http://www.blake8086.com/blog Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:53:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Blog is moved to here http://blake8086.blogspot.com/ http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2008/02/07/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-spam/ Here's a great example of over-generalizing an interface and the weirdness that results.  The Add-on Updates screen in Firefox: See that bar that says "There are new updates available for your add-ons"?  Yeah, I knew that already because an entire window popped up just to tell me that.  Thanks. Clicking the X ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/12/12/redundancy-in-interfaces/ So it's video card upgrade time for me, all the newest games starting to really chug along on my computer, struggling to maintain a playable frame rate (but really giving each frame a really good hustle). So what does one do when they need a new video card? Go buy ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/12/07/on-naming/ I just chanced across an old announcement Photobucket made: “Photobucket will undoubtedly be a rich source of photos for people to share on Digg’s dedicated images section, which goes live today,” said Jay Adelson, CEO of Digg. “Photobucket’s integration with Digg is a great example of the kinds of applications that ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/12/06/pr-speak-1/ Fidelity sent me a reply: Dear Mr. Householder: Fidelity's product and service emails are generated by various systems and departments within our organization. The 10 business day window allows us the time we need to ensure all systems have been given the appropriate notification to stop delivery to your email address. We ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/11/06/systems-and-departments/ Fidelity sent me some spam, so I replied with "UNSUBSCRIBE" and they sent me this: Dear Mr. Householder: I have placed a stop email request for the email address listed below. blake8086 @ gmail . com Please allow 10 business days for the stop to become effective. Your email address will be removed from ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/11/01/seriously-the-speed-of-light/ Why does Dev-C++ even bother with an "Auto-Indent" feature? Here, I type the same two code samples. I type only the code and let Auto-Indent handle the rest. My coding style: Alternate coding style: Writing some code then turning it off: Not a big deal in that last case, but what happens when you ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/10/30/well-it-is-free/ Facebook has a platform for developing applications, and they provide lots of help and assistance to developers seeking to leverage their offerings. However, their Facebook Platform Help has one of the most hilariously bad UIs for showing content under subheadings. Here's the initial view: Here's what happens when I click the ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/10/24/facebook-platform-help-or-the-worst-possible-way-to-do-links/ In today's world of flashy GUIs and complicated IDEs, default font selection seems to be nothing but a short afterthought. I experienced a prime example of this earlier today while working with Processing. I should first point out that I am a huge fan of Processing and this should in ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/10/24/programming-fonts/ Microsoft Live Labs has released a product called Listas for managing lists. I have no idea why lists are so important they require their own web 2.0 app, but who am I to question MS? I noticed their tour makes a common mistake: the hitboxes for the next and back ... http://www.blake8086.com/blog/2007/10/19/ignoring-clicks/