News, mess, ideas and life.
The “how” of Ruby on Rails: Hivelogic’s Dan Benjamin prepares non-Rails developers, designers, and other creative professionals for their first foray into Rails. Learn what Ruby on Rails is (and isn’t), and where it fits into the spectrum of web development and design. See through the myths surrounding this powerful young platform, and learn how to approach working with it.
Published on the 20th of April, 2008 by
The “why” of Ruby on Rails comes down to productivity, says Michael Slater. Web applications that share three characteristics—they’re database-driven, they’re new, and they have needs not well met by a typical CMS—can be built much more quickly with Ruby on Rails than with PHP, .NET, or Java, once the investment required to learn Rails has been made. Does your web app fall within the RoR “sweet spot?”
Published on the 20th of April, 2008 by
It is now possible to replicate Google Maps’ functionality with open source software and produce high-quality mapping applications tailored to your design goals. Paul Smith shows how.
Published on the 5th of April, 2008 by
When designing interfaces for browsing data-driven sites, creating navigation elements that are also visualization tools helps the user make better decisions. Wilson Miner demonstrates three techniques for incorporating data visualization into standards-based navigation patterns.
Published on the 3rd of April, 2008 by
You load a new web service, eager to dive in and start engaging, and what’s the first thing that greets you? A sign-up form. We can do better, says Luke Wroblewski, author of Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks. Via a technique of “gradual engagment,” we can get people using and caring about our web services instead of frustrating them (or sending them to a competitor’s site) by forcing them to fill out a sign-up form first.
Published on the 22nd of March, 2008 by
Being born in a small market town in Italy has left me with a love of good food and wine, a sense of community spirit and appreciation of simplicity. This means that I like to keep my designs
simple and accessible to all, using web standards.
When I was little I loved drawing, taking
toys apart (sometimes
with a hammer) to see how they worked and stargazing. Things
haven't changed much, I still love drawing, painting and
designing and figuring out how things work... Even if I don't
use a hammer anymore. And of course I love looking at the stars.
Now I live in Buckinghamshire, UK with my wife, two daughters and son.