Orientation Switch in "Nano"-Sized Devices
2010 September 04
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Apple has finally fit a multitouch interface into the 6th generation iPod Nano. In order to cram that into the diminutive form factor, users give up a few features such as video recording, playback, and the orientation sensor. Dropping the sensor seems logical now; the device is so small that orientation loses its meaning, and with a 1:1 aspect ratio there's no potential for a better fit for the on-screen content. I love the new approach of actually rotating the screen with your fingers, in the event you actually need to (assuming that would be due to the way it's clipped to you). There's a great demo of multitouch on the Nano at Apple's website using the latest and greatest techniques in CSS animation (sorry, Chrome or Safari only).
This update got me thinking about the lost orientation sensor, and when it can frustrate more than delight. I purchased the last generation iPod Nano for my girlfriend. What I got back was an ethnographic study. Although she loved the build quality of the device and the fact it held all her music, it turned out to be less than ideal for her most common use — at the gym.
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Spellcheck Rich Text with GoogieSpell
2010 August 29
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In an earlier post, I explained how to modify the GoogieSpell JavaScript spellchecker to work with text in HTML tags. For an introduction to Orangoo Labs' GoogieSpell, refer to that post. Based on feedback I received, it appeared worthwhile to show how to spellcheck rich text on demand. I'll explain how that's done with a popular editor, FCKEditor.
In retrospect, I shouldn't be surprised as this is a much more useful application of GoogieSpell. In fact, SCAYT, a similar tool to GoogieSpell (but requiring a license), has found its way into CKEditor, the successor to FCKEditor. As a bonus, I've included JavaScript that will integrate GoogieSpell with CKEditor, but I'll limit the detail here to the FCKEditor implementation.
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Clear Primary Actions in Drupal
2010 July 03
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Clear primary actions can and should be applied across an application anytime there is a choice to be made.
Although we can't control our users' actions, we can certainly guide them visually, and as Smashing Magazine points out,
"[relieve] the user from having to think about which option to choose in order to complete their task."
Smashing Magazine does a great job of explaining the pattern:
What are primary and secondary actions? Primary actions lead to the completion of a form; for example, clicking "Save" or "Send." Secondary actions usually do not lead to a form's completion; these include clicking "Cancel." There are exceptions, though. Which are the primary and secondary actions when you see "Save," "Save and continue" and "Publish" buttons all in a row? When users have several options, highlighting primary actions and de-emphasizing secondary actions are good practice.
Drupal's administrative interface is completely lacking this treatment, but after noticing how its buttons are themed (and applying some CSS3 decoration), it's relatively easy to make something like this example below:
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Drop-Down Menus: Don't Neglect Timing
2010 March 29
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I was recently building a "mega menu" (a really big drop-down menu panel) for primary navigation, so I decided to re-read the Jakob Nielsen Alertbox regarding them. Apparently the mega menu is the only form of drop-down menu to perform well under user testing.
In the discussion of timing for the interaction, I was reminded of how only a few years ago it seemed that creating drop-down menus using only the CSS :hover pseudoclass was the trend, and how that pretty much violates all of the recommendations.
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Sorting jQuery DOM Elements
2010 March 28
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While updating the jQuery version referenced by a website I was working on, I found an interesting trick you can do with collections of DOM elements as of jQuery 1.3.2 (February 2009). Prior to this release, selecting a collection of DOM elements would return a plain old JavaScript object. Now, you get an array.
This may not jump out at you as exciting in and of itself, but for me the
ability to use array methods on these collections was really helpful. By writing a simple array sort method, I was able to grab one giant alphabetically ordered list of items from any number of smaller, categorized lists on my page, and then display that list in different ways on the fly.
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