March 15th, 2010
Working on my laptop was starting to treat my spine badly. Not just a physiotherapist’s concept of poor posture — rather — actual discomfort that I could notice myself. It didn’t take too long after reading The DIY Cheapskate Laptop Stand for me to adapt that nice bit of work into my own version made of solid wood. Birch to be precise – left over from a stair tread that I butchered for another purpose. Call me paranoid but there’s something about hardwood propping up my laptop that is more comforting that corrugated cardboard. I’m sure the engineers out there can prove there is nothing to fear, but better safe than sorry.
I don’t have any step-by-step instructions or pictures if you want to try this at home — but — you can get a complete set of plans for the cardboard version from the same article that inspired me. Here are a few photos of the finished laptop stand in solid birch.
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Birch Laptop Stand Raises Screen Height 20cm
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Birch Laptop Stand Holds a 15″ MacBook Pro, and up to 17″
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Cross-bracing and solid birch provide the strength
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Sanding made the surfaces even, for a stable laptop base
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Tags: DIY, Laptop Stand
Posted in Try this at home, Web Development | No Comments »
February 7th, 2010
Do you manage a web development team? Have you hired one to build a website or application? Making sure your web developers embrace Progressive Enhancement makes a better experience for your end-users, your web development team, and you. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: CSS, JavaScript, Progressive Enhancement
Posted in Management, User Experience, Web Development | No Comments »
January 23rd, 2010
Melted sheathing on MacBook Pro power adapter wire
I’ve never had anything like this happen with any power adapter for any device ever before. The problem was not the same as this well known issue with MacBook Pro power adapters. Not a pleasant discovery, since I tend to leave this thing plugged in until 100% charged (which can take hours — not always attended), and it sits on the wooden table you see in the background. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Future Shop, MacBook Pro, Melt, Podcamp Halifax, Power Adapter
Posted in Try this at home, User Experience | 2 Comments »
January 20th, 2010
I use subversion (SVN) version control for web development and maintenance. There are other options out there but SVN has never let me down. This post is intended as a bit of a self-tutorial because I don’t set up repositories like this all that frequently, even though I work in them daily.
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Tags: Darwin Ports, LAMP, Subversion, SVN, svn:externals, TextMate, Version Control, WordPress
Posted in Web Development | 2 Comments »
January 19th, 2010
So I’m trying out Google Chrome browser for Mac, and it works pretty much the way I expect a good browser to work. What would make it even better is if it could open HTML files. I will have to do some research, but I’m hoping this is just a typo and not a policy or “feature” about not opening local HTML files.
Google Chrome (Mac) can't open "HTML document" format
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Tags: Error Messages, Google, Google Chrome, Usability
Posted in User Experience | 2 Comments »
January 8th, 2010
Now that I’m working on freelance projects again, the first administrative tasks that came up were setting up new Basecamp and Freshbooks accounts. I guess that I always knew I relied on these two applications, but it’s funny how central they are to any project work I contemplate. So how did I live before SaaS? As I recall — and it’s been a few years — there used to be a lot of email attachments and reminding team members which version of which project plan / requirements / invoice was current.
Tags: Basecamp, Freshbooks, SaaS
Posted in Management | 2 Comments »
January 7th, 2010
You know those dirt paths worn through public green spaces? The ones that mark the passage of countless people who were too lazy to stick to the sidewalk? I love those dirt paths. I can even mathematically prove they save lots of steps (thank-you Pythagoras). To me, those saved steps and all that dead grass means somebody missed what people really want.
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Tags: Basecamp, Customers, Freshbooks, iTunes, Product Strategy, SaaS, Usability
Posted in Management, Online Strategy, User Experience | No Comments »
December 9th, 2009
Yesterday I got an email from a form on one of my web sites that usually means a new opportunity. In fact, when I see the subject/sender that is used by that form I often say to myself “here’s some new business”. This time it wasn’t. It was a current customer with a support request — and a classic case of users not following your intended work flow.
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Tags: Customers, Product Strategy, Usability
Posted in Management, Online Strategy, User Experience, Web Development | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2009
The Paris Metro is amazing, you can get anywhere fast. For such a big city with so much to see, it is really accessible by foot between Metro stops.
Don't bother with the lines at the Eiffel Tower, zey are crazee
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Tags: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
Posted in Travel | 5 Comments »
May 2nd, 2009
We took the Eurostar train to Paris, what a civilized way to travel! The Chunnel is just under 20 minutes which is shorter than I expected. How dignified it is to go to Paris for wine and cheese!
How dignified it is to go to Paris for wine and cheese!
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Tags: Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower, l'Arc du Triomphe, Moulin Rouge, Paris, Sacre Couer, Seine
Posted in Travel | 3 Comments »
