I recently decided to improve my keyboard navigation skills for two reasons. First, keyboard navigation increases productivity. Moving between keyboard and mouse takes time—and saving time on little things means having more time for more worthwhile activities. Second, using the mouse often strains my wrist, and I’m hoping that keyboard navigation will lessen this.
Someday I’d like to be able to work without touching the mouse for long periods of time. I decided to start small. One of my goals in July was to learn keyboard navigation for web browsing in Firefox and for the web applications I frequently use—Gmail and Google Reader. The first order of business was to find a way to click on links without using the mouse. The traditional way of doing this is to use the tab and shift-tab commands. As you can imagine, I hoped to find a better solution—tabbing is simply unfeasible for long pages with hundreds of links.
Continue reading “Keyboard-only web browsing”
By Madeline Ong on August 10, 2009 | Category: Technology |
Firefox is awesome. It’s secure, it has great performance, and of course, it’s free. But one of the strongest reasons why people like this browser is the customization it makes possible. Firefox has more than 5000 add-ons to support the way different people use the web. Here’s a list of 15 Firefox add-ons I use and love.
Browsing the web
- Add to Search Bar allows you to add any website’s search box to the built-in browser search bar.
- Hit-a-Hint enables you to open links by typing the associated number on your keyboard. It’s great for keyboard-only navigation.
- Session Manager saves and restores the state of all windows when you want to, automatically at startup, and/or after crashes.
- Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing. Features include duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, and more.
Downloading files
- Download Statusbar allows you to view and manage downloads from a tidy status bar. It’s a great replacement for the standard download window.
- Flashgot integrates the browser with Flashget (an external download manager). You may download one link, selected links, or all page links together with a single click. The FlashGot Media command grabs video and audio clips while they’re playing.
Continue reading “The best Firefox add-ons ever”
By Madeline Ong on July 23, 2009 | Category: Technology |
There’s so much to love about the web. It’s a wonderful place, after all. But a few areas could certainly use some improvement. In this post, I enumerate ten annoying web problems I’ve encountered as a user, and suggest ways in which developers can avoid them—or at least make them less annoying. I’ve also included the solution I personally use to eliminate or alleviate the problems client-side. I use Firefox, so all the add-ons and menu items mentioned can be found there. I’m currently using version 3.0.11.
JavaScript links
The middle click is my friend. I almost always open links in a new tab. So do a lot of other users.
The problem
I get middle-click happy and later realize that the new tabs are blank windows with javascript:popup() (or something of the sort) in the address bar.
The solution
Progressive enhancement. Write the markup first, then write the stylesheets, and save the scripting for last. Make sure that the entire site (not just the links) works without JavaScript. Afterward, scripting can intercept links, but still allow them to open in a normal way (e.g., middle-clicking) if the user so desires.
Continue reading “10 annoying web problems (and how to solve them)”
By Madeline Ong on July 11, 2009 | Category: Web Development |
What makes a great graphic designer? This article identifies the traits and characteristics you need to make it in the design industry.
Note: This is a summary of the first chapter of How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul, which aims to educate aspiring graphic designers on the practical aspects of the field.
Cultural awareness
“Graphic design is a visual language uniting harmony and balance, color and light, scale and tension, form and content. But it is also an idiomatic language, a language of cues and puns and symbols and allusions, of cultural references and perceptual inferences that challenge both the intellect and the eye.”—Jessica Helfand
- Constantly scan, scrutinize, and absorb what goes on around you. Have curiosity about areas other than graphic design.
- When discussing a job with a new or potential client, demonstrate understanding, openness and receptivity. The designer who shows only signs of self-absorption and narrowness of focus isn’t going to inspire his or her client.
- A new client will be receptive to you and your ideas if you demonstrate some knowledge about the client’s field of activity, talk about the project at hand, and listen.
Continue reading “Ideal characteristics of a graphic designer”
By Madeline Ong on June 29, 2009 | Category: Design |
Two months ago, I read The Complete Manual of Typography: A Guide to Setting the Perfect Type by James Felici. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book contained a treasure trove of information on the history of typography, fundamentals of type and composition, what makes good type, and even tips on how to manage fonts and work with layout programs. It was very well organized. The subject matter went in depth, but was written in a clear and concise manner. All in all, I would highly recommend it as an introduction to typography and as a reference for designers and publishers.
I found several interesting typography tidbits in the book, and I’d like to share them here.
Where the term “leading” came from
To set type using Gutenberg’s technique, the blocks—cast from a lead alloy—were arranged in rows. Those rows of letter blocks—lines of type—were stacked one below the other to form a page, and then the whole rectangular mass was locked in place by a frame that pressed in on all sides. To add space between the lines, thin strips of metal were inserted between the rows, a process called adding lead. Today the term leading is still used to describe the distance between one line of type and the one above or below it.
Continue reading “Typography tidbits”
By Madeline Ong on June 14, 2009 | Category: Design |