opinios

Learning to Love an Ugly Child

Wow, thanks to this article on reskinning Windows to look like a Mac, I have a new-found love for navigating my way around my PC.

I never used to think that changing the look and feel of Windows was worth bothering with until I started using OS X on the Macs at uni. As a result I've become very disillusioned when using our Windows laptop; it has been such a letdown after class when I move from what is clearly a superior interface on the Macs to the old Microsoft clunky experience at home.

But not anymore! With a few freeware and shareware apps, I now feel like I have a new computer! [screenshot]. And the overhaul extends to more than just the background image and the skinning of individual windows - I now have a dock at the bottom that floats like the real thing, as well as an Apple-like menu bar at the top. The attention to detail even extends to beautifully rendered progress bars and a Mac-like login screen.

Of course it's not quite the same as using a Mac; things do run somewhat slower with the extra graphics load and I have discovered a couple of glitches that might grate on me after a while. But there's no question that the user interface is nicer, and when you enjoy using your computer it stops being a hurdle and starts being fun. And until I have some cash together (ever?) it is definitely just what I needed to curb my impulse of buying a new Mac G5. Must. Save. House. Deposit.

Type Empathy

Our latest task in design class was to create some examples of type empathy, using Adobe InDesign.

Type empathy is when the meaning of a word is accurately reflected by its type (size, colour, font, arrangement etc). I instantly had flashbacks to my childhood, when I would pore over a book called The Lettering Book, a kid's classic chock full of fun examples of fonts and playful ways that they can be represented.

This exercise was definitely my favourite to date. We were given a choice of about twenty words from which we had to create type empathy for, using strictly type only (and very simple shapes), with just the fonts available on the iMacs in class (not many). Some of the words could be empathised in an obvious way, sometimes too much so. Others were really difficult to represent.

This is a snippet of what I came up during class time. Our homework is to make a few more, and we have a bit more flexibility on the fonts we can use and the addition of shapes. Should be fun!

Font: Birch Std

Font: Poplar Std

Font: Kozuka Mincho Std

When Project Managers 'Get' Accessibility

Had an interesting phone conversation today with my project manager from a previous project.

The project we worked on together was for an intranet for a government department. The client had, after our company won the project, turned around and demanded that the intranet we were developing comply with the W3C's Web Accessibility Guidelines, and that it pass an accessibility test performed by the Royal Society for the Blind. The PM tried to argue it was out of scope because the contract was already signed, but the client wouldn't budge. He didn't know what accessibility meant, or why it was important. And he freaked out a bit.

Somehow my name got passed around (I've been putting my hand up for this kind of work) and I got to do the conversion of templates from a table-based layout to CSS, as well as make other modifications to the markup and style sheets for blind/visually impaired users.

I only had a couple of days but I managed to make the necessary changes and as a result the client was very happy. And it made the project manager look good.

Now that this particular PM has seen the value in promoting accessible web pages, he is going in to the proposals with the accessibility flag waving furiously. It's gone from being unnecessary overhead to a market differentiator.

This is all good of course. What made me laugh was the final part of our conversation, which went something like:

Me: If you want a hand with any of the details in the way the proposal is worded, just send it through.
PM: Nah, I'll be right mate. I have a standard piece of bullshit that I'll use.
Me: Yeah?
PM: Yeah, I'm fairly competent at throwing the bullshit around.
Me: (chuckles) I have to admit I have gotten that impression from you!

It's good to know that we were able to explain things on the previous project well enough that he is now able to describe the benefits of web standards in his own words. He might call it bullshit, I call it common sense.