Build to spec

I'm not sure if I'm the engineer or the client in this Dilbert comic

Source

Term Extraction Documentation for Yahoo! Search

Useful: The Term Extraction Web Service provides a list of significant words or phrases extracted from a larger content. See http://developer.yahoo.com/search/content/V1/termExtraction.html

Evidence based estimating

Evidence Based Scheduling from Joel on Software

Using Evidence-Based Scheduling is pretty easy: it will take you a day or two at the beginning of every iteration to produce detailed estimates, and it’ll take a few seconds every day to record when you start working on a new task on a timesheet. The benefits, though, are huge: realistic schedules.

Realistic schedules are the key to creating good software. It forces you to do the best features first and allows you to make the right decisions about what to build.

You code like a Klingon

Source

You learn something new every day, thanks to Not Invented Here

var'aq is a speculative exercise in language creation: what does a programming language used by Klingons look like? It is a real programming language (not just a toy) that tries to imagine what it's like to be a hacker of the best-documented alien race in science fiction.

I think it should be called K# or K Sharp. Sharp like a Bath'leth

Code fury

I've felt like this before too

Source

In search of the perfect CAPTCHA

An example of a not-so-good CAPTCHA. Source

Great article in Smashing Magazine at http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/04/in-search-of-the-perfect-captcha/

It mentions "So many websites offer social-networking integration that services like Janrain have popped up. Janrain provides an abstracted umbrella solution to ensure that websites are accessible through any account platform" 

Conclusion:

Understanding the alternatives (whereby spam detection is silent to users) and implementing them on our clients’ websites is a good start. It’s a positive step toward usability and conversion rates (and clients will love that!). If users comment on your website, reward them with a simple experience. This can be done in several ways:

• Moderation wherever possible
  Disallow certain content to be posted directly to your website, or allow it through maintained and verified account management. Better yet, use a service like Facebook Connect or Disqus; you’ll make things easier for both yourself and users.
• CAPTCHA alternatives
  Try the honeypot method or another that is invisible to users. Some could potentially be bypassed, but their presence is often enough to thwart automated efforts.
• Client-side detection
  This can work because, while there are simple workarounds, spammers won’t waste time (for now). Keyword and mouse interactions can be used to detect genuine user input. This option shouldn’t be used on its own but can add extra assurance.
• Server-side spam detection
  Developers should focus on server-side spam detection that monitors users and flags unusual activity. Specialist services like Akismet are affordable and proven, but bespoke systems can be tailored to the nuances of your website.
• Social moderation
  Move toward more sophisticated features that allow this. The simple act of voting content up and down can help to push spam away or flag it for deletion.

It seems clear, considering all the pros and cons of CAPTCHA, that the future lies in a system that is invisible to normal Web use. For now, using a CAPTCHA should be your last resort.

Dev vs designer

What about the User Experience guy?

Web Designers vs Web Developers is brought to you by Wix.com

Use creative design to make a Free Website

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Dojo 1.5 is available

Source

From Sitepen blog

Dojo Toolkit 1.5 is now available for immediate download. Dojo is a JavaScript toolkit that is lean enough for use on a simple blog, yet powerful enough to scale to solve the most advanced web application engineering challenges, allowing you to use just the features and flexibility needed for your application.

Version 1.5 offers many important improvements:

• Substantial user interface improvements
• Stable, backwards and forwards compatible Core
• HTML5 & CSS3 Support
• Dojo Mobile
• More Browser Support
• Better Performance and Stability
• More Integrations
• 150 Demos
• Improved Documentation, Support and Assistance

See http://dojotoolkit.org/ for more

Mastering CSS Coding: Getting Started

Thanks Lee for the find:

I don't think i've ever seen a better explaination of how css works... http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/05/mastering-css-coding-getting-started/

Agile and Human Psychology.

A colleague pointed me to this article which argues that "Agile, like many methods, and indeed political doctrines such as communism (Das Kapital – Karl Marx), they look great on paper but fail to work in reality because they forget the human factor"

Much of the criticism in the observed culture seems to be related to the lack of leadership & direction and - due to this - that a tech "dictators" rises up and take control to benefit their own self-interest. For instance:

I was surprised to find in many cases that the Techncal staff conducted meetings with clients, leaving the Project Manager /SCRUM MASTER as a mute bystander, and totally ignoring risks, costs and commercial considerations. In all 3 organisations the managers, despite failure and chaos everywhere, were leaving for home on time and were mute concerning any questions concerning poor project delivery performance, instead choosing to hide behind the AGILE crucifix, with statements like “the team is responsible for this - go ask them they made the decisions. “Go talk to them! I am just following AGILE /SCRUM!”

Great we have a ship with no captain on deck being steered by the ships crew with any sinking / loss of life being the responsibility of the slumbering captain. No wonder they were in meltdown. CRAZY!

