I do love a stupid clickbait title. I’m sure Microsoft wants everyone to know these.
I always use a mouse and avoid using the touchpad. So I’ve only just discovered a bunch of touchpad shortcuts in Windows 10. Check these out:
We have a requirement for a 404 error page.
I asked the Product Owner if we have a design for it. Should be simple shouldn’t it? Probably has a heading, a company logo, maybe some other text.
He posts on Slack that he has had a word with the User Experience team and they are going to design it. Fair enough, although why hasn’t this been designed already? We are several months into a Web-based project.
A Software Architect then replies saying that he has put together some “findings” and will arrange a meeting with other Architects to discuss it.
Hang on! how many people are involved in a simple page design? Why does it need Architects?
The world has gone mad.
In a similar fashion to the Anti-Microsoft mentality, there is a group of Dark Theme extremists too (although I think many people are the same as those with the Anti-Microsoft agenda). Every so often, someone will post some kind of meme criticising those that use Light Themes, and they have also created some alternative Dark Theme emojis, some of which they have intentionally made so they appear invisible to Light theme users (white text on a transparent background).
Any news of companies now supporting Dark Theme is celebrated like some kind of big event. It’s almost like they are a minority group that have successfully fought for their rights.
How did these people even survive before Dark Themes even existed? I think the advice when this became available was to use Dark Themes at night, and Light during the day. I find that my eyes feel strained if I have been looking at something light then dark, or vice-versa. I think it only works if everything is Light, or everything is Dark.
When doing some quick research, I have often read statements like this:
“In terms of readability, the verdict is clear: black text on a white background is the best”.
https://www.maketecheasier.com/are-dark-themes-better-for-eyes-battery/
Yet, these Dark Theme fanboys will keep moaning against the research. I do wonder if it comes down to the individual though. There are some sites like Megan Laura John’s blog (e.g. https://meganlaurajohns.blogspot.com/2016/12/entrepreneurship-success-and-impostor.html) where I think “ooh this white on brown looks nice”, then after 3 paragraphs, my eyes start to struggle to focus, and it gets to the point where I can no longer look at it comfortably. I ended up reading that blog post in an RSS reader just so I could read it with black text on a white background. People must be able to comfortably read it though, or so I assume.
If it does come down to the individual’s eyes, then mocking people for it isn’t acceptable. It’s like mocking someone for being short-sighted. There’s no place for it in the workplace. I don’t understand why people can’t just quietly use a Dark Theme. Instead, they have to go out of their way to attack those that don’t share similar views to them. Like posting a tweet saying that people aren’t real developers.
To convey information in a small image can be a difficult task, but ideally should be recognisable at a glance. I thought it would be hard to screw up a 5 star rating system, but checkout this proposal:
https://rateyourmusic.com/board_message?message_id=7419371
In the first proposal, I try and count the coloured areas to work out what star rating it is, and it stresses me out. The more I look at it, the worse it gets.
The revised, second proposal is easier to (roughly) tell what it is at a glance, yet the 2.5-3.5 ratings are still difficult. It’s still hard to count because each piece isn’t even, yet it represents equal value. Each piece represents a 0.5 rating, so two coloured pieces equals 1 star, but the second piece to be coloured is smaller. Furthermore, the fully coloured image is a single star, yet represents 5. Terrible.
Their current design which they want to replace looks like this:
It is very easy to understand this at a glance. It looks clean and conveys the information. Maybe they could get rid of the solid circle and put the number there instead.
There is always the tried and tested classic, retro design.
Stranger Coding Tings 