can choose low quality. If there are details lost, you can choose for high quality.

If, like in this situation, the image shows small errors, you can click the 'Edit Result' images.

It is really pretty easy. All is very well explained in this short movie.

As you can see the application corrected this segment perfectly. All I had to do is save it to EPS.

The EPS file opened in Illustrator as shown in selected and unselected state.

Tracing from a sketch

For this exercise I chose one of my Moleskine doodles which I had scanned and converted into greyscale. Again, this is an easy image to trace since I want to keep the freehand style. Here I chose the 'Basic Mode' where the application will guide you through these few basic steps: 'Type of Image', 'Input Quality' and 'Color Mode'.

I changed the Levels a bit in Photoshop so it was optimal to trace into 1 flat color.

The review result screen gives you different 'troubleshoot' options in case you need to improve the results.

I can zoom in to see how things look.

You can turn 'Paths' on to see the different nodes.

Tracing from flat color artwork

For this test I exported a logo I designed in Illustrator to a low resolution jpeg file.

This logo has a lot of different color so this seemed suited for a tracing test. Again, I chose the 'Basic Mode' and went through the different steps.

Once arrived at the last step where you need to define the color mode, I opted for 'Fixed Colors'. The application extracted the exact colors of the logo which it recommended for the 'Palette Selection'. Here you can add, remove or change colors if you like. I clicked the 'Next' button and the logo got traced in less than a minute.

The final result is very precise.

Here is the results with 'Paths' turned on so you see the nodes.

Also the text looks perfect.

Tracing from a photo

In the last exercise I thought I experiment a with a photo and try out the Advanced Mode. The image I use is a colorful stillive photo saved as a small jpeg of 609 x 856 pixels.

First step you get after clicking the 'Advanced' button is the 'Palette Selection' where you need to choose your 'Color Mode'. Here I chose for 'Flexible Colors' which means the application will extract the colors from the image.

The next step is the 'Image Segmentation'. I chose for fewer segments for the 'Complexity' and 'Moderate' for 'Anti-aliasing' option. The rest I left untouched

Last comes the 'Path Smoothing' where I opted for 'Smoothness' of 2 and 3 as 'Number of Nodes'.

The rendering took a bit more time because of the complexity of the image, but the result is interesting and artistic. I'm sure you can achieve beautiful artwork if you invest in trying different settings out.

Conclusion

I'm positively surprised in how this application works and the results it produces. Even though this application is just focussed on tracing and converting bitmaps into vector-based images, I believe it is worth its value. Just think about the time you can save with this. If you do convert a bunch of logos from low res images, or trace a picture that would otherwise take hours to create the application paid itself back in no time. I just believe for this price, the developers should hire a designer ala Wolfgang Bartelme to give the desktop application that specific Mac feel & touch. If you don't want the desktop application, you can also subscribe to the online edition.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/veerlesblog/~3/472342907/