[...]

Resource Management had vanished. With no proper project plans, except lists of team SPRINT deliverables at the most rudimentary level, no one knew how long a project would take and when resource would be needed, or could be released, between projects. The dictators appeared to want as many people in their teams as possible and were reluctant to let them go in order to maintain their status.

I like scrum, there is a nobility and simplicity in the process and I've seen the process (below) work well, although not without some flaws - particularly when you doing a green-fields project with the need for a consistent user experience and technical design.

Source

However what strikes me as odd about the article i:

1. The role of the scrum master seems to be misunderstood.  They are not supposed to be a project manager, looking after risks and commercial considerations. For instance the Scrum alliance roles pages notes that "The ScrumMaster is a facilitative team leader who ensures that the team adheres to its chosen process and removes blocking issues."
2. There is never any mention of release planning or sprint planning processes - fundamental to the proper scrum process.See the image above
3. Most importantly, at no point does the author even mention the role of the Product Owner. 

The same Scrum Alliance roles page notes that the product owner decides what will be built and in which order. It is the product owner who:

• Defines the features of the product or desired outcomes of the project
  
• Chooses release date and content
  
• Ensures profitability (ROI)
  
• Prioritizes features/outcomes according to market value
  
• Adjusts features/outcomes and priority as needed
  
• Accepts or rejects work results.
  
• Facilitates scrum planning ceremony.
  

My conclusion - either the Product Owner role was not present or was not performed. In either case, while human psychology may create some of the results seen, it seems unfair to blame the process when the most important role - the one designed to address the shortcomings seen - is not even mentioned.

Online fonts

From Ajaxian

Google announced that they are releasing high quality open source fonts in the Google Font Directory. Since these are open source you can even download the original font files yourself at the Font code.google.com project.

Google has made it very easy to include these fonts into your page using the new Google Font API. To use a font you simply drop some HTML into your page similar to the following, specifying the font you want to use

Using CSS media types for resolution dependent layout

At http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/resolution/ Russ Weakly writes:

In 2004, the Man in Blue introduced the web community to the Resolution dependent layout. Using CSS and JavaScript, Cameron was able to make the layout changed based on the users viewport size.

So where to next? As modern browsers gradually start to support media queries, the next step will mean that these types of layouts can be achieved with CSS alone. 

Wise Words for Web Workers

20 Lessons from the last decade from justBcoz at http://www.justbcoz.co.za/headspace/2010/03/03/20-lessons-from-the-last-decade/

1. Get everything in writing. Always.
2. Very little goes according to plan – be prepared to adapt, especially in this fast-paced industry.
3. Play to your strengths – focusing on your weaknesses is soul-sapping and counter-productive.
4. Hire experts to fill any gaps in your knowledge base and/or skill set.
5. Surround yourself with talented, motivated people and treat them like gold.
6. Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket – diversify at the earliest opportunity.
7. Undertake to work with clients on your own terms.
8. Managing client expectations correctly, from the beginning, will save you a lot of unnecessary stress and trauma later on.
9. Saying “no” is completely liberating.
10. Don’t work for or with people that you clash with – the relationship will not survive.
11. Look after your existing clients – it’s easier to up sell than cold sell.
12. Word-of-mouth is the most effective marketing tool in your artillery.
13. Admit when you’ve made a booboo and then fix it. It can lead to unexpected doors opening.
14. Making tough decisions is part of the package. Deal with it.
15. Never undertake spec work – you’ll set a dangerous precedent that will come back to haunt you.
16. Most meetings are a total waste of time.
17. Backup your data regularly.
18. There will always be someone else cheaper, faster and better than you so position yourself to add unexpected value.
19. Under promise and over deliver – exceed all expectations.
20. Honesty and integrity will serve you well.

Web Standards & Accessibility Testing Tools

Accessibility
The WAI has 86 different Accessibility validation tools listed at http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/Overview

Out of these, I think the Web Accessibility Inspector from Fujitsu  at http://www.fujitsu.com/global/accessibility/assistance/wi/ is the best for local testing - although it only support WCAG 1.0.


After a bit more research, I think one of the best for WCAG 2.0 is AChecker  at http://www.atutor.ca/achecker/. This is an open source Web accessibility evaluation tool that can be both used locally and via a hosted service.

Web Standards
When it comes to validating, HTML, XHTML, XML and CSS, there are a stack of tools listed at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G134.html. Probably the best of these is the WC3 Validator service at http://validator.w3.org/

Space monkeys!

I adore today's Dibert comic. Me wanna banana.

After writing the above, I noticed that yesterday's comic was related

PNG transparency

Check out this article which talks about how you can use 8bit PNGs to get good alpha transparency in IE7 and also have 1 bit transparency in IE 6.