Hal Helms On Web Development - Product

Adobe v. Apple Misses an Important Point

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:08:00 -0400

Well, the internet is roiling with accusations, conspiracy theories, cross-complaints -- you name it -- regarding Apple's much ballyhooed smackdown on Adobe's Flash. I found this comment to be particularly telling: "The iPad is an anti-technology device targeting consumers who are too lazy/stupid to use or want a keyboard or mouse or stylus. Why should a website focusing on tech-savvy people modify their code to play along with the silly-ass marketing scheme Apple plays making its airhead users _think_ they're some kind of pioneers?" Let's stipulate that Apple is not too fond of Adobe. Why? Who knows. And it was particularly cold-blooded of them to let Adobe develop their Flash-to-iPhone technology, dropping this bombshell only a few days before the release of CS5. Let's stipulate, in fact, that Apple is bristling with its own power -- and is using it with shocking disregard for what other members of the tech community think. But we techies miss an important point that Apple does not: computers are too damned hard for normal people to use. In the tradeoff between power and ease-of-use, techies will always choose power. Apple really does seem intent on making a computer "for the rest of us" -- and that means that power must/will be sacrificed to make the device(s) simple to use. And reliable. And having a decent battery life. Does Apple's decision to cut Flash off at the knees make sense? It depends on whose interests you're thinking of. Is it good for you and me who crave all the power we can get? No. But is it good for the vast numbers of people who just want a computer that works and are frustrated by the unintended side effects of power run amok? Reluctantly, I have to say yes.

Project Serenity

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:32:00 -0400

Every cool project needs a cool code name. The open source ColdFusion ecommerce project now has one: Project Serenity. [More]

Tweets for the Week Ending 06.26.09

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:09:00 -0400

I've been on twitter for a while now. Typically, I'll post 4-5 tweets a day that are technical in nature. Lots of people don't follow Twitter religiously, so each Monday, I'll post on my tweets for the last week. [More]

XMind: Free Mindmapping Tool

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:09:00 -0400

I've used, I think, all of the mindmapping tools available. Recently, I discovered XMind, another entry in the field. After working with it, I'm very impressed. It's interface is intuitive, it's fast, it looks good and it prints well. It comes in both a free and a paid version. I'm using the free version and find it the best I've worked with. Worth checking out at xmind.net.

jQuery Ate My Homework

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:44:00 -0400

Well, I had my January newsletter almost wrapped. The centerpiece was an article on event delegation. That's a technique used to get around the limitation that an element added to the DOM does not "inherit" events that may have been bound to other, similar elements. An example: if I bind all images' "mouseover" function so that a tooltip appears, and then add another image element dynamically to the DOM, that new image won't have the desired mouseover behavior. [More]

Book Review: Outliers

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:36:00 -0400

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Tipping Point and Blink has a new book: Outliers: The Story of Success" . Gladwell is a wonderful writer, drawing the reader in and making connections that are non-obvious but often profound. This book breaks down the myth of the Genius that arises, sui generis, from humble circumstances, propelled by the power of his (it's almost always a man) greatness. In Outliers, Gladwell argues that outliers, those "data points" that fall outside the expected normal distribution, can't be understood apart from familial and cultural factors that shape the person's life in unexpected ways. Gladwell is at his best when drawing surprising connections, and this book has some great ones. I love books like this: it makes me think very differently beyond what appears obvious. Content: 4.5 Readability: 4.5 Recommended For: People interested in going beyond the myths of rugged individualism and the inevitability of the Great Man.

Two Months with Axure

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:30:00 -0400

About two months ago, I started working with Axure Pro RP (www.axure.com). (Just for the record, I have no financial interest in the company.) The software allows non-programmers to create medium-fidelity prototypes. I've written and spoken extensively on how important I consider prototyping to be, so I thought some folks would like to hear my impressions of working with the program after two months. PROS * Very easy and fast to create prototypes * Very little time needed to get up to speed with the program * Allows for fair amount of conditional logic -- especially considering that the software is meant for non-programmers * Comes with a good selection of widgets * "Dynamic panels" allow for good Ajax-like state changes of portions of the page CONS * Doesn't allow for user feedback via something like DevNotes (see Jeff Peters' site for my DevNotes program) * Very limited ability to add customized widgets -- and that by a hack * No fancy DHTML capabilities * No real programmability to extend the code * How-to materials and tutorials are not extensive Those are the bullet points. All in all, I'd say I'm quite happy with Axure. It's not nearly the behemoth that iRise is (another prototyping tool) and that's both to its advantage and disadvantage. Since my ultimate goal is to offload the majority of prototype work to others, the ease of use and short learning cycle is very important. Yes, I'd love it to be more capable, but, of course, that would increase the complexity. As for the company itself, I've found the company to be responsive to my questions and requests. There is pending litigation from iRise for patent violation. I'm not a lawyer (thank you, God) so I won't offer my opinions of over-reaching lawsuits. Really, I won't. My recommendation: Take a serious look at Axure if you're sold on the virtue of prototypes. Consider how quickly you can turn prototypes around using software like this. In my case, I typically have a new rev of the prototype within 48 hours of getting customer feedback. I think you may find Axure will change the way you build software for the better. Axure costs $589 and the one-year subscription for updates and support costs $149.